Dungeon of Niflheim

"KHIONE!!!" Frost roared from his lungs as hundreds of solid and razor sharp ice bolts appeared from the walls, ceiling and even the floor of the training room, aiming straight at him.

"The spear is all about controlling an area of influence, bar a shield there are few weapons that can match its defensive capabilities….so Frost don't get hit otherwise I'll be forced to punish you." The look on Khione's face was full of malevolence and mischief. Though she advised him not to get hit, it was clear as day that she hoped he would, her fists already primed and itching, eagerly looking forward to beating on a certain young man.

"Violent woman!" Frost cursed in a moment of anger, but the looming threat of the ice bolts forced him to focus on the more immediate danger. He raised his spear before his body, covered the tip in ice flames, lightened his chakra armour so it'd be more manoeuvrable over straight up defence and started channelling the [Lunar eyes] he'd been learning. The third stage was still out of reach unless he was in true danger like before but the first two were battle ready.

By the time he was fully geared up and ready to embrace the coming carnage the first volley of bolts were only a few feet from reaching him, half a second more and he'd become a porcupine.

Smash!

Alas with Frost's speed and his ever growing skill with the spear he easily smashed these bolts of ice into tiny fragments, quickly establishing a highly protected zone that brokered no foreign intrusion.

"Not bad you've got the speed and strength but there's still some excess movements and a couple of blind spots." As Khione commented on his efforts a couple ice bolts breached through his barrier and grazed against his chakra armour. No damage was done but the sheer fact that he was touched felt like a small defeat, as though he failed in the eyes of his teacher, something he could never condone.

His eyes blazed with fury as he generated a literal wall of wind out of sheer physical strength, smashing countless ice bolts like they were simple grass weeds.

"Better but don't rely too much on force, brute strength is not only the most inefficient path but also the easiest to counter." Despite her specialised physique Khione never relied on her brute strength to get the real job done, her true power was always held in reserve, unleashed only when the time was right.

When Frost was facing off against her as a student she'd bat away his spear with skill and finesse, only using force when punishing him and or acting out of anger.

Several rounds of ice bolts later Frost's ice armour had a few knicks and scrapes, but nothing got a solid hit in, hardly a worthwhile test for his new heart shield.

As though slapping him in the face as he thought of this, the crystal obelisk by Khione shone once again and once again that massive magic crest appeared beneath his feet.

'What's she got planned this time?' Though instinctually dreading what was coming he also looked forward to it, a through and through battle junkie.

This time instead of countless ice bolts attacking him from all angles the magic crest split up into four smaller crests arranged north, south, east and west of his position. The four crests were more detailed than the massive floor spanning one, clearly of a higher circle.

Within a few moments the four crests hummed with life and from each of them a large golem standing 5 metres tall appeared. Their forms were somewhat stocky failing to appear humanoid but that didn't detract from the danger. With either a club and a shield or a massive great club in their hands the four golems let loose a primordial roar before charging straight for the little man in the centre of the room.

"Now this is more like it." Thrilled by the prospect of fighting a proper enemy over mindless ice bolts Frost smiled wildly and charged with reckless abandon, not fearing the golems numerical and size advantage in the slightest.

As Frost clashed with the four golems, swimming amongst their clambering frames like a fish in water Khione who was watching at the side felt a heat rising in her body. Her hands tightly clenched to the point that her knuckles cracked, her muscles grew taught, and a primordial hunger filled her.

Her eyes were glued to Frost's gallant frame, sparkling with appreciation and desire whenever he forced back a golem or lashed out with a mighty swing of his spear.

This is what a true man should look like, his pretty boy features aside seeing him face off against his foes with a wild smile on his lips, well to Khione he never looked so attractive, so sexy so….desirable.

She struggled to calm herself, these new emotions burning through her like a raging fire, roaring to be quenched through one method and one method alone.

What held her back was her pride, the image she had built and her innate fear of these very feelings. She'd never even looked at man with interest yet now her body, her siblings, her parents and even someone she considered an aunt encouraged her to let loose, to lay her claim while she still had the chance.

Ok she had to admit that Frost was attractive, he embodied pretty much everything should would look for in a partner if she ever was, and yes she did enjoy her time with him and knew that something was building up inside her but to suddenly delve into a relationship something she'd always abhorred and even feared was too…..scary.

For all intents and purposes Khione was an innocent, fair maiden unpolluted by the machinations of the adult world. She needed time to get used to the new her, to better understand her emotions lest she comes to regret in the future.

As if to cool down the fire inside ice mana glistened around her body, generating a flurry of snow that would instantly freeze any who touched it. Under this flurry her heart gradually calmed down and she was able to once again look at the ravishing young man through the eyes of a teacher rather than that of a thirsty woman.

Frost took down the four golems that were equivalent to pseudo B-rank, all the brawn but lacking the brain within 20 minutes. His breathing was a little laboured and sweat dripped down his forehead. His chakra armour had been cracked a couple times and even once on purpose so he could test out the heart shield.

'Robust and comfortable, the fitting could be a bit better, and its placement needs some adjusting but it nullified pretty much the entirety of the blow.' 4 star equipment could endure battles among B-ranks while 5 star could handle peak B-rank, early and occasionally mid A-rank.

The heart shield was mid 4 star quality, ideal for his current strength and the enemies he should be fighting against.

Despite being struck dead on Frost was merely blown backwards, suffering nothing more than a slight itch and with no damage to the equipment.

After testing he no longer held anything back giving his all to take down the enemy and use them to train both his mastery of the spear and the [Lunar eyes] that Khione had meticulously taught him.

Since his teacher outclassed him in every conceivable way this was actually the first time he was getting to experience how useful the first two and even occasionally the third stance were in a battle against more appropriate enemies.

If Khione was hell mode then the ice bolts were easy and the golem medium, guess its time for hard.

When the last golem fell Frost didn't let his guard down nor did he take a moment to curse at Khione instead he when he glanced in her direction there was joy and anticipation. He wanted more, to feel the power that coursed through his body more clearly, to play and dominate his foe after being repeatedly compared to people that could squash him like a bug ever since he arrived in this realm of ice and snow.

And it was a good thing he did because without making even the slightest sound an even more detailed and elaborate magic crest appeared behind him for a brief second before a new enemy attacked.

Despite having his guard up and his spear ready and waiting to clash with the enemy he was still caught unawares by the surprise ambush.

The young Dungeon core was sent flying through the air, the back of his chakra armour fragmenting like a piece of dried wood as he was assaulted by a dull pain. His left shoulder blade was bruised and possibly even slightly cracked. The force behind the blow was easily in the B-rank and not in the early levels either.

"You expected there to be a noticeable change in your surroundings, just because the crest lit up like a star for the first two doesn't mean it'd do it again for the final challenge." Khione shook her head, showing an expression of exaggerated disappointment, a look that made Frost feel small and full of shame, there was even a sharp pain in the centre of his heart as though he'd been stabbed with a dagger.

'Like hell I'll let myself look bad in front of her.' His masculine pride, his usually contained ego burst forth like a tsunami. With a vengeance he shot up from his crash site and filled his spear with a deadly amount of chakra and aura determined to smite this new foe.

"Eh?" However when he saw who was before him he was stunned silly, his mouth hanging agape as he questioned his sight.