Chapter 193 - 187 : Precise Strike

(AN : Give me 3 hours to sort things out. Another chapter should be uploaded by then too.)

"Come on now. Let's see what you're worth." Sato taunted the monster.

The Kobold chief was initially surprised that Sato didn't try running away from it but seeing his attitude and tone, it could easily guess that he was taunting it. It just couldn't understand. This puny creature that had been forced to be on its two feet by it, still dared to face it and what more, taunt it.

"Roar!!"

Before, the kobold chief had managed to calm its rage down while it improved on its fighting skills but with Sato's current action now, it ignored its previous desire to improve and decided to kill Sato for real. It simply dashed at Sato whole thrusting its spear forward in a simple manner.

"Hmph."

In response to the Kobold chief's enraged roar, Sato simply snorted as he prepared himself to receive the strike. 

*Phew*

The kobold chief's spear darted forward as it split apart the air in front while mimicking the sound of an arrow soaring through the winds. Even without clashing with the spear, Sato felt that the force behind it was at least 0.2 times stronger. The effect wasn't so noticeable but even for a player like Sato but having clashed with the Kobold chief a few times, he could sense this.

'Fine, I was getting pumped up for this already. Let's go!' 

Motivating himself, Sato didn't shirk away from the fight bit instead took a step forward, intending to face the spear head on. 

Sato knew that in a head-on battle, he would surely lose out to the Kobold chief due to the difference in their strength but because the monster's fighting skills were lacking when compared to his, Sato could level the playing field with that advantage. If he could strike at the point where the kobold chief's control was the least, he could easily break the momentum of its attack, effectively eliminating the danger.

At this point, where Sato's life and death depended on both his abilities and choices, Sato's brain operated at a very high speed, calculating not just the speed, angle and strength of the attack but also the most probable counter move and the best possible martial skill to use. Sato had reflexively entered a special battle mode where his brain's output rate and calculative abilities where boosted beyond average standards. In this mode, the trajectory of the kobold chief's spear was easily seen. Relying on both his battle experience from his entire 21 or so years and the experience from his short clashes with the Kobold chief's spear before, Sato analysed the energy transfer points in the Kobold chief's attack[1].

'There!'

Without wasting any nanosecond more, Sato mobilised his body to move at its fastest, sending a sword towards the spear. This time around though, he didn't use a slash but a thrust, aiming at a point by the side of the spear's shaft, just beneath the head. With the aid of his experience and eyesight, this was the energy transfer point with the weakest resistance and power supply hence acting as the weak-link of the kobold chief's attack. 

*Ting*

Just as the kobold chief's spear was but a metre away from him, Sato concentrated his entire strength at the tip of his sword and immediately poked the weak point on the spear shaft with a gentle yet forceful touch. This action of his dispersed a majority of the force behind the attack. At the same time, the remnant force from Sato's sword diverted the spear from its previous trajectory, sending it towards Sato's left, just a few centimetres away his head.

The kobold chief was surprised at this as it wondered how come. Lost in its thoughts, it didn't notice as Sato brought his sword down at the it. Because of the way Sato had positioned his sword as he performed that act of his, the sharp edge of his sword happened to be perfectly positioned to face the kobold chief. All he had to do was move it forward and that was exactly what Sato had done.

[Chop]

"Roar!!"

Even if [Kōjin's Arrow] didn't succeed in killing the kobold chief or brutally injuring it, it still succeeded in burning off the entire front of the kobold chief. This was exactly where Sato's sword slashed at. Even common sense would easily tell someone that while getting sliced by a sword was painful, getting sliced at one's bare, unprotected flesh was even worse.

-70 (1065/1500 Kobold chief's HP)

For the first time since the raid had commenced, Sato had finally injured the kobold chief with his own abilities. Unlike the time with [Kōjin's Arrow] which was an ability that didn't belong to him, [Chop] was his. 

Though compared to the amount he usually dished out against other monsters, this one was quite pitiful, the reason was self-explanatory. The kobold chief was both superior to him in level and life order. 

