Infinite Realm

"I, I have to hang on." Cecilia whispered.

It was only 9 metres left for the duo. On a normal occasion, Sato would easily close this gap with a single jump, but with the current precarious situation before him, he had to advance steadily. Not only that, but he also had to keep an eye on Cecilia, just in case she couldn't hold on. Having accepted the mission, he had to keep her safe unless he wants to fail the mission however, that wasn't an option.

As for why? It was simply because the penalty for failure was the possible chance of execution by the manor guards. Execution wasn't simply the same as dying. It could pretty much be compared to getting jailed as one's account would be inaccessible for a while. This 'while' was more than enough for great changes to take place in the game and mainstream level to go up a notch, after all, with the release of dungeons levelling up had gotten easier than ever. Therefore, no matter what, Sato had to put Cecilia's safety ahead of his.

7 metres left and at this point, Sato was supporting Cecilia to walk. He had no choice as it was very difficult for her to take a step further under the pressure from the monster's aura even though it was asleep.

Milo had been on a lookout for any monsters or uncertainties that may arise, when it suddenly felt something out of the ordinary.

"Meow!"

Milo didn't bother to lower its voice as the little feline cried out.

Truthfully, Sato didn't need Milo's warning as his eyes had always been on the monster, and right now, its eyes was also on them.

'Shit!'

A huge amber-coloured eye with a black vertical pupil in between stared at the trio in an unhurried manner forcing Sato to come to a stop.

"What's, wrong?"[1] Even Cecilia in her drowsy self seemed to notice that something was wrong.

Sato didn't answer her but kept his eyes on the monster, as he noticed a slight movement. He was hoping that the monster had just opened its eyes randomly and was still asleep so he didn't make any move. Nonetheless, that tinge of mockery in its eye was more than enough for Sato to know that his hopes were a pipedream.

"Run."

With just 7 metres left, the monster had suddenly awaken from its sleep. Even though this gap was something Sato could easily cover, it wasn't the same when he had to carry Cecilia who weighed roughly the same as him. Strangely though, when Sato began moving with her, Cecilia seemed to weigh heavier than normal. Sparing a side glance at her, Sato discovered that she had already caved in under the pressure and fainted.

"Roar!"

The gigantic monster abruptly stood up and released a earth-shaking roar.

Sato immediately picked Cecilia off the floor and lifted her like a potato sack, dashing towards the exit. Though the distance could easily be covered within a second, that was more than enough time for level 40 monster to make its move.

"Roar!

The beast immediately swiped a claw at the trio, sending forth compressed air blades towards them. The air blades moved at such great speed that it looked as if they had teleported to appear in front of them.

'Shit!'

Sato didn't waste any time as he dropped to the floor, pulling Cecilia alongside him.

*Bang* *Bang*

*Bang* *Bang*

The air blades dug deep into the walls beside the trio, making their marks as horrific fissures were left on the wall.

Sato's decision of going low proved to be the best as the air blades -which had taken on a horizontal direction of attack- had missed them with only pebbles from the collision with the wall crashing on them. But compared to getting sliced in half, this was nothing.

"Move."

[Sprint]

Sato suddenly erupted with great strength as dragged Cecilia up as dashed towards the exit with Milo.

"Roar!"

Seeing that the intruders had actually survived its attack, the monster stood up and roared in fury as it darted towards them.

When there was but a 2 metres gap between Sato and the exit, the monster was only 5 metres away from him. This gap was much to the gigantic creature as just the length of its arms alone could cover it.

*Whoosh*

A claw moved unhindered as it cut through the air and slapped towards Sato. Streaks of air moved together with the claw bringing with them great force and penetrative strength. Ignoring that, just the 3 metres wide claw was enough to destroy any thoughts of resistance.

'Is this how I will go down?' Sato thought as he unwillingly stared at the claw.

There was only a metre between him and the exit but even if he made it, the claw would still be able to smoothly pass through the exit and reach him. Unless he could create a 3 metres gap between him and the claw in an instant, there was no escaping death.

It was at that moment that something unexpected happened.

Milo suddenly widened its mouth in the direction of the claw, puking out a white dot. With the distance between them, even though this was in an instant, Sato could feel the energy from the white dot which was a serene yet chilling aura. It had this feeling off being above none yet beneath none, untainted and holy, but with an unknown force hidden deep within.

But it was this very serene and holy dot that darted towards the claw at an insane speed, almost breaking the sound barrier, and collided with the claw.

*Bang*

Mangled pieces of flesh and blood sprayed out in a haphazard manner. 1/3 of the monster's claw had been destroyed by that attack as blood flowed from the point of injury, like a scarlet spring.

Everything had happened so quickly and mysteriously that Sato was stunned to the point of almost stopping. Luckily, his quick-witted nature suppressed his curiosity as he ran out of the cavern. If it wasn't for the pieces of flesh on the floor, as well as the blood on his face, Sato would have thought all of that was but a dream.

It was only when he had gotten to a safe spot, at least 15 metres away from the monster, did Sato stop to catch his breath. Truthfully, he would have tried to go farther but the stress from that frightful experience had forced him to his limits. The adrenaline rush from the event had already stopped so Sato was overwhelmed by a wave of weariness. There was also the fact that Sato was carrying Cecilia with him and it was quite draining of his strength. All these factors added together made it difficult for him to progress any farther.

"Milo, what was that?" Sato finally asked the culprit as well as his saviour.

"Milo!"

Sato noticed that even though the little feline had made it this far out with him, it was even more worn out than himself. The little creature only made use of its last bit of strength to move into the [Void Emerald Ring].

"Hm?"

Sato was worried and had tried to check after it but he suddenly received a mental message from it telling him not to worry. Sato decided glanced into the ring and saw it laying beside a pile of materials. While it looked to be dead, there was still faint sign of life as the little creature was still breathing.

'He seems to have worn out himself.' Sato thought.

"Thank you, Milo." Sato said

It was only thanks to the little feline that Sato and Cecilia had survived that event as their death had seemed to be an inevitable occurrence. At the same time, this experience renewed Sato's vigor of investigating what exactly Milo was. To be able to injure a level 40+ monster with a single attack, made it seem like Milo wasn't any weaker but actually stronger.

Sadly, whenever Sato tried to use [Inspect] on the creature, there was no results even if he managed to injure it.

"Indeed, you have to thank him for that one."

'Huh?' Sato abruptly widened his eyes as he felt a cold sensation at his abdominal region.

Moving his hand over to the position, Sato felt a strange liquid and an empty sensation at a point on his abdomen. There was a hole there as part of his body was missing some flesh.

*Splat*

*Splat*

"Truthfully, I'm a bit shocked that you actually made it out alive."

Dark red droplets dripped from the hole on Sato's body as a stunned expression crept onto his face. It was then that he had realised something strange as he felt that voice to be ever familiar.

"Cecilia?"