Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 404

404 Chapter 404: Ronsos (2)

Nanna and Loki looked at one another and smiled before redirecting their attention to the dungeon screen. If Frost said that there was nothing to worry about then there was nothing to worry about.

Back on the battlefield Khuno remained trapped within the blood cocoon, locked in tight as the black death blades formed and threatened to pierce through the cocoon.

The wraith appeared to be faltering slightly, its ghostly form flickering and growing more transparent. This spell was a tall ask for it to cast.

The frost toll lieutenant noticing its struggle stood up straight before yelling at the top of his lungs.

“One of you attack the wraith while its focused on casting!” He looked towards the nearest set of Ronsos who turned their heads in his direction.

“No need”

“Khuno can handle it.” The two of them ignored the frost troll lieutenant’s words and instead carried on taking down the remaining ghost monsters. Perfectly at peace in letting Khuno take on such a powerful spell.

The frost troll lieutenant was at a loss for words and just when he was about to yell another order, using his position as commander he heard a deep sigh.

Khuno who was in the blood cocoon sighed, he had run out of patience. A mere D-rank frost troll lieutenant was worrying about his safety, he couldn’t have that.

.....

Gurgle gurgle gurgle

The blood cocoon suddenly started to bubble as though it was being boiled before.....

Schwing!

Khuno’s halberd sliced through the cocoon without much effort. Silver cold flames sparked across the cocoon, rapidly freezing the blood thus preventing the magic crest from reforming it.

Don!

With a heavy knock from the butt of the halberd Khuno shattered the blood cocoon magic crest and looked around. Five black blades radiating intense death energy surrounded him.

“Not bad but.....” Khuno stretched his halberd out to the side, coating it a dense amount of silver flames.

“Not good enough wraith.” He looked down upon the wraith who had just finished chanting. The black death blades thus shot forward intending to pierce Khuno, but he was ready.

“[Freezing flame whirlwind]” Khuno spoke the name of his skill. Energy and chakra filled his halberd before Khuno rapidly spun in a circle. A sphere of silver flames thus appeared around him, protecting him from attacks.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle

The death blades sizzled as they made contact with the silver flame sphere. Their tips gradually evaporated as they continued to pierce deeper and deeper, the intensity of the flames being strongest near the centre.

The wraith was forced to watch helplessly as its strongest spell was slowly turned to dust by Khuno. The blades though successfully making their way towards Khuno were being refined faster than they could pierce.

“Waaaaaaiiiiiiiilllllllllll!” The C-rank wraith was thus overcome with fear, without any elegance it turned around and fled, ignoring the incessant hounding brought on by the stampede.

Booooooom!

The silver flame sphere exploded, destroying the death blades and revealing Khuno.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Khuno dashed forward with his halberd still coated in flames this time however they were refined into that narrow strip.

The ronso appeared at the wraith’s back in almost an instant. A tiger was truly the king of the forests. Even though the wraith could travel through the trees it was no match for Khuno’s speed.

Khuno raised his halberd and slashed down across the wraith’s undefended back.

“Waaaaaaiiiilllllll!” The wraith wailed out as its back was split open and set alight.

Schwing Schwing Schwing

Khuno didn’t stop at a single swing he repeatedly dealt out blows, cutting up the ghost and setting it ablaze in a silver flame.

He watched in silence as the wraith burned out of existence leaving some ectoplasm and a cursed crystal that thanks to his cold flames had been refined.

Khuno swung his halberd eliminating the silver flames attached to it before picking up the shiny crystal. He would hand this bounty over to Frost personally.

Once the wraiths had been dealt with cleaning up the remaining ghosts took barely any effort and thanks to the ronsos’ impressive speed and agility in the forest terrain not a single one managed to get away thus generating a very healthy DP income.

The losses however were quite heavy, a large chunk of the DP earned during this wave would need to be used in replacing the lost members as well as further strengthening the entire forces.

The waves would only get more perilous at time progressed, a simple bad matchup such at the ghosts nearly overran their entire defence force, something Frost was not keen to see again.

