The throne room of the Vitr Einvaldskonungr was, despite the lavishness outside, surprisingly plain. Lacking the ornate furnishings that decorated the other rooms the walls seemed plain and empty. Not even the size of the room could be described as lavish, excluding the height. The room had 7 meter high ceilings but was at best 30 meters wide and a hundred long.

Seated in a raised throne near the end of the throne room was the biggest frost giant thy had yet to encounter. Even seated the Giant reached three meters in height. The giant was clothed in beautiful finely woven robes in varying shades of blue and framed the giants body perfectly. The stark contrast between the plain room and the opulent ensemble further highlighted the exquisiteness of the giants attire.

The giant itself looked like a frosty Adonis, a lithe muscular form that struck a perfect balance between burly bruiser and graceful dancer. The crown adorning its head was carved from a single block of ice and adorned with several Aquamarines. As the trio walked into the room the giant focused its gaze on them, its eyes capturing their every move. The Einvaldskonungrs expression betrayed nothing, as blank as the walls in the room.

“Usurpers, Murderers and Defilers.” The Einvaldskonungr spoke, its voice deep yet devoid of emotion despite the harsh words. “You come here, murder my followers and defile my palace with your presence. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

Michael was shocked, to say the least, he hadn’t expected the boss to be capable of communicating. He wasn’t really bothered by the accusation, though a bit of guilt rose up nonetheless. Everything the giant said was true, and his actions might have been seen as heinous, if they weren’t in a Dungeon. All the monsters he had killed would be respawned after he left. As for defiling the palace, it wasn’t his fault that there were no toilets in this bloody palace.

“Oh, shut up you overgrown icicle. This place was fun at the start but I’m really starting to get sick of all the ice. I mean seriously, man! Have you no heard of rugs? I know you blue-balled snow shovelers love your ice but this is redi-”

Michael didn’t get to finish his speech about the terrible design flaws of the ice palace as the Einvaldskonungrs passive façade became blue with anger. With a snarl the giant leapt up and ripped off its robes, revealing the full plate armor underneath. As soon as he saw the armor Michael felt a momentary sense of relief, he had worried the giant was going to fight naked.

The Einvaldskonungr summoned a two-handed sword from somewhere and leaped at the trio. This turned out to be a mistake; in mid-air it had no way of dodging Michaels Thunder Shot. The giant still managed to shield itself with the sword thanks to some lightning-fast movements but the sheer force of the shot. The sheer size of the boss meant it only flew back a few meters, landing directly on its throne, except this time it as upside down.

The sight of the Einvaldskonungrs face being where its ass was made Michael chuckle as he nocked another arrow. He quickly placed an Executioners Mark on the boss before setting up a Power Shot. Jelly on the other hand lay down an Ice Patch on the floor, the spell covering the icy floor in even more ice, though this time the ice was slippery.

Before tackling the Boss they had gotten several strategies sorted out. The first strategy, the one they employed now, was what Michael liked to call the cannoneers embankment. While Michael and Jelly worked on piling as much damage onto the boss Hazel, with some assistance from Jelly, would focus on keeping the boss off balance and providing openings for Michael's bombardments.

Hazel lay down a patch of Ice Spears centered on the throne but he spears failed to penetrate the Einvaldskonungrs armor. Instead, the force of the spears actually helped the giant to reorientate and get back on its feet. Jelly was ready with an ice spear, the spell shredding through the air to smack into the boss's blade, the giants quick bladework making for an excellent defence.

The spell still managed to send it stumbling backwards, the Einvaldskonungr tripping over the ice spears it had previously ignored. When Jelly successfully consumed the Source of Frost the icy energy within the source had propelled its already high affinity up through the nineties and breaking through the 100 barrier to 103. This was in no small part why Hel had taken such a deep interest in Jelly. Breaking past the affinity barrier required talent, resources and healthy dose of luck.

Jellys high affinity made his spells hit like mortar shells, the speed an damage of the spells more than double their originals. Not only that, but thanks to his 103 affinity, each of his ice spells now produced 3% true ice damage, undiminished by the boss’s defenses. With every hit the boss slowed as frost crept across its skin.

As the Einvaldskonungr leapt onto its feet Jelly hammered it with a barrage of ice shards, the individual shards doing little damage but the overall effect feeling like a barrage of punches that would make Mike Tyson proud. The boss kept up its impressive defense but a few slipped through nevertheless, the magic impacting its armor like sledgehammers.

