Dungeon of Niflheim

90 Chapter 90: Assaulting the compound (11)

“Rahhhhhhhhh!” Bruno roared as he charged forward as though generating an intimidating shout to attract more aggro. Of course, it didn’t really have an effect but apparently there was such a skill, but he was yet to unlock it.

Frost however was rather silent in his approach, his mouth wide open in an excited smile as he laid eyes on the foes before him.

About a dozen men and women were bunkered in a formation several metres ahead, with the archers protected in the back and shield bearers at the front. The axe thrower was in the centre and looked to be the leader.

The grouped was garbed all in black leather with a few core areas reinforced with metal. Their weapons as well were a cut above the previous goons with some of them sporting 2-star weapons. None of them appeared to be magic users- which is normal since wizards are considered quite rare being only 1 in 100 adventurers- however their range of weapons was much more diverse than their previous foes.

Two archers; an axe thrower (the leader looking one), 4 shield users at the forefront all armed with axes. Two spears users stationed right behind the shield bearers and finally on both flanks were a sword user and spiked club user for a grand total of 13 enemies. The swords used were longswords able to be single or two handed whereas the spiked clubs were solely two handed given their weight.

This was a proper group of opponents and Frost could hardly contain himself, his smile quickly became evil looking, and he licked his lips.

‘Such glorious DP and fun.’ That was how he envisioned the group of soldiers before him.

His reverie was cut short though for as soon as the two of them burst through the door a barrage ensued. Not caring too much about accuracy or enhanced strength the two archers fired off three arrows at once and quickly drew another three after firing. The axe thrower wasn’t one to fall behind launching two axes at a curve, spinning them like a boomerang to attack his targets at an angle. Even the two spear users seemed to want to join in as they launched a simple wooden spear that was by their feet as though a javelin.

The amount of attacks launched was a bit much for Bruno and caught him by surprise.

.....

Don! Don! Don!

Three arrows which were sent his way landed slightly after one another forcing him to rearrange his shield after each strike, curbing his charging momentum, but it didn’t matter too much as he wasn’t the main assault, his job was to block.

The two wooden javelins were both sent towards him, at roughly the same time resulting in a significant bang on his shield forcing him to stop in his tracks and brace for the impact.

Bang!

The vibrations reverberated through the shield and up his arm, but no damage was done to either him or the shield causing Bruno to love his new shield more than ever.

It was the throwing axe that was the main problem, with him being forced to stop and handle the arrows and javelins the throwing axe which easily had the most destructive power and flying at a tricky angle was not aimed at him but at the person behind Bruno, Leo.

Leo could see the axe coming for him and with his skills he didn’t have enough time to raise his shield in defence, worst of all it was coming for his neck, a fairly unprotected area. A cold sweat trickled down his spine as time seemed to flow in slow motion before his very eyes.

“Tsk” At the back of the group Ryuu clicked his tongue as he prepared to quickly launch a low-level but high speed air spell to knock down the flying axe. This was well within his capabilities however before he could gather his mana, he was stopped by his long-time friend, Bastion.

Surprised Ryuu looked down at his friend in confusion, his eyes basically translating as ‘are you insane little Leo’s about to be severely wounded or even killed.’ Although he seemed to show a little indifference to anyone bar his daughter Ryuu did in fact care for Leo a great deal.

Bastion flicked his eyes over towards Bruno indicating that Ryuu do the same, which he did.

Bruno was smiling and his eyes were filled with contempt when he saw the proud smile on the goon leader’s face. Bruno wasn’t just any shield bearing adventurer no, he was a tank and damn good one. He may lack some damage dealing power but when it came to protecting his teammates his skill was above D-rank. Just think of the difficulty Frost had with his superior power in escaping Bruno’s control.

With a calm attitude Bruno moved with such speed and such delicacy it looked almost grotesque, like a gorilla doing ballet. He moved like a blur backwards directly in front of the oncoming axe, his shield raised.

Baaaaaaaang!

An incredible sound was made as the axe made contact with the centre of the shield but even with that attack the shield didn’t even have a scratch just a mere blemish at where the axe struck.

The axe thus rebounded and fell to the ground, a crack apparent along the edge.

Bruno hmphed in triumph before turning his gaze towards the now gobsmacked goon leader. Meanwhile Leo brought his hand to his neck to make sure it was still there before speaking to the young dwarf standing in front of him.

“T...thanks Bruno.”

“No problem young lord.”

Ryuu relaxed his arm lowering his staff, looks as though he wasn’t needed after all. His gaze was filled with respect as he looked at the young dwarven adventurer, he was truly talented in his eyes.

Bastion wasn’t as shocked; he knew well the capabilities of the majority of the promising young adventurers under his care as it was his job. He knew that Bruno didn’t need assistance in this situation and stopped Ryuu from wasting energy.

