Conquering His Cold Heart

As he walked Frost caught sight of the many dispirited and stressed looks on the faces of the soldiers and adventurers. Unlike him they had been up most of the night never knowing when they\'d be called to battle, to sacrifice themselves.

The chefs, smiths and officers did their best but even, so morale was low and to be honest expected. Few would actually face their death with pride and confidence.

Frost shook his head choosing to not get swept up in the dour mood spanning the town, he would fight and enjoy the looming battle as best he could, but the atmosphere certainly did make it hard for him to go around with a wild expecting grin.

He sighed and upped his pace towards the food court. The chefs were still going hard at it, preparing glorious meals that infused the air with their delectable scents. Burusaa and Talas were currently working the highest quality stall while Vaccos was seated at the table devouring meal after meal with ravenous gusto.

Nearly all the frontline Majors and high ranked adventurers could be seen by his side doing the exact same thing. Loading their bodies with carbs, filling up their tanks purely for energy reasons rather than taste fulfilment but given who was cooking that was never a problem.

Vaccos looked at Frost after hearing movement, he smiled and patted the table, asking him to join him. Frost smiled and joined Vaccos at the table.

"Talas another round of meals for Frost here." Vaccos hollered to his vice-chef.

"Coming right up boss." Talas loudly replied before fetching another load of high quality ingredients.

"Since you\'re a close combat fighter like us you\'d best fill up your energy levels while you still can. The next attack will be like nothing you\'ve ever seen, running out of gas mid fight would be a regretful way to die. Food is life, remember that." Vaccos spouted some words of wisdom in a serious tone before chuckling and diving back into his food.

The majority of those eating right now were as Vaccos put it close combat fighters who relied heavily on their physical stamina to fight. Ryuu, Jessie and the mage corps were noticeably absent as the mage caste relied on a different source of power therefore an abundance of food wasn\'t quite as impactful to their battle styles instead meditation and good rest were key.

A few minutes later Talas brought over several overfilled meat dishes for Frost that teemed with energy.

"You\'ve improved Talas, just a little more and you\'ll be able to call yourself a true spirit chef like Burusaa and me hahahahaha." Vaccos pulled himself from his gorging to praise his vice chef\'s improvements. The mana contained in the dishes were almost at an acceptable level for a spirit chef.

"Thank you head chef." Talas smiled and blushed a little before quickly heading back to the kitchen.

"Giant Frost ape rump steak, Fried rindar thigh, stegadon meat balls and finally a frost lily and winter thistle soup, a pretty good set." Vaccos smiled from ear to ear as he named the dishes, his eyes twinkling with joy.

"The first three should fill your stamina levels to the point that they\'re overflowing as well as grant you a decent strength boost while the soup will help with your chakra flow and mana control, a set meal catered specifically for your battle style.

Frost listened with interest, his eyes drifting over to Talas who had returned to the kitchen.

\'A spirit chef huh.\' Multiple thoughts flowed through his mind at that point, but the rumbling of his stomach brought him back to reality. He shook his head before digging into his set meal, such things could be dealt with after the stampede was over.

Around 30 minutes later when Frost was just about finished his meals Ryuu, Jessie and mage corps arrived in masse and ordered their own specialised mana boosting dishes.

"Any news?" Vaccos asked with a serious tone, his table littered with clear bowls and plates, just where on Nova was he storing all that food.

"Still silent on the wall but the pressure emitting from the forest has grown considerably and my gut\'s screaming the worst." Ryuu shook his head in frustration. "Plus bastion hasn\'t woken up either." Ryuu\'s eyes drooped as he mentioned Bastion and Frost and Vaccos felt a pain in their hearts.

"If only I arrived sooner." Vaccos though ultimately being the one to save Bastion when no else could, couldn\'t help but feel a level of regret.

"No you did what none of us could. He\'ll pull through this I know it; you know how stubborn that old dwarf is. Even the God of death would struggle to take his soul if he wasn\'t willing."

"Hehehehe that\'s true." Vaccos and Ryuu laughed.

The food court continued to amass customers as though a subtle force was guiding everyone there in preparation. Even Hamon and Douglas chose to join, having their meals there instead of the command centre so as to boost morale. Cassandra, Leo and Luna also came helping to create a somewhat enjoyable atmosphere.

The smiths and other support staff joined near the end, arriving with boxes and boxes of finely repaired and or newly  forged equipment for the men and women about to head into battle. Borris was among them and instantly headed towards Frost the moment he saw him. He was curious about how his glaive felt in the hands of its intended owner.

"So how\'d it feel lad, my current greatest work and the very first 4 star weapon I\'ve forged?"

"Current greatest work?" Frost questioned with a knowing look.

"Hehehehe yeah, I may be old but I ain\'t dead and I certainly ain\'t washed up. I\'m going to keep forging and improve my craft, this glaive [Wolf howling at the moon] will not be my only 4 star weapon nor my best, just the first hehehehe." Borris chuckled with pride, slamming his chest in promise as his eyes flashed with passionate fire.

Frost\'s lips turned upwards in a smile as he tried to imagine how far Borris could go and he became greedy. He wanted him, such a talented and experienced smith he\'d be a fool to ignore such a tempting prospect. Once the stampede was over he\'d have to really sell the idea of his territory to him and if that didn\'t work there\'s always the forceful approach.

Frost\'s mind ran a bit wild again before latching onto something Borris said.

"[Wolf howling at the moon] what\'s that?"

"Hmm oh that\'s the glaive\'s name, smith\'s always give names to works their proud of especially those that are above 3 star in quality. The people that wield high ranking weapons such as yourself tend to leave marks in history thus many are curious about the weapons they wield.

Granting them names helps make such creations unique and if you\'re skilled and lucky even develop a soul, allowing them to become truly powerful creations that have the ability to grow." Borris explained a little while puffing his chest out, very happy with the name he thought of.

"[Wolf howling at the moon] huh? And weapon souls how interesting." Frost was drawn in and fascinated, there was so much to this world and it professions that he didn\'t know.

\'I should find some time to chat with Damascus since his skills lie in forging.\' Dark had made it relatively for the dungeon cores to contact one another if they so wished but it was up to the individual whether or not to accept the contact but from what he remembered he got along with Damascus quite amicably at the family gathering.

"By the way lad about that territory of....Baaaddoooon! Baaaddooon!" Suddenly Borris was cut off mid-sentence by the sound of the war horns, forewarning the onset of the next wave.

With the war horns sounding off every soldiers and adventurer instantly put down their cutlery and stood up, their gazes turning towards the northern wall. Then as though in sync each and every one of them marched to the wall with resolute expressions. The next wave had come after such a long delay.

Frost, Hamon, Vaccos, Halgrave and Maggie nodded to one another before making their way to the top of the wall while Douglas and Ryuu said goodbye to their families. The last stretch of this defensive war was here.

All the chefs and support staff bowed sincerely as the soldiers and adventurers made their way beyond the wall knowing full well that the chances of them returning was frighteningly low.

"Battle stations! Every solider front and centre, no more reserve teams! It\'s all out WAAAAARRRRR!!!!!" Hamon who swiftly arrived on top of the wall first roared out his orders with his aura instilled into his voice, greatly inspiring the forces down below.

All the reserve teams and weaker wave lapse teams no longer left their posts when the real thing started instead they were reassigned to the frontlines or to work the many war machines that had been brought out in full scale. Ammunition levels no longer mattered; they would use everything they had to deal the stampede a devasting blow.