Infinite Realm

A majestic creature that looked like a lion with antlers laid right beside the only known exit out of the mystical cavern. Even as it lay on the floor, its body formed a small hill, reaching an astonishing height of 20 metres. Even the antlers atop its head weren't shy in measurements as the tallest among them was about 7 metres long. When compared to the enormous size of the monster, this was not worth considering.

A low growl that shook the souls of the living creatures close by that resounded in a specific order. In actuality, this was just the snoring sounds from the creature as it lay asleep. Just its mere snores were enough to terrify the other creatures and prevent them from coming close.

For the monster to even sleep close to the only exit in the open, was more than enough confirmation that it was an apex predator within the cavern's environment, after all, staying out in the open meant a certain risk of getting attacked. For it to ignore such a factor meant that the monster was either dumb -which was quite a very low possibility- or that it was very strong; at least to ignore most characters in the cavern.

'Even though it's laying there in such a lifeless manner, the aura from that monster still sounds warning bells in my head.' Sato stood on an elevated plot of land, roughly 200 metres away from the monster as he surveyed the area.

Despite having come to the decision of taking the main exit, Sato didn't rush into action with the others but decided to check out the area first before coming up with a plan. They couldn't just strut right in as there was a very high possibility of awakening the monster from its sleep. Encountering it was already bad enough, so waking it up early would be worse. Very few people wake up untimely and still have a smile on their face; the monster in front, however, certainly wouldn't be among the group.

"What do we do now?" Cecilia carefully asked, afraid of waking the beast up even though they were quite far from it.

"We need to find the safest angle to approach the exit. We can't just waltz right out." Sato replied.

"Milo, scout the area."

"Meow." Milo rubbed one of its paws on its face as if rubbing off some dust.

"I'll be fine." Sato smiled.

"Meow." The little feline didn't waste any second more as it immediately dashed to the side.

Sato immediately began going through his inventory, looking for any sort of equipment that could help him at this point. He roughly estimated the monster's strength to be level 40, more than 20 levels above his. There was no doubt that if it woke up, Sato and the others would die.

A couple of minutes later, Milo returned to the spot as it relayed all the info to Sato.

The monster slept by the left side of the exit. While it wasn't exactly close to it, there was only a distance of 20 metres between the exit and the monster. A distance such as that could easily be closed by a level 40+ monster with no effort, and unless one was equal to it in speed, they wouldn't be able to react in time. Even the 20 metres gap was sure to be within the monster's natural radar, so it would be almost impossible to escape it. If Sato was level 40, then the monster's movements would make no difference to him. However, the 20 levels gap made it such that the monster would most likely look like a blur if it were to dash after him. So, outrunning it with such a little distance between them was out of the equation.

There was another method he could use, and that was the [Void Opening Key]. Once the Hall Of Grey Chaplains was restored to full power, the range of the teleportation services would increase and Sato would be able to open a portal anywhere within the kingdom using it, including the cavern. However, there was a problem with this.

The Hall had to be restored to full power and currently, it wasn't even 40%. Even if it were 100%, Sato still wouldn't use the key as the return point would be the Hall itself and bringing an individual not part of the team, and even more so an NPC of noble birth, harboured a certain risk that Sato wasn't willing to take.

Considering that Sato couldn't use the [Void Opening Key] nor abruptly sprint towards the other side, the only thing he could do then was to find the angle furthest from the monster and give it a shot. The exit was a large opening at least 20 metres wide and 25 metres high. Adding that to the previous 20 metres, that would be a 40 metres distance between the monster and the other edge of the exit by the right.

Even though the monster's sensory range could possibly encapsulate a 50 metres radius, the further they were from it, the better. So escaping from the furthest direction would not only lessen their chances of getting discovered but also give them more time to react and escape just in case they do.

From Milo's scouting, Sato discovered that the extreme edge of the cavern's exit was unhindered; meaning that there were no monsters close by. Apart from the one before them, the closest monster was more than 150 metres away, and this was with the fact that Sato and the duo were still 200 metres away from the exit. That's a total of 350 metres, and with the complex terrain, as well as tall trees obscuring one's vision, the distance was more than enough for the trip to feel safe.

"Let's go."

Sato then lead Cecilia and Milo with him as they all moved towards the right side of the exit.

There was only a distance of 200 metres between them and the exit, but because of the complexity of the terrain, and the cautiousness of the trio, they took at least 5 minutes to make it there. Their starting position was the wall of the cavern, just a few metres away from the exit.

When they were about 60 metres away from the monster, Sato suddenly paused and the two hurriedly reacted and stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Cecilia hesitantly asked, deeply hoping that nothing was wrong.