Child of Destiny

……

Seeing that the pack of Gluttony Beast Hyenas was pouncing on the Skyfire Albatross swiftly retreated away from the battlefield, climbed the trees, and watched the ongoing battle from a safe distance.

Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

The hyenas were excitedly pouncing on the giant albatross, trying to take it down through their strong coordination and combined efforts.

Shriek!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Unfortunately, all their efforts were in vain since the Skyfire Albatross seemed to be capable of fighting them by itself. It relied on its extreme flying speed, ignoring its enormous size. It was as if its mass was extremely light, flying across the forest despite the multiple trees obstructing its path.

Moreover, it was repeatedly spitting out breaths of fire that swept through everywhere and burned anything that it touched.

Even the hyenas, which were highly resistant against elemental attacks, seemed to be scared of these flames.

“The hyenas are afraid of its fire!? Don’t they have powerful elemental resistance?” mumbled Shin after seeing the scene of the hyenas jumping around and doing their best to avoid the flames that the Skyfire Albatross were spitting out.

While he was thinking about this, Solus suddenly appeared beside him and immediately answered. “That is the Undying Flame of the Underworld, my Liege. It is the unique flame of the Phoenix Race, which they have acquired after dying from the flames and rising from the ashes.”

“Other races call it the Immortal Flame as well,” she added.

“The Undying Flame of the Underworld? The Immortal Flame?” mumbled Shin before asking. “How does it compare to your Eternal Flame?”

Solus thought for a moment before replying. “The Immortal Flame and the Eternal Flame share quite a lot of similarities, my Liege.”

“However, since the Eternal Flame is bestowed upon me by the Great Sun God, it is a notch or two higher than the Immortal Flame.”

“The Immortal Flame is just the sign and proof of immortality for the Phoenix Race, while the Eternal Flame is everlasting and the root of everything,” she added with a somewhat ambiguous tone.

Shin raised his brows a little, seemingly picking up a few clues from her words. ’Solus is a fallen Goddess, which means that she once was a Divine Being. However, the Sun God has bestowed her the Eternal Flame thatshe wields. This means that the Sun God is a supreme being even among other Divine Beings.’

While he was lost in these thoughts, Solus suddenly commented about the ongoing battle. “It is a pity that this bird monster is only a little fledgling and has recently awakened a bit of its bloodline powers. If it is a bit more powerful, then dealing with these little glutton beast will be much easier for it.”

Hearing this, Shin could not help but feel that the corner of his mouth twitched a little. “A fledgling, you say?”

Looking at the massive size of the Skyfire Albatross, which had a wingspan of dozens of meters wide and a height of twelve to fifteen meters tall, he would never associate it with the word ’fledgling’.

But since it was what Solus had accessed, Shin could only trust her words. After all, Solus was one of the most experienced Elementals under his arsenal, who also used to be a Goddess in her prime, so her words carried weight.

“What about those hyenas?” asked Shin curiously.

Solus then turned her eyes toward the pack of hyenas, who were chasing after the Skyfire Albatross and trying to hunt it down.

Solus pursed her lips while observing the pack before replying. “Even though this bunch of beasts has undergone a series of mutations and evolutions, they have only awakened a little bit of Behemoth Bloodline.”

“Compared to the bloodline density, they are far from reaching the level of that Skyfire Albatross. If not, then they should have already won this battle earlier. After all, Behemoth races are among the most predatory beasts during ancient times. Even the Ancient Dragons and Phoenixes have to be wary of them.”

“In terms of potential, this Skyfire Albatross far surpassed this bunch, especially since they are already fully grown adult and barely have any room for improvement.”

“However, since they possessed the bloodline of the Behemoth Race, they are highly aggressive and extremely predatory. They will never back down from a fight or a hunt, especially when their target is someone who have powerful bloodline in them,” she added before turning to Shin. “My Liege, it is better to stay away from them as far as possible since they can easily sense you due to your Traits as a Transcendent Race, which is highly attracted to them.”