Before the last shard of ice hit the Einvaldskonungr was suddenly engulfed in an explosion of icy fog. The fog didn’t do a lick of damage, even with Jellys ridiculous affinity, but it did have the effect of blinding the boss. Recognizing the danger, the Einvaldskonungr dodged to the side, making sure it was far from its previous position. The movement made little difference though, as Michael had already placed his Executioners Mark on it. The arrow announced itself with a crack as it passed the speed of sound in the rearview mirror, slamming into the giant's head with the force of a freight train on steroids.

The Einvaldskonungrs crown was not simply a piece of ostentatious jewelry, however. As the arrow slammed into the giants head a shimmering barrier appeared just in time to catch the arrow. The arrow shattered the barrier but lost most of its power, the resulting wound being more of a scratch than the gaping crater Michael was going for.

The lack of an insta-kill was frustrating but not wholly unexpected. The shot was one of opportunity rather than the culmination of their strategies. Michael fired another shot at the giants head but the barrier reappeared, apparently shattering it once was not enough. Michael wasn’t sure if the crown fed off the Einvaldskonungrs Mana or if it had its own supply but either way it would probably be easier to chop the giants head off than turn its head into Swiss cheese.

While Michael was happy to keep going fighting as they were the Einvaldskonungr was not. With a roar it activated one of its abilities, Kings Presence, a ripple of energy expanding through the air and erasing the spells in the air.

Michael looked at the giant charging them down and shouted “Kite!” One of the strategies they had come up with was for the three of them to split up and begin kiting the boss between them, piling on damage while staying relatively safe. The strategy was originally meant to be in case the boss had an insane attack but with Hazel's barriers down, and refusing to come back up, Michael thought it was best. The two-handed sword the Einvaldskonungr was wielding was basically a door with sharp edges and he shuddered at the thought of Hazel eating a hit from it.

When the three split up the boss ended up going after Jelly, a stroke of luck as it gave Michael time to set up a shot. The boss’s ability may have knocked out all his spells, but his skills were just fine. Holding an arrow at full draw he imbued a Vine Field spell using Spell Arsenal, the skill thankfully exempt from the spell embargo. He held the arrow for a couple of seconds before releasing it. He would have preferred to hold the arrow for longer and gain the full use of Power Draw, but the Boss had gotten a little too close to Jelly, the distance closing rapidly thanks to Jellys low Agility.

The Einvaldskonungr once again managed to shield itself with its sword, but the outcome was massively different than before. From the point of contact a veritable explosion of vines burst out, not only wrapping up the boss but also bursting out and digging into the floor and the ceiling, the result looking like a leafy spiders web.

The trio regrouped some distance away, ready for the boss to burst out of the vines and resume the battle. Despite the Einvaldskonungrs massive strength the vines still managed to keep it tied up for 13 seconds before it finally broke free, only to get greeted by an arrow to the chest. The Einvaldskonungr was picked up and flung back with impressive speed, the arrow having been imbued with Boulder Throw, to smash into a several ice spears that emerged from the wall.

The spears snapped almost instantly, unable to penetrate the Giants armor, but they still did a lot of damage. To add insult to injury, or bigger injury to injury in this case, Jelly unleashed a storm of ice spells on the boss, the spells landing as it slammed onto the spears. The spells hammered into the boss hail onto a tin roof and kept it pinned to the wall through sheer force for several seconds.

As Michael was charging up his next shot he quickly inspected the boss, checking to see how they were doing.

Einvaldskonungr

Tier 3, Level 10, Boss

8953 / 12000 Health, 600 Health Regen

809 / 1000 Mana, 50 Mana Regen

Abilities: Kings Presence, Royal Entourage, Noble Dignity

“Dammit, keep an eye out for adds, the boss has got an ability called Royal Entourage, it's probably a summon skill. If they appear switch to Keep Away.” Michael said as he unleashed an arrow, the projectile striking the boss as it landed on the floor, Jellys spell barrage finally letting up.

The boss, taking yet another bit of damage, finally had enough. With an angry roar it threw the two-handed sword at the trio. The sword spun as it blazed through the air, the blade whistling with deadly intent. The trio dove out of the path of the sword, the massive hunk of metal smashing into the wall behind them with a thundering crash, as if the giant had thrown not the sword but the anvil it was forged on.

