Child of Destiny

Cielo failed to find any sign of Shin as the latter moved discreetly through the forest, taking advantage of the vegetation to heighten his stealth abilities and further hide his tracks from the Spirit Hawk that was surveying the sky.

Shin, on the other hand, was able to instantly spot the Spirit Hawk in the sky from his hiding spot. He slightly frowned his brows when eh saw the spiritual creature as he could tell that it was using some sort of ocular ability to survey the surroundings.

Through his True Sight, he was able to see that the creature was using the changes in the flow of mana within the air to see through anything. Its special ability seemed to be a direct counter to any hiding or stealth skills.

Recalling the data that they had about Cielo, Shin knew that there was another spiritual creature working together with this Spirit Hawk – the Spirit Wolf, which was scouting the land while the hawk was overseeing everything from above.

Shin quickly heightened his senses as he knew that there was a higher chance for that wolf to find him due to its powerful sense of scent.

He was just thinking about this when his scent was indeed picked up by the Spirit Wolf that was surveying the area near him.

Awoo~!

With a howl, the Spirit Wolf sprinted toward his direction, locking on his scent.

“Tsk!” Shin frowned as he did not expect that the Spirit Wolf would be able to spot him in an instant. He had also underestimated the sense of smell of this spiritual creature a little.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

He immediately made his move as he knew that even the Spirit Hawk had already locked on his mana signature and locked on presence from the air.

It would be a little troublesome once he got entangled with them as well as their master.

But he had just taken a couple of hops backward when a series of swooshing sounds came from a distance, attracting his attention.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Turning his head toward the source of the sounds, he saw a volley of arrows raining down from the sky and heading straight in his direction.

‘Class Fighting Style: Arrow Rain’

Cielo did not shy away from taking the initiative as he quickly fired a series of shots, which was performed with his unique style of archery.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each arrow was packed with a lot of force and enchanted with dense mana, making them explode right after coming in contact with something.

They continued to descend from the sky, leaving a series of holes in the ground as Shin tried his best to dodge them.

From what he could see, these mana-enchanted arrows seemed to have their own ‘lives’ as they tried to chase after him with extreme precision.

They were either being controlled remotely by his opponent or they had such a special feature that could be locked on his presence.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He continued to dodge while observing the Spirit Hawk in the air and the Spirit Wolf that was maintaining a decent distance away from him. He knew that these two spiritual creatures were helping Cielo accurately fire his shots at him.

They were constantly guiding their master where to fire his shots while the latter was continuously firing those arrows without holding back.

Cielo even applied a series of firing techniques to his shots, making them harder to dodge.

But his opponent was not an ordinary person either.

Shin just had to know where those arrows were coming from, and he would be able to avoid any of them with ease. He was even constantly taking notes of the surroundings, not forgetting his main purpose of scouting the area.

He was studying the surroundings and continued making the map during this skirmish.

“The hawk and wolf are a problem. I guess I must think of a way to somehow get rid of them to avoid any accidents later,” thought Shin as he finished drawing the map of this area and familiarizing himself with the terrain.

But as he was thinking of whether to continue fighting Cielo and probe his abilities or retreat and regroup with the rest of the team, the opposing side seemed to have increased the rate of his shots and applied more advanced techniques in the process.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shin was forced to change his route as Cielo ‘blocked’ his escape path with powerful shots.

He could tell that the other party was forcing him to stay in place and preventing him from reuniting with his team.

This sudden aggressiveness could only mean two things. The first case was because of Cielo getting near his location, giving him a clearer view of Shin without any help from his pets, while the other case was for his teammates arriving at the scene first.

The first case was meant to force Shin into a duel, betting on which side would arrive first, while the latter was to force Shin to stay and wait for the rest of Hien Workshop’s members to trap him in an encirclement.

Either way, Shin would most likely be placed in some trouble as he knew that the opposing side had a decent advantage over him.

If Shin had to guess which of the two would most likely be the case, then he would choose the former.

Since Cielo was more familiar with the area, and he was an archer, he would be able to suppress Shin to a certain degree with his extreme precision and strong firepower.

At the same time, he could also trust his teammates to arrive at this place first due to the obvious advantage that they had when picking this map as their main battlefield.

The same could be said for the rest of the Hien Workshop’s members. Since they would have a better understanding of the terrain, they could easily pick an easier path, which could directly help them reach the said location as soon as possible compared to the rest of the Empyrean Talons.

The obvious choice for this was the retreat and wait for Owen and the rest of the team to regroup and reorganize themselves.

But Shin had other thoughts. He preferred staying here as he and the team were already expecting something like this to happen.

He would confront Cielo head-on and force the latter to stay as well while waiting for his teammates to arrive.

