Infinite Realm

"This will be your grave, human." The Nightmare Devil grinned fiendishly.

Sato frowned as he felt a new pressure converge onto his body. Unlike the ever-present pressure exuded from the mountain, this one didn't affect his body but rather, his mind. It was similar to the drowsy feeling one would get when they feel tired or just awaken from a deep sleep. Unless Sato pulled his attention together, he would slowly feel his strength flow from him till he couldn't even flex his arms anymore.

'This pressure overlapping with the other one makes things a lot harder to handle.' Sato furrowed his brows.

'And there's still this guy...'

At this time, the Nightmare Devil had already completed its transformation and the energy it radiated was dreadful to one's senses, evoking a spine-chilling reaction within one's body.

It no longer looked like the previous beauty it was but instead carried with it a hellish aura and a fearsome appearance that made one feel as if they were facing a true devil. Like standing face-to-face with a demon god, one had to bear the brunt of its aura, which was extremely frightening and had the effect of weakening one. Due to the prolonged exposure to its aura, the rocks beneath the Nightmare Devil had even begun to crack, with a sliver of black forming within them as if they were corrupted by something.

"Die!"

The Nightmare Devil howled as it threw itself right at Sato. Where ever it passed, the ground seemed to suffer a very slight depression as the strength erupting from its body was approaching the earth's breaking point.

A 7-foot devil with a cruel and vicious aura, moving at high speed was a truly impressive sight, to an outsider that is. To Sato, it was like facing a blazing meteor hurtling straight towards him. The 'blazing' part here didn't refer to light or heat but instead the immense amount of energy being discharged by the monster.

With a pair of emotionless eyes, Sato took in the movements of the Nightmare Devil and only reacted once it was within attack range. At that very second, Sato burst out with the entirety of his strength; his body fluidly cooperating with his sword as if they were one and the same.

*Clang*

[Parry]

Sato knew that with the Nightmare Devil's upgrade and charge, he couldn't compare its abilities with the previous display of strength. So, the only thing he could do was to take it seriously, therefore, Sato had to use the only 'blocking' skill in his arsenal. The result was him colliding with the Nightmare Devil's claws as a metallic collision sound resounded.

'Strong...' Sato knit his brows as he felt an invisible force flow through his arms.

Clashing with the Nightmare Devil's claws made Sato feel like he clashed with a block of diamond rather than a claw.

With the Nightmare Devil's individual strength plus such a good 'weapon', defeating it would become a difficult task especially now Sato hadn't gotten a grasp on its new improvements.

While he was in thought, Sato noticed as the Nightmare Devil swung its other claw right at him. With his sword already in a sticky situation, there was no means for Sato to block this attack unless he wanted to sacrifice a body part.

Applying just the right amount of force to his right foot, Sato propelled himself into a retreat backwards.

*Bang*

The fist air from the Nightmare Devil's attack contained an insane amount of power which ended up shattering the floor beneath Sato's last position.

Having not retreated more than 6 feet away, Sato wanted to move in for a counter but was forced into a stop by the remnant energy of the fist wind that headed towards him.

With a dignified expression, Sato hacked at the air with both hands in his sword, cutting through the fist wind. But as he succeeded in doing so, Sato felt a slight numbing sensation on his hands as the sword swayed a bit from the remnant power of vibration.

'Even the energy residue is this strong.' Sato frowned.

Even as Sato thought this, he didn't lose his focus on the battle as the Nightmare Devil chased after him.

"Kekeke." The Nightmare Devil appeared in front of Sato and sent a punch his way.

As a true-bred monster, it was more attuned to battling with its bare fist and claws than with a weapon. While it sounded like the monster would be at a disadvantage against a sword, its body's toughness wasn't something a regular human being could compare to. After having clashed with it before, Sato estimated its claws to be on par with a Mid-tier Mortal rank weapon! It was true that when compared to Sato's Upper-tier Mortal rank [Astral Blade], the Nightmare Devil's claws couldn't stand shoulder to shoulder, but the amount of force and strength it was able to generate was beyond what Sato could compare to. As a result, Sato was forced to avoid a front collision when possible, only retaliating when forced to or when an opportunity presented itself.

*Bang* *Bang*

The stray claws and punches from the Nightmare Devil sent out a destructive force that rampaged through the terrain. The boulders close by were turned to rubble and even the ground beneath them wasn't spared; being smashed apart to form pebbles.

*Boom*

The two continued to trade blows recklessly with each attack causing resounding booms that scared a few nearby creatures. While the overall damage their attacks caused to the environment wasn't as exaggerated, it was still something a regular level 5 player couldn't handle.

As the battle went on, Sato tried to retreat from the fight. This was because he had realized that the Nightmare Devil was much stronger than he had thought and for him to defeat it, he would need to make better preparations. Not only was it faster than he was, but the Nightmare Devil's reaction speed was almost the same as his. Its defense was higher and there was also the eerie energy contained within its attacks and the burdening mental pressure the monster exuded on him and the ever-present one from the mountain. All these added together made it quite difficult for Sato to beat the Nightmare Devil anytime soon.

This wasn't to say that Sato couldn't defeat the monster right now but instead if he wanted to do so without having to use any of his trump cards it would be very difficult. Even without them, Sato could still possibly defeat the Nightmare Devil, but that would require a prolonged battle. With the noise they've made so far, Sato doubted that there wouldn't be any monster rushing here to be the fisherman. To prevent that, he either needed to end the battle quickly or retreat to fight another day.

However, why would the Nightmare Devil let Sato retreat after he had injured it twice and forced it to release its true form?

"Kekeke. Die!" The Nightmare Devil spotted a chance just after Sato was forced to block an attack of it and had his centre of balance displaced.

While the Nightmare Devil was with intelligence, it couldn't be compared with a monster of intellect. Even as it had discovered an opportunity to deal severe damage to Sato, it still employed its barbaric method of fighting; simply sending a claw to Sato.

Because there was no complexity or sophistication in its attack, Sato could easily make out the trajectory of the claw. By twisting his body to the side, he was able to narrowly dodge it but still got caught up by the claw wind.

-47 (103/150 Sato's HP)

"Kekeke." The Nightmare Devil cackled as it saw the bleeding injury on Sato's side.

Sato froze on the spot and glanced at the injury, ignoring the grinning Devil.

Using his left hand, he said finger on the wound, wiping the blood that spilled out from the injury. Nonetheless, this was a fruitless endeavor as another trail of blood appeared right after Sato cleaned the previous one.

"What? Scared? Kakakaka." The Nightmare Devil grinned as it saw Sato stare at his injuries. It thought it had succeeded in angering Sato and to the monster, this was a good thing since Sato would give up on retreating and face it head-on. Even though its [Agility] was higher than Sato's, it would still take a while to pin him down and prevent him from escaping, especially as there were other creatures here.

"Alright. You've done it." Sato spoke, his eyes still focused on his wounds.

Sato lifted his head and stared at the monster with a somewhat maniacal look in his eyes.

"I'm guessing you haven't had a taste of the pain of death, cause I'm about to serve you a whole plate."