Hazels silent treatment didn’t last long as she couldn’t really stay mad at him. Her adopted father may have been a bit of an idiot but at least he meant well. In all honesty she wanted to keep this goofy idiot around as much as possible, it was far better than the alternative. She’d caught glimpses of the other him, a darkness and grim focus that scared her. A part of her soul had originated from his and she knew of the darkness deep inside him. It was as if there was two Michaels, the happy and well-meaning idiot and someone ... darker. Hazel would do anything to keep the happy idiot, the other one scared her.

So she could not stay angry at Michael, though she could show him the potential consequences of his actions. She had no idea that this ‘Silent Treatment’ would be this effective, she would have to thank Olivia for the suggestion.

Michael would have liked to wait and try another use of his skill but one look from Hazel and he decided to get some sleep instead.

They continued on with the dungeon trek the next morning, leaving 17 hours on the Safe Space timer. They still took the dungeon slowly, training up their skills, but Jelly was starting to get more and more impatient. The further they got the more it could feel the source of Frost, and its body was yearning for it. It would normally have lost control and charged forward to find it yet for some unknown reason Jelly was finding it easier to control itself as time went on.

Vitr Dreki rooms started to show up more and more, appearing every 4 or 5 rooms but it wasn’t until 5 days later that they found a brand-new room. They had already come across another puzzle room, containing a symbol matching puzzle where the symbols only became visible when hit by a frost spell, but the puzzle had been an easy solve thanks to their experience with the invisible maze. The new room, room 75, was somehow even more impressive than the rest.

The room was massive, a large arena roughly 200 meters in diameter with multi-tiered giant-sized seating stretching up a dozen layers above a wall over twenty feet in height. Other than the door they entered in there were three other entrances, massive gates that were currently closed. Much like the Drekis forest rooms this one also had a ceiling made of frosted glass, though this one was more of a dome around the massive amphitheater. Michael had once visited the colosseum and even that massive structure was dwarfed by this one. The stands were devoid of spectators, a fact which made Michael feel both relieved and disappointed. He was grateful that there weren’t hordes of Frost Giants baying for his death but at the same time it was a bit sad to see such an impressive structure go to waste.

The amphitheater was not entirely empty, however. In the stands at the furthest end of the amphitheater from the door was a large box, similar to the boxes in modern day theaters except a lot larger. In said box, flanked by a Vitr Dreki on both sides, was a Vitr unlike any he had seen before. The Jötunn were near naked idiots with immense strength, the Dreki were cold calculating hunters wrapped in leathers. This new Dreki was dressed in fine robes, a look of boredom and disdain on its face.

The Monster, which a quick identify said was named Vitr Fraujõ, waved its hand in a lazy manner. The door on the left of the arena crashed open with a thunderous bang and three Vitr Jötunn came charging out. Michael snapped off a double Wizard Arrow with a blinding effect, one of two effects unlocked when Wizard Arrow hit level 5. The arrow hit the two Jötunn on the left and Hazel tackled the one on the right, literally. Hazel gained the Flying Tackle skill during room 63 when a Jötunn managed to close in on Michael and in a moment of panic she may have overreacted a bit. Michael had already fired an arrow and defeated the Jötunn by the time Hazel came flying in and ended up seeing Hazels new skill in a very up-close manner, but at least they now had a fun new way of starting their fights.

The Jötunn that Hazel tackled ended up on its back, the consequences of failing to expect a fly bear, and Hazel took advantage of the flattened giant and activated her Stone Spears spell, the evolved version of her stone spikes skill. As her only attack skill she had been levelling it up very fast over the last few weeks and had finally evolved it a few days ago. The new skill had increased penetrative abilities and had the added benefit of being able to be angled. For giant enemies like the Vitr Monsters it wasn’t much of a benefit, but she could set it up in front of smaller charging enemies and have them impale themselves.

The spears pierced the giants head with ease but failed to kill it, the Jötunn having already activated its Mindless Rage. The Monster grabbed Hazel and threw her across the arena before trying to get up, only to find itself making its headwounds worse, the damage finally depleting the last of its Health and killing it. Hazel tumbled across the ground for a bit before she slammed her paws into the ground, her claws digging into the ground and activated her Steady Feet skill, her momentum stopping like car hitting a concrete bunker. The inertia shifted her organs, nearly making her vomit, but Springtime was already fixing the damage. The skill, an upgraded version of her Regrowth spell, was so ______ useful Michael had almost cried in envy. The spell had gone from an active spell to a passive skill, a rare transformation, and provided a continuous source of healing that not only tripled Hazels Health Regen at level one, but also healed minor injuries. The skill also came with the highest cost Michael had ever seen in a passive skill, -25 Mana Regen, but the sheer awesomeness of the skill could have easily warranted double the cost.

