Ruined World (Dropped) Chapter 16 15_Black (2)

(Author: Sorry, due to aforementioned reasons I just barely finished the chapter. Hence it is late. Also forgive any mistakes please.)

The mines weren't that far from the train. The entrance to the mines was a simple hole in the ground with crude stairs leading down.

Once you went down a few metres, the walls had glowing stones embedded in them. And because of this the inside of the mines was well visible even without torches.

Other than these glowing stones that were dubbed 'light stones', there were also crystals made from the condensation and accumulation of mana–Mana Ores.

And Black had forced the other challengers to mine these for him. They didn't know what these could do. They wouldn't even have known that these things existed if not for Black.

They wanted to know what they were exactly digging, why were they being forced? No one likes being forced to do anything, no one.

So the challengers decided to rebel. They only had recently started protesting. They refused to mine the ores. And because of this, that Baldie or whatever his name was, came and punished them.

But they were only hushed for some time, they had once again started rebelling after Baldie left.

But when Black suddenly appeared, they all hushed down.

"A hiccup you said." (Black)

Black spoke to Hyung-jin.

"....." (Hyung-jin)

"Would you care to tell me how big a hiccup can be?" (Black)

Hyung-jin still didn't speak. Everyone was silent.

*deep sigh*

Black sighed.

He then back handed Hyung-jin in the face, who crashed into the mines wall. He got a concussion and fainted.

Everyone else flinched.

For the rest of the protesters, black raised his left arm towards them with his hand forming a claw. Black smoke with a purple hue spewed out and surrounded the people. They started coughing violently.

Their vision blurred and their hearing distorted. Their hearts raced and their minds clouded. The image of Black morphed into that of a demons. A warbled yet lod and clear voice came out.

"GET BACK TO WORK!!" (Black)

They all flinched and instantly picked up their dropped equipment. These pieces of equipment, too, were made by Black's smoke, just like the chains that trapped the 2 'prisoners' back inside the train.

And now, the challengers (miners) worked even harder than before, the smoke made them cough and wheeze but they didn't faint nor did they falter. It blurred their sight, but they didn't stop. They worked and worked, driven by fear.

Black was too much strong for them. The train originally had about 700 people. The first trial reduced the number by more than half, only a little above 300 people were left.

Excluding the 3 people that separated before factions could be formed, the number of challengers were still greater. They had spent a day in this Tutorial. Their growth might not be much, but they did grow stronger than the average human.

But all 300 of them combined were nothing infront of Black. He could kill them all easily. Maybe he will when there is no more task left for them.

The challengers were afraid of this conclusion.

So they wanted to escape, hence they protested. Maybe, just maybe, they could change their fate. But, alas, such a thing wasnt possible.

This place wasn't Earth, this place wasnt that kind. Here the only laws were that it was the survival of the fittest.

That the weak would be food for the strong.

And that you would suffer if you showed weakness .

These laws dictated this world and the worlds beyond it. The Tutorial was only there to make these people learn that.

Black stood on top of them all. He was the predator, they were the prey. Normally a predator would just kill and eats its prey.

But Black was sucking them dry of their potential, making them do his bidding like slaves.

And when they couldn't anymore, only then would he eat them. To him they were nothing but walking points and exp.

And he wasnt planning on letting them go easily. It was his orders.

After taking care of the 'miners' by using a hallucinogenic smoke, Black went out hunting.

He managed to find a few wolves and killed them. Recently the number of goblins had dropped severely.

Not just because their village was destroyed, but they weren't spawning as much either.

Black decided that he needed to go deeper into the Tutorial and explore more parts of its world. So as he hunted for more prey, he walked towards another monster settlement.

Along the way he stopped at the dungeon where the white haired kid had went before. The creepy, squirming vines had long withered away. That kid had cleared the dungeon.

But the kid himself was nowhere to be found. He needed to find the kid. His life depended on it.

After looking at the cleared dungeon for some time, he continued to go towards the settlement. Along the way he searched for signs of the kid too.

And luckily he found some. A trail of dead monsters.

After giving it some thought, Black followed it. He was stronger than both of that kid's subordinates. He wasnt sure of the kid's power, but he thought that he could win if he used his trump card.

With these thoughts in his head, he hastened his steps. And eventually ended up at the same settlement he was originally going to.

It was similar to the goblins' settlement but there seemed to some differences in design and architecture.

This was the Kobold village.

A Kobold, in simple terms it was a mix of a goblin and a wolf or any other beast. They were short, hunched, bipedal mammals that wielded primitive weapons similar to goblins.

Goblins might be smarter and more nimble, but these kobold had greater strength and enhanced senses.

But.

There was no sign of life at the Kobold village. The village was already destroyed. Kobold corpses were littered everywhere.

From their appearance, it could be seen that they were Wolf Kobolds (kobolds with wolf as their base). There were corpses of regular wolves among them too.

Some were headless, some were limbless. Others had been cut open, some slashed to bits. Their skin was torn at places, some didn't have eyes either.

There was death and destruction everywhere. Black was shocked.

"It must be him..." (Black)

Black murmured, thinking of Dante.

Black wanted to get a closer look at the village but,

{..Get Back!!}

The voice in his head shouted for him to get back. He had already adjusted to situations where the voice gave sudden and urgent commands. He instantly jumped backwards using the full strength of his legs.

*boom*

*crack* *crack*

Where he had stood before, something had landed down with a smash. He would've been injured severely if he hadn't moved.

When the dust settled, the ground had been cracked in a wide radius. And in the centre stood a kobold.

No. It would be an insult to call it a kobold.

It was 2 ft taller than Black and stood up straight and bipedal like humans. The whole body was covered with rich dark-grey fur that had a metallic glint. Its sharp yellow eyes glinted with its deep hatred and anger.

It was baring its sharp fangs and growling. On its chest was a huge x-shaped scar that didnt look that old.

Its arms and feet ended in pitch-black claws. Its knuckles and palms were covered with bandages that had fresh blood stains. It had legs like those of humans but with a bestial touch.

Its lean yet muscular body only wore a pair of white traditional asian styled pants. A tail protruded out from the back too.

"A wolf man¹..?" (Black)

Spoke the creature as it lunged at Black.

Black dodged again by backing away.

Spoke the wolf‐kin² as it delivered an uppercut to black after the first attack.

This time Black couldn't dodge and was hit. He was lifted off the ground. And before he could fall back to the ground, he recieved a round house kick to the side.

*crash*

Black crashed into one of the kobold houses nearby.

Black shot out from the broken house and swung his blade.

"I didnt do shit to you!" (Black)

The wolf kin jumped to dodge the horizontal slash and launched a powerful kick to Black's face.

Black stepped back from the shear firce of the hit.