Dungeon of Niflheim

After a few seconds of silence Nanna spoke nervously.

“....So, are you a monster?” This was her first question.

“No, I don’t think I classify as a monster.” Frost answered her questions while internally he felt relief, she wasn’t as tense and shivering on his back anymore, a good sign.

“It’s probably best to think of him as some kind of demi-god if that helps.” Maya chimed in from the side, she picked up on Nanna’s fear and panic and hoped to ease those feelings. They were after all going to be living together.

“Eh? Demi-god?” Nanna tilted her head to the side as she absorbed this term before her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she remembered that Frost said he was the son of the Dark god.

‘Dark god as in THE DARK GOD,’ her face twisted round to Frost’s head analysing his features with intensity.

‘Doesn’t feel very godlike.’

“Cough cough although I’m the Dark God’s son and could theoretically be called a Demi-god I lack most of his abilities, best to think of me some new sentient race, like elves or dwarves.” Frost coughed out of embarrassment as he felt Nanna’s intense stare and her internal evaluation on what a God should be like. He himself didn’t think of himself as a God or even anything special, he found Maya to be more interesting than him.

.....

“I see, you do look like some sort of elf.” Nanna nodded agreeing with Frost’s suggestion. She’d been one of the rare few that got to see Frost’s face when it wasn’t covered up by a mask and his features did resemble that of an elf. With that clarification she wasn’t nearly as shocked and continued to ask question after question no longer feeling tired in the slightest.

Frost was more than happy to talk to her; he felt their bond would grow if they spoke, so he answered every one of her questions sating her curiosity. Of course, he kept a few things secret such as his methods to accumulate DP, he finally convinced her that he wasn’t some kind of abhorrent monster what would she think if he said that he feasted on people and drained their life force. That knowledge can be put off for now.

Nanna as well as Loki continued to ask questions for a whole two hours before eventually their exhaustion took hold and they fell asleep.

“That went better than expected young master, do you feel better now?” Maya moved in close to Frost, being careful not to wake up Loki or Nanna she whispered. She knew that revealing who and what he was, was quite a daunting task for her young master and that he was quite stressed about it. It would be the first time he revealed himself to someone else, of course he was wary of being accepted. Thankfully however it seemed to go off without a hitch, Nanna didn’t fear him in the slightest and was incredibly curious about him and his capabilities. All the more eager to reach their new home, the Dungeon.

“Yeah, much better, thank you Maya.” Frost smiled gently towards his companion, thankful that he had her by his side.

Suddenly Frost was filled with a sense of danger and panic, it came from his chest, or rather where something once was. On instinct he brough out the Dungeon menu. He’d shown Nanna and Loki this already and checked it then but nothing unusual was noticed, perhaps a few extra monster deaths but nothing serious.

This time however something was different, he could feel fear, panic, and sadness somehow from the Dungeon core, it’s hard to properly explain, something akin to a sixth sense. When Frost brought up the menu screen, he got his answer. Although the features were limited, he still had access to some basic records, monster deaths in particular.

His eyes opened wide in shock, a glaring notification was present on the screen, the polar bear was killed. His strongest defender and last protector before the intruders would reach his most hallowed area, the dungeon core room, was now dead. A cold shiver ran down his spine, he felt incredibly vulnerable.

Maya saw the look of panic on her young master’s face and quickly moved in close to see what the problem was. Her face blanched as well when she saw the notification. If Frost didn’t have the one month barrier this situation would spell the end of his life, no wonder he was so frantic. It’d be akin to having a dagger placed across his neck, that he couldn’t reach, not a pleasant feeling.

She didn’t really know what to say, she simply remained silent, placing a hand on his shoulder. Thankfully thanks to the barrier he wasn’t in any true danger, and to be honest the only reason Frost left the Dungeon in the first place was because he had such a failsafe. It was expected that the polar bear wouldn’t be enough, but the fact still hurt Frost’s pride and ego.

“Let’s pick up the pace.” Frost spoke with a commanding tone before following his own order, speeding up. Though still not to the point of disturbing Nanna on his back.

He needed to still get there quickly, regardless of whether his life wasn’t in any danger his monsters were. Anything that could kill his polar bear could kill any of his other monsters without much effort. He just hoped that the frost troll wouldn’t act recklessly and risk its life as well. That would not only be a loss of 1000DP but time and effort. The polar bear aside, the frost troll was in control of quite a lot of features and was practically his right hand at this point in time. He was more than impressed with its diligent weapon training and its handling of the frost dwarves and goblins. Those kind of traits couldn’t be quantified with DP. So, he ran.

The vines of the forest floor shattered under their forceful steps, leaving remnants throughout the forest of their charge. The monsters of the night seemed to be a fair bit smarter than their diurnal counterparts. Even with two young and weak children on their backs, the monsters didn’t dare impede their path. Well perhaps it was due to the instinctual blood lust that Frost was emitting that kept them at bay. Maya witnessed a couple frost wolves who thought they were strong, balk when Frost drew close, running into a distant glade.

With their expedited speed they made great time, reaching the Dungeon at the crack of dawn. As the sun rose and shone through the less dense canopy, the light awoke Nanna and Loki from a rather pleasant rest.

“Ummmmm” Nanna groaned, bothered by the strong sunlight piercing through her eyelids. Rubbing her sand encrusted eyes, she opened them with difficulty. She saw though still blurry, the back of her new master as well as a wet patch on his robes where she drooled. Her eyes opened wide in panic, and she quickly used her own clothes to discretely dry the patch of drool while blushing.

“We’re here, Nanna” Frost could feel the actions of the young girl on his back, and it filled him with joy, he struggled to not laugh at how cute she was. It helped to alleviate his current sour mood.

On the journey through the night Frost frequently brought up the dungeon menu to monitor the situation, he managed to lose some frost dwarves as well as a wolf but thankfully the frost troll didn’t show up as one of the deceased. The spawner also seemed to be still operational. He didn’t even think of the possibility of losing that until a couple hours ago, once he did however, he picked up the pace even more. That thing cost him 3000DP and wasn’t even close to paying back his investment yet.

Frost brought everyone to the edge of the forest, before them was an open plain lightly covered in snow before meeting the base of one of the Glacial Mountains. In the centre of the base was a large stone gateway leading deep into the mountain. The area was silent with no adventurers currently nearby, lucky.

Frost just had to take a few more steps and he’d be in the full vicinity of the Dungeon. He’d be able to take back control and use DP once again, his menu restoring to its full capabilities. He’d also be able to see the amount of DP the dungeon managed to accrue in his absence, hopefully it’s a lot.