Infinite Realm

Kobolds were said to be descendants of Dragons. Though they lacked the overwhelming power of their ancestors, they barely made up for that with their smaller stature and mobility. They were covered in tough scales and had great vision, capable of helping them see in the dark better than humans. Because of this(and also their inferiority complex), they tend to live in dark areas like caves, where they can use their vision advantage to defeat preys. With that, it isn\'t much of a surprise as to why one of them was found at the 4th level. The only problem was whether there was a horde there.

The combination of their strong defence, sleek movements and high strength made them dangerous monsters. Even for a level 10 player to face a level 8 Wild Kobold, he/she had to be cautious.

[[ System interface :

Wild Kobold (Common)

Level : 8

HP : 762/800

Physical Attack Power : 45

Magical attack power : 0 (36) (AN : Can\'t use magic.)

Physical Defense : 15

Magical Defense :12

Attack Speed : 39

Movement Speed : 26

Attributes

Strength : 15

Endurance : 15

Vitality :80

Agility : 13

Dexterity : 13

Intelligence : 12

Willpower : 12

Skills :

. . . ]]

"Fudo, cover. Lu Zhen, ambush. I will take the front." Sato yelled once finally Fudo had arrived. He then stomped his right foot and dashed towards the Kobold with both hands gripping his sword.

Sato arrived quite fast and swung his sword swiftly at the Kobold\'s head. The Kobold, of course, didn\'t just stand there and wait to be slaughtered. It lifted it\'s machete and hacked at Sato but he had already expected this.

Sato tilted his body to his left at the last minute to dodge the attack and at the same time re-adjusted his sword\'s trajectory to strike at the Kobold\'s abdomen. As the sword was already approaching, the Kobold made a last ditch effort in a bid to stop Sato. It swung it\'s garnet tail right at him as the sword approached it\'s abdomen.

\'Shit!\'

Sato couldn\'t avoid the strike and could only withdraw his attack to use his sword as a shield against the tail.

*Boom*

-61(89/150 Sato)

The long tail lashed out and sent Sato flying till he was embraced by the wall with a small boom. Cracks formed on the wall as he git plunged into it.

*Cough*

\'That was dangerous...\' Sato thought as he coughed. One attack had reduced his HP by almost 50%. If he were to take that same attack again, it would be close to game over.

\'What the heck were the programmers designing when they made us have such low HP...\'

After the Kobold had struck Sato and before it could even give off a sigh of relief, Lu Zhen, who had approached it secretly with stealth, suddenly appeared at the Kobold\'s left and lunged towards the Kobold with his dagger aimed at it\'s eyes.

"Kraawww!" (PS: I need new scream words for monster.)

-50 (712/800 Wild Kobold)

The attack had connected with the dagger stuck in it\'s eye socket. The Kobold frustratingly swung it\'s left hand at Lu Zhen, but the rascal was barely able to get out of the range of it\'s arm. The Kobold still didn\'t give up as it turned towards him and brandished the machete on it\'s right arm.

Seeing the impeding attack, Lu Zhen shouted "Fudo! Fire!"

Due to Lu Zhen having attracted the majority of it\'s aggro, the Kobold had already forgotten about Fudo, who had yet to make a move on it. The result was that it was fully open for Fudo.

"Burn."

*Boom*

*Whoosh*

"Krawwww." -250 (462/800 Wild Kobold)

Out of the blue, an explosion occurred on the Kobold as it\'s body was engulfed in flames leading to it halting it\'s pursuit and screaming in agony. Fudo had used the special skill accessible through [Igneel\'s guidance], [Explosion].

Lu Zhen had sent Fudo the details of the Kobold earlier and accompanying the message was a text he wrote, which stated that Kobolds where weak against flame. He had gotten this information from one of his trips at the Library. Using this knowledge, Fudo waited for an opportunity to make a big hit that would deal massive amounts of damage to it.

Originally, as descendants of Dragons, Kobolds aren\'t supposed to be weak against flames. But the wild Kobolds who ended up dwelling in caves and moist environment, had adapted to their environment and developed new strengths and weaknesses, one of which was their resistance against fire dropping to an all time low.

"Black Grill\'s Cave is indeed a haven for Fire [Elementalist] players." Lu Zhen sighed after seeing the damage dealt. As long as Fudo could hit it 2 more times, this battle will be over. The skill he had gotten from the accessory, [Igneel\'s guidance] was really OP.

"Sato! Are you alright?" Fudo asked.

