The Earth After Rebirth

Ding!

[You've encountered Ice mountain trolls.

Level 30

HP: 10 000]

The ice trolls were made of ice, but neither of them expected for them be so tiny that they wouldn't even reach Kiro's knees. To make matters worse they were faceless.

They looked like faceless garden gnomes. They made a grunting sound, occasionally. The trolls had a grotesque charm about them, they were very hard to look at.

"This will be troublesome."

"Why? They're so small, we could crash them with just our feet."

"That's exactly why! They'll have an easier time dodging attacks."

"Not if I use my flames." Hubris said more to himself.

He didn't wait for Kiro's commands, as he took strides toward the closest troll and sliced it in half. It exploded into a tiny pieces.

Kiro was impressed that Hubris could fight while he was sitting comfortably on his back. He took out his staff, and started helping his mount. He felt like support, but it wasn't too bad.

He stood, balanced ontop of Hubris, while swinging and poking his staff. He resembled a war general on his war horse. Without a doubt Hubris was more ferocious than a war horse, as he was the main attack in this fight.

"Hubris, be honest, you have gravity manipulation don't you?"

"No."

"Then how come I'm not falling while you're rampaging like this?"

"Beats me." He really had no idea.

Kiro was suspicious, he didn't put it beyond the system to give Hubris hidden skills that weren't visible in his character sheet. It did hide his skills' true uses after all, most of their uses are things he had to discover all on his own.

As he was in his head, several zoomed his way, some hit, some missed he was almost knocked off Hubris' back. Thanks to Ryu he was somehow able to hold the balance.

They shot out of the ground in great numbers, releasing ice particles in the process. The atmosphere in the mountain was more frozen than usual, Kiro was grateful that he had bought the armour.

He held Ryu up like he was a baseball bat and started swinging like his life depended on it. The trolls exploded on impact, that's how strong his staff was. They'd leave only blue dust behind upon their deaths, which made killing them very satisfying.

He wasn't yet used to fighting while ontop of Hubris. So he jumped and landed on the ground and activated blink, he started swinging from left to right graciously, alternating Ryu from both his hands.

He could simultaneously attack with his staff, fist and even feet. His martial arts skill made this very easy and comfortable, because of this, the trolls had a much difficult time even breaking through his multiple attacks.

But the ground was more slippery than he imagined, Hubris made it look like a piece of cake. As much as it made it easier to move forward, it made it harder to stop or control his own body. He used his staff to stop himself before he crashed.

He didn't use any of his skills except for bending kick and staff wielder. He could almost see a curve in the air whenever he kicked one and they would explode on impact.

"Whoa, that is kind of cool." He mumbled to himself admiring the effects of his kicks.

Naturally he wasn't one-shotting them, thanks to Hubris' large scale attack earlier, it drained their HP greatly, so now they were easy pick offs. Though getting careless wasn't an option as they still had the numbers.

It came at no surprise when the ice trolls landed some of their ice magic on him. The big ball of ice hit him right on the chest, he staggered backwards using Ryu to break the fall.

He looked at his chest shocked that it was bigger than the being that sent it.

And it packed a bigger punch, as he lost a quarter of his HP. That pissed him off more,  he swung his staff, shattering the troll that gave him damage.

If it weren't for his armour, the attack would've frozen him where he stood but instead, it did what it was meant to do, absorbed the temperature to nothingness.

Hubris was moving swimmingly, despite his size, he didn't lose when it came to speed. He was like a shadow moving with the wind, the purple flames were blinking in and out of existence.

It looked like he was getting the hang of using his intangibility skill. One minute he was solid, the next he was ethereal. It was an enchanting sight.

Of course, he didn't need to show off this much, fighting level 30 monsters. But he was just using this for training. This was after all his first fight after his evolution.

"Could I fight them, all by myself?" He asked, remembering the embarrassing fight from before, somehow he wanted to redeem himself.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, please get on my back, Master."

The ice trolls may have been small, but they weren't cannon fodder. They used their small size to dodge incoming attacks, they could easily conceal themselves in the snow too.

However, Hubris' senses were too keen to be eluded by low level monsters' petty tricks. To say it was a massacre would be an understatement.

Hubris jumped up high, opened his mouth and tiny balls of hellfire rained on the mountain floor. The attack was simply too powerful, it even bore a hole on the ground and left a big crater.

Ding!

[Congratulations on annihilating Ice Mountain trolls. You've gained 10 000 EXP and coins.]

"I wonder how you fair against something like, the harbinger, you've grown so strong." Kiro couldn't hide his surprise.

"The thing we fought before? I could take it." He replied, smugly.

"You know, I haven't forgotten, you still have a no meal for 2 weeks punishment." He looked at the famished Hubris with a wicked smile.

He just had to bring him back to earth.

He whimpered, but accepted his punishment all the same.

"Now then, forwards we go."