Chapter 325 - 319 : Emperor’s Might’s Goal

On the 5th floor of the Black Grill's cave's Outer region, a bloodbath was occurring as a tremendous battle was ongoing between two forces. From such a description, one would think that the two forces battling were of equal strength but they weren't. On the contrary, one side was heavily outnumbered by the other and only held on this far due to their noteworthy tactics and skills.

Of the battling forces, one side was a group of humans made up of players of different classes. Though the team was a combination of various classes, the players were able to demonstrate amazing coordination, communication, and teamwork -which was superior to their opponents' -holding on against their opponents despite being outnumbered. Yes, the outnumbered side was players.

As for the opponents of the players, it was a bunch of monsters. The monster army was made up of Ground Rats, Earth Snakes, Mud Bears, and a bunch of other creatures. What they all had in common was that they were the original inhabitants of this place. They were the monsters players had to face in order to progress through the floors. Some came from the 6th and 7th floors while the majority were on the 5th floor. There were even a few kobolds from the Middle region that stood behind the army.

However, these monsters, which were usually separated from one another by the floors, had suddenly gathered together and formed a force to be reckoned with. Even though the players were able to hold out against them, the stalemate wouldn't remain 'stale' for long.

"Hold on! MTs, don't let any enemy get past you. Healers, don't lose your focus on the MTs for even one second. Long-range damage dealers, keep the support up for the MTs. I want to see more bodies piling." Chesces yelled from the front line as he kicked a Mud bear backward.

"Reinforcements will be here soon so don't give up no matter what."

When players had just begun exploring the level 5 regions, the Outer region was a somewhat safe location and a holy ground for regular players. Unless one went seeking death by heading towards the Middle region or got taken down by a rival player, deaths weren't excessively common on the Outer regions first 5 floors.

With the Kobold king's awakening, however, everything had suddenly changed. The monsters were united under its command as it passes through each floor, starting from the 9th floor of the Middle region till the first floor of the Outer region. It was only when it felt threatened by the auras from the Town heads that it remained within the confines of Black Grill's cave.

After much time had passed, it got bored of waiting and departed back to its original area. However, the army under its command was left in the hands of its most trusted subordinates who then split apart and set up commanding spots in every 5 floors, though there were occasionally a few random ones elsewhere.

These command lines of the monster army became the location of a sub-BOSS battle in the eyes of the players. This was because every monster 'rest-stop' had a somewhat large gathering of monsters alongside a few strong kobolds that were either level 8 or level 9 Elites or even Special-Elites, leading the monster army.

In a one-on-one battle, a level 9 player wasn't assured of a victory against a level 8 Special-Elite much less a level 9 Special-Elite. Hence, most players began forming raid teams to defeat them. As the Kobold King had retreated to the Middle region, the Outer region was temporarily safe so players began heading to kill a few monsters.

Chesces' team was on their way to the BOSS region for the 5th floor when they encountered a surprise ambush by the monsters. It just so happened that a few kobolds had gone on patrol with some monsters and had seen Chesces and co, but to the team, this was an unanticipated event.

As the two sides were of different races and have already encountered the other before, there was no use in exchanging words -not as if they would understand each other- and so, they immediately embroiled in a heated battle.

Thanks to Chesces' incredible strength as a false king as well as his impressive commanding ability and the team's amazing coordination and response time, they were able to hold on as they awaited reinforcements from the other side.

"Damn it. Who would have thought that these monsters were actually aware of the concept of patrol and supervision and would even use it." Chesces gritted his teeth with frustration.

He had only 10 men in his team including himself, whereas the monsters in front of him numbered at least 26. The kobolds leading them numbered 4 and Chesces suspected that they were level 8 Commons with the chance of one or even two of them being a level 9 or a level 8 Elite being quite high. Since the kobolds stood at the backline and only fired arrows at them, none of the players had been able to get close to them to make a scratch and use [Inspect].

"Ares! Find a way to make it to those guys and take them out. Take Tawaki with you." Chesces ordered one of the [Assassins] in the team.