"Yep. Never been better." Sato tirelessly replied as he pulled himself off of the wall before taking a HP potion. \'I really am the worst MC...\'

"Is it dead?" Sato asked curiously.

Fudo shook his head. "No. I still feel it\'s life force through the flames. Get ready."

"Roar!"

The Kobold raised it\'s head and roared like a behemoth. As it did so, the flame on its body slowly disappeared even though the [Burn] effect was supposed to follow. A thin red light shield made up of fiery mana, also surrounded it\'s body.

"A magic shield?"

Magic shields were shields created out of Mana through the aid of some special techniques or skills. Being formed from a large amount of Mana, they possessed the ability to block both Magical and Physical attacks despite seeming weak and thin. It was quite surprising seeing a monster use such technique.

"Lu Zhen, you know how to switch right?" Sato suddenly asked as a he started walking towards the Wild Kobold.

Lu Zhen nodded. "Yeah. Why wouldn\'t I? It\'s a necessary skill in gaming."

"Good. I hope you can keep up with me then. Let\'s send this lizard on a free trip to meet his ancestors."

Saying so, Sato picked up the pace and ran towards the Wild Kobold. Lu Zhen followed right behind and gauged his speed to be slightly slower than Sato\'s making it such that the distance between them both was nothing but a few centimetres.

Sato arrived at the Kobold first and struck with his sword but all he did was create sparks with the magic shield. The Kobold made a move at this time as it raised it\'s machete high to strike at Sato. With Swift movements, it slashed at Sato but he had easily dodged it since he didn\'t want to experience once more what it felt like to fly.

The air whistled as Lu Zhen\'s attack arrived. It was a direct stab aimed at the Kobold\'s chest. The Kobold had just completed an attack and it would be very hard for it to retreat now. But it wasn\'t like the Kobold even planned on retreating. It moved it\'s left hand towards Lu Zhen in an effort to grab him by the head. The hand cast a shadow on his face and even for Lu Zhen, it was quite difficult to dodge it normally.

"[Silent Steps]"

Lu Zhen activated the skill and abruptly appeared behind the Kobold. He thrust his dagger towards the Kobold\'s back but the magic shield was still in the way.

"[Backstab]" [1]

Having fulfilled one of the conditions of the skill, Lu Zhen used a burst skill of the Assassin class and thrust his dagger at the shield.

*Bang*

*Crack*

The shield still stood but a small crack had formed.

"I knew it. No magic shield can truly be invincible."

With that said, Lu Zhen brandished his dagger multiple times at the crack of the magic shield, in a bid to take the shield apart.

The Kobold had discovered his position after Lu Zhen had made that strike and it turned towards him with it\'s machete following up.

Lu Zhen quickly retreated and while that happened, Fudo launched a [Fire Ray] that he had been preparing, directly at the spot of the crack as when the Kobold turned towards Lu Zhen, it\'s back ended up facing Fudo.

*Crack*

*Crash*

"Roar!" -78(384/800 Wild Kobold)

Almost instantaneously, the magic shield had shattered to particles as the remaining force behind the [Fire Ray] struck the Kobold dealing a high amount of damage. It would have even been much higher if it were a direct attack. The reason was because [Igneel\'s guidance] increased Fudo\'s damage when using Fire-type spells, which was his main forte. Also, the bonuses from his [Black Alder Staff] was really absurd; worthy of being called an Upper tier Mortal rank staff.

We of course can\'t leave out the MC even though his damage was lower.

Sato abruptly appeared beside the Kobold while it was still occupied in it\'s agony of pain. He brandished his sword at the monster dealing multiple series of damages. Lu Zhen wasn\'t left out as he also approached the monster swiftly, since effects of [Silent Steps] were still active, and attacked it alongside Sato.

[Chop] -60 (324/800 Wild Kobold)

-47

-51

[Shadow Strike] -45

[Shadow Strike] -48

-51 (82/800 Wild Kobold)

"Roar!"

Enraged, the Kobold swung it\'s machete wildly in bid to shake off Sato and Lu Zhen. The two indeed retreated but that wasn\'t a good thing for the Wild Kobold as it now gave Fudo an opportunity to attack without fear of friendly fire.

"[Fireball]!"

A blazing orange ball of flames took shape at the tip of Fudo\'s staff and darted towards the Wild Kobold. As it\'s thoughts was occupied with dealing with Sato and Lu Zhen, it didn\'t see the blazing ball until it was too late.

-85 (0/800 Wild Kobold).

With a thud, the distant descendant of the revered Dragons, the very first Kobold to have been encountered by players, had died at the hands of the trio.