Infinite Realm

Just as Sato's sword was about to collide with the kobold chief's spear, a glaring beam of red light appeared in his vision, darting towards them. Die to the fact that he had noticed it late together with the rapid rate at which it moved, it was too late for Sato to dodge it. However, while it seemed to be heading to the two, this was just a misconception in Sato's part. As the beam closed in, Sato realised that it was actually the kobold chief that happened to be the target.

"???!!"

Because the Kobold chief had focused its entire attention on this strike together with the angle it stood at, it didn't notice the beam till it was close to it. At this point, the Kobold chief could already sense the intense mana and threat from the attack, however, it was too late.

"Roar!"

[Critical Hit]

-100 (965/1500 kobold chief's HP)

The beam dived into the body of the Kobold chief, who shook in response, successfully digging into it before it(beam) lost its energy. However, the red beam had still managed to cause a lot of damage to the kobold. A little hole had taken shape by the left side of the Kobold chief, just at the point where a normal human being would have their heart located. The hole was long enough for one to dig their fingers in and wide enough for 3 fingers to fit. Without a doubt, if this were the body of a normal human being, they would, without a doubt, die to this attack. Of course, this was a game and the target too was a monster; such an attack wasn't enough to kill it but causing quite a sizeable amount of damage was a sure thing.

Due to the fact that the shot was a sneak attack together with the mark it hit, the attack ended up as a critical hit; one that dealt a larger amount of damage than Sato's. If that wasn't enough, the following incident could be said to have dealt some sort of psychological damage to the monster.

"Haha. Little twerp, you thought this great Emperor wouldn't be back in time huh? That's for thinking so little of me and letting me go. How did that taste huh? Was it good? Tell me, was it?" A gloating yet familiar voice sounded from afar.

Sato didn't bother glancing at the speaker as he had an inkling of who it was. Also, the attacker had succeeded in creating an opportunity for him.

Apart from injuring the kobold chief, the attack also helped to lessen the force behind its spear. As a result, Sato was able to block the spear before hurriedly retreating. He didn't take the opportunity to attack because he knew that if he hesitated even a bit, the kobold chief might recover quickly and finish him off before he could retreat. With his low HP, that would be the end. Of course, if Sato's HP was higher, he wouldn't have hesitated to strike at that moment. Sadly, it wasn't.

As Sato had created enough distance between himself and the Kobold chief, he turned over to the position of the speaker and sure enough, it was Fudo who stood there.

"Hehe. You owe this great Emperor one." Fudo grinned as he noticed Sato's eyes on himself.

Ignoring Fudo's silly remarks, Sato smiled lightly. He indeed owed Fudo. If not for him, he might have actually died this time around. Without wasting any second more, Sato took out a vial of health potion and emptied the contents into his mouth with haste. Every little second and opportunity away from battle counted as one to recuperate.

The kobold chief glared at Fudo who had just interrupted its crucial attack. Because of that abrupt hit from the red beam, the skill the kobold chief had used against Sato was interrupted. If it were a normal skill then there would simply be no problem. However, it was actually its strongest skill that got interrupted. As a result, the kobold chief suffered a backlash from the force of its own attack. Normally, players didn't experience this mostly because their skills and abilities were perfected over time[1] but because the fighting skills of the kobolds on this floor were terrible and unrefined, it was lacking when compared to class skills of the players. Being forced to abruptly stop like that would inevitably cause a bit of harm to the user. This was why the kobold chief didn't spam this skill but used it with care.

"Hehe. What? Are you angry?" Fudo noticed the glare from the monster. At the same time, Sato's voice sounded in his ears.

"Where are the others?" This was a conversation being facilitated by the team chat interface so only those in the team could hear.

"We're recuperating. We will be there in 15 seconds or so." Yato's voice sounded out. With Fudo having left them, Yato resumed command as a temporary team leader.

Originally, the crew had a 30 second break but they spent most of the time heading towards where Sato was. However, compared to Fudo, they were much slower. This wasn't because of attribute difference but because they intentionally slowed down so that by the time they arrived there, they would be back at their peak or at least 80% or 90%.

"Oh? Then, we will be there at the same time too." Lu Zhen's voice suddenly sounded. He had regrouped with Seiichi after escaping the battlefield and now they were both heading this way together.

"Okay." Sato said before exiting the team chat.