Swoosh!

He suddenly adjusted his footwork as he suddenly spirited forward while intertwining sparks of black and white lightnings danced around his body, reinforcing his body and boosting his speed.

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Movement Technique – Lighting Steps’

A series of afterimages were left behind as well as a trail of electric sparks were left behind as he continued to charge ahead and avoid the powerful arrows raining down from the sky.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Multiple explosions erupted behind Shin as he turned into a lightning ghost traversing the forest.

Seeing the sudden aggressiveness from his opponent, Cielo immediately noticed that something was wrong and quickly retreated while still firing his shots.

He was planning to kite Shin and lure the latter toward a place that was more favorable for him to fight.

He did not know why Shin chose to stay despite knowing his plans. He refused to believe that this guy, who was dubbed the Devil Strategist by many due to his vicious and devious plans and arrangements, would not see through his thoughts, which was the most obvious strategy when it came to these kinds of situations.

He knew that Shin must have arranged something for the rest of his team, which gave him the confidence to take on the challenge that Cielo was giving him.

Having his thoughts, he urged his team to increase their pace, afraid that it would be too late when they arrived.

…

Swoosh! Swoosh!

In the meantime, the rest of the Empyrean Talons immediately made their move right after receiving the report from Shin.

Cloe raised her staff as she cast some buffs that boosted everyone’s stats, particularly their speeds, before proceeding.

Alice even added some wind-elemental enchantments to further increase their speed.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

But unlike the most common strategy where they were supposed to move as a group, Owen and Leonard broke free from the formation and started charging ahead at full speed and leaving the girls behind.

Given their current speed, they would reach the coordinates sent by Shin before the rest of their opposition.

Since they were not carrying any ‘burdens’, they could move faster and unrestrained, unlike the other side.

Moving in a group could be an issue as they had to maintain their formation while advancing. It was to prevent any accidents during that time that could threaten their Support and Healer.

Being isolated from the team could be extremely risky as a simple ambush from someone with a combat profession could put them in real danger. This was why the standard way was to move in a group while keeping their formation intact.

Shin used this thought as a weapon against an ‘old-fashioned team’ when giving his instructions earlier. He asked Owen and Leonard to leave the girls behind since moving individually was more advantageous than moving with a team.

The result was immediately revealed to the audience as they saw that the pair was about to reach the battlefield while the opposition was still quite far from it.

It would not take long for those two to reach where Shin and Cielo were fighting and trap the latter with a three-way formation.

This time, Cielo would be the one being caged between their formation while hoping for his team to save him.

But this old veteran was not someone to be underestimated either as he immediately sensed the danger right after Shin changed the pace of the battle.

Cielo ordered his Spirit Hawk to fly higher and command it to head over the small hill in the distance where they had spotted Shin.

That was when he saw Owen and Leonard rapidly climbing up the hill and rushing toward the battlefield.

Seeing this, Cielo immediately showed his vast experience as he made some adjustments to their plan. He ordered Griff to also break free from their formation, informing the latter about the sudden development.

As a veteran himself, Griff immediately moved according to the instructions while telling Thirteenth Massacre to take over his position of protecting the twin sisters.

He then asked the girls to give him some buffs that could enhance his speed so that he would not be too behind Owen and Leonard, who were already reaching the battlefield.

Swoosh!

“Hmm!? ” Shin also realized that Cielo had adjusted their formation after seeing the Spirit Hawk change its direction.

Thinking about this, he suddenly stopped chasing after the Sky King headed toward the direction where Griff was coming from, planning to intercept the latter.

“Leo, go chase the old man and keep him busy. Owen, come with me and greet the new guest,” he instructed as he ditched Cielo without any hesitation and sprinted in another direction.

“What!?” Cielo was also taken aback by Shin’s decisiveness, making him shake his head a little. “This kid sure knows how to read the battlefield and snatch the tempo.”

He was about to give chase when a commotion suddenly attracted his attention.

Roar!

A deafening roar suddenly erupted from the distance.

Then Leonard, who just fused with Lycan under his Elemental Spirit Possession, appeared at the top of the small hill and was seen charging at Cielo with extreme speed.

His mobility was not least affected despite the instant burst of speed that he had. This made him look like the king of the jungle running through any obstacles on his path.

Given his speed, it would only require him a half or a full minute before he could reach Cielo, forcing the latter to abandon the thought of bothering Shin.

“Young Blood sure are scary,” mumbled the Sky King as he smiled bitterly. “But if you think that we are already washed out by the time, then you are truly mistaken.”

Nocking a Mana-Enchanted Arrow on his bow, he prepared himself for a serious battle after a long time. “This is going to be interesting.”

……