Infinite Realm

"Roar!!!!"

The cyclops raised its battle axe to the air and abruptly slammed it on the ground.

*Bam*

For a very short while, the ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred, but this was simply the reaction from the cyclops' actions.

Sato was able to remain balanced and stable despite the incident. However, apart from Xue Yan, the rest of the team found it difficult to remain still even after the ground had rumbled.

"Growl!"

"Filthy creatures."

"Vermin of the light."

Strange cries sounded from ahead and it was as they looked up that the team noticed that the walls had at some point in time, 'opened'. From the sale crevices in the walls, humanoid figures walked out as they made different sounds. Some growled incomprehensible syllables while others cursed at them. In total, there were 14 such figures that had appeared.

"This..." Yato couldn't help but say as he tightly gripped his sword.

They were already having a hard time with the cyclops and if not for Sato, they would have died long ago. But all of a sudden, 14 characters had joined the battle and from their appearances, they weren't players but similar to the Dark Priests they had encountered before.

"Katsuo, hold them off. Lu Zhen, Yato, Fudo, finish them off while Seiichi and Xue Yan help me with the BOSS." Sato immediately relayed his orders.

Of the 4 he picked, the first 3 barely had any performance against the BOSS as there strength was too weak. However, Sato didn't want them to remain idle since they won't gain much experience points once the cyclops is dead. Therefore, with a chance to now perform, he opted to choose them over Xue Yan and Seiichi, who would undoubtedly finish the battle faster.

Also, the 14 monsters were human-sized and best for single-target attacks, something Xue Yan was lacking when compared to either Yato or Lu Zhen.

"Got it."

Finally having an opportunity to showcase his abilities, Lu Zhen dashed towards the group of Dark Priests that had just recently appeared with a black dagger in hand.

"Hold it right there." Yato charged straight ahead.

"Over here!" Katsuo howled from the side as he immediately drew the attention of all the monsters present towards him. He intended to separate the 14 Dark Priests from the cyclops to prevent them from affecting the main battlefield.

"Pay attention to me." Sato immediately struck out with his sword.

*Clang*

The one-eyed creature managed to react it time and block the attack with its axe, forcing Sato to take a step back as he had finally achieved his goal.

'Now...' Sato narrowed his eyes.

While it was true that in a one-on-one battle, Sato was stronger than the Gatekeeper, this was mainly due to various conditions and bonuses. In truth, his true pure power was just slightly above its.

In Infinite Realm, both monster strength and player strength were classified based on ranks and levels, but in the case of monsters, it made things a bit complex. 

A Common ranked monster would be the monster at the lowest position at a particular level whereas an Elite was much stronger; and the higher one goes in rank, the stronger the monster. But due to this difference, there was the possibility of a monster being able to 'jump' levels. 

From the gathered experience of players, they had realised that, in some cases, an Elite ranked monster was on par with a Common of the next level while a Special Elite would be on par to a Common of the next two levels or an Elite of the next level. While this principle didn't hold true for all monsters, it was discovered to apply to a majority of them so players gauged the strength of monsters this way. Also, generally, players were the same as a Common ranked or Elite of the same level.

Sato was a level 17 player whilst the Gatekeeper was a level 15 Special Elite. By following the previous theory, the Gatekeeper would be on par with Sato in terms of raw power, and this was slightly true. 

At base form, the monster had more attribute points than Sato and even its [Strength] stat was higher than his by at least 10 points. However, Sato received bonuses from his equipment and weapon so his total points had even surpassed that of the Gatekeeper, even if its weapon also boosted its attributes. It was for this reason that Sato didn't have an issue blocking its attack, and the level difference was another reason why he also didn't fear getting hit head on.

Nonetheless, suppressing the monster was different from defeating it. While the Gatekeeper couldn't do anything to Sato, Sato couldn't finish it off on his own that easily. It wasn't to say that it was impossible, but it would be a difficult task. 

The governing AI must have already noticed Sato's strength and dungeons usually attuned to the level of the players that went within. Therefore, even though it looked like the Gatekeeper was simply a level 15 monster, its fighting pattern wasn't simple and the skills it had were enough to hold Sato at bay. In other to beat it with the minimum effort required, Sato would need the help of his teammates. If he were to do it alone,unless he used his berserk skill, it would take a long while.

"These guys aren't that strong." Yato, who had already clashed with the Dark Priests, reported his findings.

"Their average strength is level 11 but I can deal with them without a hitch."

"Alright. Hurry up then. It's about time we leave this place." Sato replied.

While the other 4 took on the 14 Dark Priests, Sato held back the Gatekeeper while Seiichi and Xue Yan continuously attacked fit and depleted its HP. At times, Sato would make an attack of his own once he spotted an opening, speeding up the progress of the team.

"We're done."

Less than 3 minutes later, Fudo, Yato, Katsuo and Lu Zhen had finished up with the 14 monsters and they rejoined the main battlefield. While it was true that their attacks wouldn't do much to the Gatekeeper, they could at least distract it for the main damage dealers to take a bite out of its HP.

And so, on he fight went on for a couple more minutes and the team had finally managed to bring the BOSS' health down to 50% when something else occurred.