Infinite Realm

[[ System Notification :

Emergency mission

Mission Rank : B

Description : Prevent the descent of a dark force.

System comment : Either he goes boom or you go boom. Choose. Wait a sec, this mission doesn't even need your permission. To war!!!

Basic reward : Special Title [Savior of Races]. Others; 50 silver coins and one Upper tier Mortal rank weapon or equipment of choice.

Time Limit : 5 minutes ]]

"One emergency mission after another. This game is really trying to overwork me to death. " Fudo cried out. Only Fudo would really get tired of completing missions when others are actually looking forward to them.

"A title reward? That's a first." Kylian stared with a slightly surprised look.

So far for the players, none of the missions they have completed or taken up so far had a title as a reward. This reality was however shattered when the System notification for the 'Goblin's Invasive Retribution' package arrived. Even at that, this was a mission package not a simple mission. So in the end, there has not been a single 'straight-to-the-point' mission that rewarded them a title. For the players who thought they knew everything and went about completing missions of the exact same activity, say for instance finding lost cats, they were also destined to be disappointed as even finding a thousand lost cats wouldn't give them a title like [Finder of cats][1]. There were special measures and requirements for one to receive a title from a mission as a reward.

"What does that 'others' mean by the way?" Fudo asked in a contemplation.

"Focus first. We still have our hands tied up with him." Sato drew back their attention to the boss ahead.

After their experience with Sygrart where their attacks, individually, almost had no effect on him and with his overreacting weird behaviour, the players had decided to wait out whatever transformation he might be undergoing. This was mostly because they felt that attacking might be far more riskier than waiting it out. After Griffin and Swift Blade were sent flying by the roar, there was a bit of black miasma seeping out from their chest and spreading throughout their body. The miasma had slowed them down considerably that if they were to participate in this battle, they would end up as nothing more than cannon-fodder.

Kylian could only use regular healing spells on them since [Nature's Comfort] was on cool-down and even if it weren't, he could only use it on one of them with the other still having to wait for it to go off cool-down. No need to be said that Kylian would gladly use it on his teammate, Griffin, before helping the other ally.

"For now, you guys are on your own." Kylian said to them both though it felt more like he was talking to Swift Blade.

Swift Blade frowned as he realised what he meant but there was nothing he could do about it after all the other was a member of a super guild. Even though Daichi had once taken on a 1st tier guild with East Crow guild by his side, a super guild was a different story . No matter how much effort and determination they put into it, just a single legion from any super guild would be more than capable of taking them on; much less the entire guild. So rather than offending them, Swift Blade could only suck it up and ignore the biased treatment after all, if the druid were from east Crow, they would pretty much do the same.

"[Nature's Comfort]" Once the cool-down was off, Kylian quickly used the spell on Griffin. With the effects of the previous healing spells accompanied with [Nature's Comfort], Griffin was purified of the black miasma. Swift Blade, on the other hand, had to depend on his health potions and his [Endurance] stat to battle the spread of the miasma in his body.

"We can't just keep waiting. We have to make a move." Yukino said while staring at her System interface that displayed a timer with 4 minutes and 53 seconds left.

Chesces frowned but still replied "We can't just rush in. We need a pla-"

"Hahaha."

Interrupted by a hysterical laugh, Chesces, well not just him alone but also everyone else, stared at the Sygrart who was the one laughing. This time, they all had a grim look on their faces not because Sygrart had recovered from torturous experience but because the laugh wasn't translated as usual; he spoke once more in their tongue.

"Can you feel it? His descent, can you feel it?" Sygrart stared at them with a fanatic look and smile.

Right now, the sigil that had previously stood in front of him had dissolved into the ground and birthed a formation beneath him. The formation looked more of a circle with a hexagon within it and within the hexagon was diamond that was hardly noticeable so much so that none of the players had paid any attention to it.

" 'He' desires to descend and now, I have granted my body to 'Him' as a vessel. Be glad puny humans, for you shall be the first to witness 'His' descent. But I don't think you would be pleased about that right? Hahahahahaha"

"Creepy…"

"No more wasting time; Attack!" Yukino yelled before rushing forward.

Chesces didn't disagree with her this time as he also rushed forward with Sato beside him. The reason why? Because when Sygrart spoke, the three of them happened to sense an extremely dangerous force brewing within Sygrart. This 'force' rang alarm bells in their heads. They felt that if they let it complete its descent in Sygrart's body, all their achievements so far would be for naught. With that mind, they might as well try their best to finish him off.

'No more holding back.' Yukino thought. Putting her free hand into her beginner bag, she retrieved two vials.

"Chesces, here." Yukino tossed two backwards to him without turning back.

Chesces luckily caught them both and before he could begin asking questions, Yukino added,

"Use one and hand the over to Griffin."

Chesces didn't bother to question about her own portion as he believed that Yukino must have had her reasons for doing so. He had to stop running and opened one vial and ingest its contents before tossing the last one to Griffin.

The vials were the last two sets of [Temporary Body Enhancing Fluid]. The guild had given them three for this operation and it costed quite a large sum. Yukino had used one when she earlier fought with Goro and the other members of Savage Tribe as such, only two were left. She handed them over to Griffin and Chesces because Griffin was the MT and he would really need it while Chesces was slightly weaker than her so she needed him to bridge that gap with the potion. Yukino believed that she didn't need the potion as much when compared to this two and since the others weren't part of their guild, spending guild resources on them wasn't really worth it even if it had a temporary effect.

