Conquering His Cold Heart

"So choose Princess of Northrend will you stand and fight or will you become their food?" Said Frost boldly with his glaive outstretched before him and Avira, pointing at the masses of spiders clambering over one another to attack them.

Avira stared at the enemy, her heart quivering in fear whenever her gaze passed over the faces of the huntsman species, the massive iceborne variant in particular. But along with that fear there was a fire, the will to live, to fight, to survive and gradually while staring at Frost's large back that will started to overcome the fear.

She still trembled at the sight of the Iceborne huntsman but her will to live was becoming stronger than her fear. Avira wiped away her tears, punched the snow beneath her and rose to her feet with eyes filled with determination. She gripped her rapier, took stock of her throwing weapons, secondary weapons as well as her wand before steading her breathing.

"…Sorry and thank you, I'll be alright now." Her first words were rather quiet but by the end she spoke with great volume.

Frost gave her a once over and smiled before allowing her to once again take the vanguard position. This was the look and the determination he wanted to see in her, Avira was a natural warrior who had unfortunately been restricted by her sheltered upbringing. Right now she was not Avira, but V and she had spiders to kill.

"Don't underestimate it, it's stronger, faster, deadlier and far more experienced than you are. A single misstep is all it would take for you to became heavily injured." Frost placed a hand on Avira's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "So don't get hit, stay on your feet and learn, understand its movements and act accordingly.

Your goal is not necessarily to win but to show me that you can endure against a stronger enemy that wants nothing more than to kill you and if presented the chance willing to kill such an enemy." Avira had very little chance in victory, but she certainly had the strength to wound her opponent and grow throughout their battle.

Avira didn't flinch nor let her thoughts run wild as she felt Frost's breath on her ear, her entire focus was on the iceborne huntsman and his advice.

She nodded her head in reply showing that she understood, her blood quickening as she crushed her building fear under an onslaught of battle lust and the will to survive.

"There are no chains to hold you back here V, so show me who you are. Not the sheltered Princess of Northrend but the warrior that trained in all three schools of combat and reached her current strength at such a young age.

Crush you foe and ascend, V!" Frost injected a tendril of his high quality of mana into Avira to help manage her fears but instead she took that tendril and used it as fuel to embolden her fighting spirit.

The early stages of an aura thus started to form within Avira's body, emitting a slight pressure in the immediate vicinity. "[icy fog]" Wasting no time at all Avira cast the 2nd circle spell [icy fog] conjuring an ice fog around her and the surrounding spiders, heavily decreasing their visual capabilities.

A moment later Frost heard the unusual cadence of Avira's fighting style and then she was gone, vanished into the fog. The last thing he saw was a large grin plastered on her lips and fire in her eyes, a look that sent a shiver down his spine.

He then stared directly at the iceborne huntsman who had chosen to not make a single move after being so easily repelled by Frost.

Initially it left its nest due to Kiba's roar thinking that another C-rank monster was here to challenge it for its territory. But upon leaving the mountain it was rather shocked, seeing only four intruders. The tiger that roared, a possibly dangerous opponent, an old dwarf covered in armour that really had no business in such a battle.

A strange elf that felt neither weak nor strong and a human woman at the vanguard who trembled at the mere sight of its appearance. A strange group but intruders, nonetheless.

Seeing Avira revealing a moment of weakness the iceborne huntsman wasted no time at all in going after her but was blocked by the strange elf who somehow appeared with a speed far greater than its own. If it was just speed then it wouldn't be too worried but along with that speed the elf displayed enough physical strength to slap away its charging body with little effort.

These two moves along with its instincts and varied battle experience screamed one thing, the elf was dangerous, very dangerous.

Therefore the massive spider didn't dare take its eyes off of Frost, completely ignoring Avira and even Kiba who remained in the background next to the useless dwarf despite its aggressive challenge. The iceborne huntsman had a bad feeling about this whole situation, Frost was an unknown and that caused it to feel fear.

While it took stock of its current situation, its gaze locked onto Frost, Avira's fog encroached its surroundings but to one as strong as it a mere fog was nothing.

