Dungeon of Niflheim

“Raaawwwwrrr!” Kiba roared, pushing down his queasiness like Nanna and Loki said before dashing off in the direction Frost was pointing.

His powerful roars caused a few adventurers to turn their way, their eyes opening wide as they spied Kiba’s massive figure. Fear shot through their bodies on instinct but once they caught sight of humanoid riders that fear swiftly turned to respect and greed. Having such a powerful monster as one’s mount spoke of the rider’s strength and financial capability. But by the time some of them thought to risk robbing such an individual Kiba was long out of sight, a good thing in hindsight, they got to keep their lives.

As Frost predicated it didn’t even take them 2 hours to arrive a Furano’s northern gate but the scene before them was very different to how it was when they were last here. Hundreds of people could be seen waiting in line, each packed to the brim and with solemn expressions on their faces.

These people were the refugees from the many villages and settlements within the Northrend forest. The monster stampede was looming, and their homes’ built up defences would pose little threat to the horde that was about to arrive. Their only option was to seek shelter in the Furano viscounty and further south. Something that had to happen every stampede.

Soldiers and guards could be seen hard at work keeping everything in order, traffic flowing at a steady and manageable pace. They couldn’t just simply allow the refugees access to Furano there were protocols set up so as to best manage their assigned resources. The refugees would need to provide their names, home territory information, occupation and of course their reason for coming to Furano.

If it was due to the looming monster stampede then they’d be treated as temporary refugees and directed to their assigned shelter where they’d be living for the next few weeks or even months. Each of the three bastion towns along the northern border were in charge of certain villages and settlements so as to divide up the strain on their resources however despite this protocol many chose to travel further so as to gain access to Furano, the largest and slightly more defended town.

Thus, the guards and soldiers were hard at work, identifying those that shouldn’t be here, redirecting them to the other two towns if possible. Furano despite its larger size and being home to the ruling nobles only had so much resources and space. Sometimes being cold and cutthroat saved more lives than being kind, especially when the stampede that was set to come could be the most dangerous they’d ever faced.

The ironic thing however was that despite Furano being larger and a little more defended it actually suffered the most severe attacks thus actually making it more dangerous than the other towns. A fact that was always lost upon the refugees whenever the stampede was nigh.

.....

When Frost’s eyes met with the massive town that was gearing up for war he was blown away, the hundreds of refugees queuing up outside wasn’t the only thing that was different.

Douglas had increased the wall height from its initial ten metres or so to 12 and from the movements of the soldiers on the walls he aimed to grow it further. Whereas before the soldiers were sporadically placed on the walls, centred near the gates, and watch towers now there wasn’t a single undefended patch. The guard had increased by at least five times as did the mighty war machines. Every 5 metres of wall sported a heavy duty ballistae all pointed northward; such a sight was incredibly intimidating to say the least.

Frost could feel his heartbeat quicken, his nostrils filling with the smell of iron and fire, war was coming. Whereas Kiba trembled as he saw more than a few ballistae lock onto his position, prepared to fire at a moment’s notice. The look in the eyes of machine’s handlers were stone cold, veterans of war.

This was the frost wolf battalion, the battalion sent by the royal family to protect its northern territories whenever the stampede was nigh. Even though Kiba was entry level C-rank and sported fantastic speed he could tell that if these soldiers wanted him dead it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. He’d be pierced several times before he even managed to reach the walls, a daunting realisation for the once proud glacial winged tiger. Frost was right he was just a frog in a well, never knowing true power.

“Impressive, no wonder this place is still standing monster stampede after monster stampede. Douglas and his family really know what they’re doing when it comes to defensive war.” Maya gave her honest opinion, fairly impressed by what she saw.

She had never seen the monster stampede in person, nor had she had to take part in a large scale war, but she had seen the set ups of mighty empires and countries dwelling in the inner and core regions of the Glacial mountains thus she had point of reference. Furano’s defences would allow them to hold back an entire legion and then some, far more than a large town should be capable of. It spoke of how great the threat was and how serious Northrend took it.

“Let’s join the queue, I’m sure considering how busy the place is we may struggle to meet with Leo and the rest.” Frost said before stroking Kiba’s ears to calm him down.

As the mighty winged tiger came into full view he caused no small amount of commotion, soldiers manned their stations, placing the refugees behind them, weapons drawn.

“Wait wait it’s contracted and has riders, lower your weapons!” A loud roar came from on top on the gate, eliminating the tension and sending the soldiers back to their previous duties. A few however couldn’t resist looking at Kiba and Frost with respect, power was admired by all.

Frost and the rest let out a small sigh of relief once they were no longer being treated as targets before moving to join the back of the queue like everyone else, but they were quickly stopped.

The man that was on top of the gate and roared out his orders had swiftly dropped down and ran over to greet them.

“Are you an adventurer from Furano?” The man was easily 2 metres tall, a buff bald human with several scars on his face. He currently wore a set of thick leather armour that was dyed white and blue and sported the image of a frost wolf on the chest. This was the attire for the frost wolf battalion, many other soldiers that were dotted around could be seen wearing a similar get up.

“Yes I’m here to report on a scouting mission I accepted.” Frost answered honestly while flashing his guild card. At mention of a scouting mission the rough looking man’s face showed a bright smile.

“Good then you can enter immediately, scouting reports are being treated as top priority, please head to the front of the queue and then straight to the adventurers guild.”

“Understood, you heard him Kiba head to the front”

“Rawr” Kiba chuffed quietly before walking ahead, feeling unnerved in the current environment. The rough looking man watched them depart with curious eyes. He didn’t recognise Frost, but he recognised that Kiba was glacial winged tiger.

“Interesting.” He stroked his chin while smiling.

“Were you able to gauge his strength?” Maya whispered into Frost’s ear, keen to understand Frost’s current level of insight.

“Likely B-rank, stronger than me by more than just a margin. He must be an officer in the frost wolf battalion, now in charge of the northern gate.” Given how quickly and easily the soldiers and guards followed the man’s orders it was likely he was the highest authority currently there, a real big shot. Plus, his instincts roared danger when the man stood in front of Kiba and himself.

“Correct, his power is just shy of Bastion’s, more than you can currently handle. You’ll have to be careful, there’s likely a fair few people here that you won’t be a match for.” Maya gave her young master a warning, he wouldn’t be at the top of the food chain during this visit.

Frost frowned as he heard that, previously the only ones that would be beyond his capabilities were the two B-ranks, Bastion and Ryuu who were both his trusted friends, very unlikely to attack him. Now however just the man in charge of the northern gate could crush him let alone higher ranked officers, it was a little unnerving to say the least.

“Got it, Nanna, Loki make sure to stay with either me or Maya at all times ok.” He gave a stern order to his in name slaves, slightly regretting bringing them here. He hadn’t forgotten about the person that was set to receive them originally. Someone with significant clout in Northrend and one that had ties to the Church of Light. Re-entering Furano with them, especially during such a tumultuous time could draw their ire, tempting them to make a move. Frost and Maya of course wouldn’t let that happen, but they’d need to stay within arm’s length to ensure it.

Nanna and Loki both nodded their heads strongly as they shuffled in close to their adult protectors, more than willing to remain close. Though they had been training hard their strength was barely above a goblin’s, pathetically weak compared to the average adventurer- though for children it was pretty impressive.