Infinite Realm

[[ System notification :

You have encountered the guardian of the second sector; Blessed son of heaven's might, Child of the Titan race, [Atrit].

]]

Standing before Sato, just a couple of metres away from him, was a 15 metres tall giant that stood still like a frozen block with its eyes closed. The giant was unmoving like a rock and held a giant door-sized war-hammer with a length of 17 metres, perfectly suitable for it, pinned to the ground just in front of it.

At a height of 15 metres, the giant was the tallest creature Sato had seen since he began playing IR. It easily dwarfed the 7 metres tall Blood king, by far and just its intimidating height was more than enough to wane one's battle intent. It should be known that the average height of a giraffe, the world's tallest creature, was between 4.3-5.7 metres (14.1-18.7 feet). even the tallest recorded giraffe only stood at a height of 5.88 metres, less than half of the giant's height. From this, one could imagine how tall it was. Just its height alone rivaled most 3 story buildings. But what was most impressive about the monster wasn't its height but its strength.

The aura the giant exuded was a bit similar to the one on the white moonstone gate. It had an overbearing feeling to it as if it existed to crush through all obstacles, displaying the personality of the owner. From the aura alone, Sato guessed that this monster was one whose abilities tilted to the strength department. In other words, in a head-on encounter, even if the two were at the same level, Sato would not be the giant's match.

'This feeling…'

As Sato stared at the monster, he felt his blood tumble and boil just from staring at it. An unpleasant feeling circulated his body as Sato felt shivers run through his spine. As with what had happened with the black jade gate and the Blood king before, this was Sato's body's instinctual reaction to a formidable opponent, the only difference was that the feeling was multiplied by 10.

'If I'm correct, this feeling is due to the difference in our life orders.'

Sato sucked in a cold breath of air as he realized where he had felt this before.

Life order, life hierarchy, bloodline difference, all of them referred to the same thing. Not all lives are born equal. This a truth that some refuse to admit. Some are born stronger than others while some are born smarter. This was mainly as a result of the difference in genes and the actualization of this difference was referred to as Life order in IR.

Due to the variety of complex species that existed, each race had its specialties, strengths, and weaknesses and so, a difference in ability resulted. Some races were stronger than others while some had a much greater affinity towards mana. Due to all these and more factors, a natural ranking between the races resulted from it. The human race happened to be in the middle of the rankings, but to be exact, the lower part of the middle rankings.

The giant in front of Sato was from a race that ranked within the top part of the rankings, and while it wasn't amongst the strongest of that class, the bloodline was far superior to that of an average human. Even the [Chosen Ones] bloodline within the players, wasn't enough to eliminate the difference between the two. Due to this, once Sato enters battle with the giant, his abilities would be suppressed due to the natural difference in bloodline between the two.

It should be recalled that even at the same level, Sato wasn't the match of the giant much less now that he would have to suffer a reduction in attributes due to the difference in Life order. What was worse was that the giant would surely not be at the same level as Sato. At the very least, it would be a level 10 Elite like the Blood King or a Special Elite. 

Since it had a name, it was pretty much impossible for the giant to be a Common rank monster and as it was guarding the second sector, which came after the first, it had to be stronger than Blood king by at least 50%.

'Is this the end for me?' Sato couldn't help but sigh with bitterness and frustration.

His instincts both as a gamer and a martial artist told him that he couldn't change his faith and defeat the giant. This was especially so with [Gratitude of Races] in cool-down. If it wasn't, Sato might have had a shot at victory but now it was, his chances were only at 20%.

"Whatever. I already did well and I have a feeling that I have passed the challenge. I also made a killing from my treasure hunting experience so ending everything here isn't so bad."

After raising his mood, Sato unsheathed his [Astral Blade] and walked towards the giant. 

He made no preparations to face it since, in front of absolute power, all tricks and skills were useless. He was most likely going to lose so he decided to minimize his losses. Therefore, Sato didn't make use of the last array he had. There was still one more challenge left and who knows, it might be useful then.

