Dungeon of Niflheim

503 Chapter 503: The chase was on

“[Skyfall]!” With the command words spoken, energy transfused into Frost’s glaive before forming 4 identical glaives in the four cardinal directions, all pointing downwards at the incapacitated minotaur.

A fraction of a second later Frost thrust out as he descended, aiming for the monster’s heart, hoping to finish this battle in an instant. But the minotaur was still in the end a B-rank monster, a powerful and tenacious adversary.

The five glaives were all thrust down at the same time, impossible to completely defend against but the most dangerous one, the glaive in the centre had to be blocked. The minotaur desperately protected his torso with his arm and the shaft of his battle-axe.

Squelch! Ding! Ding!

Three of the glaives sunk deep into his flesh, leaving open and heavily bleeding wounds as they dissipated. The remaining skill formed glaive clashed with the tough vambrace protecting his forearm while the true glaive struck against the minotaur’s battle-axe, saving him from near instant death. Even as a monster the heart was a very integral organ.

“Tsk!” Frost clicked his tongue after his thrust was blocked and wasted no time at all in retreating, using his glaive as a vault to flip backwards and out of harms way.

The minotaur reacted almost instantly, lashing out with his battle-axe the moment Frost’s skill ended but unfortunately he was a little slow, his battle-axe seeing to only catch the hem of Frost’s robe.

Frost landed gracefully back on the ground several metres away, his glaive ready and waiting to take on the minotaur’s next attack. Rinse and repeat, eventually after enough damage had been done the minotaur should fall plus the longer he dragged the fight out the higher the chances reinforcements would arrive. A minotaur was a big target so they wouldn’t be overlooked for long.

“Rahhhhhhhhhh!!!” The minotaur roared out furiously as it rubbed the bleeding slits left by Frost’s skill, its anger growing stronger and stronger with every passing moment, quickly making it completely numb to any sense of pain before eventually succumbing fully to the stampede’s madness. All rational thought completely disappearing, leaving nothing but an enraged beast. Something that was in many way far easier to deal with considering Frost’s skill set.

.....

Frost twirled his glaive as though taunting the beast, beckoning it to rush him and rush him it did. The minotaur scraped its hooves across the ground as it built up potential for a charge, its mighty horns humming from an influx of energy before it loudly mooed, and summoned the image of charging bull behind it.

Frost’s brow twitched as he loosened his body, planning to react like a leaf caught in a gust, timing and flexibility being key.

Boom!

The ground cracked the moment the minotaur started its charge. The massive beast dashed forward at speeds rivalling that of a crossbow bolt leaving Frost very little time to react but thanks to Maya’s no holds barred training he was prepared.

He saw the monster in practically slow motion as it rampaged toward him, kicking up no small amounts of dirt and even causing the air before it to heat up from the sudden pressure. With precise timing Frost spun on the balls of his feet, elegantly evading the minotaur’s oversized body as if it was an ordinary feat.

His glaive infused with his royal aura lashed out as he spun, utilising both its incredible sharpness and the momentum of the minotaur to cut deep into the monster’s side. If the beast wasn’t numbed to pain such a move would have caused it to stumble and crash before struggling to get back to its feet however the minotaur at this point felt absolutely nothing. It wasted no time at all preparing itself for another charge the moment it passed Frost. Blood dripped down profusely from its wounds, dyeing the ground red but all it noticed was Frost still standing without injury.

Thus began a game of matador, Frost utilising his sharp perception and flexibility would calmly deal with the minotaur’s reckless charges and attacks that cared very little for defence. A taxing and risky method but one that suited his current state. Eventually however a couple royal griffin knights and soldiers from the reinforcing frost wolf battalion made their way to his side and with their help Frost promptly brought down his adversary before falling to his back completely exhausted from the long ordeal. Kiba cuddled up by his side, rubbing his fluffy head against him, granting him some comfort while he rested. The knights proceeded to thin out the monsters in the area while Frost recovered. The long and devasting war seemed to be over now that the reinforcements had arrived.

