Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 672 Testing their skills

Following Avira's elegant leap Frost jumped up and landed behind her, nestling himself in the middle of Kiba's back while Avira sat at the front.

"Let's go." He said before Kiba dashed forward forcing Avira to tighten her legs so as to not fall off.

Her face quickly developed a blush as she felt Frost's chest resting against her back and shoulders. Her nose twitched and her blood heated up ever so slightly as a manly scent assailed her nostrils, she could get used to this.

Borris and the frost wolf quickly followed after Kiba and soon the group departed from the city state of Niflheim and made their way towards the boundary that separated the southern lands from the Glacial mountains. Beyond this point was the official danger zone of the Yangmir continent.

For a place that was labelled as a major danger zone the pathway was rather crowded. Flocks of adventurers could be seen entering between the two massive mountains alongside large trade caravans both coming and going with hefty supplies.

With the monster stampede having recently ended and with Frost's territory rapidly flourishing the southern entrance was far more congested than normal. However thanks to the sheer size of the entrance there was no queues nor were there any traffic accidents even among the largest of caravans.

Several adventurers and merchants that recognised both Kiba and Frost nodded their heads as they passed while some even waved and loudly greeted him. Frost had become quite the icon among the locals recently.

Frost and his group travelled for roughly an hour before stopping near an empty snow field.

"Borris how about you go first." Frost intended to gauge how strong his two companions were before travelling much further.

"Alright but just so you know I'm not much of a fighter though I'm confident in my defence." Borris loudly beat the plate armour adorning his chest before leaping from the back of the frost wolf.

"That's fine I just need to get an accurate read." Frost would test them both personally before finding an appropriate monster opponent.

Frost and Borris stood several metres apart while Avira observed with keen interest.

"Attack me with all you have, using whatever means you can, weaponry, magic, chakra, skills all is fair." Though his words could come across as patronising and perhaps rather arrogant considering the age difference between them, Borris truly wasn't much of a fighter. He was more than a fair bit weaker when compared to Avira according to the Dungeon's estimation.

"Alright." Borris didn't feel insulted and instead took Frost's words seriously.

He withdrew his hammer and held in firmly with both hands. Finding a steady centre of gravity Borris slowly starting moving closer to Frost before picking up speed. Once his charging momentum was at maximum he raised his hammer overhead and activated a skill that seemed to be unique to those adept in the smithing arts.

"[Hammering anvil]" Red energy formed around the face of the hammer, greatly increasing its force and through his eyes Borris could see points throughout Frost's body, possible faults which could be hammered for maximum effect.

As Borris' mighty hammer came down with great destructive force, aiming for Frost's left wrist the target in question remained stationary until the very last second.

Frost easily avoided the blow causing the hammer to crash against the snow. He observed Borris as he clumsily retrieved his hammer and went back on the attack.

'His linear movement isn't bad, but his recovery time is abysmal.' He judged while dodging several more blows that contained a great deal of power but lacked speed and flexibility.

Keen to test out his defensive reactions Frost threw a punch. Borris noticed the attack but was too slow to avoid it thus Frost's fist struck his plate armour.

Don!

The sound was loud, and Borris was forced to slide across the snow from the blow while Frost shook his hand, feeling an aching pain across his knuckles.

'That's certainly a tough set of armour.' He estimated that even a full strength blow from one of his ronsos would merely leave a small scratch upon it.

"Your power's not bad but you lack flexibility and agility. Come at me again but this time only use 80% of your strength, use the remainder to reorient your stance after your initial attack fails."

"Ok." Borris took a deep breath before once again charging at Frost with his hammer raised. This time when he attacked there was a little less force, but he was far faster in terms of recovery.

Although he was nowhere near fast enough to catch someone like Frost, an average D-rank monster was within his range. His practically broken armour would help handle whatever blows he failed to block or avoid.

Frost fought with Borris for about ten minutes before achieving his goal.

"Without your armour you're barely at the D-rank level but with it, as long as you focus on defence you'll be able to endure an onslaught of several upper D-rank monsters perhaps even a few C-ranks, enough time for me to reach you at least."

