Infinite Realm

Passing through an Exit gate was almost the same as crossing over to another location and the same still applied here.

As Sato and his teammates went through the Exit gate, they felt a slight feeling of weightlessness before feeling that forceful sensation of gravity on their body once again. Opening their eyes, they scanned the sight in front of them.

"It's...different." Fudo spoke up. While he was the first to say it, he wasn't the only one who noticed it. Once they had all opened their eyes, everyone in the gang had caught a glimpse of the same scene at that very moment and the same thought had sprung in their heads; what the hell happened here?

The Middle region's 10th floor was a large field with uneven ground; this was a fact that everyone in the team already knew. But despite the differing height of each elevated patch of land, none of these mounds had reached a certified height where they could be regarded as a mountain. However, there just happened to be one in front of them right now.

"How is this possible?" Sato furrowed his brows.

The first time they were here, they had been teleported closer to the centre of the floor so they were able to spot the kobold settlement quickly. Since they were on a high land back then, they weren't spotted by any kobold but had instead maintained their state of alertness and stealth. This time around though, they had teleported quite some distance away from the central region of the floor and the vicinities of that mountain.

Considering that some new changes must have occurred, being teleported far out was better than being sent to the central region of the floor where they might dying without knowing her. To this, one could only say that the group's luck was pretty impressive.

"That mountain is eerie."

Amongst the group's members, Xue Yan was the highest levelled [Elementalist] so her ability in sensing mana was roughly on par with a level 6 or 7 [Druid]. She was able to sense the uncanny situation surrounding the mountain and decided to alert the others first.

"Indeed. It wasn't here the first time; that, I'm sure of." Fudo nodded.

"The question now is how the heck did a mountain appear out of nowhere? And on the 10th floor at that?"

"I think we will have all our questions at the central region. Meanwhile, everyone, take a 30 minutes break after which we will continue forward. Lu Zhen, you go ahead and scout the area 100-200 metres ahead of us during this time. We're currently in enemy territory and the enemy isn't a dumb monster. There will probably be patrols and sentries just like with the other floors. If we make the mistake of rushing forward now, we may get drowned by their men, and even with the level difference, our defeat would be an eventuality. So, we need to still employ strategies." Sato spoke up.

No one disagreed with Sato's comment as it made quite a lot of sense. The last time they were here, there were at least 200 or so kobolds but only 100 or so kobolds pursued after them. That number alone was more than enough to give the 7 of them a hard time and they had to make use of other groups as bait to draw these monsters away.

Unlike with the first time, they couldn't risk waiting for other players to arrive but they also weren't strong enough to face off against a 100 plus kobolds on their own. Seeing that they were forced to an impasse, Sato had to change his schedule a bit.

After Sato had designated the various roles to everyone, Lu Zhen left the group and went to scout ahead. His role was one of the most, if not the most important one in the team. This was because based on the result of his investigation, Sato would be able to create a workable raid plan for the upcoming battle.

25 minutes later, Lu Zhen had returned to the same spot. Sato had decided to use this place as their hideout as not only was the hill looking somewhat desolate and abandoned, it also had a few escape holes like the ones from before. It served as the perfect location for the team. There was also a small but sizeable cave by the side of the hill. This served as the team's meeting spot as well as their hideout.

"What's the news?" Sato asked.

Lu Zhen first sent a rough map of the neighbouring area to the team chat before retelling his experience.

"A few hundred metres away from here would be the current settlement. Their original location seems to be the new housing spot for that auspicious mountain. When I had approached the settlement to get a better look, I sensed a dangerous aura enshrouding it. I tried to trace the aura back when I discovered it came from the mountain." Lu Zhen said with a bit of apprehension in his words.

"I don't know what it is or what's there but I have a feeling that if we battle close to it, we will die."

Sato grimaced at his words but the thought of Lu Zhen sounding crazy never crossed his mind. Sato knew that Lu Zhen was an Expert player and Experts were quite skilled with their senses, especially their intuition, which has been honed closer to perfection than that of regular people. If anyone else had said this, Sato might not take them seriously but as the words had come from Lu Zhen's mouth, he would rather be wrong and agree with him than take that risk and do otherwise.

"I never planned on us facing them in their home ground in the first place but thanks for the information." Sato said.

"You should have had an inkling of my plan right?" Sato looked Lu Zhen in the eye.

"Was there any suitable spot?"

The others might not understand these words but Lu Zhen did. In a situation such as this, where one was faced with the issue of having to take down a target who was surrounded by his forces and the home ground wasn't so safe, there was only one suitable plan for this. The best plan was to create a diversion to separate the target from the guards and this was to lure one of them away. In this case, it was the target. However, they would need a good ambush spot that would serve to their advantage for this.

"Yes." Lu Zhen smiled as circled at a point on the map in the team chat. Following that, the map displayed in the others interface also had a point circled just like Lu Zhen's.

"Good." Sato nodded right after he read the summary of the environment.

"Alright then. We move in the next 5 minutes. Everyone, this is the plan."