Dungeon of Niflheim

Eventually after soothing words and frequent head pats Nanna and Loki regained control of their bodies. Though they looked towards Maya with a great deal more fear, subconsciously reeling towards Frost whenever she made sudden moves. This hurt Maya’s heart a little, but she understood, simply smiling as gently as possible. Though she enjoyed putting some fear into her young master, scaring such young children was not up her alley. She casted some clean up magic on their bodies and clothes, removing the urine smell before speaking.

“Sorry about that, it was necessary to identify where your skills lie, and you passed with flying colours.” Speaking once again in that soothing melodious tone she gestured towards the weapons still held in their hands.

Maya’s voice seemed to have some magical effects, allowing them to calm down significantly, Frost even wondered if she had some siren blood in her ancestry. Nanna and Loki looked towards their hands and finally noticed the weapons that were there. Their eyes opened wide in surprise. Loki waved his daggers around with interest whereas Nanna hefted up the massive hammer that was far lighter than it looked.

Like with Frost, the moment they strengthened their grip and started playing around with the weapons they could feel as though it was part of them, an extension of their limbs. They both clearly had quite high talent in hammers and daggers. Wielding their own weapons and feeling the surge of strength they granted, their earlier fear stricken states faded out of their minds. Children truly were resilient and live in the moment.

“Congratulations Nanna, Loki, you’ve successfully identified the weapons that best suit you, well done.” Frost spoke out, his voice full of praises. The scary part was over, now hell could begin.

Maya promptly retrieved the pieces of morphing metal from the two, returning it back to a complete blob before tossing it back into her spatial bracelet. Maintaining a constant image and flow of mana would be too taxing for such young children. She planned to focus on one thing at a time with those two.

Nanna and Loki were sad to see their weapons transform back into a blob and then vanish but that only lasted a short moment. Maya utilised her position as a guardian to summon some training weapons made of wood, a hammer, and twin daggers. The material was so common and weak that they didn’t even reach 1 star level but would be prefect for practise. Unlike with Frost she couldn’t just summon an ice golem to beat the crap out of them until they reached beginner mastery. No, this needed a more gentle approach.

“Here take these wooden weapons, they’ll allow you to get used to the form and weight distribution of such weapons.” Maya then gracefully handed them their weapons before returning to her original position. Nanna and Loki were now set, it was time to start her young master’s training. Unlike Nanna and Loki, Frost didn’t need a hands on personal approach.

.....

“Young master, you’ll train over at the north side of the room, and I’ll teach the kids over here on the south side.” She then literally shooed him away as though he was an annoying pest.

“..... And do what exactly?” There was nothing there, was he supposed to shadow box or something. That wasn’t what he needed at the moment.

Maya’s face was partially hidden from him, so he didn’t see the evil smirk she had on. A moment later she rapidly turned around, her long white leg raised, she kicked him in the abdomen sending him flying across the room. Of course, she utilised more of a pushing motion, but it still hurt. Frost coughed violently as his body was sent barrelling to the north side of the training room.

Bang!

“Cough cough” Frost continued to cough as he tried to catch his breath and return to his feet. He had a nasty grimace on his face, anger clearly in his eyes.

‘That was a bit much don’t you think?’ Glaring at Maya’s face he clenched his fist, all he did was tease her a little, violence wasn’t an appropriate response. He didn’t even get enough time to yell at her before she stamped down with her foot, causing a dozen magic crests to appear around him. Ice golems with Maya’s likeness appeared from the crest, each armed with differing weapons, he was suddenly surrounded.

‘Fuck!’ They all attacked in tandem, showing create teamwork. From their speed he judged them to all be upper D-rank.

“MAAAAAAYAAAAAAA!” Frost roared as he fended of as much strikes as he could, withdrawing his glaive immediately.

Maya in response smiled innocently, releasing a slight giggle, feeling very much refreshed.

“Do your best with your training young master.” She spoke in a mocking tone before turning to Nanna and Loki who at some point were twitching from shock. The moment Maya’s gaze washed over them; they felt a shiver go down their backs.

‘What’s she gonna make us do?’ Nanna and Loki looked at one another expressing this question with their eyes.

Several hours later Frost was splayed out on the floor covered in bruises, tattered robes and stains of blood dotted all around him. He finally managed to take out the last golem a couple minutes ago and was now resting, his body ached but he felt good. He needed experience fighting large groups of enemies alone, it irked him however that Maya was so on point once again with her training style. He really didn’t want to admit that she was right in anyway.

‘The kicking me halfway across the room was definitely not necessary.’ He chose to focus on her unneeded acts of violence even though he probably deserved a little bit of hard education given his recent cockiness around her.

Nanna and Loki didn’t have nearly as dangerous a time, but they too were slumped on the ground, back to back as they gasped for air. Maya had them practise movements with their weapons, thousands of times against wooden posts. Their hands had been ripped open in places and their arms were completely numb, but they too were smiling. This pain wasn’t the same as being beaten or pummelled on, no this had reason, it was improving their bodies not breaking them for other’s enjoyment.

“Good we’ll call it quits tonight, you two did very well.” Maya walked over and rubbed their heads with affection. Though they didn’t achieve beginner mastery their forms definitely improved as would their bodies, creating a solid foundation.

“W....w...what abo.....ut m....ee?” Frost groaned out as he tried to get up off the floor. Where was his praise for doing a good job.

“Hmmmmm so-so I guess.” Maya spoke flatly before turning back to Nanna and Loki, disinterested in her young master.

“So, mean” Frost felt hurt before starting to laugh, she didn’t even pay attention to him once, nor did she use a healing spell. He felt as though his position as favourite student was stolen by Nanna and Loki.

Maya let him mope around for a few minutes before sending a healing spell his way, all while appearing as though innocent. Nanna and Loki made an internal promise to never get on Maya’s bad side.

Once training was over, Frost and Maya carried Loki and Nanna to bed. They passed out once Maya healed their hands, looking very cute. With the two of them asleep Frost could finally attend the Barren matter, he planned to take out the rage he had towards Maya out on him. There was also the calling of Leo now that they returned to the Dungeon but that could wait until tomorrow. Maya giggled at Frost’s childish antics of the silent treatment, finding him more and more adorable. She’d let him have his space, remaining in the private space while he tended to dungeon matters. She needed to work out some training and teaching lessons anyway for both the kids and her young master. Thankfully now they were back in the dungeon neither of them required sleep, so she got right to work. There was a lot she needed to cram into her young master in the next two weeks.

Frost silently teleported into the fortified glade in the second room, he planned to bring Findlay along with him. At the moment there was only a couple adventurer parties present, most avoided staying within during the night, so Findlay wasn’t needed at his post.

Frost found Findlay hard at work instructing a new spawner goblin on its role.

“Findlay let’s go pay that adventurer a visit.” He had an irritated look on his face, eager to cause some damage. Pummelling ice didn’t have the same feeling as flesh.

Findlay looked up from the frost goblin with a smile.

“Gladly master” the two of them then teleported to where the adventurer Barren was being held. The dwarven guards were still present, as vigilant as ever. They obeyed their master’s orders watching over the prisoner and making sure he didn’t croak.