Dungeon of Niflheim

108 Chapter 108: Killing Adam

With Adam slipping into unconscious, he wouldn’t last much longer and not one to waste his food Frost raised his glaive up high and slashed downward, separating Adam’s head from his shoulders with a single swing, a quick and efficient killing.

“Really gotta appreciate the workmanship of that old dwarf, even after all the punishment this glaive’s endured it’s still razor sharp.” Frost marvelled at the quality of his glaive. He then took a deep breath and relaxed is overtaxed body.

The mass of DP generated by Adam’s death then flowed into his body, it was of an even higher quality than that of Shadow’s, the feeling was intoxicating, his body became numb. Letting gravity take over he fell onto his back and lay there for the next 20 minutes recuperating from his many wounds as well as basking in the high of the of high quality DP influx.

He only roused himself awake after 20 minutes due to Leo and Luna both coming around and by then he had recovered a great deal. His body no longer sending out sharp painful sensations with every muscle contraction.

Leo was the first to awaken.

“Ugh” he groaned, and his eyes slowly opened with difficulty, his nose had stopped bleeding a while ago, but the bone was still broken, and he had a splitting headache. Unlike Frost he didn’t have an unnatural regeneration quality or the benefit of receiving a healing spell or the ability to absorb life energy from his defeated victims. His 20 minute nap did little in the aid of recovering.

Groaning some more he forced himself to sit upright before looking around. His vision was still rather unfocused be he could make out Frost’s figure watching him from a distance.

Frost had made himself sit upright the moment he sensed movement, ‘need to keep up this respected senpai routine.’ Frost was quite taken with being looked up to by the 2 young kids and wouldn’t jeopardise it. Luna discovering his anti-potion hatred was embarrassing enough.

“Morning sleepyhead.” Frost joked with a cheerful tone.

.....

“Ugh...morning” taken aback by the unusual comment Leo’s responded in kind before memories of what happened before he passed out flooded back to the forefront of his mind.

“Ah! Adam where’s my uncle and...LUNA! Ah!” As he roared in panic his loud voice aggravated his headache and wounds, but it didn’t stop him frantically searching for his fiancé. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was Luna being slammed against the wall by a spell. He was already out of it so he couldn’t make out or remember the exact details but knew it was bad.

Eventually he found Luna lying down on the ground still unconscious and tears threatened to pour from his eyes as he attempted to drag his body towards her.

“Haaaaaa” Frost sighed as his respect for Leo rose, he really cares for her. He admired the relationship between the two always putting the wellbeing of the other before their own. But he couldn’t let Leo become even more injured and quickly moved to restrain him and calm him down. He’d already performed a quick check on Luna, and he witnessed the whole event, she may have a mild concussion but other than that she’d be fine.

“Calm down Leo she’s fine, just a minor blow to the head, she’s just resting, a mild concussion perhaps but nothing else.” Frost stood up and walked over to Leo and placed his hands on his shoulders as he spoke, forcing him to look his way.

“R...really?” Not entirely convinced Leo asked warily all while trying to peer behind Frost’s head.

“Haaaaaa” Frost sighed again.

“Yes, really, she’ll be fine, most likely she’ll wake up in arou...oh speak of the devil.” As Frost was speaking, he sensed movement from Luna.

“Ugh” Like Leo, Luna awoke somewhat out of it with a splitting headache but other than that everything was fine. Unlike Frost or Leo, she didn’t have much physical injuries and would make a speedy recovery even without magic or potions.

Luna sat up while holding her head trying to rub away the pain, when she opened her eyes, she was met the gazes of Leo and Frost both filled with relief and joy.

“Leo, Frost-senpai?” She questioned; her mind still not fully restored.

“Haaaaaa” Frost sighed for a third time, however this one was much happier. He turned back to Leo.

“See she’s fine, you’re both fine.” He tapped Leo’s shoulder while smiling, it was over, they’d won.

After a few seconds Luna regained her thoughts and the memories of where they were and what they were doing came flooding back.

“Where’s Adam!” She’d already noticed that Leo and Frost were fine which brought a relived tear to her eye and removed a weight from her chest.

‘Looks like my last healing spell found its mark.’ Luna thanked her luck, she could barely see where she was aiming and quite frankly it was a miracle, she could even construct the required magic crest successfully.

With Luna now asking as well, both her and Leo both turned to Frost whose smile had grown even bigger.

“Heheheheh he’s over there.” Frost pointed backwards towards the decapitated corpse that was Adam with his thumb, proud of his handiwork.

Leo and Luna sat there frozen when they laid eyes on Adam’s corpse, unable to believe that their battle was over and more importantly that they were knocked out when it happened. A mixture of joy and guilt filled them both as they both felt like nothing more than dead weight. Their emotions were clearly displayed by their expressions.

“What’s with the sour looks? we did it, Adam was defeated the operation a success.” Frost stated while tilting his head to the side in confusion.

‘That’s not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.’ He had to admit he was a little disappointed.

Their guilty expression only got worse with his response.

