Dungeon of Niflheim

He focused his eyes upon his target before dashing ahead.

The rindar was ready, despite his defences being blown by Hamon and his focus being on getting away from these two warriors as fast as possible he was still a 5 metre tall monster with a lot of power.

With a fierce step the rindar catapulted himself forward, his arms tensed and reeled back into position, ready to pummel his way through Frost.

“Arrrrrrgghhhhhhhhh!”

“Raaaaaahhhhhhhh!” The two opponents roared out as they attacked one another.

The rindar swiftly punched out with devasting force, smashing against Frost’s ice armour, pulverising it before striking against the armour made from Daki. Two fists struck his already cracked rib sending an intense wave of pain through Frost’s body while the others aimed for his left shoulder hoping to interrupt his slash.

Frost winced from the pain but pushed through “[wyvern’s maw]” he activated his strongest skill summoning the head of a wyvern armed with a mighty maw.

The wyvern swiftly bit down on the rindar’s torso, sinking its fangs in deep, shredding his exposed flesh and lashing out pain for pain.

.....

The rindar’s fists that aimed for his shoulder thus stalled for a brief moment allowing Frost to twist his body and avoid the blow.

He stepped forward with his glaive cleaving downward, his target being slightly different from where the wyvern struck.

Schwing!

The two bodies swiftly passed one another. The rindar not even looking backwards for a brief second bolted forward, running straight for the treeline while Frost had only moved slightly forward, his glaive penetrating deep into the blood dyed floor.

“Hu hu hu hu hu” Frost’s breathing became incredibly laboured and the pain he fought through assaulted his mind with a vengeance along with a dizzying exhaustion.

He stumbled forward falling to his right knee, leaning on his glaive for support. One hand reached for his ribs before he coughed up a spurt of blood, his vision shaking as he began to fall.

“Woah there I got you laddie.” Hamon appeared just in time to gently catch Frost being careful not to touch his wounded ribs.

Frost turned to face Hamon with difficulty before speaking.

“I got him good right?” He asked with a cocky yet strained smile.

“Haaaaaa yeah lad you got him good.” Hamon smiled and shook his head before laughing.

Lying beside Frost was a gnarly looking arm far larger than either of theirs. Frost had taken one of the rindar’s arms in their brief exchange and significantly wounded another. He made him pay and then some.

Hamon quickly observed the situation around them before pulling out a mid-level health potion and handing it to Frost.

“Drink up Frost we can’t stay here for long.” He spoke with a slight urgency. The other monsters had avoided this area during their confrontation with the rindar but since he had now left there was nothing holding them back plus the rindar would likely send everything he had at his disposal in revenge.

Frost didn’t argue and downed the mid-level health potion that was palatable to his tastebuds. The potion got to work the moment it entered his body, gradually replacing lost blood and repairing the damage around his body in particular his ribs.

Hamon then helped him to his feet before eyeing where the rindar fled.

“Hoh now that’s an expression and a half.” His eyes opened widely, and a wild smile grew on his lips as he witnessed the leading rindar.

Frost turned to look and responded in a similar way.

The leading rindar had just noticed the damage to its body in particular its missing arm and an expression of unbridled fury swiftly adorned its face as a result.

He looked towards Frost as if he was his most hated foe, a person that did an incorrigible act towards himself and the only recourse was for him to rip Frost to pieces with his bare hands.

Frost and Hamon enjoyed this expression finding it rather uplifting.

Frost reached down to the lifeless arm and presented it towards the rindar.

“Forget something?” He asked in a mocking tone making the monster’s face even more furious and eliciting a chuckle from Hamon.

“He’s going to make it his life’s mission to hunt you down and make you feel a pain so bad that you’ll wish you were dead.”

“He’s welcome to try but I guess having a commander so fixated on one person makes predicting his movements much easier right?” Frost asked without even a single ounce of fear.

If he was alone on this battlefield then he’d of course be wary, but he had strong allies by his side.

