Infinite Realm

"Sato." Fudo suddenly called out in the team chat.

"Any problem?" Sato asked. The monsters behind him didn't seem to add any pressure to him so he had a lot of energy to spare in the team chat.

"I sense movement from the outside." Fudo said.

The battle with the monsters couldn't be described as tough since everyone in the team was much stronger than the monsters individually, much less collectively. Due to this, Fudo had a lot more spare energy and time which he used to prove the entire area. In the process of doing so, he had unwittingly stumbled into an interesting discovery.

"I'm not so sure as I only sensed a slight fluctuation in the mana flow, but I think there's someone, or better yet, some people, approaching."

Unbeknownst to Black Tempest's team, Fudo had surprisingly managed to perceive their presence. The reason for this wasn't difficult to understand. The team was contending against a level 9 [Elementalist]. Although [Elementalists] weren't as sharp as [Druids] in sensing lifeforms, when it comes to perceiving a change in the mana flow of an area, they are one step ahead of their contemporary.

70% of every living organism in the world of IR has been exposed to mana and this was especially so for players, monsters, and powerful NPCs. When any of these individuals move into a different location where the mana flow has been constant, a change results in it due to their presence. To better understand, let's say that the destination of the individual is represented with a bowl of water. The water represents the state of the mana flow in the area and as the water in the bowl is constant and stationary, so is the mana flow. In this analogy, the individual is now represented as a glass of water.

When the individual arrives at the destination, their presence -which has an inkling of mana- would cause a change to the state of mana in the environment. Using the above analogy, the glass of water would then be emptied into the bowl. The result of this would be a vibration analysis n the water surface as the water from the glass tries to mix in with the water in the bowl. The ripples formed in the bowl are similar to the ripples produced when a player or a monster steps into a different place [1].

[Elementalists] are capable of sensing this 'ripple' since their natural affinity with mana is much higher than the other classes. This gave birth to their ability to function as scouts, just as [Druids] do.

The limitation of this though is that the 'ripple' only exists as long as the said individual remains in the environment. However, the longer the individual remains in the environment, the natural mana system would adapt to the presence of the individual and incorporate their existence into the system. Like with the analogy, eventually, the ripples formed by the water would disappear with time and the same happens here as the natural mana system adapts to the individual's presence. This is why an [Elementalist] can still suffer an ambush to a player. Simply because the player had remained hidden in the place to the extent that the natural mana system incorporates their presence into the mana cycle.

There are a few other limitations to the sensing abilities of [Elementalists] as well as some advantages over that of the [Druids], but this would be left for another time.

Sato pondered for a very short while before giving out his orders.

"Alright, everyone. We have a map and we have a route. Now, let's go."

Rather than wait to discover who and what was behind them, Sato felt it was best and also safer for them to depart. It would be best that during this raid they try as much as possible to avoid leaving behind any trails and waiting for the new arrivals was the same as leaving a trail behind. Whether the group behind was hostile couldn't be confirmed but one thing was certain, they definitely wouldn't be an ally.

"Alright."

Having received the command, the 5 of them increased the intensity of their attacks as they dashed towards the wooden house.

Fudo used his explosive speels to clear the path ahead while Katsuo and Yato pushed the monsters in front of them to the side. Seiichi fired arrows from the blindspot of the formation, targeting any monster that tried to force its way towards the group.

The team moved forward with great vigor and the monsters weren't able to impede them in any way.

Seeing as the others were closing in on the wooden house, Sato turned around to face the 16 monsters behind him.

"I would have loved to play with you guys longer but it's time for me to leave." Sato smiled.

Tightening his grip on his sword, Sato then swung the blade in front of himself.

The first monster to arrive was a pitiful level 7 Earth Snake. As a level 7 monster, it was capable of giving the majority of gamers in IR a run for their money and even the level 8 experts would have to take it seriously. This was because Earth Snakes had a poisonous bite that could paralyze a player and deprive them of their fighting ability. Even though the effect became weaker against stronger opponents, it could still be problematic for 99.9999999999% of gamers in IR.

As for why the Earth Snake is tagged as pitiful in this scenario, this was because the very individual it had set at its target was the 0.0000000001% of the current gamer population, the only player who could be said to be immune to its venom due to the large difference in strength between the two of them. This individual was the very first level 10 [Swordsman], Sky Blade Sato.

"Too bad I can't use you for snake meat soup. You can go meet your predecessors now."

Unlike before, Sato had gathered his full strength and slashed out with tightened muscles. It could be said that just the slash of his encompassed the more than 30 digits of [Strength] he possessed. Against such power, what was a meagre level 7 beast that didn't even have more than 10 points in [Strength]?

Immediately the sword came in contact with the Earth Snake, it cut through it with ease just like a hot knife through butter. Like a divine sword beheading a dragon, the Earth Snake was cut into two sections with the head flying towards the side and the corpse crashing before Sato. Blood spurted from the severed neck almost like fresh water from a fountain, dyeing the floor blood-red.

"One down, 15 more to go."

Some of the blood had sprayed on Sato's face and even a bit of it and landed on his lips, giving him a sinister look that could scare the living hell out of any weak-minded individual.. At that moment, Sato looked almost like a bloodthirsty demon that would stop at nothing just to turn the earth into a bloody hell.