When they were a few metres away from Sygrart, Yukino lifted her great sword to greet the boss that had caused them a lot of problems.

"You can't stop destiny." Sygrart said before lifting his hand and conjuring up a transparent green barrier.

"Break!"

The Snow Goddess, Yukino, known for both strength and beauty, brought down her great sword at the head of the goblin boss Sygrart.

*Bang*

With the barrier in between them, Yukino's strike clashed at it with a resounding bang sounding out. Even with the +5 [Strength] points, Yukino was not able to destroy the barrier but she never really planned to do so in one hit. Thanks to the +7 increase in her [Agility], Yukino was a lot faster than usual. Even though this attribute didn't have a major effect on her [Attack Speed] like the [Dexterity] stat did, it still increased her speed and the fluidity of her body's movements.

Yukino quickly drew back her great sword an hacked once more with greater effort and this time, with the skill [Chop].

"Futile."

*Bang*

Once again, a resounding bang sounded out with the barrier but this time, something special happened.

"Hmm?" Sygrart stared with a slight look of amazement.

*Crack*

A crack formed on the barrier and though it wasn't so big, it proved to show that the barrier wasn't invincible. But Yukino's plan was never to break the shield, no. Her plan was to grab Sygrart's attention and she had succeeded wonderfully with that.

Chesces and Sato had both arrived had arrived behind Sygrart. Even though Chesces had initially paused before to drink the potion, thanks to his improved [Agility], he managed to catch up with Sato and they both attacked from behind. Sato attacked with a pierce while Chesces with a slash. Chesces used [Horizontal Slash] while Sato used the 1st form of the Lotus Sword art; Swift Kill.

Sato timed his attack to be slightly slower than Chesces' but aimed at the same spot Chesces would slash at. In other words, Chesces' attack would serve to weaken the barrier while Sato would deliver the finishing blow to it. Chesces was more than capable of weakening the barrier thanks to his increased stats while Sato, despite not using any berserk potion, should be able to place the straw that breaks the camel's back thanks to his exquisite and powerful martial arts moves.

Sato used the 1st form of the Lotus sword art instead of Mountain Slash because even though Mountain Slash possessed more force, it utilized strength in a wild manner such that it isn't targeted at a specific spot. Even though Swift Kill didn't really deal with focusing strength at a particular spot, it was able to fulfill this condition better than Mountain Slash.

Within milliseconds, Chesces' attack had landed on the barrier and as expected,

*Crack*

It cracked under the force. Though it was just a crack, this crack was more larger in size when compared to that which Yukino formed plus it was formed with one move where Yukino had to make two moves. The reason for this was quite simple. Sygrart had his attention focused on Yukino and so the barrier positioned in her direction was further strengthened to prevent her from easily destroying it. This meant that at other angles, the barrier was weaker than it was where Yukino faced. So it was inevitable that under the strength of Chesces' attack, the barrier would crack wildly. Even if it had outrightly shattered, it wouldn't be unbelievable.

'Too bad it didn't shatter.' Chesces sighed. 'I leave the rest to you.'

Almost immediately after Chesces' attack had landed, Sato's strike followed up and pierced a the heart of the fissure.

*Creak* *Crack* *Bang*

With three different sounds sounding at almost the same time, the barrier shattered with bang with Sato's sword still moving forward. Even though he had just landed the last blow on the barrier, Sato's attack still had enough force to got through it and aim for the boss.

"Die!"

"Vermin!" Sygrart roared.

However, roaring now wouldn't change much.

*Puchii* -25 (Sygrart 80/700)

'It seems like our attacks are almost back to normal. His defense isn't that absurd anymore but its still far stronger than initially.'

Sato's attack succeeded in hitting the boss but there was one minor problem; Sygrart had managed to move by a little bit at that moment so in the end, the sword had only pierced through his right shoulder. But to Sato, this was more than enough after all, he wasn't the only one fighting.

With the pain from the sword acting up on his right shoulder, Sygrart forgot that he still had someone in front of him; the Snow Goddess Yukino!

Yukino, as a pro player, would by no means miss such a golden opportunity to land a free hit on the boss. Using the swordsman trademark skill, [Horizontal Slash], Yukino slashed at Sygrart with an exposed intent to kill.

Sensing such fierce and wild killing intent, Sygrart managed to recall that there was someone else but it was too late.

"Arggh" -29 (Sygrart 51/700)

Sygrart ignored the pain and once more released an air-wave that pushed them all back. By doing so however, Sygrart had given the long ranged attackers the opportunity to make their moves as they couldn't attack while the trio were having a close-up with him.

"[Spiral Shot]"

"[Fire Ray]"

"[Entangling Vines]"

All the back-men attacked and even Kylian, who played the role of healer, made his move too.

However, it seemed like they ran out of luck as not only was Sygrart truly enraged but he became more careful. A shield quickly took form in front of him and this very shield blocked out all their attacks. The shield looked a lot like the [River Shield] which Sygrart had earlier tried to use and block Drunken Hog's [Kōjin's Arrow]. As for the [Entangling Vines], they were destroyed by Sygrart's aura before they even grew up from the ground. This was inevitable as Sygrart was far stronger mage than Kylian and was well-prepared.

"I can't and I won't die!"