“These Ronsos you created they’re quite something young master.” Maya couldn’t help but comment after seeing the ronsos moving to and fro as they took down the ghosts with ease. She was especially surprised by the might shown by Khuno. If she had to guess his strength was at the very peak of C-rank.

“Thanks for the praise, I’m very pleased with how they all turned out hehehehe.” Frost chuckled. He needed a race that could work within the external camp, so they first needed to be relatable in appearance, check.

The Ronsos would look just like a different type of tiger beastkin, though a rarity not unheard of. Of course they’re still monsters but since the camp will be his territory and closer to the glacial mountains than Northrend it’d be acceptable.

Second they needed to be intelligent as they would be involved in the management of the camp and other safe zones within the dungeon i.e. The need to speak perfect common tongue and handle regular interactions with the non-native residents.

Third they needed to be strong and diverse in their evolution paths since they would be the first representation of Frost’s creation abilities. Frost didn’t iron out the full details for the upper ranks and some branch paths, but the main progression was there.

The earliest ronso monster that could be summoned through the dungeon was a [ronso youngling] a D-rank monster that was pretty much a teenager, similar to Kiba and the coeurl pups.

The main start however was the [regular ronso] an entry level C-rank monster that had very little limits in what they could embark upon just like the sapients races. Each of them would be unique in their own way and have different talents which would then allow them to develop in a certain direction.

First off however each ronso can naturally summon cold flames and are born with strong, flexible bodies. They have innate talents for smithing, close combat/bestial battle, chakra manipulation and pole weapons but can develop many others depending on their unique personality. Similar to how dwarves are generally deft with their hands making for great smiths but not all go down that avenue. Frost wanted to make his species as open and unshackled as possible but of course to achieve this he needed to forgo some other areas.

The ronsos can’t use regular ice magic and chakra, the opposite of Maya who can’t use cold flames. Their bodies aren’t compatible, but Frost didn’t really see this as too much of a disadvantage as the cold flame branch had less restrictions when it came to battling other elements.

Their smithing talent is also restricted to using cold flames when forging thus limiting their choices but then again considering their location not really a demerit. As they grow stronger their flames will increase in strength thus allowing for the handling of much higher quality materials.

Right now other than Frost, Khuno had the highest ranked cold flames, high grade mortal rank. More than enough to handle 3 star materials.

Speaking of Khuno he was the very first Ronso that Frost created thus he decided to grant him a name in celebration. This naming ceremony like with Findlay caused him to evolve twice to become the peak C-ranked archetype [Ronso captain]. A caste that keeps him multiskilled not focusing solely on just magic, weapon combat or smithing. He was also granted a half step 4 star halberd with a beautiful blue and silver colour scheme. In which the materials used are very compatible with his use of cold flames, providing smooth manipulation.

“A tiger beastkin race that has such strong affinity with cold flames....they match you to a tee young master.” Maya continued to massage her boyfriend’s temples hoping to ease his exhaustion. She only glimpsed at the monster creation screens for a moment and felt a headache coming on yet her young master had been engrossed in it for the past 12 hours or so, she was surprised he was still conscious.

“I know right. I combined pretty much all the major the things I’ve come across during my time here. The strong physical skills required for weapon combat.” He looked up at Maya’s gentle face with a smile. One of the first things he did was face an onslaught of punches and kicks, a strong body was needed to endure such torment.

“The array of Magic skills I’ve seen as well as the fascination with cold flames.” His gaze then drifted to his hand which lit up with a small wisp of silver flames (the most he could conjure up in his current state) as well as towards Nanna and Loki the two phoenix kin.

“Then there’s the attachment to smithing as well as my loyal an awesome battle mount.” Frost’s mind then thought of Daki, his sexy orc girlfriend who’s also a very gifted blacksmith as well as Kiba, the glacial winged tiger.

“Adding all these together I created the Ronsos, tiger beastkin monsters with vast intelligence, strong bodies, smithing talent and their own inherent cold flames. The perfect match as you put it for the one who is the embodiment of ice hehehehehe.”