Infinite Realm

-27

*Roar*

"What spell was that?" Staring incredulously at the flaming [Cursed servant], Sato was impressed at the visual impact and attack power of the skill.

"Haha, that wasn't a skill, it was just a spell I got from an accessory I found earlier on while waiting for you."

[[ Igneel's guidance lower replica (Necklace) : Upper Tier Mortal Class

+3 Luck

+30% increase in Attack power of fire type spells

+10% decrease in casting time for fire type spells

+15% affinity to fire elements

Explosion : Cause an explosion on the target leading to an instant damage of 200% of caster's attack power together with the [Burn] effect; deducting 10 Hp each 3 seconds for 7 seconds.

Cool-down : 30 seconds. ]]

"Try to hold it off for as long as you can." Even though he had been speaking with Fudo, Sato was actually running over to the little platform that held the chest.

*Roar*

Frustrated at the fact that it was sneak attacked, the [Cursed servant] roared in anger. Despite being blinded temporary, it headed straight towards the platform as it's instinct was to protect the chest.

"Don't you dare!" After taking note of the high damage he had inflicted onto it, Fudo theorized that fire type spells would cause higher damage to it than regular mana-based attacks and so he attacked it with the [Fireball] spell which had an almost instant casting time, thanks to the necklace's properties, and a fast cool-down to attract its aggro.

-17 [Fireball]

-20 [Fireball]

-10 [Burn]

Right after the last [Fireball] spell, the [Temporary Blindness] effect went off and almost immediately, the [Burn ] effect took place .

'I might actually solo it.' Being conceited with his current progress against the creature, Fudo entertained the thought of completely finishing off the creature with minimal damage and was prepared to use a stronger spell.

All of a sudden, the [Cursed servant] that was previously within his sights disappeared as if it were never there, appearing almost instantaneously in front of Fudo with a black book opened atop its left palm and it's right hand lifted right in front of him. At the same time, a human-like sneer took shape on its face with dark mana gathering atop its right palm.

'Shit !' Fudo was startled by the instant displacement of the creature and tried to escape. However before he could react, he got blasted 3 metres away crashing into a nearby wall and collapsing within the recently formed rubble.

-52 [Pitch ball] (48/100 Fudo) (AN : Considering writing who gets injured together with their Hp in order to avoid confusion of numbers.)

Rather than finishing off Fudo, the [ Cursed servant] turned towards Sato and once again lifted up its right hand, aiming at Sato with the intent to finish him off in one strike despite his close proximity to the chest.

Meanwhile Sato, who had earlier reached the platform and had begun the procedure of unlocking the chest, watched everything as it transpired but couldn't make a move (AN : Mentioned in Chapter 4 about how a player who doesn't possess the thief of [Fraudster] subclass has to remain motionless while unlocking a chest but can turn their heads or talk.). However, once he saw the [Cursed servant] lifting its hand towards him, he unhesitantly dodged it, thereby cancelling the unlocking procedure.

[Pitch crepuscular ray]

*Clang*

Upon dodging, Sato saw a dark ray passing through his former position, eventually blasting the courtyard wall into rumbles (An : Imagine that the battle between it and Fudo was going on by Sato's left.). On the contrary, the slight part that collided with the chest got deflected by a magic barrier that came up and produced a sound akin to that of metals clashing.

'A little slower and I would have been a goner.' Exhaling, Sato began studying his opponent. Meanwhile, the said creature didn't seem annoyed or disappointed that its prey had dodged its attack. On the other hand, its condescending smile seemed to be satisfied at such as if saying 'It's good you didn't die so quickly'.

'Even though I knew it was strong experiencing it is a different story.' Unsheathing his sword, Sato studied the[Cursed servant]'s expression and recalled its previous moves.

'Initially when it was blinded, its speed was quite slow roughly matching mine. Compared to now, that's nothing. Also Fudo had initially attracted its aggro but it still headed my way. That could be excused with the fact that it was assigned to protect the chest. However, it instantaneously moved towards Fudo once it regained its sight, as if its previous actions of hurriedly rushing towards the chest was a trick to drop his guard. That movement didn't seem so much like a kill so it's probably its regular speed. Couple these facts with that smug look on its face…This creature has intellect.' Upon reaching that conclusion, Sato's face became grave.

A monster with intellect and a monster without any. A lot of people might not know the difference but it still remains the dread of every player to encounter such. Even in the past VRMMORPG games, intellectual monsters have been rated extremely dangerous more so for Infinite Realm. Such monsters are capable of setting traps or even scheming against players, either by playing weak and all of a sudden bursting with overpowered strength just like the [Cursed servant]. These monsters are also able to fight players, possessing combat standards and movements like players. All in all, it is the wish of every player to never meet one.

However, some say otherwise 'As the Heavens are fair so is the system'. This has been a popular saying among players. It simply means that the harder a mission is or the more difficult a monster is to kill, the greater the reward. As such, despite knowing the danger, some players are always ready to take on a monster with intellect.

'This will be tough, I need something to balance out our attribute differences.' While Sato was in thought, the [Cursed servant] finally got bored of waiting and made it's move, closing the distance between it and Sato. At this point, the [Burn] effect was over, giving the creature a total damage of 23.

Without wasting time, Sato used [Sprint] and retreated backwards in a bid to create space between him and the [Cursed servant].Looking afar one might find this funny, since the key to beating a mage is to close up the gap however Sato was doing the direct opposite.

Despite activating [Sprint], the [Cursed servant]'s speed far outstripped Sato's. As such, the estimated 7 meter gap between them lessened. Within a second, the initial 7 meter gap became a 1 meter gap.

Sensing the creature behind him, Sato spun around while slashing at it. Seeing this, the [Cursed servant] gave up chasing and instead released dark coloured eerie gas from it's sleeves.

[Dark Nebula]

Due to the close proximity to the creature, together with the skill's range, Sato got caught in the gas. Immediately, a flurry of system alerts shone on his interface.

[[System : Player has been infected by a dark curse.

[Main attribute reduction] : 10% reduction in main attributes.

[Slow] : movement speed and attack speed reduced by 10%.

[Light Hallucinations] : player would experience hallucinations once in a while. ]]

''This is bad.''

Being affected by multiple curses, Sato's confidence began wavering. The first three status effects are self explanatory however the last one happens to be horrible if not the worst.

[Light Hallucinations] may sound less intimidating than the rest but it happens to be a top feared curse. This is because the [Light Hallucination] status effect sporadically creates illusions at irregular frequencies and times, from hindering players from knowing what is real or not.

Moving out of the 2 meter radius gas-enveloped field, Sato headed to a nearby pillar trying to lose the [Cursed servant], while it didn't even move a single step, as if it wasn't worried Sato would escape.

'It has only 212HP, however with the rate things are going, Fudo and I will both end up dead. I need a game changer.' Going through his bags, Sato began looking for anything that could help.

'Hmm…this is…' Looking through the System interface that showed his beginner's bag's contents, he raised an eyebrow but recalling that the [Cursed servant] was an intellectual creature, he recovered quickly.

'Luckily he didn't see me. I don't know its intelligence level so its best not too reveal anything especially a hopeful expression.' Hiding behind a pillar, Sato rejoiced.

'But something feels off, even if he looks down on us, it should have eliminated us long ago. Why then does it not do so?… Well whatever, it doesn't matter.

'That attack on Fudo shouldn't have taken him down so quickly. I reckon he's bidding time to get a clear hit on the [Cursed servant] once it drops its guard. I might as well make that possible.'

With a heavy sigh, Sato prepared once more to face the [Cursed servant], however what he saw next left he stunned.