Infinite Realm

Lotus Sword Art : 4th form… Lotus slash!

Despite seeing the approaching sword, the Nightmare Devil still went on to clash with it. In its own opinion, it had been suppressing Sato ever since it had taken on its true form, hence, this time wouldn't be any different.

*Clang*

In that instant, a violent metallic sound burst forth from the point of collision between the two weapons. Sato's sword seemed to be halted by the Nightmare Devil's right claw, making it look as if the two were tied.

However, before even a second could be counted, Sato's sword cut through the claw of the beast, going so far as almost slicing off an entire arm.

"Arghhhh!"

[Critical Hit]

-147 (617/900 Nightmare Devil's HP)

The Nightmare Devil screamed uncontrollably as it hastily withdrew while holding on to its dangling arm. But why would Sato let it escape right after dealing grave damage to it?

To cause as much damage as possible, Sato had used a downward slash to counter the Nightmare Devil's charge. The disadvantage of this was that it wouldn't be easy for him to come up with a follow-up attack quickly and even if he could, the power of the next move would likely be much weaker than the first. For this, Sato had prepared ahead of time and that was why he had avoided using his in-game skills.

"[Horizontal Slash]." 

Sato hurriedly repositioned his sword and swung in a horizontal trajectory at the monster.

Because his movements were seamless and planned ahead of time, it was still able to inflict damage on the Nightmare Devil as its front was still facing him.

The monster couldn't keep up with Sato and with its left hand occupied propping up its right, it was all open to Sato's attack.

-153 (464/900 Nightmare Devil's HP)

Compared to the first attack, the difference in damage between Sato's two attacks wasn't much. This was because Sato had exhausted most of his strength on the first one and so, he wasn't able to mobilize as much power as he did with the second move, leading to the difference in damage not being so large despite one being performed with a martial technique and the other with an in-game skill.

Nonetheless, that was quite amazing because even with the combined effects of the [Nightmare Air] and the mountain's pressure, Sato being able to burst forth with that much strength was an impressive achievement.

"You...!"

The Nightmare Devil gritted its teeth in pain.

Sato's first move had left it with a disabled right arm that dangled back and forth in an unsightly manner. As for the second move, that had left behind a gory red line on its abdomen. A closer look at the damaged area and one would be able to spot the intestines and other internal organs of the Nightmare Devil. A bit more and Sato would have landed another critical blow. If one didn't have enough backbone, they wouldn't be able to stomach the sight and would end up puking out their breakfast.

From the two attacks, Sato realized that the scales on the Nightmare Devil's were nothing more than ornaments to its looks; paper armor, if you may. He even placed their defensive strength on the same level as gauze clothing; both serving as nothing but a fancy attire. This was in large contrast to most scaled monsters as most of those monsters tend to possess a high defense, especially to physical attacks. Even the scales of a level 8 Kobold were much tougher than it.

'Well, it is in the jurisdictions of a specialized monster.' Sato thought.

Even as all this went through his mind, his movements didn't stop.

Sato rushed in and swung his sword once more at the injured prey.

The Nightmare Devil was scared silly and almost couldn't react in time.

Suddenly, something strange occurred on Sato's end. The image of the Nightmare Devil seemed to have moved to the left and so Sato adjusted the trajectory of his sword to aim for it. As he cut through this image however, Sato felt nothing, as if he had only cut through the air, and in fact, he had.

'What was that?' Sato thought but quickly remembered.

'So this is the effect of the [Nightmare Air].'

Sato frowned as he recalled the special aura leaking from the Nightmare Devil and influencing the area, forming a sort of domain around it.

The Nightmare Devil took the opportunity when Sato had missed his strike to escape deeper into the mountain.

Seeing the fleeing monster, Sato didn't hesitate to give chase, but he tried as much as possible to lock on to the creature in front of him, lest he loses it in another illusion.

As the Nightmare Devil saw Sato not hesitating to give chase to it, it gritted its teeth, ignoring its injuries, and increased its speed, retreating deeper into the mountains.

It couldn't understand why or how Sato had been able to burst out with a more formidable strength than he had shown in their first fight. If he was this strong, then what was the point of putting in a weak front? However, the Nightmare Devil didn't want to stay behind and find out the answer. Right now, its survival was more important than knowing why the enemy held back.

Sato, upon seeing the Nightmare Devil retreating, pursued it. Only he knew why he had suddenly been able to turn the tide of the battle around.

While it was true that Sato's [Strength] was more than double that of the Nightmare Devil, he wasn't able to erupt with that much power easily. The reason was none other than the boundless pressure from the mountain. This pressure was affecting the entirety of his body, making walking difficult much less erupting with an immense force in a high-speed battle. Because of this, Sato had to fight with barely half of his ability, using the other half, to combat the pressure's effects and keep his movements up to standard. This made it seem like he was weaker than the Nightmare Devil and was being suppressed but in reality, the environment was against him too.

The pressure affected Sato especially when he moved and so, he had to shear off a part of his focus and strength to resist it. But if he were to stand at a spot, the effects were just bearable and the amount of focus and energy he had to use was at the minimal level. In other words, the amount of power Sato could employ in battle from a spot was much greater than he could while moving. That was why the strength of Sato's first strike was much higher than any before that despite the defenses of the Nightmare Devil being higher than it was in its 'Xue Yan' form.

