The Earth After Rebirth

"You can't be serious?" Nikolai was flustered.

He thought this would be a fun time with Kiro killing monsters, using them as a stepping stone to level up. It never crossed his mind that they could run into a harbinger of all monsters.

"I am." He answered exploding one of the monster's head with his bare hands.

Another troll came from the rear end attempting to avenge its comrade. If it was anyone else maybe they would've been caught off-guard but Kiro turned with one foot already in the air and connected his heel to its thick neck.

The head flew to the other side. Something that even the kicker didn't expect, which spoke on how strong he was and was vaguely aware.

"Oops!" He exclaimed.

Nikolai would've laughed if his hands weren't full. The hoard of them or the army as the system called it just kept coming.

Making it even harder for them to reserve their energy as planned. It was clear that the dungeon was made to wear down the challengers until the boss showed up.

It was only after this realisation that Nikolai understood why the dungeon was A-ranked. The tactic was a good one, something he wished he could possess. If only his shadow class allowed him to manipulate shadows.

"Sigh. Who am I kidding, I'll never be that good." He mumbled to himself, taking his anger out on the neverneding army.

Ding!

[You've levelled up!]

Kiro couldn't believe his ears, he quickly checked his status window to make sure that he was level 130 at last.

"I thought I'd never level up again!" He said excitedly, the way they were levelling up was still rather fast compared to the past.

He felt kaos surging throughout his body. The same feeling familiar feeling came back, but he still couldn't understand or grasp it so he didn't waste his time on it.

Ding!

[You've defeated the army and thereby awakened the boss of the Trolls. Rewards will be distributed after the dungeon please be patient.

Initialising... Dungeon has evolved and has become a rank even beyond my calculations. Good luck guardians.]

"What the f—"

Not even a second passed after that announcement and the ground shook. They half-expected for the thing to come out from the pits of the ground.

But it was just it's footsteps resounding from the entire world. With each step, it cancelled out Kiro's vibrational sense. He could do nothing but wait.

"It must be a giant?" Nikolai quipped.

Though the thing that appeared in front of them made them more shocked. It was about the same size as them yet its footsteps caused tremors around the dungeon, it was strange.

"I'm sure you can feel its power," He commented nervously. "This dungeon didn't have anything like this in the past. As Chronos said, they're growing impatient and trying to infiltrate every dungeon."

"Dammit Kiro, can we do it? Just the two of us?"

He didn't answer immediately, he watched carefully at the troll in front of them. It carried what looked like a giant sword, a huge sinister smile was plastered on its lips when it met their eyes.

He audibly gulped, "Maybe? Let's let this be our lesson. Never run a dungeon in pairs. This war has already started."

Neither of the two sides took eyes off each other. Unlike its minions, the harbinger had two perfectly normal eyes. As normal as they could be.

They were dark, all of them, no whites — cold and calculative. It was clear that the dungeon was taken forcibly and the monsters within it were forced to obey a new master.

A part of Kiro was waiting for the system to give them an edge and tell them the thing's skills. That's why he didn't move, only warily looking at the beast in front of them.

Ding!

[Whatever you both do, don't get hit by that sword. Dodge it with all your might, even your weapons are not safe. The level of the boss is unknown.]

Kiro sighed. He took his staff and placed it on his back careful. He closed his eyes and in a blink of an eye, there were three of him.

"I can just have Hiro make me another pair." Nikolai refused to put his weapons away.

He didn't have a lot in his arsenal, the daggers were his primary weapons for attack, losing them would be losing half of his strength. A part of him knew they wouldn't do much but he could just stand around whistling.

"I wanted to introduce myself but seeing as you've murdered my foot soldiers, we are beyond introductions. My blade will do all the talking." The harbinger said, pointing its sword right at them.

It was a wonder how it was even able to hold it like it didn't weigh anything. The blade looked heavy, heavier than anything they could be able to pick up.

It appeared right in front of them before either of them could react. If it weren't for the sword it was still pulling from behind, they wouldn't have been able to dodge its attack.

The sword landed a second later right where the two had been. The earth tried to hold itself together but the attack was too much and it split it in two.

"If it weren't for your dad, I think that attack would've landed." Nikolai broke into a nervous laugh.

Their seemingly calm atmosphere was broken by yet another lightning fast attack. Though this time it was slightly different, the first one wasn't aimed at anyone in particular. But this second one came for one.

It came for Kiro, marked as more of a threat by it. Although there were three of him and there was no telling which were clones, the harbinger had a nose for the real one.

Kiro was only able to dodge three of its attacks and the blade dug deeper in his chest.

For the first time in Asgard since fighting the Queen, he was injured, badly and for the first time ever the monkey King's armour was no longer enough.