Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 42: Duelling Alex

This time however Redhawk was prepared, standing firmly in a defensive stance he braced for the bear’s attack. The strong deputy had also regained his faculties, he put down the corpse of his friend and searched for his weapon, he too would fight.

Frost gave a cursory glance towards Redhawk and the bandit deputy, there was no need for him to interfere. With their injuries and damaged equipment, they wouldn’t last long. Unfortunately, the moment he turned his attention away from Alex another dagger was sent his way forcing him to quickly block. A loud ding could be heard as the glaive met the dagger and cold shiver went through Frost’s body. The dagger headed straight for his eyes, if he had been any slower, he would’ve lost his sight.

‘Sneaky bastard!’ Eyes filled with fury he glared towards Alex, but he wasn’t there.

‘He’s heading to the third section.’ Maya spoke within his head, Frost turned towards the gateway to the third section and low and behold Alex could be seen running silently in that direction.

“Is it ready?” Frost smiled mischievously, not surprised with Alex’s movements.

‘Yes, young master.’

“Good.” Everything was falling into place; the polar bear and other monsters would take care of Redhawk and his deputy so he would get to fight against Alex alone.

.....

After receiving Maya’s confirmation Frost ran after Alex chasing him into the third section of the dungeon. Redhawk and his deputy were left to confront the polar bear themselves.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Redhawk cursed aloud as he dodged or deflected swipe after swipe of the polar bear’s paws. He was restricted to a passive state, the bear could outrun him, unless he killed it there was no escape. He tried a few times to jump and roll out its attack zone, but he’d always be met with the bear’s jaws. His deputy wasn’t much help, his weapon would barely leave a scratch on it, so the bear simply ignored him after kicking him away once, focusing its entire attention on him.

As time passed Redhawk gained more and more injuries, his clothes were completely dyed red, and his face was whiter than a ghost’s. He was at his limit, he peered behind the bear hoping for some kind of salvation but was only met with horror.

In front of his eyes, he could see the corpse of his strong deputy being torn apart by a group of frost wolves while a couple frost dwarves were carving up the body of his other deputy.

His fight with the bear was so intense he didn’t even hear his deputy’s screams as he was killed. The deputy’s eyes were wide open as he died, full of unwillingness and regret. Seeing those dead eyes filled him with despair, his last remaining strength left him. He collapsed onto his knees, the light in his eyes grew dim he started to laugh like a maniac.

The laughter would send chills down your spine, but it didn’t last long. Revelling in its prey’s despair the polar bear opened its jaws wide and placed its mouth over the still laughing Redhawk before “crunch.” It slammed its jaws shut, separating Redhawk’s body in two

Now only Alex was left.

Frost leisurely walked into the third area of the dungeon, not worried about Alex getting away in the slightest. In the first room nothing much had changed apart from a thick, dense ice wall that blocked off the entrance to the hallway.

Alex stood in front of the ice wall knocking it in different places with his sword hilt, hoping to find a weak spot. He knew that Leo and Luna were past this wall, as long as he killed them his mission would be complete, even if Frost knew the true story, who would believe him. Alex was confident that he could escape Frost without much issue but killing him in direct battle would be difficult. But looks like he won’t have a choice, with the ice wall blocking his way, he’d have to fight.

Frost patiently waited at the other side of the room; he was in no hurry. Noticing his presence Alex sighed before turning his way.

“Looks like I’m playing in the palm of your hand.” Alex’s face appeared calm and friendly, but his eyes were full of hatred.

Frost smirked before replying “yes, yes you are.” his direct answer sent waves anger through Alex, he clenched his fists and ground his teeth. He felt insulted.

“The polar bear, you drew it out by killing Koji. A strong scent of fresh blood within its territory how could it resist...Redhawk probably won’t last long will he?”

“I doubt it.” Frost simply shrugged as if he didn’t care. Alex couldn’t help but feel afraid, Redhawk wasn’t much weaker than him, yet this man dealt with him so easily.

“Who are you?” The feeling of fear only grew stronger the more he looked at Frost. ‘Will I die here as well?’

“There’s not much need to tell a dead man my name but what the hell, you can call me Frost.” The moment he mentioned his name Frost’s demeanour changed, his eyes became cold and focused releasing an intimidating pressure. He raised his glaive and assumed his battle stance, blocking the exit. Alex was stunned, he didn’t recognise the name, which only increased his fear, an unknown enemy is a dangerous enemy. But he had little choice he too assumed a battle-ready stance.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve duelled with anyone.” Suddenly memories of him being accepted as a knight many years ago flashed through his mind. He couldn’t help but smile.

“This will be my first.” Frost replied honestly as he increased his grip and put his left foot forward in preparation.

There was complete silence, the two faced off against one another with their eyes, each waiting for the other to move first. It was Frost who broke the stalemate, swiftly charging with his glaive he swung first.

Ding!

His swing was met with Alex’s short sword, but it didn’t end there Alex went on the offensive, swinging with incredible speed, pushing Frost back. The two repeatedly swung at one another with Frost at a clear disadvantage, not only was his weapon of poorer quality but his weapon mastery was only at the [basic] level whereas Alex’s was clearly at [adept].

As time passed Frost sported more and more cuts over his body and his glaive was chipped and blunted. If this rally of attacks continued much longer Frost could be heavily injured. At the moment thanks to his high physical abilities his wounds were superficial, but the blood loss was getting to him.

