Infinite Realm

"Hmm? Captain. That stranger is heading over here." One of the players who stayed at the back line said.

Though the pressure on the players were a lot, this mainly applied to the frontline the most. As the kobolds were rushing from the front and them being wild creatures, they didn't employ any battle strategy and didn't bother to surround the players, only trying to force their way from the front. In response to this, the alliance[1] used a common battle strategy; physical classes in front and the long-range players and healers behind. As a result of this, most of the pressure was endured by those in front while those behind could steadily focus a bit of their attention elsewhere. It just so happened that one of them did so and spotted Lu Zhen's actions.

"Heading over here? What does he intend to do..." Azure Dragon frowned in thought. "Don't tell me?!"

Without paying attention to the battle in front any longer, Azure Dragon turned to glance at at the approaching Lu Zhen. A bit behind him was the one-armed kobold guard who held a bone sword in its sole hand and pursued after Lu Zhen with a ferocious appearance.

"Damn it!" Azure Dragon cursed. Anyone with a brain wouldn't actually think that Lu Zhen was coming to aid them rather they would guess that he came to add to their portion. Of course, this addition was just a simple 150+ kobolds + 1.

Though Azure Dragon cursed and showed a surprised yet irritated expression, the truth was that he had expected this. There was no way that the opposing team would actually help him. He would have done the same with Soran's team if he hadn't fallen within the traps of a third party. The good thing though was sthat since the other party was making this move, it seems like they must have decided to stop 'supervising' them. As long as they(alliance) could hold out a bit longer, Azure Dragon could move forward with plan B. Thinking of this, he relaxed his nerves as he planned out what their next movements.

Normally, a 30-man team could withstand the advances of a 100-man kobold squad but when the addition of a general-level talent like the kobold guard is added to the mix, things become even more difficult. Of course, things were already difficult before because they were facing a more than 100-man kobold horde rather than a 100 kobolds.

"Take formation. MTs strengthen defense and hold back advances. Mages! Take aim and force back the approaching third party. We have to make sure that he doesn't get here no matter what." Azure Dragon hurriedly ordered the team in a somewhat flustered manner. This was to serve the action of misleading the overseers in the background. If he were to look prepared, it might breed a bit of suspicion in their hearts but looking as if he fell into their plot would give them a sense of pride and fullfilment that would make them drop their guard around them(alliance).

While Soran looked surprised at the decision of Azure Dragon, he didn't find it strange. The chances of the mage players taking out the Kobold guard was very low. In the scenario that they didn't succeed in doing so, which was like 70%, the kobold's aggro would simply move from the unknown [Assassin] player to them. They would just end up giving themselves up on a silver platter. However, if they were to target the player, as long as they didn't kill them, they would be able to force them[2] back or even better, interrupt their movements, letting the kobold guard catch up to them and force them into a battle.

"Fire." Azure Dragon commanded from the back-lines.

Following the commands of the de-facto team leader, the mages all took aim at Lu Zhen and casted their spells at him.

Due to the nature of Black Grill's Cave, a majority of mage players who frequented here were fire-type [Elementalists]. The same could be said about the mages in this group. In Soran's group alone, 3 of the 4 mages were Fire-type [Elementalists] and 4 of the 5 mages in Azure's team were also fire-type [Elementalists]. With 7 mages taking aim at Lu Zhen, there was a bright outburst of flaring red beams and balls as the [Elementalists] cast their unique class spells at him.

These guys weren't novices or your average gamers. They were experts who knew when to attack and where to attack. Though they had never coordinated with each other before, having battled just for a few minutes already, they had formed an embryonic form of teamwork. In a guild war or a high intensity battle, this teamwork wouldn't be enough to battle, but for a singular target such as Lu Zhen, it sufficed. They were able launch attacks that passed through the horde of kobolds, moving straight for Lu Zhen. The attacks were well aimed that they were able to cover up all the possible dodging spots available to Lu Zhen, effectively creating a scenario where he was being forced to block the attack.

Lu Zhen was a level 8 [Assassin] so blocking the skills of a couple half-baked level 7s[3] and Expert rank level 6s wasn't much of a deal; at worst he would lose a few HP. The main issue was that if he did so, the kobold guard behind would easily catch up to him. Having annoyed and harassed that creature for a while now, there was no need to say that it would ignore the gang of players in front just to eliminate him first.

