Dungeon of Niflheim

With the distance between the two parties, the ice revenant had more than enough to time to launch a couple more spells before being forced into close combat. An earlier adventurer party couldn’t even close the distance due to the onslaught of his magic. They died without even reaching a ten metre radius, he surmised Frost and his group would be much the same.

The five ice swords crossed through the air with rapid pace as did the fireballs.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions erupted when the fireballs clashed against their respective ice swords, fragmenting them into scattered shards across the room. While a combination of ice dust and steam was left in the air at the point of contact. The last two swords were unperturbed, hounding their way towards Sam. However, to get to him they’d to need pass Frost and his fire enhanced glaive.

Frost dashed ahead of Sam with his greater speed, blocking the ice swords path. His eyes revealing a sharp focus, Frost gripped onto his glaive with both hands. Letting out a small breath he gauged his timing so as to take out the two ice swords with a single slash.

“[Crescent slash]” At the precise moment both ice swords entered his field of control Frost activated his weapon skill, generating a beam of energy suffused with fire that left his glaive as he swung out.

Shwwing! The glaive beam sliced through the two remaining ice swords, cleaving them in twain. The four halves quickly lost their power and harmlessly fell by Frost’s side. The first attack had been dealt with and Sam quickly passed by Frost, closing the distance between him and the ice revenant.

“Hoh, not bad.” A slight tinge of excitement flashed in the ice revenants eyes, not expecting his prey to deal with his 3rd circle spell so easily. “[Ice become a wave and freeze thine enemy, Frost nova]” without even taking so much as a breath the ice revenant cast another 3rd circle spell, once again aimed towards Sam. Its mana veins were clearly far superior to Adam’s given that it didn’t need a break after using 3rd circle magic. This wasn’t unusual, monsters tended to have more powerful bodies, not just physically but internally as well, this included their mana channels.

.....

The spell [frost nova] summoned a large magic crest before the ice revenant, it glowed with power, even greater than the [homing ice blades] he cast previously. It was of a higher ranking among 3rd circle spells, one that affected the very terrain.

A moment after the magic crest appeared, ice sprang forth in thick sharp spikes, paving a path towards the charging Sam. The spell was slower than [homing ice blades] but far more difficult to diffuse. They wouldn’t be able to stop this spell with a weapon and Lola’s fire balls wouldn’t be enough to staunch its progress. If the ice revenant had a face he’d be showing a cocky smile right now. If Frost and his teammates couldn’t bring anything more powerful to the table they’d be like the previous group, unable to reach him for close combat.

Frost frowned as he watched the dangerous and expanding glacier of ice proceeding towards them, there was nothing he could do to help here. His magic was also of the ice element and of a lower level, he’d only make the glacier worse. And his glaive, couldn’t split something like that in twain. With annoyed click of his tongue Frost turned his head to the only woman in their group, only she could make a move.

Sam however despite being faced with an ever encroaching glacier, that would crush, freeze and or spear him to death continued forward without the slightest misstep, fully confident in his wife’s capabilities. Though this spell of the ice revenants was not unknown to the group, and they had generated a suitable plan to counter it, running into it in the beginning of the fight was a bit surprising.

Lola who was running behind Frost and Sam frowned with annoyance and internally sighed before getting to work. She used the [fire ball] spell earlier so as to conserve mana but unfortunately that wouldn’t work here.

“[Fire obey my command, light up thy path with your glorious power and burn those that impede you, Fiery road].” A modicum of sweat dripped down Lola’s forehead as she concentrated on casting her magic. This spell [fiery road] was pretty much the fire equivalent of [frost nova] and though she was a skilled magician, her ability to channel large reserves of mana was lower than that of the ice revenant. A soon as the aria was finished Lola opened up her eyes with vigour, she swung her staff and summoned an equalling large magic crest ahead of them. The crest shone with a bright red light before flames erupted forth and dashed forward to meet with the glacier. One path was covered in ice whereas the other was filled with fire.

Booommmm!

At the point of contact a large steam explosion erupted, obscuring the sight of both groups. Water covered the floor, the result of the ice and fire cancelling one another out. The ice revenant gawked in surprise not expecting Lola to be able to use 3rd circle magic. Feeling a sense of danger, the revenant gripped onto its massive broadsword preparing to engage in close combat. With the steam obscuring his view the revenant lost sight of his targets, he felt on edge.

Lola stopped running when she cast [fiery road] so as to concentrate better, and was thus left behind by the still charging Frost and Sam. However, she was right where she needed to be, her job was long range attacks. using the steam vision block she tended to her slightly strained mana veins, taking in deep breaths, and calming her internal mana.

Frost and Sam however dashed ahead; they shared a knowing look before rearranging their positions. Sam moved directly ahead of Frost while Frost readied his glaive, their plan was to launch Sam through the steam.

With a curt nod Frost reeled back his glaive while Sam jumped upwards. A fraction of a second later, Frost’s glaive swung round with immense force, the flat of the glaive’s blade met with Sam’s foot and whoosh! Sam was rocketed forward like a bullet. Their combined strength launched Sam through the steam, straight at the ice revenant. Their distance was small enough to make this a possibility and their timing was perfect. The ice revenant’s plan to stop their advance backfired.

The wall of steam split as Sam was powered through, his great sword resting on his shoulders as he tensed up his powerful arm muscles, ready to smite the revenant once he closed the distance. A single slash would not kill the monster or even wound it much, but it would force a change in their battle, bringing it to the next phase. It’s much harder for one even a monster to cast magic while also fighting in close combat. Once they got in close the danger in terms of magic would be greatly lowered, an aspect that was sorely needed.

In terms of physical battle capabilities Frost and Sam were confident that they were on the same level as the ice revenant plus there was two of them. Only in magic were they outclassed, Lola wouldn’t be able to keep up with multiple 3rd or even 2nd circle spells, as stated monsters were inherently stronger than sapients of the same rank.

The ice revenant was caught by surprise by the large man barrelling through the air toward him but it only fleeting. While quickly readying his sword to cut down this aggressor he cast a final spell, this time without an aria, making it far faster.

“[Chilling grasp]” the ice revenant used the same spell as the lesser yuki-onna, the one Frost really wished to learn. A magic crest formed on Sam’s body, filling his body with a magical chill, aiming to freeze his blood and muscles. If Sam was unable to move as he flew through the air he’d be a much easier target but unfortunately for the ice revenant, the group had already taken precautions against such magic.

As the magic crest started to shine with a blueish silver light, the [veil of flames] that Lola cast earlier activated, burning the magic crest of the revenant’s chilling grasp spell. Sam was completely unaffected by the revenant’s magic and now he was within striking distance.

Sam increased his grip strength on his great sword’s handle and his already muscular arms expended in size. “[Sky cleave]” Sam called out the command word for his sharpest skill. Energy filled his great sword causing it to glow with a pale silver light, expanding its size to almost double before the mighty sword cleaved downwards against the ice revenant.