Chapter 271 - 265 : [Blood King Varg]

[[ System notification :

You have encountered the guardian of the first sector; Emperor of carnage and bloodlust, [Blood king Varg].

]]

'Guardian of the first sector, Blood king Varg…' Sato frowned as he stared at the sinister existence in front of him.

[Blood King Varg] looked to be a kind of demon or a demon-kin at least. He had blood red skin and black silky hair. It had two horns that protruded from its forehead, making it look like a demon from hell. Its biceps were huge and filled with explosive power. In comparison, those of body-builders from the real world looked like a kid's arm in its presence. The monster was clad in metal armour and a 5 metres long great-sword, reminiscent of a buster sword, was lodged on the ground and standing upright just beside the throne; the exact metal for either the armour or the sword unknown.

Apart from its look, there was a misty red smoke that covered it; easily noticeable even under the blue light. This was the extreme condensation of its aura giving birth to the manifestation of to a material form.

Even from far out, Sato could still sense the massive and imposing aura from it. Despite the high mana concentration here, Sato still felt that the air reeked of the nauseous smell of blood, and in truth, he wasn't wrong. This smell wafted from the throne underneath Varg and had a light metallic taste to it. 

A closer look beneath the throne and Sato noticed that a small stream of blood circled the throne. The stream was around 2 metres in width and circled a distance of at least 10 metres round the macabre throne. Even though he didn't know the depths of the stream, Sato believed that the amount of blood needed to produce that unending flow could only be supplied from the bodies of more than 200 people. And for it to affect the mana-blessed air and stain it with such a horrid smell, at least blood from a 100 people would do, if not 200. To be able to massacre so many people just to form a stream of blood as a form of decoration could only be described as madness and savagery. (browse how much gallons of blood a human has).

'Why is there such an existence here? I thought the challenge was only to find the exit?' Sato frowned.

From what the voice earlier had said, all Sato needed to do was to find the exit or to come within a certain distance of it before the deadline was up and he would simply pass. There was no mention about any sector guardians or fights neither was there any mention of a reward being attached to slaughtering them otherwise, Sato would have gone on a hunting spree in the labyrinth.

'Now that I think about it, the same could be said with the first challenge. There was no mention about any monsters but I still encountered them. Also, this makes sense. I was wondering why the Caventry would use a challenge of luck to find a successor but with this in the mix, it's a bit acceptable.' Sato thought as he analyzed the monster for a weakness. 

From the aura it radiated, alongside the system notification that introduced it, Sato felt it a must to slay this monster. Since he had already discovered it, he might as well do so. Who knows, there might be a hidden reward attached to killing it and if he were to retreat here and now, he might regret it.

'But wait, don't tell me that the exit isn't actually located within this sector but on the next, or maybe another?' Sato frowned.

'Considering that the notification called this the first sector, I'm guessing there are others. The question however is how many.'

'Also, did the mission refer to the exit of this sector or the main exit of the entire labyrinth? If that is the case, does that mean I have to defeat this monster to get to the next sector and still face another guardian?' Thinking this far, Sato's face twisted a bit as he realized that he might be right.

It wasn't that Sato was afraid of battle but he had spent way too much time wandering this area. He had already utilized over half of the allocated time just to find this monster. If there was another sector, which there certainly was, how long would it take him to find the guardian for that area? Unless if his luck was really good, there was no way he would use anything less than 9 hours. Even if he had a heaven-defying luck, it would still take at least 6 hours of journeying after all, this guardian wasn't hidden at the edges of the labyrinth but deep inside. The same would most likely be true for the others, if they do exist.

'Damn it. Do I really have no fate with the Caventry?' 

Recalling how he had almost failed in the first challenge thanks to the Nightmare Devil and now seeing the situation he was in currently, Sato realized that his luck hadn't been in the greatest of forms since he started the Main Trials

'There's no use worrying about things. I might as well take this big guy down and do so as quickly as possible. After that, I can then work my way through all of this.' Sato sighed.

Most probably due to the fact that Sato was out of its alert range, the Blood king had yet to spot him. Due to this, Sato could be said to hold an advantage over the monster since he had the element of surprise. He could take his time to plan out a well thought out strategy that should be effective on it. 

With the resources he had at hand, Sato believed that if he weer to go all out, he should be able to take down the monster. But the key here was if he did go out. From his estimation and guess, Sato believed that there would be another guardian on the next sector and it most likely will be equal to, if not stronger than this one. If he were to go all out here, then he would be nothing more than a siting duck if he were to encounter the next guardian. Hence, Sato had to come up with  very effective plan that would assure him victory while still preserving a majority of his cards. If he had a team, this would have been very easy, but since he could only depend on himself, Sato had to make sure that he didn't make any mistake, lest he dies and loses out on the entire Main Trials completely; losing all the rewards he had racked up here while turning his entire experience here into a waste of time.

Since he had the element of surprise, and the monster didn't seem to be waking up any time soon, Sato tried to analyze it from a distance, looking for any open weakness while glancing round the terrain, trying to formulate a strategy to defeat the monster. The system notification only gave a title introduction to the monster and not any other information. Since he had yet to engage with the monster in a fight much less cause any damage to it, the [Inspect] skill was practically useless. Hence, Sato had to rack his head and think of any and every possible body part or ability that could be a weakness.

After just 5 minutes since stepping through the black Jade gate and encountering the Blood king, Sato's eyes glistened as he came to a decision.

'I think this will work.'