Child of Destiny

Shin stared intently at the group in the distance, particularly the guild emblems that they were wearing on their chests. They were not from the same guild, which was signified by the different emblems that they were wearing. But Shin knew that they were all from the same force as these guilds were now under the Seven Seas Group.

“Are they one of your targets?” asked Exheart after sensing the hint of killing intent that leaked out from Shin’s body.

Shin briefly nodded. “Yeah. They are all from the guilds that have been absorbed by the Seven Seas Group after they start investing in the game.”

“They have formed an Ultra Guild now, rivaling the forces of the Powerhouse Guild. They may not have announced it in the public yet, but they have finished all the preparations,” he added as he started walking. “They have tried to use me for some of their tests, so I have still an unfinished business with them.”

“Want us to help?” offered Bryan. He was a battle-hungry person, so he always welcomed any kind of trouble, especially when it came to fighting.

Shin paused for a moment before saying. “If you want to join the fun, then you are more than welcome.”

He then thought for a moment as he was reminded of his last encounter with that certain group. He then added with a bit of seriousness. “But if you see them use some weird pill, do your best to eliminate them as soon as possible.”

After that, he suddenly disappeared, leaving only a little cloud of dust.

The three exchanged glances with one another. They could sense that Shin was not afraid of facing the opposing group by himself, but it seemed like he was wary of something given the tone that he gave them.

“Let’s check it out,” said Exheart before walking toward the incoming group.

The two nodded as they followed closely behind.

…

On the other hand, the group that they had seen from a distance was unaware of the danger that they would be facing.

They just finished training in the depths of the Plagued Lands and planned to head back to Divinity City to recuperate. They had been exposed to the plague a little too long, which made the protective talismans that they were wearing slightly lose their effects.

They had been sent here by their superiors to scout the situation within the Plagued Lands. It was also for them to draw the most accurate map, which could help them later once the event kicked off.

They had gotten quite a lot from this trip. Aside from adjusting and familiarizing themselves with the environment of the Plagued Lands, they had also grinded quite a lot of experience points along the way. Some of them even leveled up quite a few times after they had taken down some Elites and Special Elites in the process.

They also encountered some Chieftain-Rank Plagued Monsters, but they did not dare to challenge those as they were aware that they were not strong enough.

Only when they were under the leadership of top-notch Godlike Players or peak Maverick God would they have the courage to hunt such monsters.

The problem was there were no available experts at such a level to make a trip with them due to the big event that took place in Divinity City recently.

Even if the Seven Seas Group were not involved in the incident, they were still not in a good spot since it was said that one of the top combatants of the Empyrean Talons was targeting them.

Even if they were at the same level as Shin and were not that afraid of him, it was still better to be careful, especially when it was said that he was working with a top-notch sniper and a deadly assassin who were not that weaker than him.

But the Seven Seas Group had also somewhat benefited from what happened between the alliance and the Empyrean Talons as they were able to explore the Plagued Lands with little competition.

Aside from those Powerhouse Guilds with solid foundations and hidden organizations comparable to them, the Seven Seas Group did not fear anyone, making them fearlessly advance into the depths of the region.

Just with this trip, the group was able to scout quite a large area, giving them a rough idea of the terrains within the Plagued Lands.

“Captain Han, I heard that some of the top guys from the Lighthouse Guild have been wiped out when they encountered the Battle God, including Jorn,” said a Speter Archer in one of the little groups within the game.

He was wearing an emblem that had a pair of bloody daggers forming an ‘X’ shape on his chest. It was an indication that he was from the House of Bloody Daggers, one of the highly-ranked assassination groups within the game.

They might not be as strong as the top-notch assassination organization like the ‘Assassin Union’ or ‘Soul Killers’, but they still had a decent reputation within the circle.

After the Seven Seas Group had approached their leader in the real world, they became a subsidiary guild of the hegemonic financial group and started progressing quite quickly.

After receiving massive funds from this powerful group, the organization started getting bolder and expanded. Just recently, they had conquered a small kingdom in the Aurora Continent, which became their main base of operation.

This gave them a lot of confidence, making them look down on any other guilds.

