Dungeon of Niflheim-Chapter 858: Ruelette Angler (2)

Ton.

With a light step Frost and Khione landed on a flat even surface that was built to endure heavy impacts.

Boom!

And across from them landed Frost’s catch, the massive Ruellete Angler. The teleportation mechanism wasn’t so gentle when it came to transporting the prey.

The sudden and forceful displacement followed by a surprise thud nearly knocked the sea monster unconscious. Its large body quivered and spasmed, its eyes turning 90% inward as its mind spun. The creature was thoroughly stunned, the perfect moment to attack.

Unfortunately despite Frost’s battle instincts alerting him to his foe’s quandary he remained fixed in place, observing the monster’s shape and form as well as its intimidating size.

"This’ll only be my second time facing off against something this big." With a fire raging in his heart and excitement brewing in his muscles Frost summoned his spear in hand and prepared himself for battle.

A shame he was wearing a suit rather than his usual armour, but he wasn’t known for backing down from a fight when the horns started a calling.

’Hopefully I can avoid getting damaged too badly, I’d hate to lose such a prime piece of fabric.’ Though the style was very much to his taste it was the memories held within that were the most important.

For a second he even entertained the idea of fighting in the buff or just his skivvies choosing to rely solely on his chakra armour to parry any blows but given his present company he quickly shot that down.

"Really? Then this will be a good experience for you. When it comes to monsters, especially the more beastlike ones a rise in rank is usually accompanied by a growth in size. Take the sea wyrm we saw earlier, at best it was mid A-rank, yet it was already over a 100 metres long." Of course sea monsters tended to have an even greater size differential when compared to their land counterparts, but the logic still held true for both.

Frost trembled as he thought about the size of that sea wyrm. He pictured trying to face off against that monstrosity in place of the current Ruellete Angler and felt unbelievably small.

’Even if my spear or glaive plunged itself to the hilt it’d be nothing more than a scratch to a beast like that.’ Sometimes size alone was enough be a substantial threat.

Unlike him Khione had a wealth of experience when it came to engaging massive opponents, she knew thoroughly the strengths and weaknesses that such a large frame provided and in fact in her eyes this 30 metre Ruellete Angler was rather small, barely considered as a large specimen.

"Don’t worry about injuries or damage to your clothes I’ll back you up, just get a good feel for your opponent. Such an opportunity will only improve your skills not detract from them." Khione full of support for her young paramour placed a hand on his shoulder and summoned her aura, entering a battle ready state.

Frost would take point, do all the attacking, dodging and parrying while she would focus on protecting him from blows he would struggle to endure alone as well as if needed restrain the beast’s movements.

Under her protective umbrella her handsome date wouldn’t have to worry about injury in the slightest, even his suit would be left completely unblemished, this she guaranteed.

Feeling strength from her hand and the wave of dense aura that took on physical form Frost was empowered, his trepidation vanishing like a puff of smoke in the wind. He smiled from ear to ear and literally vibrated in sheer joy.

"Have fun Frost just don’t let your guard down, that poison’s nasty stuff. If it gets on you, quickly dispose of your affected armour, better to cut off the source than try to endure it. My antidotes should only be used as a last resort." She tightly gripped his shoulder so he wouldn’t be controlled by his own excitement, a problem she often encountered herself.

"And look bad in front of my strong beautiful knight, never." Replied Frost boldly and with a flirtatious wink before stepping towards his opponent, the great sea monster that had already forced him into a position of weakness in the eyes of the woman he was keen to court.

Frost was a contradiction; he hated being weak and worse being seen as weak but at the same time he also enjoyed being protected and fiercely guarded by the women he was involved with.

"Show me what you got then Frost." Khione energetically slapped his back, leaving a bright red imprint beneath his clothes. She was tempted to slap him somewhere lower down but stopped herself at the last minute, a mixture of embarrassment and her feeling that making such a bold move at the current juncture wasn’t the right play. The focus needed to stay on the fight.

She then slipped away like a floating phantom, keeping some distance from the two main actors but close enough to intervene if need be.

Frost nodded his head to her actions before suddenly charging straight ahead. With his spear held in his left hand, dense chakra armour that focused much more on functionality than appearance -Proof that he was taking this fight seriously- ice flames dancing on the blade’s tip and edge and finally his aura, flowing freely throughout his entire body, enhancing his strength, speed, resilience and even stamina. He planned to start this battle with a big hitter.

He didn’t know any spear skills but those for the glaive weren’t all that dissimilar. The effect may be 70% or less but it’d still be an increase in his destructive prowess.

"[Ice piecer]!" He chose a thrusting skill one that had the most compatibility with the spear while at the same time being something of the advanced level.

With the Ruellete angler’s size and still groggy state there was no way it could avoid this devasting blow.

Squelch!

With a reverberating sound of flesh being pierced Frost’s spear adorned in silver flames devasted the point of contact, cracking through the monster’s surprisingly thin layer of gnarly scales and tearing up its dense, wet muscle and blood vessels. The wound was nasty but still rather small when compared to the rest of the monster’s body, but the worst problem was the fact that Frost couldn’t continue his attack.

The blood that splattered as though part of an explosion forced him into a hasty retreat. An acrid stench assailed his nostrils and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up in alarm.

’Even it’s damn blood is this toxic!’ Frost quickly discarded his chakra armour and used ice flames to snuff out any areas he missed. His quick and decisive reactions allowed the vast majority of his body to escape the deluge. The area touched by the blood however quickly started to melt and corrode his chakra formed armour. Khione wasn’t kidding when she warned him of its potency.

Thankfully the materials used to construct this space were of hardy origins, the blood simply sizzled away leaving nothing more than a slightly discoloured mark.

But the sudden influx of pain woke the Ruellete angler from its stupor. The beast was enraged and immediately retaliated. It swung its fins trying squash the annoying bug that dared to stab it and if that wasn’t enough it even shot a couple of its poison tipped spines.

"Those things can become projectiles!" Frost didn’t expect a ranged attack, but he had his guard up. With skilled movements and impressive speed he avoided the beast’s retaliation and discovered something important.

’She said it’d be sluggish, but this is something else.’ Out of water this mass of flesh and scales was slower than a snail, Frost could literally run circles around it and never come close to being hit.

In his eyes this thing had become a sitting duck, a mass of stationary flesh that he could poke and prod at will without any fear as long as he stayed on his toes and keenly aware of his surroundings.

An enemy that eclipsed him in size and physical strength, two facts that gave him instinctual pause and even valid fear was no longer intimidating. The only problem remaining however was how we was going to go about killing the thing.

Repeated cuts would be a slow and gruelling process taking up time that he did not have and more importantly that could force him into precarious situations. The Ruellete angler may be slow and sluggish out of water, but it still packed a serious wallop. A single blow would easily see him tossed across the room like a ragdoll.

Thus for the next ten minutes Frost tested all manner of different attacks, letting himself get a proper feel for what it meant to take on such a huge adversary.

Magic from a distant seemed to be the safest option but lacking in thrills for the young battle maniac so he eventually opted for a mixed approach, appearing from different angles and launching skills through his spear in tandem, slowly but surely rending this massive adversary apart until its sluggish state progressed to inert.

Khione had to bail him out once or twice with her physically formed aura. The first one due to Frost being too reckless, nearly having his wrist snapped and the second was on request by the man himself, he wanted to see how impregnable her aura manifestation truly was, and the results blew him away.

’I doubt even a full strength blow from a pristine [Wolf howling at the moon] would be able to leave even the smallest scratch.’ The defences of A-ranks were just too perverse; no wonder he didn’t stand a chance against that arctic Zu.