Dungeon of Niflheim-Chapter 917: It takes more than one cut to fell a strong tree

As he was engaging Valend, dodging his deadly blows through the aid of the [Lunar eyes] Frost didn’t forget to keep some tabs on the battle happening downwind.

The Lunar maidens at least the dozen or so that were capable of battle were fighting against Valend’s elites, seven evil and bloodthirsty men each with strength comparable to the strongest individuals within the caravan.

Kiba served as their bastion, the guardian who confronted the strongest amongst the enemy as well as watched the backs of the faltering Lunar maidens. His duty was heavy and after repeatedly leaping to the aid of his charges his fur was laced with his blood, wounds several centimetres deep marring his beautiful hide.

During the first ten minutes the Lunar maidens seemed to be prevailing against their attackers, their zeal and desperation seemingly catching the seven men off guard. They succeeded in drawing blood against superior opposition and thus felt inspired, their morale exploding in triumph, but it was merely something short lived.

Their enemy the seven evil men under Valend had earned their ranks through the blood and death of countless others. They knew how to fight and how to read the flow of battle. The instant the maidens rallied behind their young matriarch they immediately adopted attritional warfare, dragging out the engagement, covering for one another until their assault ran out of steam.

Minute after minute the maidens would push themselves further, the sight of their enemy retreating or gaining another wound growing their morale and making them ignorant to the depletion of their stamina.

20 minutes into the battle when Frost was gracefully dancing with a fully enraged Valend the situation started to shift. The maidens still full of zeal started to slow, their movements, reactions and attacks growing clumsy and in some cases light. They had begun to hit a wall.

Thankfully Kiba and the two seniors Shalla and Yana caught onto the rapidly approaching predicament. The former took it upon himself to serve as an even more defensively focused guardian, completely giving up any opportunities to land decisive blows on the enemy in favour of saving any Lunar maiden who found herself in danger while the latter informed Neve and ordered several of the weaker (still D-rank) Lunar maidens to take the place of their chosen warriors therefore giving them a chance to catch their breath.

Of course such tactics couldn’t be carried out for long, damage would accrue and at some point their lines would be broken but they didn’t have any choice. Until Frost defeated Valend they needed to hold on no matter the cost.

Shalla and Yana were already prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice as were a few of the older and less talented Lunar maidens, their hearts understanding that softness in the face of disaster would only welcome more death.

’Master please hurry.’ Neve cried tears of blood and called for Frost, her heart in agony as she saw her sisters faltering in the face of the enemy and their bodies accruing painful wound after painful wound.

Unfortunately their saviour could not come, he was still embroiled in his own battle, his opponent refusing to fall despite the countless cuts marring his body.

"Hu hu hu hu why won’t you die?" Frost spoke through laboured breaths, his dodging of blow after blow straining his lower body while his upper body endured a fierce and stubborn recoil whenever he cut into that rage enhanced flesh of Valend’s. But worst of all his repeated use of the [Lunar eyes] caused his eyes to ache and bleed and his mind to suffer from an intense splitting migraine.

Frost surmised that he could likely only use the [Lunar eyes] another once maybe twice before he’d suffer serious damage to his vision.

Thankfully because of the substantial blood loss Valend who had by this point devolved into nothing more than a crazed beast had slowed down, his attacks while still heavy and dangerous no longer needed him to alter his perception of the world.

"Rahhh!" In response to Frost’s question Valend roared hoarsely, his mind completely consumed by madness as he once again charged with his hammer in hand, a defiance in the face of his body’s natural limitations....he could no longer feel pain.

"Hmph time to end this." Frost dodged his sloppy attack without too much effort, merely feeling some pain in his thighs and calves before coming up with a plan to finish this thing once and for all.

The problem however was that Valend was just too sturdy, even with his new glaive in hand Frost found reaching bone an ordeal let alone breaking through one therefore despite their lengthy engagement there wasn’t a single wound on the giant’s body that could be considered fatal. The aggregate damage would of course lead to his death eventually but the time until that point was time that Frost didn’t have.

