Dungeon of Niflheim

400 Chapter 400: Unique monster creation (11)

Don Don Don

Bodies continued to fall lifelessly to the ground as the battle waged on. Those killed by the ghosts would see their skin turn grey and ashen, their corpses becoming cursed entities, ruining their material value.

The ghosts that perished left nothing but a small amount of ectoplasm, the concentrated essence of their being, a key ingredient in many potions and artificing blueprints. However in the grand melee that was the current battlefield this ectoplasm became corrupted, impure as the blood of the many deceased boars seeped in, dyeing it red. Its value also plummeting. This was a battle filled with loss both in life and money.

But such a situation was the least of their worries right now, the ghosts were formidable enemies, too formidable in many cases.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Whinnieeeee!”

“Plop, Plop!”

Screams from the lesser yuki-onnas and dwarves rang out frequently as they took attacks from ethereal weapons, the front line-up composing of the revenants and elementals was in complete tatters.

Less than 3 boars remained on the battlefield, the rest were either ripped apart by the bats or had their souls snuffed out by a ghost.

.....

The elementals that were once 20 strong now had less than a quarter still standing, continuing to wage battle with the ghosts despite being overwhelmed.

In death their liquid like bodies would lose all internal integrity, collapsing onto the forest floor in syrupy puddles. Their cores crashing to the ground, hollow and powerless.

The revenants given their superior strength and resistances were holding up much better but even then they were outnumbered, their losses quickly escalating.

The leader of the magic corps the first yuki-onna had a fierce expression on her face. She held a dying lesser yuki-onna in her arms, powerless to watch as the girl’s limbs became grey, and she screamed out in pain.

The yuki-onna and other spells casters tried on multiple occasions to excise the cursed energy left by the ghost’s cursed bodies and ethereal weapons, but their efforts all ended in vain. Even the dwarven priests and frost troll witch doctor were powerless in this regard, stating that their abilities to deal with curses especially those of the dead were too primitive to help and that doing so would in fact only hasten the curse.

The yuki-onna had had to watch as many of her subordinates and comrades fell to the ghosts, her magic and that of her corps not enough to stop the onslaught, least of all that monster.

Her gaze betrayed a mixture of fear and hatred as she looked at the main cause for such upheaval.

The wraith, the one that wasn’t locked in a solo duel was pretty much impervious to all their attempts to bring it down. Even the casting of three 3rd circle spells at once only managed to jolt the thing backwards a few metres, dealing minimal damage at best. Their compatibility was just that bad and unfortunately the frost revenants and their stronger knight variants weren’t a match for it physically either.

With its massive scythe the wraith was similar to the ice revenant only larger and even harder to deal with. Each swing would force back the attackers, frequently scarring their runic armours each time and that was without the use of skills.

Like other C-rank monsters the wraith came with an arrangement of unique abilities such as the [lullaby of the dead], weapon skills for its scythe as well as magic.

Death magic an unorthodox branch of magic but under the right circumstances it can be nearly unrivalled. A dense battlefield such as the one taking place right now was one such circumstance. The blood, the bodies, the bones all of them could be used through death magic, controlled and manipulated at will. A very, very powerful branch of magic yet very weak against opposing elements such a light and fire.

Fortunately it was just a wraith that the dungeon was faced with and not a lich, so its death magic was more offensive based i.e. turning the loose blood into spikes, summoning bones and attacking the souls of their targets thus they didn’t need to deal with an endless undead army created from the corpses of their deceased allies. Otherwise their situation would be even more perilous.

However even though it was not a lich, among the dungeon’s forces not a single one was capable of using its antithesis elements thus even a wraith was near impossible to take down.

Hell even killing of a D-rank reaper took a mountain of targeted effort let alone a C-rank wraith, the situation right now was not looking good.

Their forces were now but a fraction of what they started with thus more and more ghosts were making it passed the line and attacking the bunkers. Drifting through to reach the vulnerable dwarves inside.

The frost troll lieutenant donned a serious expression, his face was pale, and his limbs were trembling.

“[Invigorating shout]” he roared out his group enhancing skill once again before collapsing to his knees, his breath laboured and vision shaking.

Those hiding within he bunkers were all useless in a straight up confrontation with the ghosts. Their flesh bodies and inherent elements meant that they sported little to no defence in regards to their attacks.

