Dungeon of Niflheim

Maya frowned as she once again let out her senses trying to find out what the problem was while Frost placed his hand over his chest using his innate connection to the core to sense for any abnormalities.

The two stood in silence for several seconds before Frost spoke first, confusion was still on his face but also signs of relief. “Nothing, I can’t sense anything wrong with the core, the pain’s gone as well.” Though the air in this room still felt dense he could no longer feel that sharp pain or that sense of danger. Whatever it was it seemed to have passed, a brief occurrence.

Maya however continued to keep her eyes closed, her frown deepening.

‘Odd the density of mana is far thicker and somewhat violent, what the hell is going on?’ Immediately Maya moved in front of the core and placed her hands gently upon it and refocused her senses. Frost watched on, his heart lurching at Maya’s reactions.

“.....That...shouldn’t be possible?” Maya rapidly opened her eyes and pulled back her hand, an expression of complete disbelief adorning her face.

“What is it Maya?” Frost asked full of anxiety, Maya’s expression didn’t look positive.

‘Is there really something wrong with my core?’ That sense of danger and fear returned once more, wrapping around his heart like a silent shadow.

Maya turned to face her young master, a million thoughts going through her head at once as she tried to make sense of the situation.

.....

“Bring up the dungeon menu, How much DP is the mana vein providing you right now?” She asked with a serious tone. Frost affected by her tone immediately did as she asked.

“Eh? The daily DP provided by the vein is now set at 300, 200DP more than before.” Originally with his five floors, the mana vein provided 100DP a day but now it suddenly jumped up to 300. A sudden and dramatic increase. Frost frowned at the results before looking towards his guardian for answers.

“Haaaaaa, no wonder the investigations into the monster stampede never resulted in any real success.” Maya sighed and shook her head, a long hidden question finally answered or at least partially.

“It’s the mana vein, the monster stampede that threatens the sapient lands every few years is the result of mana vein corruption. A build up of the corruption causes a change in the nearby monsters, aggravating their blood lust until they enter a frenzy. When the corruption becomes too much the mana vein explodes with high intensity, shaking the earth and drastically increasing the mana richness in the area. That’s why we felt it here, the dungeon core is connected to the local mana vein. When it erupted it sent a jolt through the core causing the violent tremors.” Maya explained slowly, still piecing together her hypothesis.

“The mana vein is currently in a state of high intensity thus increasing the amount of DP you are currently receiving from it.” This was in theory a good thing for Frost, he’d have more DP to spend as he wished without having to purchase additional floors, however.

“The question however is why this is happening, sudden outbursts within the mana veins is not uncommon but the monster stampede happens every few years making this an unnatural occurrence. What is corrupting the mana vein constantly in this area to cause such a violent reaction?” Mana vein corruption explains a good portion of the why, so many monsters enter a frenzy and form a stampede but the origin of the corruption and the fixation upon the sapient lands was still up for debate. However an answer did finally reveal itself, so as long as they continue to investigate more information would follow.

For Maya however this revelation filled her with intense unease. The mana veins spread across all of Nova, transporting the world’s mana throughout allowing environments and their natural fauna and flora to thrive. Messing with them is a serious crime against the natural order, Maya felt that she needed contact a certain person about this issue, one that surpassed her.

Frost could see Maya’s face scrunching up as her thoughts ran wild, her beautiful face would get wrinkled if she kept frowning so intensely. Therefore he copied her previous actions against him.

Bop!

He poked her forehead, right between her brows, instantly drawing her out of her intense focus.

“You’ll get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that.” He showed a gentle smile but in response he got a glare, a really sharp glare.

“Haaaaaa” Frost let out a sigh and shook his head. “Does the mana vein being in a state of high intensity have any repercussions to me given that the core is connected to it?” Frost could tell that Maya was thinking far beyond his current scope but at the moment what mattered was their situation. The monster stampede was on its way, anything else if it wasn’t dolling out any negative effects could be put on hold. Solve one problem at a time.

