Child of Destiny

Boom!

As the giant spear descended from the sky, Akailu immediately responded by recalling all his beast pets on the field while he swiftly summoned another.

The people were unable to see what kind of monstrous beast Akailu had summoned because the spear was fast enough to descend, pressing on the jungle and crushing all the tall trees within the range it covered.

Boom!

Not long after, a massive explosion erupted, covering a very large portion of the map, flattening the jungle first before sinking into a huge crater.

At the center of all of these, Cetus stood while maintaining his earlier posture.

He was unaffected by all the destruction around him. He was at the dead center of the crater, standing like a majestic figure of medieval times.

Regardless, he could not help but frown deeply as he could not hear the announcement from the system, which told him that Akailu still somehow survived such a massive and destructive Tier 4 Spell.

“How the heck did he survive that?” he furrowed his brows deeply, unable to believe or accept the result.

Everyone was also thinking the same. They were all confused at how Akailu could withstand such an overpowered spell.

They did not believe that Akailu escaped the area, given how massive the range of the spell, particularly the explosion. Even if he tried to fuse with the Spirit Eagle and flew away, he would still be swept by the shockwave that came alongside that explosion.

Moreover, everyone saw that Akailu had unsummoned the Spirit Eagle alongside the other three monstrous beasts.

If they could have a good guess, then it must be the other monstrous beast that Akailu had summoned earlier.

No one could have had a clear look at it earlier due to how quickly everyone had taken their place. All they could see was the huge magic circle that appeared on the spot where Akailu was hiding before the spear of destruction had descended.

Among all those who were watching, Leonard was the only person who could have guessed what had just happened.

He did not have to guess what kind of monstrous beast Akailu had summoned during those final moments because he was fully aware of all the pets the latter had in his arsenal.

He did not share his thoughts with the rest of the Empyrean Talons either and just maintained a mystifying smile that annoyed both Arthur and Cloe.

Back on the field, Cetus surveyed the surroundings sharply as he could sense a life signature nearby.

Crack! Crackle!

Not long after, he heard some breaking sounds coming from a certain location, which then made his head turn.

Bang!

It was at this moment that the ground on a certain spot of the massive crater, where something crawled out of their way.

When the dust settled, a silhouette of a humanoid figure could be seen, which seemed to be neither human nor a beast but a hybrid of both.

This humanoid creature stood on two feet with a lean yet muscular body and a pair of long and slender arms. On the tip of its hands, long and sharp claws could be seen that seemed to have been used to claw its way out of the ground.

Its head seemed to have a long and pointed nose, which was more than enough for everyone to guess what kind of ‘Beastman’ this person was.

“A mole!? A Moleman?”

This was what everyone was thinking after having a clearer look at the full appearance of that figure.

They could also make their respective guesses about how Akailu survived such a massive and destructive explosion.

It was quite obvious that he had dug toward the ground for as much as he could, trying to escape the range of the explosion underground.

Adding that the earth itself was a natural barrier that ‘protected’ Akailu from the full brunt of the explosion and prevented it from reaching him.

Realizing what just happened, Cetus could not help but click his tongue and complain a little. “You can still live with that? Don’t tell me you also have a cockroach transformation or something?”

In response, Akailu released his fusion with the mole beasts before replying. “Is that your strongest card? Then you can as well surrender now.”

The mole beast might be helpful for this instance, but it was not something that he could use in battle since its combat capabilities were still far from ideal. This was just a normal beast pet from his arsenal, so that it could do that much.

Unless he managed to find a way to evolve it to the same level as his other beast pets or at least find and capture a beast of the same rank, he would not be able to use this monstrous beast in battle.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Immediately after, another group of summoning circles appeared around him, followed by the appearance of the four core beast pets that walked out of them.

Seeing that the other party was already preparing for another round, Cetus smirked as he responded. “Trump cards? I have plenty of it!”

“How about you? Now that I have cleared the area, how are you going to hide this time?” he asked as he also summoned another batch of spirit knights.

At the same time, a light suddenly surrounded his body, donning him with a layer of protective barrier that covered his armor.

“Cleared the area? Don’t you think it is also a perfect environment for my Spirit Eagle?” said Akailu as he readied himself for another round of battle.

Bang! Bang!

Right at the same time, the two started charging at one another once again.

The Spirit Eagle took flight and flew high up in the air, firing a barrage of feathers at the opposing side.

Whoosh!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Meanwhile, the Fierce Tiger and Grizzly Bear charged straight ahead with unstoppable momentum. The former covered its body with metallic mana while the latter covered itself with earthen energy.

