Infinite Realm

"Hey Seiichi, is this the checkpoint?" Lu Zhen asked in the team chat. As the only [Assassin] in the squad, Lu Zhen was temporarily tasked with the role of a scout, having to move ahead of the main team to get a look out on the opponents infront.

"Yeah. According to the estimations of the map, it should be the checkpoint." Seiichi replied.

"Okay, got that. You guys hurry up then." Lu responded.

It didn't take up to 5 minutes before Sato and the rest had made their way towards Lu Zhen's location, which happened to be the point where the brown dot on the map laid.

The area was a closed off hall that had only one entrance; the corridor which Sato and the team had been travelling through. It was extremely large and there was no doubt that a massive crowd of about 3000-4000 people could fit in there without a hassle. 

The lighting of the hall was dim due to the fact that the torches were spaced out and few. At the same time, the hall was also lacking any furniture or decorative structures like columns and so on. It was very simple and plain in terms of interior design, and lacked any exquisiteness at first sight. The only special feature of the hall were the weird markings on the floor, which looked a lot like strange runes. But even Xue Yan, with her extensive knowledge of runes, couldn't understand them or recognise them their origin.

Just as stated before, the hall only had one entrance which was connected to the corridor Sato and the rest came from. There was no other entrance nor exit, but at a more careful gaze, Seiichi noticed something and then informed the team of his discovery.

"So there's a gate at the other end of the hall, huh?" Yato asked just to be sure. 

The distance between them and the other end of the hall was a lot so for players whose class had average visual prowess, they wouldn't be able to spot anything special apart from the wall there. 

As for why Sato and the others hadn't moved into the hall, they were taking precautions just in case a mini BOSS actually resided in the area.

"There's a hidden door by other end. It was hard for me to spot it but I managed to catch sight of the grooves thanks to my glasses." Seiichi explained.

"So what do we do now?" Katsuo looked at Sato.

"We keep moving. Everyone prepare for an ambush at any second from the point onwards. The chance of there being a mini BOSS might look unlikely due to the current situation, but it still exists." Sato said.

"We'll make some changes to the formation. Yato, you go behind with Lu Zhen and watch our backs. Katsuo and I will keep the front guarded and lead the way. As for Xue Yan, Fudo and Seiichi, try to remain within close distance of us 4. No matter what, don't stay more than 3 feet away from the other. Any questions? If there are none, then let's go." 

Sato glanced at everyone and with nobody questioning the new arrangements, they began proceeding towards the hall at a steady pace.

The reason why Sato changed the formation was to intercept with any sneak attacks aimed at the team. Since by their estimation, the mini BOSS, if it did exist, would most likely be stronger than everyone in the team apart from Xue Yan and himself, Sato had to take the task of pulling its aggression since Katsuo would most likely be unable to pull that off. However, the back would still need some form of defence, hence the reason why Sato sent Yato and Lu Zhen there. With Katsuo by his side, they would be able to also defend their flanks with ease as there were two of them.

*Step* *Step*

*Clank* *Clank*

No matter how steadily the team walked, their footsteps still resounded in their ears and the clanging of the metallic armour on Katsuo, Yato and Sato's bodies, was even more resounding than their footsteps.

"Wuuoooooo!!!"

Just as the team of 7 were halfway into the hall, a weird cry sounded from all directions. The origin of the cry couldn't be pinpointed and it felt as if it came from all angles.

"What was that?" Fudo couldn't help but exclaim as he held his staff tightly.

*Rumble*

The floor abruptly began to shake with the ceiling following suit. Dust particles began to rain from the ceiling as the tremor caused an upheaval that put the stability of the hall at risk. It was like an earthquake had descended but the intensity wasn't exactly shocking enough at the start, but overtime, it begins to increase and even Sato's instincts began to sound warning bells in his head.

"Run!"

Without thinking twice, the team immediately dashed towards the other side as Sato gave the order right after noticing that the situation was getting worse with each passing second.

While it was a race for their lives, they still maintaied the formation and set priorities on making sure that the slower ones like Xue Yan and Fudo made it out safely. 

Separated by a distance of 200 metres or so, Sato was able to catch sight of the gate Seiichi had mentioned and he immediately aimed for it, with the others following his lead.

Just when the team was about a 100 metres away from the wall where the door was located, a large hand occupying a 3 metres wide area abruptly broke out from the floor in an unrestrained manner. Rocks dashed out from the spot and were flung in multiple directions. Even Sato and the others had to pay attention to not get hit by some of them.

"It's the BOSS."

With Sato's reminder, the team was forced to stop their run as they now stood face to face with the monster that had managed to burrow half of itself out from the ground in a hurry.

With the efforts done by the strange monster to escape its confinement, the rumbling began to decrease in intensity as the entire hall slowly began to return to its normalcy.

"What in the holy scriptures is that?" Yato couldn't help but ask our loud.

The monster had finally climbed out from the ground and revealed its true form the others. 

The subterranean creature was an oddly shaped monster with exaggeratedly big hands that barely complemented its height. It stood at an impressive height of 7 metres with tattered shorts on, and with hands as wide as almost half of its height, it was a strange sight for anyone to see. 

Apart from the large hands that could push a batter or a batsman[1] to hopelessness, the monster had one eyeball rather than the normal two a human, or at least any basic anthropomorphic race had. It had deep dark skin which made it even harder to spot in the already dim hall. Its physique was a bit muscly, with the most obvious part being its legs that were shredded [2]. While the monster was dark in complexion, the minimum lighting in the area was able to make it give off a reflective sheen, making one wonder whether it was actually skin or some eerie scales that covered the creature's body.

All in all, the cyclops could be called an abomination; a disgusting creature that shouldn't exist. 

However, all these were just physical descriptions, and to players, they didn't matter that much. To a pro gamer, appearances could be deceiving and all they trusted were stats. Hence, to Sato and the rest, the most important thing was the strength of the monster and even without exchanging blows, they could already tell that it was strong; very strong. This was because, the mana and energy levels exuded from the monster's body was easily sensed by all of them, despite the fact that mages were supposed to have better sense in this regard.

"Strong, very strong." Katsuo gulped down a mouthful of saliva as he wondered whether he would be able to tank a blow from the monster.

"Xue Yan, what's your take?" Sato whispered in the team chat.

In IR, the basic method of gauging one's strength apart from using the [Inspect] skill was by sensing the target's energy or mana level. And this action was mostly performed by the [Druid] in a team. In the case where one was unavailable, the task would be passed down to an [Elementalist] or a [Necromancer], then a [Summoner] and finally a [Cursemancer] and a [Cleric]. 

In the team's case, while they lacked a [Druid], they still had the next best thing; an [Elementalist] and two of them at that.

Of the two mages in the team, Xue Yan was higher levelled that Fudo and she was also a Scribe. Therefore, her sensitivity to mana was much higher than the rest of them, and she could even be roughly compared to a [Druid] at the same level. So it was right of Sato to ask for her judgement in the monster's strength rather than Fudo.

"Strong. While it's not really on the same level as the Kobold King, it's not far from it. And this is just my evaluation based in its mana capacity. From the energy I can sense from it, this monster is likely a physical combatant so I can't really gauge its strength accurately if we don't face it in battle." Xue Yan sighed.

"That's an inevitable action." Sato said as he noticed that the singular eye of the monster had locked onto him.

"Here it comes."