Chapter 164 - 159 : The Only Way Out

(AN : Alert me for any errors please!!!)

"How come?" Fudo asked with unbelief. The main goal of the team lied on the 10th floor so they weren't interested in the 'mobs' that lay here. The original plan was just to barge through the Exit gates but now that they discovered that they couldn't do so, things would only get more harder. Even if they weren't scared of the monsters, the Guard Golems weren't some mobs that they could easily beat despite how easy things might have seemed to be.

Because of the news, Sato had halted his follow-up actions on Guard Golem B, giving it enough breathing space to retaliate.

"Raw!" 

With a loud roar, Guard Golem B lifted its right foot and stomped heavily on the ground. Following that, the spot where Sato stood on suddenly sunk down by half a metre as earth spears burst put from the 'walls' that had formed.

'Damn.' Sato cursed.

Though Sato was a bit surprised by this maneuver from Guard Golem B, it still wasn't enough to take him down. 

Relying on his superior sense and [Dexterity], Sato dodged the spears while he extricated himself from the crater.

After retreating to an even more safer distance, Sato didn't pay much attention to the Guard Golem but ruminated on the team's next action. With their previous idea being null by the Exit gate's present state, Sato guessed that there had to be a special key or criteria to fulfill before they could go through the gate. 

If it were a key, chances were that it was hidden somewhere close by but still visible for players to see, like a chest or a box. There was also the chance that the key was with one of the monsters. If it were the former then all they had to do was to look around for it but if it were the latter, things would be even more difficult.

There was still also the possibility that they had to fulfill a certain criteria. Sato guessed that it could be a level requirement, skill requirement or maybe to defeat the Guard Golems. If it were a level or skill requirement, it would mean that this battle was pointless and that all the other guilds' enthusiasm would be drowned in cold reality. However, if the criteria to be fulfilled were to defeat the Guard Golems, though such a fit wasn't impossible for Sato's team, it would most likely affect their plans. When taking things into account, this possibility was the most likely and even if he were to consider both the criteria possibility or the existence of a key, the chances of them being able to pass through the gate laid in defeating these guys.

'What you try to avoid will, regardless, always come to you.' Sato sighed.

"Listen up guys." Sato said in the party chat. " Some of you might have guessed it but some of you might not. Regardless, we have one goal now."

'Don't tell me…!' Fudo exclaimed in his mind.

"To eliminate the Guard Golems." Sato expressed.

At this time, most of them had managed to keep some distance away from the Guard Golems. There was a short moment of silence after Sato conveyed his decision. This was because, apart from Sato and Fudo, no one else could deliver heavy strike to the Guard Golems. Even if Xue Yan was to be added, her attack power was considerably lower than the above two. While they were 3 suitable DPS players, there were 3 Guard Golems. They obviously can't assign one player to ach monster as it would end up taking too long to defeat it, leading to problems arising.

"What's the plan?" Fudo asked. 

If one of them were to be pointed out as the one who knew Sato best and had been with him the longest, the answer would surely be Fudo. Fudo had this unshakeable faith and trust in Sato to the extent that if Sato were to tell him to assist him in murdering someone, Fudo would follow through. Compared to murder[1], battling a Guard Golem in a VR game doesn't seem so troublesome.

"Fudo, Katsuo, Yato. You guys form one team. Seiichi, drag that 3rd one over to Fudo's team. Together with the other one Fudo was previously charged with, you guys keep them at bay. Lu Zhen, you come over to my side and help me hold down this big guy. Xue Yan, work with me and let's take this guy down as quickly as possible."

"That's crazy right? I mean handling one isn't hard but can Katsuo really take on two?" Yato hurriedly asked.

"I know, but we don't have any other option left. He's our only MT." Sato replied. Glancing at Katsuo who was a distance away, he said "Katsuo, at least last for a minute. Just one minute and I will be there."

"...alright. It's just like being a Power forward in basketball except I have to defend against two guys now. No problem…I think." Katsuo replied with an unsure tone.

"Just have some faith in yourself." Sato comforted him. "Alright now, let's go."

