Chapter 331 - 325 : Taking Down The Stronghold 1

On the 7th floor of the Outer region within the huge mountain in Stone Creek, a natural basin existed and within it was a mob of monsters scattered all over the place. Most of their numbers were focused at the centre while a few figures were wandering at the edge. At the centre of the basin was a small grey wooden house.

In actuality, the building could barely be called a house as it looked more like a stable for horses made with the most abhorrent of all craftsmanship skills. It looked like a random treehouse built on the ground and was made without any effort or inspiration. Chances were that even an experienced 10-year old who built houses with Lego building blocks could have done better.

Because of the huge frames of the Mud Bears, Ground Rats, as well as the large number of monsters, the dim lighting and the structure of the terrain, Sato and the others didn't spot it so soon until Seiichi manages to catch a glimpse of it.

"Lu Zhen." Sato called out.

"That's your goal. While looking for the Exit gates, try to investigate that place. Who knows, maybe we could reap some unexpected rewards."

"Okay." Lu Zhen nodded.

"Alright then. Let's finish up with these guys in the outer ring. After that, the two of us would go and attract the rest here and leave them to the others. Then, we proceed as planned."

Everyone nodded.

The plan Sato set up was quite simple and very effective. The almost 50 heads of monsters was a number that could give the various guilds a headache to deal with. No individual guild was capable of pulling such off unless they called in their entire force. Only a super guild like Emperor's Might would, and this was only in the scenario that the 3 different squads united together to face off against the monsters. Even then, victory wasn't assured as a large mob of monsters like this would surely have a strong kobold leading them. The inclusion of a 'sub-BOSS' figure like that would make things a lot more difficult to handle. But for Sato's team, things didn't stand the same.

Even to the group, a level 11 monster was nothing more than a paper tiger with Sato's assistance. Such a monster might be a fearsome opponent but it would be facing a much terrifying adversary in the form of Sato. It was like an ant daring to confront a human, even if it was a toddler. The ant simply stood no chance no matter what.

However, Sato didn't want to interfere too much as if the team began overly relying on him, their strength would decline. This was why even though he had decided to help them to increase the team's progressing speed, he still brought up a detailed plan when he could simply take down the monsters on his own. Sato intended to involve everyone in the fight and let them experience more battles to hone their skills. At the same time, this would prevent them from overly depending on him even if they were to confront a difficult opponent.

While it was true that every member on the team could take on a monster all on their own, if they happened to get drowned by their numbers, the team would eventually lose their lives. Hence the reason for a strategy.

The strategy Sato thought up was quite simple and was the most common one adopted by many guilds and teams during dungeon raids or BOSS raids. It involved taking down the minions, starting from the ones furthest from the BOSS' location till they got to the ones closest to it.

Even though the basin had a considerable number of monsters, not all of them were clustered at the centre. While the greater part of these monsters was packed at the centre, a few of them were scattered close to the edge of the basin and these monsters seemed to act as patrollers. They were spaced from the main horde and were distributed across the basin. Nonetheless, there were still a few blindspots for players to attack as each 'lookout' was at least 7 metres apart from the other and 200 metres away from the basin's edge. If done correctly, one could draw these monsters away from the rest and take them down one at a time till only the cluster at the centre was left. Since these monsters were dumb and only relied on their instincts, the chances of them noticing anything wrong were extremely low.

The System was just so even if the monsters were much stronger than mainstream players, it still left a slight loophole for them to manipulate and achieve victory. However, to achieve this victory, one would still require the necessary strength. Luckily enough, Sato and his crew had that strength.

"Now, move."

Lu Zhen was the first and also the fastest to have run into action. This was mostly because Sato held himself back for the others to take action before he would and also because Lu Zhen's innate reactions were among the fastest in the group. This didn't mean that his reactions in the game were the fastest, but that his bodily reactions in reality -which got simulated in the game- were quite fast. As a result, immediately Sato gave the command, he had already sprung into action like a swift[1] in flight.

Like fish in clear waters, Lu Zhen meandered through the terrain as he darted towards the monster he had set his sights on. It was a Mud Bear, and when comparing its strength to the other species here, it would only be inferior to a kobold, making it the second strongest species of monsters within the Outer and Middle region.

'Let's see how strong you are buddy.'

Most [Assassins] would use a stealth skill to sneak in on their target before making their move but Lu Zhen did otherwise. Possessing superior capabilities and skills that could only be rivalled by a level 9 monster -which would only exist in the Middle region- Lu Zhen wasn't scared of the monster and just charged straight towards it without concealing himself. One point was due to his overwhelming attributes that surpassed the creature, another was because the Mud Bear had its back turned towards him at the hat moment.

-83 (???/??? ???)

"Growl!!!"

A silver flash appeared behind the Mud Bear followed by its growls of pain. The monster abruptly turned towards its back as it tried to spot the source of its pain however it didn't see any figure close by and was momentarily confused.

Unknown to the creature, Lu Zhen had hurriedly retreated and was now stationed at its back once more. Being in such a good position, it would be a shame if he didn't make proper use of it.

-78  (189/350 Mud Bear's HP)

After the first attack, Lu Zhen had used [Inspect] on the monster to confirm its abilities, and seeing that it was nothing more than a level 6 monster, his daring attitude had received a proper boost.

In just two moves Lu Zhen had brought the HP of the Mud Bear down by more than 40%. This was the strength of a level 9 pro facing off against a level 6 monster. In Lu Zhen's eyes, this wasn't a fight; this was bullying.

"It's as expected. They are weak; level 6 weak." Lu Zhen reported with a disdainful grin in the team chat.

Even though the group had suspected the monsters to be weak, it was better to be safe than sorry. One of Lu Zhen's roles was to test the strength of the monsters and that was why he had rushed ahead of the others. While checking the strength of one monster wasn't exactly accurate enough to define the power of the others, it was still manageable and could be used to make an approximate of the entire mob's strength by adding or deducting 1 level or 2 levels at most. In other words, considering that the strength of the Mud Bear was at level 6, then the rest would either be level 5, level 6, or level 7; at most the strongest would be a level 8 Common but even an Elite couldn't make the group shy away from combat even if Sato's strength wasn't added to the mix.

"Alright. You all know what to do so go ahead." Sato replied in the team chat.

Immediately after that, the aura of the entire team surged as they charged towards the monsters. It was as if they weren't going to face a dreadful unit that could squash the forces of most guilds in the area. Instead, the look on their eyes was like that of 'starved' warriors dashing towards a pretty maiden who could bring down countries with her looks.

AN :

[1] Swift bird : a type of bird that looks similar to a Swallow.

Infinite Facts :

For mainstream players and experts, a level 9 Elite, Special-Elite, or even a level 10 Common or Elite rank monster was a sub-BOSS figure.. But to Sato, they are just measly mobs.