The Dwarf's Ancient Fortress
Ion leaped forward, carving through the flying snowballs with a swinging sword.
Nidhogg followed right behind, swinging his axe to block the incoming snowballs.
Thunk!
Nidhogg's expression changed upon feeling the strong impact on his axe.
And he observed Ion's movements as he saw the knight advancing, cutting through the snowballs ahead of him.
Osmon and Piske, positioned at the rear, found it easy to block the snowballs' force since their power had weakened.
While the dwarves blocked the snowballs, Ion approached the snow elemental and sliced off one of its arms.
Sssst! The arm was severed without any resistance.
Even after its arm was cut off, the snow elemental swung its other arm with no effect at all.
Clang!
Its strength was so powerful that it could barely be pushed back even when blocking with the sword.
In the meantime, snow from the ground crawled onto the severed arm and the arm regenerated.
Just as Roman had told me, even if the arm was cut off, it would regrow.
I need to destroy the core somewhere inside its body.
Melting the snow to expose the core, like the scouts from Bolda Fortress, was impossible.
'I have to shatter its body!'
Ion slashed at the snow elemental's swinging arms again.
Before the arms could regenerate, he swung his sword at the rounded body and head.
The densely packed snow was hard to cut, but not because it was tough—it was so soft that it got stuck in the middle and grabbed the sword.
But that wouldn't work on me, who wields the indestructible sword 'Pain' that can cut anything and has the strength to cut anything.
Sukaak!
Ion sliced vertically from the snow elemental's head all the way down to its torso and then horizontally before it could fall.
Kwak!
Only the fist-sized blue stone in the center of the snow elemental's head was cut by the sword.
'This is the core!'
The severed stone crumbled into powder like dust and the packed snow fell straight down to the ground with a thud.
Even with enough power, without a sword like 'Pain' it would have been difficult.
Luckily, Ion had both strength and weapon.
After defeating one, he analyzed how to deal with the rest and rushed toward the snow elemental that was throwing snowballs.
Ion also learned that the cores of the other snow elementals weren't just in the center of their heads but also in the corners of their bodies.
If you only attacked one known spot, you'd be in trouble.
Now that he knew, that was enough.
It was annoying, but he would just cut more.
Ion swung his arms diagonally and cut the snow elemental's arms and body at once.
He chopped the fallen head into small pieces on the ground, crossed over to the torso, and swung his sword. Kwak! He destroyed the core and moved on to the next snow elemental.
Meanwhile, the snow elementals kept throwing snowballs at the dwarves and swinging their arms.
Nidhogg, who had initially stepped forward like Ion, retreated to the back.
Blocking the flying snowballs and cutting the swinging arms with Osmon and Piske was only defense.
At first it was difficult, but as Ion kept cutting down the snow elementals and reducing their numbers, Nidhogg and the dwarves gained more breathing room.
Clang!
Nidhogg blocked the snowballs with his axe and opened his mouth.
'That guy is much stronger than we thought.'
'Yes. I've never seen a snow elemental be dealt with that easily.'
'That's right. We have to take on one with multiple people, but that guy looks like he's handling them all by himself.'
'Indeed.'
' 'Pain' has found its worthy master.'
While Nidhogg and Osmon conversed, Ion continued cutting the snow elemental and destroying its core.
It felt like the stronger this monster was, the more power surged into his body every time he destroyed a core.
So he cut the snow elementals even more diligently.
When fifteen snow elementals had been reduced to half, the ones throwing snowballs at the dwarves turned their bodies toward Ion and attacked.
Whoa!
Multiple snow elementals swung their arms at once.
Ion tilted his body to dodge and cut with his sword, but he could only manage to cut the arms, not the heads or torsos in time.
Suddenly, as the snow elementals throwing snowballs focused on Ion, Nidhogg and the dwarves who had been blocking rushed over to Lotte and Vidar with a worried look.
'Help Lord Ion!'
'Focus on one!'
Three dwarves grabbed one snow elemental, swung their axes to cut its arms, and chopped its torso and head.
They couldn't cut like Ion in one swing, but they worked hard to chop up the snow elemental.
And Vidar, who had been sitting with Lotte, looked dazed while fighting.
'Haha, it's a snow fight...'
As Ion petted Lotte and watched the fight, Vidar's eyes gradually filled with light and sparkled.
'Hmm... 'Pain' has found its proper master.'
Vidar, smiling at the fighting Ion, stood up and picked up his own hammer resting on the frost goat saddle.
