Dungeon of Niflheim

Each member of the Icy Talons attacked the wounded Lagombi with all they had. Lando smashed his massive shield against the beast's face with the majority of his remaining strength. Rodger pulled back his arm and tensed his muscles so hard that it doubled in size before punching the Lagombi's cracked knee, hoping to shatter it once and for all.

Royce carved up a juicy section of exposed rear flesh, drawing another spurt of blood while Lawrence conjured up a bolt of stone and fired at the creature's right eye, piercing the soft organ and causing the creature to screech in agony. Krief fired a loaded shot from his bow that pierced passed the beast's ribcage, almost reaching one of its lungs.

Even Gabbie cast her only known offensive spell to land an additional blow.

The poor Lagombi was assaulted on all sides in a single moment, its death was a surety however its will was not weak. Catapulting on the benefits brought on by a berserk state the monster pushed through the assault and locked eyes with a single member of the Icy Talons, the one who dealt the most gruesome and extreme blow… Lawrence.

"Roooooaaaaaarrrrrrr!!!!" With a terrifying roar the Lagombi became encased in a red sheen as it activated a powerful unique skill.

"Shit! Lawrence get out of the way!" Royce bellowed in desperation but unfortunately the Lagombi was just too quick.

In a fraction of a second the monster smashed through the blockade set up by Lando, Royce and Rodger, completely ignoring their attacks despite the severity of doing so. The monster dyed red from its own blood was now face to face with the piddly earth mage who repeatedly pierced its body with bolts of rock and stone, the last one being particularly devasting.

It would have its revenge even if it meant dying afterwards.

"Lawrence!!!" Lando screamed as he tried his best to reach his friend in time, but it just wasn't possible. Their only hope was perhaps Gabbie with protection magic but unfortunately she was too inexperienced to remain calm and act with haste. Lawrence had to protect himself.

"Fuck!! [Earthen shield]" Sensing the aspect of death looming in Lawrence refused to die willingly. Despite fear gripping hold of his nerves as the oversized Lagombi peered down at him with an evil look in its remaining eye as it prepared to crush him with its arms he quickly conjured up an earthen shield between himself and the monster.

Smash!!

However a hastily conjured shield was no match for the lagombi's final blow. Its claws easily smashed through, losing only a small amount of momentum before reaching the 'fragile' cloth that protected Lawrence's body.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" With an agonising yell the Lagombi's claws sunk through the magical protection and pierced deep into Lawrence's torso and shoulders. Fountains of blood erupted from his body before it was thrown against the nearest ice wall causing minor spiderweb cracks to develop along its surface.

Lawrence slunk down from the wall with a groan, his body in enormous pain and his vision darkening. Blood was in his throat and possibly his lungs given how hard it was to breathe. He managed to make out the aghast expressions of his comrades as well as the image of the Lagombi collapsing from its many wounds before darkness took hold, his consciousness slipping.

"Krief get to him now!!!" Royce seemed to be the only one on the team that could still think straight. He knew that the longer they left Lawrence in his current fragile state the worse his chances were.

Guilt roared in his heart as the possible cost for their reckless challenge became clear. Was a reward really worth losing Lawrence?

"Y…Yes Captain." Krief who was still in shock quickly did as ordered. He dashed towards Lawrence to check his wounds and readied a health potion -one of their higher quality low level ones.

"Lando and Rodger make sure the Lagombi is actually dead, we can't suffer anymore mishaps."

"C…Captiain….Lawrence." Lando the guardian who's normally the most composed was in a right state. His body was shaking, and tears threatened to pour from his eyes. He could only watch in clear detail as the Lagombi tore into his best friend, powerless to help in any way.

"LANDO! Take a breath and calm down. We're checking on him right now but what I need you to do is make sure we won't suffer another mishap. Is that understood?" Royce knew from experience that he needed to act a certain way. He needed to be the team's rock, the pillar of reassurance no matter what they faced.

While Lando was a very skilled shield warrior with the nickname "Guardian" he was just like the others, young and inexperienced. None of them had ever lost a comrade in battle….yet.

"Gabbie watch over Lando and Rodger while I check on Lawrence with Krief."

"Y…ye…yes Captain." Gabbie was pretty shell shocked by the whole event; she had already started crying.

'Please Gods have mercy on our party.' Royce chanted a silent prayer as he moved to inspect his downed teammate.

"How's he looking Krief?"

"It's bad Captain. He's fallen unconscious so he can't drink a potion. The monster's claws ripped his torso to shreds, even his bones are showing, and the blood isn't stopping….I…I don't know what to do Royce." Krief held Lawrence's blood covered body with trembling hands.

"It's alright Krief, take a breath and move over." Royce gently took over from Krief and analysed Lawrence's wounds.

'Damn it really is bad.' There was always the chance that Krief's panicked state made him exaggerate Lawrence's wounds, but the earth mage truly was in bad condition.

'Even a truly qualified medic or healing mage would struggle to fix this.' A deep sinking feeling assailed Royce's gut. 'I should have chosen the other door.' While Royce internally regretted his decision and worried about Lawrence's chances he didn't let it affect his ability to command. Unlike the rest of the party he had lost before.

"Lando, Rodger is the beast dead or not!" He did his best to put pressure on the more seriously bleeding wounds while instructing Krief to create bandages, tourniquets and ready some potions. Even if it was pointless or simply delayed the inevitable Royce was going to use every trick in the book.

"It's dead Captain." Rodger who was less out of it than Lando shouted back.

"Good, one less thing to worry about. Now quickly find the reward the dungeon promised."

"Captain?" Rodger displayed confusion as well as slight disgust. Was the Captain really worrying about treasure at a time like this. His confusion was shared by Lando and Gabbie who turned to look at Royce in a cold manner.

"Idiots! There might be a mid or even high level health potion so if you want Lawrence to survive get your asses moving!!" Time was of the essence.

The three visibly trembled before splitting up in the three directions to search for the supposed reward, desperately hoping for a health potion.

"Captain?"

"We'll do what we can to forestall his death but only a mid-level health potion or higher can save him. Pass me the herb soaked bandages and apply a tourniquet to his left arm." Krief did as instructed.

Gabbie searched the end of the arena and found nothing, whereas Rodger investigated the sides looking for another button to push or a hidden room, but it was Lando who discovered the prize.

"Over here by the beastly throne!" Hidden where the lagombi rested was a beautiful chest that didn't match the surrounding bones and fur. This was their reward for defeating the Lagombi.

Lando wasted no time in opening the chest, a dangerous move considering it could have been a trap, but he wasn't thinking about that. All he cared about was whether there was a potion that could save his friend.

A bright shining light escaped the confines of chest once opened, obscuring the contents for a second before unveiling the bounty held within…it seems their luck was rather good.

Contained within was a 3 star longsword of supreme forging quality, a lump of kyanite, a single use spell scroll for the 2nd circle spell [ice entanglement], a pair of leather boots that appeared to be of 2 star quality and finally half a dozen potions, a veritable windfall however Lando was only interested in the potions right now.

"Please let there be a high ranking health potion." He put the other treasures to one side before examining the potions in detail. Four of which seemed to be of the so called Dungeon of Niflheim speciality, instead of being encased in crystal glass the vials were made of mana infused ice.

"Low level health potion, low level mana potion, low level antidote, another low level health potion." None of the ice vial potions were of high rank making them useless to him, his hope rested on the remaining two vials. "This is….mid-level but it's a mana potion…just one chance left, please Gods make this a mid-level health potion."

Rodger and Gabbie made their way towards Lando the moment he pulled out the final potion. They heard his prayers and crossed their fingers hoping for a miracle.