Dungeon of Niflheim

104 Chapter 104: Fighting Adam

Suddenly when Adam pointed his staff at Frost, he could feel a powerful amount of mana being channelled through the orange crystal causing the hairs on the back of his head to stand up.

“Shit Leo, Luna move!” Frost shouted out towards his charges before covering his arms and chest with ice chakra as well as the outer edges of his glaive, something big was coming.

“Die! [Fire ball]” Adam casted the 2nd circle fire spell [fire ball] and unlike Luna’s this spell was incredibly powerful, reaching almost the same strength as a 3rd circle spell. A massive ball of fire over a metre in diameter, giving off immense heat was created from a magic crest. Adam didn’t even need to chant the aria to summon such a powerful spell.

This ball of fire was sent flying right at Frost with great speed, accelerating as it moved and with the distance between him and Adam, he didn’t have enough time to dodge, he’d have to brace for the impact. At least this way he’d be able to understand what he was up against.

Raising his glaive above his head he activated his own technique.

“[Shattering strike]”, the blade of the glaive filled with energy and gave off a blue glow. Frost brought down his powered glaive with intense might onto the oncoming ball of fire resulting in a cataclysmic explosion.

Booooooooommmmmm!

The fireball exploded on contact with the glaive sending a powerful shockwave that melted and destroyed all of Frost’s ice chakra and forced him back several steps, his body released steam from the rapidly melted ice but otherwise he was fine. He received no damage just a bit of breath knocked out him, Luna and Leo dodged out of the way the moment Frost shouted evading the blast.

Leo drew his sword fully and raised his shield covering Luna as she casted her own magic.

.....

‘Looks like uncle isn’t your typical noble.’ Leo clicked his tongue, the initial plan being that he’d fight his uncle alone or with slight aid hoping that his combat strength was in line with your typical noble. Being that of around E-rank possibly D-rank, manageable by Leo’s standards but they were wrong, very wrong. From that spell alone it was clear that not only was Adam well kitted out with high spec equipment his strength was at the very least C-rank meaning that Leo taking the vanguard was out of the question.

Thankfully there was only one opponent this time and given his appearance Adam was not the assassin type meaning they likely didn’t need to look out for hidden strikes at the vitals.

The three of them together would fight.

From behind Leo protected by his shield and stature Luna started channelling her own magic.

“[Air bullet]” a green coloured magic crest formed at the end of her staff before generating small ball of compressed air that launched towards Adam.

Meanwhile Frost shook his body and casted his own spell, albeit without a staff.

‘Maybe I should invest in my own staff if I’m going to be using magic more.’ His glaive was fine for channelling chakra but for magic he really needed a staff with a magic crystal to help enhance the resulting spells.

“[Ice bolt]” he launched his ice bolt spell at the same time as Luna’s air bullet.

“Hmph! Pathetic [earth shield].” Adam mocked their attempts to attack him with magic, casting another 2nd circle spell without an aria this time of the earth element. A brown coloured magic crest appeared in response to his words before generating a shield of earth floating in front of him.

Bang! Don!

The ice bolt and air bullet slammed into the earth shield failing to puncture through, easily blocked by the superior spell. But neither side was done with their attack. Frost moved the instant he shot out his ice bolt closing the distance between them, he was better suited to close combat anyway.

Leo and Luna moved as well, changing their position in the brief moment that Adam’s view was blocked by his own spell.

Adam however wasn’t fazed and started channelling his mana once again, this type using an air spell.

“[Shockwave]” moments before Frost was upon him Adam casted his next spell, a large green magic crest rapidly formed at his feet and a powerful wave of destructive air radiated outwards in all directions slamming harshly into Frost’s glaive forcing it back.

Leo dug in his feet and readied his shield.

Boooom

The shockwave struck against his shield with great force, but Leo successfully endured only falling back a few feet before the mana dissipated. Luna was channelling, completely ignoring the attack fully trusting in Leo capabilities.

“[Fire envelop this sword in all your glory, fire enchantment]” Luna enchanted Leo’s sword with fire giving it enhanced strength and a magical property. Leo would need every boost he could get hold of if he wished to break through Adam’s defences.

Fire quickly enveloped Leo’s sword causing it to glow red before being absorbed into the weapon fusing them as one.

“Thanks Luna” Leo thanked his partner before charging ahead to use his newly enhanced sword.

Frost also rebounded and continued his attack, the air spell doing little to no damage just knocking him backwards.

“Annoying pests” Adam frowned as he prepared to use his natural battle style, one he hadn’t had to use for a long, long time. Unlike his brother Douglas, Adam wasn’t born with a naturally strong body and high level of talent for close combat, yet he was no slouch either. After lots of effort he became fairly proficient in his use of short swords and staffs, but his true talent lied in magic. He was a rare combination of someone skilled in both close combat and magic, a battle mage if you will.

With one hand holding his staff he withdrew one of the short swords sheathed on his hip with the other, now dual wielding he started to channel his mana once again this time doing the same as Luna.

