Infinite Realm

"Roar!!!"

Not more than two seconds after the explosion had settled down, the terrifying roar of a creature sounded out. Just its screams alone had forced everyone to a temporary halt.

[[System notification : You have received mental damage.]]

-5

-5

-5...

A splitting headache assaulted the heads of Sato and his teammates but they forced themselves to ignore the pain as they resumed their escape.

'Just a little bit more...' Xue Yan breathed heavily as she ran. They had already ran quite some distance and she could easily see the exit from where she currently was. But seeing the exit channel didn't mean she was safe.

The green-eyed kobold recovered from the blast with only a few dark patches on its cloak. The explosion that was capable of injuring below level 15 monsters, severely injuring a level 10 monster and sending anything below that directly to the grave, couldn't even harm a hair on the monster. If not because the 10th floor couldn't accommodate level 15 monsters, Sato would have suspected the kobold to be one and not a weak one at that.

The green-eyed kobold was infuriated at Fudo's sneak attack and wanted to reciprocate in kind. However, by combining [Blaze Movement] together with the time taken before the kobold regained its composure, Fudo had taken an alternate route that was covered with obstacles. Pursuing him would be but a waste of time so the green-eyed kobold decided to leave him for last. Turning its attention towards the next target, it selected Xue Yan as its prey. This was mainly because she was a fire [Elementalist] and also because she happened to be the closest to it. Of the surviving players, Xue Yan was the slowest so it couldn't be helped that she became the new target.

Narrowing its eyes as it stared at its target, the kobold finally made its move.

Reaching its level, one would gain intelligence not less than that of a human. In other words, the monster had achieved intellect. From the current setting, it could see that the players were heading towards the dark exits as if their lives depended on it. Just by intuition alone, the kobold felt that if they walked through there, it would be a lot harder to find them again.

Just a distance of 80 metres or so, separated Xue Yan from the exit. If she were given at least 5-7 seconds, she could easily make it but it wasn't like the kobold intended to sit back and let that happen.

Stretching its hands forth, the kobold activated its spatial abilities, summoning forth an attractive force that dragged Xue Yan over to it. This was using the abilities of space to mimic the gravitational force exhibited by large bodies. It is known that all objects possess gravity and the larger an object's mass, the greater the gravitational pull. But it stands without a doubt that all objects occupy and exist in space for space is the foundation of all matter. Using this theory in a much more advanced method, one could mimic certain natural forces to a degree by just relying on spatial control and manipulation.

Though it was previously mentioned that the green-eyed kobold's control over the spatial elements was too weak to be implemented in battle, this was in consideration of a battle between the creature and an equal being or one stronger than itself. To give an analogy, the damage the kobold could exhibit with its spatial prowess was similar to the damage of a pillow. Like how an adult could use a pillow and finish off a little child in a fight, but against another adult or in a gunfight, a pillow served almost no use to victory. In other words, by power ranking, Sato and the others were nothing more than a little child in front of the kobold.

"Ahhhh!"

Being the one on which the force of attraction was exhibited upon, Xue Yan was extremely nervous and scared. At this moment, she had finally comprehended the meaning of the phrase "so close at hand yet so far away". All she needed was but a few, little seconds yet the kobold or rather, fate didn't offer her that. Xue Yan had thought that the explosion would have held the monster back long enough; she had hope and maybe because of that, her fall was painful.

One would wonder why she felt this way in a game but when a person is immersed in a VR world that looks exactly like the real world, they tend to take it so unconsciously. No one liked to die, whether in a real world or a fake and also, the pain felt was damn real. Produced by inducing the nerves with certain shocks, which was much more direct than having one's physical body injured, there was no holding it down or conquering the pain. In fact, rumours had it that when one feels pain at a 100% sensation rate, even if it was just a minor stab or scratch, the pain felt during pregnancy labour flops in comparison.

Like a nail to a magnet, Xue Yan was forcefully attracted towards the green-eyed kobold, without any shot at escaping.

"Xue Yan!"

Lu Zhen had always kept his watch on Xue Yan the entire time. Being related to her, he subconsciously treated her as his younger sister and didn't want anything bad to happen to her, be it in-game or in reality. Ignoring his own safety or chance of victory, Lu Zhen dashed towards the green eyed kobold.

At this point, Sato couldn't ignore everything and keep running. If Xue Yan dies here, he would automatically fail to fulfill the contract as Sato doubted whether any of the big teams would lose in this raid. God knew how long it would take him make a lot of money for the team to get a new round of consumables and supplies.

"[Astral Blade]!"