Many like Frost who had been fighting with all they had for so long were finally able to relax and hand the battle over to the many reinforcements.

While the Generals and Majors fought against the B-rank and upper C-rank monsters the many soldiers and adventurers started a mass clear out of the horde section by section, gradually recovering the lost ground.

After 30 minutes most of the town had been recovered, returning to sapient control. After an hour the Northern wall and after 90 minutes the monsters advancing from the Northrend forest started to grow thin allowing the fiercest battlefield, the area before the wall to be completely retaken. Douglas, Hamon and the others who were put in critical condition were placed in the impenetrable protection of General Anya and her most loyal subordinates. A bunch of healers equal to Gilianna in station quickly saw to them once the medical centre was back in business.

Dalamar as requested played only a minor role after casting his 5th circle magic, seeing to just protect the weakened soldiers and adventurers as they waited for the reinforcements to reach them. In fact his granddaughter and apprentice took on the more aggressive role, launching devasting spell after devasting spell into the still advancing hordes.

Warik as promised handled to demon pretty much solo, so as to promote the power of the Northrend empire. It was a battle of great upheaval that saw the nearby terrain completely uprooted. It was a long and terrifying display that outshone all other conflicts. The air shattered whenever the two clashed against one another and their auras constantly battled for supremacy, pressuring anyone who dared to come to close. Just standing at the outskirts of their duel could see one seriously injured. A mere leftover residue from one of their attacks was able to carve up the ground and shatter massive boulders let alone a living person.

Ultimately, since Warik was an A-rank fighter he came out ahead in each of their clashes, gradually increasing the wounds on the demon’s body one at a time until eventually decapitating the monster in a grandiose fashion. A tenacious opponent to have lasted so long against him but in the end its loss was inevitable.

Warik stood tall, his body covered in dark blood belonging to the demon as he raised its severed head in the air in victory. He himself sported a few wounds but nothing a health potion couldn’t fix. His 5 star quality armour saw fit to protect him from most of the demon’s attacks, a few however did still make it through. Proof that monsters should never be underestimated, high ranking species most of all.

A loud, ground shaking cacophony of roars from the soldiers and adventurers sounded in response to Warik’s victory. And for the opposing side a deep sense of dread filled their hearts and panic set in. Without their demon commander the horde began to fall apart, their bodies no longer completely at the mercy of stampede’s madness and those still retaining some semblance of intelligence were affected most of all.

Valend and Frostine who were littered with serious wounds -Frostine was even missing a leg and Valend had lost his battle mount Dulan- looked at one another in complete panic. They had lost and as long as they remained here all they would gain would be death, something neither of them wanted. Frostine still had to lord over his own territory while Valend wanted to return to his clan in triumph.

However the two of them were pretty much surrounded by powerful B-rank fighters at the peak of health plus they could see General Anya quickly making her way towards them after seeing to the complete occupation of the other battlefields. Also now that the demon commander had been taken care of who would be the first ones General Warik turned his attention to, them that’s who.

As if in sync the frost monarch and frost giant erupted with their full strength, overdrawing themselves to activate their most powerful moves. This however was just a ploy, the moment their attackers braced themselves they both used nearby monsters as substitutes and even one another to desperately retreat, quickly leaving them in the dust. A mid B-rank monster that truly wished to run was not something easy to prevent.

“Dammit, bunch of cowards!” General Anya bellowed out her frustrations as her targets vamoosed before she even got the chance to fight. As she stopped in place however and stamped the ground a shadow flew over her head and the voice of young man sounded out.

“General I’ll slow down at least one of them, you can still have your prey.” Frost riding Kiba was flying towards the fleeing Valend and Frostine, determined to make sure at least one of them failed to escape the battlefield, he still held a great deal of grudges towards the two of them after all.

Anya smiled from ear to ear before quickly jumping back on the back of her prized battle mount, Freya and charged after the two of them.

The chase was on.