Child of Destiny

...…

*Ding*

Exactly two hours after Shin left the Holy City, all the members of the Supreme Temple and Martial Alliance that were chasing after him got a notification from the system, informing them of his exact location.

They halted their tracks momentarily, looking at the notification, before quickly heading toward the said coordinate. They all went straight to the location indicated on their virtual maps.

The members of the Demonic Churches and Corrupted Cult, who were dispatched for this mission, also received the same notification from the system. They had been waiting for it for quite a while already, so they were able to respond almost instantly right after receiving the notification.

They went straight to the Shunkai Forest, not bothering to hide their movements. The other two factions were already on their move, so the other organizations residing within the kingdom would not have the time to deal with them.

They became bolder in their actions and did not bother to hide their intentions.

At the same time, the powerful guilds and other organizations that were based on the Saint Heaven Kingdom quickly responded to the movements of the four factions. They followed the movements of those people while deducing their destination.

When they learned that their target was the Shunkai Forest, these superpowers of the kingdom, immediately made their arrangements while moving their forces toward the said location.

As the members of the four factions swarmed toward the Shunkai Forest, the powerful guilds and other organizations of the Saint Heaven Kingdom decided to surround the map, sealing off every entrance or exit that could be used as an escape route later.

They wanted to be the biggest fishermen in this battle. They wanted to be the ones who would be harvesting all the grains after the others struggled to fight against each other.

…

Right after these groups made their respective preparations, Shiella, who was busy with the relocation of Calderock Town before transforming it into a port city, suddenly received a report from her people.

*Ding*

Jhin: Club President! The Martial Alliance seems to be actively urging its members to participate in the faction mission. It seems like the young master has gotten his hands on an important item.

Jhin: As for the members that you tell me to keep my eyes on. Most of them are offline, aside from Martial God Ashura, who we can't find.

Jhin: But they are still in the middle of an Empire Quest, so I don't think that they will get involved in this event until the final hours of the said mission.

Shiella skimmed through the report before simply sending it.

Snow White: Continue monitoring everything. Report directly to me once an important development happens.

She then closed the virtual screen before looking around the office. After that, she glanced at the time and sighed. It was still quite early, but she felt quite tired mentality. She wanted to rest a little before continuing with her work.

The reconstruction of Calderock Town was already underway, and Ribbit was already overlooking everything while Delusive Smile, her executive assistant within the game, was dealing with everything concerning the Golden City and Golden Mountain.

Looking at the timer of the melting ice wall between the Sky Deceiving Valley and Frozen Kingdom, she felt that she still had enough time to rest.

But instead of logging out, she went on the sofa and lay there for a nap. "Things will get busier when we open the borders. Let's try recharging my energy before it happens."

…

Shunkai Forest.

Shin was sitting on a boulder in a cross-legged fashion, seemingly in the middle of meditation. He was on top of a mountain where he could see every corner of the entire forest.

He could see different parts of this region from this particular mountain and all he needed was to spin around and look at the horizon.

He was in meditation as he wanted to conserve as much energy as possible during this battle. The first wave of enemies would be the most impatient ones. Some of them might be strong, but he knew that they were nothing but a bunch of cannon fodders used by the crafty and sly ones to test the waters.

With this thought, Shin knew that this was a good opportunity to let his Elemental Spirit Companions on the loose.

Everyone would be his enemies anyway, so there was no need to restrain these Reapers of his. They could do whatever they wanted when dealing with these waves of players.

All these Elemental Spirits were in humanoid form anyway, so these players from the four factions would take them as some sort of humanoid monsters that happened to be in the area.

Even if those people were smart enough to use their observation skills on these Elemental Spirits, they would not know that the Elementals were nothing but summoned creatures.

Only those people who were on the same level as Transcendent Beings could see through this trick, and they were the only ones to be able to go through these Elemental Spirits and reach Shin after using their respective Spirit Awe Skills.

But those people would be the ones that Shin was exactly looking for. They were the worthy opponents that could satisfy his requirements for polishing his style and techniques.

After receiving his orders, his Reaper's Retainers quickly scattered in every direction, heading to the designated area that Shin had assigned them.

Grimrace, who had just recently been promoted, was very excited about this mission. He now had the opportunity to test his new strength without holding back. He could also go crazy without thinking about the consequences as well, so his excitement could not be hidden by his clown-like face.

Hanzo, on the other, calmly appeared at a random location in his designated area. He closed his eyes and stood silently with his hands crossed behind him.

He looked like a statue by staying still like this, especially when his aura resonated with the surroundings. It was as if he was a part of the nature itself.

Meanwhile, Blackie and Whitie turned into a pair of black and white tigers before occupying a mountain each. They stood at the peak of these mountains while overlooking everything beneath them like true kings.

Solus shrouded her body with a light before floating high up in the air. The light then resonated with the surroundings and made herself melded with it. No one would be able to see her from the ground.

Astaroth took another location and sat on top of a huge boulder. He also regulated his breathing to resonate with his surroundings, particularly the earth, while staying still. Just like Hanzo, he also turned into a statue.

Among all his Elementa Spirit Companions, Vladimir was the only one who was left behind. He was left behind and stood beside Shin to be on guard duty.

Naturally, this conceited and self-centered spirit would not agree to it. He wanted to join the others and slaughter enemies, not willing to be behind the others, particularly Grimrace. The two were somewhat of a rival since the time they first met. They were always at each other's throats and wanted to get rid of each other.

