Child of Destiny

…

Somewhere within the Sky Deceiving Valley, there was a small group of payers traveling within its region.

“Are we heading in the right direction? We are walking for quite some time already,” complained Ember with a deep frown.

“Tsk! This is where our clue is pointing us, so you don’t have to worry too much. If you want to complain about something, then curse the fog on this map instead. Traveling in this kind of environment is really troublesome,” said Lawless sneeringly.

Sigh~!

In the meantime, Hayden released a helpless sigh as he somehow agreed with Ember. They really were spending quite a lot of time traversing this region. In fact, they already wasted quite a lot of time finding the right way towards their real destination.

And the one to blame was Lawless himself who seemed to get addicted to hunting the monsters within the area.

Well, they couldn’t really blame him since the monsters within the vicinity really gave them quite bountiful rewards. Moreover, the area did not lack Boss Monsters with different ranks. They even encountered a couple of King Class Bosses along the way.

In the meantime, Ravier, who was one of the most talkative members of their group aside from Lawless, was currently silent. He was completely focused on constantly using his mana sense.

Due to the unique environment of the Sky Deceiving Valley, Ravier’s unique sensing skill seemed to upgrade to another level. The humidity in the air was helping him to completely sense his surroundings. The range was also quite large which was why their hunt became much easier.

“The area is already clear. Let’s get moving,” said Ravier after checking their surroundings.

“Let’s wait for Faker and Morgan to come back first before moving ahead,” said Lawless as he sat under a nearby tree.

Hearing that, the others also nodded their heads and also looked for their respective spots to sit on.

Hayden swept his gaze at the group as he remembered his first time joining them. That time, he was only planning to work with them as a mercenary hired by Lawless. Who would have thought that he was going to join them and become a member of their small party?

At first, he was not used to it since he preferred working alone. But after hunting and doing a couple of quests with them for quite some time, he started to learn the joy of having some comrade in arms.

“Feeling emotional? That is not like you.”

Then he suddenly heard a voice from his side which made him regain his focus. Turning his head to the side, he saw Faker who had just come back from scouting the area ahead.

Hayden smiled bitterly and replied. “I almost forgot this feeling since I use to be a lone wolf wandering within the virtual world aimlessly.”

“Well, at least, you now know how it feels,” said Faker as he walked ahead.

Seeing him return, the other members of the group turned to him as Lawless asked. “How is it? Are we there yet?”

“I am still not sure about it since the fog within this place is really troublesome, but I think we are very close at the entrance that we are looking for,” replied Faker almost immediately.

He then took a brief pause before continuing. “But I found something really interesting this time.”

Lawless was familiar with Faker since they grew up together. And when the latter said that he found something ‘interesting’, it could only be between someone asking for trouble and someone who they could mess with. Either way, both cases could only lead to a single thing – a battle.

“Hoh~! There is something that piques your interest? Now I want to hear about it,” said Lawless while grinning from ear to ear.

Seeing that expression on his face, Ember and Ravier could only sigh helplessly. They also knew these two pretty well since they were playing a lot of games together. And if these two were acting like this, then it could only mean that they were going to create some trouble.

“Are we procrastinating again?” muttered Ember helplessly.

“What can we do? Those two are in command in our group,” said Ravier who was sitting right beside her.

Faker’s sharp hearing could hear their complaints but he decided to ignore them and continued. “I found some trances of player’s movements while investigating ahead, so I tried to into it.”

He paused for a moment when he reached this point before continuing with a smirking tone. “And guess what? I saw a couple of dogs from the Corrupted Cults lurking around the area.”

Everyone’s eyes seemed to perk up a little when they heard the words ‘Corrupted Cult’. Now, they were completely interested in this topic. After all, they had an old beef with those guys.

“Now it really got me interested. Let’s hear it,” said Lawless as the grin that he was wearing turned higher. Based on the current expression that he had, it was pretty obvious that he was itching to mess with the people of the Corrupted Cult as soon as possible.

Faker completely understood what Lawless was thinking, so he quickly answered. “I am not entirely sure of what their business here is, but I am pretty confident that it is an important operation.”

He took a brief pause and turned to Lawless before continuing. “And I saw a couple of old faces among them.”

Then the expression on Ember and Ravier’s faces immediately turned dark as they seemed to have a rough idea who he was talking about. But it immediately turned into a look of worry as they cast their gaze at Lawless.

But to their surprise, their captain seemed to be acting calm and he slightly nodded his head. Then he asked. “Who among them in particular?”

“The twin and their ‘babysitting’,” answered Faker instantly.

“Heh!”

Lawless couldn’t help but let out a smirk when he heard that and said. “Interesting! Very interesting!”

Lawless repeated those words before turning to the others. “It looks like we need to delay our quest a little and greet our ‘old friends’.”

“Shall we go?” he asked with a calm tone but also carrying a clear hint of coldness.

Ember and Ravier closed their eyes for a moment and released yet another sigh before standing up from their seat.

“Alright.”

“I guess we don’t have a choice.”

They said at the same time.

In the meantime, Hayden who was not an original part of their group chose to remain quiet and listened on the side in silence. He might not understand what they were talking about completely but he at least had a rough idea of what it was.

He was also quite familiar with their group even before playing this game, so he at least knew their history even for a bit. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝑛𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝘯𝘦𝘵

He also stood up and turned to Lawless before answering. “Then take the lead, Captain.”

Lawless slightly nodded his head before turning in a certain direction. In there, he saw Morgan who had just come back from scouting the area.

Morgan might not present earlier to hear everything. But he at least had a rough idea of what was going on after hearing Lawless’ next words.

“We are going to give our old friends a visit, so make sure to get your guns ready.”

“Hah! You don’t have to tell me that,” replied Morgan in an instant while also wearing a smirking smile. “I can’t help but feel excited to finally meet them after a long time.”

Lawless slightly nodded his head before turning his head back to Faker. “Let’s go.”

Faker then suddenly hopped backward before disappearing like a ghost. Morgan jumped up and climbed on the tree before jumping from one branch to another.

Lawless started moving ahead as he led the others towards the coordinates that Faker had sent him. Ember and Ravier followed after him quietly as Hayden walked side by side with their captain.

“I guess you still haven’t completely gotten over it unlike what you have said to me,” said Hayden in a joking tone, attempting to lighten up the mood a little.

Lawless understood what his intention was and quickly replied. “You don’t have to worry. As I said earlier, we are only going to ‘greet’ them a little. How can we ignore them when they are in the area?”

“Sounds a little reasonable but still not convincing for me,” said Hayden before quickly adding. “Just make sure to do it moderately since we are still not ready to have a war with them.”

He took a brief moment of pause and turned to Lawless, checking the latter’s equipment. “You may have gotten your hands on a decent set of equipment and also regain your previous form alongside Faker, but our overall strength is still weaker compared to such a huge organization.”

“I know that the legendary duo of the God Slayer and Death God is not afraid of anything but you still have to consider the big picture,” he added to finally voice out his concerns.

Lawless gave him a sidelong glance before smirking. “I at least know that much.”

Then he turned his head back in front before saying with a cold tone. “But I still can’t let such a rare opportunity slip away from our hands.”

He paused for a moment before continuing. “I, at least, need to warn those ‘guys’ that we really are back this time.”

…