Dungeon of Niflheim

393 Chapter 393: Unique monster creation (4)

The three powerful C-rank fighters made their presence known almost immediately. Their large size and overwhelming strength allowed them to cut down scores of the rampaging monsters, acting liking personal bunkers. Those that weren’t cut down were forced to split apart, branching out to the sides leading them towards the bunkers.

Such tactics were only possible due to the strength of Frost’s forces and the strategically placed and well built positions of the bunkers. The secondary defence zone worked exactly as planned, easily dividing up the large wave into smaller more manageable chunks. Though it took a little longer to deal with them the damage to the bunkers and their forces were minimal.

A few broken branches and posts for the bunkers and a couple broken ribs and wrists among the forces as well as two casualties. Two frost wolves from the bestial corps who became a bit full of themselves decided to challenge some of the D-rank bulls. They ended up gored by their mighty horns before the coeurl pups and ice wolves could lend their aid. A stark reminder for those who remained, this was a battle of attrition, short term heroics would only lead to death, slow and steady wins the race.

The dismantling corps swiftly appeared from the artic castle ruins section after getting the all clear from Nanna and Findlay. Frost had increased their numbers once again so as to accommodate the larger and more powerful waves. Hoping to be as efficient as possible in terms of the materials procured during battle.

Loki emphasized to the dismantling team the importance of preserving the meat of the bull monsters, saying that such a delicacy really shouldn’t be wasted. His mouth subconsciously salivated as he spoke, and he had to wipe away the accumulation of drool. The young phoenix kin had grown quite fond of steak, with beef being one of his favourites.

Maya and Nanna both giggled but didn’t stop his request as preserving vast amounts of such meat would certainly be beneficial in the long run. It’d also serve as a good reward for the hard working monsters, something that Frost never skimped on.

The dismantling corps as well as some of the monsters due to go on rest quickly began clearing the forest, dividing up the materials into vast piles for Nanna and Loki to sequester away into the dungeon vault. Unlike the storage devices such as Frost’s rings or Maya’s bracelet the dungeon vault was able to store perishable materials such as meat however it couldn’t stop decay, merely postponing it slightly.

This problem however had a very easy fix especially given Frost’s element. As long as he froze the meat with his ice mana it could be preserved for months on end without the slightest degradation. In fact just by placing the meat in an assigned area within one of the colder sections served to act as a pseudo refrigerator/ freezer. The cold environment though less hospitable to crops was very beneficial to meat.

It took over 2 hours for the dismantling corps to carve up all the corpses and retrieve the valuable materials. The new steel weaponry being very much needed when cutting into tough bull and bear flesh. Though such painstaking work granted zero experience points the workers were allowed to feast on some of the meat -either raw as preferred by the great frost centipedes or to be cooked later. The workers also received a fair amount of respectful looks from the soldiers as they understood that such work made what they were doing profitable, a key component in their lord’s future plans.

.....

The next wave appeared roughly 2 hours after the dismantling corps finished, enough time for a decent rest. Nanna and Loki received permission to evolve any monsters that reached their maximum level while Frost was away thus the forces present were even stronger than earlier.

Much to Findlay’s joy this wave contained a C-rank monster, another ursa and once again the makeup of the wave was bears and bulls, species that seemed to be poorly matched against the secondary defence zone.

The wave played out very similar to the previous one, very little damage and only a few casualties. And just like he stated Findlay faced off against the C-rank ursa by himself, refusing any aid. Their battle was quite grand with dozens of trees being pulverised in their wake. The mighty ice troll commander eventually came out victorious, his battle axe crushed the beast’s skull after hundreds of blows.

A hard fought battle that saw Findlay dyed red at the end, a mixture of his blood and that of the ursa’s. large gashes stretched along his arms, back and torso where the creature’s razor sharp claws made contact. He was in pain, but the exhilaration was unmatched. When the ursa finally fell to the ground, no longer moving he roared out in victory, raising his axe high into the air. He prevailed in a very grandiose fashion; his roar served to inspire the rest of the forces who all roared in unison before intensifying their attacks.