Michael and Jelly had almost finished with their Jötunn by the time Hazel rejoined them. The opening salvo of blinding spells had not done all that much. The Jötunn had started the fight already under the effects of Mindless Rage and they simply kept charging towards where they had seen the trio, the sudden loss of their sight not even phasing them. What did phase them was the two boulders to their faces, the Jötunn being unable to block or deflect what they couldn’t see. The two flipped over backwards, one landing on its face but the other flipping over so perfectly it ended up back on its feet and thoroughly confused. The action made Michael and Jelly pause for a second as their brains tried to process the crazy thing that just happened. The confusion didn’t last long but neither did the Jötunn, Jelly launching a powerful Ice spear at the Jötunns face while Michael charged up a Power Shot. The Jötunn landed on its back just as the first burst to its feet just in time to catch a massively powerful arrow in the chest, the combination of Power Shot, Power Draw and an explosion aspect Wizard Arrow making the impact cratering its chest and killing it almost instantly.

The first Jötunn was still on the floor. Repeated hits to the head having given it the concussion debuff, leaving it dazed on the floor despite the effects of the Mindless Rage. Jelly had placed Frozen Shackles on the Jötunn anyways, repeated fights with the tenacious giants teaching them to favor caution over pretty much everything. Michael finished the giant off with an explosion imbued arrow that he’d held at full draw for as long possible. As soon as he fired the arrow he drew another and fired it at the Vitr Fraujõ using Thunder Shot, the arrow blasting through the air as fast as a lightning bolt. Michael had been keeping an eye on the Dungeon Info during the fight and noticed that killing the Jötunns didn’t raise the clear percentage even a tiny bit. The Fraujõ was likely the only ‘real’ monster in the room, the rest simply adds the monster summoned. Since that was the case, he figured he might as well speed things up and take the fight directly to the pompous looking Vitr.

As it turned out, this was a mistake. The box the Vitr Fraujõ was seated in was protected, a barrier appearing as Michaels Thunder Shot struck it, the arrow ricocheting off it with a plink sound and imbedding in the nearby wall. The attempted assassination did have one effect though, it angered the Fraujõ greatly. The Monster sat up, clutching the arm rests of its throne, and roared at Michael. After it had thoroughly expressed its opinion on Michaels faux pas it leaped from the box seat and slammed into the arenas floor, the impact rumbling through the amphitheater. The two Dreki joined the Fraujõ as the two remaining doors slammed open and another three Dreki and Five Ulfs burst out into the arena and took formation around the Fraujõ like a unit of soldiers forming around their commander.

Michael drew an arrow to full draw and prepared to go out swinging. He briefly thought of throwing a Hail Mary and finally taking the Anything Potion to see if it would help but he dismissed it. Even with 28 Luck he couldn’t bank on the potion helping with the situation. He was bus making peace with any God who was willing to listen when Jelly walked in front of him, blocking his shot. Michael was about to tell it to get out of the way when Jelly suddenly burst into a white glow, her form looking like a supernova to his Magical senses. The Fraujõ seemed to also notice something, but it was already too late.

The air in front of Jelly shimmered before dozens of spells formed and shot out at the assembled Monsters. The veritable avalanche of ice and snow spells crashed into them, wiping out the Ulfs and most of the Dreki in seconds. The Vitr Fraujõ and two Vitr Dreki were the only ones that remained when the fog lifted, the Fraujõ surviving because of the sacrifices of several Dreki and the two Dreki surviving because they were on the outer edges of the formation and only got hit by a few spells.

Michael was once again surprised by the strength of Jellys ability. He had already been imagining what his funeral would be like before the Gelidreynard stepped up and he was overjoyed to find a much, much easier fight ahead of him. With both Thunder Shot and Power Sho both on cooldown it wouldn’t be a short fight though.

The entire time this had been happening Michael had been holding an arrow at full draw, Powerful Draw increasing the strength of the shot every second. Figuring that he would likely not have another opportunity to fire a shot of this strength again Michael Dupli-Cast a blinding Wizard Arrow with the hand currently holding the bow, the bright arrows racing out to explode right in front of the Monsters. Michael had been playing with Mana Manipulation pretty much since he had first gotten the skill and it had only recently become strong enough to affect his Tier 2 spells. By using the skill on his Wizard Arrow whilst it was in flight, he could force the Mana to break the form of the spell and cause it to explode.

The blinding explosions dazzled the three monsters, blinding them to Michaels follow up attack. The arrow slammed into the Vitr Dreki on the Fraujõs left and exploded, the combined force picking it up and tossing it backwards to smash into the arenas wall. Hazel tackled the remaining Dreki ripped out its throat as spikes pierced it from below. Jelly was currently incapacitated, his spells sealed for the next hour. Michael could keep Jelly safe from the Fraujõ that wielded a sword, but he had little confidence in stopping the bow wielding Dreki. With the Dreki taken out the two focused on the Fraujõ just in time to see Mana swirl around it as it cast a spell. Michael fired off a quick arrow, hoping to disrupt the spell, but the arrow was destroyed as it reached the swirling Mana.

With a final word shouted in an alien tongue the Fraujõ slammed its hands into the ground and two swirling portals blinked into existence next to the Fraujõ. From the portals came a type of giant that the Trio had never seen before, dressed in fine metal armor and carrying swords and shields these giants looked far more dangerous than before. The portals winked out after summoning four giants but that was still five more than Michael wanted in this fight.

