Child of Destiny

...…

As the guilds within the Saint Heaven Kingdom were very confused about what was happening at the Shunkai Forest. It was supposed to be a low-level map, which was already out of the current stage of the game.

Their higher-ups suspected that there might be another event happening, but after waiting for quite a while and not receiving any announcements or notifications from the system, they realized that it was not the case.

But it only made them more confused about the current situation. These strange phenomena that were happening in the Shunkai Forest were way out of their knowledge.

High-level elemental monsters popping out of nowhere, meteors suddenly falling from the sky, a phenomenon where players died without them knowing, tigers reigning over mountains, and a strange and terrifying humanoid monster that kept on torturing every victim – these events were making the players from the four factions to have second thoughts at entering the map.

At the same time, the top guilds of the Saint Heaven Kingdom were having a headache due to this.

As for the Powerhouse Guilds that were based on the kingdom, they did not want to get involved after learning a few things about these events. Their sources had told them that the four factions were after a certain player, and they learned from the Assassin Union that the said player was not someone that they wanted to provoke, especially when they were residing in the Saint Heaven Kingdom.

After getting such a clue, they immediately realized that the said player was someone with a decent background.

Out of the players that they could think of, the ones that immediately entered their minds were the members of a particular group, especially the leaders of this adventurer team.

Empyrean Talons – if it was someone from that group, then it would not be strange for the Assassin Union to warn them when they were trying to get some information about the current events.

With what they already knew, the Empyrean Talons had a close relationship with the Hand of Midas Trading Firm, which also had some connection with the Assassin Union. With that kind of relationship, these guilds knew that they could not afford to provoke the said group recklessly.

Moreover, the Titan Guild and HeadHunter Guild now had a decent connection with the Hand of Midas due to the recent events in the Sacred Light Kingdom. They also built a council that would control the player's interest in the said kingdom and its resources.

Due to this, the top guilds started having second thoughts of getting involved in the current events of the Shunkai Forest.

Some of them backed out while a few dared to stay behind and decided to observe the current development before coming up with their final decision.

But at the same time, there were still a few guilds and organizations that wanted to get involved in this event no matter what. A few of them were from the dark guilds and the criminal organizations of the kingdom, particularly the Blood Carnival, which was one of the groups with a grudge against the Empyrean Talons and Hand of Midas.

…

Somewhere outside the Shunkai Forest, there was a temporary base that had been set up by the Blood Carnival.

Within the tent, a group of players were gathered, seemingly in the middle of discussing a serious matter.

One of these players was an assassin dark elf with a black mask that covered his entire face. He looked at the other people sitting around the table before saying. "What do you think we should do?"

"Given the information that we have gotten and the data that we have collected, it seems like whoever the target of the four factions, they are without a doubt one of the leading players of the Empyrean Talons," said another player with the same profession as the previous person, but with a different race.

This guy was a Wolfkin with a hunter class (thief class of the Beastmen Race). Given the air full of authority that was surrounding him, it was clear that his position within the guild was quite high.

Sitting across from this person was a familiar face. He was the same person who fought against David during the Empire Quest that Shin and the rest of Empyrean Talons cleared previously – the Killer Clown Pogo.

Pogo was playing with his sickles and daggers. He was alternately tossing and catching them with one hand, seemingly unconcerned with the discussion. But when he sensed that the other two were staring intently at him, he could not help but sigh and give his opinion. "If you are asking me about it, then I suggest you move as soon as the chaos occurs."

"Given the current situation, some of the quick-witted ones will realize that they can't reach their target with themselves. They will propose to work together, at least until they go through the obstacles that are blocking their path."

"If they form such teams, conflicts are bound to happen whenever they encounter the other teams. Frictions will get stronger as the competition will be more intense this way."

The dark elf did not wait for Pogo to continue as he immediately got what the latter was trying to say. "So, you want us to take advantage of that chaos to go through the said spots while everyone else is busy."

"Our target is their target anyway, so it is better to ignore the rest and not waste our energies on them. Then we can get whatever they are trying to get from that said target," said Pogo.

The Wolfkin thought for a moment before asking. "Who do you think is this 'target' that they are after? Since we already have the upper hand in terms of information over these people, I think we can further strengthen this advantage."

Hearing this, the three turned toward another person, who had been with them since the very start but did not say anything up until now.

This player was wearing a cloak that completely hid his entire figure, preventing others from seeing his appearance.

This person was the one who was currently assigned to collecting information for the Blood Carnival and was the head of their scouting units.

