Infinite Realm

Located within Stone Creek Forest which was bordering Riverdale Town and Black Mountain Town, was a huge mountain that spanned the size of a town. Within this mountain was the current popular hotspot for players; the Level 5 map, Black Grill's Cave. At a certain location deep within this cave, two groups of players faced off against each other.

*Clang*

*Clang*

'Damn! These guys are tough. Am I really going to die here, just like this?'

Reeves, the Guardian player from earlier, was unresigned to surrender neither would he relent without a fight. Together with his teammate, he retaliated against Rolo's squad but they didn't really stand much of a chance.

Not only were they injured, with one of them even bleeding, there HP was low and their strength was incomparable to that of the 4 adversaries who had fine coordination amongst themselves. If not for Xue Yan's impressive timings and good judgement in battle, the two of them would have died since. However, there is still a limit to what one man, or in this case, woman, could do.

With the factors of low HP,  being outnumbered and terrible synergy when compared to the opposing team, Reeves' team was destined to lose within a minute.

"Die!" Rolo abruptly increased the speed of his attacks and managed to get past Reeves' defense.

'Shit!'

The blade was only a few centimetres away from him and if this attack lands, there's no doubt that he would die. This isn't because Reeves' health is too low nor is it because the attack was too OP. Sure the attack was quite powerful but the key lied in the force within it.

Rolo planned on using this strike to disorient Reeves for even of at least a second. A second might not seem like much but for an assassin player whose highest attributes are [Agility] and [Dexterity], one second is more than enough to decide a battle. Once Reeves gets disoriented, Rolo planned on using a combo on him and finishing off that last bit of health.

Reeves might not know this but even if he did, he couldn't stop nor dodge the attack.

'Is this how it all ends...?'

"Reeves!!!"

The other player screamed but he was interrupted by 2 other dark players. Xue Yan, on the other hand, was occupied with another dark player, a ranger to be exact, who pursued after her with his attacks.

'It's over.' Xue Yan thought.

She was kinda unwilling since she hadn't died once, ever since the game started. The reason for this was her meticulousness in achieving her goals. She didn't dare to face monsters far stronger than her and she didn't try to take on more than one at a time unless it was two levels lower than her. For someone who had always prepared to avoid the worst, Xue Yan was a little bit down but she didn't let her emotions get the best of her.

'At least I can prepare better next time.' Recalling the mission that she and yet to fulfill, Xue Yan sighed bitterly inside but still kept a calm face on the outside.

*Puchii*

"Huh?" Rolo felt a cold feeling in his chest and so stopped his advance before bringing his head down to stare at his chest.

"Arghh."

Once he did so, Rolo saw a dagger sticking out from chest. He suddenly felt a stinging outburst of pain from his chest which led to his scream.

[Shadow Strike]

[Shadow Strike] was the assassin class' top skill just like [Horizontal Slash] is for the swordsman. It increased damage by 30% while increasing Attack Speed by 15% for 3 seconds.

The dagger had stabbed Rolo so quickly that his body couldn't react in time. It only took a few short seconds for the sensation of pain to kick in leading to Rolo's scream.

Lu Zhen, who stood behind him with a dagger pierced through his back, pulled it out and slashed multiply times at Rolo's back while the effect of [Shadow Strike] was still on, ending his life before he could make a move.

On the other side, Sato had taken on the Ranger while Fudo assisted the last guy who was facing two dark players.

Sato ambushed the Ranger quickly and because he never expected anyone else to be here, the Ranger had let his guard; only focusing on Xue Yan in front of him. It took only 2 seconds for Sato to have ended him. This was because Sato's level was far ahead of him. The Ranger was just a level 5 player. No matter how much attribute points he had, his [Endurance] stat was too weak in front of Sato's sword.

Fudo played the role of a supporter, only elevating the pressure on the player.

With two of their men dead, one of which was even their leader, the remaining 2 dark players had their morale at an all time low. It was just like the saying "The higher you climb, the harder you fall". The two of them had thought that the battle was all in the bag but who would have expected 3 strangers to step in and ruin their work.

"Damn you. We will get you for this!!!" Incensed but still keeping a calm head, the 2 surviving dark players cursed at the new trio and retreated. But they were stupid in the sense that, Sato wouldn't just let them leave because they want to.

Using the momentum to their full advantage, Sato and Lu Zhen dashed towards the last two while Fudo interrupted their escape.

After coming to their senses, Xue Yan, Reeves and the last guy, Blue Banana, also chased after the surviving players. Under the onslaught of 6 players, the 2 dark players couldn't survive for more than 5 seconds and so, they joined their fellows and had their bodies disperse into starlight.

After the fight, Reeves and Blue Banana separated away from Sato, Fudo and Lu Zhen. Even though the trio had helped them, they still stared at them warily. This was Black Grill's Cave, no one could easily be trusted.

