Dungeon of Niflheim-Chapter 921: Elders sacrifice

Before the blood even had a chance to stop flowing from the corpses of the deceased Frost ordered all the Lunar maidens to form up around him.

"As you’ve probably already guessed that smoke signal is going to summon a vast horde of monstrous foes, all of which will be armed to the teeth and primed for war." An emergency summons made by two of their most hallowed elites wasn’t something they could ignore given how tyrannical Valend was when it came to obeying authority. Ignoring it would make them traitors in his eyes so as to preserve their own lives they’d come out in vast numbers.

"Given our current forces there’s no way we can endure such an assault, so we need to flee, like right now." While talking Frost quickly scanned the 26 remaining Lunar maidens for injuries. Quite a few had severe to debilitating injuries, without treatment it’d be impossible for them to outrun such a dogged horde.

"Quickly drink these." He handed over more than a dozen mid-level health potions, supplies that were prepared by Shivali for this exact eventuality. "We don’t have enough time to wait for their effects, so everyone get into the second formation we discussed." Previously Kiba and Neve were on the wings, Shalla and Yana to the rear and Frost at the forefront, a grouping that provided the strongest and most reactive defence, but the 2nd formation focused primarily on speed. Kiba was moved to the centre, and he would carry the four children as well as anyone critically injured or exhausted leaving Neve to manage the wings alone. Frost would still blaze the trail, but the rear would be left unguarded by any real powerhouse because the 2nd formation didn’t include the two elders Shalla and Yana. The time had come for the two of them to be sacrificed.

Frost’s eyes landed on Shalla and Yana, their wounds were already vicious before this battle now it was a sheer miracle they could remain standing. Hearing his words and understanding his intentions the two of them bowed their heads and smiled fondly towards their juniors before placing an arm across their chests and saluting.

"God speed to you Master Frost, please take care of our kin." There was no resistance in their demeanour both more than ready to die if it meant the survival of their juniors.

"Un you have my word." Frost replied with a curt nod, acknowledging their bravery before ushering the rest of the Lunar maidens to ready themselves for a long and fast paced trek.

"I will stay with the elders, my injuries aren’t much better, and my potential is all but spent." An older Lunar maiden, likely only eclipsed in age by Shalla and Yana spoke with the same level of determination, ready to lay down her life so those remaining could survive.

"Purvella." Neve spoke the woman’s name, tears already forming in her eyes.

"Don’t cry for me matriarch, I do this willingly." Purvella replied with a warm smile before turning her back to join Shalla and Yana in waiting for the enemy.

Time was critical so the maidens couldn’t even properly send off their valiant warriors, all they could do was bow their heads in respect before they had to hastily depart.

"I will remember your names, Shalla, Yana and Purvella." Frost said with respect before he along with the 23 remaining maidens vanished into a nearby path, heading deeper into the mountains.

"You didn’t need to join us Purvella." Shalla shook her head feeling both grateful and annoyed by Purvella’s choice to join them in their sacrifice.

"No but who’s gonna stop me? I’ve been chasing after the two of you since the moment I could walk, my efforts to catch up never faltering only my lack of talent holding me back." Purvella took a large step forward so she could stand shoulder to shoulder with Shalla and Yana.

"But now with an unstoppable force hounding after our kin I have the chance to stand by your side as an equal instead of a junior that has forever been pitied." When she spoke of being pitied both Shalla and Yana couldn’t help but feel a sharp pain in their hearts. Emotions of remorse and guilt preventing them from being able to look Purvella in the eye, a woman who despite her shortcomings doggedly chased after the two of them and never seemed to comprehend the meaning of defeat.

To Shalla and Yana, Purvella was a cute junior, a little sister who refused to leave their sides no matter how harsh they treated her. From their point of view she shouldn’t waste her life chasing after something that could never be so eventually they tried everything they could to push her away, mocking her efforts, insulting her lack of talent and faulting her failure to recognise her station but Purvella never gave up, rising slowly but steadily into a position of respect even if it was still a fair bit below their own. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Here at the end I have achieved my life’s goal and can therefore face my death with a smile and a heart bereft of regret...how about you sisters?" As if proving that her words were genuine Purvella’s lips curved into a large smile that threatened to span from one ear to the other.

