Child of Destiny

...…

"I have cleared all the distractions. I guess there is no need to hide anymore, right?" said Shin as he did not immediately attack Lambert. He just sheathed his sword as he looked at the latter, who was currently suppressing his anger with all his might.

Lambert was fiercely glaring at Shin like a hungry beast while tightly gripping his war axes. "Toying with my team is not enough for you-… you are even trying to humiliate me, huh?"

Shin clicked his tongue as he could hear the anger from Lambert's tone. He knew that his strategy of provoking Lambert was successful, but it seemed like he had gone overboard.

But he did not care too much about it as he said nonchalantly. "You are talking as if you are a clean person. Your conscience is not clear either, especially when you are a part of Death Kneel. Don't talk as if you have not done anything wrong in your life as a professional gamer."

"All I care is whether you are willing to fight me while giving your all or not. If it is the latter, then I don't have any time to waste here anymore. I think it is better to join the fun happening at the center of the Plagued Lands," he added.

Lambert gripped the handle of his war axes even tighter as he could tell that something must have happened at the center of their formation, given that no one had noticed their absence yet. Or more specifically, the others had no time to worry about them since an emergency had occurred where their main forces were gathered.

He was caught in a dilemma because of this. He had to decide to stay here and entertain Shin, hoping to avenge his comrades. After all, dying here in the Awakened Continent had quite a lot of harsh penalties.

But, at the same time, he also felt that his presence was needed when Liya and the others were told that no one had contacted them yet. He was sure that something had happened in there, especially when there was a chieftain-rank Plagued Monster discovered by their guild.

The allure of such a monster, particularly with the amount of event points they could get from killing it, was something that not many could endure.

The news must have leaked somehow or one of the spies within their guild most likely informed their superiors.

Taking the bigger picture, he had to choose the latter. But he also could not let his honor as the captain of his team be trampled just like this. It was not his style at all!

Regardless of his thoughts, Lambert wanted to fight Shin given the latter's identity. He did not need to guess who this person was given that the style that Shin was using was so unique that everyone could recognize it.

But as he was about to make his move, something seemed to have shattered in the dimension. It was a sign that the spatial lock that the Death Knell had been destroyed.

It could also mean that the higher-ups had taken the initiative to disable it so that they could contact those they had lost contact with.

Right after it happened, a series of SOS sounds rang in Lambert's ears, signifying that an invention indeed occurred.

Gritting his teeth, Lambert gave everything to suppress his emotion. His eyes became fiercer as he continued to glare at Shin.

"We will meet again," he said as he turned around and sprinted toward the coordinates sent to him.

Shin wanted to force Lambert to fight, but he also had received a series of messages coming from Exheart, Bryan, and HellBan. They were inviting him to join the fun where a lot of superpowers were gathered in the Plagued Lands.

The very first chieftain-rank Plagued Monster was discovered. The competition for it would be very intense.

"Tsk! Boring," he mumbled as he watched Lambert's back disappear in the distance.

Shin thought for a moment before deciding to join the fun. He did not accept the invitation of the trio as he was planning to create trouble on his own.

But he also wanted to 'thank' them as they indeed had given quite a lot of 'help' on stabilizing his gains in the real world and further polishing his style.

"Maybe I should 'repay' them more later when we meet again," he mumbled as he scratched his chin.

A moment later, he turned toward the direction where Lambert was heading before entering stealth and heading there as well.

…

In the central region of the Plagued Lands, more and more superpowers started together due to the discovery of the first chieftain-rank monster.

It might not be that much of a big deal if it was any wild chieftain-rank monster in the wilderness. Even if such a monster was very powerful and hard to deal with, it was still something that a group of top rankers could handle, especially when they were accompanied by Godlike Players or Maverick Gods.

Given that all the players who reached the Awakened Continent were all top experts of the game, challenging such a monster with a group shouldn't be that hard despite how powerful it was.

Of course, the battle shouldn't be that easy since monsters of rank and level far surpassed those Emperor Rank Monsters of the same level from the Aurora Continent.

