Child of Destiny

The people of the Seven Seas Group tried to surround Shin and the others after re-organizing themselves.

Due to Shin’s earlier action, these players, who were about to get corrupted by the artificial seed of hatred, managed to somewhat hold their sanity for a moment. They were able to think straight and ignore the dark thoughts that were invading their minds, but it was only for a short time as they started going berserk not long after.

However, this data could give the researchers and scientists recording the parameters of these players in their laboratory.

Unfortunately, the one who was assigned at this time was the spy the Springfield Family had planted inside. Even if there were other people with him, he managed to delete the scene and erase his tracks without anyone noticing.

Of course, it was not that easy since he had to do it for all the members currently fighting Shin and the trio. The others were also not assigned to him, which was why he had to be careful of his actions.

Fortunately, the fight broke out all of a sudden and the other researchers were currently reporting what was happening to the higher-ups, giving him the chance to invade their computers and erase the earlier scenes of the fight alongside the parameters recorded at that time.

He then silently turned his attention back to the scene projected in front of him while sighing and mumbling to himself. “Young Master Shin seems to always be busy within the game.”

…

Back in the scene, Shin continued to exchange blows with Han, trying to see if the opposing side had something else in his arsenal.

He also occasionally provoked the latter with words, trying to agitate them and forcing some information out of their mouth. Unfortunately, it was not that successful since Han was quite calm despite his agitated appearance.

But he was not that bothered since that was not his main plan. What he wanted to do was to capture this guy with a prison prism and see what they could do after.

However, catching someone alive was much harder than killing them, so Shin had to put in some effort not to kill the other party by accident.

Han seemed to have noticed something wrong as well after seeing that Shin was not fighting him seriously, unlike what he had seen in the battle videos.

As one of the top talents raised by the Seven Seas Group, he naturally studied the top individuals standing at the peak of the virtual world to prepare himself if ever he encountered them in the field.

Adding the most recent videos circling the gaming community, Han could tell that Shin was holding back most of his strength.

This angered Han even more as he felt that Shin was underestimating him a little too much. He might not have that much of a reputation within the circle, but that did not mean he was any weaker than the top talents of the gaming world.

“Let’s see how long you are going to keep this up!” he shouted as he retreated for a moment to create some distance between him and Shin.

After that, he held his broadsword with both of his hands, channeling his mana into it.

Shin focused his eyes as he activated the True Sight ocular skill to the fullest alongside the Sensing Circle and his Spiritual Sense.

Then he saw that Han seemed to be trying to awaken something from the sword that he was holding.

Shin could sense a dark and intimidating aura coming from that sword. It was as if a slumbering monster was slowly being awakened.

He wanted to stop Han from continuing, but he was immediately swarmed by the crazy players, who had lost their minds from the corruption of the artificial seeds of hatred planted in their hearts.

“Tsk!” he clicked his tongue as he prepared to quickly dispose of them.

But as he was taking his signature sword-drawing stance, his instincts suddenly warned him about the impending doom.

Without any hesitation, he used his ‘Demonic Telekinesis’ to create a psychic barrier around him while also controlling the Powers of Primordial Eclipse to form another layer of barrier over it.

‘Slayer Skill: (Modified) Eclipse Pulse’

As the double layer of barrier was set up, the bodies of the players surrounding him exploded one after another, creating a massive explosion that swiftly swallowed him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The chains of explosions created a massive cloud of blazing smoke that swept through the entire battlefield, destroying everything within its effective radius.

Exheart, Bryan, and HellBan used their respective means to escape the range of explosions.

They appeared in a safe distance while solemnly staring at the massive cloud of blazing smoke. They would most likely have been killed in an instant if they were not fast enough to use their lifesaving skills to escape it.

“Is that guy still alive? With such a massive explosion, it is hard to escape unscratched, especially when he is right at its center,” said Bryan while watching the blazing cloud of smoke grow larger and head to the sky.

“You are talking as if you don’t know how scary that guy is. Something like this shouldn’t be able to kill him,” said Exheart as he turned his attention toward another direction.

There, he saw the three Maverick Rankers, who were fighting them earlier.

“Those three seemed to be losing their minds as well. Just what is the thing that they consumed to have such an effect,” he mumbled solemnly.

At the start of the battle, the opposing side was able to fight them rationally and kept their style. But as time went by, those mavericks seemed to be slowly becoming crazy and started attacking without any regard for their lives.

They seemed to have become mindless monsters, who knew nothing but destruction.

“Didn’t Sickarius say that we must take them down as soon as possible after they consumed those pills? I don’t know what they are, but I can tell that it is not something beneficial to any of them based on their current appearance,” commented HellBan as he was getting a bad feeling as he watched the three Maverick Rankers run at them like mindless beasts.

“It was as if their performance here in the game can influence their bodies in the real world. The more they stayed in this state, the more damage they suffered,” he added as he prepared for another round.

“Killing them has always been our objective. It is no different from any other fights we have,” said Bryan as he was first to charge forward once again.

Exheart, on the other hand, squinted his eyes as he felt something more into it than what they could see from the surface. He was not sure what it was, but he could think that this was something that could affect the real world.

“I guess I need to report to Big Brother after I get offline later,” he mumbled as he followed the two once again.

…

In the meantime, Shin, who was at the center of the explosion, stood solemnly after thinking about what happened.

Even if it was good that those guys died as soon as possible and forcefully logged out of the game, he felt that such an insane way of dying could still impact their minds in the real world.

Suicide was not something new in the game as it was a common method used by many on certain occasions. But what he had seen from the eyes of these experts when they initiated the self-explosion, they seemed to be in pain, agony, and unwilling to die.

It was as if something triggered them to die in the real world rather than inside the game.

“What are those bastards thinking?” he mumbled with a frown. He could feel that these guys had done something in the real world to forcefully log out every player in this battle.

Aside from the three peak mavericks who were fighting Exheart, Bryan, and HellBan, he could feel that everyone else who had consumed the evil pill had committed suicide.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard Hanzo’s voice inside his head, warning him.

[Brat, before careful! I can sense the immense power of an ancient being upfront!]

Shin quickly raised his head and focused his senses on the surroundings, marking Han’s positions from what he could remember.

He then detonated the barrier protecting him by unsheathing his sword and swinging it horizontally, drawing a ring of energy that extended outwards.

‘Slayer Skill: (Modified) Eclipse Counter’

As the sharp energy extended, it cut through the blazing cloud surrounding it and cleared everything on its path.

Boom!

But it did not take that long before it collided with something, creating another explosion.

Swoosh!

A violent ripple spread and pushed the blazing smoke, clearing the surroundings.

Shin frowned as he stared at the person standing a dozen meters away from his current position. “What’s that?”

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