Conquering His Cold Heart

Frost and Khuno smiled lightly as they watched on, struggling to hold back a chuckle. Findlay well and truly pissed it off and then some. Whether that ends up being a good thing only time will tell.

Now however since the war ursa had fixated upon Findlay the two of them needed to delve into the muddy waters behind them. Even without the war ursa there was still two mid C-ranked frost drakes as well as five entry level ones in play. Powerful opponents that cared little about inflicting damage to their comrades or even themselves.

The frenzied state imbued by the mana vein's corruption filled them all with a mad ferocity and a numbness to pain. Without the two of them managing the battlefield the casualties would sky rocket.

Four monsters had already been lost, an ice revenant, two frost revenant knights and a ronso plus those with heavy injuries numbered close to a dozen. Blood, flesh, scales and runic armour littered all over the battlefield while roars, screams, grunting and clashes of weapons reverberated throughout the entire winter highlands.

Frost gave a knowing look to Khuno who nodded his head in understanding, they couldn't stand here and monitor Findlay's battle, they were needed elsewhere. Plus having them watching on the side lines would make this battle pointless. Findlay needed the true threat of death, something that wouldn't arise if Frost and Khuno were able to leap to his aid at a moment's notice.

"Findlay the floor is yours, don't die." Frost spoke bluntly before turning his back to their battle, his fists however were tightly clenched revealing his worries.

"Good luck brother!" Khuno shouted loudly before joining his lord, turning his back and delving back into the muddied water to hunt.

Bang!

Findlay narrowly dodged a wide swipe from the war ursa, distracted momentarily by Frost and Khuno's words almost met him with serious injury.

He jumped backwards and noticed his heart beating a mile a minute and that a cold sweat had formed along his forehead and down his back. His hands and legs were trembling, partly from excitement but mainly from primal fear, something he had only felt from Maya and Frost yet this time the entity was doing their very best to kill him.

As the feelings washed over him a mad smile grew on his lips and the trembling stopped. Like master like servant Findlay was a battle junkie, he found his current situation exhilarating.

Boom!

The War ursa roared out before sweeping up a large amount of snow and tossing it at Findlay temporarily obscuring his vision.

'Shit!' Findlay cursed internally as his senses went haywire trying to guess what angle the war ursa would attack from. The spectre of death made its presence known once again, releasing chilling whispers into his ear.

Fractions of a second passed but he couldn't see the war ursa in the slightest and the loud sounds of the nearby battlefield affected his hearing. Smell was also a no go, the area was chock full of the smell of blood and iron, he was blind in all his senses.

As the milliseconds passed the feelings of dread brought on by his primal fear and the spectre of death grew and grew, making his mind chaotic and body heavy but it also made him extremely sensitive. His eyes darted all over for even the slightest sign while his ears did the same, doing their best to isolate him from the loud cacophony of the nearby battle.

People when in extreme circumstances can push beyond their limits achieving incredible strength, speed, reactions or even just clarity of mind, slowing down their sense of time. Findlay was starting to enter this special circumstance, the zone if you will. A state that would allow him to survive against a superior enemy perhaps even triumph if played well.

In this state he should be able to better understand the wall barring him from entering advanced mastery and subsequently B-rank.

Unfortunately he wasn't given enough time to delve deep into this zone. The war ursa suddenly appeared from his left, its jaw was wide open revealing its razor sharp teeth that could shred his flesh apart with ease.

Findlay reacted on instinct; his battle axe smoothly swung out while he leaped away the moment the war ursa reared its head.

Schwing! Clash!

The battle axe swung without any wasted movements and with a fair amount of force. The edge met with a few of the war ursa's teeth generating a loud clash. Findlay used this force to leap further back, utilising the war ursa's charging momentum to push him out of harm's way.

He landed half a dozen metres away and once again took a braced stance, his battle axe once again at his side ready to be swung out at a moments notice.

His eyes showed a strange serenity as he examined the war ursa in its entirety. His breathing also slowed down and his shaking stopped, he could see and react to the war ursa which meant he could fight it. That primal fear was slowly being overtaken by his excitement and determination.

The war ursa however growled will shaking its head, the battle axe struck hard against his teeth and though they didn't break the vibration was quite uncomfortable. This discomfort allowed the war ursa to calm down its wayward emotions slightly, taking another more informed look at Findlay.

However Findlay looked the exact same, still beneath it in the food chain thus its fury returned. This damn prey not only destroyed its left eye it escaped multiple times and even damaged its mighty fangs. Findlay needed to die.

The war ursa's eyes or rather eye grew a deeper shade of red, the frenzy brought on by the mana vein's corruption started affecting it more.

"Roooooooaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!" The war ursa let loose a magnificent roar before scattering an even greater lump of snow, once again obscuring Findlay's vision.

This time however it wasn't going to go easy on this prey. The war ursa tensed its entire body and leaned forward before swaths of red energy covered its body, it was using a skill and from its form a charging skill.

Findlay had actually witnessed this skill once before when he fought against the standard ursa solo several days ago. Unfortunately he was caught cleanly by the bear's charge sending him carolling through the air with heavy injuries. So much so that he was forced to recuperate for the next few waves.

Now it was an even stronger monster using this charging skill and his vision was completely obscured, the situation wasn't ideal. However he was currently in a very good state, his senses were all on full whack and his confidence was raised after successfully dealing with the war ursa's last attack.

Seeing that his vision was once again obscured and the fact that the war ursa had intelligence and the known track record for being an ambusher he didn't take what was coming lightly, fully expecting something beyond what he could normally deal with.

'It'll likely use some sort of skill.' He surmised while shuffling his feet against the snow to get a better foothold.

A few milliseconds later the enhanced war ursa appeared dead ahead. Its entire head and forelimbs were protected by a red energy shield, dramatically increasing its charging force as well as frontal defence.

Findlay winced but wasn't caught off guard, he expected such a move.

He moved seamlessly, striking out with his battle axe once again while also leaping back hoping to negate much of the beast's charge.

This time however the same tactic wouldn't quite work. Findlay's battle axe sliced through the air once again aiming for the war ursa's exposed teeth but before it could reach them it stuck harshly against the red energy shield and was strongly rebuffed.

The war ursa's charge wasn't affected in the slightest in fact it appeared as though the thing was continuing to gain momentum; Findlay was going to be literally overrun.

However the smart ice troll commander wasn't done yet. A wild smile still adorned his face and time seemed to flow far slower than normal. He didn't have a choice if he didn't somehow break though his limits and enter the zone he was a dead ice troll.

With the strong rebuffing of his battle axe Findlay kicked against the snow and performed a backflip launching him backwards with enough speed to not be caught by the war ursa.

His window to act was short, however. The moment his feet touched the ground again the war ursa was milliseconds from smashing into him. Such an attack would likely see his chest blown apart and his shoulders dislocated, killing him at that point would be a simple task.

Findlay immediately kicked off the ground, this time he wasn't leaping backwards but up and forward with a twist. The change in momentum was so sudden that the war ursa couldn't react. By the time it realised what was happening Findlay was rising above its head and out of reach.

It tried desperately to stop him but only managed to brush up against Findlay's foot. Its charge skill had been perfectly evaded.