Dungeon of Niflheim

Hundreds of cavalrymen shuffled into the western mountain every second. Their movements were seamless and well-coordinated, whichever passage they left out of that was the one they entered.

No traffic jams, no accidents.

2 minutes later what remained of the left wing had successfully entered the mountain, leaving just the highest elites and of course Colonel Casper who was still engaging the enemy Colonels.

"What now?" Frost asked, his glaive eager to spill more blood.

"We wait for as long as we can." Replied Major Kursch calmly, underneath however he was quite anxious.

Colonel Casper was still quite far from the mountain, and he showed very little signs of retreating.

Plus the enemy ranks that they had recently managed to demoralise and slaughter a path through were marching towards them.

If Casper didn't fall back soon they would be forced to collapse the tunnel early, cutting off his path to safety.

"Kursch the Colonel's engaged with the enemy's top ranked, a Colonel from the Jabrak Kingdom and an Apostle from the Northen nation….retreat is unlikely." Another Major who was part of the last group to leave spoke up, clarifying the current situation.

"Shit! Are we going to have to abandon the Colonel." One of the younger elites, someone with fire in their veins and bloodshot eyes roared in frustration.

Colonel Casper was akin to the sky for the left wing, the absolute leader, their protector and for some even a father figure.

Duke Runak was the War Marshall and the heavens but the one that they interacted with on a daily basis was Casper.

To abandon such a person was akin to stabbing themselves in the heart. The emotional pain was indescribable.

Upon hearing the words of their comrade Frost witnessed each and every single elite clench their jaws and violently tremble. Some growled in an attempt to hold back their desire to charge off into the enemy ranks while others even cried tears of blood.

Their hearts screamed for them to charge into battle and give aid to their Colonel, but their minds remembered their duty and Casper's words.

They were the Cavalry corps of the War Ursa Battalion and thus duty and following orders was above all else.

Colonel Casper gave the order for a retreat, so retreat they must.

"…200 metres." Said Kursch through the grinding of his teeth. "When the majority of the enemy reaches the 200 metre mark we'll fall back and collapse the tunnels….The Colonel will have to make his own way back if he fails to return in time."

His order was reluctantly given yet unanimously agreed upon.

200 metres, they could wait until that point and no longer lest they wished to jeopardise the entire catacombs so early in the war.

With a decision made Frost and the elites stood their grounds with their weapons at the ready. Their frustrations could be borne by the fearless group of monsters running ahead of the masses.

Don! Clash! Bang!

Several hundred metres from the western mountain Colonel Casper was engaging with Colonel Abagar and Apostle Celunia.

Fighting two on one he actually held the advantage. With his highly honed lightning chakra Casper moved even faster than Indra, suddenly vanishing from their sight and reappearing somewhere else a moment later.

At the start of the battle Celunia charged headfirst at Casper, fuelled by her anger. She moved to her own tune and because of that Casper was able to easily evade and manoeuvre between the two.

Casper was an old dog with a bucket load of tricks and experiences. Even without the use of flashy skills he could run circles around the two of them.

While their attacks either failed to reach him or were repelled by his chakra armour his own drew blood. Not serious but enough to infuriate his opponents.

Only when Abagar and Celunia managed to calm themselves and work together as a unit was the fight more balanced.

As the battle progressed Casper kept looking from side to side as well as behind whenever he got a chance, gauging the overall situation.

'Tsk these two are so annoying.' He wasn't in any danger of losing against them anytime soon, but he couldn't break away.

With the enemy soldiers moving around him he knew that his men would have to destroy the catacomb's passages soon.

He looked back at Abagar and Celunia and then towards the south were the frontlines were engaged.

'Can I make it.' He asked himself.

The distance wasn't too far for someone of his rank but whether he'd be allowed to or not was the question.

Even ants when in enough quantities could take down an elephant let alone the dragons that lying in wait.

General Katrina and Jessica could intimidate Vash and the other Generals to some degree but there was a limit.

If his escape was truly cut off and he had no choice but to try and reach the frontlines then even if Katrina threatened to enter the battle herself Vash would still order the other Generals to take him and Ridge down.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Vanguard's whole purpose was to detain and weaken the War Ursa Battalion before the main army arrived.

Having the opportunity to take down two or even just one of the Colonels of the enemy's Cavalry corps was not something they could easily ignore.

Even if they didn't do the deed themselves they could use their pressure to restrict his movements allowing the ants to nibble away.

Casper only had one option, he needed to push them both back at the same time, so much so that he could escape their influence and desperately charge for the mountain with Avalon.

'It's either do or die' He internally sighed while dodging a blow from Celunia, one that managed to leave a shallow cut across his cheek as it grazed passed him and blew up the ground.

By this point skills had started being used, making every attack far more deadly.

'Avalon it's time to use that.' Casper communicated with Avalon through their soul connection.

The mighty War ursa frowned in response before agreeing. He really didn't like using this skill, it hurt too much.

Casper and Avalon while charged with lightning chakra practically teleported several metres away, establishing some distance from Abagar and Celunia.

Such a choice was dangerous because in the very instant he moved away the two enemy Colonels pulled back their weapons and prepared to use one of their strongest skills.

Even with Casper's speed dodging ultimate skills, especially two of them was an almost impossible task. Thankfully however he didn't plan to dodge.

Casper took a deep breath and Avalon strengthened his legs. The two formed a solid connection through their soul pact allowing their energies to combine and flow between them as if their were a single entity.

The four of them erupted with auras so dense that they were on the very brink of becoming a tangible substance, the hall mark of an A-rank.

The very air around them swirled and exploded from the building pressure. Three ultimate skills generated by three Colonel level fighters and a peak B-rank War Ursa, even a General would have to be on his guard.

"[Fury of the elements, lightning avalanche]!" When he and Avalon's energies reached maximum output, and their auras had perfectly fused Casper called out the name of his most powerful skill.

"[Cry of ice the queen]"

"[Tiger king's judgement]" Celunia and Abagar made their moves in the same instant.

Behind Celunia a giant female spirit entombed in thick ice was formed. The entity initially had its eyes closed but when Celunia made her move it opened them wide and screamed so violently that the ice tomb shattered.

For Abagar atop his appeared an enormous tiger with a natural crown resting atop its head. The summoned beast that was almost indistinguishable from a living lifeform gazed at Casper and Avalon with disregard before slashing down with its mighty paw.

These two skills were more than enough to easily blow apart someone like Bacchus, a man who -when he was alive- was at the peak of the early stages.

Frost on the other hand now being in the mid stages could perhaps survive the combined blow but his injuries would be critical perhaps even fatal.

Alas it was not Frost facing down these two Colonels but Casper and his powerful battle mount partner Avalon.

Though the pressure from these two skills made breathing an ordeal Casper was unperturbed. His energy that seemed to already be at maximum output changed.

His lightning chakra that was empowering the skill became violent and chaotic as a second type of chakra was added.

Casper was a natural lightning user, born with the affinity whereas Avalon could effortlessly use ice chakra.

Over the years the two of them gradually built a tolerance and perhaps even a slight talent for one another's element.

As long as they were careful and used small amounts they could combine the two, giving them an extra edge in battle.

This skill however did not use such paltry amounts, and they were anything but careful with it.

[Fury of the elements, Lightning avalanche] was the result of many years of hard work and training.

Casper and Avalon while working together could violently collide their chakras resulting in a chaotic burst of explosive power that could even injure someone at the A-rank.

The only downside was that using it resulted in a painful backlash.

Casper and Avalon would be seriously wounded as a result and thus the technique rarely saw the light of day.

But now, a painful backlash was the lesser of two evils.