Chapter 83 - 80 : Fighting Riddled Tree

*Thud*

A body dripping with a dark red liquid, dropped in a puddle of the exact same liquid. Looking closer, as one would expect, it was actually blood that stained both the body and the floor. There was the smell of burnt flesh and blood circulating around the body.

The body had a lot of burnt holes on it with the head twisted to the left side. There was still an expression of horror and unwillingness displayed on the face. Upon further inspection, the owner of the body looked like a middle aged man though he was actually older.

Beside the body stood a 5 foot dark green creature with black patterns painted on it. Apart from the mana that actively gather around the creature, another noticeable fact was the irritating grin plastered on its face. The monster was outrightly mocking its opponent after it had ended the life of one of them and let off some steam from the beating it had earlier received.

As the body landed on the ground, it began to disintegrate at a quick pace. Not just the body, but the blood too.

After the first battle the players had with the Emissary, all of those who died at its hands discovered that they couldn't log back into the game. All they got was that their 'true essence' had been stolen with their immortal soul slightly hurt.

Not comprehending the weird jargon being displayed, one player finally decided to report to the Heaven System[1] after which he received a reply. According to the Heaven System, the Emissary had taken the essence but in simpler terms, a part of the souls, in the blood of the deceased . Because of this, the players would be temporary blocked from being logged into the game, for at least 10 hours; in other words, 20 in-game hours. Of course this was only for the players who died specifically at the hands of the Emissary and those whose blood were obtained by the Emissary.

After much deliberation, investigation and inspection, the players finally discovered the 'quick disintegration' feature which eliminates any trace of their remains after death. Using those who had lost their essence to the Emissary as an example and a warning, most of the players had turned on this feature for themselves with only the daring, and probably foolish, of men doing the opposite.

"What a loss…"

Glancing at the body and blood that had rapidly begun disintegrating, the goblin felt unsettled.

Sygrart was informed, prior to his departure, by the Emissary that those who will aim for it would mostly be the 'chosen ones' as such, he should try to take a bit of their essence. He had even taught Sygrart a soul stealing technique to do so. However, with the death of Drunken Hog, Sygrart discovered that the technique didn't work. He was initially shocked but after seeing Drunken Hog's body disintegrate before him, he understood what had happened.

"Hehe. Are you talking about the body? Don't worry, you will follow him to." Fudo chuckled. Even though one of them had died, he realized that he had to raise their morale a bit and lighten the mood up otherwise they will surely perish.

"No, I'm pretty sure he would be going to monster hell." Chesces commented.

As a tactician, it didn't take him long to realize what Fudo was trying to do and so he supported him.

"Kylian, heal Griffin and get him up to shape. Also, give me a few boost and tell the mage beside you to cooperate with me." Chesces sent a voice message to Kylian. This was a special feature in Infinite Realm where players who have added each other as friends and are in the same party system can send mental voice messages. In other words, they said messages with their minds. A handy way of sending information. Though it seems simple, if used properly, it can become the turning feature for a battle. However, this feature still has a few limitations which includes distance between recipient and sender and also word count.

"Alright."

. . . . .

'They should be able to hold on for at least 30 seconds.' Sato inwardly sighed before surveying all the other battles going on.

'That swordsman should be able to beat that Guardian. As for Yukino's fight, she should be to win.' Sato looked at all the fights. By 'that swordsman', he was referring to Swift Blade who had somewhat taken his 'kill' away from him. For Yukino's battle, Sato had a lot of faith in her and considering that he didn't want to meet any big figures, he never planned to interfere in that battle of her's.

'Then that leaves...' Sato narrowed his eyes.

. . . . .

"Hahaha, give up already; you won't beat me anytime soon." Riddled Tree laughed while running around the place.

"You talk too much." Dream Tiger said with a lot of annoyance in his voice.

He, the most treasured player of East Crow Guild, had actually fought a one-on-one battle with an unknown dark player and still couldn't get the upper hand. To make things worse, the other parties identity was that of a druid, a supporting class. If this were to be known by others, Dream Tiger might end up as a laughing stock.

"Die!"

"Hahaha, aren't you tired of screaming that already?" Riddled Tree mocked his opponent.

"Then I guess it's your turn to start screaming." A voice sounded out behind him.

"Who the hell?!" Riddled Tree yelled out in surprise as he tried to move away from the voice.

*Puchi*

Even though he tried, Riddled Tree still didn't try enough as a steel sword penetrated him from behind with its glistening tip appearing from his abdomen.

"Damn."

Riddled Tree cursed as he budged his body from the sword.

Seeing this, Dream Tiger wouldn't let him go that easily. He nocked an arrow onto his bow and quickly fired at Riddled Tree, not giving him the time to breathe.

"Shit." Riddled Tree was stunned but he still reacted swiftly, using his stafff to deflect the arrow.

While he did so, the previous attacker appeared once more slashing his sword at him. With his face now turned to the attacker, Riddled Tree finally saw the face of his ambusher.

"It's you?!"

"Of course it's me,. Who else would it be?"

Yes, the attacker was Sato. Of all the battles he could participate in, Sato settled on Dream Tiger's fight as he noticed that it would take him quite a lot of time to finish Riddled Tree. However with Sato there, they could easily finish him and join back with the main team. If he succeeded, the addition of Sato and Dream Tiger would be enough assistance to help the team against the boss since it would be one long rang player and another short range player.

"Tch. You've made a terrible mistake, now die." Riddled Tree pointed his staff towards Sato.

*Twang* (AN: This should be the sound of an arrow being fired)

*Phew*

'Shit.' Riddled cursed before narrowly dodging the arrow that just came his way.

"It seems you have forgotten about me." Dream Tiger smirked. He was quite angry that Sato had come to assist after all as a man hailed to be a genius, Dream Tiger had his own pride. However after recalling that they were supposed to finish their opponents quickly so as to go back and handle the boss before any other player would make their way over, Dream Tiger didn't complain. Since he couldn't beat his opponent anytime soon, he might as well accept the help offered to him. Even though he had his pride, Dream Tiger didn't allow it to blind him from the main task ahead.

Using the period Riddled Tree had his concentration tied up dodging the arrow, Sato dashed forward with his sword in hand and slashed at Riddled Tree. At the same time, Dream Tiger had fired three more arrows at Riddled Tree. His follow-up attack was well timed that almost at the same time Sato's sword was closing up on Riddled Tree, the arrows were less than 2 metres away.

'So Devis is dead and it looks like I'm gonna join him too...' Riddled Tree sighed inwardly.

Recalling that Sato was initially tied up with Devis and Rock, Riddled Tree had glanced around and only noticed Rock battling a swordsman. With that in mind, he concluded that Devis must have already been killed and to make things faster, the killer had decided to help his teammates.

'I'm seriously doomed...'

With the way things are now, Riddled Tree only had three options; escape from here, die at his enemies hand or commit suicide. Escaping wasn't so much of an option because Riddled Tree doubted whether there was even an escape route after all the very door that they had used to show up here had closed behind them. Even so, unless he can escape his current predicament, Riddled Tree wouldn't have the luxury of considering an escape from the boss' chamber. With that, he was left with the two options of death but no man would like to die even if it wasn't a true death.

"Now die!"