Conquering His Cold Heart

Frost however sported a smirk, his eyes not even wavering for a second as he watched the war ursa take a swing at him.

"[Ice spike]" Frost called out the name of a 2nd circle spell and a magic crest rapidly formed on the floor between him and the rapidly approaching paw.

Thinking that a mere 2nd circle spell would be able to block the red claws or even delay it for a fraction of a second was an impossibility, but Frost wasn't aiming for that.

Ice swiftly formed in the shape of a dense ice spike from the magic crest and slammed against the war ursa's fore arm, avoiding the deadly claws and even its horizontal momentum. Striking vertically, careening the swipe on an upward trajectory, away from Frost and straight towards the war ursa's own face.

The timing of Frost's rebuff was perfect, the poor war ursa had no time to react. Its prided red claw skill was shot directly against its own face.

5 nasty gashes instantly appeared along its face and neck, deep, wide and bleeding profusely. Its visage was barely recognisable as flesh split apart and sloughed off revealing the bone underneath. A gruesome and terrifying sight, so much so that even Frost felt a little guilty about his actions. But that feeling was brief.

Frost moved onto the next phase of his attack. He gripped his glaive hard with both hands, tilting the blade downwards in preparation for a powerful upswing.

"[Earth's upheaval]" At his command energy flowed from his body, coating his glaive in a deep green lustre before forming the image of a weighty rock behind him, enhancing the force behind his swing.

Bang!

With a loud clash Frost's skill enhanced glaive slammed against the war ursa's chest. The blade cut it open a little, but the primary function of this move was to send the target airborne, a launching skill.

The war ursa however despite being severely injured still weighed several tons. A single upswing from Frost was hardly enough to launch something of its mass skyward. He did however succeed in knocking it to a standing position and about a metre from the floor but that was enough.

Not even relaxing in the slightest after his upswing Frost twisted his glaive and recalled it back to his side, saving some of the residual force before.

"[Wyvern's maw]!" The moment his glaive was back in place Frost activated another advanced mastery level skill. Energy was once again summoned from his body causing him to wince from the drain.

Soon the image of a wyvern's deadly maw appeared behind the glaive and roared out. The fact that the skill [wyvern's maw] was manoeuvrable and had some form of sentience made it the most costly of his high end skills but also the most powerful.

Frost viciously swung his glaive, catapulting the wyvern straight into the war ursa's exposed torso.

"Rooooaaaaarrrr!!" The wyvern roared out and bared its deadly fangs before sinking its teeth into the war ursa's torso and shredding it to absolute pieces.

The resulting impact sent the partially airborne war ursa flying backwards with the wyvern head.

It crashed onto the soft snow over ten metres away, back first and violently convulsing. Its face was destroyed by its own skill and looked pretty much like a horror scene whereas its torso wasn't much better.

The wyvern went to town on eating it. Its large sharp teeth eviscerated its fur, skin, fat, muscles and even fractured some of its ribs resulting in it looking like an open carcass. It received a direct strike in a vulnerable area from a B-rank fighter, the level of damage was too be expected.

Its frenzied state allowed it to not suffer from the immense pain one would usually feel in such a situation, but it was done. The damage was too extensive, even the undead wouldn't be able to get back up from what Frost just hit it with, the battle was over.

"Hu hu hu hu" Frost suddenly felt a little dizzy and started breathing heavily as the feeling of exhaustion assaulted him. Using [sky fall], [earth's upheaval] and [wyvern's maw] all in quick succession was quite a tall ask. Thankfully he was young and within the dungeon so the feeling of weakness would quickly fade.

"Master" Findlay with the help of the guarding ronso walked over to Frost. He had a complicated expression on his face. He achieved the goal set out by his master but in the end still needed to be saved by him.

"Haaaaaaa just feel proud Findlay, the mission was high risk in the first place. The fact that you're alive regardless of the reasons is a win." Frost sighed and shook his head understanding his ice troll's personality.

"….I guess you're right master." Findlay silently took in what Frost said before smiling and agreeing with him. He fought against a superior enemy and came out alive and improved, he succeeded.

His gaze drifted over to the war ursa that was on its last breath with a thankful look. It was because of it that he was now one step closer to evolving.

Frost smiled as he also looked at the dying war ursa with thanks.

Half a minute later the beast finally croaked, and a high quality stream of life energy flowed into Frost making him feel refreshed and incredibly comfortable, like he just partook in a delicacy. A slightly mad glint appeared in his eyes as the pleasure washed over him, this really was a feeling one could get addicted too.

Findlay also felt a change. He opened up the dungeon menu and examined his own status.

Name: Findlay

Race: Ice troll commander

Rank: C

Level: 50/50

Skills: [Axe slash], [mountain cleave], [glacier crash], [invigorating shout], [enrage], [mad charge], [ice stomp],[frost breath]

Passive: [war buff], [medium ice resistance], [pseudo aura], [advanced axe mastery]

Magic: [ice bolt]

It now showed his level as 50/50 instead of the horrible 49/50 he'd been faced with the past few days. His new skill [glacial crash] was also displayed as was his upgrade to advanced axe mastery. His magic was still pretty pitiful holding but a single spell [ice bolt].

Frost had offered a few times to purchase some magic skill books for him, but he refused, finding that they'd be better spent on perhaps the yuki-onnas or other magic based monsters. He didn't really need magic too much, relying on physical close combat and chakra usage instead.

He'd use the [ice bolt] spell occasionally when at range but that was just so he could do something while he closed in on his enemy, magic was not his forte.

His smile couldn't help but grow as he saw a small notification at the bottom of his status.

[evolution now available]

Confirmation of his success. Now all he needed to do was make sure he had enough energy to break through the final barrier. Luck would also play a large part, as evolution was no longer a guaranteed success.

"Master my level's now hit the maximum. I can start the evolution process." Findlay said with a happy tone, unable to hide his excitement.

"Good, but not now. Since chance is involved I want you in your absolute best state. We'll finish this wave, get you a full check up at the medical centre and fill you chock full with magic crystals till the point your about to burst. Then we'll attempt it." Frost looked up at his ice troll commander with pride, but he knew such an important event shouldn't be rushed.

"Understood master, I could do with some more practise with my advanced axe mastery." Findlay caressed his axe, and a wild smile grew on his face. His energy levels were gradually returning, enough to deal with D-ranks at least.

"Fine but don't take any risks, ronso please stick by his side the entire time. Make sure nothing happens to him." Frost didn't argue against Findlay re-joining the main battlefield as he was confident that the danger would be controlled.

"Of course milord, no harm will come to the commander." The ronso replied with a military salute before looking at Findlay with fierce intensity, he was going to watch him like a hawk.

This sported a chuckle from Frost and an annoyed grunt from Findlay who felt as though he was being treated like a reckless child.

With Frost's return as well as Findlay's the rest of the battle continued to grow in their favour. Even the C-ranks fell one by one by either Frost's and Khuno's actions or the combined movements of the ronsos and ice revenants.

It was long and gruelling but after over an hour of constant battle the wave was over, and silence had returned to the winter highlands.