Child of Destiny

Box-and-one – it was a common strategy used by different teams when dealing with powerhouses in team competitions. It was usually used to isolate a member of the opposing team with the most influence in the battle.

Most of the time, it was being used on the key players of the opposing team, just like the Aces, Commanders, or other key figures that had the largest impact on the flow of the battle.

Most of the time, a team would be sending a skilled person to restrict the actions of the specific target, preventing them from contributing to the team as much as possible. This would then lead to disharmony for the opposing team or at least weaken their strengths to the lowest level.

This specific method had also given birth to a series of variations like Box-2, where one of the team had to send one of their members to suppress a specific member of the opposing side, since a single person was not enough.

There was also the reverse-box, which required the key figure of the team to hold off four of the opposing members while the rest of the team dealt with the opposing key figure.

A lot of team strategies were birth from this specific method, which was why it became one of the foundation strategies in team competitions.

It was simple, but very effective most of the time.

But at the same time, the box-and-one method had also given birth to a series of strategies that were meant to counter it.

Thus, it became one of the father strategies within the virtual world, particularly in team competition.

…

Unfortunately for Hien Workshop, their current composition did not let them find any counter to the box-and-one method.

Cielo had already expected something like this to happen, but he knew that they could not do anything much against it, especially with the composition that they had.

It would be a little different if they had another veteran of the same caliber to hold the fort aside from Griff and himself.

Unfortunately, they did not have anyone to fill that role due to them being sent in the previous rounds.

They might have quite a lot of experts in the workshop, specifically nurtured by them. But producing someone of the same caliber as these legendary veterans was a whole different matter.

Even if they were a huge gaming workshop with a solid foundation, they were still far inferior compared to the hegemons of the virtual world, especially when it came to producing talent.

This was why the workshop was focusing all their efforts on their young talents, such as Thirteenth Massacre and Sung Jae, as well as Faith and Grace.

The current United Cup, which was filled and blooming with top-notch talents, was the perfect stepping stone for them to let them learn more about the current ‘hierarchy’ of the game.

Setting this thought aside, Cielo glanced at these young talents of the Empyrean Talons as he retreated before turning to Thirteenth Massacre and the twin sisters.

Then a dreamy and hopeful look flashed in his eyes before he raised his bow and aimed forward. “This generation sure is heavenly. I wonder who would be the leaders that would lead this ‘charge’.”

As he mumbled those words, he could not help but recall a certain group of players that not only shook the entire virtual world decades ago but also opened a new path for everyone in the real world.

“Irregulars. I wonder if another batch will appear this era,” he mumbled to himself as he fired a series of shots at Shin, seemingly inviting the latter for a duel.

Twang!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Seeing the tricky trajectory of the incoming arrows, Shin suddenly shifted his center of gravity and irregularly swayed his body left and right.

A moment later, he suddenly sprinted forward while dodging the hail of arrows. He even left a series of afterimages behind as he advanced.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then an intense chase immediately followed, making these two exchange a series of skills and techniques in the process while getting further away from the main battlefield.

Cielo had started showing his top-notch kiting abilities while Shin had responded with every move his opponent an equally stunning and flashy techniques.

Cielo commanded the elemental powers of Unfettered Wind and Stunning Metal, combining the two with his techniques.

He had also started summoning his other spiritual creatures aside from the Spirit Hawk and Spirit Wolf – an Elemental Snake and Spiritual Treant were added in the battle.

They had formed a perfect battle formation that attempted to trap Shin while complementing their powers.

Shin, on the other hand, started showcasing his signature techniques such as the ‘Infinity Edge’ and ‘Everchanging Sword Styles’. He did not hold back as he started to pressure his opponent despite being outnumbered.

There were even some instances where he had almost caught up to Cielo and attempted to end the latter.

Unfortunately, the Sky King still lived up to his reputation, not giving Shin enough opportunities that he could take advantage of.

The battle between these two attracted quite a lot of attention. But despite how stunning and flashy their exchanges were, they were still slightly inferior to the chaos happening on the other side of the battlefield.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

While Shin and Cielo were having a cat-and-mouse battle, the rest of the Empyrean Talons and Hien Workshop had engaged in a very intense and chaotic battle.

It felt like a free-for-all at first glance due to how chaotic the battlefield was.

Leonard and Owen kept on switching their positions as they tried to break through the defenses of their opposition and charged the twin sisters at the rear.

