Dungeon of Niflheim

"Lord Commander, Major Bacchus of the Jabrak Kingdom has been slain." A soldier from the large horned ice drake tribe reported with a nervous expression knowing full well how potentially disastrous this piece of information could be.

"WHAT!!!" Vanguard General Vash jumped to his feet and hollered with a red face, his anger and fury clear for all to see. "How the fuck?!" He loudly questioned, grinding his teeth as he did.

Major Bacchus wasn't the strongest among the Vanguard's conscripted officers in fact he was one of the weaker ones but unfortunately he represented a major faction within the Jabrak Kingdom, the three eyed tiger tribe. A powerful and influential group who had recently hallmarked Bacchus as a potential Patriarch candidate, a position that was below one and above thousands.

The only reason such a prospective candidate was even here right now was due to his own insistence, desire for glory and Vash's promise that he'd be placed away from the core danger zones.

The 7th western defensive line was perfect for such a young and talented officer. Only a single Major was present, and he too was one of the War Ursa Battalion's weaker individuals thus Bacchus was able to overpower and even seriously wound him the previous day.

Vash noticed the changeup in the frontline's officers but thought nothing of the 7th western defensive line and Frost. The report stated that the man was young, even younger than Bacchus and that they had zero intel on him, a truly unknown individual.

He should have been alerted by that fact, but he unconsciously overlooked the possible danger due his age, his belief in Bacchus as well as the low priority of the 7th western defensive line, a mistake he had now come to regret.

"How is that possible? The one who replaced Major Conner was but a child, someone also at the early B-rank stage!" A senior Major of the Jabrak kingdom roared while viciously grabbing hold of the messenger, unable to believe that Bacchus lost. If the opponent was older and or surpassed him in strength by a large margin he could understand it, but Bacchus was highly talented. Though he wasn't groundbreaking he was certainly a top tier individual, how could he possibly lose his life in this overwhelmingly advantageous war and so soon at that.

The senior Major from the Jabrak Kingdom felt his skin crawl and his heart lurch at the thought of the chaos the three eyed tiger tribe would cause once this information was known to them.

'Those insane bastards will wantonly ignore the big picture and focus all their energy on revenge.'

The three eyed tiger tribe was a veritable hornet nest, just a slight poke would summon the entire swarm.

Crack!

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With bulging veins covering his entire body Vash smashed apart the table before him and charged outside the command tent. His gaze instantly locked onto the area where Frost and Bacchus clashed but the moment he tried to locked onto the young individual carving up his forces alongside the War Ursa Battalion he felt a coldness across his neck, as though a knife was pressed up against his flesh.

In response to this feeling that he was no stranger to he glared upwards to take in the form of a mountain of a woman standing atop the Northern wall with crossed arms and a smirk on her lips. Her aura was locked onto him, treating him like a fish on a chopping block. A predator staring at its prey.

Such an uncomfortable feeling for someone so used to being the predator.

"Katrina." He uttered through clenched teeth, his fury rising to an explosive degree. This damn woman had played him so easily, taking out key targets after supposedly suffering a demoralising lose.

On the Northern wall General Katrina locked her piercing gaze upon Vash. As she saw the rage, the fury and the aguish threatening to overwhelm his control her face begin to distort, her smirk slowly transforming into an expression of wild madness.

"Jared, Danielle go and play a little." She playfully said and a moment later.

"By your command Field Marshall" Danielle appeared from her right with twin longswords in her hands, both far superior to Frost's [wolf howling at the moon].

"Finally, I was worried if I'd ever get any time to let loose today." Opposed to Danielle's more orthodox military approach General Jared Bando was far more relaxed as he walked out from the left side.

"Cannon corps give them a nice entrance." Katrina subtlety ordered.

Boooom!!

With her order dozens of cannons shot out thick spheres of turbulent mana that exploded deep into the enemy lines, killing hundreds no thousands of enemy combatants and from the left over ashes two figures that were moments ago standing on the Northern wall were now smack dab in the middle of the frontlines with murderous glints in their eyes.

