The Ice Hawk Battle

"Hm......what should we do to take that bird out?" Aki pondered, chewing on a hard piece of jerky, resting in the bottom right passage.  "Ao's is powerful, but his water attribute is just a bad match-up with an ice attribute monster. Meanwhile, my stats are not any better", he proceeded to open up his status windows. 

Name: Aki
Age: 22 years old
Race: Male Human (Japanese)
Level: 37
Title: Hermit, Entry Craftsman,  Blessing of Forest Guardian 
Unique Skill: Superior Mental Defense, Berserker Soul
Skills: Appraisal, Item Box, Map, Universal Translator, Oracle, Pre Workout Routine, Javelin Throw, Critical Shot, Meditation, Critical Strike,  War Cry, Martial Art, Flash Step, Orb of Light, Earth Wall

"Berserker Soul, a unique skill that I obtained during the Stampede Incident,  grants me immense strength and regenerative abilities, but the only problem is that it consumes five levels for every minute it's activated." Aki stated, "Activation requires me to be in a life-or-death situation, and once activated, it will only remain active until my level reaches one. Luckily for me, I can extend my activation time by killing monsters to regain levels, but the downside is that the cool-down is one week."

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble again, with more Hellhounds appearing.

"Roughly every thirty minutes, huh?" Aki notated, looking at his oversized, expensive pocket watch. "Hmm......" he softly muttered, as his eyes slowly closed.

"HEY, ARE YOU AWAKE?" a female voice yelled, with Aki opening his eyes to see a large park area with a large swing in front. "Here, drink this," she said as she handed over a can of cold black coffee. 

"Thank you, Hikari," Aki thanked, taking the cold can, cracking it open, and starting to chug it down. "What were we talking about again?" 

"I knew it!! You weren't paying attention to what I was talking about again!" Hikari yelled, taking a seat next to Aki on the park bench. " I was explaining a nature documentary I watched last night where a wasp had invaded a bee colony. The entire bee colony came together and started to attack the intruder wasp, killing it with the sacrifice of a dozen others. It was scary to watch how, with enough numbers, you can overwhelm a strong enemy," she commented, staring into the far distance where a group of little kids were running around. One of the little boys tripped, falling down, and started to cry. "Oh no!" she said, standing up and starting to run towards them. 

"Strength in numbers, huh?" Aki muttered, waking up from the ground shaking violently again, "Five hours had passed, huh?" he stared down at the clock, with his eyes closing shut again. 


"Good Morning, you two!" Aki stretched, waking up, and greeted Shrimpy & Ao, "I know what our game plan is now," he announced. 

Aki proceeded to seal all six tunnels up with an earth wall, with Ao's water barrier blocking the main entrances to see what the Hellhounds would do if they were trapped inside. 

As the Labyrinth Dungeon began to shake violently, the Hellhounds respawned, and like before, the group split into groups of ten, walking towards a blocked tunnel before returning to the center. When a single bark was heard, they tried to pass through the water barrier created by Ao, but after multiple attempts, they gave up and returned to the center, waiting for something. 

When the next wave of Hellhounds spawned, they followed the same pattern: attempt to inspect the tunnels, return to the center, a single bark, followed by multiple attacks to break down the water barrier with previous Hellhounds before giving up and returning to the center. 

"Prince Albert explained that the Labyrinth Dungeon was considered a type of living entity, and monsters born inside acted like its limbs. This means the Hellhounds are following a simple command to inspect the tunnels and then proceed to the other parts of the dungeons." Aki determined, "If we block the main entrance tunnel, there is no other command instructing them to continue attacking till the barrier breaks," he smirked, realizing how he could essentially farm the Hellhounds like in a video game. 


For Aki, he was on a timeline due to the limited amount of food he had brought with him during the mining request. He had enough food for three weeks if rationed out to two meals a day, and with Ao's skills, he didn't need to worry about water. The Hellhounds, unfortunately, did not drop any meat, only mana stones, fur pelts, fangs, claws, and the occasional fire stones, which can be used to make magic tools or enhance weapons with fire attributes. Aki attempted to consume the fur pelts by removing the fur, but the taste was inedible, with the aftertaste destroying his sense of taste for three days. Aki also attempted to repair as many of the weapons that were left behind using his craftsman title, only able to fully repair a handful of spears and three swords. 

After prepping for two weeks, Aki was ready to fight the Ice Hawk, reaching the level of one hundred twenty-six. 

"Let's go down the list now....all the traps from here to Ice Hawk are disabled with acid, check. Mediation & Pre-Routine Workout activated, check," Aki verified by opening and closing his hand, feeling the enhancement buff from his skills. "Lastly, six hundred Hellhounds cramped into a small room, check," he stared directly at the Hellhounds, piling on top of each other, waiting.

To prevent the Hellhounds from engaging him during the fight, Aki decided to take off his coat and wear a fur coat made of Hellhound pelts. 

