Dungeon of Niflheim

208 Chapter 208: Entering the Glacial mountains (end of volume 3)

Maya continued to pout as Frost packed his things away but eventually, he was ready to go. The four of them stood together, Maya with the kids on one side and Frost on the other.

“Nanna, Loki be good while I’m gone, listen to everything Maya says and work hard on your studies.” Frost started with the kids, he moved towards the two of them and wrapped them in a big bear hug, pulling them in close. Nanna and Loki struggled to keep their tears at bay. They felt so safe with Frost and never wanted to leave his warm embrace. After the hug he smiled and rubbed their heads with affection finding his decision to save the two of them more and more right. They brought him a great deal of happiness.

Next, he looked towards Maya and his gaze instinctively softened. Bravely he placed his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “I’ll be fine Maya, I give you my word,” Maya looked at her young master, no longer pouting, her eyes grew red before she nodded gently with a slight “umm”.

With the farewells finished he set to teleport and leave the dungeon but Maya called out. “Young master.”

“Yes Maya.”

Revealing her sharp canines Maya looked towards her young master with pride. “Good hunting” she said before turning around.

Frost smiled joyfully at her statement; she said the same thing when he went off with Leo to attack Adam’s compound. Maya had finally given her blessings and he couldn’t be happier. He waved goodbye to Nanna and Loki before vanishing from their eyes. The moment he left there was silence in the private space and the mood felt heavy, they didn’t really know what to do. Usually around this time they’d either be training combat skills or working on their reading and writing but none of them seemed up to it.

Eventually after the silence became unbearable Maya spoke up. “Alright that’s quite enough moping for one day, let me rustle up some nice food to brighten our moods before getting back on track.” Though she too felt down she was the adult and Frost had left Nanna and Loki in her care. With the promise of good food, the kids quickly found their dour moods vanishing, children do really live in the present.

Frost arrived near the dungeon’s entrance out of view of anyone for at least 300 metres which was more than enough given the constant snowstorm but better safe than sorry. He’d already let Findlay know about his leaving; they had a good farewell earlier but there wasn’t nearly as much emotion involved as they were both fully grown men. Findlay simply patted him on the shoulder and wished him luck in his exploration before getting back to work while he said thank you in response, very simple.

.....

He started his march to the dungeon’s exit ready for his journey.

“Guess I’ll have to trust in the capabilities of my monsters while I’m gone, hopefully it doesn’t turn into complete chaos while I’m out having fun hehehheheh” Frost chuckled to himself as he walked but there was always a slight nagging that what he said could come to pass. But he made his choice and was dead set on leaving. He walked with purpose at a brisk pace.

A couple adventurers passed him as he left the entrance, they smiled and nodded his way which he politely returned before he finally exited the dungeon -well the internal part, since this first kilometre outside was also part of it.

The outside had changed slightly since the last time he ventured out. The snowy plains were not as barren as before. Groups of adventurers could be seen around some impromptu camps with burning firepits. Some resting after a disappointing run whereas others divided up their spoils and or ran a cost analysis on the damage to their equipment. A few entrepreneurial villagers from the small villages based in the Northrend forest came to offer their services in terms of skinning, repair work and even cooking. Taking advantage of the vast customer base to make no small amount of profit. It wasn’t just adventurers that profited from monster lairs after all, nearly every profession had some stake and the faster ones had already started moving in.

This place was far from being a true camp like the one in Northrend forest, but it showed promise and as long as these people rested within 1km of the dungeon he’d be able to rake in DP.

A few groups looked his way as they saw him leave the dungeon but quickly turned back down after seeing that Frost was wearing a mask -yes of course he needed to wear a mask if he was going to be in the presence of others. A couple unsavoury characters -not everyone here were adventurers, some bandits would also hunt in monster lairs for profit. They’d just have to sell their stuff on the black market- gave him a few glances since he was alone but seeing no injuries or damage to his equipment, they quickly lost interest, too risky.

For Frost however he simply saw all these people, the good and the bad as future DP, no one stood out to him like Leo and Luna. After a quick count in his head, he promptly ignored them and headed towards the Glacial mountains. He had the extensive map and planned to go straight to the gamma sector since that was where his scouting mission was. The camping groups paid him no more attention as he walked off out of sight, heading into the hallowed gateway to the northern most danger zone.

Before the Dungeon came into existence many would flock to the external regions of the Glacial mountains and many still do as not all monsters that had quests could be found in the Dungeon. In fact, it was really only the weaker groups that explored the Dungeon as it was comparatively safer even with the large amount of deaths present over the past few days.

The Glacial mountains were a harsh and gruelling environment and one of the 4 major death zones on the Yangmir continent, along with the Storm mountains to the west, the grassy plains of the south and the poison swamp of the east but out of the four, the Glacial mountains were the largest and the most dangerous to sapient races. The cold affects every one of the sapient races, very few of them have innate resistance to such elements. But where there’s danger there is always great riches.

Though Northrend is known as the northern most kingdom/empire in Yangmir that’s not exactly true. It’s the last solely sapient country. Within the Glacial mountains there exists tens of thousands of monster tribes as well as sapient race communities, even large empires exist such as the great hold of the ice dwarves or the jotuun/ ice giants each comparable to Northrend. The only difference is that monster races tend to rule, and the climate is far too harsh for regular sapient civilians to survive therefore they’re not counted as political powers of Yangmir continent. That however doesn’t stop trade from happening. Many high level quests into the Glacial mountains involve protecting merchants and their caravans as they conduct business deals with the communities in the mountains.

Great riches can be found in the Glacial mountains, not just from the monster materials but even the herbs and plant life can have wonderous effects not to mention mines of cold aspected metals and gems. All this exists in the danger zone and the powerful kingdoms of Yangmir covet it dearly. Northrend even have a battalion constantly stationed within the Glacial mountains, they guard a series of powerful outposts in the name of the empire as a show of force to the native kingdoms. Thus, thanks to this show of force they’ve been able to generate substantial trade with empires like that of ice dwarves and jotuun. Many belief that it’s this trade line that helped cement Northrend as a super power on the continent. They have access to materials that others do not.

Frost however wouldn’t be heading that far into the mountains, no he’d only be exploring in the external regions, around the gamma sector whereas these native empires and Northrend’s military outposts are all based in the inner regions.

Whoosh whoosh

The cold biting wind started to pick up as Frost finally made his way out the mountain that is his dungeon’s shadow and with it came the loss of connection.

“Urgghhh I’m never going to get used to this.” Frost felt as though he was cut off from a blood supply, his chest and entire body felt heavy and significantly weaker. “Guess that’s me officially in the Glacial mountains now.” He looked up ahead, before him was white and a constant blizzard surrounded him and his path ahead. He subconsciously grabbed his chest and felt the talisman held there before taking a deep breath and stepping into the unknown. He planned on spending at least a week in this danger zone, training his skills as an adventurer. First stop was to get his bearings, the gamma sector wasn’t a straight shoot from the entrance, there was a path he needed to follow due to a set of deep impassable ravines as well as mini danger zones. Not just monsters were out to get you in this harsh environment.