Infinite Realm

The [Temple of Vasiliás] dungeon was made to be one of the toughest for current players. In fact, it was so difficult that according to the AI overseeing the game, no team would be able to complete it for the next 2-3 days(RT). This included Seven Star Glory, aka Team Sato.

Gatekeeper Baka was the first BOSS in the dungeon and it was a level 15 Special Elite monster that couldn't be easily rivalled. Though it was way weaker than King-ranked Kobold King, it was powerful in its own way. According to the system, only Seven Star Glory would be able to defeat it as of now, but if they were to underestimate it and not figure out the trick behind the monster, they would suffer a team wipe.

-67 (1322/4500 Gatekeeper Baka's HP)

After Sato's last attack, the Gatekeeper's HP had gone below 30% and it entered its berserk mode.

"Roar!"

Bluish-purple veins appeared on the skin of the Gatekeeper as its height slowly increased by one metre. It tightened its grip on the axe as a blue sheen covered the weapon. 2 horns sprouted from its forehead as the lone eye in the middle took on a purplish-black look.

Sato tried to interfere with its transformation as he dashed towards the monster, but a simple swing of its axe had forced Sato back, with his arms having a tingling sensation.

'It's way stronger than before.' Sato narrowed his eyes as he thought.

At the same time, incoherent roars sounded from the walls of the hall.

"Oh no. Again?!" Yato, who had just returned from beating the last batch of Dark Priests, exclaimed.

"This should be the last batch. Just hold them back while we finish the BOSS." Sato said.

As they had expected, a small group of Dark Priests exited the openings on the wall. Following the previous trend, they were much smaller in number than the last batch; only 5, but their strength was higher.

"The others were difficult to handle and were level 12. If I'm correct, these guys are level 13. Even if they're Common-ranked, I can't take them on my own." Yato spoke up.

"Seiichi, with them." Sato said.

Seiichi was level 12 so his inclusion and n a battle of level 13 monsters wouldn't affect the rewards much.

Seiichi immediately moved away from Xue Yan and Fudo, joining Yato and the others to face the new arrivals. However, before any of them could make a move, someone beat them to it.

*Gnaw*

The Gatekeeper had abruptly appeared in front of one of the Dark Priests and bit at its head. Blood spilled on the floor as the lifeless body of the Dark Priest began to fall. Unfortunately, the Gatekeeper didn't plan on letting go of this 'sack' of nutrients as it grabbed at the corpse with its free hand and devoured it whole.

"What the heck?" Yato, Katsuo, Lu Zhen, and Seiichi all stared in shock.

Sato, Xue Yan, and Fudo reacted slower than the 4 but they managed to catch sight of this atrocious act just as they noticed that the Gatekeeper was no longer in front of them.

"What is going on here?" Xue Yan couldn't help but mutter as she saw the Gatekeeper going on an onslaught and slaughtering the 5 Dark Priests that had just arrived.

As the Gatekeeper was feasting on the monsters that were meant to assist it in battle, its aura steadily began to increase as a ferocious air formed around it.

"Stop it." Sato immediately yelled as he darted towards the monster.

"What? Why?" Yato abruptly asked.

Sato didn't answer him but slashed out with his sword, sending a pitch-black flaming crescent towards the Gatekeeper.

As if it had eyes behind its head, the Gatekeeper easily dodged the attack without much effort, but it was forced to stop having its 'meal'.

Seiichi was the next to respond as he immediately fired arrow after arrow at the Gatekeeper. Nonetheless, against a level 15 monster, his level 12 attacks weren't worth much but they served to distract the Gatekeeper and slow its eating progress.

Unlike, Yato, Xue Yan didn't question Sato's decision and also began attacking the Gatekeeper, trying to drag its attention away from the Dark Priests. 

While everyone tried their best, the one-eyed creature still went on with its meal. At times it would ignore the attacks from Seiichi and Fudo, just to finish off a Dark Priest. As a result, it had lost a bit of HP but the amount was inconsequential. It was only when Xue Yan attacked and when Sato came close to it, that the Gatekeeper had to focus on them. Nonetheless, by that time, of the 5 Drake Priests that had appeared, 4 of them were already devoured with the last one having a barely intact body.

When Sato came close to it, he immediately brandished his sword at the monster but was met with resistance from it.

*Clang*

The cursed black sword was brought to a stop and unlike before, Sato felt a numb feeling in his arm. This feeling was quite familiar to him and it had been long since he had experienced it. It was the feeling of clashing with an opponent with a higher [Strength] stat than him.

'It's gotten stronger.' Sato sighed inwardly as he realised it was too late.

In previous VR games, Sato had seen scenarios where a BOSS monster would devour its underlings in exchange for strength. He easily compared that with the present scenario and decided to make his move immediately. Sadly, he was a step slow as the Gatekeeper's eating speed was much faster than his reaction.

After using [Inspect] once again, Sato realised that the stats of the Gatekeeper had changed a bit. Apart from the 15% boost due to [Enraged] state, there was an additional 5 points added to both [Strength] and [Endurance]. All these had made it such that the physical capabilities of the Gatekeeper had already surpassed that of Sato, despite being 2 levels lower.

'Hm?' 

Sato noticed that below the foot of the monster, a bunch of black 'liquid' flowed through the markings on the floor and into the body of the Gatekeeper. At a closer look, Sato noticed that the black 'liquid' came from the 'leftovers' of the Dark Priests the Gatekeeper slaughtered as well as from the site Yato and the rest had fought the other Dark Priests.

'Even the ones we killed weren't left free?' Sato had an ugly look on his face.

Seeing more black 'liquid' flow into the Gatekeeper, Sato realised that they were in a race against time. The monster was constantly becoming stronger even as it sat there doing nothing. If they couldn't kill it in time, it was possible that they would suffer a team wipe.

'I can't let that happen.'