Dungeon of Niflheim

With both sides suffering substantial damages to their offensive teams, it was merely a question of who would survive the longest. This battle no longer had much hope of being a race to the dungeon core but a war of extermination, much to the joy of the audience.

The massive gruelling battles were far more exciting to watch than a race. Many of the dungeon cores became much more animated and involved, unable to restrain their excitement, shouting out their feelings be they negative or positive. If you ignore the mass amounts of dead monsters, this dungeon war was reminiscent of a large sporting event with the fans of the opposing teams unable to contain themselves. The majority of the ‘involved’ dungeon cores were the ones that decided to take part in the betting pool, Aqua in particular was quite animated. Raising her arms in jubilation or sulking when Frost suffered a surprise attack. All of which Yami was forced to endure by her side, though he didn’t say it, he was reaching his limit with this younger sister of his. Thankfully he didn’t have to endure it quite alone. Sylph the second eldest sister bet on Gobuske- mainly since it was opposed to Aqua who for some reason, she didn’t get along with- the two of them argued amongst one another, giving him some breathing room.

Dark couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of his eldest son suffering, thinking it was some sort of karma, he silently gave Aqua and Sylph a thumbs up, once again feeling that his daughters were much cuter. His gaze was then drawn back to the dungeon war, and he couldn’t help but smile with pride, his two sons were really going at it now, no more holding back and showing restraint, exactly what he hoped to see.

Their future opponents would not show leniency, they needed to get used to losing their monsters in battle. It was fine to form some attachment but not so much that it would jeopardise the defence of their cores. Gobuske gave him a fair amount of worry when he looked towards him with pleading eyes earlier, Dark was thankful that he got over the depression.

His gaze then drifted over to Bala, once again trying to think of the best solution to deal with this problem. Indirectly it was thanks to Bala’s mocking that Gobuske regained his focus, getting back into the war.... meaning his personality wasn’t completely disadvantageous to Gobuske, he could use him as a prop, someone that he desired to prove wrong....but would the relationship remain like that? He was truly stumped.

Meanwhile down in a large dark room in the lower levels of the underground city, Findlay was swiftly coming too. He blacked out for a couple minutes or so, thankfully his opponents weren’t in a position to make his rest permanent. The three remaining hob goblins though releasing themselves from Findlay still retained their speed, slamming against opposing walls, just not bashing their heads. They weren’t knocked out, but their bones still hurt, plus this room was pitch black, they couldn’t even see their allies let alone their opponent. In the short time Findlay was unconscious they scrambled around trying to find one another as well as the spriggan who entered shortly after them. Their job was simply to buy time, keeping Findlay here for as long as possible. They knew the risks of this operation yet didn’t even hesitate when volunteering, knowing that they’d likely die here.

The moment Findlay awoke, his entire body was wracked with pain, and he had a splitting headache, it didn’t help that there was some loud painful screaming reverberating in the room making it worse. His left arm was pretty much unresponsive, simply hanging limply by his side. Thankfully the bleeding seemed to be reduced, likely from him running out rather than the wounds clotting. Findlay knew his situation was dire and moved to take a health potion that was stored in a section of his loincloth. Frost gave him a couple low level health potions to either use on himself or the higher ranked monsters, their use was up to his discretion.

However, his movements didn’t go unnoticed, nor did his restrained moans from the pain. The spriggan that was screaming in pain suddenly turned to face Findlay, clearly able to make out his form in this darkness. Full of rage it moved towards him, its body suddenly morphing into its giant form, reaching over 4 metres tall, even larger than Findlay. Its face and upper body however were severely wounded as though they’d been burned. The transformation only increased the wounds size as well as amplified the spriggan’s pain, but it was lost in its rage, no longer caring. It battered away the hob goblins that were crowded beside it, no longer able to tell friend from foe. The hob goblins were unable to see in this darkness and unfortunately were taken by surprise by the spriggan’s sudden aggression. The three of them were sent flying towards the nearby walls and knocked out cold.

.....

Findlay suddenly felt a sense of danger and his fuzzy vision, obscured by blood and his still groggy mind could barely make out a large fist coming his way.

‘Shit!’ This vision quickly woke him up out of his stupor, but it wasn’t fast enough.

Boom!

The spriggan’s massive fist smashed into his face, Findlay could feel the bones in his nose crack as his head was pushed backwards against the wall. The health potion he had begun to retrieve from his loincloth fell from his hand and smashed upon the floor, becoming useless. Findlay’s mind that had just started to move grew slower once again, his vision growing darker and his body wishing to sleep.

‘No! I can’t fall asleep’ Findlay knew the danger of him being knocked out once again and couldn’t allow it to happen. He used pain to fight against the urge to black out, quickly squeezing his shattered left arm.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” The pain was intense and instantly caused him to roar in agony the moment the spriggan pulled back its fist, raring for another strike. This time however Findlay had enough to time to defend himself. The moment the spriggan punched out again he raised his one good arm and blocked.

Thud!

This time though there was still a large sound due to the force contained behind the strike, it was of a much lower tone. No bones were cracked, or heads smashed against a stone wall, no Findlay caught the large fist with his hand and forearm, dampening the blow. Findlay even in his injured state had incredible physical strength, not lower than the spriggan.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” The spriggan still filled with fury put more strength into his punch aiming to crush Findlay. It roared aloud as its arm visibly increased in size and became covered in pulsing veins, detailing the strain it was under. Findlay simply sat still, unperturbed by the spriggan’s sudden strength increase. Though his right arm was pushed back, bringing it imperceptibly close to his now bent and broken nose, it never reached. Findlay’s arm also increased in size as it endured the onslaught. The standoff continued for a few seconds before a clear winner was made.

Crack!

The longer the exchange went on the more time Findlay had to regain his bearings and fully awaken. He was an upper C-rank monster that held great physical strength. He may have been injured and taken by surprise a few times but in a straight up contest, the spriggan was no match. Perhaps if it was an elder spriggan or an elite he’d be defeated but an ordinary one....no way. Findlay squeezed the spriggan’s oversized fist with his right hand, causing a loud cracking sound to fill the room, he broke a couple of the spriggan’s fingers before.

Doof! He knocked the spriggan’s arm upwards leaving its ice burned face and torso exposed. “[ice bolt]” channelling his mana Findlay casted his magic, sending a bolt of ice into the spriggan’s chest, knocking it away. This was nowhere near enough to truly hurt the spriggan, but it would create some distance between the two.

With the spriggan knocked backwards, Findlay retrieved the second and final health potion from his loincloth and quickly downed the vial. “Bleurgh, master was right, that stuff really is vile.” He threw away the empty potion as though it was some cursed item. He’d drank one as a frost troll but now that his intelligence and emotions had elevated to the same as a sapient race, he could appreciate the differences in tastes and senses, but in this case, it proved to be a negative influence.