Child of Destiny

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Right upon being summoned by the system to the battlefield, Archimedes and Daulla immediately swept their gazes on their surroundings.

“Floating Island?” mumbled Archimedes after realizing which map their opponents had chosen.

As someone with a Winged Race, he was very familiar with this map, especially so when this map shared a lot of resemblance to the Sky Island in the Primal Kingdom.

Since he was Garuda’s Descendant, he could be considered the ruler of the Sky Island, having all the Tribes of the Winged Race under his command.

But since he was still weak in the eyes of those Tribe Chieftains and Elders, his title had to stay honorary instead of an official one. He was more like a symbolic leader of the race than its true ruler.

In a sense, he could also be considered the young lord of the race, who was still in the process of growing. He had to wait until he was fully grown before he could take on the role as the true leader of that race.

Due to his race and the inheritance left behind in the Sky Island, Archimedes was quite familiar with the region, particularly the maps that shared quite a lot of resemblance.

Floating Island was among the maps that he trained with during their training sessions, so he was very familiar with it, particularly the few unique features that it had, such as the patterns of the blowing wind right above it.

As for Daulla, she was naturally in the same situation since she was always together with Archimedes most of the time.

This map could be considered as their home ground.

“I don’t think it is going to be that simple,” said Daulla, feeling a bit worried about the schemes that their opponents possibly had.

After all, this was their first time being on such a big stage, especially so against such powerful opponents.

Even if they were considered as top Titled Rankers, they were still quite inexperienced compared to most of the players in the competition, much less compared to their current opponents.

Twin Stars, they repeatedly heard this title from the veteran members of the Empyrean Talons, which greatly emphasized how strong these guys were.

They understood that Shin had put a lot of trust in them to face these two while also not giving them that much pressure since it was just the first round of the match.

It did not matter much if they lost this match since they were too far ahead in the score. But if they managed to somehow find a way to win the battle, then the impact that they could give to their opponent would be great.

After scanning everyone with his sharp eyes, Archimedes turned to Daulla while pointing at the sky. “I’ll take sky. You have to be careful.”

Right after that, he unfolded the pair of snow-white wings behind him.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

He then kicked the ground and launched himself in the air before flapping his wings strongly, propelling himself higher and disappearing into the clouds.

Whoosh!

Daulla did not think that much about his actions, as she was very familiar with him and used to his antics.

After a few more moments of sweeping her eyes in the surroundings, she cast a series of speed-boosting buffs on herself before diving into the depths of the forest.

She was also quite familiar with this map, so she knew where to go to gain the advantageous position. She was heading to the place where she could best observe the entire map.

There was a high chance that she would bump into the Twin Stars later when heading to that place, but she was not that worried since Archimedes could see the entire map from the sky.

Crackle! Crackle!

Swoosh!

She disappeared into the woods while leaving electric trails behind.

…

On the other side of the map, the Twin Stars of God’s Paradise appeared on the ruined temple.

“Tsk! Tsk! Our luck is a bit too bad recently, don’t you think?” said Amor while glaring at her twin brother.

Odium rolled his eyes as he refuted. “It is not my fault! That ‘thing’ that we have retrieved during the exploration will not affect our luck in the virtual world.”

“The curse shouldn’t be able to do that-… probably,” he added with a quiet voice, not having that much confidence.

“Tsk! We have to immediately participate in this without even being able to rest, much less do some preparations,” complained Amor with a deep frown. “I don’t like this.”

Odium shrugged his shoulders. “There is nothing we can do. Who would think that the team would be this behind against those guys?”

“Since it has come to this, then why not go with the all-out battle instead of this format?” snarled Amor, unable to help herself from feeling a bit annoyed since she was too exhausted after their mission in the real world.

“If not for uncle disturbing me right after returning, then I would have been having by beauty rest right now,” she added with solemn expression.

She did not care about this tournament that much since there was nothing else for their Adventurer Team to prove. Moreover, the prize that they could get from winning the championship was not that appealing to them.

However, she must admit that she was quite curious about their opponents, who managed to push their team into a corner.

Odium pursed his lips a little before saying. “I don’t know what happened during our absence, but it seems like something big has taken place when we are on an expedition.”

“I heard that a lot of organizations in the real world are pouring huge forces and paying a lot of attention to the game currently. Even our school and the royal family are putting a lot of importance on the game right now.”

“It is as if they are preparing something big,” he added, filled with curiosity.

“Is it because of the major update that is about to launch right after the United Cup?” asked Amor.

Odium shook his head as he continued. “It is not like they are not expecting it. I think it is just one of the reasons that accelerates the current interest that they are giving the game.”

“I am not sure about it either, but it seems like the eldest uncle seems to be rather anxious during the time he urges me to log in the game right after returning,” he added with a deep frown.

“I feel like something big is happening,” he mumbled, feeling the storm that was slightly brewing.

Amor rolled her eyes when she heard that. “Isn’t it obvious? With Void Manifestation Experts, Ruler Realm Mentalists, and Swordmasters entering the game next patch, a lot of things would change.”

Odium shook his head. “It is not only that. I heard that the Central Institute and the Royal Family are drafting quite a lot of people. I am not sure about the exact details, but it seems to be a very serious matter. Even Third Uncle is called back from his post.”

Amor frowned even deeper before nodding her head solemnly. She did not say anything again since they had finally walked out of the ruins.

Given their nonchalant attitude, they seemed not to be taking this match that seriously. They were not in a rush to do anything and were calmly chatting with one another.

They were more concerned about the matters in the real world rather than the fight that they were currently in.

Sweeping their gaze at the surroundings, they stopped right before the entrance of the ruins before casting their gaze at the small mountain at the center of the forest before them.

“From the information that we have-… one of our opponents is from that Winged Race, right?” said Amor before turning her gaze to the sky.

“This is going to be a bit tricky,” she added while pouting a little.

Odium nodded in agreement while continuing to look at the mountain. “Let’s focus on his partner instead. That Lightning Mage is much easier to deal with at the very least.”

“She will most likely be heading to that vantage point right now,” he added.

“I have ordered the little kids to spread out,” said Amor.

She refused to cast her gaze away from the sky as her eyes glowed with a pale light. “Found you~!”

“You can start now. Leave the Birdman in the sky to me. I’ve already marked him,” she added while her pupils seemed to disappear, making her eyes filled with nothing but white light.

Odium then summoned a black scythe and nodded. “Then, I’ll be going ahead.”

With that, he started sprinting into the depths of the forest. His target was that small mountain at the center, or more specifically, the lightning mage, who was running with the best of her abilities to reach the peak.

Dark spirits then fly around him, seemingly cheering for him.

Swoosh!

Not long after, his figure suddenly disappeared into the woods.

……