Infinite Realm

'Hmm?'

Even though Sato had retreated without wasting any time, he was able to sense that there were only two figures chasing after him. Initially, Sato thought that with the massive damage [Kōjin's Arrow] had caused to the kobolds and their chief, the entire kobolds would pursue after him under the lead of the boss. If that was the case, then Lu Zhen would have to find a way to make the other kobolds focus on him again. Unexpectedly, it was only the kobold chief and another bodyguard that pursued after him. This would mean that the other guard and the rest of the kobolds were still chasing after Lu Zhen.

Sato wondered why this was so and ended up reaching a startling yet understandable conclusion; the boss possessed intellect.

In Infinite Realm, just like a majority of other VR games, monsters are generally classified into 3 Is; Instinct, Intelligence, and Intellect.

A majority of monsters operate based on Instincts and the level of intelligence they have differs. Some would outrightly do as their instincts command or as they were made to operate. A good example was the Rock Golems who ignore pain or fear and charge in against a player. Some animal-type monsters also behave like this, only retreating after having suffered at the hands of players. A good example of these kinds would be the Ground Rat.

As for the next two, they deal with monsters that are a bit smarter than usual. Monsters with Intelligence know when to retreat and when not to. They know how to fight better than monsters of Instincts, but the difference isn't much.

Monsters of Intellect, however, are even scarier. Being able to formulate tactics and plans are just a few of the things they can do. Some of them are even capable of using martial arts!

Seeing as how the kobold chief had reorganized its troops, Sato guessed that it either possessed high intelligence, bordering Intellect, or it was outrightly a monster of Intellect. Due to the fact that they were yet to combat it at close range or even engage in combat with it, Sato couldn't be sure which it was. What he was sure of, however, was that even with the injury the boss had taken, it would still be a pain in the ass for them to defeat it.

'It doesn't matter. So long as everything goes according to plan, we should win.' Sato thought.

...

...

...

"Captain, someone's coming." One of the mages in the group said.

"Hmph. So, there was someone else here." Soran smirked. He had previously guessed that there was another party lurking on the 10th floor but he had no proof yet. Now that they had found one, he decided to jab Flood King just a bit.

This action of his might make him look like a kid but Soran didn't care. One of the reasons why he had the name 'Beast' in his title was not just because of his wild and savage nature but also because he never gave a sh*t about what others thought of him. He always did things as he pleased.

Flood King obviously knew that Soran was mocking him but he couldn't do or say anything, after all, Soran ended up being right while he was wrong. As for whether the team had just recently arrived? Flood King doubted that.

On their journey here, the Heaven's Angels IR branch had dispatched a few players and spies out to monitor the other guilds' progress. Because they were still a 1st tier guild, they weren't able to sneak in their players to the top guilds' core teams, but monitoring them on the floors wasn't a difficult problem. All they had to do was to pay a few dark players to take note of those who made it past the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors of the Middle region. As for the higher floors, they had hired a bunch of reputable experts, either solo or dark players, to monitor those teams.

Their team had originally thought that they were the first ones in and with that advantage, they could easily monitor everyone's progress. From the information that they had previously received from their lookouts, the next team that was catching up to them was an unofficial party, and following close to them was Yukino's team together with a few reputable 2nd tier teams.

Apart from Yukino's team, Flood King doubted that anyone else would be able to defeat the three level 9 Guardian golems on the 9th floor. Without defeating them, no player or team would be able to get past the Exit gate. This would take time and factoring in the time Heaven's Angels had spent here, it was less than 15 minutes. It was impossible for there to be a newcomer already.

"Men, take your stations. Prepare to ambush them." Soran ordered.

"Ambush them? We don't know whether they're friend or foe yet you want to ambush them all of a sudden." Flood King complained. He had the backing of the branch guild leader, whose status wasn't so inferior to Soran, and he was also an influential figure of sorts so he didn't fear Soran that much.

Soran left him with only one sentence.

"For this mission and in this floor, all are foe."

A few seconds later, some figures could be seen approaching them. Because the terrain of the 10th floor was filled with many highs and lows, Soran's team didn't notice these players as they themselves were at the low ground. If not for the alertness of the mage player who noticed the unnatural flow of mana from that direction, they wouldn't have discovered these players. Speaking of which, the mage who sensed them was actually a [Druid], the class well known for its high affinity with natural mana in its purest form.

As the figures approached his team, Soran discovered that they were actually Emperor's Might's top players. He could see Azure Dragon, Chesces, and even that blockhead, Black Tempest in the group.

'I see. So this was their original team.' Soran chuckled internally while outside he put on an astonished look. If one didn't know anything, they would actually think that he was surprised at the sight of Azure Dragon's team.

"Azure Dragon. Never thought I would see you here." Soran chuckled coldly as he withdrew his "surprised" look.

