Infinite Realm

In a pitch-black area in [Temple Of Vasiliás]

"The heck? Who turned off the lights?" Fudo suddenly yelled with a low voice.

  "Could you be quiet?" Seiichi cautioned.

"Gimme a sec." 

Shortly after, a low-intensity light bloomed from a small blue orb as the vision was restored for the entire team members.

"Thanks, Xue Yan." Sato nodded at her.

The small blue orb that provided lighting to the entire place was a special type of magic torch that Xue Yan had crafted during her time in the city's rune-forging rooms. The resources weren't costly but the production method was a bit complex. Luckily, Xue Yan's skills in rune-forging were roughly on par with a Practitioner so it wasn't an issue for her to succeed.

"Am I the only one who feels like that teleportation process was a bit disturbing?" Katsuo asked.

"Same here. It's even worse than the teleportation arrays in town." Lu Zhen complained.

Looking around, Sato noticed that apart from himself and Xue Yan, the others felt a bit of pain in certain parts of their bodies. Katsuo rubbed his back, trying to alleviate the pain there while Lu Zhen and the rest stretched the various affected parts of their body in a similar manner.

"It probably has something to do with the level of the users. For me and Xue Yan, we're at least level 15 so we don't feel anything. As for Seiichi, Lu Zhen, and Fudo, you guys don't feel much since you're level 12 which is the average required level for this dungeon. However, Yato and Katsuo are the ones that are the most affected."

"You're probably right." Seiichi nodded after some thought.

"So you're saying it's cause I'm weak?" Yato twitched his lips.

"In summary, yes. Hehe." Fudo smirked.

"Now, where the hell are we?" Yato ignored him as began stretching his arms while he glanced around the place.

Upon arrival, the entire place was covered in darkness and it was only due to the small blue orb released by Xue Yan that they were able to see their surroundings.

"This should be a room." Lu Zhen said after looking around the place.

"But where's the door?" Yato glanced at him.

"He's right. As for the location of the door, there should be a trick to it. A hidden trap system to open or something." Sato said.

"Time to work my magic I guess." Lu Zhen smirked.

Of the entire team members, only Lu Zhen had the subclass [Hunter], and when it comes to trap systems and the likes, [Hunters] were number 1. 

The room was big enough to fit the entire 7 with no problems but it wasn't that large. After taking 10 minutes of scanning through the walls, Lu Zhen had managed to spot the switch for the door. Activating it, an opening formed by the side of a wall with a rumbling sound, and the team was able to see the other side of the room, which was a corridor that led to an unknown area.

"Finally." Fudo sighed.

"Alright. Everyone, take formation." Sato stated.

Katsuo immediately went forward, officially taking the role of the team's tank. Yato flanked him to the right while Lu Zhen stood a bit behind him to the left. Xue Yan and Fudo stood side by side in the middle of the trio with Seiichi just a bit behind them. Finally, Sato took the guard role behind, acting as a shield for the long-ranged players.

The formation seemed simple but every position was planned properly by Sato. Katsuo taking the tank role was natural as that was the purpose of his class. Yato was meant to assist him while also dealing damage to the target in situations like a single battle. As for a group battle, he was tasked with lessening the burden of the MT(Katsuo). Lu Zhen was tasked with launching sneak attacks and that was why he was behind Katsuo. By staying at that position, he could hide behind Katsuo at any moment and launch surprise attacks at the opponent in single target battles. 

Fudo, Xue Yan, and Seiichi staying in the middle was the best possible option as that was the safest place for them. Compared to the other teammates who were physical class users, their defense was very weak so keeping them in front was not an option. Also, they would be able to deal the most damage from a safe spot, and as they were the main damage dealers of the team, this was a very necessary fixture. 

Seiichi staying a bit behind was to provide the highest damage from there. His new weapon had the special feature of dealing more damage the longer the distance between him and his target, hence Seiichi had to stay behind even more so than Fudo and Xue Yan.

Finally, Sato's decision of putting himself behind wasn't because he was scared of battles but instead he wanted the others to get more battle experience as well as experience points. Currently, experience points weren't Sato's priority; the team's collective strength and cohesion were. Even with all the battles they had fought, Sato still wasn't satisfied with their progress and wanted them to be able to match up to the top teams of 2nd tier guilds at the very least. So leaving them to their devices and watching their backs was the least he could do for the team, hence the reason why he was stationed at the back of the formation.

"Let's go." 

The team of 7 then proceeded towards the exit.

"Watch out." Xue Yan suddenly notified the team. As the highest levelled [Elementalist], her ability to sense lifeforms with mana was the highest in the team.

"Okay." Katsuo, who stayed in front, nodded.

"Crawww!!!" 

A weird screeching sound came from up ahead. When the sound reached Sato and Xue Yan, they felt nothing about it but when the other 5 heard the sound, their bodies shook a bit as a strange wave of fear flooded them.

[[ System notification :

You have been infected by the passive skill [Inborn Fear]

Attack Power reduced by 10% ]]