Chapter 188 - 182 : Being Forced Back

"Now, it's just you and me. Come on. Show me what you've got!"

Without waiting for the kobold chief to make a move, Sato dashed towards it with his sword in hand.

"Roar!"

Having been provoked by Sato, the already vexed kobold chief was angered even more. A little ant that had just suffered to it not only rejected help but even dared to taunt it to battle. Who wouldn't be annoyed in such a situation?

Even though Sato had made the first move, to the kobold chief, his movements were still slow. Taking a step forward, the Kobold chief closed in on Sato with its spear slashing towards him.

'Fast.'

Against the kobold guard, Sato was a bit slower and the kobold guard was even slower than the kobold chief. With the comparisons that obvious, Sato didn't stand a chance in terms of speed against the Kobold chief. He even knew that the only reason both he and Lu Zhen had lasted this long was because the Kobold chief never went all out. Even after taking a strike from [Kōjin's Arrow], which severely injured it, the Kobold chief never went all out yet. It was only when Sato had constantly annoyed it, while sending Fudo away, did it finally stop holding back.

Sato speculated that it was holding back while chasing Lu Zhen because it might have things were off and it still did the same against him because it might have sensed Fudo's presence but didn't know where he was. It was only until the battle was made into a one-on-one did it decide to end things quickly. The intelligence displayed by the Kobold chief was unprecedented anywhere else. It just went to show how dangerous and cunning the creature was. 

In fact, Sato feared that the injuries that the kobold chief may have received from [Kōjin's Arrow] weren't that serious to it. This was because apart from the burnt area in front, the kobold chief didn't seem to have sustained any heavy damages. Even the kobold guards who weren't the main target of the attacks both lost an arm each. If that was so, then the defensive attributes of the kobold chief were something to be feared.

With the two parties no longer holding back, the battle that would occur would be a major deciding factor for the entire raid.

*Bang*

A loud explosion sounded out as dust flew into the air. Huge vibrations occurred in the atmosphere, sending out a shock-wave in all directions. This was nothing more than an after effect of the clash between the two parties.

While it was true that a breeze was spewed out, spreading in all directions, such a wind could be said to be of two variations. The first moved against Sato while the second moved against the Kobold chief. As for the one that was much more powerful, the answer was very obvious.

*Boom*

Sato got tossed even worse than he was before, flying past the 7 metres mark. In the direction he flew in, dust particles were blown wildly into the air, almost forming a thick haze. The Kobold chief only experienced a slight breeze from the clash but Sato was the one who endured the hardest. Against a level 10 monster, Sato didn't stand a chance. This he knew but he didn't expect that things would be this bad.

If before he only experienced a slight numbing sensation from the previous clash then now, he felt that the veins in his arms were really about to burst out. Sato felt strength slip out of his arms, almost as if they were broken. Without a doubt, if he blocked another attack from the kobold chief again, he would surely lose an arm.

If you think that the worst of Sato's injuries was this, then think again. Apart from almost getting the bones in his arms broken, Sato puked out a whole mouthful of blood. There was no reason other than the fact that the force from the blow shock his internal organs a lot.

During the last attack, Sato had lost 29 HP just from blocking a blow, but this time around, he had actually lost 57 HP! Almost double of the previous one. This was insane especially when one would realise that this came from just blocking the attack. An average level 6 player, of the [Berserker] or [Swordsman] class would only be able to barely match up that amount with their full-powered strike and trump card skill. Remember, this was only barely; in actual fact, most of them would only reach an attack power of 52 points or 55 at best. In other words, a collision with the level 10 kobold chief was actually much more than a full-powered blow from a level 6 DPS player.

Before Sato could give off a sigh of relief or even spring himself back up, the Kobold chief had already arrived with 5 metres away from him.

Sato didn't even have the luxury to curse as he hurriedly propelled himself away from his original landing spot by pressing on the floor with one hand.

*Boom*

The Kobold chief's spear stabbed into the ground, creating a small crater of 2 metres diameter at the target spot.

"Sthhh." Seeing this, Sato sucked in a cold breath of air as he realized that this strike was much more powerful than the first one. It was most likely that the kobold chief intended to finish him off with the second strike.

'This is bad. Much less being its match, I'm even lacking worse than its shadow.[1]'

Originally, Sato had already overestimated the kobold chief's ability. Having landed a clear hit with [Kōjin's Arrow], he had expected to at least severely injure the kobold monster and indeed he had done so. Despite that, it seemed like the injuries weren't much to it.

'No. Though that's a possibility, it's also quite possible that the kobold chief is pushing itself to its limits. It might not be able to hold out that long.'

The power of [Kōjin's Arrow] was undeniable. Even the kobold guards and regular kobolds that were outside the target range still got affected; much less the main target, the kobold chief. Even if it was a level 10 monster, there should be no way that it would receive such a strike and go away unharmed. Just that the degree of the harm was unknown.

Using this small window of relaxation, Saying stated one word in his mind.

'[Inspect]'

Previously, the [Inspect] ability could be activated without any necessary conditions or quote being fulfilled but the with the previous update back before, there was now the condition of harming the target before the skill could be activated.

Sato had injured the Kobold chief back when he used [Kōjin's Arrow]. Even though it wasn't a skill unique to him or his class, he did activate the attack and also controlled it yo aim at his designated target. As such, the system had taken it as an attachment to of Sato's, enabling him to use the [Inspect] skill. Sato originally didn't find it so important to use and also the kobold chief had been interrupting him time after time whenever he wanted to use it. Even if he did get the stats, Sato wouldn't be able to find any opportunity to take a look at them. It was only after being forced this much that Sato decided to do so at all cost. As the saying goes 'Know thyself and thy enemy and the battle would have been half won'. Sato already knew his abilities and all that was left was that of the kobold chief's.

[[ System Interface :

Kobold Chief (Elite)

Level : 10

HP : 1500/1500 (x15)

Physical Attack Power : 78

Magical attack power : 0 (39) (AN : Can't use magic.)

Physical Defense : 40 (x1.5) 

Magical Defense : 18 (x1.5) 

Attack Speed : 45

Movement Speed : 34

Attributes

Strength : 26

Endurance : 27

... ]]

"Roar!"

Before Sato could get a proper look at the stats, the kobold chief roared in anger and moved towards Sato. It was as if it felt that Sato had done something to it but it didn't know what.

'Damn.' Sato cursed as he turned tail and fled.

The reason why he told Fudo to go while he took care of the kobold chief wasn't actually because he was prideful or had confident in his strength to beat it. It was because they were lacking time.

Yato's crew were quite weak and though they could take on a few strong monsters on their own, the level 9 Kobold guard was a bit beyond their reach. They were lacking that firepower and tanking ability to do so. If they were to take too long against it, the team wouldn't be able to have much time left to defeat the boss and that would be bad. Hence the reason why Sato sent Fudo to them.

For this to be successful, Yato's team with the addition of Fudo should be able to take down the Kobold guard within a minute while Sato had to last this long against this terrifyingly destructive monster. However, this second condition proved difficult as Sato could barely tank one hit from the Kobold chief. He was only left with 64 HP and this would only suffice to handle one more hit. Sure he had health potions, but it wasn't like the kobold chief would just watch him recover now.

'I wonder how long I can last....' Sato thought as he jumped to the side, narrowly dodging a spear throw from the kobold chief.