At this moment, the Kobold chief was still wondering who to take on first but it eventually decided on Fudo. This was because this specific character had interrupted it twice. Even for a 'merciful' leader like itself, this was beyond crossing the line.

"Roar!"

"Fudo, get ready." Sato said. With the aid of the health potion, he had managed to recover 50 points of HP, bringing his previous 57 to 107 HP. With this much, he could receive 2 strikes and still be okay. With Fudo's help added to the mix, lasting 15 seconds wouldn't be that difficult.

'But to be sure...' Sato silently withdrew a vial from his space bag.

*Bang*

The kobold chief didn't waste a single second as it stomped its right foot on the ground and darted towards Fudo. It guessed that since the other party liked attacking from a distance, its defense and close combat abilities should be terrible. To have figured this out so quickly, showed how terrifying its intelligence was.

"Where do you think you're going?"

There was no way Sato would sit still and watch the Kobold chief close in on Fudo. Even if the difference in abilities between the two was great, it didn't mean that Sato was useless.

As it happened to be, when Sato had retreated before, he did so in the direction Fudo was. In other words, to get to Fudo, the kobold chief would still have to go through Sato. In this regard, it didn't fear facing Sato. Even though Sato had managed to injure it with his own abilities once, the kobold chief still felt that it could suppress him. It also thought that that trick Sato pulled off made him a one-trick pony. Apart from that, Sato hadn't been much of a threat to it. But it didn't know that one's comprehensive strength didn't just include their personal strength.

"Here's a gift from me to you."

Once he was just 3 metres away, Sato tossed the vial in his hand while slicing his sword at it. Actually, Sato's sword slicing action seemed to be for naught because the vial had already gone out of the range of the sword. However, because he had slashed out at his fastest while also using the entirety of his strength, a small sword wind was propelled forwards, clashing with the vial. To a normal human being or even a monster, this sword wind might at most make a very light cut or mark on their skin, making it a harmless attack but for the vial, it could do more. The vial was made of glass and it was actually the cheap kind; the ones that could easily break from a short fall. Against this sword wind, the glass didn't stand a chance.

*Shatter*

It didn't crack but shattered instantly as the contents of the glass was released into the air. Surprisingly though, it wasn't a liquid but a blue-colored odorless gas. While within the glass vial, it was in a liquid form but when exposed to the atmosphere, it became a gas. Due to its blue color, it looked a bit harmless but as it was still in the atmosphere, the gas rapidly became colorless till none of it was left visible.

This was a special liquid that was extremely difficult to refine and very costly because of to do so, one would have to refine it in an enclosed area free from whatever forces that would act on it and turn the liquid to gas. To mimic such an environment was quite difficult making the price of this vial go up to 20 silver coins! Actually, the real value of this gas was cheaper than this but because it could only be made by certain alchemists -of which none were found in Riverdale or Black Mountain Town- the special liquid could only be imported hence the inflated price. Nonetheless, for low level players, this was a very powerful drug. Simply because it had only one special function; to weaken a target. In fact, Sato had not known of the existence of this liquid gas. It was actually Aaron, the NPC store manager of Grnyx Merchandise back at Riverdale, that recommended it to him after Sato made a large purchase of consumables at the store. There was a limited quantity available at the store so it wasn't displayed on the shelves for players to see. Another reason was because Aaron believed that those who could afford it wouldn't waste their time glancing at the shelves.

While the liquid was in a gaseous form, it was a special poison in its own way. Unlike most gases where one, two or more individuals could breathe it, this poison gas only aimed at one. It wasn't that more than one person couldn't breath it in but that the effect would worsen if done like that. So, it was advisable to use only against a single target. Depending on the amount of gas one breathed in, the effect of the poison would strengthen in proportion. At least 40% was required to be breathed in to achieve the most basic effect. To achieve this feature and increase the chances of a majority of the gas being inhaled, it was made to be very light. So much so that with a single breathe, one can inhale at least 30% of the gas. In other words, only 3 breathes were needed for a majority of the gas to be absorbed.

With the surprise appearance and eruption of the gas, the kobold chief didn't know what it was neither did it feel anything strange but it suddenly halted its steps out of instinct. In such a scenario, within just a second, the kobold chief unconsciously inhaled more than 40% of the gas and was still taking in more.

"It's done.." Sato smiled.