Findlay stood in a somewhat relaxed position as the giant frost ape's massive stone club hurtled towards him, covered in a dense grey energy.
He smirked before raising up his battle axe with a single hand.
Boooom!
A loud boom erupted at the point of contact, air and snow was blown outward from the force, but Findlay was still in the exact same spot. The snow underneath had compacted but there wasn't even a single millimetre of drag marks.
The mighty stone club of the giant frost ape was stationary, completely absolved of its momentum after striking against Findlay's battle axe. It was clear that even without using a skill or even both hands Findlay was physically superior and not by a small margin either.
The gap between C and B-rank was a vast chasm that couldn't be bridged by a simple giant frost ape.
With its eyes blood red in colour and the frenzied state taking full control due to its overwhelming instinctual fear the giant frost ape roared out before grabbing its club with both hands and pushing downwards, refusing to lose against the much smaller Findlay in terms of physical power.
Grinding sounds could be heard from the stone club as it pushed against Findlay's battle axe and successfully pushed it downward slightly. Findlay's feet even began to sink into the floor from the pressure.
"Hmmmm not bad." Findlay spoke with a tinge of surprise before his eyes showed a wild glint and his smile started to widen.
He tensed the muscles in his right arm (the one holding the battle axe) and pushed against the giant frost ape's club, willing to engage in a contest of pure strength.
As the moments passed the giant frost ape became red in the face and its arms and back muscles were expanded to their upmost, revealing thick bulbous veins. It was putting its all into pushing down its stone club but even, so it was making very little headway.
Findlay continued to limit himself to using only his right arm and although his expression was clearly a little strained he was in a far better state than the giant frost ape, he obviously had more to give.
Infuriated by its inability to best Findlay in brute force the beast roared out before swiftly recalling its stone club to above its head. Then once again it covered it a grey energy enhancing the weapon's weight and sturdiness.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
It then proceeded to slam down against Findlay's battle axe repeatedly like a jack hammer. Findlay's smile however continued to widen even as his body compacted the snow beneath his feet to the point that it rivalled stone.
"Haaaaaaa" He let out a sigh as boredom set in before when the stone club was about to strike down once again he swung upwards with immense fury.
Even the ronsos and ice revenants on his side couldn't help but subconsciously distance themselves from their commander.
Findlay lightly chuckled before placing his battle axe over his shoulders and walking towards his original position near Frost and Khuno.
"That was fun." He commented with a much less frightening smile causing Frost and Khuno's lips to twitch.
The battle thus proceeded as expected. With Findlay's passive and active buffs the ronsos, ice revenants and even the yuki-onnas managed to make short work of the D-rank monsters before taking on the remaining C-ranks who were quite frankly constantly wary of Findlay after his dramatic killing fiasco.
He kept his gazes on them, occasionally utilising his aura to pressure them at certain moments but other than that it was the ronsos and ice revenants that took them down, working in teams to safely do so.
Casualty wise there was still 4 deaths, one ice revenant, one ronso and two frost revenant knights, far less than the previous wave but the main difference was the amount of heavy injuries. Only one monster had significantly heavy injuries preventing him from moving to the medical centre on his own merit.
The rest had minor wounds that could be easily managed by spells, potions and the natural healing environment of the dungeon.
Frost and Kiba didn't even take part in this battle and the results were already so positive. Findlay's evolution had made a massive impact.
Khuno however who wasn't necessarily needed in the fight couldn't stop himself from entering half way through, desperate to reach his max level which was unfortunately still quite a ways off.
Findlay had been alive for a fair bit longer after all plus given that Khuno was even stronger, an upper C-rank monster the amount of experience he gained from killing the invading monsters was less thus his journey was still a long one.
With Findlay's newfound strength being made obvious by the results of that wave as well as his battle with the giant frost ape, a very positive mood lingered around the dungeon as everyone felt they could relax a little.
Findlay's strength allowed them to no longer feel as though they were constantly on the knife's edge during battle plus the gaps between the waves granted them time to heal completely and decompress, allowing them to always be at full strength.
4 days passed in a blink of an eye.
The waves grew more and more sparse and currently the dungeon hadn't suffered a wave in over 18 hours.
Findlay, Frost and Khuno were all gathered in a large bunker in the winter highlands that was prepared for their strategic meetings. The room was silent and each of them sported quite serious expressions on their faces.
A layout drawing was placed on an ice table between them and was the cause of their expressions.
"Well what do you think?"