Once Sato was 20 metres away from the giant, Atrit suddenly awakened as a blue glint flashed within its eyes. It didn't make any move but just simply stared at the little man in front of it.

Sato paused in his footsteps as he stared at the unmoving giant in front of him. The pressure it placed on him by simply staring at him was incredible. It almost rivaled the pressure Sato felt on the 1 km spot on the [Staircase to Zolstice]. In other words, just with a stare, it had limited Sato's fighting ability.

'Incredible…' Sato couldn't help but praise. 

Such strength was amazing and it reminded Sato of a powerful monster he had faced in another VR game. The only difference was that the Sato there was already extremely powerful compared to the him in IR.

'The game mechanics have to be praised. It isn't easy to replicate such suppressing feeling to this degree.' Sato commented on the game's design. 

'So far, only Conquest is capable of rivalling IR in terms of graphics, body-to-avatar compatibility, and realism.'

The two beings came to a standstill with none taking a step forward.

Sato knew that he couldn't defeat the giant but he wanted to last longer against it. Hence, the best option was to be on the defensive. As for Atrit, it was too disdained to make a move on a weakling that it only stared at him. As a result, the two didn't make any move and only stared at each other.

After a while, Atrit spoke up.

"Human, aren't you scared?"

Sato wasn't surprised that the giant could speak up, after all, Blood king Varg and the Nightmare Devil could communicate too so he was already expecting it.

"Why should I be?" Sato raised an eyebrow at the question. He was quite surprised that this giant was more interested in conversing than fighting, making him think that its intelligence level was much higher than Varg.

Atrit was surprised at Sato's reply but it still answered.

"I am much stronger than you are and even the difference in our bloodline is like the difference between heaven and earth. No matter how you look at it, you are not my match and can't defeat me. It's only normal for you to be scared and anxious." 

"Well, sorry to burst your bubbles but I'm not afraid of you." Sato spread his arms wide open as if to say he can't do anything about it.

Atrit frowned at his response. 

Being a blessed son of heaven, he had been praised, admired and feared by many. Very few of his opponents could face him with a calm and collected mind much less a nonchalant attitude and every one of those people were great warriors that even he feared.

"In that case, I will send you your way." Atrit finally made a move.

'He's coming.' Sato put on a serious face.

Truthfully, he was a bit scared of Atrit but there was more anticipation and excitement than fear. This was because Sato was about to face one of the strongest beings that he had ever encountered so far but was still close reach to him in terms of ability.

Atrit didn't attack with his war-hammer but moved his fist. He punched out with his right fist at Sato despite the distance of 20 metres between them.

Sato didn't underestimate the attack as long-range moves performed with one's body were quite common in VR games.

A large fist suddenly materialized outside of Atrit's. The fist was made of green coloured energy and was 5 metres large. Just the aura from it was overwhelming and it made Sato further convinced that he wasn't Atrit's match. This was because just the fist alone was more than enough to kill 10 Satos.

"Die."

Atrit's voice boomed.

Almost instantaneously, the green energy fist hurtled towards Sato at an insane speed. The speed at which the fist moved made Sato's [Astral Blade] look like a snail.

"!!!"

Before Sato could even think of what to do or even exclaim at the speed of the attack, it had arrived in front of him.

"Die."

Atrit's voice resounded in his ears as Sato's figure became engulfed within the green fist.

*Boom*

An explosion went off as the fist landed at Sato's position. Green energy waves blasted off from there and rampaged around the spot, sending flickers of green energy into the air. Just those flickers alone could end the life of a level 5 [Guardian]. in other words, the fist itself, being the main form of the attack, could eliminate the life of any player in IR.

After the explosion settled, the state of the spot was revealed. Unlike with the Blood King's attacks, a dent had formed on the ground as a 4-inch depression was left on the floor. As for Sato's body, it was missing.

Atrit had already returned to standing his original standing position but a light frown was seen on his face.