Dungeon of Niflheim

“Master, defence well, many enemies dead, little over half left.” The frost troll reported back his findings with his broken common tongue.

“Excellent, well done frost troll, keep working hard and we’ll win this yet.” Frost praised his monster and laughed with joy, the report was truly good, completely overshadowing the hiccup with offensive force.

The frost troll felt giddy, it vigorously nodded in agreement, happy that it was praised. Although the frost troll couldn’t take part in the battles so far due to it being too large to fit in the escape tunnels or too slow to escape battle like the boars and foxes his role was just as if not more important. The goblins, dwarves and other monsters would look to it for guidance, and he acted as a strong morale booster. Frost would only communicate with it, a great honour that only the frost trolls were privileged enough to receive. And by him staying in the fortified glade base -the heart of their operations- as a commander it gave the feeling that everything would work out as long as the base still stood, and the commander could still draw breath. The moment it is forced into to battle would be when the situation is truly dire.

So far however that hasn’t come to pass, nor would it ever if things keep going their way. Once the invaders made their way to the fortified base they would retreat to the deeper bunkers until eventually settling in the third area. There was already a room set up as the second base of operations.

However, that was where their preparations end, on the second floor there was currently no more than 10 monsters there as backup, all at least F-rank but that was it. Gobuske’s forces would find the areas after the first floor far less deadly to pass. So, the plan was to end their invasion by the third room. Either by Findlay successfully reaching Gobuske’s core or by them eliminating all of Gobuske’s offensive team, both would end the war.

The same could be said for Findlay’s team, if they were utterly annihilated, Gobuske would be the victor, regardless of whether or not he reaches the dungeon core. Though Findlay was strong he couldn’t win this war by himself, he needed to protect his forces the best he could.

In the viewing area, rapt discussion was going on amongst the dungeon cores. Many were discussing strategy and methods to combat the current situations for either side, taking into account either their own forces or the ones present. Not many of the other dungeon cores knew much about monsters other than their own so seeing such a display was enlightening to say the least. Many of the lower ranked cores were staring with fervent focus, trying to imprint the entire battle into their minds so as to improve their own situations.

Quite a few were rather impressed with Gobuske, and some that looked down on him either due to his appearance or timid nature were having their views turned upside down. Of course, others still didn’t look favourably upon Gobuske due to his low core number or the fact he was a goblin. Bahamut was one such individual, like Bala he was incredibly arrogant. His form was that of a dragon, the king of monsters and all his monsters had dragon blood within them. His forces were based upon quality not quantity. He could see many ways in which his forces could crush the opposition with pure force, either side. His opinion of Frost thus lowered as well, he was a single digit core, yet he was struggling against goblins, shameful.

.....

Pyro however no longer had that poor of an impression towards Gobuske. Though he still found his nature rather irritating he had proven to be a capable foe in this battle, pushing back Frost’s forces on occasion. He was particularly happy to see Findlay forced to retreat in the large open cavern, so much that he laughed out loud, drawing the looks of his siblings.

Pyro was arrogant and felt superior to everyone else due to his high core number and personal strength, but he also respected those that were strong. Though they’d still be beneath him of course he wouldn’t look at them in disdain. Frost was the only real exception given that their elements had a combative relationship, plus his attitude and appearance really irked him for some reason.

Indra kept quiet the entire time, but his eyes were filled with lightning, wishing that he was the one getting to fight. Aqua was all full of smiles and constantly chattering away to Yami, praising Frost and occasionally Gobuske. While Yami kept silent and listened to her endless yammering. His eyes focused as he analysed the entire fight in detail, gauging the capabilities of his younger siblings.

He and Aqua were a fair bit different from the rest, Dark had granted them a slight head start in terms of strength, therefore the two of them could already summon C-rank monsters such a Findlay, meaning they weren’t in awe of his strength. Frost’s and Gobuske’s forces were a few levels lower than theirs but showed promise, especially Gobuske’s. Although it was clear that Gobuske was on the losing side in this war, his forces were far more disciplined and could deal with multiple scenarios. His capacity for diverse battle styles was far superior to him or Frost who would be restricted to their element for monsters, at least in the beginning.

In Yami’s eyes Gobuske had a rather solid foundation, only requiring experience in battle before he would be a powerful adversary. Shame that the battle was happening only after the first month, neither core’s forces had much time to develop.

In regards to Frost, though he found his commander to be capable his forces overall had nothing special. What did impress him however was the defences created in the winter forest as well as the tactics used by Frost. Clearly his younger brother was intelligent and had great skill in strategy, knowing the limitations of his own monsters.

He was impressed with both his siblings but knew that one was going to be the clear winner, shame he abstained from betting. Yami looked towards to the woman by his side, Aqua. ‘Looks like she’ll be making a nice profit.’ Out of everyone here, only Aqua was at his level and deserved his respect. That’s why he didn’t stop her yammering, just tuning her out.

Dark meanwhile was all smiles as he watched his children discuss the battle. He was happy with the outcome so far, feeling as though he achieved his goal. Frost and Gobuske were putting on a great show and revealing their talents like diamonds in the rough. The only problem was.... Dark then looked into Gobuske’s private space, more accurately Bala. Even now Bala still had the same arrogant look in his eyes only holding his tongue because of his ‘warning’.

‘What would be the best solution?’ Dark queried internally. He didn’t really want to replace Gobuske’s guardian since that could set a precedent. Gobuske wasn’t the only one that didn’t necessarily get on with their guardian, but he was the one suffering most. If he removed Bala, would he have to remove the rest that didn’t get along with their charges? Guardians weren’t unlimited and Dark wouldn’t restrict them too much given that they’d usually be powerful S-rank monsters, the peak of power in Nova save for the Gods. He shook his head and withdrew his penetrating gaze, deciding to deal with this issue later, hopefully there’d be an alternative method.

Dark didn’t dislike Bala too much, his personality wasn’t uncommon among the high ranked species such as dragons and usually it wouldn’t be a problem. He just chose to partner up the wrong pair, but if he said that he’d lose respect, a God can’t just take back their decisions willy nilly after all.

The dungeon war continued with both sides slowly making ground, Findlay had regrouped with the other scouting squads who reported that there was no other way forward, so he had to take care of the problem himself. It cost them some time and Findlay got hit with a dose of poison as well as a gash across his left arm, but he eliminated the goblins on one of the ridges. The other retreated the moment their comrades were engaged with Findlay. There wasn’t anything more they could do, staying would only mean death without meaning. Their fighting wouldn’t delay Findlay much and they could be better used deeper in the dungeon.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” The hob goblin commander roared in pain as his body was sliced across the chest, splitting him in half. He put up a valiant fight, but he was only D-rank after all, not Findlay’s match. He did however succeeded in drawing blood, something that hadn’t happened to Findlay yet. The hob goblin commander was the last to die and none of the goblins on this ridge were able to escape, Findlay sealed of their tunnels by shooting ice bolts into the wall, causing a cave in but he wasn’t happy. He looked down upon the lifeless corpse of the hobgoblin commander and nodded his head in respect, a worthy adversary.

With the cavern clear, he summoned his forces and moved on, searching for the entrance to the third section.