Chapter 79 - 76 : Three Kills

(AN : So I'mma start feeding my MC with 'Arrogance Pills' but not a lot. So get ready to witness the rise of a strong and arrogant cultivato…uh, gamer. Yep, gamer.)

"Just don't hold me back."

Dream Tiger smiled lightly.

It was the first time someone, who wasn't even a titled player, had talked to him about holding them back. Even his guild leader, Troubled Sword Daichi, wouldn't so easily make such a boastful statement. Despite so, Dream Tiger didn't talk back; not that he didn't want to rather, he believed that Sato might be qualified to say such. Even though he hadn't seen much of his fighting skill or martial arts, Sato's control and usage of his strength made him wonder whether the face beneath the hood belonged to a 'False King' or a great expert.

As expected, after Sato had replied they had already closed up the gap between them and Sinland.

As soon as they saw each other, Sato ran towards the assassin, Devis, as the other two; Sinland's captain and the guardian, Rock, were both being held back by Yukino and Swift Blade respectively. Also, it would be easier for him to face a close combat class player than a long range one.

On the other side, Dream Tiger targeted Riddled Tree as battling a mage would be easier for him than facing an assassin. This had lead to the reinforcement unknowingly selecting different opponents and not interfering with one another.

Because of their timely arrival, they had succeeded in lessening the load of Swift Blade, who had to face three opponents since the captain of Sinland had taken Yukino all for himself [1]. A few seconds later and Swift Blade would have been a goner as he could hardly hold up against the assault of the three, having less than 40% HP remaining.

Seeing this, Swift Blade temporarily retreated from the battle while facing Sato.

"Kuro! [2] Would you mind helping me a bit with that Guardian okay? I'll owe you. Thanks."

Without waiting for reply, Swift Blade moved away to find a safe spot where he could take in HP potions before it's too late.

"Hehe. Die!" Devis sprung forth and stabbed towards Sato when he saw that he was focused on Swift Blade.

"[Charge]"

Rock, the team's guardian, dashed towards Sato with the idea of working alongside Devis to get rid of him.

One in front with another on the side. Despite being somewhat surrounded, Sato remained calm and faced his enemies.

"Confronting me was your worst mistake."

Sato darted towards Devis as he felt that he was the most dangerous figure between the two. With his sword held high, Sato slashed towards Devis.

*Clang*

The sound of two metals colliding, rang out after the attempt.

"I'm also your opponent." Rock stated with his shield in between him and Sato. The sound earlier was a result of his act of blocking Sato's attack with his shield.

Normally, Sato's speed is far ahead of Rock but since he had used the Guardian class' [Charge] skill which grants a speed boost, he had made it in time before Sato could reach Devis.

"Die!" Using the chance Sato was focused on Rock, Devis followed from the side and hacked his short sword at Sato.

"Hmph." Sato retreated back by a few steps.

Seeing their prey retreat, Devis and Rock took it as his weakness and chased after him with Rock making the first move while Devis followed up.

"Reinforcements?"

When he had seen Sato and Dream Tiger arrive, the middle aged man who was entangled with Yukino in a fight, frowned a bit. However he soon relaxed after seeing that they were only two players with the others focused on the boss.

"Only two? You underestimate us a lot. Doesn't matter though as it's to our advantage. You will all die in a bit and the boss kill would go to us."

Even though there were only 4 Sinland players left which was pretty much the same number as their attackers, the man was quite confident that they will win. After all he was quite confident that in the main battle, which is between him and Yukino, he would come through as he victor.

"Enough play, just die."

The Snow Goddess, Yukino, charged at him with a great sword in hand.

"That was what I was about to say to you."

The middle aged man took three arrows from his quiver and swiftly arranged them on his bow before aiming at his opponent like a hunter would target a prey.

The arrows he used this time around were different from the regular ones a s they were painted with yellow stripes on a brown background. Looking at the brown colouring, one would think that the arrow was made of wood and in fact, it actually was. However the wood wasn't your everyday tree branch.

In Infinite Realm, players are given a weapons and equipment together with a few necessities and local products. In the case of those in the vicinity of Riverdale an Black Mountain[3] towns, they received basic low-tier mortal rank equipment and weapons, 25 copper coins, a jar of water, a loaf of bread, a novice map and a jar of sour wine. The jar of sour wine served as the local product, which was actually a key to an impressive mission(AN: Which we already know).

In the case of Rangers, whose arrows had to be constantly replaced at times, their arrows weren't actually at the low-tier mortal rank but at the common rank[4]. However, these arrows the middle aged man had pulled out were at the low tier Mortal rank.

Even though there was the difference of one rank between the arrows, this difference was insurmountable after all, at the low tier mortal rank, weapons and equipment encounter a qualitative change as a result of the instillation of mana.

