Child of Destiny

*Ding*

While Shin was heading toward the direction where the two powers were clashing against each other, a system notification suddenly rang in his ears.

System: Trail Update!

System: Some of the Kings of the Seas and Tribe Leaders betrayed the Sea Palace and sided with the demons.

They had raised a coup d’état. They had assassinated some of the Kings and Leaders that might threaten them and currently fighting against the remaining ones.

The Lord of the Ocean Depths and the Ruler of the Sea Monsters, Terror and Leviathan, lead their respective factions to launch an ambush at the Sea Palace alongside the Ancient Hydra.

They were currently engaged in an intense battle outside this realm while their descendants were currently killing all the heirs and champion candidates of the opposing factions and stealing their gemstones.

*Ding*

Discover hidden content at empire

System: The second task for the trial has been identified.

Objective No. 1: Save as many candidates as possible.

Objective No. 2 (Optional): Collect all the Sea Gems – gather them and summon the Emerald of the Seven Seas.

Branch Objectives after accomplishing the second objective.

Objective No. 3: Become the Champion of the Seas.

Objective No. 4: Meet the God of the Primordial Waters, Hydros.

…

Shin skimmed through the details of his updated quest and felt that this was not going to be as simple as it looked on the surface.

Moreover, he had read the name Leviathan, who was currently one of the Demon Kings of Hell in the current era of the game.

This could be a crucial clue to what happened during the Ancient Era or even before that.

“It looks like this is going to be much more interesting than I have expected,” he mumbled as thoughts and ideas flashed through his mind.

He then paused as he thought of something before mumbling. “But Demons are supposedly from another realm, so how come they appeared in this place? Don’t tell me they have been invading this world since the Ancient Times.”

He had heard from the mysterious individual hosting the event mentioned something about Destruction Devils, which were Ancient Demons from what Hanzo and Solus had told him before during his battle against Haowin.

“Or is this realm being different from the Atlas World that I am from?” he mumbled as he continued heading toward the direction where powerful individuals were fighting.

As he was advancing, another notification rang in his ears, surprising him.

*Ding*

System: The Wise Sage of the World Serpent Race has received a divination from the First Ouroboros, the Leader of the World Serpents.

He had told the members of their races about the upcoming disaster, asking them to be prepared for the upcoming war.

The descendants of the World Serpent Race participating in the Festival of the Seas started fighting against the traitors of the Sea Palace.

System: As a member of the race, you are to eliminate these traitors!

…

“A secondary quest?” Shin was slightly taken aback before suddenly realizing something. “I see! Now it explains why the other sea creatures are purposely targeting us. It is not only because our race is one of the strongest, but we are the greatest threat that these traitors would face.”

“From what I have heard, the World Serpent Race does not belong to the forces of the Sea Palace and the Oceanic Tribes. We are an independent race that only follows the will of the great leader, the First Ouroboros.”

“I guess we are the variable that these traitors are wary of,” he added before suddenly halting his tracks.

He finally arrived at his destination and could not help but become a little surprised at what he was seeing.

“Damn~! Will you look at this?” he shook his head at what he was witnessing while commenting. “I heard that he is the first seed in this tournament, so he should be very powerful. But I don’t expect that it will be to this degree.”

In front of him, was a chaotic battlefield where a muscular man was slaughtering dozens of sea creatures that were currently on their colossal forms.

All these sea creatures were quite powerful. After all, they all survived the previous rounds, indicating that their abilities were among the top of this tournament.

Moreover, some of these sea creatures possessed strength that could rival some of the top candidates among the participants. However, it was a little lacking when compared to the ones standing at the very peak of the ladder, just like the muscular guy that they were fighting.

“Falan of the Devouring Whale Tribe. He sure is powerful,” mumbled Shin as he watched the whale in humanoid form slaughter all the sea creatures around him.

Based on the state of the battle and the lack of injuries from Falan’s body, Shin could tell that this was not a battle but a one-sided slaughter.

Not long after, Shin suddenly frowned his brows as he found something strange from the sea creatures attacking Falan as he observed longer. He later noticed that these sea creatures were nothing but corpses that were moving on their own.

“Zombie monsters?” he frowned further as he realized this. “No. That is not right either. These moving corpses are too powerful to be zombified monsters. They are using the skills and unique bloodline powers these creatures as if they were alive.”

“Eh!?” Then something suddenly struck his mind as he recalled something. “Puppet-like creatures? Could it be the Ocean Witch Tribe?”

Among the information that he had collected from those he had tortured; he had also learned about the top candidates of the tournament.

Among the participants in the list, there was someone from the Ocean Witch Tribe, the master of sea parasites.

The tribe could control other creatures by infesting their bodies with the parasites they had, and such an ability would be more effective when used on the corpses of dead creatures.

“The Ocean Witch Tribe belongs to the faction led by Leviathan, the Ruler of Sea Monsters,” mumbled Shin, trying to recall the information that he had gotten before turning his gaze toward the individual standing at the back of the sea creatures fighting Falan.

“Given that she can control such a huge number of corpses and give Falan some trouble, she must be Darya, the seventh seed of the tournament,” he commented while observing the other party.

“If she is already on the move, then the others must be attacking the other top candidates to try stealing the Sea Gems,” he mumbled as he continued to observe the battle. “Should I lend him a hand or not? Given the state of the battle, my presence shouldn’t have much effect on the flow.”

He then glanced at the notification window at the corner of his eyes. “Since collecting the gemstones has become a secondary objective, this means I have to do something for the top candidates for them to hand over their Sea Gems to me.”

“I doubt it has something to do with helping them. They will be fine on their own after all. Given their powers and abilities, they shouldn’t need my help at all,” he frowned as he thought about this before shaking his head. “Is it to gain their trust or something? Tsk! This is going to be much tricker than defeating them all.”

Given the setting, it would be more efficient to defeat everyone and steal the gemstones from them. That way, he would be able to collect everything and merge them to become the Emerald of the Seven Seas.

But with the current situation, where the Sea Palace was currently at war against the traitors, avoiding harming these top candidates would be ideal since his actions could affect the relationship between the Sea Palace and the World Serpents.

Gaining their trust was the obvious choice at hand.

“Then should I wait to make my move now?” asked Shin himself while utilizing the techniques of his current race to erase his presence and hide from the two fighting ahead.

“From what I heard, Falan bellowed to the divine warriors of the Devouring Whale Tribe, who followed the will of the God of Primordial Waters and punished evils of the sea.”

“Aside from that, they also have this mindset of ‘Sacred Duel’. They will rather die in a pair battle rather than receive help from someone.”

“It will only affect my relationship with him if I get involved now. I should wait until something unexpected happens before making my move.”

Shin stayed hidden while observing the battle.

Through the help of his True Sight, the Ocean Breathing Technique, and other unique abilities to read the flows of energies within the surroundings of the World Serpent Race, Shin was able to learn how powerful these two top candidates were.

He also felt that their unique abilities and respective bloodlines were much different compared to the other participants that he had fought during the previous rounds.

Comparing them with his current abilities, despite him being confident, he still felt that it would be a great challenge to defeat either of them.

He also felt that he would lose against Falan even if he used everything had. This made him want to fight this guy with his original in-game avatar.

“He is the top candidate for a reason,” he commented before turning to a certain direction after sensing multiple individuals with powerful presences heading in this direction.

“Of course, they will be sending more people to make sure to take him done,” he mumbled before stretching his body and heading in that direction, planning to greet the new guests.

“I just hope that they have a top candidate among their ranks so that I can also grow stronger,” he added with a devious grin.

…