Child of Destiny

Chapter 868: A Shadow Dancer, Diablo (Part 1)

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Diablo was one of the founding members of the Pandemonium Troupe. He was a powerful Maverick Player of the assassin class. His speed alone could make him climb all the way to the top of the leaderboards. And adding his first-class assassination skills, he was confident that he could match even the top-ranking players of the game.

Even within the mysterious organization of Pandemonium Descendants, he could be ranked as one of their strongest members.

He was a young player who was confident that he could take on a top Godlike Player on his own. This made the elders of the Pandemonium Descendants hold him in high regard.

He joined that organization because he found out that they had some connections with the legendary adventurer team of the Virtual World, the Irregulars.

The Irregulars created a lot of impossible feats during their time. They didnʼt not only do it on a game or two, but they repeatedly dominated all of the virtual games that they had joined. This made them the absolute idol and role model of every player.

But the group suddenly disappeared after a brief message in the online forums that they were going to retire from playing games. Then their legendary battle clips and the other amazing videos related to them started to disappear one after another.

This made the other players forget about them. They became nothing but a myth in the eyes of the next generation of players. Aside from the players who were regarded as the gods of the game, the name ʼIrregularsʼ was treated as exaggerated rumors.

But it was different for Diablo because his father lived in the same generation as those Irregulars. He grew up watching the recorded videos of the Irregulars that his father had saved.

This made him hate the current system of virtual games. The so-called rankings were nothing but based on the popularity of the players. The same for the Titles that the players gained. In his eyes, those titles were nothing but an overestimation of those playersʼ strengths.

Compared to the ʼrealʼ rankers of the previous generation, these so-called Godlike Players and Titled Rankers were just big fish on a small pond.

Well, Diablo had to admit that some of those players really deserved their titles, especially the ones who used to be called Monster Class Players during the launch of «True Era» online. This was the reason why he was too cautious when facing Faker.

During the early stages of «Destinyʼs Fate», Diablo was very ahead of the majority of players which made him too confident of his skills.

It was until he met a certain player that beat him one-sidedly. He was overpowered in every area which made him feel defeated and powerless.

But that person also recognized his talent and invited him to join the group that the guy was trying to create.

Diablo didnʼt want to join them but he immediately changed his mind after he witnessed their strength. They had an overwhelming power that could make them stand on an equal footing with the famous Godlike Players of the game.

They the strength and power but they remained hidden in the eyes of the public. Diablo even saw their achievements as the same as his role models.

He also learned that the leader of the group had some connection with the Irregulars of the previous generation. That personʼs class and fighting style were the same as one of the members of Irregulars. Even the set of skills and combat techniques that that guy had was very similar to that particular member.

Diablo even became more certain that the leader of the group had some connections with the Irregulars because that person was very familiar with each member of that legendary adventurer team.

He didnʼt know how skilled his father was when playing virtual games, but he was sure that his old man was an expert when it came to gathering information. He even saw a lot of profiles of different top-rank players in his fatherʼs office.

Diablo had an access to information about the Irregulars that was not known to the public and since the leader of the Pandemonium Descendants had that kind of information could only mean two things.

First, the leader might also know a person like his father, an expert informant. And the other reason was that he knew a member of Irregulars personally.

Diablo was leaning more toward the latter since the leader knew more detailed information than his father had.

This was the reason why he joined the organization and even became a founding member of the Pandemonium Troupe. He believed that the leader was going to rebuild the legacy that the Irregulars had left.

But it didnʼt take long for him to have fallout on the group. It was because their ideals were completely different from what the Irregulars wanted.

Their group was formed only because they want to explore the virtual world together. They wanted to enjoy their journey and the excitement of their adventures.

On the other hand, the Pandemonium Descendants wanted something different. Even though they inherited the ideal of having ʼstrength and powerʼ to become free and control their fate, their ultimate goal was to dominate everyone.

The organization wanted to conquer the entire world within the game, especially when it started to have a huge impact on the younger generation. He was even being used to achieve that goal. He just chose to ignore it at first since he became close with the Leader

Unfortunately, he couldnʼt take it anymore when the organization started to take advantage of the weak and ruin the game experience of innocent people to achieve their goal.

It was still fine to hinder the progress of the top players, but robbing the good experience that the ordinary players had was already beyond his belief.

He started playing this game with the goal of enjoying it and experiencing the thrill of adventure just like what he had seen in the recorded videos when he was younger. But it looked like he would not be able to achieve it if he continued to stay in this organization.

Diablo left the organization with a heavy heart since he had mistaken them to have the same goal as him.

But since he knew too much information about the Pandemonium Troupe, he became one of their targets. They started to hunt him down with an intention of making him quit the game.

This issue could easily be resolved if he restarted from the very beginning. But he was not willing to throw away his progress and reset the game. He already gained a lot since he first started the game. He even had a special race and a hidden class, so starting again was not worth it.

He also didnʼt join any kind of organization since he didnʼt want to be tied down in a single place nor wanted to be ordered around by some higher-ups. He would rather be alone and act as a lone wolf than become a lackey once again.

Diablo couldnʼt help but reminisce about the past experiences he had. Those times when he could explore the game freely and without being hunted.

All of it was ruined when he met the Leader of the Pandemonium Troupe, and he couldnʼt help but wear a lonely expression when he thought about that.

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”I heard that the Pandemonium Descendants will launch a large-scale operation once the Frozen Wall of Divinity falls.”

”From what that money-grabbing merchant has said, one of the Empire Quests that the Troupe has is going to be triggered if the wall falls. I need to do everything I can to stop that from happening.”

”If my suspicion is right, then it is most likely related to the ʼgateʼ quest that I previously have,” muttered Diablo as he continued to trail Shin and the others from the shadows.

During their exploration, Diablo couldnʼt hide his amazement at the group. But at the same time, he also kind of expected it to happen since their team composition was really strong.

Among them were the Monster Class Players «True Era» Online, Dragon God Siegfried, Sword God Zero, War God Simba, God Slayer Lawless, and Death God Faker. These players stood at the very top of the ladder which made him acknowledge them despite his standards being as high as the Irregulars.

Then there was the Elemental Goddess Charlotte, who was still trying to recover her previous form during the time of «True Era» Online, and the Gentle Goddess Arielle, who he suspected to be the rumored ʼWitch of the Eternal Lightʼ of that game.

”The Empyrean Talons Adventurer and the former members of the now disbanded Dark Hero Adventurer Team, the strength that they are going to achieve when working together can already rival the top organizations of this game, no wonder the Pandemonium Descendants are keeping an eye on them.”

Diablo was reviewing the profile of each member of the group when the watch that he was wearing started to flicker with dim light.

He frowned his brow and turned in a certain direction. ”Looks like that annoying group catch up on me once again. Tsk! This is going to be a little troublesome.”

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