Dungeon of Niflheim

He found the battle very spirit lifting, allowing him to work out a great amount of hidden stress and knots in his shoulders. He could even feel his adept glaive mastery somewhat improve.

“Truly, real battles with real danger work far better than sheltered training.” Frost already felt that his trip was proving fruitful. Finishing his stretch, he moved to cast some clean up magic but stopped at the final moment, deciding to leave the blood on his robes.

“If I leave the blood, it may attract even greater foes.” With a cunning smile Frost left his robes as is, splashed with red and looking rather wild. The corpses however he would follow the regular rule of adventurers and burn their remains. He wasn’t going to carry them with him as he travelled and drawing monsters to this location would only harm others.

After he skinned their pelts with his ice chakra knife and removed their intact larger bones and their magic crystals, he set the corpses alight with the ignition spell. Creating a rather large and attractive bonfire in the expansive white landscape.

Frost wolf pelts are always highly desired by textile merchants and their bones can either be used to create weapons or even ground up into powder to create potions or artificing materials. It was a very useful monster material wise, even the meat could be used to produce many dishes, but Frost was no cook and didn’t want to lug around strong smelling meat in his backpack.

As the fires gradually extinguished leaving nothing but ashes of the frost wolves, Frost was set to continue his journey but suddenly, he sensed something nearby. On alert he re-summoned his glaive and turned around to face the danger. A modicum of sweat dripped down his face as he felt the entity draw ever closer.

“Most impressive young lad, your skills are quite advanced, you’ve got potential.” A deep magnetic voice came through the blizzard and a moment later a man appeared. He was tall, easily 2 metres in height and incredibly muscular, yet his body also screamed speed. He was dressed in majestic monster leather clearly from a high ranking species and held a pair a blue axes by his side. The man was a beastman, part of the bear tribe. Fur could be seen on some parts of his body and ears, and a large scar could be seen across his left eye making him look all the more intimidating.

Frost could feel a great sense of danger from this man, so much so that his body trembled and screamed for him to run. The man let out a little of his aura but just that small snippet was enough.

.....

‘This man is even stronger than Ryuu.’ Ryuu was a mid-level possibly high-level B-rank mage, yet this man was clearly stronger. ‘Not quite A-rank but certainly top of the line B level.’ Frost surmised the man’s capabilities it still felt within the same realm as Ryuu just higher in quantity instead of quality but even so he could still kill him without much effort.

“Hahahahah relax kid I’m not an enemy just a curious observer.” The man laughed out loud and produced a friendly smile as he reigned in his aura. Frost relaxed somewhat but didn’t drop his guard.

“Well, it’d be weird if you let your guard down right away but if I wanted to harm you, could you do anything about it?” The man had an infuriating smirk on his face as he teased someone of the younger generation.

Frost simply shook his head in reply while relaxing his tense body, the man was right, even if he was completely ready this man could kill him with a single attack if he wanted. With a wave of his hand, he placed his glaive back in the spatial ring and shrugged.

“Perfect now we can talk. Are you from Northrend or the Glacial mountains?”

“Technically my home is near the Glacial mountains but I’m a registered adventurer in Furano, a viscounty in Northrend.” Frost answered honestly.

“Hoh! a junior great, come, come let’s get out of the snow and continue chatting.” The man’s atmosphere suddenly became really friendly, clearly happy with Frost’s answer.

Frost frowned, he already had plans and didn’t really want to go with the bear beastman but what choice did he have. After releasing a deep sigh, he followed the bear man to a nearby alcove. The man must have been staying here while he was fighting the frost wolves as he could see camping gear placed around a firepit.

“Take a seat by the fire junior, can I get you something, hot cocoa? Coffee? Water? Perhaps something to eat?” Acting like a friendly old man really didn’t mesh well with his intimidating face but Frost wasn’t one to judge.

“A hot cocoa would be nice, thanks.” He took the man up on his offer and took a seat by the fire to wait on his hot cocoa. A minute later the bear man returned from his tent with cups of hot cocoa and handed one to Frost.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, no problem.” The man smiled gently as he took a sip of his own mug. “Ah can’t go wrong with hot cocoa during a snowstorm.” The man licked his lips as he enjoyed the sweet yet bitter flavour of cocoa. “I guess I should probably introduce myself.” The man placed his hand over his chest in a formal military salute and emitted the aura of a soldier ” My name’s Jared Bando, a major in the War Ursa battalion of the Northrend empire, plus I was born in Furano.”

Frost stared at the large bear man or rather Jared with a blank expression not expecting to meet a high ranking officer of the military here in the external regions let alone someone from Furano.

‘No wonder his attitude became really friendly after I said I was registered in Furano.’ Frost nodded his head in understanding.

“My name’s Frost, a young adventurer.” Frost then removed his guild card to show.

“Hmmm E-rank that doesn’t seem right?” Jared looked over the guild card with a confused look. No one of E-rank could have dealt with those frost wolves as easily as he did.

“I’ve just registered recently, it’s not indicative of my true strength.” Frost smiled with a little embarrassment.

“I see, but what are you doing out here? I don’t know of any E-rank quests available in the Glacial mountains.”

“True but I’m here on a special quest, I need to scout an area in the Gamma sector for any signs of the monster stampede.” The moment Frost said, ‘monster stampede’, Jared’s aura fluctuated, and he could feel a strong burst of killing intent, Frost’s skin shivered in response.

“So, it really is that time of the year.” Jared frowned while turning to look out into the white expanse as memories drifted to the forefront of his mind.

Frost kindly let him wallow in his memories in silence while he drank his hot cocoa.

“Haaaaaaa seems that I’ve been away from home for so long....Would you mind keeping an old man company and telling him the recent happenings of his home?” Jared spoke with a slight pleading tone, full of sorrow. Frost looked over his new acquaintance and felt his pain. Feeling a good vibe from the man he decided to tell him everything, to satisfy his craving and in return Jared told Frost about himself.

Jared Bando was slightly younger than Douglas and Ryuu but could be considered in the same generation. Whereas they went down the adventurer route before entering the governing sector, Jared joined the military.

Decades ago, the frost wolf battalion came as per normal to the Furano viscounty to combat the monster stampede. Unfortunately, even with them there he lost his family in the long battle, becoming an orphan. Desiring to be like the soldiers who saved his town he told an officer of his desire and was formally accepted into their ranks as a young trainee. He was taken back to Arkheart and placed in an orphanage for the military, wherein he was given shelter, food, and education and when he became of age he entered into the military. Through his hard work and talent, he reached his current level, just a step away from A-rank battle strength, a great accomplishment.

Now he was part of the War Ursa battalion, the contingent of the Northrend army that is permanently stationed within the inner regions of the Glacial mountains, guarding their strategic outposts. They are by far the hardest of the empire’s soldiers and very rarely do they get the chance to return home. Jared was performing some scout work in the area due to some dangerous reports of monster activity. A major part of the soldiers’ job was to make sure that the trade routes from the native Glacial mountain kingdoms and Northrend were relatively safe. The fact that he happened upon Frost was completely by chance and one he was happy for.

Frost regaled him of the situation in Furano, the people he met, the current guild masters and how the people were doing and the regular life of the citizens. He even mentioned the issues around Baron Adam as well as the recovery of Douglas and the upcoming preparation for the monster stampede since Jared showed particular concern for that.