Chapter 265 - 259 : Beat-down

"Krrr!"

As the high pitched scream rang out in the tunnel, Sato gripped his sword tightly and focused his gaze and attention in front of him, accumulating his potential and power for an attack. 

From the aura he felt ahead, Sato realized that the monster was much weaker than it was before. While he wasn't too sure about it, the evidence laid in front of him. Sato didn't know what had happened back at the junction so he could have in no way guessed that the original 3 shadow monsters had divided into 6. However, this didn't matter to him. This was because if even if were the original copy, Sato had faith in himself that he could defeat it. The only problem however, was that he couldn't do so too quickly.

"Krrr!"

Just as the shadow monster copy spotted him, it released a loud shrill and jumped right at Sato.

"Let's get this over with."

'[Astral Might]'

"[Chop]."

Gathering his entire potential to his sword, Sato erupted with a mighty aura as he slashed at the incoming shadow monster. From an outsider's point of view, Sato was like a an expert swordsman facing off against an evil creature. He brought his sword down on it as if passing judgement to the life-form.

*Clang*

The shadow monster revealed what looked to be a claw underneath which it used to block Sato's sword. But how could the claw of a the copy of a level 9 or so monster stand up to Sato? Even if it were the original monster or even a level 10 Elite monster, as long as it wasn't a strength-type creature, it would lose to Sato terms of strength and raw power much less a measly copy. 

The monster had underestimated Sato's strength and as a result, it had to pay for doing so. Its claw only managed to hold Sato's sword back for only a second before being pushed to the side. As for the sword, it then went on unimpeded and struck the shadow monster by the side, from what would be the right shoulder blade, almost cutting through it.

-145 (???/??? ???)

"Kiiiii!"

The shadow monster yelled in pain as it struggled to back off. But how would Sato let go off this chance?

After the strike, Sato confirmed that for an unknown reason, the monster was much weaker than before but he still didn't bother about that; only raising his guard up a bit lest he gets ambushed.

Drawing his sword back, Sato swung it at the shadow monster within the same second. In his hands, the Astral sword didn't feel like a solid block of metal but a whip. Sato slashed out 3 times at the monster and this was with him holding back since he had to keep his guard up.

-121

-124

-132

3 different figures popped up with the last one being much higher than the rest. This was because Sato purposely aimed that last slash at the same place as the second one, increasing the injuries on the spot.

"Krrr!"

As Sato had continuously injured the monster before it was capable of recovering, the dark fog that previously revolved around it was dispersed, showing the appearance of the monster that was previously hidden beneath.

The shadow monster was ugly and wretched, looking like a 30 years old decayed corpse that was dug out; its skin awfully pale. Like a human suffering from extreme malnutrition, the shadow monster was sickly and very thin. In its eye sockets were two clear white 'eyes', different from the red glow that was visible when the dark fog still shrouded it.

Sato frowned at the sight of the monster. Since he had started the Main trials, all is opponents had been non-humans. Even the Nightmare devil that took the appearance of Xue Yan was still a true monster. However, this creepy creature Sato encountered here, looked almost no different from a human. If its flesh were a bit more thick, the claws cut down to average nail length and if the eyeballs possessed an iris and black pupil, it would be hard to separate it from an average person. The feeling that Sato got from seeing this made him a bit confused. 

From the way Saimon spoke and the statue of the Achiever's back at the Hall of Grey Chaplains, Sato guessed that the Caventry weren't humans but were still anthropomorphic. However, his gut feeling told him that whatever that was in front of him was by no means related to a Caventry. That lead Sato to think, where the Caventry allies to humanity or enemies? It would be better if they had a neutral relationship but after hearing the history of the Caventry's downfall from Saimon added with the appearance of this strange monster, Sato doubted that. The status of the relationship between the two races would surely affect his mission's progress and maybe the ending.

'Maybe it might not be a human but a monster variant. I'm worrying too much over things.' 

Shaking his head to clear off his thoughts, Sato rushed again towards the monster. While it sounded like it took quite sometime, all those things went on in Sato's head and only 3 seconds had passed in reality. 3 seconds weren't enough for the monster to change its ending nor escape, but it wasn't like it was planning to either. For some reason, the intelligence of the shadow monster or more appropriately, zombie creature, was low. It only retained certain instincts, the leading one being to devour all life forms other than its kind.

'Die.'

Sato rushed at it again and swung his sword diagonally at it.

The sickly 'human' stretched out a claw to Sato, in a bid to land a hit before Sato did. Sadly, it still made yet another futile effort. Its opponent wasn't an ordinary person but a level 9 [Swordsman], if not one of the best in the game currently. The difference between the two was massive and was not something that could be ignored.

Sato saw the claw approaching him but he didn't retreat at all. Instead, Sato changed the trajectory of his sword and used it to block the claw. Right after that, he shoved the claw away and made a horizontal slash at the monster, using his class' ultimate basic skill.

[Horizontal Slash]

[Critical]

-183 

*Thud*

The remnant force from the blow sent the monster back until it crashed on the wall with a loud thud.

The current Sato could be said to be unmatched against any monster under level 10 Elite. The only reason he had a tough battle with the Nightmare Devil from before was simply because Sato was already exhausted and the pressure from the mountain made battling very taxing on his body. Despite that, Sato still came out on top. This alone was a testimony to his strength.

If in such a situation, Sato still managed to stand firm and prevail over his foe, the fight with him and this sickly 'human' could be said to be nothing more than child's play, especially since this was just a copy of the original. To Sato, this battle wasn't even worth calling a battle. It wasn't even worth terming it as a workout. It felt more like bullying a 7 year old than an actual combat.

Because of this, the monster felt fear. No matter what it did, it couldn't harm a strand of hair on Sato's head. Even for a dumb creature that relied on instinct, it knew what fear and hopelessness was, and right now, it felt it.

Seeing the monster that stared at him with a fear and apprehension in its eyes, Sato didn't slow down his movements nor take pity on it. Instead, his eyes seemed to contain extreme coldness and indifference in them.

"Back when I was young, I always got injured and suffered a lot of failures and defeat. But someone taught me something. If you have anyone to blame for any setback or failure, be they mishaps or bad luck, don't blame fate or the universe for being unfair. Blame yourself for being too weak. This perfectly describes you right now.. As a favor, let me end your weak and useless life."