A powerful cheat in the apocalypse

Class A?

" W-What? " shouted Dwayne when he saw the first part of level 20 empty.

They had crossed the portal and arrived in the ruined world of level 20, only to see no creature in sight, and worse, the portal leading to the second part was open. He could see the frozen world behind it, and this world was calm.

That only happened when the boss of the level was dead.

" What if we go further? Maybe the way bosses work or Zenith itself has changed. " said Richard with a sigh.

They moved forward, heading toward the frozen world. However, when they entered it, all their expressions changed.

There was no boss, but a dark portal, and inside there was nothing but mist. Even the exaggerated cold that Dwayne, his squad, and other squads had mentioned existing here had disappeared.

Before they could question anything, they heard a noise from the other side, on their left, and immediately took combat positions. But they were even more surprised when they saw who it was.

Rin? thought Key when she saw Rin approaching, wearing long pants and a hooded sweater.

"..."

A deathly silence filled the place as Rin, who had fallen asleep without realizing it while looking at the stone tablet, noticed them and smiled slightly.

" You guys are late. I already got my revenge on the Ice Dragon for traumatizing Sir Dwayne to the point where he fled from this place. Since I'm a good teammate. " he mocked proudly.

"..."

The silence continued. Then, a few seconds later, their expressions changed.

Maya, Eric, and Rin's former teammates were stunned, not knowing what to say.

It was simply impossible for a Class E to survive alone against the Ice Dragon and come back three days later, looking handsome and apparently powerful. Worse, he came back after killing a boss that made Dwayne, a Class A, tremble.

Three days weren't enough to make him this strong, right? wondered Dwayne internally, almost regretting throwing Rin to the Ice Dragon.

" W...What? " Richard asked in shock.

Key sighed, not too surprised when she thought about Charly's rewards and the fact that this entity was probably assisting Rin.

" You killed it? Alone? " George, who was looking around for evidence, asked with astonishment.

Rin, annoyed because they didn't seem to believe him, pointed at the dark portal before asking:

" Then, how did this portal appear? "

They all turned their eyes toward the dark portal. They had never seen this kind of portal before, and just looking at it inspired fear. Nobody would dare to go through it.

Eric shook his head and asked with a slight laugh:

" You want us to believe that? That you killed a possible Class A? Are you kidding? "

Dwayne nodded, agreeing with Eric.

" He killed it! " a young boy's voice rang out as he picked up an object from the ground.

Everyone turned toward him and saw the object in his hand.

It was a pure, glowing blue stone.

" This! Something like this only appears after a Boss dies. You have good eyes, Eldric. I didn't even notice it. " said Richard with shining eyes.

The young boy named Eldric smiled slightly while holding the stone.

Eric's face suddenly fell as he couldn't believe it.

"..."

Oh? I didn't notice such a treasure? Rin mocked himself internally. He had never participated in a fight where a boss died and had therefore never seen this object or heard about it.

He approached and asked with surprise:

" What is this stone? And what is it used for? "

" We can use it to deeply understand this dark portal. It's complicated to explain. " said Richard before thinking about something and asking. " Why don't you follow us outside? We'll study this object in depth and give you information about it. "

He mainly wanted to become friends with Rin and quickly integrate him into their ranks. It would simply be incredible to have a potential A+ in their team every time. People like that were rare and were usually busy dealing with the creatures that came out of Zenith at the beginning and were scattered around the world, so everyone was occupied.

Rin nodded while smiling slightly. He mainly wanted to understand this portal before Charly gave him a mission concerning this so-called " dark level ".

" Very well! " said Richard before turning his head toward Eldric and saying:

" Place signatures so we can come back here more easily. "

Eldric nodded and opened his bag to take out glowing objects. He then started placing some kind of marks on the ground, on the ice.

Rin focused his gaze far away to his left, in the direction where he had found the stone tablet.

What secrets does this stone tablet hide, and why doesn't Charly want to talk about it? Someone created Zenith after all, right? Otherwise, who was she referring to when she said " he "? Several questions crossed Rin's mind before he looked back at the dark portal and sighed.

I'll come back after understanding the use of this stone and use it to understand you.