Infinite Realm

"Growl!!!"

A Mud Bear growled with anger and displeasure before charging forward and bringing down its paw with great strength at the target before it.

The force from the paw came down like a rock from a 12 metres tall building, bringing with it a tremendous destructive power that could turn gold bars into gold dust. There was no doubt that the paw was even capable of turning an average sedan to junk.

If the paw were to collide with the body of an adult, turning comatose for 4 years with a few broken ribs, a ruptured lung, a broken spinal cord, and some other major or minor injuries would be a lucky event. If one were unlucky, they would be sent on a journey to meet their ancestors. However, some might feel that the unlucky event was way better than the "lucky" scenario, but that depends on one's opinions.

Despite the force behind the attack, it was brought to a halt as it collided with a green shield held up in front of it.

*Bang*

-15 (???/??? ???)

Like a bullet being brought to stop by a Kevlar armour, or a tree branch trying to pierce through a metal wall, the paw couldn't proceed any further no matter how much power was out into it. Because of the unexpected interference, the force from the attack had managed to rebound and injured the Mud Bear's paw.

"Haha. You hit like a woman." (AN: Author apologizes to the other gender if they find this offensive.)

Katsuo held up a shield in front of him, blocking the Mud Bear's attack and keeping himself out of harm. Truth be told, even if he was struck by the paw, Katsuo would only lose a bit of his HP, after all, the attack came from a level 6 monster whereas he was a level 8 [Paladin].

"Growl!!"

Filled with indignation, the Mud Bear released a loud growl as it tried to attack with its other paw, however, Katsuo was done playing with it.

Even though he was a [Paladin] and had allocated a majority of his attributes in [Strength] and [Endurance], he still has a few of them boosting his [Dexterity]. In comparison though, his attack speed would be slower than the other classes at his level but against a monster 2 levels beneath him, and one that has its attributes leaning towards pure power, Katsuo's attack speed was more than enough.

[Transcendent Severance]

An average-sized great-sword moved from left to right, passing through the body of the Mud Bear. But with this simple movement of this average-sized great-sword, the Mud Bear was sliced into two halves, with its upper body leaning backward and the lower body falling towards Katsuo.

*Splurt*

[Critical Hit]

-487 (???/??? )

"Whoa!" Katsuo couldn't resist sucking in cold air as he stared at the result of his actions.

The Great Hall of Grey Chaplains had a massive library that was a collection of various knowledge, including educational, geographical, historical, and battle-oriented books. However, the crew -apart from Sato and Xue Yan- didn't have enough authority to go through the battle techniques. Even Sato and Xue Yan were only allowed to learn one skill otherwise, with the entire collection in the Library, they would be able to become the strongest players in IR.

Nonetheless, even though the remaining 5 weren't allowed to check out the books, they were still granted one skill after passing the trial of the Achievers, and the skills weren't your average run-of-the-mill kinds. This could easily be seen from the ones Sato had. [Linear Strike] and [Chain Hit] had given Sato an advantage in both PvP and PvE battles. Even the passive skill, [Overbearing Momentum], which Xue Yan got was amazing; way better than Sato's at least. This was because the skill not only increased her attributes but also decreased that of her foe. It was like the combination of a buff and a de-buff skill. However, the lucky winner in this contest was Katsuo.

The skill Katsuo had received was [Transcendent Severance] and it was a power-packed skill that perfectly suited his class. You could even say that it was a skill tailored for his class. The summary of the skill's ability was a slash that deals an extra 60% damage to the target with an added chance of causing a bleeding effect. 60% increase in attack power, so far, this was the highest boost to one's attack power while using an attack skill. It even surpassed Sato's [Linear Strike] that only gave a 50% increase.

As for the bleeding effect, this didn't just mean that the monster would bleed, but that it would lose a sizeable amount of HP with each passing second. Since IR adapted realistic measures and scenarios to its foundation, both players and monsters bleed upon getting injured. However, the effect of this bleeding was minor to them, especially when compared to the actual in-game Bleeding effect. It was like comparing a needle injury to a machete injury.

A light stab with a needle could at most make one lose a drop of blood every 3 or 5 seconds and the pain was mostly irrelevant as it couldn't affect one's performance. A light stab with a machete, however, would drastically affect one's performance. Blood would be flowing from the cut and not in droplets. Even if it were in drops, it would be 2-5 drops, every second. When the cut becomes a heavy one, survival becomes a struggle. This was why most players liked weapons that could cause such effect and Katsuo had a skill that could do the same.

It was because of these factors together with the level difference, the advantage of a surprise attack, and the critical effect, that Katsuo was able to cleave the monster into two.

Despite knowing this though, Katsuo couldn't resist sucking in a breath of air at the sight of the damage figures.

"Don't get lost in those fanciful thoughts of yours. Push forward." Seiichi yelled from behind. Katsuo was the MT so he was in front of the team and their progress depended on his efforts. If he were to suddenly pause, the players behind him would too. Luckily, the monsters were too weak for the crew so this didn't result in any losses for them.

"Okay." Katsuo recovered from his shock as he resumed his duty as an MT.

"Lu Zhen, do you copy?" Sato asked in the team chat. He was attacking from another angle to prevent his battle from possibly interfering with the others.

"Yeah." Lu Zhen replied.

"Good. Remain on standby for now. In the next 5 seconds, I will burst in and attract the mob deep within. Find the right opportunity and tactically rush in. Fudo, Seiichi, Yato, and Katsuo, you guys hold up these guys here. It would be great if we could finish them off but don't get too obsessed with that. Remember our target."

"Got ya." Fudo replied.

"Also, Lu Zhen, try to be done with your recon within 2 minutes or less. For some reason, I'm having a bad omen about things so be as quick as possible." Sato added.

"Okay." Lu Zhen responded.

Once the conversation was over, 5 seconds had already gone by. As planned, Sato suddenly burst forward, heading towards the deeper section of the basin where the top elite units of the monsters hid. He wanted to draw them away from the wooden house so that Lu Zhen could sneak in and check the place out.

As he did so, Sato had a slight frown on his face. Ever since they were done with the monsters on the outer ring, his instincts had been sounding alarms for him. It wasn't like the feeling he got when he was in danger of death or about to encounter a formidable hostile party. Instead, it was just a warning; the kind one would feel when something was about to go wrong.

'What did I miscalculate?' Sato Couldn't help but wonder.

Meanwhile...

A few hundred metres away from the basin, was a different team of players.. From the direction and path they were taking, it seemed that they intended on going towards the basin where Sato and the rest were.

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