Infinite Realm

They say that real men fear nothing, or rather, true warriors are unafraid of death nor a difficult opponent. Even when faced with an opponent stronger than themselves, they tend to persevere to the best they can. They could rush head-on against a dozen men or even a hundred men. A battle troupe with a 100% victory rate was not enough to even shake their will.

However, there are two things that such people fear most in a fight. The first were opponents with mysterious or bizarre fighting methods. The second is an exceedingly overwhelming opponent that makes them see no chance of victory; a death god or the reaper's beloved and that take their lives with the ease a farmer uses to pluck the weeds from the farmland. Against anyone that falls under either of these categories, the so-called 'real men' or 'true warriors' are incapable of putting up any form of resistance. And for the Howling Wolf Battalion present on the 10th floor, Sato was a foe that fell under the second category; an overwhelmingly powerful individual. 

Against his blade, no one was able to take more than two hits. Usually, the first was to disassemble one's defense and the second would be the killing blow but a majority of the time, most of them fell at the first strike. Having either their weapon tossed aside or their bodies flying through the air like birds on steroids. What made this that impressive was the fact that these players weren't your everyday gamers or some noob rank player; they were Experts who could easily have a high-ranking position in any guild below a super guild. Even in a super guild, they would still be respected and treated with utmost sincerity in the group. Yet, an entire formation made up of such players was being wrecked apart by Sato in seconds.

"Stand your ground!" Silver Wolf yelled to regain control of his team.

"Work with me here or we're both going to suffer." He said to Azure Dragon threateningly.

"Why so anxious? Have your men hold him down while mine deliver the finishing strike." Azure Dragon nonchalantly replied. 

Obviously, he wasn't so foolish as to immediately join the battle. No matter what, he would rather have the Howling Wolf Battalion deplete Sato's stamina before acting. Also, as a mage, he was able to sense that Sato's current strength was due to a special skill of sorts.

'It's probably a berserk skill.' Azure Dragon narrowed his eyes.

He was right. 

The skill active was [Gratitude of Races], which Sato had originally intended to use and finish the Kobold King before it suddenly escaped. There were still about 7 seconds left on the clock after that so he had used it to take on the Howling Wolf Battalion.

'It's like running on steroids. Once the time is up, he will be exhausted and weakened.' Azure Dragon thought.

Most berserk skills had the side-effect of putting the user in a state of weakness once the duration was over and Azure Dragon had presumed that Sato's skill was the same. If he were to form a strategy on this basis and use it against another player, Azure Dragon would most likely succeed with his plans but against Sato, that was a dream. After all, Sato's skill was [Gratitude of Races] which happened to be the current best existing berserk skill that not only had a lot of abilities and power-ups but had a long duration with no side-effects.

"Black Tempest, move with your team and get past the. Find the Kobold King as quickly as possible." Azure Dragon ordered in the team chat. 

Now was the best time to make a move especially as Sato was too focused on Iron Bear's team. Against him, Azure Dragon believed that with his strategy and unit, defeating Sato wouldn't be an issue. Hence, there was no need for Black tempest's team to remain behind. They might as well go on with their mission.

"Alright, captain."

Black Tempest then led his team forward, ignoring the battle happening just a few metres behind them. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Sato abruptly turned behind and slashed at the closest player to him on their side.

There was a distance of at least 9 metres between the two of them but Sato had easily closed that gap within a second. The target was a [Ranger] player; a class notable for their eyesight and recognition speed. In terms of reflexes and environmental awareness, they were roughly on par with [Assassins] but even then, the player never noticed when Sato had arrived behind him despite having his guard up for sneak attacks.

-997 (???/??? ???)

"The hell? kuack" [The Ranger] barely managed to say these words with a low voice before he was forced to vomit blood right before another slash flashed with his head being severed off his neck.

Everyone in the team was an Expert so that low voice from the deceased as well as the killing aura that pervaded amongst them was enough to put them all on alert.

"You dare?!" Black Tempest roared. Even Battle Wolves who currently had some beef with them had yet to attack but a reckless solo player actually did.

"Attack!" 

A battle cry broke out as the players took up a formation before converging in on Sato who was in the midst of them. Under the lead of Black tempest, the close-range combatants dashed towards Sato while the long-range attackers made way for them and retreated to the back.

"Let's attack too." 

Iron Bear's team, which was currently led by another player, also joined in o the assault as they attacked from behind.

In this manner, Sato was surrounded from all angles. Retreating wasn't an option and he could only forge a path of blood if he wished to. However, Sato never planned on escaping.

"Xue Yan, you guys find the Kobold king and get rid of it while I keep them busy." Sato whispered. It looked like he was talking to himself but Sato knew that 'they' had gotten the message.

"Okay." A female voice sounded in his ears.

"Now, let the real slaughter commence."