He needed to create an opportunity, a chance to unleash something so severe that it would finally stop the giant in his tracks.

For the past couple minutes Frost had been watching and analysing Valend, noting his habits and reactions after losing all his rational. He was very much like a beast, relying heavily on instinct rather than strategy but there was still a part of him that vehemently protected more vulnerable areas. For example any attack on his family jewels would be met with an uncharacteristically rapid response. The same held true for his eyes and his neck -when it involved his glaive- however after a few test attacks he discovered he could redirect his attention at least for a brief moment. As long as he could create and take advantage of this lapse Frost was confident he could unleash something critical enough to bring Valend down.

After evading another predicable and clumsy attack Frost nodded his head and started his preparations.

"[Claw of the ice wolf]" Using an old favourite he directed his attacks towards Valend’s wounded shoulder. He moved aggressively and with purpose, not holding back his strength in the slightest so as to give Valend the impression that he was aiming to completely sever the arm. The bone was already exposed and covered in minor chips, so such a play wasn’t all that unusual, even if he still had his wits about him he likely wouldn’t suspect otherwise.

Roughly 30 seconds later after Frost had unleashed over a dozen attacks on his shoulder resulting in even more fractures Valend started to actively protect the area to the point that he even gave up some of his aggression. Clearly he still understood that losing his arm would inevitably lead to defeat perhaps even death.

Alas such reactions were predicated by Frost; he donned a slight smile on his lips as he launched one last attack on Valend’s shoulder before suddenly vanishing from his sight.

Pushing his leg muscles to the extreme he moved towards Valend’s right side and swung his glaive horizontally with such speed and sharpness that Valend only showed a reaction after the glaive’s blade had passed through his neck.

Thick, high dense flesh protected his neck and the arteries within but with a single motion Frost was able to cleanly slice through several centimetres of it causing a vibrant and powerful gush of blood to burst forth. Such a wound was quite serious but again couldn’t exactly be considered fatal because it lacked the necessary depth. As long as Valend used one of his hands or ripped off a piece of fabric from his pants to apply pressure then there was a good chance he’d be able to continue fighting but unfortunately for him Frost wasn’t done with his attack.

As soon as his blade exited Valend’s neck he started to flip himself upside down, spinning his body to generate centrifugal force and position himself for his next attack.

Within a moment just when Valend was starting to understand that he’d been wounded Frost’s right foot covered in heavy, dense ice chakra appeared out of nowhere and kicked his chin, forcing him to look upwards and further tear the fresh wound on his neck. This upgraded the wound from heavy to serious but again still not fatal, the jugular was still pretty much intact, and the neck bone wasn’t broken, there was still a chance to salvage the situation but once again Frost wasn’t done.

Using the recoil from his kick he swiftly returned to the ground only to immediately leap back up.

"[Flight of the Luan]" Drawing on as much of his internal energy as he could he activated his highest rank skill conjuring the image of a beautiful Luan that followed in the wake of his upward swing.

Valend was still in shock, caught completely by surprise so he was unable to defend himself in time. His arms tried to lift up his hammer to block the attack but his lack of blood and increased damage to his left shoulder caused him to fail at the last second allowing Frost to rise up through his guard once again and attack his exposed neck.

Schwing!

The was no loud explosion, no violent confrontation between skills or clanging of weapons just the sound of flesh being sliced open followed by the gushing of blood.

The horizontal tear in Valend’s neck was now a large, mangled cross that was impossible to treat, too much inner flesh had been exposed, the jugular had been cut open, the carotid shredded and the neck bone cracked. A rain of blood fell across the area where Valend stood, his lifeforce visibly leaving his body.

"Guhtghgh!" As the world around him darkened and his strength rapidly dwindled the effects of his rage induced state came to an end. He had but a single moment of clarity before death came for him and in that singular moment he tried to let loose a howl of anguish but only an incomprehensible gurgle passed through his lips before the last vestiges of his life vanished, his body falling backwards, crashing against the rock floor.