Conquering His Cold Heart

"Well what do you think?" Frost asked with a smile, understanding Findlay's current emotions.

"It's durable…..that's not really a good sign for me is it?" Findlay trembled as the realisation donned on him. A hard floor meant Frost and him could go all out in their attacks without fear of damage (to the room).

"Well that depends on your viewpoint." Frost's expression became quite sadistic, very much like that of Maya's. Findlay's fear only grew as he looked at his master's disturbing smile, he slightly regretted agreeing to this brutal training.

Schwing! Don!

Frost's primary glaive suddenly appeared from his storage ring before the butt smashed against the 'durable' floor, highlighting its weight.

"Shall we begin?" If Maya could see Frost's expression right now it'd be like looking in a mirror. He had fortunately or unfortunately learned an awful lot from his guardian.

Findlay replied with a twitching smile before grabbing hold of his battle axe, he was in for a world of hurt and he knew it.

For the next few hours Frost played the role of Maya while Findlay played his role. Frost brutally hounded after Findlay with his glaive constantly keeping his ice troll commander on the back foot. Smashing him against the floor, walls and even the ceiling showing little to no mercy.

Findlay was forbidden from using anything other than his battle axe while they fought, no skills, no magic just pure old fashioned weapon mastery. Frost attacked the weak points in his form, making Findlay improve through physical abuse, the same way he learned.

He tossed Findlay a low level health potion before teleporting the two of them to the soon to be battlefield, the next wave was nigh.

This intense training regime only escalated over the next few days. Findlay would be rushed immediately from training to the battlefield wherein he would be placed in the vanguard alongside Frost. Still restricted to only using his battle axe when it comes to attacking, and he was required to be on the attack throughout the entire wave.

Frost really wanted to push Findlay's limits to the upmost, he wouldn't improve otherwise.

After beating the waves Frost made Findlay absorb tens of magic crystals at a time before resuming the brutal training in the training space.

Maya joined them on occasion. She couldn't personally train Frost's monsters, but she could generate training materials for the two of them in the training space, something that stopped their regular duelling from getting boring.

She took the fact that Frost would have to prioritise the dungeon's management as both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because she'd likely no longer be incapable of leaving the bedroom due to Frost's insatiable appetite but bad for the same reason. She did however understand his reasoning thus she restricted her complaints to a little moping, something Frost appreciated very much.

With Frost onsite for every wave and with the purchases made by himself and Khuno they managed to successfully endure the following waves. Losses were still rather abundant among the lower D-ranks, but the defence line continued to hold….though it had been pushed back even further to the last section of the second floor.

Boooommmmm! Don! Don! Don!

Findlay was blasted across the training room, his over 4 metre tall stature skidded across the white floor like a flat stone on water before smashing against the wall.

"Ughhhh!" Findlay groaned as his entire body was wracked with intense pain. His entire body was covered in nasty looking bruises and every area of muscle was trembling from overexertion.

He powerlessly slumped downwards, his ass reaching the floor while his battle axe remained tightly entwined in his hands. He refused to let go of his weapon even in his current state.

"Haaaaaaa you're improving but it seems advanced mastery is still out of sight…..we need to increase the danger." Frost was frowning, he let out a sigh as he looked over Findlay's current state. The repeated doses of magic crystals saturated Findlay with so much energy that his skin wriggled and glowed whenever he overexerted himself.

A good sign that his body was reaching the limit of what it could safely contain.

"Bypassing the protection protocols established by Dark God-sama will not be easy even with Findlay's talents." Maya chimed in from the side, she was watching over their brutal training with sharp eyes. Despite be a summoned monster Findlay was making strides in terms of improvement but reaching B-rank soon seemed to be beyond him at least while the protection was still in place.

Findlay wasn't the only one who benefitted from this gruelling training. Frost managed to stabilise and understand his advanced level glaive mastery, getting some much needed experience under his belt.

"Do you think going off the deep end will let him bridge the gap?"

"Hard to say. One's instinct for survival can allow people to overcome incredible things. Experiencing the reality of death can draw out one's innate talent but it can also and in most cases result in that person's death." Maya replied before looking at Frost with a pronounced frown.

"It's your call. Whether you and him want to take that risk is up to you." She shrugged her shoulders neither agreeing nor disagreeing with tossing Findlay into the deep end.

Rumble!

Suddenly the entire training space violently trembled as did the rest of the dungeon.

"Seems as though the late stages have begun." Frost clenched his fists causing them to crack, a sense of urgency washed over him.

"The monsters we have to contend with will be even more powerful now." He let out a deep sigh and looked at the still sitting and exhausted Findlay.

The late stages not only have the risk of containing B-rank monsters the number of C and D-ranks will increase. Thankfully however the amount of low ranks and frequency of the waves should also greatly decrease. The B-ranks unlike the low rank monsters have far more control over their actions as well as the monsters that follow them.

The waves that do decide to enter the dungeon instead of rushing south will be far more controlled making them far more dangerous.

The strongest monster Frost and his forces had faced against so far was upper mid C-rank. Powerhouses that only Khuno and Frost could handle solo. That however was soon to change.

"Findlay we've ran out of time. The late stages have arrived meaning even stronger monsters will come, stronger than you can currently handle." Findlay shivered as Frost's words sunk in. He forced himself to look up and stare into Frost's eyes, revealing his determination. He was ready to put his life on the line, hoping to grasp the opportunity granted by such a situation.

Tossing Findlay into the deep end meant having him fight against a superior opponent solo without any backup. Fighting Frost was brutal and effective but there was no chance of death, the deep end didn't have that safety bar.

"Haaaaaa looks like Findlay's made his decision and I'd be a terrible master if I refused to acknowledge that determination…..we'll be going with the 'tossing him into the deep end' plan and hope for the best."

Maya nodded her head before teleporting out of the private space.

"Get some rest I'll discuss the situation with Khuno and the others." Frost moved towards Findlay and placed a hand on his shoulder before teleporting away. Things were starting to get very, very dangerous.

Last section of the 2nd floor.

"Khuno."

"Milord?"

"Findlay's training is working but not fast enough we've decided to go with a more drastic approach to help him overcome that last hurdle."

Khuno visibly frowned in response, he knew that such a method posed great risk to his colleague but understood that Findlay wouldn't hesitate to try it if it meant helping Frost.

"When an upper C-rank monster arrives on the scene Findlay will be sent to handle it, alone."

"…..Understood." Khuno let out a sigh before nodding his head in acceptance.

"How's everyone else doing? Were they shaken up by the tremors?"

"No seems everyone else is used to them by now, me and the ronsos however found them a bit disconcerting. No damage was caused to the defences or our forces though, we're ready and waiting for the next wave."

"Very well. We're now in the endgame Khuno the waves will likely be stronger but also more sporadic meaning longer resting intervals and hopefully after several days we'll be free of this war. The B-ranks should hold no interest in our home and redirect the majority of the remaining stampede against the southlands. Leaving us free to convalesce and develop the external camp." Well the dungeon anyway.

Once the waves stop interfering with the dungeon and the area outside becomes safe he and Kiba will be making their way to Furano to help out in its defences. A grand battlefield filled with B-rank monsters and B-rank sapients still awaited the two of them.