Infinite Realm

*Phew*

With the sound of air being cut apart, a thick bone spear flitted to its target while aiming at a vital point. The speed of the spear alone was on par with that of a level 6 player. To have such power contained within one's attack like that just went to show the ability of the user behind the spear.

*Bang*

Despite the awe-inspiring force behind the spear, it had missed its target, only clashing with the floor and sending a few rock particles flying.

'That was close.' Sato thought as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

The battle between him and the kobold chief had been going on for more than 20 seconds already. Rather than calling it a battle, it was more adequate to call it a survival challenge for Sato. In just 20 seconds, Sato had almost died at least 6~7 times already. If an average player or Expert where to stand where he was, it would be highly possible that the other figure would have died within 5 seconds. This was because the kobold chief was that strong. Not only were its movements quick but the strength the monster wielded was also quite terrifying. If not for Sato's gaming experience alongside the daily training he had received from his grandfather, he too would have died over and over again, all because the kobold was that terrifying.

However, in a weird sense, dodging the Kobold chief's attacks was both difficult and easy. The difficult part laid in its attributes being significantly higher than nay player in current existence. Trying to contend with it both strength and speed was a dumb thing to do. The easy part however, laid in the fact that the kobold's attacks were monotonous. Maybe it was due to the fact that they lived separate from other intelligent species but apart from their skills, the fighting style of the kobolds was very much bland. It was just a simple motion of hack, slash and thrust with no flashy movements or exquisite attacking patterns. If not for the large difference in attributes between himself and the Kobold chief, dodging the attacks would have been a piece of cake for even an average player.

Of course while the sizeable gap in attributes was a bad thing, Sato took this as an opportunity to hone his senses and reflexes. The kobold monsters attack patterns were simple with only its speed being worth anything. Such an opponent could be said to be the most perfect training buddy to hone one's reflexes and response time.

'I can't go on any longer.' Sato sighed.

In terms of attributes; either strength or speed, Sato had the lower hand against the Kobold chief. To have been able to last this long wasn't as a result if his strength but his reflexes and battle experience. Having pushed his senses to the limits, to enable him to constantly dodge the kobold chief's attacks, Sato had consumed his stamina at a much faster rate and was slowly approaching his limits.

'If they still aren't done in ten second time, then I will have to move forward with the plan.' Sato thought as a going flashed in his eyes.

The idea of picking this location as a battle spot wasn't a random plan by the team. They had their reasons and with the time taken to bring the kobold chief over here, it was more than enough for them to create an advantageous battle ground for themselves which would help increase their chances of victory.

"Roar!"

The kobold chief was thoroughly frustrated that the creature in front of it could keep dodging its attacks with such vigor. From a distance, it would look like the 'animal' was weak and tired but once its attack approached, the 'creature' would suddenly perform an evasive movement at a strange angle. It didn't know what to do except to press on so with a roar, it charged once again at Sato and swung its spear right at him.

'I just need to last 10 seconds more.' Sato thought as he hurriedly backed away.

. . .

. . .

. . .

While Sato took on the Kobold chief and Lu Zhen, the Kobold guard with a missing left arm, the team of Fudo, Yato, Xue Yan and Katsuo faced off against the last kobold guard with a missing right arm.

Originally, with the absence of Fudo, the team was constantly being forced on the edge by the kobold guard. Katsuo could barely even tank it, receiving heavy damages for each time he did such. If things were to have kept going that way a team-wipe would have been inevitable. So, when Sato made the decision that Fudo focus on their side of the battle, this had undoubtedly saved their lives and given them a chance for success. Of course things still weren't as easy since the MT couldn't do much against the monster.

In every RPG game, the value of an MT was very high. This was because while the rest focused in dealing damage against the monster, the MT holds it down and forces it to concentrate on himself/herself. The end result of this was that only the MT would receive most of the attacks from the monster while the players would be free to attack without fear of retaliation. For an MT to fulfill their obligation and for the team to succeed in a raid, the MT's damage handling capacity should be very high.

In this case, Katsuo was a level 6 player while the kobold guard was a level 9 Special Elite. The gap between the both of them was humongous. It wasn't something that mere skills could handle much less the fact that as the game had just begun, the players didn't have a lot of skills to start with. So, even with the addition of Fudo, the team only had a hope of succeeding; nothing was confirmed. In summary, the weak link of the team was Katsuo but there was nothing they could do about it. Of course, there was another factor and that was the absence of a healer class. But just like the previous one, there was nothing they could do about it. They could only make do with the health potions they brought, but even those required them time to use.

'We need to wrap this up fast and team up with Sato.' Fudo thought as he took a quick glance at Sato's side if the battle.

Even though he was unwilling to go with Sato's order, Fudo could guess the reason why he did so and didn't argue again about it. He now had to focus on how to defeat the kobold guard in the least amount of time possible. This objective originally shouldn't be difficult because with Fudo's absurd attack power against the heavily injured kobold guard, it was just a matter of 3-4 strikes to be done with it. The main issue was that the Kobold guard was moving all around the field. Even when it was being held back by the rest, it could still dodge an attack from Fudo with its superior reflexes.

Logically, the best action would be to wait for Lu When and Seiichi to return but being in a race against time, they didn't bother to consider that either. From the way things looked, Fudo speculated that Sato might be able to last 29 seconds more or less. There was no way Lu Zhen and Seiichi would return within the allotted time frame.

'It has 493 HP left. That translates to 6 base attacks. With the drop in defensive attributes of the monster, I'd say 4-5 attacks should be able to seal the deal. Landing an attack is already difficult, worst of all, we have to cause this much damage in an instance.' Fudo sighed internally as he felt a headache coming in.

