Chapter 491 - 485 : Lorls River

There it is.'

A couple of metres ahead was the main river that 'guided' the canyon. The river could be described as beautiful from far out due to its shimmering blue colour and the refreshing air that wafted around it, but to those who traversed it, it was a terrifying place, home to a bunch of dangerous monsters and man-eating creatures.

The river was about 200 metres wide with trees on both sides, and was very deep. While Sato had never personally explored it, the records from the city stated that the depth of the river was more than 30 metres as from that depth down below, terrifying monsters had made a home out of the river. Even a famous adventurer who had once tried to explore it a long time ago, had only gone 50 metres below before he was forced to retreat by a dangerous beast. 

Still on the size of the river, it was once said that the water in the river was enough to drown a Primary town. That's right; drown and not flood. This line alone, though a rumour, was enough to show the large amount of water flowing in the river as well as the insane rumoured depth of the river. This famed river, was named River Lorls or the Lorls river by an old lord of the region.

On the other end of the canyon, the Lorls river would branch out into 3 smaller streams that ran across the kingdom. Even though these 3 streams were smaller than the main river, they were each at least 50 metres wide, with the largest being up to 130 metres wide.

At a certain stop, the Lorls river branched out a bit to form a small distributary that went inland. Compared to the main river, this strait was a lot smaller, reaching only up to 60 metres in width. Nonetheless, the depth was still quite astonishing, as even Sato with his improved eyesight, couldn't see the riverbed from his position.

'That's at least 20 metres or so.' Sato estimated how far deep he could see from the surface.

If one were to follow the strait for 4-5km all the way to the other side, they would arrive at the lake Sato had spotted the first time he was here. However, Sato had no plans of going there right away. He planned on levelling up here for a bit before doing so to increase his chances of survival.

'From the local map of the province, the Lorls river extends all the way to the south where it divides into 3 smaller streams. The river is normally used as channel to the sea in the south but its also home to a lot of dangerous monsters. Because of this, the weaker monsters tend to either stay above or depart from the river once they get close to a distributary or a tributary. This strait should be housing a bunch of monsters like that.' 

Recalling the information he had gotten as well as the ones he had theorised from researching about the place, Sato prepared himself as he chose a spot to begin 'farming'.

Sato walked about 1km away from the point the river Lorls broke out to form the 60 metres wide strait. At this distance, Sato felt it was safe to hunt for monsters as the chances of him attracting a big 'fish' from the river was quite low.

The area close to the river bank was different from the canyon's usual topography and vegetation. Unlike the arid ground that plagued most of the canyon, the area close to both the Lorls river as well as the current river before Sato had trees with a bit of greenery close by. 

Reeds grew by the river bank while some parts of it was swampy. The area within 30 metres or so of the two rivers, had quite a lot of plants although they were mostly tall shrubs and grass.

'Hmm? Lucky me.' Sato smiled as he caught sight of a prey.

By the river bank, around the region where reeds grew, a strange creature that looked like a crocodile laid flat on the ground as it bathed under the sun. Unlike an average crocodile, it had sea-blue scales with little spikes and a veined black pattern that ran from its tail to the four limbs. This was a strange appearance for a creature living near the river as it was a scientifical fact that most creatures tend to take on a look that makes it easier for them to hunt for prey as well as survive and avoid assault from predators. This was why certain creatures had a similar skin/scale colour to the region they lived in. For a monster like this to have sea-blue scales in a green field was a bit ludicrous.

'The developers couldn't have forgotten such a simple fact, right?' Sato thought as he drew near to the monster.

The croc was at least 12 feet long (3.6576 metres) with a width of about 3 and a half feet. It's short limbs were packed with muscles that could dwarf that of a bodybuilder with ease. When the croc occasionally yawned, Sato spotted two rows of teeth on the top jaw and a single row below. There were two long canine teeth that decorated the teeth set of the monster, similar to those of snakes. There was no doubt that this reptile was more than capable of devouring a human figure with ease. With just a final of its jaws, one's body part would become permanently dismembered.

'Based on its build, it's most likely a strength-type monster. However, crocodiles are said to be quite agile even on land, more so in water. It's best that I avoid a confrontation in the river.' Sato immediately hid his figure out of sight.

'3 sets of teeth and such a large body size. It's safe to safe that this guy has been eating lot so there's no lack of prey for it here. If that's the case, it's probably not done small fry.' Sato narrowed his eyes.

If one were to take Infinite Realm to be another reality, then they would have to look at every event just as they would in real life. The ability to do this was a major difference between pro players and average players.

From glancing at the croc's appearance, Sato had theorised that it wasn't an easy opponent to face. This was because of its size. The huge size of the monster may not look like much but for such a large creatures to maintain its size and weight, it had to have enough to eat, and with such a large size, it needed to eat a lot. Being able to maintain its size here meant that the crocodile either had a lot of prey to eat or was an overlord of sorts within a certain range and didn't have to worry about competitors or predators. The monsters within that area would therefore, not be its match, hence the reason why it could eat to satisfaction.

'If that's the case, then I have to proceed with caution.' Sato gripped [Drakken] tightly.

If Sato rushed to attack and the monster turned out to be stronger than he was, then that would be a problem. With the resources he had, as long as it wasn't more than two levels stronger than he was, Sato had the confidence to take it down. If it were a Special Elite two levels above him, he could at least escape. However, if it were an Elite rank 3 levels above, Sato wasn't so sure about that. It would also be bad if his conjecture was wrong and he would attract more monsters over due to the fight.

'So, I have to launch a quick and decisive attack to at least severely injure.. That way, the fight would be in my advantage and end quicker.'