To the players of the alliance, there was no way that Lu Zhen would be able to avoid this attack. Everyone of them was an Expert player at the least and they all had their arrogance and pride in their strength and skills. For an unknown player who had to hide his identity to face them and use such despicable plans -even though they had planned to do the same before- they felt nothing more than disdain to this player. They believed that just this collective move of theirs would be enough to wipe out their this vermin so after they had attacked, they refocused back to battling the kobolds.

To the attack that the alliance mages felt was a deal breaker, Lu Zhen felt nothing more than contempt.

'You guys look down on me too much.' Lu Zhen sneered.

[Silent Steps]

Just as the attacks were about to collide at him, Lu Zhen suddenly vanished from view, appearing just 3 metres in front of his original spot. As a result of this, the flaming balls and rays struck at the kobold guard that was previously behind him. The Kobold guard had indeed seen the attacks before, but it presumed that they were headed Lu Zhen's way and didn't bother about it. As a result, it got hit by them and ended up being set ablaze.

"Roar!!!"

Initially, the mages no longer paid attention Lu Zhen, but with the roar from the kobold guard, they were a bit confused and so turned over to take a glance at the spot.

"What?!"

Expecting to see Lu Zhen being struck down and forced into a battle with the kobold guard, they were shocked to see him appear a few metres away from his previous spot with the kobold guard bellowing in anger.

Being a level 9 creature, these attacks that the mages were so proud of would cause nothing more than a tickle on it and even if it was a fire-type attack, it would at most scar the creature a bit. But having being severely injured by Sato' move back before, the kobold guard's stats had dropped quite a bit to the point that not only could Lu Zhen face it in battle but also the attacks from these players could now cause more than a minor scar. Of course, in the end, it wouldn't heavily injure the kobold guard or anything of the sorts but still, no one liked getting injured, especially by ants.

"He dodged it? How come?" A mage suddenly asked.

"It's a skill. What the heck are you guys doing?! Have you forgotten already?" Azure Dragon yelled.

Maybe it was because they had migrated over from another game but some of the players were yet to be able to adapt to IR that quickly. They weren't familiar with the skills of other classes hence their attack patterns had a few flaws in them. It was to the point that they had forgotten about this trump card skill of the [Assassin] class. Maybe they had forgotten or maybe they presumed that Lu Zhen had used it in his bout with the kobold guard, putting the skill under cool-down. Whatever it was, they had undoubtedly made an error in their judgement.

"Growl!"

As the alliance mages were about to attack Lu Zhen once more, they noticed that the Kobold guard no longer stared at him but had instead turned to them.

"This is bad..." Azure Dragon complained as he felt a headache coming from this.

In the kobold guard's mind, it was wondering why these little weaklings it had left to its brothers actually dared to attack it despite being surrounded. It couldn't understand why they did so but it didn't bother to. It was a monster after all. No matter how intelligent it becomes, at certain times, it would still abide by its emotions and instincts.

Without further ado, the kobold guard darted towards the party. To the kobolds in front of it, the kobold guard pushed them to the side with its bone sword, not bothering whether they got injured or not.

It didn't take long for the monster to reach the alliance players but this time was enough for them to make a few preparations, though little. One of the MTs moved over to block the kobold guard's path and hold it back for the other stores get ready. Once close to the players, the kobold guard swung its bone sword down in the [Guardian] who tried to intercept it.

*Bang*

It was a full powered blow atop the [Guardian]'s shield. Even though the player had player had activated a skill and was making use of a Mid-tier Mortal rank equipment, he could do nothing about the attack and was still forced back by the strike.

'Strong!' The [Guardian] protested as he grit his teeth and held on against the strike. But this was just the first of many.

The kobold guard followed up with a kick at the player. Because he had used both hands to wield the shield, the player couldn't react to the kick that arrived from the side and got tossed away.

"Hiro!" A player on Soran's side yelled. The [Guardian] who got tossed away was a close friend of his and the both of them were part of the God's Retaliation battalion but responded to Soran's own squad. Seeing his friend being kicked away like a pillow, the player was shocked and astonished. He easily realised that this cretaure who just joined the battle didn't seem to just pass them by 1 or 2 levels.

If an average player could figure this out what more the others. Azure Dragon was alarmed at this action and hurriedly began commanding the rest while preparing to make use of a few trump card scrolls and supplies. At the same time, he requested that Soran did the same too.

As this all went on, the main cause of all this, Lu Zhen, had stealthy exited the battle in that moment of shock and fear.. In a crowd of kobolds swarming like mad men, it wasn't difficult for an [Assassin] of his caliber to do such.