The hammer was a solid piece of iron with a blue aura circulating through it.
As Vidar walked while holding the hammer, Lotte stood beside him as if protecting him and walked together.
While dodging the snow elemental's arms attacking at once, Ion cut off one or two arms to buy time and gradually sliced the torsos.
At first there was no opening for attack, but with Nidhogg and two dwarves helping with one each, he gained a bit of breathing room.
Then.
Boom!
A loud sound shook the ground.
'Eh! Father!'
'Your Majesty!'
A skinny dwarf Vidar swung his hammer and the snow elemental's solidly packed body cracked like ice right then and there.
'Don't look at me! Eliminate the enemy first!'
Hearing Vidar's shout, the dwarves snapped to attention and stuck to the snow elementals again to finish them off one by one.
Vidar couldn't finish off the snow elementals, but he swung his hammer to stop the movements of two or three.
Kung!
With plenty of breathing room, Ion quickly finished off the snow elementals one by one.
Sshiak!
Ion sliced diagonally with his sword and the core of the snow elemental shattered on it.
After defeating all the snow elementals, power flooded into his body and his limbs felt strong.
Despite the violent movements, even in the cold he sweated.
While wiping the sweat and looking around, Nidhogg and the other dwarves were also exhausted and sat down. Vidar, who had been swinging his hammer to stop two or three, climbed onto Lotte's back and lay down.
'I'm hungry! Give me meat!'
* * *
After defeating the snow elementals, they rested in place for a day.
After that, while moving, they encountered frost trolls, snow elementals, and ice wolves, but the group easily defeated them and passed through.
Ion was especially strong, but the dwarves like Nidhogg were also skilled warriors.
Although Vidar was with the group, the movement wasn't fast, but since there was no abnormality in their bodies, they weren't greatly slowed.
Watching them snap to attention and fight once when monsters attacked made it seem like Vidar from the past was a quite powerful warrior.
'Father was a great warrior and a great blacksmith. If he hadn't been born into royalty, he might have been even more famous.'
'Is that so?'
Ten days later.
While resting briefly during the move, Nidhogg sighed as he watched Vidar playing with Lotte.
'To us dwarves, a king is hardly meaningful. He has little authority and is just one of the powerful families.'
'I don't know much about it.'
'Humans wouldn't care much about it. It's because of the ancient covenant that the king is needed. Otherwise, the king's meaning to the dwarves is none at all.'
As Nidhogg said, humans weren't greatly interested in this matter.
Humans all lived within kingdoms, so the existence of a king wasn't particularly unusual.
But the dwarves seemed to think differently.
Looking at Nidhogg's bitter expression, Osmon, the steward, opened his mouth as if to stop him.
'Your Highness...'
'Isn't it not even a secret?'
'... '
'... Yes. Once everyone rests, let's depart.'
The group prepared to move again.
Ion wasn't curious about the dwarves' internal situation at all, but he was curious about what the ancient covenant was.
* * *
Clang!
Nidhogg's axe sent the ice wolf's head flying.
Five days later.
They were ambushed by an ice wolf pack, but the dwarves and Ion blocked them in front and the heads flew off.
When front attacks didn't work, they turned sideways to the lying Vidar and targeted the frost goat herd, but they had to retreat with Lotte and Piske's defense.
When attacks didn't work, they kept their distance, surrounded the area, and howled at the same time.
—Awoo!
Ion looked around with tension.
Because the wolves were calling for reinforcements.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
As the wolves' howls were heard, several charged forward, but they weren't white ice wolves.
Gray spots like they had been scorched appeared on the wolves' bodies and their eyes were red.
Ion jumped forward first.
'These are infected wolves! Don't come near or you'll get poisoned!'
The five infected wolves were a bit larger than the other ice wolves and the gray spots wriggled.
Kung! Kweong!
They leaped forward with their mouths wide open, and the infected ice wolves seemed to have even longer teeth.
Ion thrust his sword straight into the wolf's mouth.
It pierced straight through to the crown in one go, but the wolf kept thrashing.
He swept the jammed sword downward and sent half its head flying, but even then the body moved.
Ion cut the wolf's neck the rest of the way.
Like the infected humans, thick blood dripped down.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
Even while watching a comrade get hurt, the wolves charged fearlessly. Ion swung his sword and cut off the legs of the wolves first.
The remaining wolves on the ground, even in that state, didn't feel pain and wriggled on the ground, opening their mouths to bite Ion.
