Dungeon of Niflheim

With a calm gaze Avira took in the movements of the iceborne huntsman, not letting its horrifying appearance affect her concentration in the slightest.

Her previous aggression and inefficient movements had drained her stamina, she would only have a few chances to land a blow great enough to prove her worth and impress the young man watching over her.

'1 2 3' she counted in her head and only moved once she reached 3, narrowly evading one of the iceborne huntsman's leg thrusts. She was now even closer to the monster, so close that she could make out the individual hairs on its skin and smell the revolting, acidic odour emanating from its fangs. Her nose couldn't help but curl up in disgust but still she continued.

'Next it'll spit venom before spinning around with half its legs outstretched, like a blade whirlwind.' Avira watched and learned the iceborne huntsman's every move, she knew its patterns to a tee but even, so she didn't let her guard down. The monster was clearly different from earlier, to assume nothing had changed would only lead to her downfall.

Frost was about to warn her to avoid such a misstep but upon seeing her move faster and with more wiggle room he held his tongue, she knew what she was doing.

And just as Avira had predicted moments after she evaded its leg thrust a dangerous wad of venom was launched where she once was. The blue liquid instantly corroded the ground it touched as well as the carapace of an unfortunate E-rank frost spider. Even with its resistance the venom dissolved its flesh in under a second, quickly finding its way onto the poor monster's organs.

Within 4 seconds the entire monster was but a puddle of blue liquid.

Avira's choice of generous evasion was clearly the right choice given that the wad of venom was far greater in volume than before as was the huntsman's next move.

The instant the venom escaped from its mouth the iceborne huntsman raised half of its eight legs, stretching them out like sharp spears, each at varying degrees. A grey coloured energy formed along the edge of its many hooks and generated sharp blades at the ends of its feet. Following that the monster started to rotate and quickly picked up speed.

Soon the spider's extended legs were but a blur as they carved up the surrounding area, quickly dissipating the ice fog Avira cast to reveal her location.

The young woman was revealed to be behind the huntsman and appeared surprised by the strength of its move but that was just a deception.

The iceborne huntsman being none wiser took Avira's expression as an opportunity. While mid spin it accurately targeted her lithe form and attacked, spreading its legs out as far as possible so as to block any escape routes to the side and front.

Plus in that moment two D-rank huntsman spiders silently appeared behind Avira under their Matriarch's command thus blocking her backwards retreat. It was a perfect pincer move that would see Avira eliminated and the iceborne huntsman's fury quenched.

Frost, Kiba and Borris were even fiercely held down by its swarm, they recklessly threw away their lives just so they'd be unable to act during these precious few seconds.

Frost had to give it to the iceborne huntsman it was certainly a good hunter as well as commander, he didn't expect such cunning from a wild C-rank monster.

'I guess not just any monster can become a territory lord.' It was a shame however that Frost was its opponent.

While such moves may be able to restrict someone like Kiba and Avira it was useless against him. The iceborne huntsman was right to place him at the top of the danger scale but it was still underestimating him. He was not a higher levelled C-rank but something beyond, a B-rank foe, an entity that even a territory lord like the iceborne huntsman was powerless to stop if when chooses to truly act.

Alas despite the dangerous situation Frost still didn't move, instead he peeled his eyes open as wide as they could go and watched Avira strut her stuff. She was going to put all she had in her next blow, and he owed it to her to watch her performance.

Frost wore a wild smile, like that of a predator, a look that if the iceborne huntsman noticed would surely send alarm bells ringing in its mind.

Avira or rather V was also starting to show a rather wild smile. She noticed the D-rank huntsmen behind her, blocking her path of retreat as well as the oncoming iceborne huntsman that would surely tear her to shreds if given the chance but was unfazed.

Time seemed to pass in slow motion for V as she sensed her surroundings, waiting for chance.

Milliseconds passed and then.

'Now!'

"[Greater afterimage]" Just when it seemed as though all avenues were cut off V pulled off her most draining movement skill, [Greater afterimage.]

This time instead of one copy being generated two were formed and they were both far more corporal to the point that she was able to kick off their shoulders and slide through the narrow gap in her opponent's assault.

Her afterimages were instantly taken down, but Avira was now in prime position to deal out some real damage.

She floated above the iceborne huntsman, staring down at its 12 scarlet eyes and readied her rapier. Chakra swiftly formed along the blade, densely congregating at the tip as she reeled back for a devasting thrust.

"[Falcon dive]" Avira called out with a booming voice, activating her most powerful skill. Green energy flowed out from her body, mixing alongside her wind chakra while a detailed image of a mighty falcon floated behind her, greatly increasing her rapier's penetration capabilities as well as her descending speed.

However this wasn't all she did in those brief moments. While her rapier was in her right hand she took hold of her cherished wand in her left and began chanting the aria for the 3rd circle spell, [cleaving wind sickle], an advanced version of the common [wind blade] spell.

She didn't care in the slightest that utilising chakra, mana and her internal energy all at the same time would drain her completely, all she cared about was landing a severe blow on her opponent and if she was very lucky, end its miserable life.

"Beautiful." Frost managed to utter a single word before the dual attacks landed on the defenceless iceborne huntsman.

Schwing, Squelch

"Scrriiii!!!" V's rapier stabbed deep into the iceborne huntsman's skull, eviscerating 3 of its eyes and drawing out a thick stream of green coloured blood while her [cleaving wind sickle] lobbed off one of its front legs after cracking its left fang. Painful but not life threatening blows.

Avira was a little disappointed in her failure to kill the thing but the moment her attack was expended she felt dizzy and started to black out, her stamina was all but spent. A rather perilous position to put yourself in while on the battlefield but she knew she wasn't alone. She had a strong protector who'd surely take care of her after such a display.

In a maddened rage the iceborne huntsman shook Avira from its body and moved to bite her with its fangs but before it could it was met with a fierce blaze of silver flames that chilled it to the bone, in all its life it had never felt such an intense cold. It looked for the source of these flames and saw the strange elf, cradling V in his arms in a protective manner.

The pain sent it into a rage but upon feeling those flames and seeing the strange elf suddenly appearing in front of it the iceborne huntsman's experience screamed danger and it had lived long enough to know when it should run, and this was one of those times.

The massive spider let loose a set of shrieks and leg taps before dashing as fast as it could back into its mountain, hoping to seek shelter deep within the fissures. Surely it'd be safe deep beneath the ground. It ordered its entire swarm to sacrifice themselves so it could escape, a callous move but an efficient one.

As long as the iceborne huntsman survived it could easily repopulate the lost numbers.

Again Frost was impressed by the iceborne huntsman's intelligence, unfortunately it was too little too late, he had decided to make his move.

"[Freezing fireball]" He first launched a large ball of silver flames at the fleeing spider, forcing it to dodge while he readied his next spell, one that was far more intricate.

"[Ring of ice fire]." Just when the iceborne huntsman was several metres away from reaching one of the large fissures a wall of silver flames encapsulated the area around it, preventing it from fleeing in any and all directions.

"Kiba I leave it to you." Frost softly said before carrying the exhausted Avira towards Borris who was currently covered by several F and E-rank spiders.

"Garow!" Kiba as though being granted a significant treat roared joyfully before taking to the air and flying towards the ring of fire Frost created.

A benefit to having wings.

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com