At this moment, all the top experts of their organization were sent to the Awakened Continent to train after receiving a special invitation from their backer.

They did not know where the Seven Seas Group had gotten those special invitations, but it helped them pass trails of the Mysterious Instructors stationed in the Aurora Continent and become qualified to enter the Awakened Continent.

After arriving, they were immediately grouped with the other subsidiary guilds and organizations under the Seven Seas Group.

But even then, they still had a much better standing compared to the rest due to the uniqueness of their organization.

This was one of the reasons why their group was tasked with leading the team that would be scouting the Plagued Lands.

With this, this Spectral Archer looked down on the other members of this team. Find your next read at empire

The others were aware of this, but they could not do anything about it since the other party had brought a very strong combatant of their organization – Han, the Demolisher.

He was one of the players, who was gaining fame recently due to his rapid group. He was a genius nurtured by Seven Seas Group after seeing his talent for assassination despite having a berserker class.

The House of Bloody Daggers was also put under him as a form of test. The higher-ups of the organization wanted to see if he was good enough to be the leader of the assassination group that they were planning to build.

Han, due to his talent and support from a great organization, looked down on everyone. He even had gotten some wins against the Maverick Gods of the subsidiary guilds that the Seven Seas Group and taken under their wing, further making him proud.

He glanced at the Spectral Archer beside him before replying nonchalantly. “What’s there to be surprised about? That guy is always been an eyesore. It is a good thing that he has learned his lessons now.”

In his eyes, only those gods at the top rankings were worthy enough of his attention, so he ignored everyone else.

“That’s right! That’s right!” said the Spectral Archer while nodding his head repeatedly. It was clear that he was bootlicking, which made the others look down on him.

There were also top experts in their group, including the three peak Maverick Rankers, who shouldn’t be that weaker than this ‘Han’.

They did not voice out their displeasure as they were afraid that their leaders would kick them out for provoking the genius of the Seven Seas Group. They would not be able to handle the consequences when it happened.

As they were talking, the group finally saw the trio walking toward them from the distance.

Han was the first to notice as he was walking at the forefront of the group, especially when he could sense a decent threat coming from them.

“These three are not simple,” he commented with interest as he looked at the three players up ahead.

The second to react was the peak Maverick Rankers behind him.

“That’s-… Saber Demon Bryan!”

“The other is the Wandering Nomad Exheart!”

“If that is the case, then the hooded guy behind him is HellBan, the Hand of the Dead!”

Slightly raising his brows, Han asked. “Who are they? Are they famous?”

Even if the Seven Seas Group nurtured him, he was not that familiar with the ‘regular’ experts within the gaming community. Aside from the famous Godlike Players and Maverick Gods comparable to them, he did not care about anyone else.

“Captain Han, you better be careful of them. Those three are not ordinary Rankers. Even some of the Godlike Players and Maverick Gods will be aware of them,” said one of the Maverick Rankers, who was a Holy Mage.

Han remained unconvinced. He did not even include himself when he asked. “Even with your numbers?”

They were about to reply when they sensed that something was wrong.

They realized that an additional person was standing in their ranks. They silently stood beside the Spectral Archer, slightly behind their captain.

Han had also gotten a sense of dread at that point, giving him serious goosebumps.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The three Maverick Rankers quickly went into action, attacking that hooded figure while Han activated his defensive skill as he retreated in a hurry.

Boom!

The spells and skills landed at the hooded figure, creating a cloud of smoke that blocked their vision.

But despite seeing that their attacks successfully landed on their target, the three Maverick Rankers maintained their formation while staring warily at the receding cloud of smoke.

When the smoke finally settled and disappeared, they saw the confident figure standing in the same spot, protected by a transparent barrier.

“Tsk! I thought I would be able to fish out some information by silently listening. I should have kept a low profile and mixed in the ranks of regular members,” commented the hooded figure, seemingly ignoring everyone.

He fearlessly stood in the middle of his enemies, who now surrounded him.

He then turned to Han, who was looking at him with a grim expression from a safe distance. “Anyway, let’s have a chat. I have some questions for you.”

……