Child of Destiny

As Shin was currently discussing with Cloe the possible events that were going to happen on the next part of their quest, he suddenly felt that they had missed something.

“Hmmm, now that I think about it, I think we are also overlooking the fact that the Corrupted Cult is deeply involved in this matter,” muttered Shin in deep thought.

‘The Corrupted Cult and the Demonic Churches must be on the same side on the surface, but they definitely have different goals in mind, especially with this quest. The current position of Immortal and the Pandemonium Descendants in our current situation is proof of that.’

‘The Corrupted Cult may have hidden their real purpose by using the sudden invasion in the Saint Heaven Kingdom, but their original goal is definitely hidden in this region. After all, they are already preparing to open the portal right before we arrive.’

‘Yeah, their main purpose is within this region. And it is more than the destruction of the Saint Heaven Kingdom or crippling their economy, there must be something into it that we are forgetting.’

Shin paused his thoughts and recalled the possible purpose of the Pandemonium Descendants. ‘Given the current information that we already have, I am now sure that the purpose of the Demonic Churches is related to the First Vampire and his contract with the Great Demon King.’

‘And we suspect it to be the portal that will connect the Atlas World with the Devildom once again.’

‘And it is going to be much more chaotic compared to the previous Era given that Caelum and Nel emphasized the ‘future’ of this world. It is definitely a major event – a World Event on top of that.’

‘…’

‘Then what about the Corrupted Cult? What do they want?’

‘If they also happen to have a particular quest that somehow coincides with the Empire Quest that we currently have, then it can only be related to two things since we only have those two matters left to deal with-… The Vampires and the sealed Guardian Dragon-…’

Reaching that point, Shin suddenly paused and added. ‘Well, if we add Grand Marshal Draco, who is a Cursed Being and possessed a type of power of corruption, then we can say that he is the third option-…’

Shin treated it as a passing thought but a sudden realization flashed through his mind when it happened. “Wait! Cursed Being? Corruption? And the sealed Dragon! That must be it! That must be their goal!”

“Jeez! That really freaks me out!” said Cloe as she almost jumped from fright due to Shin’s sudden outburst.

Unfortunately, Shin didn’t pay attention to her reaction and snapped his fingers while saying. “I think I finally figure out the real goal of the Corrupted Cult!”

“They must be targeting Grand Marshal Draco who is currently cursed by the Goddess of Winter! He may be a Cursed Being, but if he is in the same state as Caelum and Nel, then he is most likely controlling the power of that curse which is practically another form of Corrupted Powers!”

“If my guess is right, then they are planning to capture or somehow control the grand marshal. I am not sure what method they are going to use, but they may have some sort of a plan to make it happen!”

“Then they are going to use him to corrupt the sealed dragon within this place, turning it into a Corrupted Dragon!”

“They must be planning to turn those two powerful beings into weapons that they could use against the righteous faction!” the more Shin talked about it, the more confident he became about his conclusion.

The others also overheard his words and couldn’t help but nod their heads, they found it to most likely be the case.

It also now made sense why the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches were not on the same page in this position. Or more likely, they were competitors regarding this matter. And since they couldn’t openly harm each other, they decided to take different approaches.

The Corrupted Cult decided to take the matter into their own hands since their sole goal was to take the ‘weapons’ for themselves. Aside from that, they didn’t care what was going to happen to the Frozen Kingdom or the Saint Heaven Kingdom. ．

As long as they get their hands on Grand Marshal Draco and the Guardian Dragon, everything else was irrelevant.

On the other hand, the Demonic Churches were a little different. They didn’t care about those two, instead, they were more concerned about the First Vampire and the contract that he had with the Great Demon King.

But if they put it like that, then it would indirectly affect the Frozen Kingdom. After all, he was still the ruler of this land regardless of the reason. And he only agreed with the contract with that Demon King because of the ‘injustice’ that his people had suffered in the past as well as the ‘revenge’ that he wanted for his father and ancestors.

If this land, which was their home, was completely destroyed and his people, who now became the vampires, were wiped out of existence because of forcefully undoing the seal of the Guardian Dragon, then all of his sacrifices in the past were going to be meaningless.

This must be the real reason why the Pandemonium Descendants needed them to properly undo the seal of the Guardian Dragon and clear their Empire Quest.

If everything went smoothly for their group, then the Pandemonium Descendants would avoid the rampage of a berserk dragon and the wrath of the First Vampire altogether.

Then the linked quest would be trigged. And it was where Shin and the others, together with Lycan and the Guardian Dragon, fought against the First Vampire and his retainers, doing all of the hard work for the Pandemonium Descendants.

And regardless of the outcome of the battle, it was going to work for those people since both sides were going to be at their most exhausted state at that time.

It was most likely the cue for those guys to make their move.

