Conquering His Cold Heart

"Move up the yuanti, flaming hippogryphs and…..willowisps." Karrick gave his first order with strained bravado.

"B…but sir the willowisps are only G and F-rank." Karrick's aide a C-rank fire drake questioned his order. The yuanti were fine given that each of them were at least D-rank and by far the main force behind their aggregate strength. The flaming hippogryphs were also a good choice given their ability to fly and natural agility.

Willowisps however were some of the weakest monsters in existence, even slimes fared better than them in direct combat. Karrick's aide struggled to understand why his master would order for their weakest monsters to be set to the frontlines, to fight against Frost's monstrous ronsos.

"I know but they're perfect for dealing with that pesky veil and restoring our elemental advantage." Karrick knew the capabilities of his monsters quite well and his innate skills in terms of warfare were actually rather high… he just had the wrong opponent.

Shortly after sending his orders down the chain of command a platoon of yuanti, snakelike monster kin that resembled half human, half snakes and flaming hippogryphs, a cross between an avianlike beast and a horse appeared from behind Karrick's third line of defence.

Their arrival greatly inspired the regular monsters that made up Karrick's defences, the yuanti were their pride and joy. Intelligent, dexterous and capable of all manner of attack, equivalent to Frost's ronsos in flexibility though of a lower class.

Frost's ronsos stopped their advance upon seeing the change in line-up, they waited for their lord to arrive which he did ten minutes later.

"Hoh certainly a step up, I can count more than few C-ranks among their kin." Frost remarked Karrick's yuanti with respect, finding their race to be quite strong…of course they were still a far cry from his glorious ronsos.

Rooooaaarrrrrr!!

The ronsos bared their fangs and let out fierce intimidating roars as their bodies tensed, desiring nothing more than to receive the order to eviscerate these snakelike monsters and their deluded kin.

Frost smirked but analysed the battlefield in a calm manner, this time was different. Not only was the third floor hotter than the previous floors, the regular common monsters were a notch stronger even without the yuanti and flaming hippogryphs, Karrick was starting to show his mettle.

"But it's not enough, rend them apart just like those before." Frost gave the order in a chilling tone and received a joyful chorus of roars in return. With permission given the vanguard charged forward with their weapons at the ready and silver flames wreathed around their bodies. To Frost it really didn't matter how many yuanti stood before his forces, they'd fall all the same.

The difference in power was just too much.

However what he expected to see happen…didn't. His mighty ronsos with their halberds, axes and even claws clashed hard against Karrick's defensive lines and pushed them back a fair amount but failed to rend them apart like before thus leaving them open for a fierce counterattack.

Before Frost could even react to the sudden change Karrick's yuanti attacked with extreme aggression, forcing his vanguard to retreat with no small amount of wounds, a perplexing situation. By all accounts his ronsos should have barged straight through, killing dozens of fire monsters in their path before eventually losing momentum and retreating safely for another charge.

"Khuno can you explain?" Frost asked rather calmly. The situation was unexpected but not something to panic about. None of his ronsos were killed and they were strong enough to sort themselves out.

Khuno narrowed his eyes trying to sense and see something that they might have missed.

"Their momentum weakened by at least a fifth the moment they reached the enemy. That dip caused their charge to fail in breaking their lines." Khuno easily identified the reason but not the cause, thankfully someone else did.

"There's another monster in the line up other than the yuanti and flaming hippogryphs, I believe they're the cause." The leader of the yuki-onnas spoke up, seizing an opportunity to prove her worth.

Frost and Khuno listened to her words and looked into the distance. They saw the willowisps but thought they were harmless, a decoration or starter monster that served little to no purpose. Even a slime felt stronger than these little floating fire puffs to the two of them. To the yuki-onna leader however they felt insidious and nauseating.

She could feel it from the other side of the battlefield, these little puff balls were dangerous, they made her skin crawl.

Frost noticed the effect they had on his officer and though he personally failed to sense any threat from them he trusted her instincts. He thus identified these little fire puffs as high priority targets.

"Hit their lines with some magic salvos, get the ronsos out of there so we can regroup."