Unfortunately for Vladimir, Grimrace managed to be ahead of him this time and got promoted into a real Supreme Elemental.

Since Vladimir had yet to reach their ranks and evolve into a true Supreme Elemental himself, he could not be on the frontlines and had to wait until then.

Despite his unwillingness, he could not do anything but comply with the orders of his master, or he would have to be unsummoned and not could not join any form of battle.

All could he do was sulk on the side while complaining in his mind.

Shin ignored Vladimir as he continued to meditate. He wanted to conserve his strength as much as possible, especially when he was planning to filter out his opponents.

Whoever got through his reapers, regardless of their methods, would be worthy enough to challenge him. They could try to fight him or even catch him if they wanted, but they had to earn their qualification first.

He did not want to waste his time and energy on small fries, especially when he knew that this would be a long and exhausting battle. Even if he was confident that he could slaughter them with his absolute power, he still had to spend quite a lot of effort before facing the real trouble later.

Moreover, the strongest challenges that he had to face later would surely cost him a lot, so he had to conserve as much energy as possible.

…

While Shin was waiting patiently for his next opponents to arrive, the first batch of people finally set foot on the Shunkai Forest.

These players were a bunch of random players that happened to arrive at the same time. But their skills and strengths could not be overlooked as they were elites of their respective faction or a top expert in their respective professions.

They quickly glared at each other when they met at the entrance of the forest. Invisible sparks quickly flew in the air as their eyes met. The air also seemed to have become heavier when their respective pressure started pressing against each other.

But that only lasted for a few moments as they understood their current tasks. They knew that they could not afford to waste their time fighting each other when they had to hunt someone who seemed to be strong enough to slaughter them with ease.

After the initial spark, they turned around and went their separate ways, heading toward the coordinates sent to them by the system.

As they were running toward the said coordinates, one of the groups that bumped into each other at the entrance of the forest suddenly halted their tracks.

It was due to the immense pressure that was pressing on them.

As they were experts, who experienced a lot and went through multiple battles, they immediately recognized what kind of pressure this was.

It was the same familiar scent that they always encountered whenever they bumped into something unexpected or when their lives were at risk.

The scent of death.

This scent overwhelmed the whole place, paralyzing all of them.

When they raised their heads and looked ahead of them, they saw a humanoid figure standing silently in the distance.

It was someone wearing a set of butler's clothes in a dark green color. This person had a magician's hat with a color that complements the clothes that he was wearing.

This person walked slowly toward the group while fixing his white gloves. At the same time, he was also laughing manically, making the group feel a shiver run down their spine.

Then the group saw that the shadow in the surroundings started to move. They slowly crawled on the ground before converging on the shadow of that mysterious person.

Moments later, the group witnessed something that they would not forget for the rest of their lives. It might even hunt them in their sleep.

"Ah!"

"Wah!"

Cries full of terror shook the forest in the very next moment. It lasted for quite a while before the forest returned to its previous silence.

Grimrace, who was standing in the middle of corpses dissipating into specks of lights, frowned deeply. There was a clear sign of disappointment and disassociation on his face as he tapped his clothes.

"These guys are too weak. Their minds are too fragile. They are not worthy of my experiments. I hope the next batch will be worth my time."

Similar events were occurring in different parts of the Shunkai Forest.

There was a place where huge fireballs suddenly fell from the sky and started bombarding the people, who were passing through that place. These fireballs were like meteors that caused devastation in the forest.

The explosion burned everything and did not leave any survivors alive. Not even a drop item or equipment was left behind as they were either scorched beyond repair or melted by the immense heat.

On another part of the map, players died without them knowing. They did not realize that they were dead until their vision turned completely dark, signifying their death.

People, who managed to see what happened to the others before a similar thing happened to them, could not believe what they just witnessed. They saw flashes of light that passed through everyone before their bodies got sliced into multiple pieces.

The last thing that they saw was a world shrouded with a purple light before they died.

On the other hand, some players decided to climb the mountains in front of them, trying to get a clearer look at what was happening. They wanted to get a vantage point where they could see the entire forest before making their next moves.

But they did not expect that these two mountains were a place that they shouldn't visit. There was a pair of tigers lying in wait in those mountains, planning to slaughter them.

It did not that long for these players to realize this mistake, but it was already too late as they got hunted down by those tigers without fighting back. They got eliminated one after another before silence enveloped the mountains once again.

Meanwhile, on the final place that Shin had instructed to be covered, the players, who stumbled upon this place were forced to band together and fight as a group.

It was because there was a group of Earth Golems blocking their path with a strength that far surpassed their current levels. They could not help but become confused at what was happening since this place was supposed to be a low-level map based on the information that they had.

They could not believe that there were groups of elemental beings such as Earth Golems residing on this map, making them unable to proceed toward their destination.

What was even more troubling about this was the fact that these golems were so powerful that they should be residing in a neutral region.

It did not take long for these golems to slaughter the first batch of 'visitors' before they turned into huge boulders once again.

The top guilds and organizations residing in the Saint Heaven Kingdom immediately received the reports and they could not believe it when they first got it. But after confirming that they were true, they could not help but accept that it was the reality.

The leaders of the guilds scratched their heads in confusion, not understanding what was happening. – "What the heck is going on?" –

...…