Dungeon of Niflheim

84 Chapter 84: Assaulting the compound (5)

Don Don Don

As the battle between Frost, Taka and Bruno raged on, the sounds of their battle alerted Leo and his group. They were swiftly rushing down the dark stairwell hoping to aid Frost.

“Shit he’s not alone!” Taka shouted in anger. Fighting Frost alone was already near impossible, any additional players would surely mean their end. A couple times when Taka was a little slow Bruno received several cuts causing blood to drip down his shield.

“Fuck!” Bruno roared when he heard Taka’s voice, radically throwing himself at Frost with increased fervour. If they wanted to survive, they needed to take Frost down and quick.

Frost was also alerted by the sound of rapid footsteps coming down the stairwell.

‘Damn so soon’ Frost complained internally as he received a fierce strike from Bruno’s hammer, the weight behind the strike was a few level higher given his urgency. Leo and the rest would be here in under 10 seconds so if he was going to finish this battle alone, he had to do it now.

‘I need to restrain Bruno in some way so I can take care of the archer.’ Another two arrows were shot in quick succession forcing Frost to once again back off his offensive. Taka was clearly no longer caring about his dwindling ammunition, firing whenever he saw a chance.

‘Wait what about that new spell I learned, ice entanglement.’ The spell summoned ice from under the target encasing them in ice vines, halting their movements. If Frost could successfully use that spell, it would be perfect for holding down Bruno. Even if it was a couple seconds that was more than enough for him to reach Taka and cleave him apart with his glaive. Once an archer was forced into close combat, he was easy pickings.

‘The issue is whether I can cast it or not.’ Although Frost knew how thanks to the magic scroll, he hadn’t used it as of yet. When he first used the ice bolt spell, he struggled to aim the thing and it was little more than a twig thick, hardly worthy to be used in battle. Ice entanglement was a 2nd circle spell and should be even more complicated to cast.

.....

Banggg

Frost blocked another strike from Bruno with his glaive and Taka’s arrow wasn’t far behind.

‘Ah screw it, what’s the worst that could happen.’ Frost didn’t have much choice if he wanted to finish this fight in the next few seconds. The only hope was that by casting the spell in close proximity to the target it should be more likely to succeed. The range on the spell was 5 metres, Frost’s thought process was that if used within 1metre or, so he’d be able to control it better.

Frost took a quick deep breath and focused, he shattered the incoming arrows with his glaive and send a shabbier ice bolt towards Taka, buying him a second or two. Bruno had been sent a couple steps backwards from Frost’s parry giving him a very short window to concentrate.

He closed his eyes and focused on the image of the spell’s magic crest and channelled his mana.

Bruno felt a chill down his back as a sense of danger washed over him.

‘Damn he’s casting magic.’ Bruno clenched his jaw and forcibly regained his balance by overworking his legs muscles. He winced in pain from the act but paid it no further heed. He needed to move now and interrupt Frost before he finished otherwise, they’d lose.

With the image of the spell clear and his mana prepared Frost chanted an aria that helped to formulate the magic crest.

“[Ice become like vines and entangle my foe, Ice entanglement]” Frost opened his eyes and looked directly towards Bruno and in response to his voice a magic crest quickly formed underneath Bruno’s feet. The lines were fairly rough, but it was glowing and expanded to around a metre in diameter.

“Shit!” Bruno tried to move out of the crest, but his earlier forceful movement damaged his legs locking them in place for a second preventing him from escaping.

hummmmmm

The magic crest gave off a high pitched hum before reaching fruition, summoning ice in the shape of vines from the floor quickly encasing Bruno’s feet and legs preventing any form of movement in his lower half.

Frost didn’t have time however to enjoy his success, the ice generated was weak and full of cracks and would only last a couple seconds when restraining Bruno, he needed to move.

With Bruno momentarily taken care of Frost turned to face Taka who had successfully dodged his ice bolt and was about to launch his arrows.

‘Crap crap crap’ Taka internally complained before quickly launching arrows at Frost aiming to delay him by any means possible. Without Bruno to take control of close combat Taka was pretty much a sitting duck, he needed to buy time.

Quick in his thinking Taka moved as he fired increasing the distance between him and Frost as much as possible.

Ding Ding

Frost deflected the desperate arrows with his glaive while shifting strength to his legs. He then launched himself at Taka with tremendous speed, like a bullet he fired off an ice bolt to redirect his victim.

Bruno panicked trying his best to extricate himself from the ice entanglement, causing more and more cracks in the ice with each shift of his body. He only needed 3 seconds, if Taka could keep Frost at bay for 3 seconds, he’d be able to escape and join the battle once more.

The problem however was that for Frost 3 seconds was an incredibly long time. The room was only so big, and Frost could move with such speed that without Bruno barring his way it took him only one to appear before Taka.

Taka being forced to evade the ice bolt actually shortened the distance between them instead of lengthening. He bit his lip in frustration and his eyes became bloodshot as he swung his bow upward hoping to smash Frost’s face in.

Frost easily grasped the bow being used as a club.