The level part didn't need any explanation but the life order part was a bit shaky. This was because while the kobold chief had purer dragon bloodline than a regular kobold, this bloodline was comparably as useless as that of the regular kobolds. In comparison, that of the players -[Chosen Ones]- was a bit superior to the kobolds. The only reason why the Life order effect took place was because of the superiority in level. Take for instance while an adult tiger could easily defeat a well-trained dog, a well-trained dog could easily defeat a kid tiger. This was simply because the strength and prowess of the dog was already beyond what a little tiger could reach. Also, a new born dragon could never compare to a saint-level human despite the huge gap in life order. The saint-level human could even exhort a special effect on par with the life order effect on the new-born dragon, though not exactly. And this effect was due to the difference in strength. As for the life order effect, it won't act on the human saint because his/her power is far superior to the baby Dragon's.

Of course while Life order effect could happen like this, there would always be a few differences especially when the order is very very huge. For example, a young dragon could easily take on a saint-level human despite the human being way stronger. This was because the dragon had grown a bit and at the level it was, it could somewhat ignore the pressure due to level difference.

Ignoring all this and returning to the present, the kobold chief was able to alleviate a majority of the attack's power mainly due to the difference in level.

Sato however, didn't even bother about the damage as he immediately moved to strike again. But of course, there was no way the Kobold chief would standby and get beaten to shit especially since it had superior attributes. While it didn't know why its spear suddenly lost a lot of force and changed direction from just a touch from the opponent, it didn't shy away from battle especially with how Sato had just injured it. It couldn't help but be frustrated, the 'creature' who had been dodging and running suddenly faced it head-on and actually injured it! Of course it would be enraged.

'Hmm?'

Sato could her the whistling of the spear beside him as he sensed that the spear was heading his way. He also felt a heavy pressure descending from above. At the same time, the kobold chief brought down its left fist down on Sato's head, simply because its spear was still a distance by when compared to its arm.

Sato didn't dare tank this strike as he knew the limit of his defense. He couldn't even handle blocking its spear much less a direct hit.

With a stomp, Sato sent himself back in a hurried manner as he rolled across the floor.

*Boom*

The force behind the kobold chief's left fist was so powerful that it acted almost like a canon, propelling the air beneath the fist downwards in powerful manner. Just the fist-wind had bombarded the floor but it still made an explosive sound.

Sato saw this and took in a deep breath.

'It seems like the boss' fists are no worse than its spear.' 

While this sounded ridiculous, recalling that the Kobold chief's fighting skills were horrible, Sato felt it made sense. In other words, the kobold chief might actually be much stronger bare-handed than with a spear. The only problem would be that its attack range would shorten considerably. That might have been the reason why it actually used a spear.

With a successful first hit, Sato's spirit became a bit better as his morale and confidence increased. However, before he could even think of what to do next, the kobold chief had already approached him.

'Fast...' Was the only thing Sato could think of before he was forced to block the incoming spear.

Even though he had succeeded in dispersing the force of the previous attack while diverting the aim, this was more or so, similar to a one-time act. The reason was simply because the kobold chief was way too strong. That move Sato pulled off required him to not only locate the weak-link but also to aim at it and strike with the required force. It sounded easy but 3 major points were required to pull this off.

The first was to locate the weak-link. The weak point of an attack was simply the point that experienced the least control and force supply. Each move required a specific amount of force to be applied in a different manner and a different route. In other words, how you slash out with a sword isn't the same way you perform a thrust. When summarized, this meant that for each attack, the weak point differed. Locating the weak-link isn't a problem for Sato, so far as he had enough time.

The second point required Sato to have a correct grasp of his ability and aim exactly at the weak-link. The weak point could actually be in form of a tiny spot, similar to the eye of a needle or on or with a regular human eye ball, all depending on the target's control. To be able to make a clean hit at such a small target in the heat of a battle was very difficult.

The third point was for Sato to use the right amount of force for each move, else if he overdid it, the two contrasting forces -one from the Kobold chief and the other from Sato- would counter-react and act against the two. In such a case, even if Sato would succeed in deflecting the spear, he would also lose his own sword.

With the kobold chief quickly attacking together with these 3 points, it would be very difficult for Sato to emulate that move of his. 

[Bone Sweep]

Just as the spear approached, Sato felt that it had increased in strength. The feeling was similar but this time even worse. He felt that even if he blocked this attack, he wouldn't be far from dying however, Sato had no choice.

'[Parry]'

Taking the initiative to block this strike was the same as Sato giving up here. With his already low HP, once he took this strike his death could be said to be very close at hand.

'Well, I at least tried my best here.' Sato smiled as he was prepared to release all the supplies in his space bag and detonate them.. But at that moment, something astonishing happened.