Chapter 203 - 197 : Awakening

"Arghh!"

With an aggrieved scream, another player fell at the hands of a group of kobolds, falling into a puddle of blood before disintegrating into star-light particles.

'Another one…' Azure Dragon gritted his teeth in frustration.

The alliance had been battling for almost 5 minutes already but were yet to see the end of the kobold horde. Even if one were an extremely strong had high levelled being, engaging in such a large scale about with opponents roughly their strength for almost 5 minutes would undoubtedly tire one.

Originally, the team didn't have it so hard as they were at their peak forms. Back then, handling 3-5 kobolds wasn't much of an issue for anyone of them. Even the mages could take on at least 3 kobolds. However, as they killed their way through, the ranks of the kobolds began to increase. From the previous level 5 Elites and level 6 Commons, level 6 Elites and level 7 Commons began to appear. Normally, these monsters wouldn't be much against these guys in a one-on-one battle, but this wasn't a one-on-one fight but a large scale battle. There was no way that the opponents would suddenly agree to that. What's worse was that they had already spent a lot of energy and stamina against the first wave of kobolds. As a result, it became even more difficult for the team to persevere. Eventually, they began to lose a few of their men as their numbers slowly dwindled. From the initial 30 players on the field, just 16 were left standing.

"Hold on tight." Azure Dragon yelled from the back. Opening up his System interface, he located the team chat icon and made a broadcast.

"Chesces, have you found a spot yet?" Azure Dragon asked.

After realising that they wouldn't be able to escape this trap arranged for them, Azure Dragon and Chesces had made another decision that would still give them a shot at the world class boss; and that was to send a small team of 3 or 4 players to sneak out of here. This team would then search and monitor the raid progress of the unknown party, waiting till the last minute where they would not only kill-steal the target but also eliminate that team and rob them of the loot. Though this didn't seem like an honourable tactic, after having suffered at the hands of the mysterious group, Azure Dragon wasn't bothered by such minor issues like morality. Also, even though Infinite Realm was hailed as another Earth, inevitably, it wasn't. Funny enough, it was worse than Earth. This was a world where the strongest fist rules. Morality and the rest of the positive values weren't as valuable as they were in the face of such impressive profits, neither did they work as much as they did in the real world.

"Not yet. The kobold wave is too tight plus we need to be stealthy in our moves and that won't be easy." Chesces replied after a while.

For the plan to succeed, two points were needed. First, the team had to be strong enough to spearhead their way out of the kobold encirclement but this was easier said than done. The second point was that they had to do so without Soran's team finding out otherwise, it was highly possible that those psychos would impede them and make their situation even worse leading to a team-wipe[1].

The first point was the least difficult problem as the overall team of Emperor's Might was made up of Expert players. The team of 4, organized for the escape, was made up of verified Experts with the 'False King' Chesces, taking charge alongside 3 other above-average Experts as teammates. The major issue was the second point. In other to fend off the monsters, the two teams had grouped together so it was quite difficult for a party of 4 to sneak out without being discovered, even in the heat of this battle.

"Try and find a way out. We don't have much time left again." Azure Dragon responded as he cast a [Water Ball] and shoved a kobold out of his way. He then followed up with a [Water Wall] spell, which he had gotten from the guild, buying himself some breathing space.

"Use a straight-line formation. The MTs would give you an opportunity to escape. Forget about being stealthy any longer." Azure Dragon said. Recently, he had been getting a bad feeling about the mysterious party. At least 3 minutes had gone by since they heard any explosion sounds or roars. Logically, it was impossible for the mysterious force to eliminate the world class boss that quickly as even Azure Dragon didn't have the faith that he could pull it off with his own team. Also, if the boss had died, the kobolds here should have felt something and possibly retreated or headed to the spot but they didn't. Nonetheless, Azure Dragon felt the brooding restlessness within his spirit and so he didn't want the team to delay any longer.

"...alright." Chesces replied after some hesitation.

Just as he was about to coordinate with the remnant members of Emperor's Might team for the 'great escape', the last kobold chief with only a right arm left, made its move towards him.

'Shit.' Chesces cursed.

