Dungeon of Niflheim

‘Shit why’s the young lord here?’ This guard was filled with panic, not at his partners situation but the fact that Leo and his group were here. He was at a loss on what to do, his eyes were shaking, and his throat grew parched and just when he was about to speak, he received Bastion’s fierce glare.

He reeled backwards in fear, he could feel death looming over him from that gaze.

‘If I do something wrong, he’ll kill me.’ Although Bastion had restrained his aura, his eyes were still filled with anger and killing intent. The guard could feel this, and his legs started to turn to jelly.

“Pfft pathetic,” Ryuu commented sarcastically from the side.

‘This is what passes as a guard for a Baron.’ Ryuu mocked Adam internally on his cheapness. Only putting up money for his direct security, half-assing his common guards. The two in front of them were little more than thugs, reeling in fear from the first sign of danger and not knowing how to act.

The guards protecting the Furano manor -now guarding Douglas and Cassandra outside their bedroom- were of a much higher quality. Although their individual strength wasn’t much, they knew who they represented. Even if they were succumbed to a B-rank adventurer’s killing intent they wouldn’t flinch and would uphold their duties as guards of the Furano house.

.....

Ryuu felt that Adam really failed as a noble, even if the title was granted out of kindness by Douglas, he still failed to uphold a certain standard.

Ryuu released a deep sigh and shook his head before moving in front of Bastion. He at least looked less intimidating and could better restrain his emotions.

“The young lord is here on official business sanctioned by Viscount Douglas; proper etiquette dictates you show us in.” Ryuu spoke with a stern commanding tone, leaving the guards little room to argue. Filled with fear and panic the two guards looked at one another before silently obeying Ryuu, opening up the gate and allowing them to enter.

Leo, Frost and Luna smiled at this result, walking in through the front door with their chests held high, feeling as though this operation was off to a great start already. It wasn’t often that Leo could criticize someone else on noble etiquette, given his family’s countryside background and his own personality. He couldn’t help but feel cocky but did his best to keep a straight face.

As the group walked past the two thoroughly defeated guards, the guards looked as though they aged ten years, their faces pale and sunken. Their clothes soaked in cold sweat, and their hairs standing on end. But the reason wasn’t primarily Bastion’s aura and killing intent, it was what was going to happen to them afterwards.

They just lost face for their boss Adam, landing them on the chopping block and it wouldn’t be a quick death either. The first guard, the one who raised his weapon quickly realised his current situation and was filled with angry. Completely forgetting what just happened he turned and glared at Leo’s back, his gaze full of malice.

“Ahhhhh!” Suddenly the guard screamed in agony as he brought his hands up to his eyes. Blood was pouring down his face along with bits of his eyes, he was blinded. The other guard screamed in fear as he saw his partner bend over in pain and screaming in agony.

“My eyes! My eyes!”

“Be thankful that it was just your eyes that I took, if we weren’t in such a rush, I would’ve taken your pitiful life.” Ryuu turned to face the now blind guard and admonished him with a cold emotionless tone. The moment he felt the anger filled glare of this guard on Leo’s back he casted a low level wind spell, sending a wind blade at his eyes, shredding them to pieces. Even a high rank potion or spell would be powerless to restore them, his eyes had been practically shredded into miniscule pieces in an instant.

Luna flinched as she heard the guard scream, she didn’t look back only squeezing in close to Leo and grabbing his hand. She agreed with her father’s method but still, it was quite disturbing for her. She’d never seen her father act like this in all her years of being alive.

Noticing his daughter flinching and moving close to Leo, filled Ryuu with anger, grinding his teeth together he glared at the still screaming guard.

“Piss off and cry somewhere else.” His lips twitching in anger, Ryuu gripped his staff and conjured up a higher level wind spell.

“[Wind blast]” a stronger surge of wind was suddenly summoned in front of Ryuu before being launched at the two guards.

Fwooosh

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” The two guards screamed as they were sent flying by the spell, the screams became out of earshot before they landed. Ryuu had sent the two guards hundreds of metres away and unfortunately for them, their landing was anything but pleasant, not enough to kill them but their injuries were severe. They were paralyzed, unable to move as they slowly bled out, feeling everything as it happened. Ryuu was truly infuriated with the pair.

‘Bunch of bastards, now what’s my cute little daughter going to think of me.’ Ryuu was very particular about how he appeared in front of his daughter, he wouldn’t have her think of him as anything but a loving and doting father who never did anything violent. This incident would prove to change that image he worked so hard to develop.

In the past before Ryuu became a father and before he lost his wife, out of the group he was the most vicious and battle driven. Even the mad iron chef Vaccos had nothing on Ryuu when he truly became angry, usually Bastion, Douglas and Vaccos would need to hold him back to stop him wantonly destroying the landscape. That all changed when Luna was born, he vowed to never allow his daughter to be afraid of him and thus ended the terror of the crazy mage Ryuu, well at least in the open.

After dealing with the irritants, Ryuu turned back with a gentle smile on his face trying to appear and friendly as possible as he looked at his daughter.

“Luna, daddy took care of those ruffians, didn’t I do a good job?” He easily switched back to doting father mode which sent a chill down everyone’s spine. Even Bastion felt weird, and he was used to knowing both sides of his friend.