"Hu hu hu thanks hu hu." Borris huffed and puffed as he collapsed onto the snow, his face red from exertion. He was used to swinging his heavy hammers but that was while staying in one place and usually with a simple up and down motion. His legs however were clearly out of shape.

"V you're up." Seeing Borris withdraw a flask of water and start drinking from it Frost turned to Avira, it was her turn to strut her stuff.

"Alright." She moved like a graceful cat quickly arriving before Frost with her weapons still sheathed.

"Same conditions?" She asked with a hidden smile. Unlike Borris she was actually fairly strong, more than enough to catch this despicable man by surprise.

Unfortunately Frost already had a decent idea regarding her strength. "Pretty much but with you I won't be taking it so easy." Frost showed a mischievous grin before suddenly vanishing from his position.

Avira was instantly on alert, her battle sense tingling as she scanned from side to side as well as behind her before looking up and seeing Frost crashing towards her.

"[Cat steps]" Wasting no time at all Avira activated a movement skill that allowed her to gracefully avoid the large man falling towards her like a meteor.

Boom!

Thick plums of snow erupted from where Frost landed and with it he lost sight of Avira.

"[Piercing gale]" Suddenly from behind Avira thrust with her rapier like weapon, targeting his heart without even the slightest bit of mercy.

Such resolve lit a small fire in Frost, he was faced with a natural warrior.

With a smile still on his lips he quite easily avoided the rapier and locked gazes with Avira for but a moment before the two of them backed away from one another.

"Quick, silent and very deadly…impressive V." Frost felt his blood heating up as he summoned his glaive and twirled it in the air.

"You haven't seen anything yet Lord Frost." With the expression of an enthralled warrior on her face Avira starting dancing on the snow, making it hard to predict her movements.

'A fighting style huh.' Though he had seen a fair amount of adventurers few every had true fighting styles like his brother Karrick or Avira who was before him now.

"[Cold fog]" As her dancing picked up speed Avira channelled her mana and activate a 2nd circle spell. Harmless but heavily obscuring fog formed several metres around both her and Frost, making eyes practically useless.

Though he could easily disperse such a move Frost chose not to, keen to see the true fighting style of the famous Northrend princess.

A woman that was supposedly a sheltered girl, lacking the talents of her swordsman father and magically gifted mother was acting very much like an assassin.

Moments after the fog was released Frost suddenly felt the hairs on the back of neck become erect. Not one to ignore his instincts he tightened his grip around his glaive and closed his eyes, focusing more on his ears and spatial awareness.

Fwoom!

Suddenly a small daggerlike weapon pierced through the fog reaching a couple inches from his groin before being knocked down by his glaive. A cold chill ran down Frost's spine as he imagined the devastation such a blow could have wrought if he was but a moment too late.

'Vicious!' He internally screamed before tensing his entire body and swinging his glaive across the fog.

Ding!

His glaive met with Avira; a metal baton wreathed in thick wind chakra blocked his sudden blow. Her eyes showed a glimpse of surprise before she licked her lips and vanished back into the fog.

"You do realise that you'll make some rather powerful enemies if you damage my manhood right?" Frost asked with his aura attached to his voice, a trick he'd been getting much better at recently.

"Tsk, all's fair remember, those were your words." Avira's charming voice responded but it was impossible to tell from where, she was like a phantom in this fog.

"Such a vicious princess, I weep for the man that has to marry you." Frost quickly ducked allowing Avira with her rapier to fly over his head before she once again vanished with her deft footwork.

"Who says it'll be a man." Avira teased before readying a faster, more deadly blow.

Chapter Enjoy:

"[Ghost blade]" Her rapier was enveloped in a grey coloured energy as it vibrated and appeared somewhat illusionary. Then with the addition of a layer of wind chakra Avira also activated her [cat steps].

Within an instant she was in front of Frost, her rapier already thrusting forward in an attempt to stab through his gut.