Dungeon of Niflheim

Lola who was continuing to channel mana into her spell [pillar of fire] was too focused to notice the situation between Frost and her husband otherwise she’d loudly berate the two of them to get their god damn act together and help her finish off this revenant. The 3rd circle spell [Pillar of fire] could be maintained for a longer duration as long as one continued to channel mana into the crest but doing so was very draining. Though the ice revenant was trapped within the pillar and was constantly wailing in pain, the damage being done was not fatal. Lola could only maintain her spell for a limited time, Sam would be required to finish the revenant with his physical attacks.

Sweat dripped down Frost’s forehead as he wracked his mind in a panic, fearful of the vial slowly being brought closer to his lips. He was powerless to resist Sam in his current state and knew that even if he could it would be pointless, his injuries required healing. A low level health potion wouldn’t be enough to fully heal his wounds, merely prevent death and allow him some modicum of movement. This meant he’d have to endure multiple low level health potions before leaving this lair before having to either drink a medium level potion or receive healing magic. He knew the rarity of high level health potions and held no hope of being able to taste such a delicacy anytime soon.

High level health potions were actually available in the dungeon menu, but the price was through the roof, charging 100,000DP for a single vial. Way beyond Frost’s price range, equivalent to 100 converted gold coins, an extortion of the highest level.

Frost kissed his dreams goodbye after seeing such a price, but in a way he thought it was fair. A high level health potion, especially one made by the dungeon menu would be a veritable life saver, able to cure even the most serious of injuries, restoring lost limbs or even organs to say nothing of the glorious taste.

‘Wait a minute, I may not have a high level potion, but I do have a mid-level one.’ As the memory of his experience with the high level health potion floated in his mind, Frost remembered that he was rewarded with medium level potions after operation ‘new dawn’ and that he’d brought along two of such potions with him. It was just that he had no opportunity to use such potions as of yet, planning to use them in the most dire of circumstances that he forgot about them.

With desperate movements Frost send a string of mana into his spatial ring to remove on of said potions. A fraction of a second later the vial appeared from the ring and gently knocked against the floor. His eyes filled with extreme focus pointed towards the fallen vial, encouraging Sam to take notice.

Sam was so close, the vial of health potion was already at Frost’s lips, all he needed to do was lift it an angle and Frost would be forced to experience the torture, but he couldn’t ignore the sound of glass clinking against the floor along with Frost’s desperate look. His eyes drifted towards the sound, finding the mid-level health potion. A vial filled with a ruby red liquid containing hints of silver sparkles, far higher in quality than the potion currently pressed against Frost’s lips.

‘That’s a mid-level health potion and one of decent quality too.’ His eyes opened wide in surprise for a moment before he looked back at Frost. He understood Frost hints, the slowly tilting vial of low level health potion stopped in place...but it wasn’t removed either.

.....

A conflict was brewing in Sam’s mind. He knew that the mid-level health potion would be far more effective and that it could even bring Frost back to near 100% fighting shape after several minutes but if he did that, Frost wouldn’t suffer the rotten taste. Sam’s eyes changed from Frost the mid-level potion by his side, going back and forth as he tried to solve the conundrum.

‘Do I heal him with the mid-level potion, bringing him to nearly full health like I should, or should I purposely make Frost suffer a little? Pretending like I never saw the vial? He can always take the mid-level potion after without any detriments and either way there’s no way he can take part in final acts of the fight.’ Sam had swift changes in his eyes, sometimes there was a gentle innocent look and other times there was a mischievous one. Frost caught sight of every change, his mouth opened wide in shock and confusion.

‘You damn evil bastard you wouldn’t dare!’ His eyes sent such a message towards Sam, with no small amount of threat. He couldn’t believe the situation in front of his eyes, the man who was supposed to be his comrade in arms against foul tasting potions was so readily about to betray him at his weakest moment. His heart felt so wounded.

A moment later Sam seemed to come to a decision, an evil smile adoring his face as his eyes revealed a light of innocence. The mid-level health potion remained by Frost’s side, as though Sam never saw it in the first place. The low level health potion that had stopped tilting began rising once more, the red liquid edging ever closer to his tongue.

Frost froze, his eyes opened wide in fear, trembling from the pain of such a betrayal. The man before him was the incarnation of a demon, pretending to be a friend and ally.

As the liquid inched ever closer and Frost’s fear grew, the evil smile on Sam’s face became more and more menacing. This exchange seemed to last for ages but little more than several seconds had passed. Lola’s magic was still going strong.

Suddenly just before the liquid felt upon Frost’s receded tongue, and his eyes had closed, to painful to watch the torture that was coming he heard a chuckle and the glass vial that rested upon his lips was removed.

“Hahahaha sorry Frost I couldn’t resist a little teasing hahahaha.” Sam let loose a hearty chuckle as placed the removed cork back into the top of the vial before storing it back in his pack. He then moved to pick up the mid-level potion that had fallen from Frost’s spatial ring, a gentle expression could be seen on his face as though his previous actions never happened. That he was always a caring and gentle senior only thinking in Frost’s best interests.

Frost opened his eyes nervously, his body still tense and untrusting. When he gazed upon Sam’s face he looked at him with heavy accusation and no small amount of hatred. Sam merely rubbed the back of his head with a little embarrassment while opening up the mid-level health potion.

“Come on you didn’t think I’d really do something like that do you? Ignoring a perfectly good mid-level health potion just to finally enjoy someone else with just as delicate a palette being on the receiving end of such torture” Sam put on a hurt expression, but Frost wasn’t buying it, he saw Sam’s every change and knew that he was fully prepared to do the deed. Likely the only reason he didn’t being a mix of guilt and the fact that Frost would likely get some sort of revenge after.

A faint blush grew on Sam’s neck as he endured Frost’s hateful look, he knew that he was caught and already regretted his actions. Yanking out the cork he brought the new vial to Frost’s lips and tipped the liquid into his mouth.

Mid-level health potions were not nearly as disgusting as low level ones given the higher ranking ingredients involved in their creation. Even low quality ones were multiple times better than the highest quality low level potion both in flavour and healing strength. Whereas high level health potions boasted a magnificent taste mid-level potions were simply not bad, still not at the level of tasty but far more palatable, even by Frost and Sam’s standards.

As the liquid flowed down Frost’s throat he could feel the dense energy contained within the liquid quickly seeping into his bloodstream once it reached his stomach. Sam poured the potion with haste since he didn’t need to worry about the horrible taste but clearly he wasn’t fast enough, his earlier pandering wasting time.

The roar of his pissed off wife reverberated around the room. “What the hell are you playing at Sam! Give him a god damn potion and get your ass over here and help me finish this monster!” Her voice was full of anger, she’d been trapping and cooking this damn revenant for the past 60 seconds or so, yet her husband was still by Frost’s side when all he had to do was check his injuries, provide a potion, and place him away from the battle.