‘Why are you only using your glaive arts young master? You’ll lose at this rate.’ Maya’s concerned voice echoed in his head. Frost ignored her worries as he knew what he was doing.

‘Almost there almost there.’ Frost was even more of a martial fanatic than Maya gave him credit for, he was purposely only using his glaive arts and no magic or chakra for one simple reason.... training. Yes, he was using Alex, someone more experienced and stronger than him as a training dummy.

Alex clearly had a higher level of weapon mastery than him so until he reached the same level he’d always be on the back foot. Frost treated him the same as the ice golems, he planned to use Alex to reach the [adept] level in his glaive mastery. He could almost feel the boundary in sight, just a little more and he’d achieve it but unlike the ice golem, Alex was trying to kill him for real.

‘This fucker!’ Alex noticed what Frost was doing and felt incensed, never in his entire career had he felt so insulted. He wasn’t going to let Frost have his way.

“[Ghost step]” Alex suddenly spoke and then vanished, resulting in Frost swinging at thin air.

“What!” Frost look side to side, up and down but saw no sign of Alex, suddenly he could feel a strong sense of danger from his back. He moved on instinct flipping his glaive 180 degrees he stabbed backwards under his arm.

“[Backstab]”

Bang!

His glaive met with a powerful force sending him tumbling forward. But the attack didn’t end, he only managed to block the first stab. Frost rolled once and sprung to his feet but by that time Alex’s short sword was inches from face, he didn’t have enough time to raise his glaive.

‘Shit!’

‘Gotta use chakra!’ Ice quickly formed over his face successfully blocking the sword, but it also shattered on impact. The remaining force felt like getting smashed by an airbag, but he survived. There was no third attack allowing him a chance to recover. Frost jumped backwards to a safer distance and inspected his face for any damage. His nose was sore but there was no blood.

“Hu hu hu” Alex was panting heavily. He used a skill called [ghost step], a movement skill that allowed someone to vanish and move a short distance, it’s a stamina heavy skill but effective. He then proceeded to use a skill called [backstab], an assassin technique that requires one to be behind the target. It amplifies the user’s stabbing strength and speed.

Usually, the combination of these two techniques were enough for Alex to kill his targets however Frost wasn’t a normal target. Since Frost successfully parried his [backstab] and manoeuvred forward out of danger, he was forced to use [ghost step] a second time, this severely drained his strength. His legs were trembling, and his breathing was haggard, he lacked the strength to strike a third time.

“Hu hu y...you can u...se chakra as well?” The two men stood 10 metres apart each wary of the others movements. Alex’s face was dark, he greatly underestimated Frost.

Frost wasn’t much better, he felt fear. Alex’s last attack was terrifying, his hands were shivering as the image of his sword being inches from his face replayed in his mind over and over. Frost stared at his previous position, his confidence wavering.

‘That was dangerous if I was just half a second slower....’ Frost audibly gulped as such a thought. He tightened his grip on his glaive, his eyes growing cold.

‘I was too arrogant...this isn’t training.’ He looked over at Alex whose breathing was gradually returning to normal and made a decision.

‘Time to go all out.’ He was already found out so there was no longer a need to keep his chakra use under wraps. He could practise his glaive control later, but now... he needed to kill his enemy, simple as that.

Frost twirled his glaive and focused his breathing before wielding his glaive with one hand. The glaive pointed downward and to the side, in preparation for a side slash. Frost exuded a powerful pressure with this stance and looked fiercely at Alex.

Alex’s face grimaced, the real fight was just beginning. He felt regretful that he used his trump card too early, placing him at a severe disadvantage. Seeing as how Frost wasn’t attacking right away, he reorganised his stance before staring him down with a steely resolve.

“I guess I should thank you, thanks to you I now know the true danger of battle...no more holding back.” Frost’s eyes opened wide as he finished speaking. He swung his left arm, pointing his palm at Alex.

“[Ice bolt]” a magic crest appeared over Frost’s hand, quickly generating a large bolt of ice. The [ice bolt] rapidly flew out towards Alex.

‘Shit!’ Alex quickly tossed out a couple of his rapidly depleting daggers to confront the spell before dashing forward. He needed to close the distance between him and Frost.

Frost however was thinking the same thing, the moment he launched the spell he too dashed forward to enter close combat. He knew Alex was low on daggers and believed that he was less skilled than him at distance combat so opted for close range once again. This time however he’d be using his entire arsenal of skills.

Ding! Ding!

The daggers met the [ice bolt] breaking it apart but also losing their momentum, falling to the ground. The moment they touched the floor Frost launched another [ice bolt] at Alex forcing him to dodge to the side. In response he swung his glaive sideways in the direction he moved.

Clang!

The iron glaive met the high-quality steel short sword. Alex released a grunt as he withstood the strong force behind that swing, Frost was taking full advantage of his longer reach and greater brutal power. Locking down the sword Frost smiled, using his other arm he covered his fist in ice chakra before sending a strong punch towards Alex’s shoulder.

Alex panicked, if the chakra reinforced punch struck his shoulder it would shatter the bone and socket, he couldn’t allow that to happen. If he was one arm down his death would come that much quicker. He bit his lip and made a harsh decision.

“[Ghost step]”