A 5 metres long azure colored band flew out and struck at the green eyed kobold. Like a long-range sword attack, the slash was very swift and sharp. It carried with it an indescribable momentum that came from above. It was like the strike of a higher being released with the intention of ripping apart the skies. Ignoring the physical aspect of things, the sword strike had an attached [Willpower] attack on it. If one's will and ability to resist was way too weak to be worth anything, the target wouldn't just lose out to the physical attack but also a mental attack. This was the effect of the passive skill attached to Sato's new sword, [Astral Might].

As for the attack itself, this was the only active skill of the blade which also happened to be named right after it. To use this skill, one would have to store the energy of the stars into the sword. In other words, one would have to expose the sword to the night sky. Before the raid had begun, Sato had gone out once to store up enough energy of the stars to unleash one strike beyond his regular capabilities. If not for the current limit of the sword, which allowed only one hit to be stored, Sato would have otherwise stayed longer much than he did. Even still, the might of this one slash shouldn't be underestimated. If timed well, it was quite possible for Sato to take out 40% of a level 7 or 8 [Guardian]'s HP, and this was the class most famous for their HP and defense!

With a brilliant sky-blue trail, the azure slash closed in on the kobold before Lu Zhen or Xue Yan did so. Despite attacking late, Sato's attack had arrived earlier than the others.

"???"

The kobold stared curiously at the approaching object. Though it felt a small sense of apprehension towards this slash, it still wasn't much. In other words, it felt that Sato's full blown strike that could turn the tables of a PvP fight, would cause nothing more than a minor mark on its body.

*Bang*

With its claws, the green-eyed kobold collided with the azure slash, disintegrating it into azure pieces that scattered all over. It didn't get severely injured or harmed, only being forced 2 steps backwards by the blow with a few scratch marks here and there on both its skin and cloak.

'What a tough defense...'

Though Sato's strike failed to injure it much, it still caused some scars to the creature. With this move of his, he had managed to figure out the bottom line and a few more valuable battle info about the monster.

Because the kobold was forced to pay attention to the azure blade, the gravitational pull it had displayed got weaker and so, Xue Yan was able to extricate herself from it.

At the same time, Lu Zhen tossed a few projectiles to hold the monster back before turning around and running away, moving alongside Xue Yan to keep her safe.

The green-eyed kobold simply swatted away Lu Zhen's attacks, like a human would do with a measly mosquito. Glaring at Lu Zhen and Xue Yan, the green eyed kobold finally unleashed the entirety of its aura, bringing a massive change to the ambience of the entire place.

Before the two, Lu Zhen and Xue Yan, could go past 4 metres, the temperature of the area suddenly dropped below zero, making the two of them feel as if they were in a frost hell. This wasn't because of the monster targeting them specifically but it was simply the kobold releasing its bloodlust and aura to the max.

The kobold didn't stop there as it took a step forward and suddenly appeared behind Xue Yan, sending a claw her way. Xue Yan didn't have the ability to react quickly as she saw a claw moving towards her. It looked slow yet fast but there was nothing she could do about it.

Just when Xue Yan thought all hope was lost, Lu Zhen appeared close by using [Silent Steps] to teleport beside her. He struck out with his dagger, aiming the tip right at the right eye of the kobold. This way, if the monster were to go on with its attack, it would undoubtedly get severely injured by Lu Zhen's move. But if Lu Zhen were to go on and the kobold happens to retaliate, without any accident, he would surely die.

'Lu...' Xue Yan thought with glistening eyes. She knew that for a creature like the kobold, there was no way it would go through with its attack. It had gained intellect and wouldn't want to be injured if it can avoid such. Xue Yan guessed Lu Zhen also knew this and that was why he aimed for such a critical spot. He was forcing the monster to focus on him, using his life as bait to save Xue Yan's.

Indeed, without exception, the green eyed kobold retracted its claw and moved against Lu Zhen. After Fudo's previous trick it was already incensed about being injured by 'lower lifeforms'. It didn't plan on adding more to its 'injuries' any more.

'Hehe, I won't go down that easily.'

Knowing he was going to die either way, Lu Zhen looked to severely injure the kobold, that way, he can increase the chances of the others successfully getting away.

"Puah!"

"Arghhh!"

As a claw dug into his chest, Lu Zhen coughed out a large amount of blood but at the same time, using the entirety of his leftover strength and piercing the kobold right in the eye. What's worse was that he didn't stop there. Lu Zhen actually slashed down with the dagger still stuck in its eye. For a living creature, the pain one would feel from such an attack was beyond estimation.

With bulging green eyes, the kobold used its other claw and sliced at Lu Zhen's neck, decapitating him and sending him to his death.

Just like that, the third player, the [Assassin] Lu Zhen, had died.

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