Dungeon of Niflheim-Chapter 912: A welcome punching bag

"You’re the reason I was given this mark and now I’m going to make you pay for it!" Valend roared through tightly clenched teeth, his eyes radiating fire as he firmly grasped the left half of his face and attempted to scrape off the tattoo that was forced on him but no matter how much he rubbed, pulled or even carved off the mark remained, healing alongside his skin. A permanent stain upon his flesh.

"Soooo it’s not a fashion statement." Frost replied playfully as if ignorant of Valend’s hatred and anger. A reaction that resulted in several veins atop the frost giant’s head bulging obscenely. Following that the massive monster swelled in size, his sight becoming blood red as he lifted his massive two handed hammer and without warning brought it down upon Frost’s head, determined to crush this annoying bug before he angered him further.

Valend’s sudden aggression took his subordinates and the Lunar maidens by surprise, his movements being too fast for them to register. One moment words were being exchanged and the next a massive hammer had been unleashed, crushing the elf like man with thunderous fury. The ground quaked and cracked, rocks fell from on high, bouncing down the cliffs and several Lunar maidens stumbled, falling to their knees or onto their backsides.

"Master!!!" Neve screeched, her heart leaping into her throat, Frost was their backbone, their only hope, without him she and her race were destined to die.

"Relax Neve, a blow of this level is nothing to me." Valend’s hammer summoned a storm of rock dust as it met the ground, obscuring what happened from those nearby but Frost’s voice proved that the worst hadn’t happened. A moment later his aura exploded clashing against Valend’s in a violent manner. The dust was pushed away revealing the truth behind what happened.

Valend’s hammer had been parried by Frost’s glaive, striking the ground by his side rather than his body and from the light expression on his face it was an effortless action on his part.

"When we last crossed paths such a blow may have very well put me in dire straights but that is no longer the case." Frost spoke smoothly staring directly into his enemy’s eyes before using his glaive to easily rebuff the much larger Valend.

"....You have become weak Valend." He spun his glaive, placing it horizontally behind his back and stretching out his left hand, beckoning the giant to make a better move.

Valend glanced at his hammer and noted the slight trembling sensation in his arm but instead of being deterred by such a show of force he smiled, his body swelling to an even larger size.

"Hahahahahaha bold words for such a small bug!..." He rested his hammer across his shoulders and lowered his stance, clearly preparing for a proper battle. "But I guess I should be grateful, this wouldn’t be any fun if you died so easily after all." Valend then charged forward, energy congregating in the head of his hammer "[Titan’s punishment]" he roared, summoning an apparition with the form of an aggressive giant.

"Kiba, Neve I’ll the leave the rest to you [Flight of the Luan]" Frost responded with his own skill, summoning a beautiful Luan that cried and followed in the wake of his swing. Despite the size disparity he was more than willing to go toe to toe with Valend in a physical confrontation.

Their clash generated sonic booms and the ground beneath their feet fractured, unable to handle such extreme force. Valend was pushed back, his steps leaving heavy imprints while Frost floated like a feather, dissipating the residual force as he landed softly back on the ground. His lips forming a smile as his heart start to thump away, excitement, joy and a lust for battle flowing through him, finally an opponent he could thoroughly wail on.

First he had taken part in Icethorne’s war somewhere with a lot of fun to be had but at the same time a great deal of danger. Mid, upper and peak B-ranks galore hell there was even A-rank commanders that could squash him with but a single wave of their hands, hardly a place where he could properly unleash his true nature.

Next he ran into an iron plate, an artic Zu who ruled the skies, the strongest enemy he had ever fought against. Even using all he had he barely managed to leave a small scratch on the creature. He would have died that day if not for gatekeeper Yule.

But by far the most frustrating was his training with Khione, beaten over and over again without even the slightest possibility of landing a single true blow let alone achieving victory.

Frost had developed an itch that desperately needed to be scratched, his inner warrior, his penchant for blood and battle had been repressed for so long that now that a worthy opponent had graced his door he nearly lost himself in bliss. His face warped and a somewhat eery laughter escaped his lips as his joints started to crack, his body tensing and relaxing so as to fully enjoy this glorious feast.