“....No it shouldn’t.” Maya held her glare for a while, the word ‘wrinkles’ having a serious effect on her psyche. She could say it to Frost since he was a man but the same could not be said to a beautiful woman, there was a double standard to these things.

“Then whatever the whole mana corruption thing means can wait, we’ve got a stampede to prepare for. Anything else can be dealt with after this issue is resolved.” Frost gentle placed his hand over Maya’s forehead, actively massaged it, ironing out any remnants of wrinkles. This caused the female fenrir to madly blush before whacking his hand away.

Seeing that Maya wasn’t refuting his statement he smiled, happy that he preserved that gorgeous face of hers .”Let’s get back to work then, I’ll speak to Findlay and Kiba alerting them of the situation while you head back to the kids. I’m sure they’re quite worried given the intensity of the tremors.” Maya gave him a sly look before letting out a sigh.

“Very well, I’ll take care of the house as usual.....so boring.” She muttered the last two words under her breath as she turned around and stomped away. Maya was bored out of her mind recently and frustrated to hell. She barely got any alone time with Frost recently and Nanna and Loki always wanted to train, no one wanted to relax and drink or play games together. God even the meals they had were strictly a courtesy, all three of them polishing off their plates as fast as possible so as to get back to work. She’d had enough.

Frost was caught off guard by her intensity but swiftly showed a charming smile. He silently appeared behind her, encapsulating her in a hug, resting his chin on her shoulders, his, mouth millimetres away from her ear. “I know this isn’t how you wanted to spend the past few days, but this is something we need to prepare for. You are a mighty Fenrir at the very peak of power in Nova but Nanna, Loki and I are nothing in the grand scheme of things. If we don’t train with a fervent passion then we’ll never be able to stand by your side as equals.” Frost whispered gently into Maya’s ear causing it too lightly twitch, her frustrated mood being uplifted.

She understood Frost and the children’s desires very clearly, but it didn’t make the situation any easier. She was supposed to be romantically entwined with her new boyfriend at this time, the honeymoon phase if you will. She felt that if she didn’t have it now then there wouldn’t be another chance.

The image of an attractive orc succubus floated through her mind. All she had to go on was Frost’s description and that was enough to make her feel anxious. This sexy and bold woman was coming to live with them after the monster stampede, she and Frost would struggle to be alone once she came.

The kids were already fond of this new family member given that she made them those weapons and wrist guards, Maya wondered what she could bring to the table other than her perverse strength. Then there’s the looming situation that was her departure.

Guardians were supposed to stay with their assigned charges for the period of one year, meaning she had less than 10 months left with him. They never talked about this topic probably because it was too difficult, but it filled her heart with worry. Would she be able to stay by his side, would she have to leave and be forbidden from seeing him again. She didn’t want to waste the time they had left thus she was more frustrated than usual.

Enjoying being in Frost’s arms she leaned back against his chest, an hour a day with him acting like this wasn’t enough. The last two days she barely even got half an hour due to how busy he was, thus she planned to drag this embrace out for as long as possible.

Frost feeling her weight against him couldn’t help but show a pained smile. You think he didn’t want to be attached at the hip to his sexy new girlfriend 24/7, of course he did, it frustrated him as well, but he didn’t have much choice. His monsters weren’t at the level where he could leave such delicate preparation work to them without supervision, his presence was needed.

Also in regards to Maya’s term as his guardian he was well aware of it but unlike Maya he wasn’t that worried. Frost had no problems openly saying to his father “Please let Maya stay by my side father, I love her.” Unlike everyone else he didn’t see Dark as some overpowering and formal God; he was just a big softie of an old man who liked to be mischievous. As long as he was honest Frost was sure Dark would grant his request, the cost didn’t matter as long as Maya could remain by his side.

Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t as anxious, he never for a second believed that their time together would end in the next ten months. But even so he realised that even if they had decades or centuries together it didn’t matter. This was the present and he needed to be with her now.