Dungeon of Niflheim

“Bats and g.....ghosts.” Nanna stuttered at the mention of ghosts and Loki audibly gulped.

Bats, ugly nocturnal flying creatures and ghosts frightening apparitions of the dead with no solid form. Both creatures being the stuff of nightmares, especially for children.

Outside the dungeon ear piercing screeches could be heard from the multitude of bat monsters as they aggressively flapped their wings. While haunting wailing could be heard from the ghosts, each one sporting a horrifying visage.

Nanna and Loki swiftly turned off the dungeon view as the hair on the back of their necks stood up. Instinctively their both turned to look at Maya the only adult present, but her current expression wasn’t very comforting.

The mighty S-rank fenrir was pale in the face, her lips trembling ever so slightly despite her trying her best to remain calm. There were a few things that despite her being one of the strongest entities in the mortal world still gave her the chills.

The first which had already been established was spiders, their appearance and constantly tense state always struck something instinctual, filling her with fear. She wasn’t the only one however a vast majority of people within Nova had this phobia that ignored one’s inherent strength.

The second which was another common fear was ghosts. The formless apparitions that sported horrifying appearances and wailed at high frequency caused her fluffy white tail to puff up and her legs to shiver. She wasn’t afraid of the undead like skeletons, zombies, liches etc... but ghosts, there was something far more sinister there.

Spirits of the dead that held no corporal form, driven by their residual negative feelings from when they were alive, seeking out the living, tormenting them and devouring their precious life energy. Perhaps it was because they lacked physical form meaning regular attacks had no effect on them or perhaps it was simply the wailing Maya did not know, all she knew was that she really didn’t like ghosts and would actively avoid any areas that they were set to inhabit.

.....

The problem now however was that these two young phoenix kin who were also quite frightened were looking towards her for comfort, a tall ask.

“Cough cough” Maya coughed in an attempt to hide her fear, her tail however was still tensed and puffy. If Frost was present he’d probably be unable to stop himself from wrapping her in a hug to allay her fears as well as mock her a little.

“So the monster you need to fight are bats and.....ghosts so what’s the traits of such monsters?”

The two phoenix kin looked at one another before summoning their courage to answer.

“Bats are skilled flyers that function well at night, have great hearing and can find their way around in pure darkness. Their useful materials are generally their wings and skin and occasionally their fangs depending on the species.” Loki answered first, taking care of the less frightening of the two monsters earning him a fierce glare from his sister. One in which he’d never received so far with such intensity. Nanna seemed to be just like Maya, well and truly afraid of ghost monsters but perhaps her reasoning was a bit different.

For those that suffered trauma such as the violent massacre of their friends, family and village tended to fear the spirits of the dead. Afraid that those who died would be jealous and full of hatred towards those that survived such devastation and blame them for their deaths.

With Loki reporting on the bats and staying silent Nanna was left to describe ghosts.

“G...Ghosts are formless spirits of the dead that hold intense negative feelings towards the living and incredibly aggressive to those that still live. They are commonly found in places with strong death mana such as large graves or past battlefields as well as certain monster lairs. Regular attacks are useless against such foes, magic or chakra is required to bring them down and given that they have no corporal form the materials gained from such monsters is minimal at best. Low ranking ghosts may leave small amounts of ectoplasm which can be used in alchemy and artificing whereas the higher ranked ghosts can drop curse crystals.” Nanna spoke nervously at the start but gained confidence near the end, it helped to think of the ghosts as just another target to dealt with, her hands were no longer trembling.

“Good answer you both remember your studies well.” Maya rubbed their heads in praise, her puffed up tail also calming down slightly.

“Now you need to tell your subordinates.” Maya pointed to the dungeon core that thankfully no longer showed the frightening image of the ghosts due to Nanna quick actions.

“Unnn” Both Nanna and Loki nodded strongly before turning back to inform the frost troll lieutenant as well as the other C-rank monsters in charge of the battlefield of the situation.