The second strike made use of the [Swordsman] trump skill and the Nightmare Devil's flustered movements to cause an equally large amount of damage.

Thanks to the two skills, it made the Nightmare Devil recalculate Sato's strength and reach the conclusion that it was outmatched. Though this was undoubtedly true, for such a disadvantageous environment like this, the Nightmare Devil had made a mistake; Sato was just barely its match and didn't stand much of a chance against it.

Sato had used just 2 attacks and instilled fear within the monster and in any battle, the opponent's morale was an important factor. Without a doubt, Sato had shattered the confidence of the Nightmare Devil by just employing a simple ploy in his attacks. This was the result of his well-grown battle experience.

"Don't force me, human!" The Nightmare Devil roared in fear as it discovered that Sato was slowly catching up to it.

"You say that but what makes you think I care?" Sato smirked, putting up a strong front.

The Nightmare Devil only raged on at Sato's words; its body vibrating out of indignation and anger.

Due to the damages it had gotten, the Nightmare Devil couldn't reach up to its previous speed and was slowly being caught on by Sato.

Realizing that there was no way out for it if the human behind didn't die, the Nightmare Devil suddenly halted its run and turned around, swiping its only intact left claw at Sato. It wanted to seize the opportunity when Sato was speeding towards it to land a surprise attack.

However, how could Sato not discover this? As a pro player, he had gone through countless battles and had developed his battle sense through countless iron and blood feuds.

During the chase, Sato had guessed that the Nightmare Devil might pull something like this so he was always on guard. Now seeing his prediction come true, there was no way he wouldn't be able to react in time.

In close combat, what mattered was one's [Dexterity] and not [Agility], as this dealt with both one's reaction speed and attack speed. The difference in Sato and the Nightmare Devil's [Dexterity] was just 1 point. This wasn't much to start with but with the grievous injuries the Nightmare Devil carried, all its attributes suffered a drop in strength.

The attack, which in its mind, was performed with the utmost of its abilities, could easily be spotted by Sato. In Sato's eyes, the Nightmare Devil's attack speed, while indeed greater than most, was still as inconspicuous as a black ball under the sun.

'Hmm? Something's wrong.'

Sato didn't know why but his instincts screamed at him that the attack in front was a fake. The real danger was from the side. Sato had honed his instincts after countless battles, so despite his eyes showing him something else, he trusted his instincts more.

Sato directed his sword to his left, totally ignoring the Nightmare Devil's claw that came from the front. If the claw were to land in him, there was no doubt that Sato would suffer at least a 40% decrease in HP.

*Clang*

Sparks flew off as Sato's sword collided with a mysterious force in mid-air. At the same time, the Nightmare Devil's claw arrived in front of him, however, it seemed to just pass through him without causing any damage. At the same time, the Nightmare Devil seemed to disappear.

At the spot his sword halted, another Nightmare Devil appeared. This was the real one while the other was a phantom.

"You saw through it?!" The Nightmare Devil was shocked silly.

Sato wasn't inclined to reply to it as he realized that the battle was becoming tougher with each passing second.

The illusory effects of [Nightmare Air] which were supposed to occur at random intervals had suddenly done so twice in a row with each time revealing a gap in Sato's defense. The first time, the Nightmare Devil was not prepared and lost the opportunity to counter but it managed to do so this time around. If not for Sato's quick reflexes and battle instincts, he would have gotten injured.

"Just die."

Sato shoved the arm of the Nightmare Devil away with his sword and struck once again at it. This time, he aimed for the abdominal region; the exact spot his last attack hit.

To Sato, there was no meaning in attacking the right arm again. Leaving it hanging was better than taking the whole thing away as it would influence the movements of the Nightmare Devil. As for attacking another spot, that would draw the battle even longer and that wasn't something Sato wanted to see.

So, the best option was to attack the abdominal region and widen the previous injury. This way, not only would Sato's attack most likely be a critical one, but he would also diminish the monster's HP even faster.

[Chop]

[Critical Hit]

-172 (292/900 Nightmare Devil's HP)

"Arghhhh!"

With the attributes of the Nightmare Devil suffering a drop due to its injuries, Sato attacking just after the Nightmare Devil was surprised at him blocking its attack despite being under an illusion and finally, Sato attacking a vulnerable spot, causing a [Critical Hit], all these factors added together made the damage of this attack even more greater than the previous two.

All the constant struggles and efforts of Sato had succeeded in bringing the HP of the Nightmare Devil down to the last dregs; just a bit above 30% of its total HP.

"You will pay!!!!"

[[ System notification :

Target has entered [Enraged] state.

Main attributes will experience a 10% increase.

]]

From this point on, the real struggle could be said to begin but to Sato, this was both bad news and good news.

The [Enraged] state temporarily increased the abilities of a monster, similar to a last-ditch effort or the last adrenaline rush one would experience just as they faced death or the last energy burst resulting from one's unwillingness to perish. Most times, this change in the monster's state would lead to players dying as they would be overwhelmed against it. This was especially so for even stronger monsters as a 10% increase in overall combat was more than enough to influence the results of the battle. However, Sato wasn't scared.

A 10% increase might seem like much, but with the Nightmare Devil's current state, this was just a somewhat pointless effect. In Sato's eyes, the Nightmare Devil was nothing more than a dead dog and a 10% increase in combat ability would do nothing to change that.

"Futile struggles.. Just die."