Infinite Realm

"Didn't they tell you? The pig that makes the loudest noise gets killed next."

'Who?!' Rolo was stunned but he didn't talk out loud as his focus was on the two incoming attacks. He was an [Assassin] just like his teammate that died; the only difference being in their levels, where Rolo is level 6 while the other guy is level 5. With such similar attributes, Rolo knew that he wouldn't be able to survive the two-pronged assault and even if he did, he would barely be able to hold on to his life.

"Help the boss." Another of Rolo's teammates yelled to the other two on standby. But such an act was pointless. The reason simply being that the two others were still some distance away from Rolo and they wouldn't make it in time.

"Don't underestimate me." Rolo roared ran towards the arrow while slashing his dagger at it. The reason for this was simple. Unlike the fireball that occupied a large area, the arrow only took up a tiny bit of space. Hence, it would be way easier to block the arrow with his dagger than to do so against a fireball. Because the two attacks came from two different directions, this idea of his was very feasible.

"Ha!" Dashing toward the arrow in front, Rolo struck at it with his dagger, in a bid to deflect the arrow away. At the same time, he glanced at the direction the arrow came from, hoping to catch a glimpse of the archer.

*Clang*

Sparks flew from the collision as Rolo managed to block the shot but at the same time though, his arm felt a bit numb from the reaction. This wasn't because the [Strength] of the [Ranger] was greater than his. Rather, it was a simple matter of impact[1].

*Boom*

Less than 2 seconds after Rolo ran towards the arrow and blocked it, the fireball landed on the ground and set off a small explosion. The explosion wasn't so powerful as one would think, but it managed to tussle the floor, sending off debris and dust into the air.

With the dust as a smokescreen, a black silhouette unexpectedly appeared and dashed at Rolo. The difference in time between the silhouette's appearance and the fireball's explosion was but a second. Though it was just a second, Rolo was unprepared for this as he never expected anything to be hiding close to the fireball.

"You…!" Rolo was stunned as he finally got a glimpse of the silhouette's appearance. It was Sato! Though Rolo never knew who he was, Rolo's teammates had described Sato's appearance to him. Apart from that, Reeves had also sent him a picture of Sato and Fudo, which he(Reeves) had taken without their notice back then.

"Surprise~" 

Sato had gotten this idea of hiding an attack within another from Dream Tiger's arrow that looked to have almost killed him[2]. Sato had hidden behind the fireball but was slightly slower than it, so as to not get affected by the blast. Since everyone's focus was on the Fireball and the arrow, no one paid attention to Sato who was behind. This could be attributed both to their lack of focus and the fact that the fireball came from the front while they were all behind. Also, the fireball was really bright, an effect as a result of the '+15% affinity to fire elements' from the Fudo's [Igneel's guidance].

With a silver glint, Sato swung his sword towards Rolo's head.

Rolo had just blocked the arrow from before and it left his hand with a slight numbing feeling. Now facing Sato's surprise attack, it looked like there was nothing he could do about it. 

"I can't die just like this!"

Rolo was disinclined to die so quickly especially since he had fallen like this before. They say when humans are at the edge, they tend to spur their body's potential to its maximum. 

At the last moment, Rolo overcame the numb feeling and somehow managed to swing his dagger hurriedly at Sato's sword. 

*Clang*

Thanks to his body's last-minute movement and effort, Rolo managed to block the sword. Rather than trying to push forward for a counter, Rolo hurriedly retreated away.

"Huh? You managed to block it?" Sato was surprised. He thought he had gotten Rolo back then as it seemed that Rolo's end was inevitable but he somehow overcame that tribulation.

"Doesn't matter. Since you all will still die for pursuing a comrade."

With Sato's declaration, the ambience of the place became gloomy. Rolo was annoyed by the fact that not only had his teammate been killed but he was even forced back by the opponent. Reeves, who still had things better, was wondering how many men Sato had brought and whether his help would still succeed in such a scenario.

'He should. After all, he's an Expert.' Reeves comforted himself. There was no going back now as he still had to pay his helper for taking time out from his schedule to be here. The payment would have not been much if Reeves could gain from this but if not, the settlement would really sting his wallet; to the point of it affecting his progress in Infinite Realm. With that, Reeves contacted his aide in secret.

"Can you-"

Without waiting for Reeves to finish, the speaker on the other side cut him off.

"Don't worry. You underestimate me too much. Just handle that foolish guy and let me take care of the rest." 

With that said, the audio call was shut off.

Usually, one would be annoyed at having a phone call cut off in his face like that but Reeves was different. Having received his aid's assurance, he grinned.

"You guys actually made it."

Xue Yan stared at Sato in astonishment. She was already prepared to die and never expected to receive any help since most people tend to take a bystander position when they encounter such incidents. Seeing Sato here was even the last thing Xue Yan ever expected. She had thought that Sato must have left earlier and was already at Black Grill's cave waiting for them or at the very least, close to it. Where they are right now, was still some distance away from Black Grill's Cave; at least a kilometer away so Xue Yan didn't have any hope of spotting Sato.

"Haha. I knew you would make it." Lu Zhen shamelessly said. He didn't know whether they would have made it to them in time. In fact, Lu Zhen, just like Xue Yan, was never expecting Sato's help.

"Tch. You indeed are way more shameless than I am." Fudo walked out from behind Sato.

"What took you so long even?" Lu Zhen asked as if he had really been expecting them.

"Tch. We had an unexpected encounter; nothing much."

Due to the fact that Sato and his teammates were held back by the old man for a while, they had arrived quite late, leading to Lu Zhen and Xue Yan being pushed back by Reeves' and Rolo's men. 

"Luckily, we had made it in time before you two got wiped out." Fudo smiled at Xue Yan. As one would expect from a pervert who only fancies women, Fudo was still trying to make a good impression on Xue Yan. But how could Lu Zhen not notice that.

"Hehe. I never thought the day that I would be happy at seeing your pig-like face would ever come." Lu Zhen gave Fudo a serious jab with his words.

"What did you say?!" Fudo barked in return as he pointed his staff at him.

"Stop ignoring me!" Rolo yelled at them. "Call your that goddamn [Ranger] and let's settle this."

Rolo was really infuriated right now. Not only was his teammate dead, for the second time at that, but he was also ignored like an ant on the floor.

"Ok." Sato smiled lightly. 

"Huh?" Rolo was stunned that Sato had actually agreed with him.

"Don't. He would be better in hiding." Xue Yan said to Sato. 

With a [Ranger] in a hidden spot, he could be sniping down the opponents and interrupting their moves at critical moments. Actually, that was how a lot of players used long range classes. They tend to hide at a spot where they won't be easily spotted and keep harassing their opponents till they are down. Even if their target would try to track them from the origin of the attack, the player would have long evacuated that spot and head elsewhere. The hidden [Ranger] in this battle had done the same thing. He had fired 3 different arrows at 3 different targets from 3 different angles. That was why his attacks weren't expected and easily dodged, thereby interfering with his target's movements. If the [ranger] was to leave his location and expose himself, his threat level would decrease drastically.

"Nah. Those tricks won't work all the time." Fudo shook his head. With Seiichi having attacked 3 times already, even if he was still hidden, their enemies would be alert for his arrows and that would make things harder for him. Coming out of his hiding spot would enable him to be closer to the battle area, hence increasing the accuracy of his shots.

"Seiichi, you heard him. Come on out!" Sato yelled. 

"It's about time we show these losers their place."