Dungeon of Niflheim

He felt lost as the smell of blood and metal filled his nostrils and the eeriness of death wrapped around his heart and muscles, whispering ‘why keep fighting? The battle is already lost.’

He was no stranger to this voice given his battle experience, but it was the first time he truly felt tempted by it.

‘Is there actually any point?’ He asked himself as the carnage around him became clear.

Screams of agony, the explosion of magic and the clanging of weapons and yes the convoluted voices of soldiers and monsters that sounded like a din of madness.

The northern wall that he sanctioned to be extended to a whopping 15 metres looked cute in front of the invading horde that sported creatures almost half as tall and great beasts that were able to leap up to that height without much effort.

Everything was beyond all expectations. They knew this stampede would be immense but not like this. The mid stages alone saw hundreds of men and women killed but they survived it and each day they fought they could see the light at the end of the tunnel but now.

His gaze drifted towards the backlines where a group of certain monsters could be seen with predatory expressions.

Rindars and three of them at that along with 3 other B-rank monsters that were currently on the frontlines facing against Furano’s elites.

.....

The first three that were on the frontlines arrived closely after one another. Each pretty powerful in their own right but none of which were tactical leaders and were expected given that it was the late stages. The other three however were not and they were the main reason why everything was looking so bleak.

Rindars were a race of intelligent scaled humanoids that were said to have draconic ancestry but unlike dragonkin they were more bestial in appearance. They had no wings but their massive 5 metre tall purple bodies were adorned in scales and razor sharp quills. A long thick tail stretched out from their lower backs which ended in a natural mace perfect for bludgeoning.

Their faces were reptilian, and their teeth were razor sharp and far more plentiful than a human’s. Plus they sported an extra set arms and eyes making them far harder to deal with numbers wise but that wasn’t their scariest feature.

Though they had powerful bodies what made them truly frightening was their fierce intelligence and brutality. Where other monsters fight, kill and devour their opponents for reasons such as territory, amassing strength or even just hunger the Rindars did it for pleasure. Sadistic creatures that loved causing pain and torturing their victims, an enemy no one wanted to face.

But here before them was three of these creatures licking their lips in glee as they strategically ordered the masses of monsters under them to attack, repeatedly testing Hamon’s capabilities as a commander.

Douglas’s gaze was noticed by the middle rindar who seemed to be the leader of the group.

“Hoh! what’s this a B-rank fighter left all alone” With a grating voice and a forked tongue the lead rindar spoke in surprise but it’s upturned lips showed that it wasn’t really unaware. In fact it had meticulously separated Douglas from his group after seeing how important he was to the rest.

With an evil smile the middle rindar tapped the shoulder of the rindar on its left signalling for it to move.

The left rindar showed an even more evil smile before vanishing before Douglas’s eyes. Rindars could camouflage themselves, erasing all traces of their presence.

“Shit!” Douglas cursed as he exited his dazed state and prepared himself.

He raised his shield up firmly and readied his sword while his eyes dashed across the vicinity looking for even the slightest sign of movement. His aura melded with his body, enhancing his physical prowess as well his eyes and ears.

Seconds passed yet Douglas spotted nothing, a cold sweat dripped down his forehead and neck as death whispered in his ear well not just death.

“You’re sweating old man.” A sharp insidious voice trickled into Douglas’s ear sending a jolt down his spine before he leaped forward away, twisting his body as he did and slashing at whatever whispered in his ear.

Clang!

The sound of a sword clashing against hard scales reverberated in the vicinity before a mocking chuckle followed.

“Hahahaha so weak.” The rindar looked down at Douglas with contempt before knocking away the outstretched sword and returning to his camouflaged state, chuckling as he did.

Douglas was once again in the dark, his nerves primed to catch a single whiff of the rindar all while desperately looking for an escape route.

Even in his peak state he was no match for a rindar alone, he needed help but knowing the tendencies of his foe the chances of receiving aid was low.

That voice that urged him to stop fighting wormed its way back into his mind, draining him of his physical strength and will, making every concurrent slash weaker and slower. This nagging voice was assisted by the vicious rindar who appeared randomly, taunting him and mocking his efforts as though this was some sort of game.

“Hehehehe my brother is quite the strategist old man.” The rindar’s voice appeared around Douglas, never being in the same place twice and he was too slow to catch him, cutting the air instead of flesh.

“We saw you surrounded by those elite fighters and saw how you were the centre of them hehehehehe do you know what went through our minds at that point?”

Schwing!

Douglas slashed out a moment too slow, failing to strike his target.

“We thought how delicious it would be to isolate you from those people and make them watch as we carve you up like a prime fillet hehehehe.” The rindar revealed his face behind Douglas licking his lips and drooling as he imagined the future feast.

Douglas felt a fire light up within him filling him with fury. He viciously turned around to face the rindar with a wrathful expression before shouting.

“Over my dead body [holy severance]!” Douglas swiftly lashed out with a high level sword skill that was tinged with a purifying element, perfect in dealing with a dark insidious entity like a rindar.

Claaaaaannnnnngggggg!

The enhanced sword glowed with a sharp white light before almost instantly appearing before the rindar’s face, but he failed to catch it by surprise.

“That’s the plan old man.”

The rindar’s arms were crossed and his dense scales extended into a pseudo shield allowing him to cleanly blocking Douglas’s aggressive attack.

“Haaaaaaa cornered sapients are always so predictable. This attack may have been dangerous when you were at your peak but after hours of slogging it out in the mud.....” The rindar poked his head over his scale shield with a wide a grin.

“...You’re nothing but bark.” The rindar then revealed the entirety of its 5 metre tall body.

He appeared more muscular than the other two rindars and wielded two sabres in his third and fourth hand while his remaining ones were morphed into scale shields holding Douglas’s white sword in place.

Bang!

The rindar fiercely shattered the white holy energy surrounding the sword before forcing Douglas’s arm back.

The rindar spoke cockily but the [holy severance] skill left a burning wound on his arms despite the scales.

He frowned, annoyed by the pain before viciously lashing out with his own weapons, hoping to mar Douglas’s body in revenge.

Douglas felt his arm grow numb and blood rushed up his throat from the blow, he was no match in terms of physical strength....but physical strength, mastery of skills or even the quality of equipment was not the what made a veteran like Douglas so dangerous.

No, what made him dangerous was his experience, the experience that he gained from fighting against innumerable foes over his many decades of life.

The rindar thought Douglas was predictable but he thought the same thing about him. Rindar enjoyed toying with their prey, but their downfall was usually an excessive amount of pride that wouldn’t let a single slight go unpunished.

Douglas knew an attack was coming and planned for it. He held back a portion of his strength and channelled it into his shield arm and legs.

With astute timing, the moment the rindar’s sabres stabbed towards him he raised his shield over his chest and leapt backwards.

“[Blinding shield]” Energy flowed out his body, covering the front of the shield in a thin film of sparkling light and the moment the sabres made contact with the film the energy burst forth in a luminescent explosion, temporarily blinding the rindar as he was blown backwards and away from danger.

Douglas’s focus was not to fight against this monster no he needed to flee and join up with his allies, that was his only chance.

“Argghhhhhhh!” The rindar roared out in pain as he covered his face, his eyes were filled with a burning light that stung even more than the damn cuts on his arms. He had no idea where his target vanished to.

Douglas had successfully escaped.....