“....Sorry Frost-senpai seems that we weren’t able to help once again.” Luna spoke while averting her eyes downward. She was reminded of when they were sequestered to that barricaded room within the third section of the monster lair.

“....Huh are you joking?” Frost frowned truly baffled by what he was hearing.

“Leo, you saved me from getting slashed across the face when you severed your uncle’s arm and Luna if you didn’t cast that last minute healing spell there would have been no way I could have beaten him. The three of us fought and won together, you two were more help than you realise.” Frost spoke honestly, without Leo and Luna he wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes let alone be the victor.

‘These two really lack confidence in their strength.’ He shook his head before glaring at the two until they changed their expressions.

Leo and Luna grew embarrassed before looking at one another and smiling. They did work hard, nothing to be ashamed of.

With that the tension was finally completely released and the three of them laughed without restraint, they could finally relax but their reverie was quickly brought to a close by a thunderous roar.

“LUNA!!!!!! PAPA’S A COMING!” Ryuu’s powerful booming voice could be heard as he dashed his way towards them like a tornado smashing its way through any obstacles. He used his powerful mana sense to find them, leaving Bastion in the dust when he discovered the dead bodies of Shadow and his cohorts.

“Tsk” Luna clicked her tongue but was clearly smiling, for once she looked forward to her Father’s overprotective doting, she’d been through a lot after all.

Ryuu followed moments later before instantly charging at his daughter and sweeping her up in a bear hug as he cried out loud.

“My sweet, sweet daughter, Daddy won’t ever leave you again ahhhhh!” Luna enjoyed it for about half a second before viciously slamming her elbow down on his head forcing him down to his knees and rubbing the afflicted area.

“Too much stupid dad hmph!”

“Hahahahaah” Frost and Leo laughed out loud, Ryuu was behaving like his normal self.

Bastion arrived not too long after, he simply shook his head when he saw his old friends antics. Hard to associate the current Ryuu with the man he just fought beside.

Unlike Frost and Leo, the two old men were in much better shape, sporting little injuries. Bastion had a few bruises hidden by his clothes and a few gashes where Rock and Jin’s weapons successfully breached his defence but most of all he was exhausted. He practically collapsed the moment he arrived and saw that everyone was alive and well (to an extent).

“Hu hu hu hu” His sudden rushing drained the last of his energy causing him to gasp for air.

“Uncle are you alright?” Leo asked with worry in his eyes, moving close to help if needed not realising his face and upper chest was still covered in his own blood and his nose bend at an awkward angle.

“......You should take care of yourself first little Leo.” Bastion gave his nephew a mocking look before retrieving some special jerky from his pockets. This was his special stash, filled with massive amounts of protein, fat, and sugar all while being pickled in his special vat of alcohol and to him it wasn’t just an emergency ration but a delectable treat.

‘Oh, that’s good stuff.’ He chowed down with relish. Whereas Leo was puzzled.

‘Myself what does he mean?’ Leo could feel that he still had injuries but how did that prevent him from helping his uncle.

“Leo come here.” Frost beckoned him over.

“yes Fr....crunch! Ah! Fuck what was that for!” Once he was within arm’s reach Frost grabbed his broken nose and vigorously manipulated it back into its correct position.

“Your nose was broken, I simply straightened it, [clean up].” After replying Frost casted the lifestyle magic clean up, removing the majority of the blood staining Leo’s clothes, now he at least looked presentable.

“...Thanks” Somewhat begrudgingly, Leo thanked him though he chose to keep a wide berth from Frost as he did.

“What happens now Leo, aren’t the adventurers still fighting on the surface?” Frost asked as he started to peer at the expensive items kept within the vault.

‘Oh, right I almost forgot.’ Not waiting for Leo’s reply, he moved into the room highlighted by Adam with his last words.

‘A silver vial with the seal of house Furano.’ He searched around for the vial much to the confusion of the rest. Even Ryuu stopped his crying and doting, watching his actions with curiosity.

‘Found it,’ eventually tucked away in case made out of some mana rich material Frost found the silver vial encased in a thick velvet cloth.

He brought the vial and case over to Leo.

“Adam gave me a message with his final words.”

“....” Leo frowned but nodded to have Frost continue.

“The cure for his brother’s poison would be in this silver vial.” His words set off a bomb in everyone’s head, the health of Douglas was a very serious matter for them, but could Adam be trusted.

Leo frowned even harder unsure whether or not to take the vial.

“I may not have known much about your uncle, but when he mentioned your father his eyes held traces of regret, I don’t believe he lied to me.” Frost spoke with confidence, for Adam to talk at all when under the effects of the wyvern poison was painful and exhausting, would he have really endured that just to lie. And what would be the point, Douglas wasn’t going to last more than a week even if he did chose to continue fighting so technically there’s no downsides.

Leo continued to frown he wanted to believe Frost but anything with links to Adam he had to take with a very large grain of salt.

Seeing that he still wasn’t convinced Frost decided to put one more nail in the coffin.

“Leo your father won’t live past today so giving him this vial has no downsides.” Frost told Leo what he knew of Douglas’s condition as well as his father’s own decision to likely give up once this operation comes to a close.