What they had to say however didn’t exactly go over well for the vast majority of their forces. The ghosts were immune to regular attacks thus the quarrellers were useless against them plus ghosts tended to have quite high resistance to ice magic thus halving the effectiveness of the mage castes. Then there was the bats, flying monsters something they had very little experience dealing with. The bestial corps would suffer a severe disadvantage against such foes and would likely be even less effective against the ghosts given their more physical attack methods.

Pretty much only the yuki-onnas would see no drop in their combat effectiveness, 3rd circle spells able to ignore most of the basic ice resistance however that didn’t apply to C-rank opponents.

“Is there any C-rank opponents Lady Nanna?” The frost troll lieutenant who was in charge during Findlay’s absence asked immediately once he was made aware of the situation. The more information he had the better the battle plan he could devise.

“...Give me a second.” Nanna was silent for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. She brought up the dungeon viewer system to get a good look at the horde, looking for any that stood out above the rest, holding her breath as she did.

“...There is...in fact there’s two.” The frost troll lieutenant winced at the information, his fists clenching hard, this wasn’t going to be an easy battle especially considering that Findlay was resting, and Frost was still busy. The lieutenant looked to his sides for strength, beside him were the ice revenant, Kiba and a yuki-onna. Three C-rank monsters in comparison to the two that the enemy had, numbers were on their side. The issue however was compatibility. If the two C-ranks were bat monsters there would be little issue but if they were ghosts.

“Are they bat monsters?” He asked with clear nervousness.

“No....they’re both ghosts monsters. Wraiths.”

Wraiths were low C-ranked monsters that were several metres tall and lacked corporal form protecting them from regular physical attacks. Their own attacks however had an ethereal quality to them allowing them to easily slice through non enchanted armour and damage the targets internals and very soul. Only magic and chakra could harm these creatures and allow one to defend against their attacks. A difficult adversary to beat when you lacked the correct method.

The correct method being the usage of fire or light magic. Such elements were super effective allowing even 1st circle spells of such elements to harm C-rank monsters. Ice magic however was pretty much the worst match up, especially against ghosts born in frigid climates, their resistances were even higher than normal.

“Well....shit!” The frost lieutenant cursed aloud, and no one could really blame him. Such a match up was the worst possible for their current forces. Not a single monster in their army could use anything but ice magic, only Frost’s glaive which was enchanted with a wind engraving would be effective yet the man in question was otherwise indisposed.

A heavy task thus fell upon the frost troll lieutenant’s shoulders, one heavier than he was prepared for but in the end he was a loyal soldier, he would obey his lord’s command and do his upmost to protect the territory. After a few seconds of frustration the lieutenant quickly gave out his orders.

“Quarrellers and all physical attack users focus on the bats and completely ignore the ghosts; your attacks will be useless against them, and you’d even struggle to endure their counterattacks. We’ll work on eliminating the easier targets first, Kiba focus on tearing off their wings so the bestial corps can reach them, quarrellers do the same, bring them down to ground level. Mages of all castes focus on restricting the ghosts and protecting our forces with your magic, any protection spells you have would be ideal. Yuki-onnas I’d like for you to slowly take out the ghosts one by one but again having the priority being the defence of our main forces. Given that the ghosts have no corporal form I doubt the bunkers will provide much protection thus your crowd control abilities are imperative to our victory.....For the C-rank wraiths.” The frost lieutenant looked towards the ice revenant as well as the frost revenants and their knight upgrades.

“I’ll leave handling the wraiths to the revenants, you’ll likely struggle to deal significant damage, but your half spirit nature and magic capabilities should allow you mitigate their attacks. This wave will be unlike any other, a slip up with the ghosts could see our physical corps suffer significant casualties so mages be on you’re A-game.” The lieutenant hollered his commands sounding and looking like a smaller version of Findlay. There were no complaints in regards to his orders and everyone quickly moved into place.