Infinite Realm

"Sato, they've increased their moving speed. I think they know we've caught a whiff of their presence." Fudo said in the team chat.

"It doesn't matter, just move ahead and get to the Exit gate in time. As long as we pass through it, there wouldn't be any problem again." Sato said right after he sliced a Mud Bear in half.

Once a player passes through an Exit gate, they appear at a random spot on the next floor and unless one follows after them within a certain interval, they would be teleported elsewhere. In situations where guild members wanted to pass through the Exit gate, they all do so under 20 seconds to prevent being sent to different locations on the next floor.

Sato estimated that it would take more than half a minute for the party behind them to reach the Exit gate. If Sato and the others were able to pass through the gate in time, then it would refresh the destination and they would be safe.

"I will let you guys off for now. Killing you wouldn't be difficult but I hope you can hold back those guys."

Of the initial 16 monsters that had chased after him, only 7 remained and among them was the only kobold in the group. Defeating these guys wasn't a problem for Sato but it was a task that had no reward attached to it. Not only would he not get any Experience points but he also wouldn't receive any loot for doing so. Apart from that, he would be wasting his time here and increasing the risk of being spotted by the newcomers. Hence, Sato came up with a different plot.

Sato intended to leave the monsters be and escape their encirclement before leaving through the Exit gate. The monsters were most likely bound by location so they wouldn't chase after him once he did so. When the company behind them were to arrive, the monsters would then change their focus towards them and attack those guys. This would delay the possibility of the players entering the Exit gate in time and increase the team's chances of pulling off a successful escape.

"Growl!"

Even with their continuously diminishing numbers, the monsters didn't shy away from a fight and surrounded Sato. This wasn't due to courage, bravery, or whatnot but that the monsters were simplistic in nature. Apart from the kobold, the other monsters all acted based on their instincts and the behavioural patterns of wild animals, which was based on the supreme law of the jungle; the strongest is king. By Life order alone, the kobold was superior to them so unless it gave the order to retreat, the monsters would fight till the last man, or monster.

Sato ran towards a Mud Bear that stood guard in front and swung his sword at it. He didn't attack to kill it but simply to push it to the side as he wanted the number of elite monsters to be large enough to hold back the third party.

-458 (???/??? ???)

Even though it was a simple swat, Sato had taken more than half of the Mud Bear's HP with that attack but there was nothing he could do about it. The level difference between the two of them was large enough to turn any action of Sato's to be on par with the full strike of a level 10 player.

'Sorry pal.'

Before he left, Sato also knocked away a few other monsters especially the ones with higher [Agility] than the rest, like the kobold and the last Earth Snake. Once he was done, Sato then rushed towards the wooden house at full speed. None of the monsters were able to catch up to his shadow much less reach him so Sato wasn't worried about anything.

The distance between him and the wooden house was about 60 metres or so, but it took Sato less than 5 seconds to cover it.

The others were already inside the house and they had reached the room that held the Exit gate. They were about to confront the kobolds in the room when Sato had arrived.

"How many?"

Sato asked just when he was a few feet away.

"Two." Yato replied.

Sato didn't stop running and instead barged into the room. It took him less than a second to spot the two kobolds who were stunned at his entrance. Before the two monsters could even react to this, Sato had appeared in front of one of them and thrust his sword forward.

-672 (???/??? ???)

"!!!"

Like a needle through a ball of cotton, the sword went unimpeded through the body of the kobold. The kobold widened its eyes in shock as the sensation of pain suddenly flooded into it. However before it could release a cry, Sato withdrew his sword and swung at its head in one swift motion.

*Thud*

A monstrous head with a face covered in an expression of discomfort and shock fell to the ground with a thud.

Two seconds hadn't gone by and a level 7 kobold had departed from this world. This was a monster that could give some players a run for their money but in front of Sato, it was like a little insect that could be squashed with two stomps.

The second kobold finally came to its senses as it brought its spear down with a whoosh. However, Sato was one step ahead of it. It was unknown when, but Sato had suddenly appeared in front of it, almost like a fleeting ghost. The kobold was stunned at his speed and couldn't react in time, partially due to its shock and also because it had just attacked with the spear in its hand.

The spear had already been thrust forward but there was no one in front. The intended target of the spear was right before the wielder but the kobold couldn't do anything about it.

[Hack]

-989 (???/??? ???)

To make sure he killed the monster in one hit, Sato had used one of his class skills and slashed the monster in half. Call it overkill or not, but Sato didn't want to waste any more time dealing with it, even if it were just an extra millisecond.

"Incredible...!"

Fudo and the others who stood outside all widened their eyes in astonishment.

From start to finish, it had taken Sato only 3 seconds to clean up two level 7 Elite kobolds but from his expression, he didn't seem to be pleased or surprised at this. On the contrary, there was a slight frown on his face.

'I was too slow.'

This was what was on Sato's mind at the moment. He felt that as a level 15 player he should have been able to deal more damage and finish off the monsters faster than he just did so he couldn't help but be a bit disappointed at himself.

If Fudo and the others knew what he was thinking, they would surely curse him for being too greedy and drown him in their saliva. Sato's strength was already at the peak of the player community of IR yet he didn't seem satisfied by this fact. Fudo would surely cry out that the heavens weren't fair, especially for giving such strength to an ungrateful player.

"Let's go." Sato turned to the team and said.

"Lu Zhen is not here yet." Katsuo suddenly said.

Lu Zhen was the first to reach the wooden house and he had discovered that the room that contained the Exit gate. Despite this, none of them had spotted any sign of him.

Sato frowned slightly and was about to say something when a bunch of hurried footsteps sounded by the door.

"Here. Huff, huff." Lu Zhen suddenly dashed into the room while breathing heavily.

Sato gave him a look but didn't ask any questions.

"Alright.. Let's go."