Crack

He squeezed the bow causing it to crack and burst under the pressure of his grip before wrenching it from Taka’s grasp and tossing it aside.

Taka never believed his bow could cause Frost any harm, although it hurt him emotionally to see his old partner destroyed and tossed away like a piece of garbage it was necessary.

Taka didn’t fight hard to keep hold of his bow in fact he practically let Frost wrench it from him so he could prepare his next attack.

Without warning Taka swung upwards at Frost’s wolf mask, he held an arrowhead in his hand, the sharp end poking through his fingers as he slashed at Frost’s mask.

Slice

Frost’s mask although rather detailed and well-made was of simple materials. The iron arrowhead easily cut through the material leaving a long gash, revealing some of Frost’s nose. Luckily due to the length of the arrowhead and quick reactions his face wasn’t injured in anyway. It did however cause his eyes to open wide in shock.

Oomph

“Ughhhh!” In response Frost punched Taka in the gut to prevent any further attacks, causing Taka to buckle forward and fall to his knees. He dropped the arrowhead clenched between his fingers onto the ground removing his last form of attack.

Beads of sweat tricked down Taka’s forehead and his stomach was in serious pain, he could barely breath.

‘Bruno was withstanding this kind of strength the entire time.’ Taka used some strength to look over his at comrade still encased within ice.

Bruno saw Taka fall to his knees and it reinvigorated his strength and determination to shatter his prison of ice.

Crack crack

The ice loudly cracked and fell to his side.

‘Just a little more hold on for just a little longer Taka!’ Chunks of ice fell to the floor dissipating back into mana. His eyes were bloodshot, and veins protruded across his forehead as he urged his comrade to hold on, desperation and pleading was in his eyes.

Taka saw this and felt touched, they hadn’t known each other very long but only now did he understand how good a friend Bruno was. It was a shame; he knew his own limitations. He was a rear guard specialised in fighting from a distance, when it came to close combat his strength rivalled that of an F-rank. With such pitiful strength how could he possibly combat Frost.

He painfully turned away from his friend, hiding the tears that started to form in his eyes and turned to face his aggressor. He looked deep into Frost’s eyes but couldn’t truly have any hatred. In this case he and Bruno were likely on the wrong side of justice given who they worked for, but most of all it was the look Frost had when peering down.

There was no contempt, hatred or even anger, no he looked at Taka with respect and joy as though he was a friend. It was this look that made Taka’s impending death less scary.

“It was a good fight Taka, but you’ve lost.” Frost spoke with honesty, he appreciated Taka and was grateful for granting him more battle experience. He would make his death swift and would remember his name.

In response Taka smiled sadly, he had lost.

Frost raised his glaive up high aiming to end Taka with a single swing.

“Nooooooo!” Bruno screamed loudly as he tore away the last of the ice encasing his feet, but it was pointless he wouldn’t be able to reach Frost in time.

Taka looked up towards Frost and the weapon that would end his life.

‘Ah so this is it, this is where I die.’ Taka’s life flashed before his eyes. He remembered his childhood. He was an orphan who lost his parents in the war, along with his younger sister he was sent to live at the Furano orphanage at the mere age of nine. Life was hard but happy, the orphans took care of one another like siblings and the priests and sisters did their best to look after them and provide shelter and food.

Thanks to Douglas taking control of the territory the orphanage received a good stipend but still he needed to find work early in order to help out his younger siblings. He became an adventurer, working hard, completing many quests and amassing money for the orphanage. Around 60% of what he earned he gave to the orphanage to help buy food, pay rent etc...

When Douglas became ill a few years ago and Adam took control, the money set aside for the orphanage suddenly stopped coming in, forcing Taka to work that much harder.

With the bills rapidly increasing and him having to take on more and more work each more dangerous than the last he was reaching his limit. The priest and sisters as well as his blood-sister urged him to take a break, saying that they’ll find a way to survive without relying on him.

The priests and sisters where fairly advanced in age and couldn’t do much hard labour and the children could only make pittance worth, not enough to pay the ever-increasing rent. In fact, a despicable gang had recently eyed their land and was doing everything within their power to trouble them.

The final straw however was when his sister became ill and required rare medicine to supplement her health. With this he was forced to take some drastic measures, he borrowed from the wrong people.

When he couldn’t pay them back that was when Adam, well one of his representatives approached him offering a deal. As long as he worked for Adam, he’d take care of the loan. But he was just changing his keepers from the gang to Adam and at least the gang didn’t make him feel suffocated.

‘Ah Meryll your brother’s sorry but he won’t be able to see you again.’ As Frost started to bring down his glaive Taka thought of his younger sister Meryll, the apple of his eye. She was an absolute angel the kindest and cutest person in the world he’d do anything for her even sell his soul. His only regret as he felt the onset of death was never being able to see her smile again.

As the glaive drew closer towards his neck- Frost was aiming for decapitation- Taka released a sigh and smiled, relaxing his entire body, he was ready.

“Takaaaaa!” Bruno screamed once more launching himself towards Frost and Taka with all he had but it was hopeless there was nothing stopping Frost’s glaive from severing Taka’s head from his shoulders...

....or was there?