But in response to their ever-changing tempo, Griff had led the formation of the Hien Workshop, matching the chaos that their opposition was making.

Griff kept on swapping places with Thirteenth Massacre whenever the latter was pushed by Leonard into a corner.

In terms of technique, Thirteenth Massacre did not lose much, especially when the swordsman class focused on this style.

But it was inferior to the destructiveness that the berserker possessed, especially when the said person was Leonard, who was known for his destructive powers and overwhelming strength.

With Leonard’s raw power and straightforward attack, Thirteenth Massacre found it a little difficult to maintain his stance, especially when the opposing side was bombarding him with rapid and consecutive strikes.

He had never found a good time to catch his breath during the exchanges, making it hard for him to keep up with Leonard.

The matchup was too bad for him.

Fortunately, the twin sisters behind were giving him timely assistance whenever he found himself in such a predicament.

Moreover, Griff was always there to cover him if he could not withstand the barrage that Leonard was throwing at him, giving him enough time to recover.

But when he was facing Owen, Thirteenth Massacre found it a little tolerable as their strengths were somewhat matched with one another.

With this, the balance was somewhat restored to a certain extent.

But there was still another that they needed to take care of. Alice’s bombardment of spells was starting to get painful despite the combined forces of Faith and Grace.

The firepower that the side of the Empyrean Talons was starting to take a toll on them.

Cloe alone was more than enough to match the healing and assistance that the Twin Heavens were providing, so Alice was too loose to do anything she wanted on the battlefield.

It felt like the Empyrean Talons had an extra member in their ranks due to the gap in skills.

Cielo was supposed to suppress those two, interrupting them from time to time. But due to the box-and-one method that the Empyrean Talons were using, their initial plans became useless.

But despite the predicament that they were facing, the members of the Hien Workshop never backed down and continued to hold their ground.

When the pressure on the back of the three younger players was lifted by Cielo’s words earlier, they started to perform much better than they had expected.

They started showcasing their true capabilities despite being at an obvious disadvantage.

The overwhelming gap was present, but they ignored it and continued doing what they could, helping Griff, who was carrying all the pressure on his back.

Even Thirteenth Massacre, who was performing poorly, started to showcase his real capabilities, which earned him his current title.

He started to enjoy the process, making his performance even better. He was even suppressing Owen to a certain extent due to this.

But that was also under the condition that Owen was not showing his real capabilities yet, not activating his Racial Trait, and not using his Divine Tattoo.

The battle started to become even more chaotic at this point, yet also became more entertaining in the eyes of the audience.

It was still obvious that the Empyrean Talons was a cut above the Hien Workshop, but the latter was still holding their ground quite well, earning them some cheers from the audience.

Unfortunately, not all underdog stories ended up well. It did not take long for the Hien Workshop to show a gap that led to a disaster.

A hole in their defenses caused Faith to die under the bombardment of Alice’s spells and Leonard’s unexpected assault.

The Hien Workshop tried to salvage the situation with a trade, but Thirteenth Massacre was not enough to suppress Alice and Cloe, who were top Godlike Players themselves.

This forced the Hien Workshop to retreat and regroup with Sung Jae, who immediately rushed toward the battlefield as soon as he was summoned in the field.

He was a sniper who possessed a top-notch precision that rivaled – or even surpassed – his mentor’s, Sky King Cielo.

With his appearance, the tides of the battle slightly returned to an even state.

With Sung Jae’s constant harassment, Alice and Cloe were no longer free to cast their spells, making it easier for the team to fight.

But it was at that moment when Owen had revealed his real capabilities, shocking everyone. An extremely mobile knight was an absolute menace for the members of the Hien Workshop to handle.

There was also Leonard, who had finally showcased the real might of the War God.

He activated the Elemental Possession, boosting all his stats. His strength overwhelmed Griff, who was forced to reveal his trump cards as well.

With an even more chaotic battlefield, Sung Jae was unable to keep up with the pace, costing him a series of mistakes.

The battle was decided when Shin returned after defeating Cielo.

This team competition might not be one of the legendary battles, but it was still one of the most intense clashes in the competition.

The live audience and online viewers took some time to recover themselves and only recovered after seeing the announcement of the system.

“Final Round: Team Competition – Hien Workshop (Home) versus Empyrean Talons (Away)”

Result: Empyrean Talons’ Victory!

Final Score: 0.5 – 9.5!

Final Result: Empyrean Talons – Victory!

…