Roar! Roar!

As for the Shadow, it still transformed into a shadowy smoke and disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Akailu ran closely behind the two fierce, monstrous beasts ahead of him while setting up a trap inside his head.

In the meantime, Cetus led his spirit knights to charge ahead of their opposition while dragging his spear behind him.

They formed a strategic formation during their advance. Moreover, in this formation, the spirit knights were also releasing a flow of energy that linked them to one another and focused on Cetus.

This linked flow of energies provides Cetus a huge load of power, making his aura grow stronger and reach a very high level.

Bang!

After charging for a while, he suddenly leaped into the air and faced the two monstrous beasts that were pouncing at him from the opposing side.

Twirling his spear in the air, Cetus executed a series of maneuvers in the air before throwing a series of strikes at the two monstrous beasts that sent the two flying back to where they came from.

Bang! Bang!

Underneath, the spirit knights divided themselves and charged at the two, planning to strike them while they were down.

Swoosh!

But at the same time, a shadowy smoke suddenly appeared behind Cetus, followed by the appearance of the Shadow Wolf that jumped out of it.

Grr!

With a savage and angry growl, the huge wolf opened its mouth, trying to crush Cetus’ body in one bite.

However, this Whale God was not so simple either. He adjusted his body midair, suddenly twisting his waist while throwing a curving stab behind him, targeting the Shadow Wolf attacking from there.

This particular stab was well timed and perfectly executed, targeting straight at the wide-open mouth of the monstrous beast.

Poof!

However, the Shadow Wolf turned into smoke once again before the spear could even hit it.

Whoosh!

Grr!

But this time, instead of disappearing completely, the Shadow Wolf continued to attack from another angle.

It appeared behind and in front of Cetus, launching the same ambush.

Swoosh!

Such an ambush was also timed very well, but Cetus reacted to it quite well. He twisted his waist toward the other direction while swinging the spear in his hands with all his might.

Shing!

The tip of the spear even left a trail of light in the air while slashing toward the incoming monstrous beast.

Poof!

Yet the same thing happened.

This scene repeated for a couple more exchanges before the Fierce Tiger and Grizzly Bear finally broke through the encirclement of the spirit knights and pounced at Cetus once again.

Poof!

Right after the Shadow Wolf dissipated into black smoke once again, Cetus found himself trapped between the attacks of the Fierce Tiger and Grizzly Bear.

Roar! Roar!

Shriek!

At the same time, the Spirit Eagle also used this chance to launch a charging attack, attacking from above and preventing Cetus from going anywhere.

However, he did something amazing at this moment, swinging his spear multiple times and warding off the coordinated attacks from the three monstrous beasts, pushing them back.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He was about to finally land on the ground when the familiar black smoke appeared in front of him.

Whoosh!

Responding quickly, Cetus stabbed his spear, expecting the Shadow Wolf to launch an ambush once again.

Swoosh!

However, something unexpected happened this time around.

Instead of the huge body of the Shadow Wolf that was easier to target, a humanoid figure suddenly came out of the smoke.

Swoosh!

Akailu, who fused with the Shadow Wolf, dodged the stab skillfully before throwing a powerful punch straight to Cetus’ abdomen, landing his first clean hit of the match.

Bang!

(-52,232)

Swoosh!

Unfortunately, the damage was a little lower than expected because Cetus was fast enough to reinforce his body with a decent defensive spell to nullify the majority of the damage.

However, this was just the start of Akailu’s onslaught.

Poof!

He disappeared from his current spot and caught up to Cetus in the distance, who was already prepared to greet him with a series of stabs.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Unfortunately, these well-timed stabs did not deal that much damage as Akailu had unexpectedly fused with the Grizzly Bear as well, giving a huge boost in defensive area.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

(-3,231), (-2,331), (-5,556), …

Regardless, the accumulated damage was still good enough to chunk out a decent portion of Akailu’s health bar.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Not long after, the two began exchanging a series of blows, fully showcasing their respective skills.

Akailu was coordinating with his beast pets while also swapping between different fusions during the exchanges, making it quite flashy yet also destructive.

Meanwhile, Cetus matched this series of attacks with a huge number of spells and skills under his arsenal, which also came from different classes under the mage and knight-related paths.

The number of skills was so absurd that most of the players were unable to name all of them, despite most of the skills being regularly used by mainstream players.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

The two truly picked up the pace, finally making this battle worthy of being the opening match of the Grand Finals.

…