With the defence settled and with no attacks being true, the same couldn’t be said for the goon’s side. With the group pumping more of their ranged attacks towards Bruno, Frost had free reign. The three arrows, he simply ignored, allowing them to strike his chest or arms which were protected by ice. They let out a low thud before falling to the floor, not even leaving so much as a tiny divot in his armour-Luna and Leo weren’t the only ones who improved their skills. The axe was even less of an issue, Frost had the advantage of a long reach, so he struck the flying axe out of the air with his glaive rebounding it into the nearby wall, his momentum wasn’t even slightly curbed, in fact he gained speed.

He was in front of the shield bearers in a moment, the archers barely had enough time to reload their arrows let alone fire another volley. Frost was now within striking distance, bringing down his glaive with incredible force he aimed to cleave his foes in two, regardless of their efforts to prevent him. But the shield bearers were ready. Knowing full well that their opponent was several leagues above them in strength, they worked together. As a unit the group of four shifted as one to block the swing of the glaive, each one raising their shields in aid of the other, using their combined strength to hopefully withstand the assault. If successful, the archers and spearmen would have a clear opportunity to turn this quick foe into a pin cushion.

....However, Frost was no mere opponent, his strength was within the C-rank range and his weapon far superior to their shields.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnng!!!!!

An ungodly sound reverberated as Frost’s glaive met with the combined four shields before him, in less than a blink of an eye the glaive edge split the first shield in two without any effort, the same happened to the second, the two halves flying backwards and imprinting themselves into the back wall.

The third shield offered a small amount of resistance but was also eventually split albeit less cleanly. And finally, the last shield, at this point the four shield bearers eyes were wide open in panic as they witnessed their defence crumble. They braced themselves as much as possible sending all their strength into holding the last shield up.

Smaaaaaaash!

The moment the glaive reached the final shield it released another loud sound but of a much lower level. The shield had held on, although sporting a large crack, it successfully prevented the glaive from moving any further, they had succeeded. Now their foe would be a sitting duck....or so they thought.

Frost was smiling, unperturbed by his swing being stopped by the four shield bearers, in fact he relished in the outcome.

‘Now that’s more like it.’ Licking his lips, he enacted the next phase of his attack. He knew more than anyone that his current position was dangerous. He could already see the fresh set of six arrows quickly raised in his direction as well as the oncoming stabs of the two spearmen, even the goon leader had his arms tense ready to launch another battle axe his way.

Unfortunately for them Frost was not out for the count just yet. With impressive reaction time the moment his glaive was stopped, Frost jumped up into the air, soaring over the still revelling shield bearers.

This move was not unexpected by the goons however, as the spearmen and swordsmen on the flank moved to thrust at their now airborne enemy. Frost wasn’t the first to successfully reach their defensive line up and many before him had chosen to jump over said line up to reach the more pliable foes. In fact, this wasn’t even learned through their experience, it was considered standard battle tactics, they arranged themselves in such a formation to prevent such attacks.

Swords and spears whizzed through the air with such accuracy that even Frost was forced to wince in shock, their reactions were faster than he suspected but no matter.

Shortly before a spear pierced his chest Frost used the head of one of the shield bearers to leap once again, this time over the middle line-up while at the same time, he began channelling mana to cast magic.

The middle line up quickly adjusted themselves and redirected their second thrusts above their heads, if the first stab didn’t work then the second would.

Unfortunately, Frost’s rapid movements may have been fine for the middle line up, but it was murder on the rear line. The archers struggled to lock aim on such a fast movement target especially when they’re in such close proximity. Their fear and the pressure being exuded by Frost only slowed them down further, they were never supposed to be so close to their targets.

This was the situation Frost was hoping for, he’d struggle to handle attacks from both line ups. Moving upwards and quickly he eliminated one threat albeit for a moment, but a moment was all he needed.

“[Ice become like vines and entangle my foes, ice entanglement]” Frost quickly casted his new 2nd circle spell pumping in as much mana as he could into the construct without causing it to burst. Casting the spell on four individual targets was beyond his means for the moment but expanding the area a little was just within his means. And thanks to the group being so closely bunched together in their formation he didn’t have to expand it too much.

Once Frost finished his aria, a large magic crest developed beneath him as well as the entire middle line up, the swordsmen and spearmen. Ice rapidly developed from the crest encroaching upon their feet and legs halting them in place and interrupting their upward thrusts. It worked but the spell would last but a moment, the ice vines were weaker than the one cast on Bruno, but it was enough.

Frost quickly moved to his target, the left sided archer. With his leap no longer being obstructed he landed directly in front of the poor archer who did his very best by launching his three drawn arrows directly at Frost’s face, well mask.

But at this distance Frost easily evaded them.

Woooooosh!

The arrows flew passed his neck as Frost tilted his head to the side, his ear was cut slightly by the blade of wind generated but that was all. He smiled wildly at the archer standing in front of him before thrusting his glaive into the goon’s chest.