Turning the dive into a roll Michael came up to find the Einvaldskonungr now armed with a one-handed sword, the blade still bigger than Michael despite being one-handed, and a tower shield so big it could be used as a sled for a large family and their dog.

The fight continued. With the shield and sword the Einvaldskonungr became much harder to damage but the giant also failed to hurt them. Hazels barriers kept her completely safe and her tanking gave Michael and Jelly opportunities to damage the boss. The only moments of danger came when the Einvaldskonungr activated its Kings Presence ability and Hazel lost both her shields and her healing. After the first couple of activations Michael figured out that the skill activated in thirty second intervals. After the realization the fight became a lot safer, though not any easier.

The trio managed to take the first quarter of the Boss’s Health within seconds, but the next quarter took over ten minutes, the Einvaldskonungrs impressive shield work and positioning being exceptional. Eventually they managed it, though Michael almost wished they hadn’t when he saw what came next.

The Vitr Einvaldskonungr flung his shield like a car sized frisbee and pulled out another sword from the same thin air as before. That wasn’t all though as, with a shout, it activated its Royal Entourage ability and summoned six guards from glowing portals. The guards looked similar to those summoned by the Vitr Fraujō but with better gear.

Facing seven enemies armed to the teeth and mean as a recently neutered rottweiler the trio enacted their Turtle strategy, retreating to a wall and raising two walls to make a triangle with a small gap between them, forcing the giants to face them one at a time.

Hazel really shone in this strategy, tanking the enemies continuously as a double snowstorm whirled just outside their impromptu bunker, both Hazel and Jelly casting Swirling Snowstorm simultaneously to provide a field of icy death. By the time the walls crumbled and revealed the frosty Fros Giants two of the guards were dead and the rest were getting there.

Thanks to the cumulative slowing effects the giants were essentially immobile, letting the trio escape with relative ease. By the time the Einvaldskonungr used its next Kings Presence and rid itself of the debilitating slowing effects the rest of its guards were down and it was back to the regularly scheduled fight.

The dual sword phase lasted until the Boss’s Health reached 25%, the Einvaldskonungrs attack speed being enhanced but not doing much. Sadly, with Hazels exceptional tanking and Michaels ridiculous Mana Regen the Boss never managed o do any permanent damage. The attacks still hurt, Hazel getting a few points of pain resistance from this fight alone, but any damage that slipped through was immediately healed.

Once the Giant reached 25% Health it again switched weapons, this time for a buckler and spear combo. Despite being smaller than the tower shield the buckler still gave the Einvaldskonungr excellent defense and the spear gave it a longer reach, which actually meant very little in the grand scheme of things. The spears piercing damage meant that it broke through Hazels barriers more often but otherwise the battle continued on as before.

Michael was still wary, however. So far they had seen the Kings Presence and Royal Entourage abilities but neither hide nor hair of Noble Dignity. The ability may have been passive but Michael doubted it, his luck may have reached 40 but it still wasn’t that good.

His answer came when the Einvaldskonungrs Health hit 10%. There was no shout, nor any sort of explosive action. The trio simply stopped attacking. For in their midst, a god descended. The Einvaldskonungr, which had previously seemed like a bloodthirsty Monster, now seemed like a divine presence. Michael, Hazel and Jelly found themselves unable to attack. Their spells refused to activate, their muscles refused to attack.

The ability wasn’t like Kings Presence, which disrupted the Mana and made them unable to cast, their spells still worked and their muscles still moved, they were simply unable to attack the Einvaldskonungr. The Einvaldskonungr however, was very much free to attack them.

The delights did not end there however, as the Boss also activated its summoning skill, another six guards joining the party. The trio employed the same bunker strategy as before, laying down a double dose of Swirling Snowstorm, and discovered something wonderful. Despite the Einvaldskonungr standing within the spells radius they could still cast the spells and the boss still took damage. It would seem the Noble Dignity merely prevented them from directly damaging the Einvaldskonungr.

The rest of the battle was simple. With no more surprises the guards were defeated one by one with the Einvaldskonungr following soon after, the final attack being a wind blade infused arrow that neatly chopped off the Einvaldskonungrs head.

Tier 3 Level 10 Vitr Einvaldskonungr Killed!

Participation: 39%

Modifier for Perks/Achievements: 110%

Ranger Experience Gained: 4095

Bonus: Chilling Poison Recipe

Treasure Hunter Experience Gained: 3150