Dungeon of Niflheim

With him, Kiba and Findlay all keeping a close eye on the invading waves and taking part whenever the situation required it the ice walls continued to hold albeit barely.

Massive cracks, indentations and even the occasional complete collapse marred the once tall and powerful walls. They had reached their limit.

The repair work could no longer keep up with the incessant damage caused by the wild attacks from the frenzied monsters. Plus the increasing numbers and individual sizes of the invading monsters meant that even if they weren’t attacking the walls their powerful bodies were forced up against them, damaging them regardless. The funnel shaped kill zone was no longer large enough to support the invading forces, a problem Frost was very much aware of when he designed the structure.

Frost, Findlay and Kiba were present on the bottom wall, blood was strewn over Kiba’s paws and Findlay’s axe revealing that both had been in battle recently.

“This will likely be the wave that breaks the defences, Kiba are your forces ready to aid in the retreat?” Frost stood stalwart, inspiring his nearby troops with vigour, not phased in the slightest in regards to the surrounding damage.

“Rawr!” Kiba roared out while placing his paw over his chest, confidently telling Frost that he had nothing to worry about. The bestial corps which contained the coeurl pups, ice wolves and frost wolves were ready and waiting. Their speed and teamwork would play a major role in getting Frost’s slower forces to safety.

At the moment the frost and ice dwarves were still stationed upon the left and right walls though their numbers had dwindled slightly and a fair few sported some major gashes on their bodies. The walls were on the brink of collapse but while they still stood these monsters would stand tall and kill as many invading monsters as possible, retreating only at the very last moment.

When the walls finally crash down, revealing multiple avenues for the invading horde to pass through Frost would give the signal for retreat before he, Findlay and Kiba would jump into action, decimating the opponents they could reach, buying time for the others to fall back to next defence zone. The bestial corps would take care of the stragglers and even carry those that were injured.

.....

“Good, Findlay prepare yourself as well, the three of us will be the ones to hold back the horde so watch your aim.” Frost showed a wild smile as he spoke. This would be the first opportunity he and Findlay would fight side by side, the prospect excited both of them thus Frost couldn’t help but joke, poking fun at Findlay’s much larger size.

“Hehehehe don’t worry master my axe knows who to strike down and who to protect.” Findlay chuckled, revealing an evil smile as he stroked his large battle axe that had been dyed red from the blood of his victims. Findlay had gotten more than a few opportunities to satisfy his battle instincts, his level now being 44 out of 50, very close to his next evolution.

The three powerful C-rank fighters sported similar expressions as they waited in anticipation for the next wave.

“Nanna, Loki make sure you keep an eye on the situation and help direct those retreating, we won’t be able to divert any focus to such endeavours once we begin.” Frost spoke through the dungeon menu, ordering Nanna and Loki who were sitting in the private space.

They had rearranged the living room into war time mode thus the two phoenix kin were planted directly in front of the dungeon core, viewing the situation in real time and in constant communication with Frost and the other monsters. Maya was sitting back on the sofa watching the two of them with interest and pride, knowing just how much effort they put into being ready for this situation. She felt it was a bit of a shame that she couldn’t join in on the fun since her station forbade it. She the guardian couldn’t take an active role in managing the dungeon nor directing battle, a purely observatory role.

“Understood master!”

“We won’t let you down!” Nanna and Loki both thumped their hands against their chests and revealed bright expressions, looking very forward to taking on such an important job. Their cuteness was irresistible, motivating not only Frost but also Kiba and Findlay.

The two phoenix kin were very much loved among dungeon’s monsters and were treated like royalty whenever they wandered around the dungeon. They stroked everyone’s innate desires to protect.

The secondary defences where the force would fall back to were already prepared. An arrangement of sturdy bunkers placed throughout the central area of the second section on the first floor, the winter forest. Using the large trees they would limit the speed that the horde could advance as well as their ability to stay as a group, the very opposite of the kill box zone at the entrance.

Once Frost gave the signal the forces here would fall back to the second section and divide up according to their teams, populating these fortified bunkers as well as the main operations centre which had been greatly fortified. The area was now defended by very high walls as well as four ballistae making for quite an imposing image.

“Great, let’s get started then shall we.” Frost cracked his knuckles and summoned his wind enhanced glaive as well as coated his entire body in a thin but strong armour of ice, readying himself for battle. Findlay similarly prepared himself for battle, jumping down from the wall to the head of the frost revenants, he would take the role of rear guard.

Woosh!

Kiba instead took to the skies, flapping his massive wings to lift off the ground, his flying ability being more dexterous than before though his attack methods were quite similar. The large glacial winged tiger had grown quite fond of smashing down on his prey from great height.

The moment the three of them were prepared the ground trembled slightly and a cacophony of grunts and roars could be heard beyond the dungeon’s entrance. The wave had arrived and by the sounds of it, it was larger than the last one. Their combined weight causing the very floor to tremble as they charged but neither Frost nor his monsters were phased, all holding onto their weapons tightly, prepared to meet their foes in battle.

Each and every one of them were now veterans of war, survivors of the long siege, trepidation was no longer in their hearts instead there was only passion and excitement as well as determination. If they fought and killed enough invaders they could perhaps evolve into their next archetype and hopefully be given more responsibility, to hopefully stand at their master’s side like Findlay, Kiba and in some respects the officer class monsters such as the frost troll lieutenant, a desire that helped fuel their determination.

“Rooooooaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr!” As the stampede grew closer a loud distinct roar was heard that sent shivers down the awaiting monsters spines.

“Wow looks like we’re in luck.” Frost’s arm showed goosebumps as that powerful roar washed over him, he instinctively knew that the origin of that roar was a powerful foe, a C-rank monster.

A moment later the horde was in sight.

“Bears.” Frost frowned slightly as he saw the frontlines of the horde, dozens of E-rank black furred bears stormed in with bloodshot eyes and frothing at the mouth. This wasn’t the first time they’d come across these black bears that were similar to the D-rank polar bears just smaller in stature, it was however the first time he’d seen so many.

“So it’s a waves of bear monsters...damn.” Bears were large, aggressive and tough, incredibly destructive and tenacious, hard to bring down with arrows, even the E-rank black bears required over a dozens arrows to be brought down.

Behind the black bears were masses of white fur, a mixture of polar bears, lower D-rank monsters and their evolution archetypes both upper D-rank, twin headed polar bears and werebears (polar).

The first archetype was pretty self-explanatory, slightly larger than the regular polar bear and with a tougher hide. The twin headed polar bear had two heads, making for twice the jaw strength.

The werebear (polar) was the archetype path that improved intelligence and made the polar bears more humanoid. Their frames were smaller but since they stood on their back legs they were no less imposing. Armed with ice hammers these monsters could speak common tongue to some degree however like all the previous invaders they were overcome with frenzy, devolving into nothing but mindless beasts, hell set on destruction, negotiation was impossible.

“Archers and mages fire at will!” Frost gave his orders with a swing of his arm as though sentencing these bears to death.

“Ballistae users don’t hold back, fire without hesitation!” Frost looked sternly towards the four ballistae users who vigorously nodded before joining their archer and mage comrades in the festivities.

Arrows and ice magic wouldn’t be enough to deal with this wave and they were long passed the point of being able to worry about the cost of ballistae ammunition. This was going to be a difficult wave to endure with minimal casualties. For the first time since the stampeded began Frost felt worry, worry for the lives of his monsters.

He gripped the shaft of his glaive hard as he looked passed the masses of black and white towards the entity that let loose that mighty roar.