"[Flying swallow peck]" From within the ice fog Avira appeared with her rapier poised, the image of an agile swallow forming behind her weapon as she thrust out with a speed faster than sound. Her target was the spider's large abdomen which contained its many organs and was considered a difficult area for it to defend.

However her moves were easily seen through, the spider's spatial awareness and ability to sense vibrations through its fine hairs easily picked up on the sudden attacker. And though it was primarily focused on Frost it wasn't foolish enough to let Avira land a blow.

The massive spider took a sidestep to the right avoiding Avira's thrust before slashing at her with two of its rear legs. Avira was forced to quickly evade the sudden counterattack.

Boom!

"Tsk!" Avira barely avoided the spider's simple kick and clicked her tongue upon seeing the large hole in the ground that was left from the iceborne huntsman's counter. Frost wasn't kidding when he said that all it would take was a single misstep for her to become seriously injured.

'I need to be faster, quieter, and much stronger.' [Flying swallow peck] was not her strongest skill but it was certainly one of her fastest but even then with the added benefit of an ambush she failed to land her attack. She was going to have to think outside the box.

The iceborne huntsman didn't chase after Avira since in its eyes she was merely an annoyance the real threat was the strange elf in the distance as well as the winged glacial tiger.

Therefore because Frost and Kiba were exerting a strong pressure on the iceborne huntsman Avira was able to slowly acclimatize to its strength. Her moves became faster, quieter and far more deadly but it wasn't good enough in Frost's eyes, there was still more potential to be unearthed.

Just as Avira was getting the hang of evading the iceborne huntsman and occasionally landing a few hits on its legs, breaking off a hook or two she suddenly felt danger from behind. Trusting her instincts she evaded and a moment later a D-rank huntsman snapped its fang down on where she once stood.

"This is a battlefield not a duelling ring remember." Frost's voice could be heard in her ear despite the din of carnage that plagued the area. A rush of anger burst through Avira as she pictured Frost's annoying face but the next moment another spider launched itself towards her forcing her to move once again.

"Don't forget your main opponent either." His voice was once again heard and thankfully she listened.

"Eeeekkkk!" She let loose an instinctual scream as she was suddenly face to face with the iceborne huntsman's fangs but this time she didn't let herself become overwhelmed.

"[Wind shield], [afterimage]" She summoned a shield of wind between her and the iceborne huntsman's fangs and activated an evasive skill that was enhanced by her wind chakra. While the shield slowed down the spider's advance her evasive skill split her into two, a phantom copy remained where she once was while her real body dashed back into the ice fog and away from danger.

A moment later the iceborne huntsman's fangs snapped shut, utterly decimating Avira's wind shield and snapping her afterimage in twain like it was a toothpick.

The monster was truly angry now, Avira had taunted and escaped for the last time. To hell with the threat posed by Kiba and Frost it was time to devour this little fly.

"Scriii!" The iceborne huntsman screeched and fiercely tapped its legs, commanding the horde of lesser spiders.

"Hoh finally pissed off huh." Frost smiled and twirled his glaive. He now needed to be ready to give Avira assistance at any moment. The iceborne huntsman wasn't going to hold back anymore.

"Kiba stay by Borris' side it's probably smart enough to know that he's our weakest link." The only reason the iceborne huntsman didn't attack Borris first was because he was at the rear and far too weak to even matter but now just ending one of the intruders would send a message, it didn't matter which.

"Grrrr." Kiba growled in response before moving several steps closer to Borris. To be honest if they weren't here to test Avira, he would have loved to challenge the giant spider.

"V its going to come at you for real now, brace yourself."

"Eh?" She turned to look at Frost for a mere moment before a wild smile unconsciously formed across her lips.

'I'm smiling from that information.' She felt confused as her excitement started to build and her heart started to pound in her chest, screaming fight! Fight! Fight!

A side of her the side of V was truly coming out….and she loved it.

It was as though all the stuffiness, pressure, stress and pain she'd experienced in the capital was burning away. It was an exhilarating and pleasurable experience.

"Hahahahaha!" Before she knew it Avira was loudly laughing. She stared directly at the attacking iceborne huntsman and raised her rapier to welcome its attack.

"Let's do this!"