Infinite Realm

Middle region's 10th floor was a wide expanse of land that solely housed a large kobold tribe. The leader of the tribe was a kobold lord with a higher bloodline purity than an average kobold and is usually the highest in the tribe. If any other kobold with a high bloodline purity than average kobolds but less than the chief's appears, it would serve directly under the chief as a guard and would only be beneath it in terms of authority. Such a simple political structure might seem to have a lot of loopholes and would result in terrible governance and whatnot, but it didn't matter to these simplistic creatures. All they needed was a leader and be it a dictator, a democrat or a republican, they didn't care.

While it stands true that once a kobold with a much higher bloodline purity than the current chief is birthed and becomes of age would then become the new chief, there was a special exception. This was in the case where the new figure has a bloodline purity approaching the 0.1%. The kobolds didn't have any scientific or laboratory way of testing this, but the instinctual fear as a result of the difference in life order would help them tell the purity levels. Such figures with an inborn high level of bloodline purity were referred to as kobold kings.

Such figures that closed in on those numbers were very rare among kobold kind approaching it, they would experience a qualitative change[1] that would brighten up their future. Each time such a being was born, it signified the opportunity for thriving times for the tribe that gave birth to such an individual, hence, the value and rank for such a personage was above the chief title.

For this kobold tribe that had settled in the Middle regions' 10th floor, they were lucky enough to raise one such character. Following the tribe's traditions, it was encased in a statue of the kobold legendary figure with offerings and prayers being offered on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. If Sato and the rest had made their moves just a month later, it would have undergone a qualitative change and have a bloodline purity of 1%, finally stepping out of the category of kobold to become a dragon-kin. By then, the chances of a team of players under level 10 beating it would be less than 2%. However, thanks to the efforts of team Sato, they had ended up creating an unexpected domino effect, resulting in the world class boss not undergoing a promotion. Of course, while this was a good thing, it wasn't so good. 

Even if the kobold king's advancement was obstructed, the monster was still a tough figure to beat. With it's early release, players would be forced to face it before they could progress through to the next floor. There would have been no problem if the kobold king was your average boss but it wasn't. This could easily be seen from its manipulation of spatial elements and an emerald colored fire, which was a sign of having obtained a special flame.

Even though the resulting noise from the kobold king's class with Sato and the others was quite loud, the alliance members(Soran + Azure's teammates) weren't able to verify the cause or the on-going events. This became even more worse for them after they realised that the sounds of the battle had stopped.

Curiosity overwhelmed them but recalling the previous explosive sounds alongside that massive wave of green colored flames, the two groups didn't wish to make a move. The only thing they tried doing was looking for a way out. 

"Damn it. What the hell is going on there?!" Black Tempest cursed. 

After the kobold horde had departed, most of the players initially sighed with relief till a sense of distress flooded over them. From there on, the alliance of Emperor's Might and the God's Retaliation Battalion squad was broken. It became an every man for himself situation. 

Azure Dragon, having prior knowledge of the floor, took his men to a tunnel that he suspected to be an exit point. It was one of the retreat options he had prepared just in case the raid went south. When they were being pursued the first time, Azure Dragon didn't give the order to completely retreat because he would end up dissatisfied and targeted by the other upper echelons for not achieving anything. But now that they not only lost some men but also had no evident chances of success, he decided to make the decision. At the very least, the failure wouldn't be totally pinned on his head and he could also claim to have tried his best. Of course, that didn't mean he would be free from punishment having lost at least 6 men out of a team of 16.

"That's probably our sign to run faster." Chesces smirked bitterly. This wasn't the first time he had seen such absurd display of power; in fact, it was very common in VR games. Chesces only felt despondent at his current state of weakness where he could do nothing but run. In fact, this had been the trend ever since Soran's team had arrived.

"Stop talking and focus on running!" Azure Dragon barked. "We need to make it there before any trouble closes in on us."

"Captain, over there!" A random player that we don't need to bother about, shouted.

With that shout, everyone focused their attention in front. Unknowingly, they had reached the edge of the floor and just in front was a protrusion on the cave's wall, at approximately an elevated point 2 metres above ground. The protrusion was like a pointed stage that went out 2 metres away from the wall. At the point it came into contact with the wall, there was a hole that lead into the wall. The end couldn't be seen as the place was dark but Azure Dragon had previously sent a player to investigate and there was no problem with it.

The hole was just 120 metres or so away from them and with the current speed they were running at, it would take them 10 to 12 seconds to make it. None of them shied away from using their agility-boosting skills because as pro-players, they always took things seriously. If there was ever a need to retreat, then they would do it to the best of their ability and not be stingy with skills. 

'Just a little bit more and we are safe.' Azure Dragon urged himself. He needed to get the remainder of his teammates out, safe and sound. That way, the penalty from the guild he would receive, would be much less than normal. Plus with the guesses he thought up regarding this incident, Azure Dragon believed that the information would further reduce his sentence.

As for where Soran went, Azure Dragon wasn't bothered nor interested. On the contrary, he wanted those group of psychos to perish within this cavern. That way, one group of possible opponents would suffer a terrifying loss.

'Almost…' As the group got within the 30 metres mark away from the hole, Azure Dragon slowly began to relax and placed his mind on other points, like how to face the pressure of the upper echelons after this failure of a raid.

"!!!"

Suddenly, a daunting pressure erupted on Azure Dragon, abruptly forcing him to stop and on his knees albeit almost. This was all thanks to his professional training received from the guild. If there was someone else in his shoes, then would have ended up in an awkwardly disastrous position. Though Azure Dragon did avoid a complete stop and unnecessary embarrassment from lying on the ground, due to the remaining momentum from his run, he ended up taking a few awkward steps  forward before he successfully calmed the tension on his body.

