The Earth After Rebirth

The effects surprised even Kiro. He blew through Dracula and left him two equal halves. That immediately broke Ishaan out of his hypnosis.

They saw his dumb smile quickly turn into that of embarrassment.

Everyone started celebrating. Though that was quickly thwarted, as they noticed that something was amiss. The system hadn't notify them that, they'd cleared the dungeon.

"What's going on?" Ishaan asked.

"I don't know..."

Kiro double checked, to see that Dracula's two parts were still just two parts. Then he heard a strange noise, as if someone was loudly eating, instead of drinking blood.

"Can you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" They enquired.

The sound was way too loud. The slurping was very disturbing to say the least. Neither of his friends could hear it but he could. What was happening was at microscopic level.

"Hiro burn the body." Kiro demanded.

"But he doesn't—" He stopped talking when he saw Kiro's face telling him to do it regardless.

He sighed and started. As he expected, nothing was happening. His flame was clearly too weak to burn a level 100 monster even though it was close to dying. This made him feel bad about himself.

Kiro then saw it, vibrations showed him a demon creature clawing it's way through Dracula's dead body. It didn't feel like anything Asgard had to offer, but it was familiar. He'd definitely fought two of its kin before.

'Harbinger!' He thought to himself.

He absolutely had no hope that they could take it. This one felt stronger than the queen. It was a wonder to him that the other couldn't feel it yet, but everything that was happening, hadn't been a reality in Asgard yet. He was just seeing something on a less than molecular level happen.

"Guys, don't freak out but I think a harbinger is being born out of Dracula's body."

They all stood frozen in place. Not able to process what they were being told about the situation. They all had a panicked look on their faces.

"I just said don't freak out. I have an idea..."

He ordered for Hiro to keep using his flame to burn the body. Hiro didn't know what good that would do but he didn't argue and did as he was told.

Kiro slowly searched his memories for the strongest fire he could imagine. He had seen many fires, but one that was truly stronger wasn't Hubris'. It was the one that rained from the skies of the Underworld.

He imagined the red fiery skies, he remembered how the fire felt like on his skin. He slowly tempered with Hiro's fire. He didn't think changing fire to another type of fire would be difficult and require much concentration.

But here he was, concentrated like the day he had created stars. Slowly the fire gained a new colour and within minutes, it had changed colour. Now it wasn't just burning the body, the air around the body was as good as a goner too.

It didn't take long before Kiro could see the good results. The thing was no longer clawing out, it was slowly dying. Its pitiful cries fell on deaf ears with him.

He sighed deeply, as he just escaped another death offered by none other than a harbinger. He didn't even want to know what they were or what they wanted, he didn't want to know. Knowing wouldn't help them at all. They only needed great and unyielding strength.

"I-is it over?" Ishaan asked, not meaning to stutter.

Ding!

[Congratulations After Dark. You've defeated the boss of the Armageddon dungeon. 1 billion EXP received divided 6 ways. You've received 2000 coins. You've received Dracula's blood sword.

You've received several necromancy skills. You've received a recipe for the true Blooded potion. You've received... You have defeated a harbinger hatchling, your rewards will be calculated.]

"Wow, this is truly an A ranked dungeon. The drops are insane.!" Nikolai commented.

The loot was boundless. They levelled up a couple of times, only Kiro didn't. A warm light wrapped around them before they could clearly look at the things they received.

"A whole recipe for the true blood potion? This is unbelievable! We don't even need money at this point..." Hiro trailed off from his excitement, looking at the recipe intently.

"This will probably take me months to master, this is so complicated." He scratched his head as his excitement deflated.

"If anyone can figure it out, you can." Kiro patted his back, consoling him.

They divvied up the loot, giving all the pelts, materials and the recipe to Hiro. They decided to put all the 2000 on the groups bank. Kiro couldn't believe beating a whole dungeon gave them such little coins.

He didn't remember well, but he was sure in the past, it wasn't so stingy. But then again, maybe he misremembered, he never played it after all.

"What's the true blood potion anyway?" Ishaan asked.

Kiro was about to explain with his mouth wide open, he decided against it. "You'll find out soon enough."

Ding!

[World Announcement: Congratulations to After Dark on discovering and clearing a hidden dungeon. This will be recorded in the hall of fame.]

"At least it doesn't use our names anymore." Kiro smiled shamefully.

Hiro nodded aggressively. The attention was unwanted but Kiro would alleviate their standing and popularity once again. He quickly posted the dungeon run video he had taken on his talkalot account.

The dungeon disappeared the moment they stepped out of it. Kiro thought it was too bad, he wouldn't have minded going in there for more practice. They'd gained a lot as a team.

---------

"Kiro must absolutely not find out about this lawsuit. I want him to focus on his school work and being a kid." Sekani told his wife.

"You can't keep it hidden from him forever. What happens when it's on the news?" Freya enquired.

"It's absolutely forbidden to get it out there before everything is settled. Only those involved can know. He'll find out after it's all said and done."

"I don't like it, it feels like we're lying to him."

"We're his parents. He doesn't have to fight our every battle."

Freya sighed. Kissing his hand, she nodded in agreement.