With such a flashy entrance and provocative look on their faces the two young Generals wantonly taunted Vash and his officers, begging them to give into their nature and attack like ravenous beasts.

"Vanguard General give the order! Let us tear these bastards apart!" An A-rank General sent from the northern nation of Glacial sprites and ice elementals demanded with hatred marring his face. Out of all the 5 members of the alliance perhaps the Northern nation hated the War Ursa Battalion the most.

"Death." A General from horde of blue ants and polar mantises spoke but a single word as they sharpened their bladed limbs against each other.

The vast majority of the other officers were in agreement, demanding that Vash give the order for a full on attack, committing their strongest individuals to the battle. Hell even Vash had the urge to roar at the heavens and charge into the field headfirst and make the War Ursa Battalion pay in blood. See if Katrina would still be smirking when they displayed the decapitated heads of her youngest Generals.

Alas he wasn't like the other Generals, he was cautious, patient and cool headed when it counted.

"Generals Duso and Mabak will face off against Jared and Danielle while General Lucra will serve as backup as well as a hidden deterrent. Do not lose yourselves to anger because that's exactly what Katrina wants. We'll fight passively against them and not lose our cool. Hold them down, nothing more am I clear!" General Vash took a deep breath, calmed himself and gave his orders, brokering no argument. He knew the purpose of the Vanguard and wouldn't let a simple emotion like pride or anger ruin their objective.

"Urgh!... by your order General." Though reluctant the Generals and officers obeyed his words and moved out with purpose.

"Lucra if things look off at any point target their soldiers."

"Yes General." Lucra then vanished amongst the tens of thousands of soldiers to act as a preventative force.

Though such tactics could be considered unethical during a regular war, this was one of annihilation, ethics meant nothing as long as they were victorious. Vash would grasp onto any method available to him no matter how evil or cowardly it may seem. They could withstand the deaths of tens of thousands perhaps even hundreds of thousands of their common soldiers in this war, but the War Ursa Battalion couldn't. Every one of their soldiers was precious and even losing a single one could tip the scales across the battlefield, the weakness of being highly outnumbered.

Boom!!!

Moments later there was a thunderous clash as four A-rank individuals clashed against one another, their residual momentum and aura tearing apart the ground beneath their feet.

Frost who started to pull back his forces couldn't help but stare at such an impactful scene.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"So strong." He said as his blood began to boil and the grip around his glaive tightened. He couldn't wait to be able to fight at such a level.

"Fall back we've culled enough." He gave the order to retreat back to their usual positions. Their delve had helped lessen the pressure on the 6th and 8th western defence lines which had suffered more than theirs during the officer clash.

Captain Johnson who left after killing Tulu to be checked by the medical corps was already back on duty alongside Captain Tara.

"Healed already?" Frost asked curiously.

"Pretty much, everything's closed but the pain is still there." Johnson grumbled as he rotated his shoulder blades. The War Ursa Battalion's medical corps were very skilled at returning soldiers to the frontlines with minimal time. As long as their wounds were closed, a core bone wasn't completely shattered and they complete basic mental checks they'd send them back into the fore, pain could easily be endured by such battle hardened veterans after all.

"By the way you've been ordered to return to the command centre atop the wall Major, seems your time with us has come to a close." Said Johnson with a regretful smile, he enjoyed fighting side by side with Frost, he had an attractive charisma that made him feel that even if the sky fell he'd be able to hold it up.

"Ahhh….I see." Frost frowned feeling that the time he had with Captain Johnson and the 7th western defence line was too short. "Thank you for you guidance Captain Johnson it has been a true pleasure to fight alongside each and every one of you." Frost gave a respectful salute to those who were just recently under his command.

"Soldiers salute." Johnson and the other Captains roared and led the hundreds of soldiers in a reciprocal salute.

"Farewell and good hunting." Frost nodded his head in gratitude before walking towards the Northern wall where General Katrina was awaiting him.