The Earth After Rebirth

They didn't have a lot of time before the tournament started but Kiro was confident that this dungeon would at most keep them for an hour or two.

Stepping inside, the place was nothing but hills and trees, only they were a different colour than the ones they were used to — they were dark as night, making the trees look dead instead.

"Looks like ash, like a big fire went through here and somehow left the trees still standing." Nikolai shared his observations.

"Yeah..." Kiro was on one knee. Inspecting the ground.

Even the soil was ashen — he made a mental note to not activate whirlwind here. He could already imagine the mess it would make, not on the land but on them.

"At least there are shadows." Nikolai said satisfied.

The sun was blocked by the moon. They had entered in the middle of a solar eclipse but Kiro was almost certain that it wouldn't disappear not any time soon.

"What kind of monster lives here?" He finally asked.

"Trolls. I hope..." With everything changing he wasn't sure how accurate his information was.

They walked through the dead trees, looking for the monsters that supposedly made this world their home.

Kiro could feel wisps of wind through vibrations but the ash-like soil didn't show any indication that the world had wind, at all.

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He walked up to a tree and slightly punched it, not a single branch moved. The dead looking trees just stood there mocking his weak self.

"They're sturdier than they look." He looked back to see Nikolai attempting to cut down one of the trees, of course he failed. "The dungeon looks kinda peaceful doesn't it?"

"Is there even such a thing?" He said, tugging his blade from the tree that took it in like it was nothing.

The hole his blade made immediately closed itself as soon as the blade left its bark. He waited to see whether it would corrode but no such thing happened.

"I think, I'll have a very difficult time here."

Kiro wasn't paying attention to Nikolai. A familiar feeling was tugging at his essence, it wasn't necessarily screaming danger to him but it wasn't pleasant either.

The stench of the dungeon was foul. With his enhanced senses, it was more of a disadvantage in his opinion.

He closed his eyes to feel the familiarity and if possible connect with it. Kiro tried thousands of times and every time, it felt like it slipped through his fingers.

"Ugh!" He exclaimed frustrated.

"What's eating you?" Nikolai stopped to examine their surroundings.

"Something's coming...." He ignored his question, taking out Ryu.

He smelled them before sensing them with vibrations. A sickening pungent scent, the things were huge.

Their best ability other than pure strength was their ability to fool people's senses. The dead and black trees turned out to be what they came in here for, they showed themselves when the two were already surrounded.

They carried giant clubs for weapons. A single eye on their small heads for their bodies. The Trolls looked very wrong.

Ding!

[You've encountered dark trolls. They're weak to magic, they have higher resistance to physical attacks.

Level 95.]

"That's new..." He admitted, it had been a long time since he played the game let alone run a dungeon. He wasn't familiar with the system being this nice about details.

"Aren't we in a bit of a disadvantage here? What does it mean magic?"

"Maybe if we were weak. Their resistance to physical attacks depends on how much strength you put beating them up."

Kiro said already blinked in front of one slashing it in half with his staff.

Nikolai stood in the middle and started his death ballad. Kiro froze at the realisation but for only a second, he wasn't affected at all. He turned to his friend and gave him a toothy grin.

"You've mastered it." He proudly said.

But he paid no mind to his compliment. What he was doing required intense concentration, he couldn't have Kiro bleeding on the floor.

His eyes were closed shut, he started disappearing and appearing in random places, guided by the shadows that plagued the forest.

Both daggers in hand, he activated the poison it swirled and coiled around the blade. He slashed away while whistling the melody.

The Trolls were having a difficult time, the melody didn't affect them heavily but their movements began to wane. Becoming creature of low standing zombies, no sense of direction just attacking even their allies.

This gave the two boys great advantage, Kiro was glad Nikolai asked to come with. They could be done with this dungeon in thirty minutes tops by his calculation. Enough time to run another.

Kiro was fighting but also watching his comrade and couldn't believe his growth.

He wasn't just using the shadows, it was as if he was one.

Nikolai moved as smoke through the many Trolls, his whistles hadn't died, he was using his poisonous dagger as he went.

Kiro on the other hand was doing the absolute bare minimum. He had Ryu fighting for him, he only just gave it commands — completely mesmerised by his friend.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You've defeated the first army of the King. You've already twisted fate, his tomb is almost at the brink of opening. All rewards will be given once the dungeon is defeated or it defeats you.]

"That was awfully easy wasn't it? Are we sure this is an A-ranked dungeon?" Nikolai asked without having broken a sweat.

"Look at you, breezing through an A-ranked dungeon. But we haven't met the boss yet and I have a bad feeling about it." They walked through the dim and dead forest.

Occasionally there were Trolls that popped up, being at their level they quickly dealt with such problems.

Kiro had a sinking feeling of what the boss was but even with his vibrations he couldn't hope to sense what it was. Which spoke on how powerful the thing will be.

"We should save our energy." Kiro told him.

"Why?"

"I think a harbinger is the boss."