"Thank you for the help." Even though he felt suspicious about them, Reeves still thanked them because if not for their help, he would have surely died back then.

"Don't mention it." Sato replied.

Sato didn't mind their behaviour after all, if he were in their shoes, he would have done the same. He walked over to the place where the two players died and picked up the equipment they had left behind. Fudo also did the same thing for where Rolo and the Ranger had died.

During this time, Reeves had already taken a health potion and he watched what they were doing. He was kind of annoyed at their actions, even more so when he saw that one of the equipment that dropped from the dark players was one that belonged to their deceased teammates.

"Hey. Can you hand that over?" Reeves pointed at the bow in Fudo's hands.

"Why?" Fudo asked curiously.

"That dropped from my teammate who got killed by them. Since they took it, I thought it was gone but I never expected it to drop. I hope you can give it back." Reeves stated.

"If you want it, you might as well pay for it." Fudo replied. He was slightly incensed at how Reeves expected him to hand over the bow in his hands; who knew whether he was lying or not. Even if he wasn't, so what?

Reeves frowned at his reply. "What do you mean pay for it? It belongs to my teammate."

"Exactly what I said. It belongs to your teammate right? But he died and it got in the hands of those guys. After that, it no longer belonged to you guys. We killed them, so what they dropped belongs to us." Fudo explained.

"What the hell are you saying?! If we said it belongs to out friend, it belongs to him! We already let you guys have those dark players' loot so hand this over!" Blue Banana yelled at Fudo.

Seeing this, Sato frowned and realized that this duo were no good. Without a doubt, they had evidently lost to the dark players but they still tried to claim rights with their saviors. Even more, it is already visible that the bow no longer belonged to them after it was looted from their teammate by the dark players. Now that they had killed the dark Ayers and gotten possession of it, this duo tried to claim foolish rights.

Since the existence and increased popularity of VRMMORPGs, a few unwritten rules were born into existence. One of them was the rule of possession of loot. In a scenario just like this, where a player, A, loses an equipment to player, B. The equipment now belongs to B. If another player, C, loots the exact equipment from B, it belongs to B. If A wants it back, unless C was willing to offer it for free, A would have to pay for it.

Obviously, the same thing just happened. Rather than paying for it, they wanted to force their way and get it back for free. Even though he understood Reeves reaction that didn't mean that he would just do as he said. In VRMMORPGs, only strength speaks louder after money. If Reeves couldn't buy it back, Sato wouldn't give it back. Sato felt that he wasn't a saint and he had no reason to be good to anyone he comes across. The reason he even plays VR games is to make money and not lose it

"It seems like your head is busted or something." Sato looked at Reeves.

"What did you say?!" Reeves yelled. The reason for his asking for the bow back rather than paying for it was because he felt there was no reason to do so when he could collect it back.

Reeves' health was now full and he slowly got back to shape. They were 3 players on the other team and he also had 3 on his team. Needless to say, Reeves didn't see any reason to be scared of them. As for strength? Reeves believed that his party was stronger. He thought that Sato's team was able to help them beat the dark players only because they had ambushed them. If the two sides were to have gone toe-to-toe, Reeves believed that Sato's team wouldn't have lasted as long as theirs.

With a 3-on-3 situation, Reeves not only believed that he would win but that he would also get the loot from the dark players from them and also force them to hand over some of their goods; he didn't wish to kill them or else he would get a red name and clearing that was stressful. That doesn't mean that he would let them go if they refused though.

"Are you stupid or something? Do you want to die?" Lu Zhen stared at him as if he were looking at an idiot. Arguing with your saviors over one equipment. Even for the shameless Lu Zhen, this dude's shamelessness was on another level entirely.

"Shall I take them on myself?" Fudo glanced at Sato.

Sato ignored Fudo and looked at black haired Xue Yan before asking "Do you agree with them?"

"..."

Xue Yan didn't know what to say. Truth be told, she felt that both Blue Banana and Reeves were both dumb but she couldn't just deny them like that after all, they did help her get this far. She however, couldn't support them as she didn't like the idea of being stupid and shameless just for some equipment.

Reeves took Xue Yan's silence as a form of tacit admittance and yelled "You shitty bitch! We helped you reach this far and this is how you treat us huh?!"

Xue Yan replied " I do thank you for what you have done so far but having such a pointless argument wouldn't suffice. If the bow is that necessary, it would do better just to pay them for it."

"You ..." Blue Banana wanted to attack her but he was stopped by Reeves.

"Fine then. Let's go." Reeves spoke to Blue Banana before leaving through one of the tunnels there. As he did so, he didn't forget to kick Xue Yan out of the party since her attitude just now, went against his plans.

'I swear, I will find you both and make that bitch pay!'