Thus whenever his strength returned and the boost wore off the frost troll lieutenant would recast his skill, helping out the revenants, yuki-onnas and elementals as much as he could. But even with his actions the group were being pushed back and pushed back hard.

There was now little distance between the command bunker and the frontline. The aggressive attacks of the ghosts had pushed the revenants and elementals back one metre at a time, gradually grinding down their strength and eliminating them one by one.

The last of the bats had finally been killed 30 seconds ago but the damage had already been done. They now no longer had enough forces to stall their approach. The balance was tipping, all it needed was a slight push and then everything would collapse.

The revenants and elementals would be pushed aside and stabbed by multiple enemies while others would swarm into the bunkers unabated, laying waste to the rest.

Crack!

The frost troll’s knuckles cracked as he clenched his fist with all his strength. He looked over to the yuki-onna, a message hidden in his gaze.

The yuki-onna feeling his stare turned around and stared back, her heart lurching slightly, she knew what was about to happen.

In a brief second their thoughts were expressed, the yuki-onna bit her lower lip, drawing blood and shook her head, stating that this battle was unwinnable.

“Haaaaaaaa” The frost troll lieutenant let out a deep sigh before speaking.

“Lady Nanna, Master Loki it seems that we can’t win this battle. We’ll likely be overrun in under ten minutes.....I’m sorry I have failed in my duty.” The lieutenant then punched a nearby log, his nearby subordinates looking downcast.

“....No you’ve done well frost troll lieutenant; you have nothing to be ashamed of.” The voice of either a young girl or boy that the lieutenant expected to hear was instead one belonging to a man and one in which he knew well.

“M...M...Master?” The frost troll lieutenant stuttered as his heart was overwhelmed.

“Don’t worry reinforcements will be there shortly. Leave the rest of the battle to them.” Frost spoke full of confidence and with a wild smile.

“Ugh ugh yes understood master.” The lieutenant responded in confusion before the communication was cut. He blankly turned around, looking at his subordinates and the forest behind them.

“What did master say?” One of the ice dwarves present asked, worry clear on his face. The battle’s current situation wasn’t hidden from them in the slightest.

“....Master is sending reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements? What kind of reinforcements?”

“....He didn’t say.”

Meanwhile within the spherical barrier holding the second wraith and the ice revenant.

Bang!

For the umpteenth time the ice revenant was slammed against the barrier’s walls that had by now given their violent exchanges dimmed in colour.

“Fuck that hurts woah!” Just as the ice revenant was complaining he was forced to dodge the wraith’s next swing. His once majestic runic armour was now covered in cracks and his wisp like internal body was flickering as though a match in a breeze. Yet the wraith seemed to be almost perfect in form, a little lacking in its lower extremities but still strong enough to launch heavy swing after heavy swing.

In terms of mastery over their weapons the ice revenant was slightly weaker than the wraith thus he tended to lose out when directly confronting it. His magic was also pretty useless, the only thing he had going for him was his half spirit like body that truly resided within a core thus allowing him to escape the majority of damage.

However the wraith was in a similar position, its body took blow after blow from his great sword yet sported little to no injury and unlike him it didn’t need to cast magic on its weapon in order to deal damage. The ice revenant was truly outmatched.

ZZZZzzzzzzZZZ!

The wraith’s scythe pierced through the barrier, its defences finally giving way after this gruelling battle.

“Waaaaiiiiiillllllll!” The wraith wailed out in anger before swiftly rotating, getting the ice revenant in its sights once again.

“[————–]” Suddenly a magic crest appeared on the ice revenant’s chest and tendrils of ghost like tentacles emerged.

“Shit not this again!” The ice revenant thrashed around trying to break the tendrils but to no avail, he was too weakened.

In but a moment his entire torso was wrapped up tight in these tendrils. His body restricted by the tendrils was forced upwards, floating him a few centimetres from the ground before the spells machinations drew him towards the wraith and its outstretched hand.

Once in the wraith’s clutches the monster screamed in his face before smashing him hard against the punctured barrier, generating spiderweb cracks.

Seeing as this wasn’t enough the wraith raised its scythe up high and smashed it against the ice revenant’s torso, sending his large body careening through the barrier and back into the true battlefield.