Shalla and Yana visibly shivered in that moment, their entire lives flashing through their minds, moments of joy, moments of pain and yes moments which they deeply regretted.

"Haaaaaa I guess you did win in the end little Pur." Shalla sighed deeply before looking at Purvella fondly, seeing the little girl who made her flower crowns rather than the jaded, older woman that she was now.

"Took her a few decades but you’re right Shalla, Pur has surpassed us in the end hahahahaha." Yana bore a similar expression before laughing aloud without restraint.

"....I can’t remember the last time either of you called me by that nickname." Purvella’s heart seemed to be on the verge of bursting, her kind and warm older sisters had finally returned to her, the heavens surely shining bright for her final moments. Hot tears soon rolled down their cheeks as the three old women hugged and reminisced about the past and voiced everything that they had held back until now.

Roughly fifteen minutes later the three friends had their reunion interrupted by a bevy of monsters easily numbering in the hundreds. At the forefront of this horde were late stage and mid stage C-ranks, individuals who only fell short of the seven elites that currently lay at Shalla, Yana and Purvella’s feet.

"Lunar maidens? Why are they here and where’s Lord Valend and the seven seats?" Valend kept much of his lower ranked forces in the dark when it came to his activities, usually only relaying orders to the seven seats thus the forces that responded to the emergency summons had little clue as to why they were here only that they had been called.

"Oh finally you’re here, any longer and Shalla would have likely kicked the bucket already." Purvella being much more at ease with the two elders didn’t hesitate to mock Shalla, earning herself a heavy dose of stink eye but nothing more as her words though jarring weren’t far from the truth. Shalla’s entire lower body was trembling, and her sight was almost entirely occluded, seeing nothing but a mass of blurry shapes as the horde stopped before them.

"You were waiting for us?" A few C-ranks wanted to immediately charge forward and simply kill the half dead Lunar maidens but someone of high rank stopped them. He thought it prudent to ascertain what was going on before going on the offensive. There was a strong stench of blood in the vicinity, far too strong to be coming from just those three and on the ground there were corpses, mangled and shredded making identifying them difficult, but his gut was warning him of something.

"Yes because we have a gift for you." Purvella’s warm smile and somewhat radiant expression quickly transformed into that of a devil, her eyes spewing an intense loathing as she glanced down at what lay directly beneath her right foot.

Pow! Suddenly and with a great deal of force she kicked the object towards the chest of the one who spoke. The man caught the object easily, it was spherical, heavy and unnerving to the touch.

He was confused by this supposed gift and proceeded to inspect it, all while Purvella, Shalla and Yana revealed expressions of glee, as if their excitement couldn’t be contained.

The longer he held and examined it the more intense that feeling in his gut grew and eventually he flipped the item over nearly having a heart attack as a result.

All colour drained from his face in an instant and the gift fell from his grasp, landing onto the rock floor with a chilling thud.

"Hmm I thought you’d be more careful with the head of your boss, guess you were never truly loyal to that bastard! Heheheheh" Purvella completely taking centre point in this little play started laughing, truly laughing to the point that her entire body was being used. The look of shock and terror on that man’s face was absolutely priceless even better than the feeling she got when they were kicking that disgusting head back and forth like a ball.

"WHAT!!!!" Purvella’s words immediately generated a frenzied buzz, hundreds of monsters scrambled to look at Valend’s severed head, their souls violently shaking at the moment of recognition.

The horde soon looked at the three of them with a new outlook, failing to understand how this whole situation came about. The strongest among them was only late stage C-rank and all three of them were heavily injured. Valend was mid B-rank and a frost giant, few could challenge his reign here in the external regions so it couldn’t have been them that done it.

Several of the smarter individuals started looking around, searching for their allies but ultimately found nothing.

"Don’t bother searching us three old women are the only ones here." Yana announced after noticing the wandering eyes of some of the enemy monsters.

"Yeah and if you’re hoping that those seven seats of yours will show up I suggest you take a good hard look at the corpses lying at our feet." Purvella kicked one of the nearby corpses turning it over so the face could be easily seen.

"...."

"...." Shocked silence lingered in the air for a good few seconds, no one knowing how to proceed. A force that could kill not just their boss but also their strongest elites, could they really defeat such an enemy or perhaps should they even try? With Valend and the seven seats dead what reason did they have to carry out such a vendetta?