‘I’ll never get used to this.’ Bastion simply sighed and shook his head, ignoring what happened. Frost found the change quite fascinating whereas Leo felt a tinge of fear as he grew up hearing stories of Ryuu’s destructive escapades. Lest you forget, Leo was planning on marrying Luna, Ryuu’s only daughter and the apple of his eye. It wouldn’t be strange for Ryuu to see him as some kind of enemy down the line.

“Gulp” Leo audibly gulped as he imagined what happened to the guards happening to him at some point, he averted his gaze, unable to look Ryuu in the eyes.

“Stupid dad hmph!” Luna hmphed and moved in closer to Leo while sticking out her tongue, like she could ever be afraid of her idiot of a father.

Ryuu looked depressed since he wasn’t praised but was inwardly relieved, his daughter acted the same way she always did.

‘Looks like you get to keep your lives for now at least.’ Ryuu had already prepared himself to cast another spell to silence the two guards permanently depending on how his daughter reacted. Since her reaction was positive, he stopped channelling his mana.

For the two guards however, being killed would have been a mercy, they were left to slowly die in agony throughout the night, their blood staining the street red. Although there was a few people that saw their miserable situation and pondered ending their misery they would always be warned by their friends.

“Crazy Ryuu did that, are you sure you want to offend him.” It was the 14 adventurers that Bastion had recruited that were debating whether to act or not.

Quite quickly though they came to an answer. No way in hell. A few of the older ones, the one who were doing the warning, were still in the business when Ryuu was active in his younger days and knew of his terrible wrath. So, they promptly ignored the painful moans of the two guards as if it wasn’t any of their business.

Frost and the rest were now within the compound and were walking down the pathway towards the grand manor. The guards loud screams were clearly heard and caused quite a panic, with some of the smarter goons rushing to inform Adam of the events. Others like the guard who drew his weapon on Leo moved to surround the group, viewing them as intruders. Some even licked their lips as if they were staring at prey that willingly entered their den. A few of the more brave/foolish ones even eyed up Luna with a perverse look in their eyes causing her to flinch and hide behind Leo in disgust.

Seeing this a switch flipped in Ryuu’s mind.

‘Hoh a lot of people want to die tonight.’ Ryuu was ready to ignore the plan and start a massacre right here and now as he gripped his staff and started channelling his mana, particularly noting the ones looking at his precious daughter.

“Ryuu!” Bastion quickly grabbed his friend’s arm and quietly spoke his name, hoping to calm him down. They couldn’t start fighting now, they needed to buy time for the adventurers to make their move and more importantly they needed to face Adam and loudly state their intentions so as to be considered doing everything above board.

Ryuu turned to his long time friend, wrath quickly building up in his eyes and body, Luna was his reverse scale.

“Just a little, I’ll just kill them a little Bastion.” Not listening to his friend in the slightest Ryuu continued to build up his mana, ready to cast his magic at any moment.

“Ahhh Fuck!” Bastion felt distressed, grinding his teeth together he applied more force into his hand, but he knew it was pointless, he knew Ryuu’s personality. Knowing his actions would be fruitless Bastion looked to Luna for help, only her words would be able to dissuade her father.

Unfortunately, Luna was fully gung ho with her father eliminating these perverts, she was even nodding along in agreement. All she needed to do now was give him a thumbs up and he’d start a killing spree. Frost saw this all transpire and sighed.

‘Really, you’re going to ruin the entire plan just because a bunch of men ogled your daughter.’ Frost shook his head before moving to take action, he couldn’t let something foolish like this impede their plan, well mainly impede his enjoyment but the end result is the same.

“Ryuu calm down!” Frost moved in front of Ryuu and grabbed his staff wielding arm sending ice chakra forcibly into him aiming to cool Ryuu down.

Ryuu immediately noticed the freezing cold chakra invading his body, it wasn’t harming him, but he couldn’t ignore it. Turning to face Frost and in shock Ryuu exclaimed.

“You!” How rare was it to be a glaive user, an ice magic user and now also a chakra user. Ryuu’s shock instantly downplayed his anger, he looked at Frost, his eyes full of questions.

“Stick to the plan Ryuu.” Frost looked coldly into Ryuu’s eyes giving him an order. He then glanced over at the perverse looking goons still ogling Luna unaware of the danger they just brought onto themselves.

“They’ll die there’s no question about that, but not yet.” Frost had a vicious look in his eyes, easily announcing a person’s death without hesitation, sending a chill down Bastion’s back.

‘Shit he’s as crazy as Ryuu.’ Bastion internally compared the young version of Ryuu to the man before him. They were very similar, the phrase ‘only crazy can deal with crazy’ came to mind. Bastion viewed this scene as two nutjobs understanding one another and coming to some sort of agreement.

With Frost’s promise of death and the freezing ice chakra cooling down his raging fury, Ryuu calmed down. He took a deep breath and regained his usual stoic appearance, well after smiling goofily towards his daughter to let her know he was calm.

“Phewww” Leo released a sigh of relief after seeing Frost successfully calm Ryuu down.

‘That was close if it wasn’t for Frost-senpai we’d have been surrounded.’ Right now, the adventurers were still not in position, they should still be making their ways over the walls unnoticed. Only when they have seen Adam and their reinforcements are in position could they go on the offensive. If Ryuu and Bastion went all out now due to a surge in emotions, they’d not only be vastly outnumbered, but they’d also be severely drained if not injured by the time they made it inside the manor. There was still Adam’s elite guards to worry about, Leo couldn’t afford to have his strongest trump cards below 100% fighting capacity.