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Aki yelled, feeling the dungeon tremble again, and proceeded towards the ice area, where the Ice Hawk remained perched above, confused and starving. 

During the last two weeks, Aki made sure not to allow a single Hellhound out of the room in hopes of weakening the Ice Hawk with starvation. 

"Sorry to ruin a good thing you had, but I want to go back home now," Aki muttered, checking his pocket watch, confirming a minute had passed. " Ao, dispelled the Water Barrier!" he instructed, with the barrier dropping flat onto the ground like water droplets, followed by a single bark echoed loudly through the passageway. He proceeded to carefully slip out of the dungeon, slide across the icy floor, and hide behind the ice column. 

The Hellhounds began sprinting out of the Boss room and headed straight towards the Ice Hawk territory in large numbers. The Ice Hawk began descending upon hearing the sounds of the Hellhound's footsteps as they made their way, landing on the icy floor, starving and ready to finally feast.  The sheer number of Hellhounds caught the Ice Hawk off guard as they started to flood in, changing the blue frozen landscape into a sea of black and purple fur. The Ice Hawk realized fighting this many enemies at once would put it at a disadvantage and began to retreat home. 

"Not so fast!" Aki yelled, with Ao casting a large Water Barrier around the hole, blocking its escape route as it froze immediately. "Leaving so soon? After all the trouble I went through in making you some friends," he smirked, with Ice Hawk staring back down, angrily. 

The Ice Hawk started to dive towards Aki & Ao, but the HellHounds had other plans for it, as they released a bombardment of purple fireballs, striking the Ice Hawk directly. The Ice Hawk, unable to withstand the intensity of the flames, came crashing down onto the ground. The Hellhounds began to pounce onto the Ice Hawk as it lay on the ground, but it was immediately sent flying backward into the air, colliding with the walls and ceiling as it recovered, shrieking intensely with anger. 

The fight between the Ice Hawk & the army of Hellhounds continued for over twenty minutes, with Ice Hawk flapping its blood-soaked wings in the air slowly. The remaining hundred Hellhounds began to fire another barrage of fireballs, striking the exhausted Ice Hawk as it flew downward into the frozen ground, with the Hellhounds dashing forward to continue their attacks.

"Hmmmm.......I don't think this is going to end anytime soon," Aki stated, holding his breath, "In my knowledge of video games, mid-tier bosses should still have a final phase before dying." He equipped a repaired long sword. 

*SCREEEEEEEEHHHHHH* The Ice Hawk quickly reascended, expanding its large, damaged wings open, and began to draw in the cold air into its body. As the cold air wrapped around the Ice Hawk, its body began to shrink, and the weapons that were stuck frozen in its wings began falling to the ground. The Ice Hawk began to dive down, and in a split second, all the remaining Hellhounds were immediately frozen as it flew by swiftly, shattered by a shockwave of air that followed shortly after. 

"FUCK!" Aki yelled at the Ice Hawk as it stared down above, "COME FIGHT ME DOWN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" he yelled, pointing his sword towards it. 

The Ice Hawk began to swiftly flap its wings, sending a torrent of sharp icicles raining down towards Aki as it pierced through his body. The Ice Hawk stared down, carefully watching for any counterattack from the strange human, but only saw a lifeless body on the ground. The Ice Hawk began to slowly descend towards Aki's body, landing on the ground, and began to open its mouth to swallow the human whole. 

"If you are hungry, why not eat this?" Aki yelled, with Ao jumping up and releasing a barrage of Poison Shots into its mouth after fully healing Aki with Elder Heal. 

The Ice Hawk began to screech and attempt to take off again. 

"I didn't say you can leave, did I?!?!" Aki yelled, grabbing hold of its talons, and proceeded to pull it down to the ground. "If it wasn't for my skills stacking on top of each other, I don't think I could have tossed you down like that," he commented, with his body slowly freezing after physically touching the Ice Hawk.

*Berserker Soul* Activated, with a red aura enveloping his frozen body, defrosting and healing him.

"Twenty-five minutes, that's all the time I have for you!" Aki declared, taking out another sword from his item box, "Either I fall or you fall!" he yelled, running towards the Ice Hawk as it lay on the ground, feeling the poison paralyzing his exhausted body. 

Aki proceeded to attack, focusing on the Ice Hawk's wings, as he would be at a disadvantage if it came down to an aerial battle. He started slashing downward towards the inner muscles, but the blade was stopped by an invisible barrier.

"What the hell is this?" Aki questioned, "Why can't I force the blade downward!" he yelled, using all his strength as the blade vibrated in place. 

Suddenly, the Ice Hawk began to move its body, flapping its wings in place like fish on dry land as the poison began to wear off,  sending Aki into the ice-covered wall. 

"FUCK!!!! WE ARE SO FUCKING CLOSE!!!" Aki yelled, attempting to stand back up, "AO, STALL IT FOR TWO MINUTES WHILE I THINK!" he ordered, with Ao starting a fury of attacks.