Dungeon of Niflheim

“Perfect, looks like everyone is in place, time to get this show on the road. Frost, Gobuske do you have anything to say to your opponents before we begin?” Dark waved his hand allowing Frost and Gobuske to communicate with everyone here. Frost spoke up first.

“Gobuske, I hope you bring you’re A-game otherwise this’ll be a short fight.” Frost spoke with a competitive tone.

“...I...I’ll show you the power of goblins elder brother!” Gobuske still a little nervous stuttered his words at the start but became confident towards the end. He had strong faith in his goblins, regardless of what Bala said, they were strong.

A bunch of the other cores gave supportive cheers, Aqua in particular was quite supportive whereas others were jeering such as Pyro and those that felt cheated out their place by Gobuske.

“Good fighting spirit kids, well then let’s begin in 3,2,1, go!” Dark announced with a booming voice. The dungeon war had begun.

“Charge!” Findlay roared as he led his entourage of monsters into Gobuske’s Dungeon. The hob goblin commanders did the same, like regular frost trolls they could speak a little bit of common tongue.

“Finally, it begins, are you two ready?” Frost said with a wide smile.

“Yes master” Nanna and Loki both replied enthusiastically, nodding with gusto. With their reply the invasion began, Gobuske’s monsters entered his dungeon.

.....

“Nanna is group one ready?”

“Yes master, the goblins are hiding under the snow ready to attack.” Nanna and Loki were in charge of the first contact battle.

The moment the goblin army entered the winter highlands section, the hob goblin commanders gave out a string of orders in goblinlike grunts, splitting the army up to map out the area.

As usual there was a fierce blizzard roaring in the room, making visibility difficult. The temperature which was not a problem for Frost, or his monsters was quite a problem for the regular goblins. several of them shivered from the cold biting wind. Luckily the goblin mages were there, using lifestyle magic they conjured up some fire to light torches. Gobuske learned that Frost was a user of ice and prepared for such an eventuality. Armed with torches, the different squads fanned out with the hob goblin commanders moving forward with the main force. The entrance to the next room could be anywhere and time was a major factor given that this was a race. Splitting up wasn’t the safest method but the quickest. Unfortunately, with such a large force it wouldn’t take long for them to cover the entire section. So, they needed to be delayed.

A group of five frost goblins armed with spears were currently hidden beneath the snow, lying in wait for their oncoming victims. They followed orders well and were used to such methods, having used similar tactics to deal with adventurers. Their natural ice resistance allowed them to be covered in the snow for hours without issue and their blue skin helped to camouflage them from their targets. The goblin group passing through never even noticed them.

“Now!” Nanna gave her orders and the frost goblins known as group one made their moves. While in the purview of the Dungeon, Frost, Nanna, and Loki could use the dungeon menu to view the entire dungeon in real time, making them able to see the entire movements of the enemy. A clear advantage, shame it didn’t work in the opponent’s dungeon.

Group one got their orders and lunged at their awaiting foes, a group of 5 regular goblins at G-rank and one goblin fighter that was F-rank. Just a regular scouting group, not too weak not to strong.

The five of them lunged out of snow without warning successfully ambushing their opponents.

“Rahhhhhhh!” The opposing goblins grunted in shock as they braced themselves against the frost goblin’s spears. The targets were 3 of the regular goblins. In a split second, one of the goblins was run through by two spears, offering very little resistance, it died quickly. Spurting blood and painting the snow red, its body slumped to the ground, the first victim of the war fell.

The second goblin wasn’t quite as lucky, one of the spears narrowly missed, simply creating a deep gash, across its side. The other spear punctured through its abdomen, incredibly painful and certainly took out the goblins battle ability but it’d be an agonising death.

The final goblin only had to face a single opponent and successfully blocked the strike without too much effort. Using its dagger to deflect the oncoming spear. Now it was 5 vs 4, lower than what Nanna hoped. The frost goblins were experienced in ambushes and should have had a great advantage, but they only managed to effectively take down 2 of their 3 targets. Although they now held the number advantage, one of the goblins present was F-rank, their odds didn’t look good.

The situation with the third goblin was quite surprising, it shouldn’t have had the capabilities to block the frost goblin’s lunge. All the frost goblins involved in this ambush were at least level 7 and should have had the advantage, especially in an ambush. Something wasn’t right. Nanna reported the situation to Frost, who frowned. Meeting with his siblings he realised that they each had their own specialties, his and many of the elder cores were related to a certain element. Increasing their own battle abilities and immunity to damage from that element. The lower dungeon cores however were more diverse in their gifts. Agar (the lich) for example, was able to turn corpses into undead monsters, thus getting monsters for free. Gobuske’s however he didn’t get a chance to find out.

While he was pondering, group one was quickly dealt with. They successfully killed another of the regular goblins before meeting their end, not the best result but it wasn’t Nanna’s fault.

“Loki, hold group 2 back for now, no use wasting lives, I’m sure my brother has the number advantage in terms of monsters.” Frost quickly asked Loki to hold his assault, like Nanna he was in control of another group of 5 frost goblins lying in ambush.

With the first conflict over and Gobuske coming out on top, Frost received a communication request from Gobuske.

“Gobuske, what is it?” Gobuske had a somewhat cocky grin on his face, rather unusual considering his regular attitude.

“Hehehe looks like I won the first exchange big brother. What do you think, my goblins are pretty awesome right? Way better than yours.” Gobuske was incredibly proud of his goblins and knew they wouldn’t lose against those of the same race. They were his speciality after all.

“Let me guess, your special talent makes your goblins stronger than normal right?” Frost spoke not with irritation but envy, his abilities only focused on his personal strength, not those of his monsters. Gobuske was clearly the opposite

“Hehehe pretty much, my goblins are not only stronger compared to regular goblins at the same level, they’re smarter and all start at half their max level heheheh. If you want to beat me with goblins your going to need a lot more than that.” Gobuske couldn’t help but laugh with pride, as he won the first battle. Even Bala who was still restricted by Dark couldn’t help but open his eyes wide in surprise. He had never seen Gobuske acting like this, nor did he believe he’d win the first fight.

Frost smirked before replying “That was just a small battle, the victor of the war hasn’t been decided yet.” Frost looked at the image of his almost gloating younger brother and smiled wildly before giving a command. “Findlay, show my younger brother what we’re made of.”

“Yes master,” Findlay responded with a determined tone before he roared out loud, activating his skill, [invigorating shout]. With him and his comrades empowered he dashed towards the nearest group of enemy goblins aiming to even out the scales in response.

Gobuske’s first section was a regular forest, similar to Frost’s second section though without the cold temperature. The moment Findlay and his team entered Gobuske’s dungeon, he ordered the gyrfalcons to scout out the area, flying above the tree tops. It was a great way to develop the dungeon map for Frost back in the private space, but they did lack offensive power. A group of goblin archers quickly opened fire on a couple that flew over them, the gyrfalcons managed to successfully dodge the first volley but would struggle with the second.

However, their arrows announced their location, perfect for Findlay to draw first blood. Receiving his master’s order, he dashed into the trees and made short work of the 3 goblin archers, cleaving them apart with his axe.

Gobuske winced as he saw the power of Findlay, he had nothing that could compete with Findlay, he was too powerful. He responded quickly, pulling back the other goblins he had in the nearby area that were there to protect the archers. Sending low rank goblins against Findlay would get him nowhere, he needed to focus on thinning out Frost’s other monsters.

The line was still open between the brothers and Frost watched how Gobuske’s cocky smile deflated, becoming a frown.