Chapter 487 - 481 : Victory

"Everyone, no matter what it takes, we have to kill this monster now." Sato said.

"Katsuo, use your [Taunt] skill whenever it tries to go for the last Dark Priest. Everyone else, focus on attacking or harassing the monster. And remember, no matter what, don't attack the Dark Priest. Killing it would only strengthen the Gatekeeper."

"Alright."

Having received their orders from Sato, the team immediately sprung into action.

Sato bent his knee almost as if he was performing a squat before he lunged at the Gatekeeper. If it were before, the Gatekeeper would find it hard to react with Sato charging towards it at full speed, but after undergoing its 'baptism', the Gatekeeper was able to react in kind, bringing down its axe straight at Sato's silhouette.

*Bang*

A small airwave blasted from the point of collision of the two opponents as they were both sent back by one step. The result of the clash was both parties were equal in terms of strength.

[Fire Gush]

Fudo swung his staff in the direction of the Gatekeeper, releasing a big wave of flames towards it. His plan wasn't to deal damage to the monster, as Fudo knew that his attacks weren't worth much. Instead, what he planned to do was to destroy the black 'liquid' that flowed towards the Gatekeeper from underneath. If he could cut off the connection between it and Gatekeeper, then they won't need to be excessively worried.

*Whoosh*

The flames immediately covered an area of 9 metres square a couple of metres ahead of Fudo. As intended, the area was exactly where the Gatekeeper stood, setting part of the monster as well as the floor on fire.

-5 (1293/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

The Gatekeeper merely sent a glance at Fudo before it launched a myriad of attacks at Sato. After undergoing the enhancement from both [Enraged] state and devouring the Dark Priests, Fudo's regular attacks were only worth a tickle and the only true opponent was Sato and Xue Yan. However, compared to the female flame-caster, the black-haired swordsman was more of a threat to it.

*Phew*

Arrow after arrow flew through the air, aiming for the Gatekeeper. Even though it was aware that the arrows didn't do much harm, the Gatekeeper had its pride and didn't plan on letting creatures beneath it continuously harm it.

"Sickening vultures. You deserve to be skinned alive and offered as a sacrifice to the great God." The Gatekeeper spoke as it immediately swung its axe in the direction of Seiichi and the others.

A purplish beam shot out from the sword and crossed metres in seconds as it went towards Seiichi and those beside him.

"Sh*t"

Seiichi was only able to curse as he jumped towards the side in a bid to dodge the attack. Sadly, even his speed was lacking in the face of the long-ranged attack from the Gatekeeper.

-342 (1158/1500 Seiichi's HP)

"Seiichi!"

A glaring wound appeared by the side of Seiichi, stretching from the left side of his chest down to his left thigh. The wound was bleeding profusely and Seiichi was forced to abandon the fight and take care of it.

*Boom*

The beam went on to land at Seiichi's original spot, sending Fudo who was close to him, flying back by 3 metres.

"Damn you." Sato growled as he saw how the Gatekeeper had ignored him to attack his teammates.

"Die." Sato narrowed his eyes as he thrust his sword forward.

[Linear Strike]

Once again, the skill Sato had used to heavily injure the Gatekeeper was put to use again. Like a thrown spear, Sato moved in a straight line and had closed the small gap between him and the Gatekeeper. At the same time, he used the skill [Sprint] to increase his movement speed to best the Gatekeeper in this division.

*Clang*

Shockingly, the Gatekeeper was able to block the attack by using its axe as a shield. This was an unexpected tactic which Sato never saw coming but that didn't stop him still.

[Chain Hit]

Sato immediately sidestepped to the right as he brandished his sword 3 times at the Gatekeeper.

As the monster had just blocked the last attack, it never expected Sato to immediately retaliate once again so quickly. As a result, every strike from Sato had managed to land a clear hit on it, with one of them aimed at the injury from the previous [Linear Strike] attack.

-216

-220

[Critical Hit]

-356 (501/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

In just 3 moves, Sato had brought the Gatekeeper's HP close to death's door. Even the monster showed a slight sign of fear in its lone eye as well t immediately retreated away from Sato.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about me." Xue Yan suddenly appeared behind it.

As a mage, Xue Yan was meant to attack from the backline, but as she saw Sato keeping the monster busy, she decided to take the risk and close up the gap all in order to make this move.

"[Blazing Fury]"

[Fire Manipulation]

A ray of red flames shot from Xue Yan's staff and struck the Gatekeeper. As it did so, it exploded into a conflagration of flames that enveloped not just the monster but the 5 metres area around it.

-288 (213/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

*Phew*

[Critical Hit]

-36 (177/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

"Roar!"

In the midst of the flames, an arrow had snuck in and lodged itself at the injured spot of the Gatekeeper. Even though the damage wasn't much, the position it had hit was a weak point so the pain that went through the nerves of the Gatekeeper was high.

"Katsuo!" Sato yelled.

Katsuo was the team's official MT but his level was too low, hence Sato had previously decided that the last hit would be left to him. In fact, Sato didn't want to participate much in the fight, if not for the Gatekeeper suddenly heightening its abilities out of nowhere. But that plan had been scrapped and now Sato was only left with this.

"Got it." Katsuo replied.

The Gatekeeper's HP was still too high for his level 11 self to handle so Katsuo had to team up with Yato, Fudo, and Lu Zhen. Sato kept the Gatekeeper pinned but he didn't attack it anymore, leaving that role to the 4 of them.

-12

-56

-78 (31/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

When just a shred of its HP was left, Katsuo lifted his great-sword in a ceremonial manner and slashed at the Gatekeeper that was being held down by Sato.

[Transcendent Severance]

-59 (0/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

Using the skill he had gotten from the Caventry Ground, Katsuo put an end to the Gatekeeper, severing its corpse into two in a horrific manner.

"Finally.." Sato sighed.