Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 35: Bandit culling (2)

“Clang!”

It sounded as though the bandit’s iron axes struck metal and not flesh. The bandit squad leader’s desperate attack barely drew any blood, at most a few drops nothing more, his axes even had chips.

The bandit squad leader was momentarily frozen, shocked in place, but this was quickly replaced by even more fury.

“Ahhhhh! God damn monster!” Ignoring the futility of his attacks the bandit squad leader continued to strike again and again, further damaging his axes with each strike.

Seeing their squad leader desperately attack the frost wolf instead of running filled the remaining two bandits with courage. They each drew their axes and joined him in attacking but were met with similar results.

Only after their weapons were completely shattered leaving nothing but wooden clubs did the frost wolf turn around to face them. All of the bandits strikes were nothing but an itch to it. The iron weapons were already of poor quality and weren’t even sharp so they couldn’t cause any real damage. But the wolf felt it would be more entertaining to let them try.

Complete despair filled the three bandits as they saw their axes become nothing but wooden clubs and nothing more than scratches appearing on the frost’s wolf’s hide. The shock was too much, the moment the wolf turned to face them as though humiliating their efforts

.....

Dong dong dong

Their weapons dropped to the floor. Light faded from their eyes as they looked upwards towards the Gods, they had given up.

Seeing this the frost wolves tails wagged side to side in pleasure. They ignored the last fleeing bandit and focused on killing the now broken ones, ending their lives quickly before feasting.

Although it seemed like a long time especially for the bandits, less than a minute had passed since the two frost wolves began their massacre. Frost was thus inundated with another dose of DP escalating his emotions.

“Wonderful,” Frost licked his lips as he enjoyed the glorious meal. The more he watched the more excited he became, brutally killing those bandits was much more enjoyable than holding back with the [Artic Warband].

“You missed one young master.” Maya’s enchanting voice came from his side, bringing him out of his reverie.

“Hmm really?” Frost quicky scanned the area, only to see a bandit running madly towards the exit with tears streaming from his eyes and a significant wet patch on his trousers. This was the bandit that managed to run from the battlefield and due to there only being two frost wolves he managed to escape. Unknown if it was thanks to pure luck or if he actually knew, the bandit was heading directly for the exit and would leave in 20 minutes if he kept heading in his current direction.

Noticing this Frost was rather conflicted, he’d successfully killed 19 out of the 20 bandits so letting one go wouldn’t matter much but...

“Nah let’s kill him.” If it was an adventurer then perhaps he would be merciful but a bandit, never.

“Have the frost wolves stop feasting and chase after him, with their speed it shouldn’t be that hard...”

“Ahhhh!” In the middle of speaking to Maya, a loud scream was heard from the screen.

“Hahaha looks like fate really isn’t on that guy’s side.” Frost laughed loudly after seeing what happened. While he and Maya were talking the fleeing, bandit ran right into a bear trap which clamped down, immediately locking his leg in place between its jaws. The wound was severe. Thanks to the momentum he had from running at full speed the moment he was clamped in place; his leg was torn apart causing immense pain even with the amount of adrenaline pumping through his system.

The bandit cried out in pain, beads of sweat flowed down his scalp and his vision grew dark. At this rate the monsters won’t even be required, he’d die of blood loss in a few minutes.

He desperately tried to pry his leg from the trap, scratching and pulling at the bear trap’s jaws with all he had but he was just a bandit and not a very strong one how could he pull open a trap designed to catch bears.

At this point the bandit had become quite mad, he laughed hysterically changing his target. Drawing his axe, he cleaved down on his torn leg hoping to cleave it from the shin freeing himself. However even if he managed this, how far could he get on one leg while bleeding profusely from the other. It was nothing but a desperate attempt from a madman, none the less it was rather entertaining for Frost and Maya to watch.

“Well, you gotta respect his determination.” Frost smiled evilly with his hand under his chin.

“A mere cockroach that refuses to die quietly.” Maya wasn’t impressed at all; in fact, she despised the bandit’s pathetic attempts. She much preferred the actions of the bandit squad leader, at least he had some courage.

Annoyed by the mad laughing coming from the bandit she sent orders to the frost wolves that were on route to kill ASAP.

Frost raised his hand.

“Wait a moment don’t have them kill immediately.”

“Huh why?” Maya’s face distorted slightly, she was visibly disturbed by the bandit’s mad laughing, it gave her goosebumps and nausea. The sooner he was silenced the better in her mind.

Frost however had other plans. “Since he wants to reach the exit so desperately then why not grant his wish. Have one of the frost wolves carry him to the entrance before ending it. Let’s give those waiting outside a little taunting.” His smile grew more evil as he spoke.

Maya was momentarily speechless before she too smiled evilly, even laughing.

“As you wish young master.”

“Hahahahah” the bandit was laughing madly as he repeatedly brought down his axe to cut off his leg, his ability to feel pain already gone. It took several strikes to separate but eventually he succeeded, his leg was cut just below the kneecap, gushing out blood and looking like a shredded piece of meat. The trap had cost him some time but now that he was free, he didn’t care.