Things looked bleak but Michael refused to give in, or at least he refused to give in again. The first time was a joke anyways, so he definitely never actually gave in. Feeling confident and self-deluded, Michael Dupli-cast a spell and dozens of vines burst from the ground and entangled the new arrivals. During the Dungeon crawl Michael had been working hard on his Vine Trap spell, tring to get it to the point where it could take on the giants and his hard work … well, it hadn’t really paid off. The giants, being giants, still had a nasty tendency to tear through the vines pretty easily, even after it evolved and became the Vine Field spell. That being said, the evolution increased the amount of time it took the giants to escape to a whole three seconds, much better than the one second it used to take. The massive increase in spell size, it now covering a five meter diameter, was simply a bonus.

With seconds on the clock Michael quickly changed his ring of the elements to wind an imbued the max strength Wind Blade spell into both his arrow and his bow, taking advantage of Spell Arsenals permanent effect, to increase the speed and penetrative power of his arrow as much as possible. As he pulled the arrow into full draw he slipped into bullet time, his Perception straining and his brain burning to increase his accuracy and precision as much as possible. As he aimed he drew in a breath and held it, feeling in that moment as if the world stood still. When the time was right, he released. The arrow pierced through the air, strangely silent as if it no longer cut through the air but was carried by it.

Despite the speed of the arrow nearing Mach 3 the Fraujõ still managed to react. The arrow had been aimed at the Fraujõs throat, Michael wanting to silence the Monster to prevent it from summoning any more reinforcements while also applying a near fatal bleeding effect. The Fraujõ, despite being covered in vines from both of the Dupli-Casted spells, managed to lean over just enough to doge the arrow.

What it failed to dodge however, were the invisible blades of air either side of the arrow. When the imbued Wind Blade in the arrow and the permanent imbued Wind Blade in the bow combined, they introduced a qualitive upgrade to the original effect Not only was the speed and penetrative effect of the arrow increased but the arrow also produced wind blades. One of those blades ended up slashing the Fraujõs throat, the blade not enough to cut its head clean off but more than enough to cut into the Fraujõs Carotid artery as well as its windpipe, the combination being fatal for even a Tier 3 being without the use of healing spells.

The cut wasn’t instantly fatal, however. As Michael had guessed, the adds would be dismissed the instant the Vitr Fraujõ died but that was still a full minute away, the monsters aggressive Vitality prolonging its life, and its agony, to greater lengths than anyone was comfortable with. The Fraujõ was undoubtedly out of commission but as long as it clung to live the four armed and armored giants were very much a threat to everyone in close proximity. Which is why Michael turned tail and hauled ass outta there. Specifically, he grabbed Jelly and ran to the other side of the arena, away from the chasing giants. What followed was a minute (roughly) of the most dangerous game of tag football Michael had ever played.

Michael kept firing off spells the entire time but one of the Monsters, which Michael identified as Vitr Hird, somehow always managed to intercept the spell. Michael and Hazel were both being chased by two Hirds each, the armored monsters being exceptionally hard to stop or even slow own. Between Michaels Vine Field and Hazels Stone Spears they kept ahead of them with only a few close calls. Jelly was feeling particularly annoyed, being carried on Michaels shoulder like a lump of potatoes. It knew it wasn’t the fastest, its agility remarkably low for a Tier 3, but it was still capable of keeping ahead of the Hirds. Unfortunately, Michael wasn’t listening, the human doggedly determined to save Jelly even if Jelly didn’t need saving.

The Fraujõ eventually succumbed to its wound, the extreme bleed effect taking a hundred points of health a second, and the Vitr Hird's collapsed and disintegrated at the same time. As soon as the fight/chase was over Jelly immediately scrambled off Michaels shoulder, kicking him in the face several times as he did so. The trio decided to take a break until Jelly recovered the use of his spells. As he was resting Michael looked at the notification he got for the Vitr Fraujõs death.

Tier 3 Level 10 Vitr Fraujõ Killed!

Participation: 63%

Modifiers for Perks: 100%

Ranger Experience Gained: 9450

Bonus: Lords Pantaloons

Treasure Hunter Experience Gained: 2000

Michael was a bit surprised at the amount of experience gained. He’d worked out by now that the amount of experience gained was equal to the level times 50, or 500 in the case of Tier jumping, but the Vitr Fraujõ apparently gave 75 per level. Michael idly wondered if that meant that the Fraujõ was something like a mini-boss or something similar as he pulled out the pantaloons and identified them.

Lords Pantaloons

Tier 3, Rare Quality, 500/500 Durability

Passive Effect: Increase Agility by 10 and Vitality by 5

Passive Effect: Increase Leadership Type Skills by 2

Michael was gob smacked, he hadn’t known that equipment that increased skill levels even existed. Sure, the floofy things were useless to him but he was sure there were plenty of people willing to pay through the nose fore equipment like this. It was just a shame it was so... Floofy. The Pantaloons were bright red trousers that were tight around the legs but big and puffy around the hips. Worst of all, they were tremendously fluffy. Stuffing the terrible trousers back into his inventory Michael returned to waiting and, after the hour was up and Jelly regained the use of his spells, the trio continued with the Dungeon.