Dungeon of Niflheim

398 Chapter 398: Unique monster creation (9)

“Thank you Lady Nanna, we’ll endure till then.” The frost troll lieutenant replied while thumping his chest.

Ten minutes was neither a long nor a short time when it came to the battlefield, but it was the time they were given so he had to make it work.

An endless cacophony of ice spells and wails erupted from the frontline. Ghosts were repeatedly pushed back into the deluge by the elementals and revenants, the frontline continued to hold in a fragile state. The wraiths were still nowhere to be seen but Loki was keeping his eyes peeled and reporting on their movements every 60 seconds.

The reapers and similarly ranked ghosts continued to amass, the horde conjugating in the middle of the winter forest. Whatever they managed to kill seemed to be replaced a moment later.

The bats without Kiba leading them by the nose were free to attack any and all targets. Gliding deftly throughout the air like fish in water, repeatedly dodging the arrows launched at them by the quarrellers. They spread out, no longer huddled together in a swarm, laying waste to the tops of the bunkers as well as any exposed monsters.

The rate in which the bats fell was abysmal in comparison to the start of this battle. Their reinforcements though fewer than the ghosts resulted in the quarrellers barely holding on. After 5 minutes the lieutenant was forced to redirect some of the mage castes to aid them in dealing with these foes, something the ghosts took advantage of.

At nine minutes when things were becoming really dire the boars and spiders arrived. The charge of the boars could be heard before they could be seen. The group responded to Nanna’s call without hesitation, charging towards the battlefield at full speed.

The lieutenant felt relieved as he heard the whinnies and grunts of the boars. With them here along with the spiders they could finally deal with the annoyance that was the bats.

With the arrival of reinforcements Frost’s monsters were re-energised, increasing their attacks, pushing the frontlines back into the deluge of ice magic. The revenants and elementals would hold the ground, protecting the more vulnerable boars for as long as they could.

.....

“Spiders shoots your webs, bring down those damn bats! Boars crush and charge straight through, break them apart once they touch the floor! Quarrellers don’t let up, keep those arrows coming! Mage squad 4 continue to assist, squad 5 do the same. We need to take out these flyers now!” The frost troll lieutenant hollered his orders from within the command bunker, his hand gripping hard on the shaft of his axe.

“Elementals and revenants hold the line back no matter the cost for as long as you can!” The frost toll lieutenant then looked towards some of the frost trolls and ice dwarves present within the command bunker. Regardless of the risk it was more important for them to take out the bats. Himself and the stronger physical fighters would enter the fray, hoping to eliminate the enemies flying forces as soon as possible.

The wraiths, the two C-rank monsters that filled the lieutenant with dread were nearing, they’d be present on the frontline in a few minutes. Once that happened the defence line made up of revenants and elementals would shatter. They’d be blown away by the monster’s overwhelming power.

The lieutenant and his assigned squad bravely charged out from the bunkers with their weapons raised high. They were supported by dozens of tough sticky webs firing from behind, covering a large area of the upper canopy.

“Scrriiiiiii!”

“Scccrrriiii!”

The bats screeched at high pitch as their wings were caught up in the webs, neutralising their mobility. Over a dozen bats thus fell to the forest floor, partially tied up in the webs before being met with either the charge of a boar or the sharp edge of a weapon.

Blood covered the forest floor as did dozens of grotesque bat corpses. Whenever one area of the trees and sky was covered in webs and arrow fire they’d simply move to the next one, rinse and repeat. The ground force would quickly charge over and swiftly put an end to the bats before they could release themselves from the webs.

The ground forces acted without defence, recklessly charging in, relying on speed and aggression to smite their prey and quickly move on to the next one. Such reckless action of course resulted in injuries and no few casualties. Over a dozen boars also littered the blood covered ground but they did not stop. The bats needed to be dealt with regardless of the cost.

The bats seeing the deaths of their comrades and the pools of blood increased their frenzy, their eyes becoming a deeper shade of red and almost bulging outwards as they flocked down onto the boars. Grasping them in their talons and biting down with their jaws, feasting on their succulent flesh.

Minutes passed and the bats rapidly dwindled, the skies were no longer clouded by their vast wings or filled with their high pitch screeching but unfortunately time was up.

The frost troll lieutenant visibly trembled as a strong warning filled his body. He rapidly turned around, looking in the direction of the ice spell bombardment and the valiantly fighting frost revenants and frost elementals.

The reapers and other D-rank ghosts had begun to make their presence truly known, battling against the revenants and elementals with intense ferocity, letting a few E-rank ghost slip in between the lines and wreak havoc on the boars but that wasn’t what filled his body with fear.

Large ghostly apparitions easily 4 and half metres in height appeared behind the enemy lines. Adorned in ghostly robes that gave of some sort of elegance, nobility even. The two wraiths drifted through the trees and arrived at the battlefield at long last.

Even the upper D-ranked reapers with their massive scythes were nothing compared to these monsters. Just by standing there they gave off an eery, terrifying presence that chilled the lieutenant to the bone.

The ice revenant on the other hand felt his wisp like body flare in excitement, his time to shine had finally come.

“Everyone bar the boars fall back into the bunkers now!” The frost troll lieutenant though filled with fear at the sight of these two ghastly apparitions quickly powered through, swiftly giving the order to retreat, well for most anyway.

There were still bats present that needed to be taken care of so they could survive the next phase. The boars unfortunately would need to stay in the line of fire until that was complete.

Like clockwork every one moved at his order. The ice dwarves, frost trolls and the lieutenant himself rushed to the bunkers to hunker down, they would be nothing but cannon fodder if left in the open.

The quarrellers that still had ammunition continued to target the bats as did the spiders. The 4th and 5th magic squads redirected their focus to the ghosts, their jobs would was to now assist the revenants and elementals in their close combat battles while the rest of the corps continues to rain ice over the battle area.

As the frost troll lieutenant made his way back into the safe confines of the command bunker he looked towards the ice revenant and the leader of the magic corps.

“I’ll leave the rest to the two of you.” He spoke in a solemn tone, his confidence wavering slightly as he held onto his left arm. While taking out the bats he had received more than a few gashes from their talons but the injury that caused him the most bother was the one inflicted by an E-rank phantom. It was just a shallow cut from its ethereal dagger, but the pain was immense, rattling him to the core. His left arm had gone limp and dulled in the area the dagger passed. He felt fear, true fear.

Suddenly as his eyes began to shake and his body trembled a wisp like hand and delicate snow like hand landed on his shoulders.

“Leave it to us commander hehehe.” The ice revenant let out a laugh, his runic armour glowing in response to his excitement.

“Yes when it comes to dealing with C-ranks it should be left to C-ranks.” The yuki-onna, the leader of the magic corps, revealed a bright smile after downing a mid-level mana potion.

The frost troll lieutenant stopped trembling at that moment, and he watched as the ice revenant and yuki-onna left the confines of the bunker and made their way to frontlines.

His confidence returned and he clenched his fist before muttering under his breath.

“Good hunting.” The lieutenant’s back straightened and he gave the two C-ranks a military salute before returning to his station.

As the ice revenant revealed himself, the five frost revenant knights also moved from their own bunkers, ready to at last take part in the battle. The line of frost revenants and frost elementals was no longer enough to hold back the tide. Even now several E-rank ghosts could be seen slipping through the cracks to decimate the boar population and even attempting to infiltrate the bunkers.

“Do you want the left one or the right one?”