He didn’t even wait for Valend to stop retreating, the moment his feet touched the ground he dashed straight for him with his new glaive in hand, azure flames dancing on the edge of the blade and a quickly developing chakra armour forming atop his body. He was akin to a starving animal finally being released from his cage and Valend was to be his prey.

The massive frost giant not expecting such reckless abandon from his target was briefly surprised before revealing an evil smile, he preferred this sort of foolish action. His strength lay in power rather than speed thus chasing after Frost wasn’t something he looked forward to doing even if it was within such narrow confines.

"Kill those bitches, this bastard is mine!" He roared while infusing his aura into both his weapon and body, massively increasing his strength and durability.

"Hehehehe you heard the boss, time to start the festival." One of the peak C-ranks commented while licking the entire length of his blade with a split tongue.

"Sisters fight!" Neve wasn’t lacking in fighting spirit, seeing her master charging headfirst into battle with the brute who had become her nightmare she called on her fellow maidens to fight for their lives. No more cowering or running, time to kill or be killed.

Taking advantage of her newfound strength she moved to strike against one of the peak C-ranks while Kiba attacked the others two leaving just the 5 late stage enemies for Shalla, Yana and the roughly dozen or so combat ready Lunar maidens to take on.

"Hah the damn bitch leader has chosen me boys; guess she does find me the most charming after all." The man with the split tongue spoke up, cackling disdainfully as Neve wielded her metal fan in his direction.

This wasn’t the first time they crossed paths, several of Valend’s elites always accompanied him whenever he paid a visit to their cave. He knew full well that her strength barely made muster as a late stage C-rank let alone peak like himself. He didn’t even take her attack seriously, aiming to easily parry her blow before taking advantage of her to move in close and get a good whiff of her intoxicating scent.

Unfortunately for him the woman he held in contempt was no longer the same person. After devouring the energy held within the soul orb Neve reached the peak of C-rank, her physical strength, speed, reactionary time and even mana rapidly and drastically improving, like a metamorphosis or rebirth.

With her metal fan in hand she moved like an amateur, displaying the same strength she previously possessed until the moment came for her to launch a decisive blow.

Her target still donning that evil, lustful smile didn’t know what hit him. One moment he was attempting to rebuff her advances the next his long serrated knife was knocked aside leaving his torso defenceless.

"Ahhhh!" A blade of wind aspected energy slashed across his chest leaving a painful but unfortunately rather shallow cut. He released a hoarse scream in response, the pain taking him completely by surprise.

Neve wanted to capitalise on her advantage but vexingly the man had earned his current rank, before she could land a second more lethal blow he retreated, kicking her fan with his left foot as he backed away, the look in his eyes shifting from that of joy and amusement to anger and rage.

"So the bitch has found her claws." After gaining some distance from Neve the man inspected the cut across his chest, blood was dripping from the wound making it look far worse that it really was. His ability to fight hadn’t been impeded but his fun had certainly been ruined.

Tonight was supposed to be a feast of carnal desire and satisfaction of murderous impulses, a slaughtering of weak lambs by vicious wolfs. But one of the lambs developing a set of horns was never in the cards.

"Oh I’m just getting started you disgusting hybrid!" Neve wanted to land a more decisive blow, a wound that would make her upcoming battle a little easier but just the sheer fact that she managed to draw blood inspired her sisters to the high heavens. Her following slur only intensifying their will to fight.

The Lunar maidens had been forced to bottle up their frustrations for far too long; it was time to vent.

"KILL!!!!" Hot on the trail of their young Matriarch Shalla, Yana and the most capable fighters of their group charged straight for the enemy showing not a single ounce of fear. A reaction that surprised the 7 evil men.

"What the fuck happened to them?" One of the men loudly questioned as he pushed off two entry C-rank maidens and dodged another.

"Hahahaha haven’t you ever heard of the phrase even a mouse will bite a cat when cornered." A maiden answered before literally taking a bite out of the man’s extended arm.

"Ptuh! Disgusting." The taste was absolutely foul.

"What does it matter they’re still weaker than us, kill them all!" A peak C-rank who was engaging Kiba noticed the shift in atmosphere on their side and took it upon himself to fix it, an action that nearly cost him part of his hand thanks to Kiba’s razor sharp fangs.