Kiba flew to Findlay’s side and allowed the troll to lean on him for support as he guided him back towards the commander’s station. Fascination and jealously were clear in the young tiger’s eyes, he wished for the same glory.

“Cough cough” Findlay coughed up some blood before rubbing the tiger’s large head. “You’re a bit too green at the moment Kiba, such an opponent would be too much for you to handle solo.” Findlay ruffled Kiba’s fur as the tiger growled in protest, adamant that he could handle such a task.

Though Kiba would eventually reach B-rank at full maturity right now he was barely C-rank, the weakest of the generals in Frost’s forces. He wasn’t ready to go toe to toe with a proper C-rank solo especially one that was in a maddened state. Findlay himself was considered mid to upper C-rank yet even he struggled to fell the ursa, ending up with a partially mutilated body as a result however....

‘Looks like it worked.’ Findlay though in a serious amount of pain, requiring Kiba support to reach the command bunker displayed a wide smile. His level that had remained stagnant at 47 had finally increased reaching 48 and even almost reaching 49. Another battle such as that one or perhaps two and he’d likely reach max level, thus allowing him to once again be equal to his lord and master.

With the positive effect of Findlay’s victory the rest of the wave was cut down relatively quickly. This time the losses were numbered at four, 2 frost dwarves, an ice dwarf and an ice wolf but once again several others reached their max level and evolved thus balancing out the losses.

Once again the dismantling teams got to work, and more soldiers swapped out with others that were well rested, ready to face off against the next wave at full strength. Findlay was forced to take a low-level health potion to accelerate his healing and despite his protests was ordered to relinquish his command to his lieutenant and rest as he had been on shift without a break for the past 72 hours.

Time continued to pass, and night fell, promising for even more violent waves. Yet after over 10 hours there was still no word from Frost. Nanna and Loki couldn’t help but feel worried.

Night was a far more dangerous period in regards to monsters, the ones attacking would likely be stronger and in most cases much harder to deal with than their diurnal counterparts. Some really weird types also come out at night, types that weren’t as easy to defend against.

With Findlay being ordered to rest as per the protocols established by Frost the two of them would have to take stronger command and deal with this threat.

“Did master look alright?” Nanna couldn’t help but ask Maya, her anxiety clearly shown.

Maya in response shrugged her shoulders. “He was in full focus mode that’s all I can say, I doubt he even noticed my visit.” She went and checked on Frost at the behest of the children but didn’t disturb him.

When she arrived Frost was surrounded by dozens of screens each showing great amounts of data, she immediately felt a headache oncoming after just briefly glancing at them. Frost was in the centre of that deluge of data, his eyes clearly blood shot and his face appearing weary but a large smile full of excitement adorned his face and his weary, bloodshot eyes revealed a maddened glint. He wasn’t in any danger, and she felt it would be really bad to disturb him in that state, so she teleported back.

“Looks like the two of you will have to do your best and handle the night-time waves.” Maya sighed lightly before appearing before Nanna and Loki, wrapping them both up in a hug.

“Don’t worry I believe in the both of you. You’ve worked very hard for such an occasion, so I know you’ll do well.” She squeezed the two children tight against her chest.

“....But what if?” Nanna struggled out from the embrace, avoiding suffocation.

“What if you fail? You fail no biggie; children are supposed to make mistakes and learn from them. Frost is ultimately in charge so if something happens because of his absence it’s on him so don’t be afraid, do your best and no one will fault you for it.” Maya caressed Nanna’s cheek in a loving manner, easing her worries.

A slave that failed in their task was ultimately punished especially if they were an illegal slave. Nanna and Loki knew this and had suffered from such treatment many times before, it was ingrained deep within them and would take time for such fears to truly heal.