“Tsk! Such clever bastards,” sneered Shin as he could already imagine the outcome of the battle inside his head.

“They almost got us good,” he now understood why Diablo was confident that the Pandemonium Descendants were going to offer them this cooperation that they currently had.

It was to avoid all of the unnecessary troubles and let Shin and the others do all the physical labor for free.

He then fell silent once again and started formulating a series of plans inside his head. Now that they were already of the objective of their opponents, then he would have an easier time making countermeasures against them.

They were no longer blindly guessing the intention of the Corrupted Cult and Pandemonium Descendants since everything was now basically laid right in front of them. And if they played their cards right, then they might even create a situation where those two would fight against each other.

The only problem was finding the right solution where they could gain the most benefit.

Thinking more deeply into it, Shin could only think of a single solution. And that was dividing their forces once again and doing the two quest scenarios at once.

But the problem was how he was going to do it.

They couldn’t afford to weaken their forces right now, especially when they were aware that the Corrupted Cult was currently targeting Grand Marshal Draco.

If they somehow left an opening at an important moment and Immortal and the others took advantage of that, then they would, without a doubt, lose everything.

Their biggest reason right now was the group that Immortal was leading. And if they were going to work with the remaining members of the Earners Mercenary Group, then it was going to be more problematic.

At most, he could only think of a few members who would not weaken the overall strength of the group without their presence. But the question was if they could fight the First Vampire on themselves.

Thinking about it, there were only five people at most who could somehow achieve it. But if he further narrowed the criteria to the ones who could sneak inside the castle and get away by themselves if something went wrong, then there were only three people who could fit for the job. It was Zero, Faker, and himself.

But the three of them couldn’t disappear all at once when they were thinking about the lineup of their opponents. At most, they could only send a single person toward the castle and observe the final boss.

It might be risky but they didn’t have much choice.

With their skillset, any one of them should be fine if it was just observing or buying enough time for the others. That was the most positive thought that Shin could make, albeit dangerous.

Thinking about that, Shin couldn’t help but also look at the unexpected and conceited quest that he received from Vladimir, way before they entered this region.

It might even involve Grimrace if he was lucky and made things escalate even further.

(For those who forgot, you can look back at chapter 745 to refresh your memory)

“I can at least summon those two with their buffed powers when I am in the most dangerous situation,” he muttered before adding to his thoughts. “In the end, I am still the most ideal person to take on this task.”

He then turned to the others and thought. “Now, all I have to think about is to find a way how to ensure the success of these guys at rescuing the Guardian Dragon. And in the quickest way possible at that.”

While Shin was contemplating the choices that they had, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Arthur from the corner of his eye.

Turning his head over, he squinted his eyes and paid close attention to the speck of lights circling around the latter.

He then glanced briefly at S.Tigris and Black Hand before deciding to send a private message to Arthur.

Sickarius: Hey! You said that the last Dragon that you’ve gotten from Sky Island is pretty powerful, right?

Arthur slightly creased his brow before giving a reply.

Siegfried: Yeah, it may be as strong as your Ancient Void Spirit at its prime at the very least.

Siegfried: Or it may also be as powerful as that Fire Goddess or something that you get from the incident in Blind Abyss Empire.

Siegfried: What about it?

Shin then sent another question.

Sickarius: How did you capture it?

Arthur was confused why Shin was asking such questions but still replied regardless. He was sure that this guy was trying to cook a very spicy plan for their opponents to take.

Siegfried: I summoned a powerful dragon to beat it up into submission. Then I proposed a condition with it to form a contract and turn it into one of my Elemental Dragons.

Siegfried: If you are planning to ask me to use that skill and do the same method to seize the Guardian Dragon, then I am going to tell you that I can use it right now.

Siegfried: It has a frustratingly long cooldown and I also need to meet certain conditions before I can use it.

Arthur knew Shin very well, so he could somehow understand what the guy was trying to do. Unfortunately, the plan was not going to work since he couldn’t use that special skill.

Shin fell into deep thought as he replied.

Sickarius: I am actually planning to give up on Grand Marshal Draco and let Immortal control him if that is really their plan.

Sickarius: Then let them forcefully break the seal and let you deal with the dragon while leaving the rest to us.

Frowning deeply, Arthur couldn’t help but ask confusedly.

Siegfried: Then why not let the others know about the plan?

Sickarius: Well, that is only Plan B. I still want the others to give their all at defeating the grand marshal, which is for the best.

Sickarius: To completely fool your enemies, you must fool your allies first. Something like that.

The reply came too quickly as if Shin was already expecting his reaction.

Arthur further creased his brow and even started stroking his chin. He then replied after a brief thinking.

Siegfried: Actually-… I think we can do it somehow. That Plan B, I mean-… Probably.

…