Dave logged out from the game, got out of his capsule and brushed his teeth. He slept like a baby that night. When Dave woke up in the comfort of his bed, he looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling and smiled.

"It's been a long time since I slept that good."

Dave got up, took a quick shower then ordered breakfast and called Zoe. After a few rings, the phone connected, a few seconds of silence then a drowsy voice came across the line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Zoe, still in bed?"

"Yeah, what time is it?" she asked.

"It's ten in the morning, We have to finish your quest!"

"Lemme sleep more"

"I have other things to do, but I'm stuck in that icy hell where your quest is. "

More silence.

Then, "Alright. Gimme half an hour, shower and eat, then I will log-in."

"I'll be waiting for you." Dave hung up and logged in from his capsule.

The arctic wind blew right through his body, if he wasn't undead he would have been shivering and slowly freezing till respawn. Dave stroked his beard for a moment then looked around, inspecting the area.

The old man's shack was in a the middle of a bowl shaped depression surrounded by mountains.

Dave made his way to the collapsed tunnel they came through. Finding nothing of interest he walked around until he found a path through ice and snow. The path was just a few meters away from the tunnel. He didn't find any other ways out of the bowl. He concluded the path was the way to the dungeon the Eskimo had told them about.

The draugr stroked his beard some more, then made up his mind. He went down the path slowly and carefully. He examined every step of the path for traps or enemies. After several minutes, Dave spotted the first monster.

A yellow tagged gray wolf was sleeping peacefully on a boulder. It was easily ten times the size of a dire wolf.

When Dave entered its aggro zone the wolf woke up looked at him with complete indifference. After eyeing him for a few moments the wolf lay its head back on its forelegs and resumed its nap.

Dave inspected the wolf:

Amarok

Level: 450

Danger Level: Neutral

HP:???

DN:???

MA:???

Skills:???

Amarok was a companion to a powerful leader, but fate separated them, and this faithful wolf is still waiting for the day to see his friend again.

"That's just sad"

A voice from behind startled him.

"Indeed."

Dave turned, it was the old Eskimo.

"Amarok was my queen's familiar. He's been guarding the entrance to the Frozen Abyss Dungeon since she was taken.

I have tried to rescue her, but I have never gotten past the first level of the dungeon. The Black Skull Order holds her captive and drains her power.

There are many creatures still trapped inside, they are dangerous and deadly."

Dave received a phone call

"Hey Davey! Where are you?" she asked

"Hey Lone, there is a path beyond the house. Take the path and you will find us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, the old man is here with me."

"Ok Davey, on my way!" Lone hung up.

"Draugr I don't trust you" said the old man "But, if you are really willing to aid my queen, I will be in your debt."

"Don't worry about it, old man."

Dave spotted Lone and waved at her. Lone saw the wolf and stopped outside its aggro range.

"Why isn't it attacking?" asked Lone

"Friendly. So, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, old man, let's go."

They walked along the path, the wolf woke up again and watched them pass. It sat up and howled.

"It is wishing us good luck," said the old man.

After a while, the old man said, "Wait here. That ice rock is an ice golem. We will have to destroy it."

The old man drew his trident from his back and pulled on its handle.

The trident's forks snapped together like the head of a lance, and its shaft elongated.

The spear-head ignited.

"Oh, this item can transform just like the swords of mercy"

"The swords of mercy? How do you know about the Workshop's trick-weapons?"

"Eh yeah, I found them on the corpse of a person in the ice palace" Dave

"So he is deadsafeguard those weapons, they belonged to a dear friend of mine."

"I will." Dave coughed with embarrassment. The guardian in the Ice Queen Palace dungeon died because he helped Du'Rhaza kill him.

"Alright, use fire to destroy the golem, aim for the core. Because no matter how much damage it takes, unless the core is destroyed, it will reconstruct."

The old man approached the rock and just as he stepped into the aggro range the rock shook, transforming into a bulky humanoid twice as tall as an average man.

Dave inspected the golem:

Ice Golem

Level: 250

Damage: 25,000-35,000

HP:250,000

DN: 1,000

MA: 15,000

Skills:

[Ice storm] ice golems passively release a cold aura that reduces enemy stamina regeneration by 1% every 10 seconds.

[Ice spikes] The ice golem slams its right hand on the ground and releases a cone of icy shards out dealing 50% base damage.

Ice golems are creatures of magic that thrive in the the coldest environments. They are extremely resistant to all water and ice magic, but are vulnerable to fire and blunt attacks.

If they are destroyed they can reconstruct themselves given enough time unless their core is destroyed.

Dave used [Stampede]

The golem noticed Dave and raised a tree trunk sized hand to smack at Dave.

But [Stampede] ignores Stuns and can hyper-armor through anything.

When the draugr and the golem hit each other, two damage values raised above their heads.

[-36,888] appeared over the golem's head.

While Dave got a notification for his HP: [-11,500]

The ice golem cracked all over its body and Dave spotted a black fist sized sphere in the middle of the golem's chest.

The monster was under the two second stun effect from [Stampede] and Dave took full advantage. First, he waved a hand and summoned four spectral skulls then snapped his fingers, detonating them all at once against the golem's chest, staggering it. Then he moved into [Sword Lunge] creating a giant sword light that pierced through the golem's chest, core and back.

The golem staggered away from the sword Skill attack, stumbling back its body cracked and crumbled piece by piece until only ice fragments remained.

Dave leveled up when the golem died.

"That was easy." Dave said.

"You got lucky, this one's core was in it's chest. Sometimes it's not. Ok let's keep going," said the old man.

Dave looted the the golem and scurried after the elf and the Eskimo guy.