Kwak! He stabbed his sword down and cut the necks of the wolves.
Ion took off his gauntlet and looked at the silver ring on his right index finger.
Gray and white silver mixed chaotically and changed, taking longer than when he had defeated the infected scouts.
The wolves weren't particularly strong, but the infected ones seemed worse than the scouts.
After the ring's color turned black again, he put on the gauntlet and returned to the group.
While Ion fought the infected wolves, the group also finished off the remaining wolves and pushed the corpses aside.
Nidhogg, who had wiped the blood from his axe and put it on his back, asked Ion.
'I heard there were infected monsters, so are those the ones?'
'Yes. If you don't cut off the head, they keep moving. And if you deal with them wrong, you'll get infected just like them.'
'Even humans get infected?'
Nidhogg was very surprised.
He must not have known because it was far from Berg.
'Yes. The scouts who defeated the infected monsters got infected just like them.'
'Then, are you okay?'
'I have a way to cure it.'
Nidhogg asked Ion worriedly if he could cure it, and when he heard he could, he made a dumbfounded expression.
'Is that even possible? Finding the enemy before others see it and this cure, you can't do anything?'
'Hmm... I have a good intuition. There's a thing I got by chance for curing.'
'That's not the important part. The important thing is that you have that ability. It seems the witch properly found a person.'
Nidhogg laughed and patted Ion's back.
The group rested briefly then moved while avoiding the wolf corpses.
* * *
They moved for another week and met another ice wall.
The lower first ice wall was tall but straight and connected, so it felt more like a wall.
However, the upper second ice wall seemed more like sharp blades connected rather than a wall and was even taller.
'Doesn't this feel different from the lower one?'
Nidhogg, riding a frost goat beside, asked Ion who was staring at the ice wall with a dazed look.
'Yes. Completely different. The first barrier below feels like it's protected, but this second barrier seems like a threat to stay away.'
'Haha, interesting thought. Yes, that could be.'
Nidhogg, smiling faintly, nodded.
'As you said, this second ice wall is harder to approach. Still, there are monsters crossing it.'
'Then why is there an ancient fortress of the dwarves here?'
'The fortress that existed before the ice wall was created.'
'What? Before the ice wall was created?'
'Yes. A long time after the ice wall formed, everything was sorted and the power of integration was decided, so it's a fortress built more than two thousand years ago.'
'It's an really old fortress.'
After passing the ice wall, a wide plain appeared, and in the center of the plain a place where snow didn't fall was visible.
It was the ruins of an old fortress with remaining ancient bricks and pillars.
Everyone dismounted from the frost goats and got closer to the ruins.
'How should we find the sealing place?'
In response to Ion's question, everyone looked at Vidar, but Vidar was climbing onto Lotte's back and pulling its fur.
Lotte looked like she had given up on everything.
'Father.'
Nidhogg asked Vidar, who was playing with Lotte's fur, while holding it.
'Father! Where is the seal that trapped the Demon of Greed? How do we find it?'
'The seal?'
'Yes, the seal.'
Vidar, still with hazy eyes, came down from Lotte's back and picked up the hammer that had been on the frost goat's back.
It seemed not fully conscious, but the group watched Vidar moving.
Vidar dragged the hammer and wandered into the ruins of the old fortress.
He probably went to a place that was once a pond or fountain and pounded the ground.
Vidar's arms gradually gained strength as he continued pounding the ground lightly.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
Even though it was ancient ruins, the bricks on the pond floor were solid.
But as Vidar kept hitting, cracks slowly started appearing.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
The cracked bricks broke and crumbled, but that was it.
Watching the scene, Nidhogg and Osmon whispered quietly.
'We should stop His Majesty, right?'
'Wait a bit longer and watch. Even if he looks like that, Father wouldn't just do that.'
'Yes...'
Vidar, not in a perfect state, didn't stop hammering and kept going, gradually putting more power and striking harder.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Vidar's eyes gradually became serious.
Ion suddenly felt the air change.
Lotte, who had been still, also twitched her ears as if sensing something strange and tried to listen.
Kwang! Kwang!
Suddenly the sound of pounding the ground grew louder.
Kwaaaang!
At the same time as the loud noise, the bricks fell downward.
'Father!'
Nidhogg and the dwarves rushed over and Ion followed.
The place that had been the pond now had a large hole, and below the hole stairs were visible.
And Vidar lay beside the hole hugging the hammer.
'I'm hungry! I have no strength!'