Child of Destiny

……

The Ironhead Chimpanzee opened its mouth once again and started gathering the mana from the surroundings and compressing it into a ball of light. Then it started firing a series of earthen energy beams at Shin, who was in the middle of diving down from above and headed toward them.

As Shin dived down from the air, he left a series of afterimages as he constantly flapped his wings to change his speed and direction from time to time. He did it to avoid the barrage of attacks flying his way, doing complex aerial maneuvers while dodging.

With such an irregular pattern, it was hard to predict his movements, much less catch him.

During that time, the Steelfist Ape suddenly dug its hands into the ground before grabbing a huge chuck of boulder from it. It raised it over its shoulder before throwing it in the air, flying straight to Shin.

Shin chuckled when he saw the flying boulder heading his way. He then purposely positioned himself behind it, hiding from the view of the two monsters, and used it as a cover from the barrage of earthen beams.

After that, he used two charges of the ‘Moonlight Steps’ to fly forward with an increase in speed.

He turned into a streak of light that pierced through the boulder and arrived in front of the Ironhead Chimpanzee in the next instant.

At the same time, he was also pulling out the [Yamato] from its sheath before stabbing its blazing tip at the opened mouth of the monster.

Shing!

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quickly Draw (Fire Form): Blazing Final’

Swoosh!

The trail of light that he was left behind seemed to have been ignited by a raging flame as he continued moving forward.

It was already too late for the Ironhead Chimpanzee to close its mouth since the tip of the blazing sword already reached the compressed earthen mana in front of it. That ball of mana quickly shattered upon collision, releasing beams of blinding light from the gaps between the cracks.

Shin took that opportunity to quickly blink away by using ‘Void Steps’ and appearing a few meters in the distance. And as if it was not enough, he also flapped his wings to propel himself even further while also using the final charge of his ‘Moonlight Steps’.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Boom!

Not long after, the shattered ball of mana was detonated as it could no longer suppress the disrupted balance that it had.

The Ironhead Chimpanzee released a deafening howl as it received a huge chunk of damage due to the explosion. Since the explosion erupted right in front of its face, it received a direct hit that could not be avoided.

Fortunately, its head was its strongest point, so it was able to negate most of the damage. If not, then it would not be surprising for it to get one-shotted by such a powerful explosion.

However, the injuries that it already had suddenly worsened. It struggled a bit more before it could even regain its footing.

The Steelfist Ape, on the other hand, was able to get away from the center of the explosion in time due to its sharp instincts. Instead of looking at the outcome of the explosion, it chose to sweep its gaze at the surroundings and look for the culprit of everything.

When it saw the rapidly retreating figure from the distance, it quickly started chasing after it, aggressively charging alongside its gradually increasing speed.

It did not take long for it to catch up to Shin. And when it did, it suddenly leaped into the air while raising both of its arms over its head.

Swoosh!

Roar!

With yet another deafening roar, it rapidly dived down from the air and headed straight to the spot where Shin was about to stop.

Right before descending, the gigantic ape slammed its steel-like fists on the ground.

Seeing the rapidly magnifying fists descending at him, Shin held his sword in a horizontal manner right in front of his chest while releasing the blazing mana that he was circulating within his body.

In the next instant, he released the blazing mana toward his surroundings and created a dome of energy that protected him from any harm coming from the outside.

This was one of his defensive skills within the game, which was modified by infusing the power of Solar Flame into it.

Swoosh!

‘Slayer Skill (Modified): Blazing Eclipse Pulse’

Bang!

The barrier shook intensely as the pair of huge fists landed on the blazing barrier. The force from the impact was even transferred into the ground, making it tremble as if an earthquake was currently shaking it.

Cracks started to spread from the point of impact as the barrier continued to shake. But fortunately, it was able to withstand the heavy force pressing on it and continued to stand strong.

After that, Shin suddenly swung the blazing [Yamato] in a horizontal manner while detonating the barrier.

‘Slayer Skill (Modified): Blazing Eclipse Counter’

Bang!

Upon activation, the barrier exploded while carrying a force doubling the strength that the Steelfist Ape when it attacked earlier.

It forced the arms of the ape to rebound back to the air as it was forced to stumble back to nullify the impact.

It then received huge damage from the explosion, cutting down another chunk of its almost empty health bar.

Bang!

With a powerful stomp, the Steelfist Ape stopped itself from moving further away. It then strengthened its back before raising both of its fists. A moment later, it started throwing a series of punches forward, bombarding Shin with an unstoppable barrage.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

Seeing this, Shin quickly put the [Yamato] back to its sheath before assuming a sword-drawing stance. He then gently put his right hand on the hilt of the sword before suddenly unsheathing it and swinging it multiple times.

Shing!

His arm turned into a blur as he swung the sword in the air, leaving a blazing trail on their path. The crisscrossing trails of the air formed a spherical barrier around Shin, giving off an illusion that a miniature sun was formed to protect him.

