Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 1000: Chapter 1000: Pork on the menu (3)

The vast majority of adventurers behaved in the same manner, not wanting to risk themselves unless there was a promise of reward and even then it was doubtful. Their job was to hunt monsters and transport the materials back to the butchers waiting for them topside not enforce the laws of those managing the monster lair, that was the guard’s job.

Frost therefore faced little in the way of interruption from the adventurers, the monsters however were another story.

30 seconds after Frost started his meal the guardian boar chief was roused from its slumber and entered what could only be described as a berserk state. Its fur became ruffled, its muscles tensed and bulged obscenely until it was nearly 50% larger than normal. It was burning its lifeforce thus allowing it to cross a divide and temporarily reach C-rank.

Unfortunately for the boar chief however Frost left an ice golem to bar the path. This golem had C-rank strength so the boar even with its upgrade still wasn’t its match but that was only when it was alone.

5 minutes after Frost began his meal boars from the final room charged their way into the arena and immediately attacked the ice golem, desperate to get to Frost who was in the other room.

Frost was aware of this, but he didn’t increase his rate of absorption even though he could. This was the first time he was dining on a monster lair’s core, so he was taking every precaution.

10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 50,000 a 100,000 his DP levels continued to rise at an absurd rate as did the intensity of his emotions. His breathing had become laboured, he was sweating buckets and a wild look marred his handsome face but unlike a few days prior he was still in control. The quantity was certainly staggering but the quality was low, primarily made up of F and E-rank portions rather than B and A-rank.

Frost was in a state of bliss rather than pain, but he still couldn’t let his guard down, the moment he did he could lose a part of himself and fail to savour his meal like that steak dinner he had with Shivali, Freyja and Khione.

"Hold them back, I’m almost finished." Eventually through strained teeth Frost called out to his summoned golem urging it to fight with all it had for just a little longer.

Alas while the golem was strong and large, a perfect defender, it had its limits. As the number of monsters in the arena multiplied several times over it soon found itself overwhelmed. A few boars thus pushed themselves passed to attack Frost.

"Even if you reach me do you really think any of you have the strength to stop this." Irritated by the efforts of such weak monsters Frost violently kicked one of the boars back out the room with his left foot while he crushed the skull of another with his elbow. He was almost finished eating, the orb was smaller than a fist yet still it pulsed and vibrated with a passion, its final death throes which seemed to empower the monsters it had summoned.

With a din of roars and squeals the pigs and boars fighting against the ice golem grew in size and strength, all of them burned their lifeforce for the chance to break free and save their lord and master, actions that many would find respectable but for Frost it was just annoying.

These monsters weren’t in their right mind, everything that was happening hailed from the core currently pushing against his chest. It was akin to mind control, the monsters had little knowledge or will when it came to their actions, everything was dictated.

Since his meal had been so rudely interrupted Frost stopped savouring, his absorption accelerated at the last leg, refusing to give the core a chance to survive.

"HUMMMMM!!!" As the fist sized core rapidly shrunk, becoming no larger than a thumbnail it loosed an air shattering hum as if screaming, a last ditch effort that would hopefully shake the soul of its aggressor but unfortunately for it Frost was its natural predator. He felt no pain, no disturbance as if its wailing had zero effect on his body.

"Just simmer down and become part of my body." His devouring hit a fervour conjuring the image of a pair of brutal fangs that hovered over the core. In the next moment the heart of the [Pork Abattoir] completely dissolved, melding into Frost and bringing his DP count to a whopping 217,000, almost a quarter of a million practically doubling what he had on hand after the whole false caravan debacle.

The quakes that had been running rampant through the three floors under the duress of Frost’s feasting stopped almost immediately after the core was eaten but not before releasing one final crack that sent shudders not just throughout the monster lair but even outside where the village resided.

"What the effffing fuck was that!" It had only been at most twenty minutes since Frost began his meal so those on the surface hadn’t yet come to realise the calamity that was coming to their livelihoods.

Some of the faster adventurers bolted through the entrance not giving hide nor tail about the local guards as they quickly vamoosed from the area as they knew full well that if they delayed they could get trapped in a lockdown.

Eventually however a group of less selfish or perhaps naïve adventurers reported the situation to the local garrison.

"What! Lock the place down no one leaves the village until we get to the bottom of this." The head of the guards, a large pot bellied man with a pockmarked face bellowed with loud fury. This place was his haven, his miniature kingdom. Here he was practically a king, his word was law and his coffers were always filled to the brim but if the [Pork Abattoir] was destroyed so would his foundations. The man took the situation very seriously, calling upon every able bodied guardsmen, adventurer and even every man who could swing a knife -which accounted for practically every single resident as over 70% were butchers.

As a red alert was in effect above ground back below on the lowest floor Frost who had finished devouring the core of the [Pork Abattoir] couldn’t resist breaking into a little dance and it wasn’t because of his erratic emotions- well maybe a little- but because of the sheer amount of DP he had earned from this excursion.

"A quick delve and a meal and I’ve earned over 200,000 DP hahahaha eating monster lairs is the way to go." It wasn’t long term passive gains but rather a massive and sudden injection of wealth, he was over the moon, wanting nothing more than to seek out other poorly defended monster lairs.

"I bet I’m not the first to realise this though, I knew it was strange to see a few siblings suddenly jump from the lower 70s to the mid-30s in the span of a single year." At least 3 of his siblings that he could remember off the top of his head had somehow jumped up the rankings during the last family gathering despite their seemingly average abilities.

"They must have eaten a monster lair or two within their vicinity thus radically increasing their DP." It was a sure way to get ahead but unfortunately not very steady, finding and being able to devour a poorly guarded monster lair wasn’t easy even for Frost and unless they spent that income well they’d eventually fall back to their original place.

"That shaking must have caused quite the panic, same with the sudden and drastic change in the monsters. There’s probably going to be a barricade waiting for me when I reach the surface." Frost shook his head; he didn’t want to draw too much attention to his actions but unfortunately the monster lair refused go quietly.

Not only did it cause the whole lair to quake and tremble, but it sent a bevy of monsters his way in an effort to stop his attack.

He turned his head and saw that every single monster that was bum rushing him died the moment he finished devouring the core, their sudden burst in power at the expense of their lifeforce was abruptly paid for, resulting in his summoned ice golem and him personally being surrounded by corpses.

"Time to go." With a wave of his hand he cancelled his summoned golem which by this point was barely holding on and started running for the surface, speed being his best friend.

As Frost ran he saw more and more corpses but that wasn’t all he saw, some monsters survived but they looked lost as if parts of their souls were missing. Their movements and behaviours were lacklustre, their strengths taking a significant dip and would perhaps never recover but in addition to that he saw several groups madly running in the same direction he was, the exit.

"They’re no longer bound to the will of the monster lair so they’re escaping." He tried to keep his distance from these monsters as they were very, very aggressive, attacking anyone and sometimes even their fellow monsters that came too close. "It’s as if they’ve gone feral." Their strength meant little to Frost but other adventurers, ones appropriately ranked for the [Pork Abattoir] would likely struggle.

This did give him an idea, however.