Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: “Good hunting, Frost-senpai”

As the group consisting of Frost, Luna and Leo were happily walking along and chatting, the red hawk bandits and Alex were hot on their trail. Unimpeded by the unknown terrain and roaring blizzard the group accurately made a beeline straight for the second section reaching it in less than an hour, quickly closing the gap. Maya arranged for some of the lower rank monsters such as goblins and artic horned rabbits to keep an eye on the group from a safe distance however the knight Alex noticed them.

Shwoom

Without even looking in their direction Alex launched two daggers at a couple of goblins hiding in the snow. The goblins didn’t have the capability to dodge such fast daggers and were stabbed in the heart killing them instantly, their blood seeping into the snow. Further on he did the same thing to a horned rabbit pinning it to the ground, forcing Maya to recall them back, no point in having monsters die just to keep up appearances. However, with the loss of a few G-ranks she was able to ascertain and notify Frost about his dagger skills, a worthwhile trade.

“Hmmm looks like they got the message.” Alex muttered under his breath as he ran. Quickly disposing of some low rank monsters served as a warning thus allowing them to continue unabated. Having to deal with tons of monsters while searching would be counterproductive. The group quickly came across the entrance to the second section.

Alex withdrew the tracking device once again to confirm their heading. “They’re definitely this way let’s move.” Not waiting for Redhawk and his deputies Alex dived through the doorway and into the second section.

“Hu hu hu.” The two bandit deputies were red in the face and panting, constantly running in this weather for nearly an hour was no easy feat for them, even Redhawk was a little tired.

“Shit! at t...this rate we’ll d...die of exhaustion.” The smart deputy shouted between breaths with much difficulty. However, his complaints went unanswered, Redhawk simply looked at his subordinates with disdain.

.....

“It’s just a bit of running quit complaining, move your ass now!” Redhawk was nervous, even though Alex had ran through he could feel a stifling killing intent surrounding him. He knew that if they refused to follow, Alex would turn back and kill them without a second thought. He kicked the smart deputy’s ass before running through the gateway himself.

What could the deputies do but look at one another and sigh. Taking a deep breath, they gathered their strength and followed after their boss.

The moment they crossed the threshold Maya gave Frost a heads up causing him to look behind him on reflex. “Hmm Frost do you hear something?” Leo asked noticing Frost to turn his gaze behind them.

“No, it’s nothing.” He turned back and smiled; the prey has arrived. At this point his group could already see the gateway to the third section. The three then walked through the entrance and were greeted with a much different environment.

“Huh?” Luna and Leo were both visibly shocked, they really didn’t expect the third section to look like an old castle interior. Ignoring their shock Frost walked ahead.

“There’s no snow here and the temperature although not warm is much better than the previous sections. There’s also broken pieces of furniture that can be used to start a fire.” Frost pointed towards a broken wooden table but received no response. Luna and Leo were still in shock, Frost got a bad feeling.

“T...this is weird right Luna?” Leo looked over towards her in confusion.

“Yeah, it is.” She squatted down and inspected the floor as well as some of the broken furniture.

“What’s weird about it?” Frost was generally perplexed.

“It’s not uncommon to see monster lairs with this environment but what’s really unusual is that it follows the previous winter highlands and winter forest areas. As far as I know that’s never happened, monster lairs tend to have similar traits throughout, yet this almost feels artificial as if someone spliced two monster lairs together.” Frost’s face turned pale, how the hell did she come up with that. Frost was inwardly panicking; would he be exposed so soon. Sweat started to accumulate down his spine and his thoughts grew chaotic.

“Maybe it’s a new type, the Dark God is known for randomly creating unusual things so maybe it was him.” Leo interjected bringing some relief to Frost, he felt as though his very being was exposed. Monster lairs were said to be first established by the Dark God and occasionally weird ones that didn’t follow the usual trend would show up. The adventurers would just assume that the Dark God got personally involved, sparking great interest.

“Un, possibly but what interests me is if this changes the monsters present as well.” Luna started to give off a scholarly aura as questions filled her mind. If there were different environments along with matching monsters with this lair the profit potential could be huge.

Frost felt a chill down his spine as he saw Luna’s fervent eyes, he needed to change the topic otherwise he’d go insane. “That can wait Luna, or have you forgotten your current predicament.”

‘Redhawk and his group will be here in less than an hour gotta get rid of these two quickly.’

“Ah.... You’re right Frost this can wait till after we survive this ordeal.” She nodded regrettably, damn you still want to investigate. Frost quickly moved towards the doorway to the next area.

“Through this door you’ll enter a hallway, follow it until it splits up. Take the far-left route then enter the third room on the right. I’ve cleared out the monsters down that path so it should be safe. The room has an old-style lock as well as an old fireplace, you can lock it from the inside. Stay in there until I return, don’t come out for any reason otherwise I can’t guarantee your safety.” He pushed open the decaying old door gesturing for Luna and Leo to enter the hallway.

