Child of Destiny

……

The flames of war at the Ancient Ruins were blazing intensely that it even attracted the attention of players both on different online platforms and currently playing the game in real-time.

But this time, it was not because of the war itself. But it was due to the commanders who were commanding the opposing forces – or to be more precise, it was because of Immortal himself.

Aside from being a Godlike Player, Immortal had another nickname before he started playing a VR Game. The ‘War Seeker’, was the nickname given to Immortal before he joined the community of VR players.

During the heat of the VR Games, there was a particular game that attracted a lot of attention from a lot of people – and it was called the ?War Tactics?.

That game was considered an old-school game. But no one dared to underestimate it since that very game became the training ground for the future war commanders and strategists in the military.

As the name implied ?War Tactics? was a game that was focusing on strategic thinking and wars.

There were also tournaments held by that game and each tournament attracted the people of the armies around the world, especially the war generals.

During those times, there were practically a decent number of people who became noticeable in that game and became famous. And one of such players was Immortal.

Being one of the top players of ?War Tactics?, strategic thinking became one of Immortal’s greatest weapons. And since he was a ‘Necromancer’ who was practically controlling an ‘army’ of monsters, he became one of the deadliest individuals after joining the Virtual World.

Given that, the players who knew about that reputation of his immediately hopped in the live feeds of the war which were being broadcasted online.

They didn’t know how the information about Immortal taking over the commanding officer position was leaked. All they cared about was them witnessing the so-called ‘War Seeker’ in action.

With that kind of war achievement, Legolas would surely pale in comparison. In fact, all of the powerful guilds keeping an eye on this particular war were expecting that he was going to lose one-sidedly.

But much to their surprise, not only was Legolas able to hold himself against Immortal, but he was also able to fight the so-called ‘War Seeker’ on equal ground.

Well, they were not the only ones who were surprised by this current situation. In fact, Legolas himself was shocked at the results of ‘his’ commands.

When he learned that Immortal had taken over the commanding position of the opposing side, he couldn’t but become worried at their current situation.

Actually, he even planned to contact their main headquarters to seek some help. But he also knew that it needed some time before their main base was able to send someone in Immortal’s caliber. And during that time, his forces were most probably going to get crushed before their reinforcement could even arrive.

Given that, he had no choice but to take the gamble and followed Shin’s instructions since he knew for himself that he was inferior to Shin in terms of strategic thinking. And when his gamble paid off, he couldn’t believe that there was someone ‘unknown’ as Shin who was able to fight Immortal toe to toe in terms of war tactics.

No.

Not only that.

From what Legolas could see, it seemed like Shin was even gaining the upper hand as time went by. And even if the rate was quite slow, he was sure that these small wins would start a snowball effect that was going to roll in their favor.

“Nameless Swordsman – The Angel of Death. Who exactly are you?” muttered Legolas to himself as stared intensely at the virtual man in front of him where the real-time progress of the war was being reflected.

*********

Meanwhile, in the opposing camp where the current commanding center of the Undying Guild was located, Immortal was staring at the virtual map in front of him with great interest.

Based on all of the ‘tests’ that he had done so far, Immortal was pretty sure that this guy he was currently facing was a top-ranked player who played the ?War Tactics? before. Or probably a skilled student from a military school who majored in the course of being a War Strategist.

Either way, this person really piqued Immortal’s interest since it has been a long time since he faced someone of this caliber.

Immortal was currently squinting his eyes while tapping his fingers on the wooden table in a successive manner. He was looking intensely at a virtual map projected in front of him as a sudden thought entered his mind. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘰𝘳𝘨

“Why do I feel that the movements of his units are quite familiar?” muttered Immortal while observing the progress of the war.

After a few more moments, Immortal dialed up a number from his friend list. And when the person on the other side of the line answered the call, Immortal immediately gave out his order. “Tell Archie to form a small unit with ‘Mount Riding Skills’, and make sure that each of them at least has an Intermediate Mastery with those skills. I need them for a special mission.”

“When he is done, tell him to contact me immediately,” he added before ending the call. He didn’t even wait for any reply as he immediately closed the virtual screen.