“[Fire enchantment] [earth enchantment].” HHHe casted two spells at once, fire enchantment on his sword that was prepared to counter Frost and earth enchantment on his staff which was pointed at Leo.

Adam wasn’t afraid of engaging in close combat even when outnumbered.

Frost brought back his glaive before swinging diagonally at Adam but was met with Adam’s short sword completely stopping his advance, their physical strength was roughly the same. In regards to Leo’s side, Adam merely thrust with his staff stabbing Leo’s shield and knocking him backwards before focusing on Frost, the real threat.

With his fire enchanted blade, Frost was forced to endure intense heat being funnelled through his glaive, it was uncomfortable to say the least for someone so aspected towards the ice element. He frowned in discomfort but held his ground, grabbing his glaive with two hands now and pushing down, hoping to overwhelm Adam but that was naive and simple. Instead of reinforcing his sword with his staff Adam channelled more mana and casted a spell right at Frost’s face.

“[Fire bolt]” he used a 1st circle spell but summoned 5 at once all honed in on Frost’s face.

“Shit” Frost cursed before pulling back his glaive and desperately jumping backwards but the fire bolts followed him making him dodge back and forth with great difficulty.

Not one to hold back, Adam started casting again with rapid pace, far faster than Frost even thought possible. This was a true magic user he was battling, his respect for Ryuu instantly escalated.

“[Floor shake] [earth bullet]” he casted a 2nd circle spell first causing the ground around Frost to shake and rumble affecting his balance before firing several earth bullets at his chest. This time he couldn’t dodge.

“Bleurgh!” Frost got the wind knocked out of him as 3 of the bullets struck true, slamming into his chest.

‘That one hurt.’ He couldn’t summon his ice chakra fast enough and even if he did it wouldn’t have been strong enough to help. Those earth bullets packed a serious punch, even more than Shadow’s throwing daggers, thankfully they were blunt spheres otherwise he might have gotten punctured.

“[Air bullet]” Luna casted her magic at Adam’s unprotected back.

Don don

Two air bullets slammed into Adam’s back, but he didn’t even feel it, his enchanted robes nullified the damage entirely. 1st circle spells would have zero effect on him, even more so ones cast by an amateur mage such as Luna, even if she did have a powerful staff. Weapons are only extensions of one’s own skill if the user is weak then their abilities will still be weak, they can only enhance them by so much.

It still ticked him off though, so he decided to repay the favour by showing her how a real air bullet was supposed to be cast.

“[Air bullet]” two air bullets much more compressed and with greater velocity were shot towards Luna, evading Leo’s shield protection they slammed into her chest.

“Ugh” she let out a slight groan, her robes deflected most of the damage but unlike Adam she was purely a mage type, resulting in a weaker body but she wasn’t damaged just winded. Their skills in magic were poles apart, she felt as though she was fighting her father as whenever he displayed his magic to her, she felt the same way. It made her feel small and weak.

Happy with his result he turned back to Frost, but he’d already moved.

“[Ice bolt]” Frost still couldn’t easily summon two ice bolts, so he focused on strengthening the one he had and launching it at Adam’s sword wielding arm all while moving in from the opposite side, aiming to take on the staff instead. Leo followed Frost’s movements and charged towards Adam’s back, they needed to keep the pressure on otherwise they’d be destroyed by his magic. Adam had yet to cast any 3rd circle spells and they were not inclined to give him the chance.

What ensued next was repeated high paced battle between the four with Frost and his group aiming to keep the pressure on Adam preventing him from casting high level magic and being able to focus on just one of them.

They fought for 15 minutes straight before Luna and Leo started to falter. The high pace wreaking havoc on their bodies and in Luna’s case her mana levels. Yet Adam had been constantly casting both 1st and 2nd circle spells without stop yet it felt to Frost as though his mana levels hadn’t taken a dent like he had a limitless supply. It reminded him of his state when within the purview of the dungeon core, he’d be constantly supplied with mana and energy greatly increasing his stamina and mana supplies.

He frowned unable to explain it.

‘Even if he is stronger than me, I should be able to feel a decrease in his mana reserves, but he’s still got at least 70% left.’ This was a major problem, if Adam had an inexhaustible supply of mana their current tactics were pointless, they would be the first to collapse and then they’d have to suffer his higher level magics.

‘He’s got to be getting mana somehow woah.’ Frost had to duck mid thought to evade getting a fireball to the face. In regards to attempting to engage in close combat, their exchanges would be very brief and usually end in a draw. The issue was that once Frost closed in and was bogged down by Adam’s staff or sword he’d be met with magic to his face or chest forcing him to back off. It felt like punching cotton, constantly repelled without causing any worthwhile damage. In this battle Frost wasn’t smiling, it wasn’t enjoyable in the slightest. Enlightening and a great teaching situation in regards to utilising magic but not fun in anyway like the fight with Shadow. He simply wanted to end this fight and be done with him. A few times he tried to use the poison needles in his sleeves, but he’d always be rebuffed before he got the chance.

‘I need to deal with his mana supply first.’