The Earth After Rebirth

Hubris covered the distance of a kilometre in under a second. They didn't encounter a single monster on their way. The closer they got the thicker and more suffocating the aura was. One thing that was great about reaching the peak was, although the road was still treacherous, it was at least level.

Kiro could see a boulder at a distance. It was blocking their path. He was about ready to blast it open when Hubris skidded into a stop.

Now that he was close to inspect it, he realised they stood in front of a cave-like opening. Except the opening was closed by a big boulder. A poor attempt to hide the mouth of the cave.

Kiro leapt off Hubris, he reached the boulder while walking cautiously as not to envoke any traps or possibly wake up the monster that exuded the aura they'd been sensing since entering Sun's mountain.

He carefully inspected the boulder, using vibrational sense. For the first time ever, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

'Is vibrational sense functioning well?'

Kiro blasted it with whirlwind, rubble shot up and rained on them. It was a tiny pieces so it didn't do them much damage. The inside was surprisingly bright and warm. With about a hundred eggs inside.

"My, they really were nesting here, a hundred of those mosquitos would seriously spell trouble. Goodness, look at the size of that thing." Kiro commented, looking around the cave as if he were a tourist trying to buy a souvenir.

Hubris nodded in agreement with his first statement. Remembering how useless he had been in that fight. He shuddered and swore to never be that helpless again.

Ding!

[You've discovered an Insecti lair. Destroy every inch of it and you shall be rewarded.]

"That last line isn't the motivation you think it is. You still haven't given me my levels." Kiro scoffed, the system was truly useless in his eyes. If it weren't able to detect these things unless they found them, how much can't it detect in its own game?

He walked into the cave, cautiously looking around. The sizes of the eggs varied, some glowed, some looked rotten and dead. For a cave used for nesting, it didn't smell so bad. It wasn't as big as the one they encountered on their way to the capital, but it was still huge.

"Hey system, instead of squito you said insecti, does that mean there are different species of insects here?"

Ding!

[There are different races, yes. Their species being Insecti.]

"Doesn't this just count as a mass genocide, I don't know if I'm comfortable with that." He complained, more to himself than anyone.

Ding!

[If the guardian wishes to wait for their hatching, and until they're at their peak that is also acceptable.]

Kiro thought back to the Squito King and cold sweat broke onto his back. There was no way he could take hundreds of him.

"Naturally, I won't wait for them to be stronger, what do you think I am, a pacifist?"

While Kiro was arguing the system, Hubris was busy sniffing around the cave, deciding whether or not the eggs were his delicacy but with his nose, he could smell their very essence and it wasn't tasty.

He wondered if he could collect their souls, he'd never used the skill before. He activated it immediately, a white light zoomed from one egg and shot through Hubris to become a part of him.

Ding!

[Your hellhound has collected a soul from the harbinger's eggs. It'll strengthen his spirit by 0.001]

"Hubris! You could do that, keep eating my pup!"

"These things smell foul and they taste even more disgusting. Please don't make me do this." Hubris complained, getting used to his master's food had spoiled him greatly. If his master forced him, he wouldn't have a choice but to do.

"They smell just like you." Kiro teased, he wasn't going to force his companion to have anything he didn't like.

Hubris took a quick whiff of himself, he got scared for a second because the smell in the cave masked his. But he eventually found his and was relieved.

"That's not very funny, master."

"Will you drop the master thing? it's embarrassing."

"What else—"

"I have a name." Kiro interjected while poking the eggs with his staff.

"I'd like for the Supreme Lord to—"

"Hubris—"

"Understand that it would be against my code of honour to call you by your name." He looked at his master and noticed the weird face he was making, "I'm sorry, my Lord."

"Sigh. Everything else is fine, just don't call me a supreme lord, gods Hubris, I'm not some cruel ruler."

Hubris thought back to the men he was ordered to kill slowly. He thought of the darkness buried deep within his Lord's heart, and he disagreed.

To him, his Lord was a ruthless one and he didn't hate it. One must be merciless against their foes. That's how you make others think twice about becoming yours.

"Yes, my Lord." He made a chuckling sound.

"Quit teasing me, and let's destroy these eggs."

He didn't need to be told twice, though he couldn't use his hellfire, lest it all caved in on them. His claws were sufficient, the eggs had a very hard exterior to protect whatever was inside but Hubris cut them easily like a hot knife through butter.

Kiro wasn't having a hard time either, Ryu had a pretty high damage, he only needed to poke once to kill the insect embryo inside.

It took a while to finish them all, the moment all of them were destroyed the cave lost its warmth and brightness. It was now just a regular dark and damp cave. But both of them had no problem seeing in the dark.

Ding!

[You've killed all the eggs and have angered the Stag Beetle Queen. Her anger will not cease even if she eats your heart herself.]

"That's disturbing." he mumbled to himself.

CRACK—

They both looked at where the sound came from.

"That doesn't look good."