Infinite Realm

[[ System notification :

You have been infected by the passive skill [Inborn Fear]

Attack Power reduced by 10% ]]

'A passive skill just from its voice?' Sato frowned as the team approached the origin of the noise.

*Step* *Step*

Katsuo, who stood in front, was the first to notice the creature. It was a cloaked humanoid figure that held out a hand with an orb in it. The monster walked around aimlessly, but in a programmed manner, chanting a few incoherent words while periodically letting out that strange roar that had stunned the team.

The creature was oozing out a dreadful aura of darkness that encroached the heart and mind of all, weakening one's fighting ability and giving off a chilling atmosphere in the area.

"The heck is that?" Fudo couldn't help but curse once he got a sight of the creature.

Sato narrowed his eyes as he felt it was a bit familiar but couldn't pin his finger to it.

"Look carefully." Seiichi suddenly said.

With his prompt, the others focused their sights up ahead and noticed that there wasn't just one of that creature there; there were at least 6 others, but due to the dim lighting as well as the dark clothing of the monsters, they didn't notice they at first glance.

"Time for our first battle I guess." Sato said while everyone else prepared themselves.

"Go."

Katsuo immediately charged towards one of the monsters in the passage with his shield in front of himself and just as he was a few metres away from it, he released a deafening roar.

[Taunt]

"Argh!"

[Taunt] was the most basic skill as well as one of the few skills common amongst the two MT classes, the [Guardian] and the [Paladin]. While the description of the skill was plain and simple, its functionality was top-notch. Unlike most skills that needed to be activated by performing a specific sequence or series of actions, [Taunt] could be activated by utilising any method the user saw fit. 

Some activated the skill by a simple swing of their weapon, others did so by performing undermining or unscrupulous actions, but there were a few who used the skill by doing the simplest action that attracted attention; shouting. By raising their voice high, these players were able to bring out the fullest effects of the skill and draw attention towards themselves without a hitch. Katsuo happened to be among this group of players.

*Creak*

As expected, the monsters noticed Katsuo but the first to react was the one closest to him. While it was indeed the first to react to Katsuo's outrageous cry, it wasn't able to react to his attack in time.

*Bang*

-3 (???/??? ???)

[[ System battle notification : 

The opponent has been stunned for 0.3 seconds. ]]

The shield collided with the creature right in the chest, creating a concave on the spot, followed by a deformation to the posture of the monster. With its head leaning towards Katsuo and the abdominal area moving in the opposite direction, the creature was pushed back by Katsuo to the point it almost collapsed to the floor after retreating back by 4 steps.

'What a tough fellow.' Katsuo thought, but he didn't slow down with his actions as he immediately drew his sword and swung the edge right at the monster.

-52 (???/??? ???)

Seeing the little amount of damage his attack had caused, Katsuo raised an eyebrow but he didn't lose track of himself. Having constantly practiced with the team following Sato's orders, he had already learnt the basics of the role of a tank and knew when and what to set as his priority.

'[Inspect]'

[[ System interface : 

Dark Priest (Common)

Race : Human (???)

Level : 11

HP : 1595/1650

Physical Attack Power : 60

Magical attack power : 135

Physical Defense : 37 (x1.5) 

Magical Defense : 67 (x1.5) 

Attack Speed : 60

Movement Speed : 36

Attributes 

Strength : 20

Endurance : 25

Vitality : 110

Agility : 18

Dexterity : 20

Intelligence : 50

Willpower : 45

Skills 

. . .

]]

Immediately he got the results, Katsuo didn't hesitate to send it to the team chat while he took on the monster.

Just a second later, the other 6 Dark Priests had arrived before him and Katsuo was soon to be out under an onslaught.

*Boom*

A fireball darted and collided on one of the Dark Priests, setting off an explosion that blew it, alongside on other, to the side.

*Phew*

2 arrows shot through from behind, accurately hitting two of the Dark Priests and pushing them back just a bit.

Another fireball appeared and rammed one Dark Priest directly on the chest, pulling it away from Katsuo. As for the last one, Lu Zhen had stealthily appeared beside it and landed a kick on it, giving Katsuo a better breathing space.

'Good.' Sato nodded as he watched from behind.

While the team's coordination and battle sense weren't up to par with those of 1st tier guilds and above, they could narrowly make their way to be on par with the trump card teams of 2nd tier guilds.

