Chapter 280 - 274 : Death

'Let's make this quick.'

[Chain Hit]

-92

-86

-84 (320/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

[Chain Hit] was the second skill Sato got rewarded with by Saimon after passing the test. Originally, Sato didn't plan on using the skill as it was a bit OP especially when performed with [Astral Blade]. he had left it as one of his trump card skills just in case he got into a tight spot. However, after the Blood king had forced him to use [Gratitude of Races], Sato had decide to drop all pretenses with it. With [First] being much weaker than [Astral Blade], he also needed the skill to boost his damage up.

After landing those hits on the Blood king, Sato hurriedly retreated from the spot, lest he gets injured by the enraged monster.

"Ahhh! Human!!" Varg cried out as it brandish it sword in a wide area, hoping to cleave retreating Sato into two.

At this point in time, Varg had foregone all forms of defence and was like a wild beast on a rampage. It wanted to kill Sato even at the cost of its own death.

"[Blood Slash]"

A red wave exited from the buster sword and darted towards Sato with a bloody killing intent. In the current form of the Blood king, this attack was more than enough to end the life of a level 7 [Guardian] even if the player activated their defensive skill and used a shield to block it.

"I told you before, too slow."

Sato flickered from his previous position, appearing by the side. The [Blood Slash] landed where he previously stood at and though it didn't damage the ground, it left behind a bloody aura that could weaken players.

"Now it's my turn."

Sato stomped his right foot as he darted over to the Blood king and closed the gap between them. This was the perfect opportunity for him to engage in close combat as a majority of both his and the Blood king's skills were on cool-down.

*Clang*

As the two collided swords, Sato was sent skidding backwards as he felt his blood boil from that clash.

Without the [Astral Blade], in a battle of [Strength], Sato won by a minor difference of 2 points or so. However, when considering the two's Attack Power, Sato's was way below the Blood king's. this couldn't be helped as even when he had [Astral Blade], he still didn't get the upper hand much less now he wielded [First] that was a whole lot weaker.

'While the difference in our attack power is great, my body's defence is on a whole other level from before. I won't get hurt from the remnant forces now.'

Having something to rely on, Sato no longer shied away from clashing head-on with the Blood king. Even after being forced back by the last collision, he still recovered almost immediately and charged right back into action.

With his superior attack speed and movement speed that still surpassed the Blood king's even after going berserk, Sato could easily toy with the monster even if his Attack power was a lot weaker than its.

Occasionally, Sato was able to get a few past the monster. Because of the increased attributes however, the defense of the Blood king became a lot tougher than it previously was.

-45

-36 (239/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

"Damn it!!!"

Varg roared before it slashed its sword in a sweeping motion, bringing with it a tumultuous gale.

[Twister Slash]

As soon as the cool-down went off one of its skill, the Blood king didn't hesitate to use it as it finally realized that it was in a dangerous situation.

"That won't help you."

Sato had already retreated back a bit and with the space in between them, it wasn't that much difficult to dodge the attack. Sato mustered his energy to the highest as he dodged the attack at the fastest speed his body could carry him at. However, the direction he moved at wasn't a safe spot; instead, he headed right back at the monster.

"You dare!"

Seeing the opponent not wanting to give it some breathing space, Varg was frustrated to the extreme. Its frustration was the same as a farmer who tried to capture a mouse that always devour the grains at the . When the mouse-trap is set, the mouse would be nowhere near it. However, once the trap was removed, the mouse would return to the same spot and feast on the grains.

Varg couldn't do a thing to Sato despite being stronger than him in a head-to-head clash. But using his superior agility and movement speed, Sato was able to add injuries upon injuries to it while also dodging its attacks easily. What was even worse was that Sato continuously aimed 3 certain spots. One being the already injured right leg, the second was the spot on its chest that was injured by [Linear Strike] and the last one was a spot behind the monster that got injured by the Mystical Lock spell.

The locations of these 3 spots were very tricky resulting in the Blood king being unable to protect them all the same time. Sato obviously knew this and that was why he chose to attack these 3 spots. Since the defense of the Blood king had taken a new high after going berserk, it became harder for Sato to deal maximum damage on it. The only option was to attack injured places.

Of the 3 spots, Sato prioritized the right leg as the very second he successfully cripples it, the Blood king's threat rating would plunge. Varg knew this but even if it decided to protect its right leg, Sato would still attack the other areas so there was no meaning in doing such.

Sato finally found a breakthrough point and slashed at its leg once more.

-56 (183/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

Just as the Blood king's HP went below the 10% mark, something incredible happened.

+200 (383/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

'What?!' Sato was shocked to the point that he almost got sliced in half by the buster sword.

After retreating to a safe spot, Sato couldn't help but recall what just happened.

"Self-healing?"

Sato muttered as he noticed that some of the open wounds on the Blood king's body were slowly patching up. If this went on for a while, the Blood king would be able to recover a majority of its combat strength and that wasn't a good thing for Sato.

'Never thought I'd see it here.'

Self-healing or self-recovery wasn't a new feature to VR games, on the contrary, it was even popular in games from the Old era. However, Infinite realm was special. Since it had begun, no monster with the ability to self-heal was found. Some players speculated that maybe because the monsters they encountered were too low level, it was impossible to find any while others argued that IR simply didn't have such a feature implemented for the monsters. But seeing this now, Sato realized that it was probably, no, the first group were most likely right.

'No. I have to finish this.'

Not knowing the limits of the Blood king's recovery ability, Sato opted to go for a full out offensive even if it cost him an arm.

"[Hack]"

Sato closed in with his body moving at the limits of his speed. At such speed, the Blood king could barely keep up with Sato's 'small' figure so Sato was able to close in on it.

[Critical Hit]

-106 (277/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

"Roar!"

With a pained roar, the Blood king was forced down on one knee. Sato's move just then had succeeded in crippling it but that wasn't all.

"[Chop]!"

Due to the sudden change in balance for the Blood king, its buster sword had slipped from its hand so not only was it unarmed but it was defenceless facing this attack.

Since he had completed his goal of crippling it, Sato didn't go for the leg anymore. Instead, he went for the wound on the chest this time around.

-92 (185/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

The attack power of [Chop] was greater than that of [Hack] and also, the armour the Blood king wore already had a ton of damages on it so its effect was terrible. Luckily for it, the damage wasn't a critical hit so it still managed to live through it.

"Not yet." Sato roared.

Right now, the Blood king's health was below the 10% mark and to prevent whatever happened last time from re-occurring, just in case it would, Sato intended to finish it in one hit.

Normally, this wouldn't be impossible so far as Sato was wielding [Astral Blade], but with [First], this was a whole lot difficult. Luckily for him, the cool-down on one of his major skills just went off.

[Linear Strike]

The place Sato aimed for, was the heart of the Blood king, where one of the yellow chains had previously left its mark. With the penetrative effects of [Linear Strike], this became a sure-kill move.

[Critical Hit]

-312 (0/2000 Blood king Varg's HP)

[[ System notification :

Congratulations Sky Blade. You have defeated the guardian of the first sector; Emperor of carnage and bloodlust, [Blood king Varg].

]]

. . .

. . .

. . .

"Finally. It's over."

A sigh rang out.