"Yato, Xue Yan. You guys try and pin the monster down for just a second or two. That's all I need. Yato, don't bother about keeping your HP high any longer; just don't die. Katsuo, you'll land the last hit so be prepared this time around." Fudo said. The objective of letting Katsuo land the last hit was for him to gain a majority of the Experience points. With that, he should be able to level up at least once. A level 7 [Paladin] was much better for tanking a level 10 boss monster than a level 6 [Paladin].

"Alright." Everyone responded.

Immediately, Yato did as Fudo had said. If they couldn't defeat this kobold guard in time, then the mission could pretty much be said to be a failure as their chances now was already low. This lead to them having to do anything to win. Hence, as long as Yato didn't die, there was no reason to keep his HP above the 80% mark again. Katsuo alone wasn't enough to pin the boss down but with the addition of Yato, they would be able to pull it off even if it was just for a second. This was exactly what Fudo had hoped for.

"Face me, shithead." Yato yelled as he dashed towards the kobold guard.

Once he was just a metre away, Yato slashed out with his sword, applying the skill [Chop] to it. If this attack were to land on the monster, it would undoubtedly take away a chunk from its remaining HP.

The kobold guard obviously knew wthis and it wasn't like it would sit still and wait to get diced up in cubes. It raised its bone sword and slashed, intending to compete in a battle of strength. Against such Yato or any other player, the kobold guard was confident in its power.

"[Taunt]" Katsuo yelled a few metres away as his shield suddenly glowed brightly.

The [Taunt] skill could be said to be quite special as it was capable of manifesting in various forms depending on the user. It could be done with a roar or an attack, or by making a part or equipment of the user glow brightly just as Katsuo did.

The kobold guard felt the effects of the [Taunt] skill on itself and its will to resist Yato's attack weakened. This wasn't because the [Taunt] still was a debuff skill but because of its special effects.

The [Taunt] skill worked by sending a special kind of signal or feeling to the target. This increased the Target's hatred to the user while at the same time feeding it the information that if it ignored the user, their(user) strength would grow. Basically, against monsters of Instincts, it worked all the time. However, when facing monsters with high intelligence, Intellect or monsters higher levelled than the user, the attraction and hatred-inducing effect might not work. Of course, while the kobold guard was quite intelligent, it could still be affected by the skill.

With the effect of [Taunt] on the monster interrupting its mind, it unconsciously reduced the power behind its attack as a part of it suddenly had the urge to dash towards Katsuo. But with the sizeable intelligence it had plus the fact that it was forced to face Yato's attack, the Kobold guard was barely able to subdue that idea.

*Clang*

As the two weapons collided, Yato was only forced back by 3 steps without any injuries except feeling a slight numbness in his hand. Katsuo, on the other hand, had a temporary increase in ability with the Kobold guard having ignore this [Taunt].

After forcing Yato back, the kobold guard didn't bother to press on, turning around to eliminate Katsuo. It realized that this character who was too weak to handle its attacks, was actually one of the most dangerous; second only to the fatso behind.

"Too late." Fudo grinned as he pointed his staff at the monster. By this time, the cool-down of the skill he had been waiting for, was over.

"[Explosion]!"

*Boom*

-170 (323/900 Kobold guard's HP)

Having experienced this attack before, the Kobold guard was unquestionably scared of it however, it was too late to react as that hesitation it got as a result of Katsuo's [Taunt] was more than enough for Fudo to take aim.

"Roar!!!"

As the kobold guard roared painfully while writhing on the ground in pains, Fudo didn't stop at one attack.

"[Fire Ray]"

-109 (214/900 Kobold guard's HP)

"What are you all waiting for?"

Even before Fudo could could his scream, Xue Yan had already taken aim and launched her own attack.

"[Fire Ray]"

"Roar!!!!"

-114 (100/900 kobold guard's HP)

Having inherited [Black Alder Staff] over from Fudo, Xue Yan's attack power had experienced a substantial increase, making her one of the highest damage dealers in the group. Though when compared to Fudo and Sato, her skills were lacking, she was the next strongest in the group, even surpassing Lu Zhen in burst damage. And all this was thanks to the prowess of a top quality Upper tier Mortal rank weapon.

"Yato! Katsuo!" Fudo yelled. The monster had just one hundred HP left. With the [Burn] effect of [Explosion] still active, chances were that if he or Xue Yan were to attack, they would finish off the monster. So the best decision was to leave it to the two.

"Was waiting for this."

After the two mages had bombarded the kobold guard, it had lost a majority of its fighting ability. [Fire Ray] had a penetrative effect added onto it and with both Xue Yan and Fudo aiming at vital spots, the kobold guard had two gaping holes on its body. It could barely lift itself up much less resist. The former aggressive kobold was no where to be seen as only a sitting duck was left behind.

"Die!"

Yato didn't bother to be careful any longer as he hurriedly closed the gap between himself and the monster before slashing out with his class' trump skill.

"Roar!!" The Kobold guard weakly roared.

-85 (15/900 Kobold guard's HP)

After that one hit, Yato didn't follow up but retreated immediately.

From the back, Katsuo had appeared at an unknown time without the kobold's notice. Even if the kobold guard was a little bit better, it wouldn't have bothered about him since the three previous strikes had caused it irreparable damages. Now that it was on its last leg, the senses if the monster were at its worst, enabling Katsuo to approach it without its notice.

'Let's end this now.'

"[Execution]."

Katsuo unhurriedly brought his sword down.

-71 (0/900 Kobold guard's HP)

[[System Notification : You have slain the 2nd ranked Kobold guard of the Kobold chief, Arle]]