Yato, who wasn't part of the combo mix just then, suddenly moved for the two Dark Priests temporarily knocked away by the arrows. 7 Dark Priests, on par with him in level, was a task for Katsuo to keep up with do Yato had to turn to a makeshift tank for at least two of them. In support would be Seiichi, who would make use of his high damage and precision strikes to lessen the pressure on Yato.

As for the other 5 Dark Priests, Katsuo would have to find a way to hold them down while the main damage dealers, Fudo and Xue Yan, finish them off. For someone who wasn't a pro gamer, this was a very difficult task. 

Luckily, Katsuo had some experience in tanking as he was usually assigned that role in different VR games due to his physique. Also, he had Lu Zhen to assist him with timely sneak attacks but the most important point was still Xue Yan. Having a level 15 heavy-hitter backing you up against a bunch of level 11 monsters had its value.

*Boom*

"Craww!!!"

Before 2 minutes was up, the first Dark Priest had died under the combined attack of Xue Yan and Lu Zhen. Fudo assisted Katsuo to hold back the others and while he hadn't killed any, he had succeeded in dropping the HP of the monsters by a sizeable chunk.

"I won't be lasting long guys." Yato suddenly yelled from the other side.

He wasn't like Sato who was both absurdly strong and absurdly skilled. Yato was the definition of a typical [Swordsman] player so there was no way he would be able to hold off 2 Dark Priests at his level all on his own, even if he had Seiichi's assistance. 

One major reason for this lay in the fact that the team lacked a healer, so each member had to be careful in fights and avoid getting injured as much as possible. While there were HP potions, these potions had a limited effect as well as a cool-down, so compared to having an actual Healer player on standby, it couldn't suffice.

"Katsuo, Yato, gather them all at the same spot then run." Xue Yan suddenly said.

"Alright." 

None of them asked any questions as they simply did as she said. Katsuo steadily held his ground while Yato simply dashed towards him with the Dark Priests following closeby.

When the two monsters were within reach, Katsuo abruptly yelled again, activating [Taunt] once more and pulling the somewhat mindless creatures towards himself.

"Move!" Katsuo roared.

[Grand Rebound]

*Bang*

A yellow force field erupted from Katsuo's shield and spread out in a hemispherical manner, pushing the 6 Dark Priests away from him. At the same time, Xue Yan aimed her staff towards them and Katsuo immediately cleared the way, escaping from his previous position with all his might.

[Monarch Of Flames] passive skill engaged.

"[Blazing Fury]." 

[Fire Manipulation]

Xue Yan's eyes had a light orange glow in them as a pillar of red light burst forth from the tip of her staff and darted towards the 6 monsters. 

Just as it was close to them, the red light exploded in a fury, releasing a 'tsunami' of flames that covered a large part of the corridor. The temperature of the area had suddenly increased by tenfolds and even Yato, Lu Zhen, and the others had to withdraw a bit to keep themselves safe from the absurd heat. 

As for the Dark Priests, they were engulfed in the flames, and while they weren't exactly at the centre of the explosion, they weren't so far from it.

"Damn..." Fudo couldn't help but exclaim.

"No matter how many times I see it, it's still amazing."

The attack used by Xue Yan was actually a combo that utilised all three of the skills attached to her staff, [Aoefir]. The first was the passive skill, [Monarch Of Flames], that increased her affinity to fire element by 10%, indirectly increasing the attack power of her fire-based skills. [Blazing Fury] was an active skill that released a large swathe of flames equivalent to 170% of her attack power in a 5 metres radius around her. As for the last skill, [Fire Manipulation], it was the most important skill in the combo and the reason why the explosion had occurred away from Xue Yan rather than around her.

[Fire Manipulation] granted Xue Yan the ability to control her flames, both in form and direction. Using this skill, she had temporarily prevented [Blazing Fury], which was actually a self-defence skill, from triggering around her, and had instead compressed it into a ray which she fired towards the Dark Priests and finally released its true form. However, the level of skill required in using this ability was too high that Xue Yan wasn't able to maintain the ray for long so [Blazing Fury] had returned to its true form quicker than expected, causing a devastating explosion within a 5 metres radius of the ray's last stop.

Nonetheless, the Dark Priests were still caught in the midst of the explosion and had suffered heavy injuries.

"Time to finish them off." Lu Zhen immediately dived into the flames just as it had begun dispersing, hoping to get the last kill on the creatures.

"Stop right there, you cheat." Yato roared as he followed right behind him.

Sato stood behind as he watched all this with a small smile on his face. At that moment, he felt like a father watching his children grow, and while the feeling was a bit awkward, he didn't think too much about it.

'The gaming world is about to experience the rise of a new powerful force.'