The 4 kobolds were much stronger than the regular monsters and it was because of their constant harassment with their arrows that the team couldn't proceed forward so easily.

"Copy." A figure in dark clothing replied as he dashed forward from the side.

The dark figure then stuck close to a wall as the lighting there was so poor that the area was pitch black. Relying on the darkness, he then proceeded forwards at a pace not too quick but not too slow. Each time a monster happened to be close by or approaching him, he would abruptly slow down his movements and sneak past it in absolute silence. One look and one could guess that this guy was a professional at sneaking into houses, both in the game and in reality.

The other [Assassin], Tawaki, was more blatant with his moves. Relying on his superior movement speed and reaction, the player was able to dodge a lot of attacks from the monsters. He was almost like a fish in the water, as flexible as a snake in the bush. It was almost impossible for any of the monsters to hold him back, and for the ones who managed to do so, a silver flash would greet their eyes, blinding them insidiously as the player continued on his way.

One in the dark and another in the light, two [Assassins] rushed forwards as they planned to take the heads of the 4 kobolds.

"Krawwww." One of the kobolds, who happened to be a close-range combatant and so lacked a bow, charged towards Tawaki as it found his progressing speed annoying and insulting towards them.

"Good. You're my target now." Tawaki laughed heartily as he moves towards it. Just when the kobold was 6 feet away from him, Tawaki immediately retreated and pulled it to another spot.

Alongside his teammate, they were both ordered to take down the archers but with the armed kobold beside the other 3, this would become a difficult task. So, the two had unanimously come to a decision. Tawaki, who attacked from the light, will draw the monster's attention while Ares, from the shadows, would ambush the other 3.

'Good.' Chesces applauded internally.

After Tawaki had drawn away the armed kobold from the area, the other 3 kobold archers resumed terrorising the other players but they failed to notice Ares, who had crept up just 5 metres behind them. This wasn't because the senses of these monsters were terrible but instead, Ares' stealth technique -especially when mixed with the in-game skill [Fade]- was extremely dangerous to any foe.

'Die.'

A distance of 5 metres was nothing to a professional like himself and Ares easily covered this distance in one jump.

[Shadow Strike]

[Backstab]

Activating two skills at once, Ares plunged his dagger into the back of the unaware kobold archer

[Critical Hit]

-156 (???/??? ???)

"Krawwww!"

A hideous and dreadful cry rang out but rather than inspiring fear in the hearts of listeners, it seemed to express the pain of the speaker.

A short black sword of about 13 inches in length had penetrated through the back of the kobold to appear in front, right from the position its heart was located at.

Ignoring its cry, Ares didn't retreat but made use of the full potential of the skill [Shadow Strike], which increased his damage and Attack Speed. In just one second, he had unleashed at least 7 strikes on the back of the kobold.

-72

-78

[Critical Hit] -122

-81

-64

-71

[Critical Hit] - 118 (???/??? ???)

4 of those were targeted towards the injured spot while the remaining 3 struck its neck. If not for the fact that he had 2 different targets, Ares would have been able to unleash more than 7 attacks. Nonetheless, he didn't regret it. This was because he had landed two [Critical Hit] with the last one being on its neck. This left the kobold archer on death's door as it simply staggered before falling to the ground on its last breath.

Knowing that he hadn't finished the job as he had yet to receive any reward of notification, Ares struck out once more at the falling figure before quickly dashing to another kobold.

-65

[[ System notification :

Enemy {Kobold Archer (Level 8 Common)} is dead.

Rewarding player...]]

With a solemn expression, Ares ignored the notification and attacked another kobold.

Tawaki had managed to draw the other kobold towards the front line, where the mages then bombarded it with their attacks as soon as they found an opportunity, and Tawaki landed the finishing blow, ending its life.

With the deaths of two kobolds, the group's morale seemed to be restored a bit but Chesces knew that they still weren't out of the mess yet.

"Need any help?" A voice sounded from the sidelines.