Infinite Realm

"As expected." Sato smiled right after receiving a message from Seiichi. The message contained the details of Azure Dragon's actions, describing how the team was heading towards Soran's side.

Azure Dragon was right. Ever since they had stepped into the 10th floor, their actions had been predicted by Sato. Because of this, the plan went smoothly without any problem.

'Lu Zhen has been hanging on for a while now but I doubt he could last even more.'

It had been almost 5 minutes since Lu Zhen had led the horde away from their home. Even with the aid of his class skills, it was already very impressive that he had lasted this long especially with the boss and its two guards right behind him. The original plan was for Lu Zhen to lead the horde away and midway through the journey, Sato would lead the boss elsewhere. However, a small unexpected event occurred on Fudo's side, leading to Lu Zhen having to hold off the boss this long.

In fact, Lu Zhen actually didn't have the strength to have even lasted this long. Even if he was a level 8 [Assassin], he didn't place all his attributes in [Agility] so there was no way that he could out run the boss for this long. The reason he did so was because of the treasures and supplies Sato had given him. In this mission, it wouldn't be an understatement to say that Lu Zhen's role was one of the, if not the most important. A such, Sato had deliberately given him a lot of supplies to make sure that nothing went wrong.

Apart from the [Simple Explosives], Lu Zhen was also given a bunch of scrolls and traps to aid him in his quest. The total of all the supplies capped at 10 silver coins! That amount was enough for a player to afford two average Mid-tier Mortal rank weapons. If the player could still his heart and add more, he could even afford a Mid-tier Mortal rank set equipment or an Upper tier Mortal rank. Even if it will be the lowest of Upper tier Mortal rank weapons, it was still an Upper tier Mortal rank weapon.

An Upper tier Mortal rank weapon was something current players couldn't easily get their hands on. Unless one was a core member of a big guild, they couldn't easily get their hands on a weapon of such quality not just because it's rare but because it's very expensive. The craziest part though is that the amount of consumables Sato handed over to Lu Zhen was almost on par to this

With supplies costing that much, Lu Zhen was not only able to hold back the boss and its minions from approaching him but he also renewed the aggro on himself.

'They should be done by now, so I think it's alright to move in now.' Sato thought. With 5 minutes having passed by, Fudo and the rest should have been able to rectify the issue. That then means that Sato could follow the plan once again.

"Lu Zhen, begin as planned." Sato said to him in the party chat.

"Okay." Lu Zhen replied him.

Staring at the boss from a distance, he withdrew a scroll from his storage bag and unfurled it. He stared at the inscriptions written atop the scroll before chanting them out loud at a somewhat slow yet somewhat fast speed.

At this time, the horde being lead by was but just 100-200 metres away. At this distance, the kobold chief's attacks wouldn't be able to teach and the same held true for Sato's. On a good note though, with such a wide stretch in between them, Sato would easily be able to escape at a moment's notice. Nonetheless, he still couldn't make an impression on the boss from here. That was why he resorted to using a magic scroll to attack, as these devices were capable of a much more longer attack range.

"Tainted with the blood of a deity yet forged by the blood of another. Blessed by the infinite swirls of the almighty flames. Wreak havoc on this petty creature..."

With his chant almost completed, Sato made a cut on his index finger and traced a wavy pattern on the scroll with his blood. Once done, a fiery arrow took form right in front of him. The arrow was long and looked more like a spear than an arrow. If not for the fletching at the tail, one would easily mistake it as a spear.

As the flaming arrow completed it's formation, Sato tore the scroll in pieces and flung the pieces at the arrow. Following that, he pointed his hand at the kobold chief and with his concentration focused on the target, he lightly yelled.

[Kōjin's arrow]. Go!"

*Phew*

As if being fired from a bow, the flaming arrow darted towards the kobold chief at an insane speed. Within a second it covered the 100 metres distance and in the next second, it had already approached the kobold chief.

The kobold chief had set its eyes on Lu Zhen the entire time, ignoring the state of its surroundings. Because of this, it didn't notice the arrow in time. By the time it did however, the arrow was already just a metre away from it.

*Boom*

The arrow collided at a target and the force behind it burst with a startling yet beautiful explosion. Within a 3 metre range of the explosion point, the kobolds nearby were burnt to crisp and within a 5 metres range, the kobolds there sustained heavy injuries. At 10 metre space, a few could be seen above though they were not without injuries, with the luckiest of them having light injuries while the most pitiful ones being fiddled with holes here and there.

The power of the attack was much more than even what Sato had expected.