One of the reasons why the alliance lost a lot of players was because of the wave of kobolds but at least 70% of the reason was simply because of the kobold guard. In words, of the 14 players that had died, 10 were killed by the guard! This was either directly or as an assist. Nonetheless, the right-armed kobold guard had the highest kill points among the kobolds. With such a daunting record, why wouldn't Chesces be afraid? Even though he had recently levelled up to level 8 in this fight, he still felt that he couldn't solo the monster especially in these conditions.

'Run.' This was the only word that went through his mind as Chesces brandished his sword in another direction, forcing a path through the kobolds.

Just as Chesces had taken two steps forward, an earth shattering roar shook the entire floor, even more so than the kobold chief had done before.

"Roar!!!"

The roar brought along with it a formidable pressure that forced all the living beings present to a complete stop. An overflowing sensation of fear immediately clouded the minds of the players as they felt their legs go jelly, using the ability to stand and having to rely on their weapons to barely do so. Only Chesces, who had managed to reach level 8, was the least bit affected. Even still, it was just the least affected. He too, still felt a daunting pressure press on his shoulder and almost forcing him to his knees.

"What was that?" Chesces asked out loud after the roar went silent. The roar had caused the kobold wave to stop fighting so the players were able to have a brief period of respite. However, this period made them all feel cold.

The kobold guard made a confused expression before it suddenly lifted its face to stare at the ceiling.

"Growl!"

The last remaining kobold guard suddenly growled with a low tone before it turned and ran back in the direction of the kobold camp. Surprisingly, the players could feel a touch of sadness, respect and fear mixed in between.

Following the kobold guard's steps, the remaining kobolds immediately withdrew from the battlefield, all moving towards the same direction.

"What just happened?"

. . .

. . .

. . .

Somewhere else on the Middle Region's 10th floor, a team of players stood before a half-burnt but dead shriveled kobold corpse. One could barely make signs of a bone armour that was previously worn by the monster. Having been wrecked by both extreme flames and attacks, it was barely recognizable and utterly useless, hardly providing cover for the sides. The blood-red skin could barely be noticed unless focused on the less damaged parts. This was the kobold chief that had just been slain. After igniting its bloodline and potential, the kobold chief had damaged its foundations to the extreme. With its death, the backlash of [Kobold Supreme Roar] and [Fury] came, turning its once buffed body to nothing but a shriveled, aged corpse.

Sato and the others had also happened to hear the roar and unlike the players from the alliance, they could guess what it was.

"It came from the direction of the kobold encampment." Lu Zhen suddenly said. Having left from there, he obviously knew the direction and could easily pinpoint the origin of the roar to that spot.

"Looks like our worst nightmare has come true." Sato sighed.

"Get ready guys, I have a feeling we are gonna be in a hell of trouble."

. . .

. . .

. . .

Back at the kobold encampment…

The place wasn't as lonely as one would expect as there were a bunch of kobolds still present. Actually, of the 500+ kobolds, only a 100+ had chased after Lu Zhen. This was because only that 100+ were actually warriors. The rest were but villagers, elderly, women and children, so there was no reason for them to pursue after the intruder.

At this moment, the more than 300 kobolds left had all knelt and bowed in the direction of the town square, where the previous ritual was held. Not a single one pf them made any sound neither did they lift their heads up. If one wasn't aware, they might presume that all these kobolds were nothing more than statues built in that position.

At the ritual site, exactly where the 7 metres tall statue stood, a phenomenon had occurred. The previous blood stains on the statue were being absorbed by it at a quick rate. Within 3 seconds, the statue had become spotless without a single pinch of dust nor a mark or dried blood.

*Crack*

Almost at the same time, a crack formed on the statue.

AN (No space left at Author's section):

Infinite Facts :

*Based on both the monster and player being on equal levels :

Common : An average player can solo one of these so far as he/she is cautious and not overconfident.

Elite : A Veteran wouldn't have it easy against these guys but can still make do. An Expert would be needed at the very least but it isn't always true that one can solo them.

Rare/Special Elite : A party of 4 0r 5 players is needed at the very least.

King : Boss level monster that needs a complete party of 7 or more with necessary measures to be taken and preparations to be made.

ETC

* This stands true as of now.. In other words it might be possible that in the future, this comparison could change.