Not long after, the guy named Archie contacted Immortal like what was instructed to him.

“How many did you get?” asked Immortal right after answering the call.

“It is more than enough to build a five-hundred-man elite unit, Boss,” answered Archie almost immediately.

Hearing that, Immortal nodded his head repeatedly as he was quite satisfied with that report. And a moment after that, he gave out his instructions. “Open your map and link it with mine.”

Archie nodded his head and quickly opened his virtual just like what was instructed to him. And when he was done linking it with Immortal, he immediately turned quiet while waiting for more instructions.

Immortal waited for a moment before drawing a line in the virtual map while saying. “Bring those people and go to the east wing move according to this line.”

“Make sure to move diagonally and continue moving forward. Once you break through the middle of the battlefield, make a slight turn towards the left and do a pincer attack alongside Kevin’s Unit who is coming from the other side.”

He paused for a couple of seconds before adding a little. “But if you encounter an unexpected situation, just make sure to hold your ground and wait until your reinforcement arrives. Understood?”

“Yes, Boss!” responded Archie while nodding his head heavily. Based on the Immortal’s tone, he knew that this task was going to be critical in this war.

After that, Immortal ended the call before resuming to watch the real-time projection of the war. He also resumed tapping his fingers on the table while waiting to see how his opponent was going to respond.

“I’m not sure if it is possible. But if this guy is really able to read this move, then he is without a doubt a veteran from ?War Tactics? online,” he muttered to himself while squinting his eyes.

********

Meanwhile, on the battlefield itself, Archie immediately brought his unit to the designated position that Immortal had given him. “Alright, listen up! Our Guild Leader finally gave out his order for our special mission.”

“Make sure to properly follow my lead. I don’t want to get embarrassed by the others for failing such an important mission.”

After that, he turned his back at his group and faced the battlefield. Tightening his grip at the harness of his mouth before ordering it to advance forward while yelling at the players behind him. “Move out!”

The appearance of his group caught the opposing side totally off-guard. And since they were mounted on powerful undead beasts, their advance became unstoppable the moment they entered the battle. Even the frontlines of the Central Order people were totally broken after colliding with them.

Due to the unexpected assault, the formation of the Central Order people started to fall apart as their units were separated from each other. And when the Undying Guild members saw that, they immediately take advantage of the chaos to strike their opponents even harder.

Seeing such smooth sailing, Archie couldn’t help but smile when he saw that their surprise attack was pretty much effective.

Taking a quick look on his back, he could clearly see that the opposing side was losing a lot of their experts at incredible speed. “As expected to a veteran of ?War Tactics? online, moving their units surely had the best results in a Guild War such as big as this.”

After that, he redirected his eyes towards his front and saw the middle of the battlefield. And when he saw that, he raised his sword in the air before shouting at the players following closely after him. “The target location is right in front of us, advance forward!”

Then he ordered his mount to accelerate forward as he was quite eager to wreak havoc at the ranks on the opposing side.

His 5-hundred-man mounted unit was about to arrive at their desired location when something unexpected suddenly occurred on the battlefield.

All of the members of the Central Order around them were suddenly engulfed by brilliant light before disappearing from their spots and leaving all of the Undying Guild members stunned.

Confused at what they saw, Archie and his unit suddenly came to a sudden halt as he started looking at their surroundings. And that was when he discovered that he could not spot a single member of the Central Order. “What happened?”

Hearing what he said, a player without a mount immediately responded with his words. “They use an Instantaneous Scroll to escape, Sir! The others who failed to find a good time chose to commit suicide!”

Archie’s heart suddenly shook after hearing that, he then turned his head in a certain direction and saw that Kevin’s Unit seemed to have experienced the same situation.

“F*ck! We’ve fallen into a trap! Use your own Instantaneous Scrolls!” shouted Archie out of panic.

His voice was quite loud and enough to be heard by the other Unit from the distance. Unfortunately, that shout made everyone become even more confused and failed to respond in time.

And that was when a series of magic circles shone under their feet, illuminating the whole place.

Then a moment later, those magic circles started linking with each other before a huge pillar of light devoured everyone in the vicinity alive.

…