"Yes sir. You heard him girls blast away." The yuki-onnas and lesser yuki-onnas giggled before conjuring dozens of magic crests. A volley of ice bolts, lances and even boulders were thus fired at the enemy, with more than a few being specifically aimed at the dreadful willowisps.

Don! Don! Don!

The magic volley smashed hard into the frontlines, but it was clear that its grandeur was akin to a paper tiger. Barely ten enemy monsters died from the volley despite dozens of C and D-rank yuki-onnas launching it.

"Tsk" Frost loudly clicked his tongue as the elemental disadvantage was in full view. The moment their spells left the ice veil they weakened by a level and by the time they reached the coverage of the willowisps they dropped even further.

"Annoying little buggers!" The yuki-onna leader was far more vocal with her disappointment. Those willowisps were pretty much the antithesis of their long distance ice magic. Despite being only F and G-rank these little fire puffs could dramatically effect the magic arsenal of Frost's forces.

The volley of ice magic was barely enough for the ronsos to get back on their feet and start pushing back those clingy yuanti and flaming hippogryphs. But it also drew the focus of Frost and his forces allowing Karrick to get another jump on his brother.

While they were so focused on what was happening at the frontlines they failed to take notice a group of yuanti and willowisps appearing along the left and right ridges of the room.

"Ambush!" Khuno roared the moment he sensed their movements, but the ball had already dropped. Waves of weak ass willowisps launched themselves down at Frost's main forces, quickly melting apart their precious veil of ice and draining their connection to the ice element. The weaker monsters in his entourage immediately felt the discomfort of the environment.

Their skin itched from the sudden heat and their breaths became laboured, softening them up for the next attack.

The yuanti followed up with a volley of flaming arrows, a force to be reckoned with even without the elemental advantage.

Khuno reacted quickly as did the protection teams, but none were as quick as Frost.

"Well played little brother, well played but still….not enough [Wall of ice fire]" Frost let loose with one of the spells he learned from Leo's ancestor. A 4th circle spell that was without parallel in comparison to the rest of his spell repertoire. The mana cost for the spell was incredibly high but losing the momentum and dozens of his precious monsters was too high a cost to ignore.

The moment he uttered the command words a giant magic crest appeared around the perimeter of his forces, far more intricate and detailed than any he had summoned before. From the crest fierce silver flames roared outwards and upwards encapsulating him and his soldiers within and protecting them from the deadly barrage of fire arrows.

The wall was impenetrable, any arrows that touched the silver flames were flash frozen and then turned into ice dust while those inside felt comfort. The chill brought on by the fire though extreme was a godsend for the ice monsters who had delved into the depths of a fire dungeon.

"Hu hu hu hu." Frost barely kept managed to hold the wall up for 10 seconds before the strain hit him like a ton of bricks. His breathing became laboured, and his mana veins felt overwhelmed as they tried to channel a tempest rather than a dense yet calm flow.

He was a long way from becoming proficient in the spell thus he needed to suffer some side effects after casting it, especially with a shortened aria.

Mana wise he was fully capable of casting 4th circle magic without too much burden but that only applied to those he'd mastered to a sufficient degree, [wall of ice fire] was not one of those spells in fact it was quite miraculous that he managed to summon it at all let alone to such an effect.

Khuno quickly supported his master who nearly buckled the moment the fire wall vanished.

"I'm fine Khuno, take care of the ambushers and continue our assault." Frost pushed his left hand man away as he regained his balance and steadied his breathing. It was just a momentary exhaustion nothing more.

Though worried Khuno did as ordered, he took command of the many battalions that made up their primary force and ordered them to annihilate the interlopers while he and few of the officers focused on helping the vanguard regroup with the main force. Karrick was successful in stalling their advance but only slightly.

Frost's forces were not weak by any account and with a more patient mindset they moved in greater numbers and slowly but skilfully wore down Karrick's third defence line before moving deeper into his dungeon. Even with tricks, sneak attacks, sudden changes in circumstance and the obvious elemental advantage it was clear that Karrick was no match for his elder brother.

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