Dungeon of Niflheim

The adults and children toasted to Findlay before drinking with relish.

Following that Findlay returned to the dungeon’s forces letting them bask in his achievement as well as allaying their fears of the coming waves.

Frost, Maya and the kids teleported to the private space where they fell back into their regular schedules. Nanna and Loki worked hard on their reading, writing and numbers with Maya’s occasional oversight while Frost sat on the sofa and began planning his external camp plans in earnest.

Maya quietly warned him of his overconfidence when they returned, warning him about planting flags with his ‘Let the late stages throw their worst at us’ statement. He took her warning to heart well at least on the surface, it was hard to not be overconfident when Findlay the ice troll ‘lord’ was now by his side.

14 hours passed until the next wave arrived, a stark difference compared to what they had to previously deal with. With such a wide time frame Frost and his monsters were more than able to get some much needed rest between the waves meaning they would always be a full strength.

In the winter highlands section where over half a day ago blood dyed an area of several hundred metres squared and corpses stretched as far as the eye could see. That disastrous battlefield was once again a beautiful white. The dismembering corps had more than enough time to take care of the corpses, storing the valuable materials -which given that the majority of monsters were high D-rank was pretty much the entire thing- and shuffling off the leftovers to the side for the dungeon to absorb naturally resulted in a clean plate.

Frost stood with Findlay, Khuno and Kiba by his side. The dungeon’s C-ranks and upper D-ranks stood behind them creating a wall of people. There was no ambush planned this time, just a straight up mud fight. Frost as well as Findlay himself wished to test the limits of his new archetype.

“The wave like the last one contains roughly 80 enemies primarily made up of upper D-ranks. There’s no upper C-rank monster this time but there’s 4 mid C-ranks and 6 entry C-ranks.” Frost announced the waves composition with a light-hearted tone, not worried in slightest. In fact he even sounded a little disappointed.

.....

“That’s perfect, without a higher levelled leader we can better rely on the ronsos and ice revenants and test how far my buffing capabilities can go.” Findlay however was more than happy with the wave composition finding that it suited their experiment better.

“Alright then I’ll leave the entire command to you, Khuno and I will go where you tell us.” Frost slammed his glaive against the snow, readying himself for battle.

“Understood.” Findlay responded back with a small smile before turning around to face the monster forces stationed behind them.

“Everyone the next wave is upon us so it’s time to shape up and ready our weapons. I’ll be in command of this battle and will be using my new abilities to buff up each and every one of you. Thus you should find yourself stronger, faster and far more resilient to damage making for an easier fight.” Findlay took in the form of every monster.

“This however is not an excuse to take it easy. I’ll be testing the limits so Master, Khuno and myself will have limited involvement in this battle. The onus will fall on your shoulders to deal with this wave including the mid C-ranks...you ready?”

“Rahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!” All the C and D-ranks present roared out in response more than eager to test their mettle in battle alongside their new and improved commander. They could already feel their strength improved thanks to Findlay’s [enhanced war buff] and looked forward to his non passive buffs.

Findlay raised his axe above his head and unleased a snippet of his aura before roaring out with them. He then turned around to face the dungeon’s entrance.

A moment later the wave appeared, crashing through the narrow opening that had partially repaired itself from the previous wave.

‘I should probably put aside some DP to enlarge and enhance the entrance and gates between the different sections.’ Frost said internally as he noticed the broken stone archway that looked lacking in comparison to what lay behind it.

Like before the Yuki-onnas were assigned to the rear and only fired off their magic once the enemies crossed the 100m threshold, slowing down and slightly damaging the rampaging horde.

Findlay held his right hand up signalling for the frontline to wait. The instant when the horde reached the 20 metre mark he swiftly dropped down his hand and activated his new and improved [empowering shout], targeting the ronsos and ice revenants nearby.

A magical vibration spread out from Findlay and entered the bodies of the ice revenants and ronsos filling them with great power, strengthen their muscles and organs. They let out a powerful roar before charging forward straight at the horde, madness was in their eyes or rather wild excitement.

Baaaaannnnnggggg!

The contact of the two charging waves generated a loud bang but unlike before when the two sides were roughly evenly matched this time the mass amounts of D-rank monsters were sent crashing backwards with twisted and in some cases broken limbs. This sudden reverse in momentum wrecked the hordes charge landing more than a few in hot water.

Ronsos and ice revenants continued unabated tearing into the momentarily shocked horde resulting in first blood.

“Wow” Frost couldn’t help but comment as he watched on the side lines, Khuno nodded in agreement.

“They’ve all been enhanced to the very peak of entry C-rank so despite their smaller numbers they have no problem smashing through the horde’s charge.” Khuno explained the reasoning behind such a situation.

“It also helps that the monsters in this wave aren’t bears, boars, drakes or other hard hitting species though to be honest I think the result would have been quite similar just not as dramatic.”

The ronsos and ice revenants madly swarmed over the horde killing monster after monster. After less than a minute of combat already 10 of the original 80 had been killed with nothing more than a bruise and a few scratches on their side.

The enemies this time were made up of wolves, lizards, frost trolls and worms. Unfortunately the frost trolls and even the 3 entry C-rank ice trolls were highly frenzied, negotiation was off the table just like with all the previous monsters.

For the mid C-ranks 2 were demon spiked zillas, while the last two were a giant frost ape and a frost mouth raptor (think a dinosaur carnivore, large velociraptor).

The ape had a lot of physical power and was far more nimble than it looked but its defences couldn’t be compared to the other three. It also lacked claws, dozens of razor sharp teeth and a spiked tail. It did however come with a rock club that was more than enough to break the bones of some ronsos and send ice revenants flying.

Findlay smiled evilly as he witnessed an ice revenant skid across the floor after blocking the ape’s mighty swing.

Though it wasn’t necessary for Findlay to actively take part in this battle given the boons he granted the ronsos and ice revenants he had just achieved a new level of power. Not testing his new strength was impossible.

“Looks like you’re the lucky one.” He sarcastically muttered under his breath while staring at the giant frost ape. Gripping down on his battle axe -that unfortunately didn’t go through a metamorphosis along side himself- he prepared to move out, signalling for the ronsos and ice revenants to focus on other areas -which they were more than happy to do.

A void was suddenly created around the giant frost ape causing it to be momentarily confused but that confusion quickly melted away when Findlay marched before it. Instead its skin trembled and its heart lurched as instinctual warning signs blared off throughout its body. Fear was evident in its eyes, fear that grew more and more prominent with every step Findlay took.

“Hoh well at least you’re aware of the difference between us.” Findlay tilted his head to the side, looking quite terrifying. If this was in the wild the giant frost ape would have fled for the hills, thankfully Findlay didn’t have worry about that due to the monster stampede’s frenzied state. His prey had no choice but to attack.

In but a few moments he could see the change in its eyes, the red tint growing more and more evident as the seconds passed before.

“Roooaaaaaarrrrrr!” Overcome with aggression the giant frost ape roared out and raised it mighty stone club overhead. A grey coloured energy covered the weapon, making it sturdier and heavier before it viciously cleaved downward, aiming to turn Findlay into an ice troll pancake.