Dungeon of Niflheim

Nanna still sported a significant blush on her face, unable to get over her embarrassment. Maya as well as the shop clerks measured her body intimately and constantly praised her skin and appearance, cooing when they learned she was here to purchase her first set of training bras. Nanna was being treated as budding young woman instead of a cute little girl playing dress up, the feelings conveyed were very different.

“Welcome back young master, how’d your end go?” Maya waved towards Frost with a bright smile, she had a lot of fun outfitting Nanna and experiencing some solely girl time. Their shopping had already been placed neatly away in her storage bracelet thus the two of them were leaning against Kiba in wait, petting him every so often in order to hear his content purring.

On Frost’s side however Frost was absent of any shopping, his glaive placed within his storage ring, only Loki seemed to be carrying two sets of heavy shopping bags. Loki was adamant in carrying the weighted leg guards himself given that it was a gift for him and his sister. Frost found his actions quite cute thus he allowed him to do so.

By the end of their walk however Loki was huffing and puffing, carrying the two sets of weighted leg guards was quite an ordeal for someone so young but he stubbornly persisted, eager to personally hand over his sister’s present.

Maya looked at Loki with concern as he made his way before his sister with difficulty, her gaze towards Frost however was filled with accusation to which Frost simply shrugged his shoulders, showing he was helpless in this situation. Loki was quite stubborn when he wanted to be.

“Big sis Master bought me a pair of weighted leg guards, but Mr Borris gave me two sets. One for you and one for me.” Loki handed over the bag in his right hand showing a bright smile as he did despite his trembling arms. His sister was the most important person in his life, he depended greatly on her during their dark times and even now she was always there to support him when he needed her.

Nanna nervously took the leg guards before pulling Loki into a hug and crying. She was so proud to have such a caring brother. Loki hugged her back, his smile widening.

Maya felt as though an arrow went through her heart as she watched, she even let out a slight “kyuuun” like moan. These two kids were just so adorable.

.....

Now that their shopping had finally finished, Frost with his newly upgraded glaive, Loki and Nanna gaining new training equipment and Maya purchasing some new lingerie for her and Nanna it was time to head back home and begin their own preparations for the monster stampede.

Riding Kiba they took the bypass route around the [money pit] to the eastern gate which Douglas recommended they take given the crowds that would be at northern and southern gates.

Exiting was quite smooth, the queue was fairly short and all they had to do was give their basic information, scan their guild cards and reason for leaving, standard protocol regardless of which gate was used.

“Kiba take us home.” Once they cleared the eastern gate Frost ordered Kiba to start running northward back to the dungeon, their home.

“Rawr!” Kiba let out an excited roar before picking up speed, he too was eager to get back to their home. He was very fond of the mana rich atmosphere as well as the endless space in which he could run free.

As they wrapped around to the northern side of Furano, Frost and the group could see the swarms of refugees all with desperate looks in their faces. There was at least 5 times as many compared to yesterday, the number of guards and soldiers were also increased to control such high numbers. Exiting through the northern gate would have taken hours at the very least, a good shout by Douglas.

2 hours later Frost, Maya, Nanna and Loki had returned to the dungeon and once again Frost felt that delightful connection that filled his body with power and comfort.

However there was quite a drastic change in the outside area, not a single adventurer could be seen. Something that the dungeon hadn’t really experienced since it became known to the local adventurers. The desolation felt rather eery considering the amount of visitors present when they left here yesterday morning.

“They must have quickly left after seeing the beam of red light.” Frost surmised as he looked behind, the red beam of light generated by Furano as well as the other two bastion towns could be seen in the far distance. Remnants of campfires and other items could be seen lying around likely from groups hurrying to vacate.

Frost quickly brought up the dungeon menu and teleported them all into the private space. Frost, Maya, Nanna and Loki were all used to the spatial transference, but Kiba was still a bit uneasy, swiftly collapsing onto his belly and feeling queasy the moment they arrived.

Nanna and Loki consoled the big tiger, rubbing his head and belly to ease his symptoms while Maya moved to the kitchen to prepare lunch for everyone. Whereas Frost sat before the dungeon core and called Findlay.

“Findlay can you come to the private space, there’s a few things I need to discuss with you.”

“Understood master, I’ll be there right away.” A moment later Findlay appeared in the private space. He showed a gentle smile toward Nanna and Loki, bowed his head slightly to Maya before walking towards Frost and taking a seat across from him, already used to being summoned.

“First off let’s hear your report, what happened during our absence.”

“Nothing much master, people entered as per usual with many still trying to reach the third floor and as you ordered I no longer played nice. Pretty much killing anyone who went beyond the first floor thus producing a decent amount of DP for the dungeon.” Frost looked at the current DP values that now showed 11,000, there was a little over 2500 when he left so they managed to rake in 8,500DP over a single day, pretty impressive. Findlay must have left very few survivors as most of the stronger groups had already been decimated.

“When the sun began to set yesterday however things changed, the adventurers all noticed a red beam of light coming from the south and quickly left the area with a mixture of panic and excitement. I thus killed all those that were currently in the dungeon even those on the first floor since it didn’t seem as though they would be coming back anytime soon.” Findlay spoke with a proud smile as he mentioned mass slaughtering people but then again if you looked at from his point of view it was something to be proud of. These adventurers entered their home to hunt and kill the residents all in the name of profit and fortune seeking, they were enemies.

“Well done Findlay that was the correct call, we won’t be seeing adventurers any time soon.” Frost nodded his head and praised Findlay’s actions. He had no reason to give a rat’s ass about his dungeon being labelled dangerous anymore. For at least a month the monster stampede will be in play resulting in mass amounts of DP and significant changes to the Dungeon by the time the adventurers returned. Any data they had now would no longer be relevant.

“Thank you master” Findlay bowed and placed his arm across chest in salute while giving thanks. Being praised and relied upon by Frost was a great source of encouragement for the ice troll commander. No other monster under Frost’s command was given such honour.

“When we were visiting Furano we learned that the monster stampede will arrive in less than a week, thus the bastion towns of Furano, Adima and Tunir enacted something they call a red alert. That red beam of light you can see in the distance is their way of announcing the soon arrival of the monster stampede. Adventurers, refugees and others are quickly swarming to these towns for safety. Thus it’s unlikely we’ll have any adventurer intruders in the coming month, monsters however will be very frequent.” Frost explained what he learned to his monster commander, bringing him up to speed in regards to the current and future situation.

Even before the monster stampede fully begins and the earth quakes, monsters would be far more abundant. The local fauna in the Northrend forest as well as the fringes of the Glacial mountains southern exit would likely be drawn towards the ambient mana poured out by the dungeon. Still dictated by their logical instincts before the frenzy takes full hold and drives them towards Furano.

This means they only had a few days to prepare for the stampede. The stuff needed to be done through the dungeon menu would be easy as it’s practically instantaneous, but the labour work and training of his monsters would take time, the sooner they begin the better.

“Now that the external section in free of intruders I’ll expand the area making it a medium sized section (5km by 5km) as well as get to summoning monsters that will serve as officers during the long battle. I’ll need you to thoroughly take command of the defence preparations and squad allotment. The monsters that we’ll be fighting against will be mad and in a state of frenzy. There’s only one entrance to the dungeon, creating a funnel situation, I want a kill box in that area as well as defending walls and trenches plus back up defences throughout the first section. We’ll also need to arrange a shift pattern as this will be a long, long siege. Exhaustion will prove to be as dire an enemy as the invading monsters.” Frost gave out his orders with a commanding tone sending a chill down Findlay’s back before a wild smile adorned his lips.

“Your will be done Master.”