"Hehe. Me too. But enough with the lies, Soran. You should have obviously sensed our presence." Azure Dragon said as he glanced at the [Druid]. 

"Captain, if I'm correct then he should have even prepared a 'welcoming' team for us." Chesces added as he stressed upon the word, 'welcoming'.

Upon seeing the reactions and hearing the sentences from these two, Soran's face twisted a bit before he showed a cold smile.

'These two still are as smart as ever.'

For the ambush, Soran had hidden two of his mages and 3 of his physical class players. He only left the well-known ones close so that no one would suspect the strength of his party. A team of 10 players with 2 healers didn't seem so suspicious to anyone at first sight so he wasn't worried about being discovered. However, he made the mistake of not withdrawing the [Druid] too.

Truth be told, Soran didn't think much of it. Even though [Druids] are said to be capable of sensing a player from far out, that was an exaggeration. Not every [Druid] could do this. They had to be able to focus on the flow of mana in their environment and the problem with this was that the flow in various environments differs. This 'flow' includes both frequency and speed, and it wasn't that easy to sense. It was like trying to feel the wind speed with your skin, and even worse, you had to do this in an extremely calm weather. But in actual fact, sensing the flow of mana was a lot more difficult than that. Apart from that, there was also the limitation of distance. Due to the special care given to the [Druid] class, sensing mana flow in a 5 metres radius wasn't difficult for most players but further out depended on themselves. Even for the [Druid] in their team, the guy could only sense 27 metres far out at, and that was with him pushing his senses all out.

"Hehe. So to what do I owe this favor?" Soran asked. He ignored their comments as if he never heard it even though their deductions were correct.

'As shameless as ever.' Azure Dragon thought.

*Boom*

Before he could reply Soran, an explosion occurred as smoke rose into the air from a distance.

"What was that?!" Everyone was shocked.

Soran glanced at the smoke before turning to Azure Dragon with a frown. The explosion had occurred in the direction they had arrived from. Though it wasn't the exact one as going straight from where Azure Dragon and his team arrived, if one made a slight deviation they would still reach the same place.

Before the team could even settle down after that, another phenomenon occurred.

"Roar!!!!"

An infuriated roar that seemed to contain one's anger against the heavens echoed through the entire floor. Unlike the previous one from before, this one was a lot worse. Some of the weaker players could even feel their legs shiver a bit as they almost lost their balance. Even Azure Dragon, Chesces, Black Tempest and Soran felt their blood go cold at the sound. This reaction wasn't only a result of the anger of the speaker that seemed to rage against the 7 seas, but also from the speaker itself. This was an innate difference in Life Order, one that not even Soran nor Azure Dragon could go against unscathed.

"You should have obviously heard that roar from earlier. Added with the explosion and this roar, you should have realized something. We aren't the only ones here." Azure Dragon said calmly.

Listening to his words, Soran frowned. He might not be well known for his intelligence as Azure Dragon and Chesces were, but to have reached his post, he had to still be a bit smarter than average.

"So?" Soran asked. From the sound from earlier, Soran could easily guess that the other party was facing the boss. If anything, having the other party do the job while he waits to reap the rewards sounded nice. What he didn't get was why Azure Dragon was moving in the opposite direction.

Azure Dragon calmly explained, "Here's the breakdown of things. The boss dwells in a monster encampment with, give or take, 2 to 300 hundred monsters. The other party intends on drawing the majority of the monsters towards us while they face the boss alone. That way, not only would they have solved the issue of the horde of monsters but also prevent anyone else from sneaking up on them. Two birds with one stone."

Soran had a grim look on his face as he listened to Azure Dragon's words. Once he finished speaking, Soran replied "We just arrived, so I doubt they know of our presence. If anything, I'm guessing you were their target, yet you dragged your problem over to me. Hehe."

As he finished his words, Soran had a cold smile on his lips. It was a smile that didn't look like one. He had easily spotted a loophole in Azure Dragon's tale, is what he thought. Truth be told, Sato already knew about their presence but neither Azure Dragon nor Soran knew this.

"Whether what I said is true or not, we are in this together." Azure Dragon spread his arms out nonchalantly. "We either die together, alone or try and bring our enemies down with us."

Soran wasn't willing to work with them but he knew that Azure Dragon's words were true. With him having arrived here, Azure Dragon had already pulled them into this. Even if the third party didn't know of them, Azure Dragon's actions had forced Soran's team to the open. Soran could guess that for the plan to work, the third party would have someone monitor Azure Dragon's team. That person should have already discovered them by now and alerted their commanding figure. With that done, Soran was forced into the play. He either teams up with Azure Dragon and tries to find a way through this or he dies with his teammates. There was no third option.

"Hehe. Fine, we have ourselves a deal.." Soran smiled.