Infinite Realm

The reason for such unstoppable momentum was due to the weak resistance from both monsters and players. Yes. Despite know of the Kobold King's accomplishments, some players still dared to venture into Black Grill's Cave. Some of them did so in hopes of trying to get a kill on the boss while others wanted to take down a few kobolds but a majority of them did so because of the lack of resources maps.

With a lot of players now avoiding Black Grill's Cave, it made things a whole difficult for others. The other maps were slowly getting crowded and the prices of certain goods, mostly those from the Cave, increased. Some saw this as a window of opportunity since if they could get their hands on those goods, they could make a lot of cash.

Men die for riches like birds do for food.

Seeing an opportunity to change their fate, these players took the risk and went back to grinding within the Cave, eliminating monsters and reaping rewards. With less players around, they didn't need to worry about lack of monsters or such and they slowly felt that the Cave to be a grinding heaven. Some of them even assumed that the Kobold King wouldn't reach the Outer region after all, the environment here was different from the Middle region hence the reason why no kobolds were spotted here before. And with the assumption sounding quite logical, a lot more players who were hesitating or having a hard time at other maps returned and the others solidified their conviction to stay.

However, the players that remained were just your average run-of-the-mill guys who were either barely good or at the Veteran level; very few Experts were present. This amount of strength when facing the Kobold King and its army, obviously could wipe the dust from their feet or even make it sweat out a drop. They all died easily. To the Kobold King, it was like stomping on an ant and this took no effort from it.

The monsters on the Outer region didn't resist either as the Life Order rating of the Kobold King made them unable to. The innate fear born within them to predators on a higher scale on the food chain, weakened these monsters' will, so advancing through the floors wasn't a difficult issue for the Kobold King.

6th floor, Outer region.

"Run!"

"Out of the way! Get out the way!"

Unlike how it used to be before, the 6th floor of the Outer region was currently filled with total pandemonium.

Usually, due to the large expanse of space within the floors, players hardly came in contact with each other. The floors had so many turns and open spaces that it was possible for 100 different players to walk in and not encounter each other within 4 hours of exploration. Getting lost was easy and that was why the sale of maps were one of the most profitable at the front entrance. But with the Kobold King's 'crusade', most solo players, adventurer groups and even parties began teaming up with one another. Mainstream level rating was currently at level 6-7 with a couple others already at 8 and the average level of a kobold was at level 7.

Every 2 seconds or so, a scream would be heard as a player would have fallen to the blades of the enemies.

"Damn it. Why the heck are the kobolds down here?" One of the escaping players complained on his way out. He was previously in a party but most of his teammates had died forcing him to team up with another group. Currently, the Ranger was at the edge of the 6th floor of the Outer region. This was the safest spot on the 6th floor ever since the Kobold King arrived. This was because after here would be the 5th floor.

"I really don't know. This is far too much. First was the massacre at Gnorka and now this. Is the game trying to kill us or what?" Another player sighed with frustration. He had been part of those that got slain by the Emissary during the Goblin incident. Experiencing this now, there was no way he wouldn't let his emotions and curse out loud.

"I don't know either. But what I do know is that if this keeps going on, I'm probably going to quit this game. Conquest is still trending so picking up where I left doesn't sound like a bad idea."

The player who just spoke, a mage class player, was also like the other one, in the sense that they had both suffered twice at the hands of OP NPCs.

This conclusion wasn't only reached by this player. A few other players who had suffered a lot in the game had already made up their minds to migrate back to Conquest or other VR games where they still had a useable account. While it was normal to suffer a fee losses in a game, they felt that the ones they had experienced in IR was too undeserved and unreasonable, in the end, severely affecting their progress in the game.

"A bunch of wuss." A player draped in black cloak commented from the side. He didn't bother hiding his voice so the others easily heard him.

"What did you say?!" The mage raged.

"I said you're all a bunch of weaklings. Running away from the game just because of a few losses. You shouldn't have even bothered starting it." The cloaked player grinned.

The mage class player was annoyed but he didn't make any move. This was because he didn't know who this strange player was or whether there was a faction behind him. He also had to be careful of revealing their position to be the wandering kobolds since once he attacked, a fight will inevitably break out. In order to prevent their location from being revealed, chances were that everyone would attack him at the same time so as to take him down more quickly. In such a scenario, survival chances were at it's lowest for the mage. However, the mage wasn't willing to take such an insult.

"Alright. Cut it off you two." A player with a heavy shield and a burly figure walked towards them. Unlike the cloaked figure who's level was unknown, the [Guardian] in front was a bona-fide level 8 player! This was a very impressive achievement only gotten by those experts from the big guilds. Simply put, this young man in front of them both was on par with a guild expert. What more was that it was due to his amazing command and superb fighting prowess that kept the team going for so long.

"...I understand." No matter how unwilling he was, in front of such a figure, the mage had to step down.

"...hmph. Fine" The cloaked player harrumphed before walking to another corner. It seemed that even he feared the Guardian a bit.

"Silver Sky has been getting more obstinate these days." A clerical walked up from behind the Guardian.

"It can't be helped. He got overshadowed in the last fight by an unknown Assassin. He has always been taking himself to be the best but as he realized there was someone better, he couldn't handle the blow." The Guardian replied. A closer look on his face added with the content of their conversation, one would realise that he was One Sword, one of the captains of a top adventurer group, Mountain Rift, and also the guy who had tried inviting Sato and Fudo to his team [1].

One Sword had brought his crew to the 3rd position on the Most Kills list for teams and had personally taken the 8th position on the Singles list, surpassing East Crow's Dream Tiger and drawing with Swift Blade of the same guild and Kylian, the head MT of Emperor's Might's branch in IR. All these achievements added together made him a notable character but his low-key personality made him almost unknown to a majority of players. It was only during this crisis that he had garnered even more fame as he led his team, alongside a group of other players to safety and his performance while doing so was magnificent.

Despite being a level 8 [Guardian], One Sword could take on 3 level 8 kobolds and do so with ease. Both his huge frame, his strength and his top notch commanding skills, enabled him to gain the respect of all the players present. This was why the mage had retreated at the sight of him.

"He better get himself together. The game hasn't been on for long so there's still more opportunity to shine." Ao, the team's cleric, replied.

The black cloaked player was Silver Sky, the group's ace and [Assassin]. Even since he couldn't make it to the list at the Goblin incident with the only [Assassin] doing so being an unknown character, Silver Sky took a huge hit to his ego. Since then, he begun levelling like crazy, dedicating himself to battling monsters. It was actually on his suggestion that the team left the other available maps and returned to Black Grill's Cave, otherwise, they would have chose a safer destination.

"He eventually will. After all, he is the team's ace." One Sword smiled. As a team leader, having faith in his teammates was something necessary and supporting them when possible was a must. This was something One Sword knew very well and it was because of this that he made a great leader.

"I hope so." Ao sighed. He then walked left One Sword and decided to chat with the other team members. However, Ao hadn't taken more than 2 steps when an alarm suddenly sounded.

"The kobolds, they are coming!!"

...

...

...

As the Kobold King was on a rampage in the Outer region, Sato had gone a considerable distance up the mountain and was close to the goal.

Unbeknownst to him though, an interesting event was to take place before he did so.