“Hahahahaha yeah you’re right about that lad.” Hamon let loose a booming laugh as he slammed his hand down on Frost’s shoulder.

Hamon looked around the area once again and noticed the encroaching monsters as well as the breaking off of Bastion and his majors.

“Time for us to go lad, we’ll head to the northern wall, best to check in on Douglas and apprise you of the current situation.”

“Alright, you want a ride, or will you jump up yourself?” Frost asked before sticking his finger in his mouth and loudly whistling.

“Roooooaaaaaarrrrr!” The sound of a tiger’s roar could suddenly be heard from within Furano before Kiba appeared in the sky swiftly making his way to Frost.

“Now that I get a closer look at it that’s a glacial winged tiger, a young one with a lot of room for growth.” He cupped his chin and nodded in praise.

“A good partner, your future just keeps getting brighter.” Hamon gestured a thumbs up to Frost who slowly ascended Kiba’s back.

“So you riding or not?” Frost asked again and Kiba showed no complaint.

“Hehehehehe no you’re alright lad I’ve got my own methods.” Hamon rejected Frost’s offer before knocking his heels together.

Another runic inscription appeared on his feet and calves summoning a whirlwind of wind aspected mana beneath him. Hamon then began to float off the ground showing an arrogant smile as he did.

“See if you can keep up young tiger.” He taunted Kiba before stepping on the air like it was solid ground, rapidly increasing his speed as he rose up and headed to the northern wall.

“Roaaaaarrrrrr!” Kiba spurned on by his taunt roared and flapped his wings, swiftly chasing after Hamon completely ignoring the twitching lips of Frost who was still in the process of recovery.

The monsters in the area swarmed their location a couple seconds after they left, just missing them. The leading rindar thus smashed a couple nearby trees in anger.

“Brother” the youngest rindar called out to his elder brother a mixture of concern (fake) and gloating clear in his eyes. Out of the three of them he was the least injured so technically he should now be the strongest and ultimately the one in charge in his mind.

The eldest rindar knew the thoughts of his youngest brother well and didn’t stand for it. Without the slightest sign he appeared before the youngest rindar and punched him directly in the face, knocking him to the ground and proceeding to beat him with his remaining arms and legs.

“Bastard if you hadn’t messed up in the first place I wouldn’t have lost my third arm!” He roared out in fury.

The youngest rindar clenched his jaw before lashing out against his brother.

“Bullshit you lost your arm because your weak!” He pulled his brother’s leg knocking him to the ground before slashing out with his sabres aiming to deprive his brother of another arm.

The eldest rindar shifted his body, dodging the slashes and kneed his brother in the ribs knocking him back. Just because he was missing an arm and covered in wounds didn’t mean the youngest could best him in a fight. He was at the bottom of the totem pole for a reason.

The two rindar continued to tussle further wounding one another before the middle brother arrived with the other B-ranks.

“Enough now is not the time!” The middle brother shouted with a hidden message in his eyes. The three other B-ranks saw the conflict between the siblings as well as the extensive wounds. If the youngest rindar had thoughts of taking control why wouldn’t they.

The two rindar swiftly stopped their fighting acknowledging the danger of the situation, the monster world was one of competition, one of pure strength. The biggest fist calls the shots. Only if the rindars worked as a team would they be able to take the lead at least in the beginning. The six of them were just the start of the high ranking forces set to attack Furano.

“That elf must die otherwise I’ll never be able to rid myself of this anger.” The eldest rindar stated in a chilling tone while staring at the northern wall with fire in his eyes.

“They’ll all die brother but only if we don’t lose our heads.” The middle brother acted as a calming voice allowing his eldest brother to refocus his goals, at least on the surface. Frost was a foe that he needed to personally eviscerate no matter the cost.

The youngest though reluctant to give up the reigns looked over the other B-ranks as well as his second brother, finding that the situation was not right after all. He’d need to continue to bide his time.