Dungeon of Niflheim

96 Chapter 96: Three shadows

Leo flinched obviously still struggling with his emotions, he knew the plan god he came up with most of it but.... Seeing his senpai struggle so much against just one of those C-rank thugs gave him pause. He knew of the stories and had seen himself the capabilities of his uncle Bastion but even then, he still couldn’t help but worry.

Luna pulled at his sleeve redirecting his attention.

“Believe in uncle Bastion and my father, he wouldn’t have volunteered for this job if he wasn’t confident. You know Bastion’s personality, he’s a straight shooter not one for bragging or lying.” Luna spoke with confidence but behind her gaze her eyes were shaking. She couldn’t help but feel out of her depth, unable to even lend an ounce of assistance but what could she do or even Leo do anyway. Even Frost struggled to defend himself so what good could they do.

Taking in the logic given by both his fiancé and the young man he looked up to Leo clenched his fist and punched the wall, drawing a sliver of blood before regaining his focus.

He looked forward with determination leaving the previous room’s situation to those he trusted.

“Let’s go, we’ve got a traitorous noble to hunt!” Fury returned to Leo’s eyes at the mention of his uncle, he walked forward with Luna in hand ready to face what comes next.

Frost smiled and sighed with relief before promptly rushing in front, he still needed to act as the vanguard just in case anything else appears before them.

The group of three made their way swiftly down the hallway to the next area. The third basement was a lot smaller than the previous two, starting with arena there were only another two or three areas before reaching Adam’s office. Of course, these areas diverged into multiple escape paths, but they were blocked off thanks to the actions of some of the local gangs, meaning Frost could focus on heading straight, ignoring the small branching paths.

They didn’t however need to travel very far before coming across their next obstacle.

.....

Ton ton ton

The group of three made themselves known with their audible steps as they ran, alerting the foes awaiting them in the next area.

The hallway opened up into another large space (though smaller than the arena) that housed two men and a woman dressed all in black. They gave off a similar feeling to the death soldiers encountered on the second basement but much darker and ethereal. They looked like assassins, fully garbed in dark coloured armour, their faces covered with black cloth and daggers sheathed at their sides.

All around them were patches of darkness due to the room’s structure perfect for ambush attacks and slipping out of sight yet these three stood together smack dap in the middle of the room where the light is strongest. It was peculiar to say the least.

Frost held out his arm to prevent Leo and Luna from walking past him as he eyed these three new people.

‘Strange, why are they in the open?’ His gaze was redirected to the shadows trying to find anyone waiting to attack the moment they make a move but.... He sensed nothing. As far as he could tell there were just these three people.

‘Very strange,’ he scowled as he faced them, their strength was solid D-rank, but their abilities clearly specialised in attacking from shadow, not an in your face close combat type, quick and dexterous, full of finesse. They were slim and appeared light on their feet and their weapons appeared to be at the very least high quality steel perhaps even duram metal.

Frost’s eyes darted around the room as his instincts told him that something was wrong. Three people of their strength and specialisation wouldn’t be enough to stop them or even delay their progress for a meaningful length of time.

‘Is Adam really out of soldiers? It probably would’ve been better to stash these three alongside the other death soldier groups on the second basement, so why are they here alone?’ Frost internally tried to analyse the situation resulting in several seconds of silence where the two groups faced off against one another.

The three assassins were still, soundless as they gazed at the intruders not willing to make the first move, they kept their hands on their sheaths ready to draw their daggers at a moment’s notice. This silence loomed for a while before Leo spoke out.

“Frost-senpai regardless of whether it’s a trap or not we need to move.” Leo whispered into Frost’s ear as he looked at the three assassins. He didn’t recognise them at all (well he couldn’t see much given that a black cloth hid their facial features) in fact he didn’t recognise a single one of the death soldiers they encountered earlier. Adam had successfully kept such a strong and numerous force completely hidden, his own underground private army. Yet from all the ones they faced they hadn’t met one they could call the commander of such a force.

Of course, it could just be that Adam was controlling them directly or one of the elite guards could be in charge, but they didn’t seem to fit the bill. Leo fully prepared himself to have to fight through the last of these death soldiers along with their commander before confronting his uncle. Hoping that it would be a small number of elites in which Frost could handle while Luna and he protect themselves by taking advantage of their superior armour.

Ryuu’s protection spell had long ran out and they didn’t get a chance for him to cast another without possibly weakening him before his grand battle. But even so their heavily enchanted armour/robes along with their high quality meant they could easily endure for a significant length of time as long as they protected their vital areas.

A prime example being the [cross slash] skill used by Rock against Frost. If Leo or Luna were subjected to such an attack, they wouldn’t be able to respond in time, but their armour/robes would quite easily deflect or absorb such a blow without injury at least for the first few attacks. Whether it’d work for the demon something attack was up for debate.

Leo placed a hand on Frost’s shoulder before readying his blade and shield, while Luna did much the same. Tapping his other shoulder while raising her staff and preparing to cast some magic. Unfortunately, she’d be side-lined to a support role given that her level of spells wouldn’t cause much damage to this level of opponents, but they may serve as good distractions. She could also cast some healing magic if Frost or Leo get hurt.

