Conquering His Cold Heart

The armour for them was of low level 3 star, an alloy made of a small amount of frigid iron and steel whereas Khuno's was upper 3 star, made from a higher composition of frigid iron as well as being lined with the skin of a frost drake.

This said armour saved the unfortunate ronso from an instant death granting him the opportunity to down a low-level health potion. Though the taste certainly didn't agree with him it was better than dying.

"An opportunistic ambusher." Frost commented with a frown. The war ursa would do anything it could to avoid being caught in direct confrontation with him or Khuno, that was clear.

He then glanced towards Findlay.

'Perhaps it won't be that hard to isolate the two of them.' Frost noticed the way the war ursa perceived Findlay, prey nothing more nothing less. Only he and Khuno were a true threat to it whereas Findlay was roughly on the same level as the regular ronsos in its eyes.

Frost then shared a look with Khuno who nodded in response. The sooner the duel began the safer his other monsters would be.

The war ursa would likely aim for the head next time, leaving no opportunity to heal. It was currently licking the ronso's blood from its claws with a mocking smile, taunting the other ronsos as well as Khuno.

"Findlay, Khuno and I are going to start. Move to an open area and we'll flush it in your direction." Frost spoke while intensifying his grip on his glaive and showing a fake pissed off expression, tricking the war ursa.

Findlay nodded before looking around the battlefield.

Frost and Khuno then made their moves, attempting to flank the war ursa while Findlay prepared. Such moves however were easier said than done. Many D-rank monsters not knowing the danger or simply too frenzied to care launched themselves at Frost and Khuno impeding their path.

The war ursa appeared gloating as it nodded its head to the two mid ranked frost drakes, ordering them forward. Its gaze then moved away from Frost and Khuno searching for another susceptible target.

"Roar!" The two frost drakes did as ordered and placed themselves in Frost and Khuno's path before ferociously sucking in the ambient mana. Their chests expanded and glowed blue before their jaws opened wide and a dense beam of blue energy fired out, it was their draconic breath attack.

"Reckless bastards!" Khuno cursed while coating his halberd in cold flames and swung upwards. Frost mimicked Khuno's actions.

The two fierce beams of dense energy were instantly deprived of their momentum, shattered and sent upwards into the dungeon's ceiling, away from the chaotic battlefield.

If Frost and Khuno didn't act in such a way many ronsos and revenants would have been caught in the blast. The frost drakes didn't care about injuring their 'comrades' but Frost wasn't of the same mind.

This manoeuvre however allowed them to lose sight of the massive war ursa for a few seconds, a few seconds that the war ursa made very good use of.

"Arggghhhhh!" Tens of metres from where it was originally an ice revenant and ronso yelled out as they were assaulted. The ice revenant was literally overrun by the war ursa and was currently trapped under its right forepaw while the ronso was aggressively bitten on the shoulder and tossed half way across the battlefield.

The ronso's quick reactions saved it from having its head bitten off but the injury was anything but light.

The revenant however wouldn't be granted the same grace, it was pinned, and no one could save it.

The war ursa turned around and looked straight into Frost's eyes before grinning maliciously.

Crack!

It drastically increased the force of its right forepaw, causing the revenant's runic armour to groan and crack before shattering into fragments, exposing the vulnerable core.

At this point the war ursa looked down at the terrified ice revenant before suddenly shoving its head within the now open cavity and devoured the ice revenant's core, instantly killing him.

Crunch! Crunch! Gulp

It chewed the solid core fracturing it into smaller pieces before swallowing the remnants. A warm sensation filled its body as it did, filling it with power. But it didn't revel in the taste for long.

Frost and Khuno increased their pace doggedly chasing after it but only managed to catch its shadow. By the time they arrived the revenant was already gone, all that remained was a collection of runic armour scraps. One C-rank down and two injured within 10 minutes of battle….not the best start.

"Nanna tell everyone to keep tight and watch their backs, this war ursa is an insidious ambusher that can kill with a single well prepared strike before swiftly retreating."

"Understood master, good luck." Nanna responded back rapidly before doing as instructed.

The battlefield thus underwent a subtle change, no ronso or revenant moved solo and each of them whenever possible kept tabs on the war ursa.

This change worked quite well. The war ursa continued its ambushes but its targets became much more resilient, no longer being caught completely off guard. Injuries still happened but it wasn't given the chance nor the time to kill it targets.

Frost and Khuno gradually boxed it in, reducing its range of movement while also guiding it towards a more open area. Of course Frost and Khuno worked extra hard to not let the war ursa on to their plan, thus it took a little longer but eventually the war ursa was right where they wanted it.

At the edge of the battlefield there was a several metre wide void that was guarded by Frost and Khuno, beyond them was the war ursa, barred from re-entering the muddy waters behind them. A fierce expression could be seen on its face as it realised that it was pressed up against the wall and that it'd been hoodwinked by Frost and Khuno.

Its fury was paramount, it believed it was the grand instigator and strategist when in fact it was nothing, but a puppet controlled by Frost.

The war ursa tensed its body and prepared itself for a likely unwinnable battle. Its pseudo aura was in full swing, almost to the point of completion. Enough to threaten and pressure the ronsos and revenants but before Frost and Khuno it held no effect; in fact it was pressured instead.

Frost smirked mockingly; he could feel the war ursa's fear. Shame however that he wouldn't be the one to smack it in the face, that honour would be left to his trusted right hand.

As Frost and Khuno smiled, the latter even chuckling Findlay made his presence known, appearing from the other side of the void, the side with the war ursa.

"Hello fat ass I'm the one who's going to send you to the gates of hell." Findlay loudly declared before dashing towards the war ursa with his battle axe raised overhead and his [enrage] skill activated to the maximum.

"[Mountain cleave]" His battle axe shone with a bright azure light and his arm and back muscles bulged obscenely as he greeted the war ursa with a mighty swing of his axe.

Schwing!

Caught unawares due its focus on Frost and Khuno the only people it deemed a true threat Findlay's axe made clear contact with the side of its massive face. The sharpened edge sliced through the war ursa's unprotected skin, leaving a nasty gash spanning through the beast's left eye, blinding it.

"Roaaaaaaarrrrrr!" The war ursa roared in rage and pain before swiping at Findlay with its paw but met with nothing but air.

Findlay leaped back milliseconds after slicing through the war ursa's eye. He could have dealt an even deeper blow if he continued his downward trajectory but that would have left him open to the beast's claws. He was the weaker party, the war ursa could take blows from him but he couldn't do the same.

"I think I've pissed him off master, he won't be leaving my side anytime soon." Findlay spoke through a wild grin, his heart pumping a mile a minute as he felt intense pressure. The invisible yet certainly real spectre of death latched onto him, whispering in his ear of his impending doom.

His pseudo aura wasn't as developed as the war ursa's something that it immediately made clear as it redirected it's whole attention towards him. It pushed back his pseudo aura encapsulating him in its pressure, it was almost suffocating. Findlay even felt his heart stop for a second and the image of the already massive war ursa became even larger.

'Fuck, this isn't the deep end it's the fucking sea!'