This was why most of the players were very cautious when encountering a chieftain-rank monster in the wild.

Some had discovered quite a couple of Lord and Overlord Rank Monsters in the vicinity of the Divinity City, but no one dared to provoke those monsters yet since their deterrence level alone was so suffocating that they could kill those foolish enough to get near them.

With the current strength of the players, the strongest monsters that they could take on in a raid were chieftain-rank monsters.

Monsters of such rank and level were also divided into whether they had bloodline lineage or not, which was further divided based on which species they belonged.

These life ratings were one of the main factors that the players needed to consider when facing a chieftain-rank monster in the Awakened Continent.

Right now, the monster that had transformed into a Plagued Monster that the Death Knell had first discovered was something that had a very potent bloodline lineage, which made its life rating very high.

Right now, this Plagued Monster was currently resting inside a cave after its hunt earlier. Unlike the other monsters infected by the plague in the region, which continued to look for any prey without rest, this monster seemed to follow its usual routine before it was infected.

It was acting as if it was not infected with the plague at all, continuing its usual routine. It seemed to be unbothered by the changes in the environment and its transformation.

At this moment, a huge number of experts were currently gathered outside the cave where this chieftain-rank Plagued Monster was nesting.

This place was supposed to be monopolized by the Death Knell, but they were somehow discovered by the other powerhouse guilds and huge organizations operating nearby.

These superpowers had tacitly agreed not to invade the territory that each other controlled after the most recent battle that took place in the Plagued Lands, which involved quite a lot of forces.

The competition between the top forces had always been intense, which was why such incidents were unavoidable.

But someone had orchestrated a conflict between the top forces that led to chaos, making them suffer quite a serious loss in the process.

Fortunately, the higher-ups of each guild were able to realize it before it was already too late, preventing themselves from falling into the plot.

They already had an idea who was the person behind it, but they could not put the blame on that person as they did not have any evidence to back up their claims.

All they could do was intensely grit their teeth and silently endure everything.

The Death Knell knew that no one could endure the allure of a chieftain-rank monster, which was they had purposely sent up a net formation in the region and even locked down the entire place with a special magic formation that blocked all kinds of communication even if everyone had silently agreed to control their regions.

"What is the meaning of this? Don't we have already agreed to stay in our controlled regions?" asked Liya, one of the commanding officers of the Death Knell operating at the Divinity City.

"Don't be like that, Liya. It is only right to share your blessings," said Minerva, one of the main liaisons that the Blood Carnival had tasked to stay in the Divinity City as a 'spy'.

Unlike the main branch, which had already sided with the Evil Faction, these 'spies' were tasked to leave the guild and 'scattered' themselves in the city to monitor everything.

After all, those members who had already pledged their allegiance to the Evil Factions were unable to enter any cities under the Righteous Churches. It would be a waste if the Blood Carnival had missed such a big event due to that reason, which was why they left some of their people to participate in the event for the rewards.

"We have never agreed to anything," said Thor, one of the top Godlike Players of the Titan Guild, in a domineering fashion. They did not respect this so-called tacit agreement between the top forces so long as they were their enemies.

Their guild was said to be a righteous guild, so dark and notorious guilds were their enemies. They did not care whether to offend or find guilds like the Blood Carnival or Death Knell.

There were also the Hydra Guild and Dragon Pavilion, who seemed to be unbothered by the situation and continued to glare at each other. They were more interested in fighting the opposing side rather than joining the competition for the chieftain-rank Plagued Monster.

The top adventurer teams and mercenary groups, on the other hand, remained in the distance as they wanted to wait until the real competition started.

Even though they were not afraid of these forces, they did not want to get too close to the others, as they were more concerned with watching their archrivals hiding in the distance.

The atmosphere was getting hotter with every passing second, but little did these forces know that a certain group was watching their actions and quite pleased with the current situation.
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"It seems like they had taken the bait. Are we moving now?"

"Don't be impatient. Let them fight each other for now before we make our move."

"Sit back and enjoy. Our time to shine will naturally arrive."

...