Infinite Realm

"Here."

Using the space between the kobold chief's attacks, Sato tossed a scroll over to Fudo before quickly reengaging in the battle with the kobold chief.

At that moment, the monster brought down its spear with great vigour and might. Rather than a spear, it looked like it wielded a great axe in its might. The force behind the spear was like a torrential flood akin to the anger of the heavens. Though the attack wasn't truly as exaggerating as that, the power and intent behind it was so overwhelming that before it had arrived, Sato could already feel the pressure.

'It got stronger?!'

This was the only thought that passed through Sato's head before he was forced to take on the attack.

As a [Swordsman], defense wasn't his specialty so Sato didn't have a lot of options on how to guard against this strike. The only thing he could do however, was to strike back.

[Parry]

*Clang*

The two attacks collided as Sato felt an overwhelming force move through his sword and into his arms. Without any unnecessary suspense, Sato was forced back by at least 7 steps with all of them leaving behind deep imprints on the floor. He managed to regain his footing at he 8th step but his hands still felt a numbing sensation left over from the destructiveness of the previous force.

If anyone else were in Sato's shoes, they would most likely have been sent flying out by that strike but because of the additional 10 points in [Strength] that he got from [Astral Blade], Sato would at most be flung back 3 metres if he wasn't prepared for the attack. Being prepared for it, only taking 8 steps back wasn't so bad at least.

After he was forced backwards, Katsuo had switched with him and interfered with the kobold chief's follow-up attack alongside Lu Zhen and Seiichi. Fudo and Xue Yan weren't stalling as they also joined in the attack, casting their spells at the monster at crucial moments.

'It's gotten stronger than before.' Sato thought with a frown as he finally got rid of the remnant force in his body.

While it was true that the Kobold chief's [Agility]and [Dexterity] outstripped his, with Sato's 3+ years of battle experience and constant fighting with the monster, contending against the Kobold chief's attack wasn't as difficult as one would think. Having exchanged more than 20 strikes with one another, it could be said that Sato had a good gauge of the kobold chief's strength. Even with its constant improvements in battle together with the [Enraged] mode, Sato had already brought up an estimate of its strength. A few seconds back, this estimate was quite correct but all of a sudden now, the kobold chief had gotten stronger. From the looks of its aura too, the increase in strength was actually just beginning. For that to happen at this stage, there was only one possibility.

'If I'm correct then it's [Fury].' Sato's face suddenly became serious.

Of the skills in the kobold chief's arsenal, there were only 3 which Sato abhorred the most. Funny enough, the system had actually arranged it in order of magnitude in the kobold chief's stats. They were [Wild Burst], [Kobold Supreme Roar] and [Fury].

While [Wild Burst] had some semblances with [Bone Slash] and [Slithering Snake] in terms of attack power, the concept of gathering momentum and potential was actually a hint from the system that the former was a lot more powerful than the latter two. The longer cool-down the skill possessed even admitted to this.

There was no saying nor confirmation anywhere that the ability of the [Inspect] skill would be so heaven defying to uncover the true secrets of any being in the game. Even if the [Inspect] skill could indeed reveal to one the abilities of another, there was no promise or verification that stated that that was all there was to the target. Some players had even suspected that the [Inspect] skill could only give one a basic analysis of a target as in some other games, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the skill displays an attack to wield 30% extra of the user's abilities when it might actually exert up to 50% of the user's power.

When Sato had gone against the [Wild Burst] skill for the first time, he had suffered quite seriously to the kobold chief. Despite so, Sato felt that this was the lesser of the three dangerous skills.

[Kobold Supreme Roar] needed no explanation and Sato was quite grateful that the monster had yet to use this skill. This was because he didn't know how much of an effect it would have on them, especially the weaker ones of their team.

As for the last skill, [Fury], it could be said to be the one Sato was most worried about. While the skill looked like a double-edged sword for the user, the 10% increase could be said to be worth it, especially at crucial moments or life-and-death battles. It should be recalled that after the use of both Aghus' Potential Disperser] and the [Low Class Earth Suppression Array], and the activation of the kobold chief's [Enraged] mode, its attributes were only being suppressed by a meager 3%. If the 10% effect of [Fury] were to be added to the mix, not only would the monster no longer be suppressed but it would actually receive a 7% boost in strength. This was something that none of them wanted to see. So not just Sato but the rest all dreaded this skill, after they discovered it, and wished to take out the kobold chief before it could use it. However, it looked like they were a step too late to this.

[[ System Interface :

Target has activated [Fury].

Due to knowledge of the ability, details have been revealed.

Fury : Active Skill : By burning the potential and bloodline within one's blood, all attributes increase by 10% for 20 seconds. With each usage though, bloodline purity and potential decreases. But this can be regained with the aid of high quality ingredients.

Cool-down : 2 natural days.]]

As soon as the kobold chief's aura reached a certain breakpoint, strong winds blew around the area as everyone was forced to stop battling, trying to maintain their balance and prevent themselves from tripping over. The winds blew at such high speed that it was roughly at the 9th mark of the Beaufort scale [1]. At such great speed, walking was already difficult not just for the team but also the kobold chief. This commotion was none other than an after-effect of the monster burning its own ancestral bloodline.

By burning off its potential and bloodline, the kobold chief would be able to increase its strength by half to two folds at least, but at the cost of permanently losing it. It was because of this reason that the Kobold chief was reluctant to use this ability, but in the face of death, it shunned off all hesitation and took this dire step without any regret.

It should be recalled that Dragons were God beasts, and not of the weaker kind. Their power was something that an average saint couldn't even handle much less a level 9 player. Even though the Kobold in front of them was a descendant with such meager and negligible bloodline, it still possessed it. Because the Dragons were very overbearing, the very act of burning the bloodline, which was akin to igniting it or awakening the ability within it, would end up setting free the dominant might and greatness hidden within the bloodline, creating a phenomenon in the environment. This was why God beasts where called God beasts. Just a mere act of burning their bloodline, no matter how little, was enough to cause an environmental phenomenon. It was said that if a God beast's blood worth a cup full was expended in such a manner, the phenomenon generated would be capable of wiping out a town! Of course, the secret to this and the skill needed to do such was known only to the descendants or high leveled existences; nothing as simple as lighting a match over the blood.

With the kobold chief using [Fury], it had already given up surviving and wanted to drag a few of these guys with it to death. This was because using [Fury] was equivalent to cutting early its future achievements. It inevitably hated these 7 to the extreme for forcing it to such dire straits. Only their deaths would serve as appeasement to the Kobold chief.

The skill would only be active for 20 seconds and during this 20 second, the kobold chief wished to drag them all to die with it, most especially Fudo and Sato with Lu Zhen next on the list. The reasons where obvious and needed no emphasis.

After just 3-4 seconds, the wind had calmed down and the entire area had resumed its normalcy.

'It's a good thing it didn't break.' Sato thought.

Because of the might of a true Dragon that was exhibited from that miniscule bloodline, the array had shaken almost rampantly, looking as if it would break down at any moment. Luckily, the bloodline wasn't much so the effect of the pressure was weak. The original array was capable of containing any ability under level 15 Elite rank yet, just the ignition of a tiny impure bloodline, not even the size of a water drop, was able to rattle it. Dragons were indeed amazing.

After that thought passed through his mind, Sato glanced over at the kobold chief, wondering what changed it could have gone through.