Dungeon of Niflheim

464 Chapter 464: Silver lining?

“ME KILL ARGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!” With an unintelligent grunting the cyclops leaped towards Maggie and Frost with its stone club raised up high and anger clear in its eyes.

Maggie and Frost silently looked at one another before nodding. Frost swiftly moved to the right with his glaive wreathed in cold flames while Maggie waited for the last possible moment to avoid the massive stone club. Her role would be the vanguard, keeping the cyclops’s focus entirely on her while Frost utilised his speed to carve out wounds with his glaive.

Boooommmm!

The stone club smashed against the floor throwing dirt and debris outwards but failed to reach its intended targets.

Before the cyclops could retrieve its club Maggie was already mid swing. Her oversized hammer made clear contact with the monster’s elbow causing it to groan in pain while Maggie clicked her tongue.

“Damn thing’s harder than duram.” Although it wasn’t her strongest attack the force in her swing was enough to crush most D rank monsters into pancakes. The cyclops however was only mildly affected by it, likely receiving only a nasty bruise, its grip on the stone club didn’t even weaken.

Frost made his move a second later. With his glaive outstretched and his cold flames transformed into a dense beam running along the blade so as to increase its cutting force he slashed the cyclops’s exposed side.

Schwing!

His glaive howled through the air before slicing into the cyclops’s flesh. The first few layers were pierced without much issue but once he reached muscle the process dramatically changed. Frost’s face winced as he felt a strong resistance.

.....

With a roar he forced his glaive to complete its cut and exit the other side but even without looking he could tell that the damage was minimal at best.

The cyclops sported a gash roughly 30 centimetres long across its ribs, but the depth was practically meaningless. A little blood leaked from the wound, but no muscle was damaged. The cyclops felt only a stinging sensation thanks to the ice flames that rampaged through the wound. Taking down this beast was not going to be a short task.

Frost could land a hundred blows with minimal effect, yet the cyclops would only need a single strong blow to break his bones, a stark comparison. One which reaffirmed Frost’s weakness in this wide world.

However with Maggie taking the focal point and Frost’s impressive speed the slow and cumbersome cyclops would need a miracle if it wished to land that single blow.

Artemis wisely took some distance as he knew that he would be the most likely catalyst for that miracle. After taking a wide berth the fear induced by the monster’s aura lessened allowing him to regain his quick reflexes and watch the fight calmly. He even managed to occasionally launch a few precise attacks at the beast’s weak points thus facilitating his desire for revenge.

Even while being a mighty B-rank monster having a skill enhanced arrow launched at your massive eye was more than just a little annoying. The cyclops grew angrier and angrier as the fight progressed, increasing its physical strength and tenacity but also making it far more predictable. Maggie, Frost and Artemis were practically playing around with it.

This fact caused the observing eldest rindar to grind his teeth and explode a nearby frost troll with his fist out of sheer anger. His eyes spat flames and fury threatened to overcome his mind as he stepped forward, aiming to insert himself into the 3 on 1 battle but he was stopped by gnarly looking arm.

“Are you fucking stupid!” The B-rank poison herald roared out with a frown and cold sweat running down his neck.

There was a clear reason why he and the eldest rindar hadn’t stepped up to the plate after the initial surprise attack on Frost. The eldest rindar may have forgotten the reason due to his anger but he certainly hadn’t.

Turning away from the rindar he looked up to the northern wall where Hamon was standing, his aura was on full display and his gaze fixed predominantly upon the rindar and himself, observing them for even the slightest sign of action.

Hamon was restraining the two of them. The moment they decided to enter the fray the big commander himself would also enter and from the look on his face he was done taking the safe approach. The poison herald knew it in his heart that if Hamon was forced to come down from that wall at least one of them would be killed by him, with a good chance of it being both.

The eldest rindar initially turned around to attack the poison herald like he did to the poor frost troll that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time but the moment he turned his back he felt a looming pressure.

The image of a giant sized Hamon looking down on him filled his mind and his body visibly trembled. The eldest rindar’s raised fist unclenched and lowered back down to his side. He then retreated back to his original position with a fearful expression.

“Haaaaaaaa” Hamon pulled back his aura a little after seeing this before letting out a sigh. Things weren’t actually going that well.

Though it appeared that his mighty presence was preventing the eldest rindar and B-rank poison herald from taking action and that Maggie, Frost and Artemis were successfully pinning down the cyclops and that the other B-rank fighters and upper C-ranks were holding down the other B-rank monsters this was just on the surface.

In truth Hamon had no choice but to put his all into filling the two enemy commanders with fear, if they entered the fray the balance would be broken, and deaths would be inevitable. Plus though the other B-ranks were being successfully handled it was at the cost of his high ranking fighters. Without the high rank officers controlling the horde the main force and vanguard troops were gradually being overwhelmed.

To compensate the magic corps and ranged corps were dishing out extra volleys but there was a limit to their capabilities and the ammunition left in stock, even with Frost generous donation.

4 days, Hamon needed to plan for the entire length and then some. Just surviving today and tomorrow wasn’t enough thus he had a very serious and dour expression on his face.

The battle continued until night fell and the next lapse occurred. The battlefield was once again covered in corpses of all species, a veritable gold mine if one ignored the sapient corpses lying beside them as well as the ongoing situation.

“All units beyond the wall fall back! Reserve teams front and centre and dismantling corps clean the grounds for the next battle.” Hamon roared out his orders as the drums of retreat rang from behind the treeline and the fragmented horde swiftly backed off.

“Hu hu hu hu hu” Frost panted heavily with trembling limbs as he watched the cyclops regretfully retreat at the sound of the drums. He and Maggie took on a passive approach in the battle thus exposing them to much less risk but at the same time limiting the amount of damage they could cause.

After several hours of combat all four of them were exhausted and though individually minor, the wounds on the cyclops had built up. The ten metre tall monstrosity was painted red from its own blood and there was barely any part of its body that wasn’t slashed open and or burned. Significant bruises could also be seen near its joints and ribs, its right shoulder had even been dislocated by one of Maggie’s harder blows, but it was still fairly far from dying.

“Come on Frost let’s head back, we’ve fought enough for now, we’ll get him next time.” Maggie spoke with a smile, but Frost was astute enough to notice that it was forced. It was clear that she was quite disappointed and possibly even worried about their failure to cull this creature. The B-rank monsters would only grow in number and strength, she couldn’t be preoccupied with just one for such a long time.

Her gaze then turned towards Artemis who was barely supporting himself, leaning on his bow just so he could remain upright. She shook her head and decided that their ‘discussion’ in regards to his earlier actions could wait till another day.

Artemis’s advancement to advanced level bow mastery could be seen as a silver lining in today’s events plus although she and Frost failed to end their B-rank opponent two other teams were in fact successful.

The two rindars survived thanks to their intelligence and use of the lesser monsters but the other two B-ranks didn’t survive the conflict, dying from the combined efforts of the B-rank majors and some of the vanguard elites. Though they were both the weakest B-ranks in play and were already somewhat injured, it was a victory, nonetheless.

Frost did his best to steady his breathing before he, Maggie, Artemis and the rest of the forces beyond the northern wall made their way through the mighty gate, entering the safety that was Furano.

They now needed to rest up and plan for the next wave that would likely be even more deadly than the previous one, it would be during night time after all.