The first time Sato had witnessed the prowess of [Kōjin's Arrow] was when Drunken Hog had used it in the raid against the goblin boss, Sygrart[1]. Back then, the attack had not only wrecked the first barrier set up by Sygrart but it also destroyed the defensive shield Sygrart had set up while still having enough power to blast him away. With such a performance back then, there was no doubt that [Kōjin's Arrow] could rank among the top 20 or even top 10 most powerful attack type scrolls. But because it was back then, some might still doubt its power against current monsters but Sato knew better.

From an information gotten by an information broker[2], one which Seiichi had bought, certain scrolls have the ability to grow in power with the user and some particular exact scrolls vary in power. The spell [Kōjin's Arrow] was one of the very few that was under both classifications. Based on the user's needs and ability, the power could adjusted to fit them and at the same time, there were also weaker variants being sold.

Back then, Drunk Hog wasn't even above level 5 hence the power he could draw out from the scroll was very little but still, it was enough to make Sygrart eat a loss. Now, Sato was a level 9 player, and though not a mage class, the power he could bring out from the scroll was much more than the Drunken Hog of back then. Also, the variant he bought was much more powerful than that of Drunken Hog's as this alone cost 15 silver coins. If it happened to be Fudo who was present, then the effects of the blast wouldn't be limited to a 10 metres radius only; it might even reach 20 metres!

'That should be able to do it.' Sato smirked.

Looking at the original spot that the Kobold chief stood on, the entire spot was burnt black as the ground sunk in by at least 30 centimetre. There were burnt kobolds laying on the floor looking somewhat similar to a dish of roasted alligator. Due to the still existing heat on them, one could even hear a sizzling sound as the smell of roasted reptilian meat also drifted through the air. For the kobolds that were still alive, a lot of them had lost a body part or two and even the luckiest of them had a glaring scar on its chest. The kobold horde had even slowed down their steps to a halt as they glanced at the scene.

The kobold boss and its two guards where the only one left standing within the 3 metre radius but not without injuries. The two guards had both lost an arm each; one lost the right and the other the left. This was because the target of the arrow was the boss who happened to be in the middle of them both. Even though they were a tad slower than the boss, it was just a tad so they still got hit.

As for the boss, being the target of the blast, its injuries would be expected to be the worse, but surprisingly, it wasn't all that bad as one would expect.

At the last moment when [Kōjin's Arrow] had closed in on it, the kobold chief had still managed to catch a glimpse of it. Relying in its reflexes, it had slashed at the arrow with an axe. The axe was so terrible that it could barely, as in BARELY, be able to classified as a low tier Mortal rank weapon. Against [Kōjin's Arrow] which was like a targeted missile, such a weapon was nothing but a metal rod, but in the hands of the kobold boss, it seemed to become something else. Relying on its absurd strength, the kobold chief was able to mitigate a portion of the attack, reflecting it to the sides but it couldn't handle with the full brunt of the attack that easily. Hence even with its amazing skills, the kobold chief still received injuries.

A majority of its entire frontal part was burnt almost to a crisp. The hands that held the axe was even worse as there was still a red color seeping through it with burnt flesh and muscles visible to the eye. One of its eyes -to be exact, the left eye- was totally destroyed. There was nothing present in that eye socket except for a black blob.

"Roar!!!!!!!"

An ear-piercing roar rocked the entire floor as the kobold chief glanced over at Sato's position with extreme hatred. It wanted nothing more than to grab a hold of him, tear him into two before eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Even from this distance, Sato could feel its fury as his blood went cold from that vicious glare.

'I guess it's time to go.' Sato thought as he immediately turned around and ran at his full speed. He didn't want to wait for the kobold chief to chase him as he knew without fail that it would. His mission was simply to draw it away from Lu Zhen and with his performance so far, Sato was very sure that he had scored 120% out of a 100% in this mission.

Seeing the infernal creature who caused it such serious injuries simply turning on its heels, the kobold chief was greatly infuriated. It didn't even bother about Lu Zhen again as it pursued after Sato with a roar. Though it didn't bother about him, that didn't mean it planned on letting him go. Despite not having much contact with humans, the kobold chief felt that Lu Zhen was in this with Sato, as such, it sent on of its guards to lead the other kobolds to capture Lu Zhen alive. It planned on torturing Lu Zhen once it comes back, making sure to turn him into a sacrificial creature to their god. As for Sato, the kobold chief wanted to handle him alone, both in order to regain its pride in front of its people as the strongest and also because of its own personal hatred for Sato. It simply wanted to tear him apart with its own hands.

Unbeknownst to the kobold chief though, the series of orders it had passed on with a roar would inevitably make things easier for Sato's team.