Luna frowned as she realised her limitations, she didn’t know enough non-offensive spells. Other than heal and minor poison removal she didn’t know any others. She’d kill to be able to cast protection magic like her father or enhancement magic such as haste, but she didn’t. Her focus was on fire and air offensive spells in which for an E-rank adventurer was pretty substantial. Shame it wasn’t much use for their current situation, just another reason for her and Leo to improve.

“Haaaaaa” Frost sighed in frustration, the idea of willingly walking into some sort of trap without knowing what they were up against didn’t sit right with him, but Leo was right they needed to move on.

Unfazed by the three assassins before him Frost decided to make the first move.

“[ice bolt]” without so much as a warning Frost launched an attack from long range and as soon as he did, he began dashing forward, before casting another spell.

“[ice bolt]” now two bolts of ice were sent flying at the speed of an arrow towards the three assassins. This was followed up by Luna casting her own magic. Since they had the advantage of long range attack why wouldn’t they make use of it.

“[fireball]!” Luna conjured a basketball sized orb of fire that she launched over Frost’s head in a parabola.

Fireball was a 2nd circle fire spell that summoned quite literally a ball of fire. It was more destructive than the 1st circle spell fire bolt but slower. On contact with the target or anything physical it’ll explode giving in large area of effect.

Leo wasn’t one to be outdone, since they were down to just three each and every one of them needed to fight so he rushed with his sword drawn and shield up right behind Frost, following in his wake.

The three assassins frowned as a bunch of spells were fired their way and their targets rushed at them behind those spells.

“Tsk” one of them clicked his tongue before the group fanned outward so as to avoid the magic, the fireball in particular needed to be avoided.

Dong dong

The ice bolt spells missed their targets and sunk into the floor, stabbing in deep, revealing their piercing power, this caused the assassin’ eyes to open wide.

Baaaaaaang! The fireball followed soon after the ice bolts landing in roughly the same place and erupting in a large explosion of fire covering a diameter 5 times larger than the fireball itself, but it too had missed.

However, the group of three were now separated and were moving on Frost’s terms.

“[Ice bolt]” Frost quickly casted a third ice bolt to redirect one of the assassins from heading in Luna’s direction all while he picked up speed and rushed to another. Leo did much the same, splitting off from behind Frost he charged towards another assassin.

With the two of her comrades being forced to battle one on one the female assassin moved to assist. Already being forced to stop her charge towards Luna by Frost’s magic she redirected her aggression towards Leo. Forcing him to combat two D-rank assailants each more powerful than him.

“Damn!” Frost clicked his tongue and shouted in worry but was quickly met with a dagger to the face for losing concentration.

He bent his head back avoiding the strike before lashing out with his glaive but hit nothing but air, this assassin was quite elusive.

Using his brief moment of respite, he turned towards Leo who was being attacked by two sides and wanted to assist. He was quickly met with another dagger sent towards a vital area forcing him back into his current fight. He couldn’t allow Leo to die otherwise this whole thing would be pointless, it seemed like these assassins knew that, so they focused on taking out Leo first.

They willingly ignored Luna because she couldn’t really help, she couldn’t cast any offensive magic in fear of hitting an ally, her aim and control wasn’t enough to prevent that possibility. She could however still cast healing magic at her current distance; thus, Leo would be able to hold on for longer.

Leo forced himself into a highly defensible position never going on the offensive, utilising his sword as a second shield, and taking full advantage of his powerful armour redirecting blows with his pauldrons, minimising the lethality of the strikes. Even though he was incredibly overwhelmed and enduring attacks from every angle he still managed to shout out an order.

“Frost-senpai ignore me I’ll be fine for a while, take out your foe first! Luna make sure you keep up the healing magic Ah! Shit!” Leo lifted up his shield to block a dagger aimed for his mouth. Clearly the assassins believed he talked too much.

Frost was worried but able to see that Leo truly was capable of enduring his current onslaught. As long as he focused solely on defence even Frost would probably find it difficult to scratch him let alone two D-rank assassins.

Reinvigorated Frost returned his focus to catching this elusive pest of an opponent that has been frequently dodging his blows instead of blocking or parrying, it’s frustrating to say the least.

“[Ice become like vines, ice entanglement]” Frost spoke the aria for his only 2nd circle spell hoping to anchor his foe in place, but the target seemingly managed to dodge it by rapidly turning his legs into blurs before magically appearing at his right side forcing him to parry with his glaive.

‘If I could cast without the aria and or had more practise it could catch him.’ Without a decent level of mastery of any spell above the 1st circle the caster would need to speak the aria otherwise their magic crest would struggle to form. This delay allowed the assassin to move like shadow, whether it was a skill or just something from intense training Frost couldn’t tell. The black cloth covering the assassins face obscured his mouth from sight and muffled noise so he couldn’t tell if a skill was used.