Propping himself up with difficulty he started hopping away towards the exit leaving a thick stench of blood and meat. Alone he wouldn’t make it a 100 metres but luckily or unluckily he wasn’t.

“Awooo!” After a mere 15 metres he heard a wolf howl from behind him.

“Ahhhhhhh!” The bandit changed from laughing to screaming, tears streaming down his face once again, as he increased his hopping speed, but could he ever outrun a frost wolf.

The bandit was easy pickings for the frost wolf. Without much effort it quickly ran up behind him and lightly bit down on his shoulder. However, since the bandit already lost his sense of pain, he didn’t notice, he simply kept trying to hop forward unaware.

Seeing it prey still trying to escape, the frost wolf bit down harder and lifted the bandit off the ground, hanging him from its jaws. It took the frost wolf a great deal of control to not simply bite completely through the bandit’s bones. Its orders were to carry the bandit to the entrance, alive.

Obeying its orders, the frost wolf started to run, carrying the crazed bandit in its mouth. With the wolf’s speed, they’d be at the entrance in less than 5 minutes, the bandit should last until then.

Meanwhile outside of the dungeon, the higher ranked members of the bandit group were getting impatient.

“Bunch of useless shits, how hard can it be to find two heavily injured brats?” Redhawk’s anger had reached the extremes. He began berating and striking his stronger deputy to relieve his fury.

‘3 hours, 3 fucking hours what the hell are they doing in there!’ Redhawk stared towards the dungeon’s entrance with fire in his eyes. At the first hour he already wanted to rush in himself and beat his subordinates for their incompetence, now that it’d been three hours, he was about to completely lose it.

This wasn’t a job he could fail. Redhawk occasionally turned his gaze over to the seated cold knight to gauge his emotional state. Fear filled his body whenever he did so. The cold knight’s facial expression grew darker and darker as time passed, as did the killing intent he released. Unfortunately, they couldn’t leave their position quite yet in case Luna and Leo bypass the bandit underlings and escape from the monster lair’s entrance. They could only wait for news.

Redhawk regretted having a reduced number of men. Before this job they already lost a group when they attacked a trade caravan. But he didn’t have enough time to recruit more before this knight hired him. Adding on the number of bandits killed by the two brats in the earlier ambush, their group’s power level was reduced by a fair amount. He frequently discussed options with his strategic deputy, but he’d always say there’s nothing they could do but wait.

The moment when each of them were at the very limits of their patience, movement was detected as well as mournful screams from the dungeon. The scream was bone curdling and send waves of panic through Redhawk and his deputies, the cold knight however just grew more angry.

‘Tch what a useless bunch of fools, if you want something done right you’ve got to do it yourself.’ The cold knight sighed as he stood up.

Once all their attention was drawn towards the dungeon’s entrance.

“F...Frost wolf!” The strong bandit deputy uttered with slight fear. At the entrance of the dungeon stood majestically a frost wolf. Blood covered its once beautiful white coat making it look all the more horrifying. Hanging from its jaw was the weakened one legged bandit who appeared to be on his deathbed, his skin pale from blood loss and his screams weakened and hoarse but still mournful and terrifying.

“Isn’t that Kodan?” The smart deputy was more calm than his compatriots, he expected this job to go wrong the moment they came across the untested monster lair.

“Shit!” The moment Redhawk recognised his subordinate he shouted and gnashed his teeth together before leaping towards the frost wolf. Regardless of how useless the bandit was he was still his subordinate, he couldn’t allow him to die in front of him, that would be too shameful.

But even with Redhawk’s impressive speed it’d take several seconds for him to reach the dungeon’s entrance and would the frost wolf give him that chance.... No way.

Crunch!

Almost the same moment Redhawk started to move, the frost wolf snapped its jaw shut crushing most of the bandit Kodan’s internal organs, and splitting his torso in twain, killing him instantly.

Redhawk and his deputies were frozen in place, Redhawk felt so humiliated his face changed from red to green and then finally to purple before he released a powerful roar.

“Ahhhhhh! You stupid fucking monster, I’ll kill you!” Never before had a monster dared to taunt him so blatantly. Carrying his subordinate’s near dead body just so it could end him in front of his allies. Veins protruded from Redhawk’s skin as his body tensed in rage.

He began rushing towards the frost wolf with a huge two handed axe in hand, aiming to cleave the monster in two with a single swing. His two deputies also felt humiliated and were taken over by fury, quickly running after their boss with their weapons drawn. The cold knight was actually struggling to restrain some laughter but knew he couldn’t let these bandits he hired leave his sight. They too needed to be taken care of once this affair was over.

Seeing the four men rushing towards it, the frost wolf finally felt fear. Just Redhawk alone was enough to kill it let alone a combined force. Swallowing down its mouthful of bandit, the wolf smashed the head of the dead Kodan for a final insult before turning around and retreating back into the dungeon.

Unperturbed by its sudden retreat the three bandits chased after it, their minds clouded by anger. They ignored the dead Kodan and quickly entered the dungeon one after another.

‘It should be easier to take care of them within the monster lair anyway.’ The cold knight released a sigh before following them into the dungeon.