Dungeon of Niflheim

The war ursa didn’t even manage to catch his foot as his body rose and spun in the air, avoiding it by a hair’s breadth. But a hair’s breadth was all that was needed.

Findlay’s smile grew as he witnessed the war ursa’s confusion and utter disappointment as it barely brushed against his foot. He then raised his battle axe.

“[Enrage], [mountain cleave]” He activated his [enrage] skill to fill his body with some much needed strength. Without it cutting deep into the war ursa’s flesh would be a very difficult task. He also added his strongest axe skill [mountain cleave] to the mix, he was aiming for a devasting blow. One that would likely reduce the beast’s charging ability as well as burst speed.

With his muscles bulging obscenely and his battle axe coated in azure energy Findlay swung downwards once he passed the front half of the war ursa’s body. He aimed for its back legs; an area not protected by the red energy shield.

Schwing! Squelch!

“Roaaaaaaaarrrrrr!” The axe landed cleanly over the war ursa’s left rear leg cutting deep and splashing the surrounding area in blood. The war ursa roared out from the sudden attack. The red shield protecting its front body flickered in and out of existence as it lost control of its charge.

Its left rear leg lost all ability to hold its weight and the war ursa immediately tilted crashing harshly into the snow, generating a veritable explosion of the stuff. The force behind its charge was enough to shake the surrounding area and even crack the floor’s foundation that was protected by several feet of snow.

Findlay landed lightly on his feet several metres from the war ursa. His breathing was a little laboured and his arms were trembling slightly. [Enrage] was quite a draining skill especially if used multiple times over a short period. Thankfully Findlay deactivated it the moment it was no longer needed.

.....

His eyes drifted over his battle axe that was now covered in the war ursa’s blood. He felt something during that last attack. He didn’t even need to think about his movements, his body just made them. He felt more attuned with his battle axe, that it was a part of him and not just a simple weapon.

‘Is that the feeling of advanced mastery?’ Findlay queried in his mind as he tried to recall the feeling of that moment.

The war ursa however struggled to stand, its face was significantly scuffed thanks to it charging into the floor but more than that was what was left of its left rear leg. Findlay’s attack used his entire strength and then some. Along with an upper 3 star quality weapon the wound was anything but shallow.

The entire rear leg as well as where it connected to the main body was mangled. Blood flowed liberally, staining its white fur as well as the surrounding snow. The bone could be clearly seen and sporting a major crack, though Findlay failed to sever it entirely the damage was extensive. The war ursa would likely struggle to put much weight on that leg, thus limiting its speed and manoeuvrability. Even if it did decide to ditch this battle with him it wouldn’t be able to dash around the battlefield ambushing his comrades like before. It was here to stay.

The war ursa pulled its head out of the snow and shook off what was attached. Its mind was slightly dizzy thanks to the high impact but the shaking and pain from its rear leg managed to quickly resolve that.

It turned around and looked at its rear leg and almost fainted. Its body sported a serious injury, a possible fatal injury if they were in the wild and it was caused by something weaker than it, damn prey nothing more. The redness in its eye deepened, the frenzied state becoming more prominent and inadvertently reducing the pain it felt.

Its gaze then moved to Findlay who was looking at it with a smile, one that felt mocking.

“Roooooaaaarrrrrr!!!!” The war ursa unleashed the greatest roar it had done in its entire life, alerting many of invading monsters stuck in the muddied waters.

They all perked up their ears and turned towards the direction of the roar.

“Oh no you don’t!” Frost appeared before an entry level C-rank monster that suddenly turned around and tried to dash to the war ursa so as to lend it aid. With a mighty swing of his glaive he send the monster flying backwards and barred its path.

“Everyone keep these invaders here; none are to interfere in Findlay’s battle am I clear!?”

“Yes milord!” Khuno yelled out in confirmation as he also beat back an entry level C-rank.

“Yes master!”

“Understood! The commander will have his duel!” The ronsos and revenants both responded back while firming up their containment. Not a single monster would get past them and cross the void.

“Nanna, Loki call out any runners.”

“Yes sir.” Nanna and Loki replied with gusto as they opened their eyes even wider and brought up a couple more screens leaving no area unwatched.

Frost then glanced at the war ursa and his right hand man.

‘Looks like he’s faring quite well.’ He smiled with pride. Within a few minutes Findlay had already forced the war ursa to give up its pride and call for aid -though given its personality it likely didn’t care much about honour or pride but still an impressive feat.

Findlay heard his master’s orders and couldn’t help but feel relieved. Though it seems as though he’s been coming out on top in this duel there hasn’t been a single second he hasn’t been staring death in the face. He had zero room for distractions and or interference from other monsters. One good strike was all it took for his previous effort to go up in smoke.

The war ursa had four legs, simply losing the use of one wouldn’t stop this duel, it’d only make it a little easier.

Findlay prepared himself once again, gripping his battle axe with both hands and staring down his enemy, analysing its every movement.

The war ursa seeing that no one was coming to its aid forced itself to turn around and face its opponent. The majority of its weight was placed on its uninjured legs, but its stance still looked solid. Since charging was no longer a good option it needed to attack another way.

It raised its left fore paw before coating it in red energy, another skill.

Findlay tensed his hands around the axe’s shaft and shuffled his feet against the snow as he braced.

With a violent motion the war ursa swung its left forepaw summoning five tendrils of red energy in the shape of claws. It was a skill that looked similar to Frost’s [claw of the ice wolf] but larger and far more deadly.

The five claws spanned several metres eliminating Findlay’s ability to dodge to the left or right and they moved with such speed that he barely had time to react.

He relied on that feeling of connection he had with his battle axe to move on instinct. He fluidly swung down making contact with the five red claws.

Booooommmmm!

A loud booming sound exploded on contact. Findlay felt as though he was faced against a mountain, his axe and arms trembled in their attempt to repel the five red claws. His feet dug in deep as he was slowly pushed backwards. He was completely pinned by the five red claws and the war ursa knew this.

It smiled viciously before moving, doing its best to keep it left rear leg off the ground.

While Findlay struggled to deal with the five red claws it generated another five and sent them flying from another angle.

“Fuck!” Findlay loudly cursed as he spotted the second attack creeping up on his left.

“[Enrage]! Ahhhhhhhh!” He swiftly activated his [enrage] skill for the third time giving him a sudden increase in physical strength. It allowed him to cleave apart the first five claws but even, so he didn’t have it in him nor the time to swing his axe to fend off the other five.

Relying on his survival instincts Findlay instantly dropped to the floor. the second set of red claws flew over his chest, cutting it up slightly but more or less he dodged it successfully.

However without anyone repelling them the five red claws continued through the air, carving up the snow before hitting a D-rank monster a yeti. The poor yeti was cut up into five pieces without much effort.

Findlay gulped as he saw this and placed his hands on his chest that now sported five searing gashes.

‘That was close.’ The spectre of death wasn’t looming for nothing.

Findlay looked up at the war ursa who was once again preparing to throw another set of claws at him.

‘Like hell I’ll just sit here and take that!’ Knowing that waiting around was a sure fire way to get pinned again Findlay rose to his feet and dashed towards the war ursa in a zig zag manoeuvre.

Previously he wanted to avoid entering close combat especially with him on the attack given the war ursa’s capabilities, but the situation had now changed. With one of its legs out of commission the war ursa would be slower to move about making close combat safer especially now that he knew about its long range abilities, those red claws were quite deadly after all.

Only by being in close combat would he be able to deal any damage to the war ursa, plus it’d be a lot easier to dodge those deadly red claws skills.