Infinite Realm

"Die!"

The Kobold King took this opportunity where Sato was still in mid-air to make its move. Being in such an improper posture in mid-air, it would be a dream for Sato to be able to retaliate especially since he had no bedrock for support.

"Heh." Even with the looming figure of the Kobold King, Sato still had the strength to glance at it and scoff with a disdainful expression on his face, ignoring the fact that his life was at risk.

This little act of Sato only served to rile the Kobold King even further as it jumped towards him and brought down the bone saber at him. Unbeknownst to the Kobold King, it had only fallen straight into Sato's trap.

'[Astral Blade]'

Sato knew that the series of attacks he had inflicted on the Kobold King had served to make it lose its temper. For a prideful creature like it that even went as far as holding back against the three of them, being injured by the foes it looked down on would critically hurt its pride. There was even a high chance that the Kobold King would retaliate in anger and temporarily lose its sense. It was that chance Sato was targeting and that was why he even took one step further to provoke the Kobold King with his expression, all with the final goal of making it lose its frame of mind so it wouldn't think properly and react in time to the next attack.

While it was true that Sato was incapable of performing an attack in mid-air with his current posture, that was only limited to a close-range attack. For a long-range skill like [Astral Blade], Sato only needed to brandish his sword at an accurate but still tricky angle to prevent the Kobold King from responding quick enough to him and luckily, the position he was in suited his requirements almost perfectly.

"!!!"

By the time the Kobold King discovered that brilliant crescent beam of light, it was already too late. It was already within 7 metres of Sato and at this range, while it was easy for it to dodge any close-range attack from Sato, the same couldn't be said about a long-range attack. This was partly due to its negligence and also because it was currently in mid-air like Sato. The previous disadvantage of its target had similarly turned to hunt it.

In a flustered manner, the Kobold King hurriedly moved its head to the side in an attempt to avoid losing its head.

-217 (9117/10000 Kobold King's HP)

Even though the Kobold King had managed to move its head towards the side, avoiding a critical hit by a close shave, the 1 metre long crescent wasn't something that could easily be avoided. The Kobold King's left side took a direct hit with the scales on its body cracking to pieces and blood spilling from the injury. Part of the energy from the crescent beam had seeped into the Kobold King's flesh and this energy also had a hand in the injury inflicted on the Kobold King, going so far as to slow down its recuperation speed. 

Because the Kobold King was moving from one direction with the crescent slash -with its more forceful and terrifying momentum- going in the opposite direction, the Kobold King was sent back at a speed slightly slower than the speed it used to jump.

*Boom*

As if a cannon shot was fired, the Kobold King crashed to the floor with a loud boom, creating cracks on the ground. However, the Kobold King was indeed worthy of being a world-class BOSS as despite crashing with such momentum that would wreck a truck to pieces, it only felt a bit muddle-headed.

"[Fire Ray]."

The first time Sato had been able to reverse his plight, Xue Yan and Seiichi weren't able to respond to it in time and the Kobold King had recovered and made its move. Now, however, they were more alert. This was especially so for Xue Yan who had already recovered to her senses once she saw the Kobold King flying back. This wasn't to say that Xue Yan was more alert than Seiichi, who is a true-blue gamer, but rather her [Dexterity] was currently higher than Seiichi's. In IR, [Dexterity] influenced one's reaction speed and hand movements so having a higher [Dexterity] meant that one would be able to react to events faster than others.

"[Drillshot]." 

Seiichi was just one step behind Xue Yan as he used his most precious arrow coupled with the fastest and strongest skill of the [Ranger] class to leave a mark on the Kobold King.

In IR, a muddleheaded state was similar to being stunned and that was what the Kobold King was currently experiencing for the third time. The first was with the unveiling of [Cursed Sword Drakken], the second was after it got struck by the skill [Black Flame Slash] and the third was now, having gone through a violent crash after being struck by Sato's sword. The first 2 events of the Kobold King being stunned had seen it losing quite a lot of HP in just 2 seconds and this third one would be no different.

-99

[Critical Hit]

-47 (8971/10000 Kobold King's HP) 

Xue Yan's [Fire Ray] had arrived first but due to the level difference between the two, her damage was extremely poor in comparison to Sato's. As for Seiichi's, it was even worse. If not for [Star sight], the passive effect of his bow that helped increase his shooting accuracy aiding Seiichi in targeting a weak point of the Kobold King and causing a somewhat substantial amount of damage, his attack would have dealt zero-damage and be counted for nothing.

It should be recalled that Seiichi was a level 8 [Ranger] whereas the Kobold King was a level 15 King. Even if Seiichi's damage amounted to a value of 1 point, it would still be something to be proud of, after all, the difference in level didn't just mean a massive difference in attributes alone but also a qualitative difference in their aura. There was still the qualitative improvement that monsters, players, and even NPCs go through.. Jumping through all that and also the 5 level gap, and still being able to inflict damage on the opponent was very impressive.