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw (Fire Form): Blazing Firmament’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

When the barrage of punches came in contact with the blazing barrier, it produced a series of explosions that signified the strength behind each collision.

Their movements were way too fast for the naked eye to see, but if it was in slow motion, then it could be seen that Shin was actually hitting the fists of the Steelfist Ape with great precision and perfectly deflecting each of them with every strike.

Bang!

And when the exchange finally ended, Shin and the giant ape were separated from each other.

The Steelfist Ape was forced to take another series of steps backward due to the accumulated stress that it got from the series of strikes from its opponent. It struggled a bit and almost stumbled on the ground, but it was still able to regain its footing in the end.

Shin, on the other hand, was pushed backward after striking the final punch from the monster. He strode back while maintaining his last striking position. He also left a deep and long trail on the ground as he moved back.

He was about to jump forward and continue attacking when he sensed that the ground underneath his feet trembled.

Without any hint of hesitation, he quickly jumped in the air while also flapping his wings to ascend as high as possible.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Right after his feet left the ground, huge earth spikes suddenly shot from the ground and spread in different directions.

Fortunately, Shin was fast enough to escape from its area of effectiveness and managed to avoid being pierced by them.

But despite the sudden ambush, Shin still hadn’t forgotten his previous thoughts. He drew a beautiful arc as he flipped in the air.

Then he dived with an unstoppable momentum while flapping his wings repeatedly during his descent. He almost turned into a beam of blazing light in the air as he headed toward the Steelfist Ape waiting for him on the ground.

During his rapid approach, he also used his previous signature combination to attack – consecutive ‘Mondi’s Jump’ to further increase his momentum alongside his extra skill ‘Falling Lightblade’ while swinging his sword down.

Swoosh!

Shing!

The trail of blazing light was left in his wake as he struck down the [Yamato].

‘Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermilion Bird Method – Sunlight Corona’

Swoosh!

There was a brief pause in the cave as if the time had come to a sudden halt.

Then there was an explosion of a blinding light that briefly illuminated the dark cave before condensing into a diagonal line that was passing through the neck of the gigantic ape.

After that, the head of the ape could be seen rolling in the air, flying toward a certain direction.

Shin could feel a certain sensation when he completed that attack. It was as if he was entering the state where he was in constant enlightenment – just like when he fought against that particular young executioner recently.

Unfortunately, he did not have time to dwell on that feeling as he sensed the enraged Ironhead Chimpanzee in the distance.

It threw a series of earth spells, targeting him who just killed its comrade.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shin flew slightly above the ground while doing toward the remaining overlord. He was maintaining a speed that was neither too fast nor slightly slow to have better control during his flight.

He continuously flipped and rolled in the air as he continued moving forward while dodging the series of attacks coming from the Ironhead Chimpanzee.

One of the reasons why he chose to kill the Steelfist Ape first was because it was easier to finish it off due to its simple and straightforward attacks.

Moreover, he had already figured out its weakness, so he was confident that he could kill it much faster than the other overlord.

Other than that, the Ironhead Chimpanzee was a magic-type beast monster, which was weaker when facing a speed-type player such as Shin himself. He would be able to dispose of it quickly as long as he took care of the Steelfist Ape.

Seeing that Shin was still rapidly approaching it, the Ironhead Chimpanzee seemed to have started to panic, especially when it saw what happened to its fellow overlord just earlier.

Its unease was further intensified when it remembered that even the Stoneback Gorilla was killed just recently.

With its improved intelligence, which was slightly better than most of the beast AI, it could sense the rapidly approaching death that was coming for its life.

Realizing that it might really die in the end, it suddenly started beating its chest while roaring at the top of its lungs.

It then started hitting the ground repeatedly, sending the huge pieces of earth in the air that were flipping over.

Then the Ironhead Chimpanzee suddenly spread its arms wide, seemingly communicating with the rich earth element within the cave. When the connection was finally stabilized, the overlord monster suddenly clapped and put its hands together in front of it.

Following its actions, the huge rock boulders floating in the air suddenly started spinning and revolved around the huge monster. It then formed a huge tornado that was spinning with a speed that shredded everything in its path.

Seeing the storm of rock boulders, Shin could not help but halt his tracks before rapidly retreating. He knew that he would instantly die if he tried to force his way into it.

He would be beaten by those huge pieces of rock and crushed by them if he tried to dive inside it.

When he thought about that, Shin felt that this was the end of trying to apply his fire control to his skills and sword techniques.

It was time to end this.

At the same time, it was also the perfect opportunity to use the Elemental Skills that he got from Solus when he contracted her to be one of his retainers.

“Time to end this,” he muttered before holding the ‘Divine Constellation’ form of his sword with both of his hands, positioning it right in front of front of his chest in a horizontal manner.

…