"Mr. Information Network, how about you enlighten us with your knowledge?" asked Pogo with a little sarcasm in his tone.

The hooded person remained silent and unaffected by his tone and continued to stare blankly at them, seemingly having no intention of replying.

The Dark Elf sighed when he saw that before saying. "Don't wait until Pierro arrives. We don't want to get the 'Jester' to take this matter into his hands, am I right?"

"The Jester, the Fool, the Fraud, and the Deceiver – unless one of them is here, none of you can order me around," said the hooded person, making the other three sighs helplessly.

Seeing that they would not be able to order the guy, or might even request something from him, the other three could only look at each other before deciding to make a move themselves.

Pogo stood and said. "I'll do the scouting myself and try to uncover the true identity of the said target. Provide me with some people."

The Dark Elf nodded his head as he continued to sigh. "Wait at the designated location before making your move. I'll try contacting our people from the Demonic Churches and the side of Corrupted Cult."

After that, they ended the meeting and left.

…

On the other part of the Shunkai Forest, another group was organizing themselves and about to make their move.

Phantom stood up from the boulder that he sat on before turning to the others. "Is everyone ready? We have already collected enough information; I think it is time for us to make our move."

Valdez, who was already getting impatient, excitedly stood up as it was finally time for them to show themselves. He was already getting bored, so this timing was just perfect.

Wolf dusted himself before turning to their current team captain and nodded his head while his brother, Claude, checked his magic pistols before putting them in their holster.

The only female player of their group, Sylvie, fixed her slightly wrinkled mage clothes before picking up her scepter and readied herself.

Seeing everyone was ready, Phantom slightly nodded his head before turning around and entering the Shunkai Forest. Their target was one of the mountains, where a black tiger was residing.

Among all the routes that they could choose from, this was the one that they felt was the easiest. Compared to the others, this mountain seemed to suit their team composition the most.

The Earth Golems was the slightly logical choice, but given the composition of their team, they felt that it would take them a lot of time before they could take down one of those golems, much less clear the area and pave a path for themselves.

As for the other three paths, those routes were very terrifying, especially the one with a crazy humanoid monster that loved to torture its victims.

The other two, where huge fireballs fell from the sky and where players were diced into pieces by unknown attack, were less scary compared to that one, but equally troublesome.

As for the other mountain, which was being guarded by a white tiger, the group felt that it would be picked by other players who were starting to form a group.

It was a slightly easier route that everyone could use since the white tiger could not camouflage itself, unlike the black tiger. However, it could use long-range magic attacks.

Regardless, it was much easier to deal with compared to a powerful monster that could ambush them at any given moment.

Due to this, a lot of people would choose the mountain guarded by the white tiger, which would increase the competition.

It was quite good in a sense since they could use the chaos to sneak away while the others were keeping the white tiger busy. But such thought would be quite common for everyone, which would result in another chaos where everyone was trying to sneak away from the fight and go through the mountain.

Such an event would only cause another chaos, where everyone was fighting one another, causing the situation to be more conflicted.

With all that considered, Phantom and his group decided to choose the other mountain.

…

As everyone was making their respective plans and preparations, the first person, who managed to sneak away from the said routes reached Shin ahead of the others.

Shin did not even bother to open his eyes as Vladimir took the initiative to greet this 'visitor'.

The other party could not help but raise his brows when he saw a humanoid monster standing right beside the target. Moreover, given the intense and dangerous aura that he was sensing from the opposing side, he could tell that this particular monster was not something he could afford to underestimate.

At the same time, he also immediately realized what was going on. Those strange phenomena occurring in different parts of the Shunkai Forest had something to do with their target.

Realizing this fact, this player instantly understood that the target that they were chasing was no ordinary player.

This piece of information could be helpful to the other players of his faction, but he chose not to share it with anyone. Greed sure was terrifying as it could blind the judgment of anyone.

He wanted to monopolize this information and get ahead of others. Even if he failed to capture this person, he was still confident that he could escape from this place and gather more forces that could help him.

Given that his person was the first one to arrive, Shin did not dare to underestimate him. But given that Vladimir wanted to vent his anger, he chose to remain in his meditating state while keeping his guard up.

He had to leave this matter for Vladimir first and would only step in if his assistance was needed.

At the same time, he felt that it was also a great opportunity to help the Crimson Noblesse Spirit accelerate the digestion of the inheritance left behind by Dracula.

This might be a good opportunity to help Vladimir evolve much faster.

...