With Sato giving the go ahead, Seiichi fired three consecutive shots at Guard Golem C, drawing its attention towards himself. Once that was done, he quickly dashed towards Fudo's side with Katsuo and Yato following just a bit behind of him.

Lu Zhen didn't hurry over to Sato's side as he had to help drive Guard Golem A's attention away from Fudo. Only when Seiichi's team was close did he swiftly separate himself from the Guard Golem, running towards Sato's side.

When Seiichi's team had arrived, Katsuo immediately used [Taunt]on the two monster's, combining the skill with a simple roar that easily grabbed their attention. With the two Guard Golems' aggro on him, Katsuo tightened his grip on his shield and his sword, preparing to face the monster's while keeping his healing spells ready to go.

'Just a minute huh? I should be able to do this.' Katsuo comforted himself. Unlike Sato, Katsuo was just a level 6 player. Taking on, not one, but two level 9 Elite monsters on his own was a difficult job. The good thing though was that thanks to Sato's splurge on their equipment, Katsuo's shield and sword were both Upper tier Mortal rank. With these two high quality products, he could barely bridge the gap between himself and the level 9 Elite monsters.

While Katsuo and the rest took on two Guard Golems, Sato and Lu Zhen kept Guard Golem B company. One level 9 [Swordsman], one level 8 [Assassin] and finally, one level 7 Fire [Elementalist]. to make things better, two of the 3 players were at least Expert class players. Such a lineup was very impressive currently in Infinite Realm and it would be a lie to say that they could not handle a level 9 elite monster with a little bit above 50% of its original HP.

'37 Hp. That's 7-8 clean strikes needed.' Sato thought. Sadly though, it wouldn't be easy to achieve such as not only was his class' trump card skill in cool-down but it would also be much harder to launch a similar surprise attack like that to the monster.

"Lu Zhen. Be careful of its [Earth Roar] and [Trans-mutate] skills. Those ones are a bit tricky. Even that [Diverging Rapture]." Sato said to Lu Zhen.

"No worries." Lu Zhen replied calmly. 

"Xue Yan, cover us." Sato said as he began walking slowly towards the Guard Golem. By the time he took the second step, he increased his speed a bit and when he took the 6th step, he was already running.

"Okay." Xue Yan nodded. 

Without wasting time, Xue Yan channeled her mana through the right routes, exiting it out from her staff in the form of a fire ball which darted at the Guard Golem. Xue Ya didn't stop there though. She went on to cast another spell, the [Mana ball]. Just like before, she wanted to make up for quality with quantity.

Lu Zhen immediately entered stealth and sneaked to the side, dashing towards the Guard Golem's side in hope of being able to land a sneak attack on it.

Within two seconds, Xue Yan's spells had overtook Sato and closed in on the Guard Golem. Recalling what had happened to it previously under Xue Yan's onslaught, a hint of wariness and fear surged from the Guard Golem's eyes but it quickly recovered.

"Row!" 

Releasing a strange roar with its disfigured mouth, the Guard Golem hurriedly lifted up a boulder that had been dislodged from the ground, tossing it at the first fireball. 

Relying on its passable [Dexterity] and [Agility], the Guard Golem dodged the other attacks and for the ones t couldn't, it simply braved through them.

-67 (446/1000 Guard Golem B's HP)

Of the 4 attacks Xue Yan had aimed at the Guard Golem, only one managed to make it through and that was a [Mana ball]. Despite not achieving much though, Xue Yan was anything but disappointed after all, her main goal was just to provide cover for Sato to close the gap; injuring the Guard Golem came second.

"Take this."

Sato slashed his sword at the monster. 

Even though it was caught up facing Xue Yan's attack, it easily saw through Sato's actions. Rock particles suddenly gathered at its left palm as the Guard Golem extended it in a bid to catch Sato's sword.

*Phew*

With the sound of air being sliced apart, Lu Zhen appeared out from stealth and brandished his dagger at Guard Golem from the side. What looked like a single assault from Sato was actually a two-pronged pincer attack with Lu Zhen. 

If that wasn't enough, Xue Yan was in the background charging up a [Greater Fireball] to target the monster once an opportunity shows itself. 

A fool-proof plan that was aimed to heavily injure the Guard Golem in an almost sure pattern.

"Now, die!"