Mumbling in a low voice, he said

"Martial Technique, Drifting shot."

As he spoke, he let go of the arrows, which sped towards Yukino. Unlike the previous arrows he had fired earlier, these ones were far more quicker. Not only did they have a blazing red trail behind them, the red trails had a bit of yellow in them and their tips glistened a bit in this somewhat dark environment.[5]

The blazing tails of the arrows wasn't only as a result of the friction between the arrows and the air but rather they were the signs of vigorous mana being used to increase the speed of the arrows. Even though non-mage classes aren't able to use mana like mages, some of them still can use mana, though only with the help of special skills. In the case of a Ranger, their arrows, especially ranked arrows[6], possess the ability to use mana and might have some skills engraved on them.

The arrows moved with an amazing speed and a really pretty view behind but Yukino didn't have the time to admire them.

Even though the middle aged man had let go of the three arrows at the same time and at the same direction, the arrows had actually spread far apart with one coming from the right, the other from the left and the last was directly in front of Yukino.

Unlike the previous attack, these arrows were all arriving at the same time, leaving Yukino no chance to face them one at a time. Three arrows from three directions, moving at an impressive speed making it difficult to dodge. Yukino only had the option of blocking them as she had almost no time to escape.

Frowning, Yukino held her great sword with both hands before using the Lotus sword art's 2nd form, 3 leaf block.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*

Once again, Yukino stood still in the face and blocked the attacks but because they weren't regular arrows, with a special effect granted thanks to the mana bonus, the arrows exploded upon contact with her sword forcing her three steps backwards before she regained her stance. She also received a slight loss in HP due to the force of the explosion of the arrows.

A regular human being can't withstand a close range explosion such as this one even if they responded exactly as Yukino did. Thanks to the physique and strength of players however, they can survive such an attack and only receive minor damage.

Not planning on giving her breathing space, the middle aged man followed up his attacks with a few more arrows, but unlike the previous three, these ones were regular arrows; in other words common ranked.

"[Parry]!"

With a swing of her sword, Yukino deflected the other arrows and stood still facing the man.

"Impressive, I must say." The middle aged man applauded.

"If I'm correct, you are Three Kills." Yukino frowned as she stared at Sinland's captain.

"Oh? Looks like I'm still remembered. Indeed, I'm Three Kills. So what then eh? What about it?" Three Kills smirked evilly.

Three Kills, a forgotten name that had once brought terror to the hearts of players. A lot of people may not know what this name meant but as a member of a Super guild, Yukino had more than enough faculties to know.

Three Kills was a former famous VR gamer 5 years ago. He was deemed as the next one to step into the titled realm of players and possibly become a monster ranked expert. A monster rank expert, a pillar class individual for Super guilds and peak first tier guilds. The difficulty in reaching this realm was unimaginable but the benefits and gains were more than enough satisfaction.

For Three Kills to have been predicted to reach this realm this proved to show how strong he was. In other words, Three Kills was a 'false King' and not an ordinary one at that.

He had gotten the name Three Kills after battling two other 'False Kings' and one true 'King' coming out on top as the last one standing. Yes, he had killed a true 'King' while still being a 'False King'. It had always been believed that no matter what, a 'false King' can never beat a true 'King' in a fair match. But Three Kills had overturned this belief, breaking this unwritten rule and smashing it into pieces, becoming a man who's name should have been forever remembered as a pioneer of great deeds.

Nonetheless, Three Kills' gaming future had ended after he was charged with a few crimes on his head a few of which were sexual assault, corruption, tax evasion and also attempted murder. Such crimes are normally shunned and it became even worse in this era, especially for murder even if it's just attempted. He was trialed guilty and went to jail with an judgement sentence of 3 years in imprisonment. The reason why his sentence was only 3 years was because he had a few powerful friends and also the attempted murder was eventually ruled as self defence otherwise, Three Kills would have been in jail for 85 years.

With such an amount of time, everyone believed that his gaming career was over as even if he were to leave prison, no big guild would want an ex-convict in their line-up.

"Even if you know who I am, what difference does it make? Entertain me better this time around or else you will die."

AN :

[1] This line sounds weird...

[2] Japanese for black. Swift Blade doesn't know Sato's name so he calls him Black since he was wearing a black cloak. Rather than shouting 'black',  I felt that using the Japanese translation would be better.

[3] It's highly possible that in previous chapters, I had called it 'Black Rock Town'. This is an error. The town ought to be 'Black Mountain Town' but the city is called 'Black Rock City'.

[4] Refer to chapter 32.

[5] I think I had previously mentioned that the boss' chamber only has a couple candles as lightning, right…?

[6] Ranking starts from the Low tier Mortal rank. Common rank isn't an official rank.. Refer to chapter 32 again.