Infinite Realm

With Lu Zhen, Yato, Katsuo, and Fudo gone, only the actual combatants for the battle were now left behind. The Kobold King stood still and didn't make a move yet. In its opinion, it was beneath it to make the first move when facing off against some low-level creatures. As for Sato, it was too risky for them to take the first action, hence the resulting stand-off.

*Bang*

At the moment one would least expect it, a ray of red light blast forth from Sato's side and struck at the Kobold King. Not bringing shame to its strength, the Kobold King had already conjured up a green shield when the day was in front of it. The earlier explosive sound was was a result of the green shield being destroyed by the red ray. However, the red ray was also forced to dissipate after the explosion.

Taking it as the sign to kick off the battle, Sato had already charged towards the Kobold King to engage it in battle.

When he was just within reach of the Kobold King, Sato slashed his sword out like a legendary paladin intent on slaying the demon king.

*Bang*

Just like with the ray, the Kobold King had conjured up another green barrier to receive the attack but this time, however, the result was different. Sato had struck out with the full force of his strength. He knew that this would be a tough match so, unlike the Kobold King, he had begun the fight with his full strength.

Not expecting that to happen, the green shield that the Kobold King had conjured up shattered into shards and the sword proceeded towards it. Relying on its higher stats, the Kobold King managed to move its head towards the side, dodging most of the danger the sword posed to it but not all of it. The sword then went on to make a mark on the Kobold King's face, brushing against its scales while breaking a few of them apart.

-70 (???/??? ???)

"Grawwr!"

Just as Sato was about to use a follow-up attack, the Kobold King reacted quickly and summoned a white object into its hand.

*Phew*

With the sound of something cutting through the air, the white object was swung towards Sato at an insane speed, almost as if it were a divine sword cutting through the air.

Danger.

Sato's senses warned him of the impending danger so he brought his sword in front of him to take the hit lest he dies an unjust death.

*Clang*

The two objects collided with each other and surprisingly, the Kobold King's weapon was able to generate a metallic ring upon clashing with Sato's sword.

Using the force from the attack, Sato retreated since his goal of attracting its aggro towards himself could be said to have succeeded. However, he was astonished at the result of their clash.

The white object the Kobold King held was a bone saber with blood-red lines on it. A close look at the lines revealed them to look similar to runes but not the ones Sato was familiar with. The aura from the saber was also quite impressive, giving off a bloodthirsty feel to anyone close to it. While the saber looked to be made of bone, the material looked much stronger than a regular bone. Both the material and the aura of the saber made it comparable with an Upper-tier Mortal. A close look at Sato's sword after the clash showed that it got nicked at a point. In other words, the Kobold King's weapon wasn't just on par with an Upper-tier Mortal rank sword, it was even slightly better than it.

When Sato retreated, following the original strategy thought up, Xue Yan and Seiichi turned their attacks towards the Kobold King. From afar, a blazing fireball speed towards the horned creature while 2 arrows attacks from the sides while a third hid behind the fireball.

"Out of my way!"

With an imposing roar, the Kobold King swung the bone saber in a horizontal line, repelling the arrows while dispersing the fireball, all with one slash.

When they all saw it, the trio frowned as they realised that this battle would be a lot tougher than they thought. While it had only been less than 10 seconds since they engaged the Kobold King in combat, the only damage they had managed to deal was the cut on the Kobold King's cheek which was caused by Sato's previous slash and the Kobold King's negligence. Finding a similar opportunity would be difficult and winning this battle would be even more difficult.

The Kobold King was already enraged after Sato had managed to injure it. It was supposed to be a figure looked upon and worshipped by other kobolds; a being much stronger than the human before it. Despite all this, just a moment of carelessness has led to it being injured. Without a doubt, the Kobold King was already incensed to a level much higher than it was before. If before it wanted to give Sato a slow and painful death, now it wanted to do just that as well as capture his soul and torture it slowly and painfully.

*Bang*

This time around, the source of the miniature explosive sound was the footstep the Kobold King took. Just with one step, it had already approached Sato with the bone saber coming down at him.

"Come then!"

Not willing to lose out against it, Sato proceeded to confront the monster head-on.

Xue Yan and Seiichi's attack power was too weak to make it to the Kobold King but if it was held down by someone, they would be able to attack at critical moments and deal some damage. Apart from that, they could also assist Sato in the battle and lessen the burden on him with their well-timed attacks.

*Clang*

The first clash led to a sonorous outbreak of noise but before the sound could fully dissipate, the two had exchanged 3 more attacks and were still at it. This led to the entire area being filled with the sound of metals clashing in mid-air.

The two changed positions on the battlefield like two fishes racing in the water. One second they could be here and the next, they would be 7 metres away. The reason for this was both due to the intentional actions of the Kobold King to avoid being locked down by the long-range attackers as well as Sato's weakness.

Sato's attributes were just a bit lower than that of the Kobold King so he had things harder than it and would be forced back at times especially after a tricky attack from the other party. Luckily for him, he had Xue Yan and Seiichi pitching in their help once in a while. This helped him to not only bring the fight to a balance but to also steer the initiative slightly towards his side.

Nonetheless, the Kobold King wasn't a world-class BOSS for naught. Even with the two 'obstructions' as well Sato's skills that slowly helped him gain the initiative at times, the Kobold King was still able to exhibit better control of the battle than Sato.

From a bystander's point of view, the battle looked as if they were both on par with each other.. However, Sato -as one of the combatants here- knew that if things went on like this, their defeat was a certainty.