Frost’s stern tone and the fact that he was leaving suddenly gave them a reality check, they were still in grave danger. Frustration once again filled their eyes as they looked at Frost but deep down, they knew they’d only be a hindrance.

“Understood.”

“Understood.” The two shouted loudly, they’re faces now showing a fierce determination, saying we will survive. Frost smiled and nodded.

“Good, head on in I’ll catch up to you later.” Frost walked past them slowly heading back into to the winter forest, doing his best to restrain his urge to smile evilly.

“Frost!” At their yell he turned around once more to see them slightly bowing with their hands cupped.

“Good hunting, Frost-senpai!” After bowing they turned around and entered the hallway. The moment they left Frost could no longer contain his emotions, he widely smiled from ear to ear.

“Good hunting hahaha looks like they noticed my excitement hahaha.” He underestimated those kids.

“Maya how long until Redhawk and his cronies arrive here?” Frost walked off with a bounce in his step bringing up the dungeon menu, his new moniker of senpai only adding to his joy.

“About 40 minutes.” Maya answered no longer telepathically but through the menu screen.

“Perfect, have the polar bear enter the second section, I’ll go and arrange the wolves and frost dwarves.” Frost planned to completely overwhelm Redhawk and his deputies leaving them zero chance to interfere in his battle with Alex. And with that Frost and Maya set off to prepare for the enemies arrival.

40 minutes later Alex arrived near the entrance to the third section. The constant running didn’t even affect him, no sign of sweat or laboured breathing even his hair was still in its original style. The same couldn’t be said for his companions. Redhawk wasn’t too bad just short of breath and red in the face, not at the level where he’d struggle in a battle. His deputies however were barely hanging on, they forced themselves to keep up with their boss ignoring their limitations.

Now that the group stopped running, they collapsed, gasping for every breath. With their legs trembling in agony, they dropped to their knees unable to move. It’d be a miracle for them to stand let alone fight. Seeing his deputies in this state sent a wave of fear through Red Hawk’s body, his heart felt cold. He was in a very dangerous position, if Alex decided to eliminate them now, he wouldn’t have any decoys to aid in his escape.

Boundless regret filled him. ‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ He screamed internally at his predicament, he knew that if he was in Alex’s shoes, he’d probably take care of himself in this moment. They were already so close to their target and with Alex’s strength he didn’t have any use for Redhawk anymore. The monster lair was already filled with traces of bandits even if this incident was investigated the blame could easily be directed towards Redhawk, their value had run its course.

If Redhawk noticed this, then of course Alex did as well. He too was analysing whether or not to kill them now when he had the chance.

‘With his deputies in this state I could focus my entire attention on Redhawk, taking care of them afterwards.’ Alex’s gaze subconsciously lingered on the frozen deputies sending chills down their spines.

‘They probably won’t even be able to walk let alone run.’ An evil smile grew on Alex’s face at this thought, amplifying the bandit’s terror. His lord had given him strict instructions, there were to be no loose ends, none. This opportunity was so golden that Alex was torn between two choices, kill them now or focus on Leonardo and Luna first. He couldn’t let either party get away.

The four of them stayed silent and motionless in a tense standoff for a while. Cold sweat accumulated on Redhawk, drenching his clothes. His body was tense and afraid, he needed to run and run now but he was frozen in fear. If he showed his back to Alex even for a second, he knew he’d be killed.

Redhawk didn’t underestimate Alex for a moment, the longer this standoff no matter how unbearable it was, every second improved his chances of survival. His deputies were slowly recovering their stamina so they could be used as decoys, a monster could interfere or even the rich brats could appear grabbing Alex’s attention. Unfortunately, Alex also knew that fact.

Alex released a deep sigh before the look in his eyes swiftly changed, they filled with a murderous intent as he gazed at Redhawk causing his throat to clamp up.

‘Fuck!’ Red hawk tensed his entire body preparing for the most difficult battle of his life. His eyes grew bloodshot and his teeth grinded against one another as his fury grew. Drawing his great axe, he returned Alex’s gaze with one just as vicious. He wasn’t going to run.

The instant Alex was going to make his move however there was an interruption.

“[Ice bolt]”

The two men could lightly hear someone speak from one of the trees and sharp warnings of danger filled their bodies as they turned towards the direction of the voice.

Woosh

Suddenly out of the trees came a bolt of ice hurtling towards them faster than any dagger. The [ice bolt] seemed to be heading in Redhawk’s direction, his heart lurched delaying his response time by a few milliseconds. Redhawk quickly leaped backwards with all he had, off balance he landed on his back and continued to roll away from the danger successfully dodging the [ice bolt]. At least that’s what he thought, Redhawk was never the target.

The moment Redhawk jumped backwards the [ice bolt] was already within striking distance, the smart deputy kneeling next to him, still unable to move could only lament in fear as the [ice bolt] stared him in the face.

In just a couple seconds from when Frost uttered the spell, the [ice bolt] had travelled tens of metres and pierced the smart deputy through the chest, shredding his vital organs and leaving him no hope of survival.