Chapter 185 - 179 : Face-off

"Guys, he's here." Fudo exclaimed in the team chat.

Staring into the distance, at an approximate point less than 200 metres away, was Sato. Behind him were the kobold chief and the kobold guard who had been chasing him for a while now.

Usually, when players keep leading a monster beyond its habitat, the monster would quit chasing them because of its unfamiliarity of foreign grounds. The only way to succeed in this was to cause such severe and heavy damages that the creature would be thoroughly angered at the player. Another way was to continuously cause damage to the monster, as a result, constantly renewing the aggro of the monster. Lu Zhen had made use of the latter against the kobold horde while Sato made use of both.

[Kōjin's Arrow] had gravely maimed both the kobold chief and its guard to the point that they simply couldn't let the instigator of the attack to go scot-free. To make comparisons, it was like a lustful man having his male organs mutilated maliciously to the extent that the organs would have lost their function, and all these was done without his permission. To make such a man lose his precious dignity just like that would be equivalent to entering a life-and-death enmity with him. Though the situation wasn't exactly the same, the end result was. The two kobolds hated Sato to the extreme and this was even more so for the kobold guard, who lost not just its arm but also its dignity in failing to finish off Sato back then.

"Xue Yan, get ready." Fudo said.

Out of the long-range players in their team, Seiichi was absent as he had to keep track of Emperor's Might. Only Fudo and Xue Yan were left behind. Excluding Fudo, the effects of Xue Yan's attacks were on the lower side of the scale in this long-range battle. The reason was quite simple and could easily be explained in a question. Between an arrow and a fireball, which one seemed to be faster? Though it was true that a fireball packed more punch than an arrow, if it couldn't hit the target, what use was it?

Just like the [Assassin] class had a passive boost in speed, the [Ranger] class had a passive boost both in eyesight and also long-range attacks. Their attacks were made to be slightly faster than that of a mage even if the two parties had the exact same attribute points distribution.

Fudo was higher levelled so there was no problem in terms of his attack's movement speed, but the same couldn't be said about Xue Yan.

Sato had originally wanted Seiichi to work with Fudo, but his role was indispensable and no one else could do it. Though Xue Yan was still a long-range player, being equal in level, her attack's speed was inevitably a bit weaker when compared to Seiichi's.

"Once they get in range, hit them with all you have got. For this mission to succeed, we have to be quick with our actions.

"Yato, you and Xue Yan would work with Katsuo and finish off the kobold guard as quickly as possible. Sato will tank the boss and keep him in check so you guys shouldn't bother about it. I will assist him with that too and maybe with you guys also. But don't expect much from me."

In this time when Sato had to be paying attention to his tail, Fudo took command and gave out the orders to the rest. In truth, this was already the strategy they had come up with long ago.

"Hit it with your best and don't hold back. Try to kill it as soon as possible. When Lu Zhen and Seiichi get back, defeating the boss wouldn't be that difficult anymore." Fudo commented.

As he watched Sato and the kobolds steadily approach the 20 metres attack range, Fudo raised his concentration to its highest as he gripped his staff tightly.

"Now!" Fudo suddenly yelled out. He pointed his staff at the kobold guard as his mind abruptly calmed down.

'Explosion.'

-118 (???/??? ???) (AN : Monster stats is unknown)

"Roar!!!!!!"

As the kobold guard was suddenly set ablaze, it cried out in pains as it halt its pursuit while wriggling its body in a futile attempt to put off the flames.

At this time, Sato suddenly took a sharp turn, moving over to the side and increasing the space between himself and kobold guard. This was to create a new battlefield for Katsuo and the others to take on the kobold guard while he 'danced' with the chief.

The kobold chief had obviously noticed its guard being shrouded in flames but it still kept its attention on Sato. This wasn't solely because of its monster instincts but also because it noticed that the new arrivals who caused the damage to its guard were even weaker than the one it was chasing after. It believed that they shouldn't be able to defeat its guard and with their position being revealed, such a cheap-shot couldn't be reenacted once more.

"Move in!" Fudo yelled out.

Before Fudo's voice had even faded, Katsuo had already dashed towards the kobold guard with a shield in one hand and a great-sword in one hand. Most great-sword usually had to be wielded with two hands but Katsuo's hand a special passive feature. As long as one's [Strength] exceeded a certain amount, they would be able to wield it with one hand though the attack power would be a bit weaker than when a player does so with two hands. Nonetheless, this feature was very useful to MT-type classes, who usually had to wield but a weapon and a shield.

"[Execution]!"

Using the trump card skill of the [Paladin] class, Katsuo closed in on the kobold guard. The sword glowed with a bright radiant, like a soft but bright light, almost approaching the sun in intensity. Even if the kobold wasn't wrapped in flames, there was still a chance that it wouldn't be able to dodge the attack, much less now it was distracted.

Like the emissary of a heavenly being bringing judgement upon the world, Katsuo brought down his great-sword upon the distracted kobold guard.

[Critical Hit] -40 (???/??? ???)

"Roar!"

Though the damage was quite low, the pain brought about by the strike was similar to being pierced by a thousand needles. No matter the creature, such a pain isn't something anyone could easily tolerate.

Having drawn the monster's aggro to himself, Katsuo didn't stop at one hit but went for another.

"Die!"

As he swung his sword, the kobold guard quickly reacted and clashed against the sword with the bone sword in its left arm. Katsuo was a [Paladin] so he had inevitably placed a majority of his attribute points in [Strength] and [Endurance] and was too slow to react to the kobold's retaliation.

*Clang*

Despite having clashed with his sword, in one strike, Katsuo was forced back in a horrific manner, flying across almost like a meteor, before crashing into a boulder.

-64 (96/160 Katsuo's HP)

"Puah!" Katsuo spat out blood.

"Katsuo!" Yato hurriedly cried out.

From that one clash, it had been revealed that the [Strength] difference between the two was almost, if not already, past a gap of 10 points. Even though the kobold guard's attack was rushed as a form of retaliation, it still wasn't something Katsuo could handle with a simple slash.

Truthfully, unlike the other MT or strength-based classes, the [Paladin] class didn't have things easy. Sure, they could use healing magic, making them look and sound way cooler than a [Guardian], but everything has a cost. Because of the ability to heal, [Paladins] now had to improve their [Intelligence] stat otherwise the healing ability would become nugatory and have no purpose. In such a case, the player would have already wasted the class and should have instead gone for the [Guardian] class. In summary, by being both a healer and an MT, [Paladins] had to focus their attribute points on [Strength], [Endurance], [Vitality] and [Intelligence]; that's 4 attributes to continuously improve! Not forgetting the fact that they also have to steadily increase their [Dexterity] and [Agility] before they become useless in battle, the [Paladins] had things difficult.

Though Katsuo tried his best in distributing his attribute points, when compared to a [Guardian] of the same level, his [Strength] would inevitably be lacking, much less against a level 9 Kobold guard; a distant descendant of dragons.

"Watch out!" Yato yelled again as he saw the Kobold guard move towards Katsuo.

'Damn it.'

With the strike from before, Katsuo was yet to move his body so easily.. If the kobold guard were to reach him, he would be nothing more than a sitting duck.