"What was that?"

"I don't know…"

"What a terrifying pressure…"

Azure Dragon wasn't the only one that ended up under the influence of that mysterious force as the other members of the team had already halted their movements. Normally, as a professional, when such a scenario occurs, one should run forward with all their might, not daring to look back but these guys did the opposite. If this were in real life, they wouldn't do such a thing as it might risk their lives but this was a game so they weren't all that bothered about death especially if they were risking their lives for valuable information. In this case, the valuable information was the cause of the sudden terrifying pressure.

"What's that?" A player suddenly said. It was that same player whose name is not required. The object he was referring to was a black dot approaching them in a strange manner. It disappeared and appeared at intervals and with each cycle, it got closer to the group.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING THERE GAWKING AT?! RUN!" Azure Dragon yelled at the top of his voice. Unlike them, he was an [Elementalist] so his mana sensitivity levels was only below that of a [Druid]. The black dot that was approaching them, was like, for him, a horrifying creature filled with mana. In his mana vision, the black dot was like a horrifying conglomeration of aura, reaching a height equivalent with a 3 storey building and still spiking up. Without a doubt, that little approaching black object was the source of that overwhelming swathe of green flames from before. 

'It's most likely the world-class boss. What happened? Did that third party fail? Damn it. A bunch of mongrels not only interrupted our raid but it seems they vexed the boss otherwise, it wouldn't have chased us this far out.' Azure Dragon cursed.

The players might not be afraid of 'death' but he was afraid of them dying. With each player his team loses, he would end up with more pressure from the upper echelons, resulting in his sentence increasing.

Work first, fun later. This was the unspoken code of pro players showing that they had to do as they were told before considering enjoying the perks of a game. In most cases, it was simply to listen to the orders of their superior and in this case, the guild players had to obey Azure Dragon's command and hold down their curiosity to the unknown object, immediately taking to their heels and resuming their race to the hole.

However, they were trying to outrun a monster that had elementary control over space. Even if it was elementary, teleportation surpassed mere bodily movement.

It didn't even take up to 3 seconds when the 'black dot' had closed in on the group, revealing itself to be the kobold king that had attacked Sato's group. 

Despite a distance of 2 metres between them, the kobold king just swung its right hand lightly, at the pace of a leaf falling down during a sunny day.

Accompanying the motion of its palm was a large wave of flames that simply blocked any chances of escaping from behind. The flames were a lot smaller than the ones used against Seiichi, not reaching up to the ceiling, but they were still comparably as hot and dangerous. It was no joke to say that one would directly turn to ash upon contact with it.

"Dodge!"Azure Dragon yelled as he conjured up a water wall behind them. Compared to the flames, however, size-wise, the water wall was like an average sedan in the path of a boulder. Strength-wise however, it was like a pebble trying to compare with a boulder; it simply stood no chance whatsoever.

The flames ended up drowning at least 4 of the remaining 10 players, leaving the other 6 safe for now. But the kobold king never intended to just stop at one attack. While the flames had failed to kill these 6, it still succeeded in forcing them to a halt and making them diverge from their original intended path. This gave the kobold king more time to kill them as the hole was just 10 metres away. For current players, a 10 metres sprint was nothing and would just take at most, 2~3 seconds, but these little seconds were enough for the kobold king to cause some irreparable damage.

"Arghh" 

The kobold king wasted no time in starting a slaughter, teleporting from one point to another but mostly chasing after them with a stomp of its foot. Against such a monster, the attributes these players were most proud of was nothing so the kobold king could easily catch up to them in such close distances.

"Spread out!" Azure Dragon yelled, but it was too late as a lot of his men had already died. There was just him, Chesces, and the guy we don't need to know. As for Black Tempest, the wild [Swordsman] could barely hold out against one move, dying to the second strike of the kobold king.

"Damn it." 

The remaining 3 had already spread out in different directions with Chesces being the first to do so. He had long figured out that they couldn't face the monster so his entire focus was on escaping and luckily for him, he was the closest to the hole.

"Stop!" the kobold king roared as it pointed a finger at Chesces. It couldn't initiate spatial manipulation to shorten the distance again because it had already overloaded its body. The only option was to attack from a distance.

A green beam burst out from the finger and darted over towards Chesces. As it moved in the air, light was bent due to the absurd amount of heat contained within the strike. 

"Not on my watch." The third player, Mr. Nobody[2], already knew that he stood no chance of survival so he decided to risk his life for Chesces to escape. 

Moving in front of the kobold king, he used his great-sword to block the blast but the end result was him being forced away as he felt the temperature of his weapon abruptly increase. The kobold king fired another shot but Mr Nobody steeled himself and gripped tightly on his great-sword, ignoring the high heat and slashing at the beam. With the increased heat from the second beam, Mr Nobody couldn't wield the great-sword and inadvertently let it drop.

As a result of the constant blocks, Chesces had managed to escape and Azure Dragon too. The kobold king was infuriated because of this and immediately closed in on the player, grabbing at the defenseless player's head and erupting a glaring mass of green flames on his head, turning Mr Nobody to Mr. 'No-body'[3].

The kobold king didn't pursue after the two as it presumed that the hole was the same as the one Sato had used. Instead, it set its sight elsewhere and that happened to be the direction Soran and his teammates had escaped to.

That day, apart from the lucky few of Sato's team and Azure dragon and Chesces, everyone else had died. 

What was worth noting was that the two guilds heavily involved in this, Emperor's Might and Heaven's Angel, didn't let the information of an OP boss existing o the 10th floor out.. As they had both suffered a loss, they tacitly agreed to let the other guilds suffer the same. With the thoughts of a sadist, they watched on as the other guilds, adventurer groups and players headed into a death-zone

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