Child of Destiny

…

Shin gathered everyone and discussed his plan with them. Of course, he omitted the contingency plan that he discussed with Arthur. He didn’t want Immortal and the others figured out that the group was aware of their real objective.

It didn’t mean that he didn’t trust the others, he just wanted to take the more careful and much safer approach where they could trick their opponents. And it was also to make the opposing side believe that they had everything under their control.

Shin didn’t need to worry even if an intense fight broke out since the group had the most reliable people.

They had the current number one player, the former number assassin, the former commander of the number one adventurer team of ?True Era? Online, the best healer of the game, a player who ranked pretty high in the Strategist Ranking List, together with the crazily strong pair of War God Simba and Dragon God Siegfried.

With such an insane lineup composed of those monsters, Shin was confident that they would be able to hold themselves even if the opposing side had a little advantage in terms of numbers.

If it was an isolated battle, then Shin would definitely worry. But since it was going to be a team battle, then there was nothing to be concerned about, especially when Cloe, the best support that they could ask for and was very strong when it came to such situations, was accompanying them.

For now, Shin had to put his trust in Arthur and hope for this showoff of a guy doing a good job later at the most critical moment.

What was left now was Shin’s job. He needed to head over to the Frozen City and sneak into the Castle alone.

He would be lying if he said that he was not feeling nervous, but he was also feeling thrilled at the same time. And fortunately, he would summon Vladimir at his current buffed state when he encountered the vampires, which was why he was not totally worried.

After discussing what they were going to do, the others immediately nodded their heads and started to get ready for their next move.

“Are you sure that you will be fine?” asked Cloe as she tugged Shin’s arm from the side.

Shin understood her worry but he just smiled at her. “Don’t worry. As I said, I can summon one of my Elemental Spirits later due to the special quest that I received earlier.”

“What’s more, his strength will not be restricted by me due to that quest. He may not be at his full power but it will be enough to handle the situation.”

He then paused for a moment as he remembered something before continuing. “And if I am lucky, I may even able to create another special event scenario, where I can summon one more Elemental Spirit in a buffed state.”

“Maybe even more,” he added trying to reassure Cloe.

Cloe looked at him with squinting eyes, seemingly scrutinizing him, before sighing helplessly and nodding her head.

Seeing that, Shin patted her head gently while saying. “Then I’ll entrust you with taking care of the others. Your role in the upcoming fight is going to be important.”

Cloe glared at Shin’s actions but she still let him pat her head. She then pouted a little. “Why do I feel like a hen taking care of her chicks, after hearing that?”

Shin chuckled at those words. “Well, you can’t do about it. You are a commander of an adventurer team now, after all.”

“Anyways, I need to go now,” flashing one more smile at her, he then turned around and walked over to Arthur.

“Hey! Don’t be too much of a showoff and mess up, alright? You don’t want to be the reason why we are going to fail at clearing your Empire Quest, do you?” said Shin with a smirking smile.

Arthur glared at him gesturing a shooing action with his hands. “Go away already. You should worry about yourself instead. Heh! Trying to be the showoff and try taking care of the final boss alone? Let’s see how are you going to survive this one.”

“Don’t come crying on us later, when you realized that you’ve bitten more than you can chew, later,” he added with a sneering tone.

Shin just shrugged his shoulders before proceeding to look at the others. And when he was sure that everyone was finished with their preparations, clapped his hand to gather their attention. “Alright! Since everyone is ready, let’s move out and finally put an end to this operation.”

“This may be too much to ask, but please make a quick work on your side and save my *ss later,” he added to ease the atmosphere a little.

The others started chuckling at his words, easing up the mood that they currently had.

Shin swept his gaze at them before nodding his head. “Let’s go!”

**********

In the meantime, the opponents that Shin and the others were expecting finally met each other.

Immortal looked at Flouree, who was noticeably in her weakened state, before saying. “Looks like you are not at your best. I guess you really have bitten more than you can chew.”

“Are you sure that you are going to be fine for the upcoming fight?” he then asked with clear doubt in his words.

Flouree glared at Immortal as she could read what he was thinking before saying threateningly. “You don’t have to worry about that. I can still affect the battlefield with my spells even if I am currently in this state.”

“And I must warn you, don’t try something funny later, or else, you will pay dearly for it,” she added as her voice turned colder.

Immortal gave her a mystifying smile before replying. “Don’t worry, I at least know my limit. I will not harm the people on my side in this situation, especially when we are currently against those guys.”

He then took a brief pause to look at the remaining members of Earners Mercenary Group before asking. “Ironically, it looks like your team is still in a good shape.”

“Hmph! Just get into business and stop having funny thoughts about my members,” said Flouree, warning Immortal once again.

Immortal continued to wear his enigmatic smile before shrugging his shoulders. “Let’s go. Justin and the rest of the Silent Night are already waiting.”

As he turned around, he suddenly remembered something before turning back at Flouree. “Oh! Let me warn you too. Those guys’ moods are also on the bad side, so I have to ask you to keep your members leashed. We don’t want a fight to break out and further weaken our forces.”

“Even if we are in a clear advantage in terms of numbers, we still can’t be sure about the outcome if it is going to be a team battle. They have the Gentle Goddess on their side, after all.”

Flouree didn’t immediately reply to Immortal as she continued to give him a sharp glare. No matter what situation they were in and she was supposedly working with Immortal, she still couldn’t get herself to trust him.

With his pretty bad reputation, Immortal resembled a sharp knife pointed at anyone’s neck regardless if they were his teammate or an enemy.

After being silent for a moment, while observing Immortal closely, she nodded her head and finally responded. “You don’t have to worry about my members. I’ve already warned them, so unless Justin and his people don’t pick a fight with us, nothing is going to happen.”

Immortal shrugged his shoulders at her reply before turning around and leading them to where Justin and the rest of Silent Night were waiting.

********

While all of it was happening, Diablo, who was tasked to keep an eye on the members of the Pandemonium Descendants, finally discovered the one who would be leading the operation of his former organization.

He was currently standing in front of a player whose appearance was hidden underneath a black hooded cloak. 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The snow was falling pretty bad from the sky alongside a violent gust of wind but the two were not bothered by the weather and continued to stare at each other.

“This is quite surprising. I am expecting that the organization is going to send either ‘Wrath’ or ‘Pride’, at the very least, but I guess I am wrong,” said Diablo as he stared at the person standing a few meters away from him.

The other person might have hidden their appearance, but Diablo could easily identify them given the aura that they had.

He was pretty familiar with the higher-ups of the Pandemonium Descendants, especially their Troupe members and the ones who could contend against him on an equal footing, so guessing the identity of this person was not a problem for him.

That person refused to respond and just stood on their spot, not willing to talk at all.

They might have respected this person in front of them in the past, but now that he was an enemy of the organization, they had no choice but to take him down regardless of his reason for leaving.

Diablo completely understood it which was why he chose this place to be their battlefield. It was an isolated area within the Frozen Kingdom and far away from the current base of the Pandemonium Descendants within the kingdom.

He didn’t want to be bothered during the battle later.

“I know that I’ve disappointed some of you guys. But you have to understand me as well given that the organization has disappointed me as well.”

“I am not planning to convince you to choose the same choice that I make, but I hope you at least respect my decision.”

He then took a brief pause to take out his weapons and raised his head, wearing a determined look on his face. “And don’t try convincing me to come back. I will not set foot in that place and experience that betrayal once again.”

……