Hearing the latter part of her words, Shin was immediately enlightened about how he was discovered by this bunch of hyenas earlier, despite being quite far from them.

“Even though they are weaker than that Skyfire Albatross when it comes to individual strength, their ability to hunt as a group is still extremely powerful.”

She paused for a moment to look at the pack for another time before continuing. “Given the size of their pack, they will not have any problem hunting a King Class Monster of the same level, or even those with slightly higher levels than them.”

“After all, the Gluttony Tribe of the Behemoth Race is more dangerous the larger the size of their tribe. They belong to the category of monsters who loved to hunt in groups.”

Hearing this remark, the mystery shrouding the sight earlier when he first saw this pack was instantly solved.

Then, something struck him, and he could not help but ask. “Does that mean they can also hunt this Skyfire Albatross down?”

Solus thought for a moment before shaking her head. “That is not necessarily true either. After all, that flame bird possessed a much denser ancient bloodline compared to them. However, given the size of their pack, there is also a high chance that they can catch it.”

“It all depends on luck, the situation, and the surrounding terrain,” she added after observing the ongoing battle.

Shin then nodded while watching the hyenas try to catch the flame albatross, which was flying at extreme speed.

If it were just about the aerial abilities of the albatross, then he could already tell that these hyenas would never catch it.

However, the surrounding terrain was a bit more favorable for the hyenas, especially when their extremely skilled abilities to climb those trees, which also happened to obstruct the albatross and limit its freedom to fly.

Swoosh!

While the two were watching the battle, Hanzo happened to return from his scouting as well.

Shin knew that it was impossible to fully scale the entire region with his Elemental Spirits, given its massive size that it had. After all, it was comparable to the biggest kingdom and even some of the empires as well.

However, having a better understanding of the surrounding areas near them would always be helpful for their exploration and could give them a direction to go.

“How is it?” he asked.

Hanzo looked at the ongoing battle in the distance before giving his report. “This place seems to be filled with monsters that have undergone a series of drastic mutations or bizarre evolutions.”

“Due to this, they have gained some elemental powers or certain immunities to certain elements due to this.”

“Some of them have even awakened the hidden bloodline within their veins just like those guys before you,” he added while pointing at the pack of Glutton Beasy Hyenas and the Skyfire Albatross.

“Such situations are extremely rare and hard to come by, especially in the current era. After all, Elemental Spirits like us have already existed and controlled most of the regions filled with our respective elements,” he added while thinking about something.

“From my observations, there is only a single reason why this place has existed and what has caused these beasts to mutate,” he continued.

At this point, Solus suddenly chimed in. “That is, if something or someone is filling the air with rich elemental mana, which causes the surrounding creatures to become infected by Elemental Poisoning, which is a special condition that ordinary creatures suffer after being extremely exposed to a highly concentrated mana of certain elements.”

“After enduring such a condition for a long time, the exposed creatures can only have two outcomes. They can either die due to excessive poisoning or live while gaining a special ability or immunity to the same element that poisoned them.”

“However, such occasions are only applicable to creatures that have been exposed to a single element.”

“The creatures living in this place have a variety of elemental powers or abilities, which means that they have been exposed to multiple elemental poisonings, something that is impossible to happen.”

“After all, a place that can cause Elemental Poisoning can only have a single element present in it. It is the most basic requirement since an elemental can only reach the ’extreme’ level when the other forms of elemental mana are erased or ejected from such places, leaving that sole element behind.”

“It is a similar condition to the Rebirth Places of the Elemental Spirits of the current era.”

Pausing for a moment, Solus wore a serious expression before continuing. “For all elements to reach an extreme level of denseness all at once and concentrate in a single place, there can only be a single instance in which it can happen.”

“That is, if the place is the Elemental Realm or the Spirit Realm, where the Elemental Kings live,” Hanzo finished her words for her.

He then proceeded to shake his head. “However, even those realms are divided into multiple regions, and each of the Elemental Kings controls.”

“As for the region where all those territories intersect and converge, that is where the Elemental God resides, the Father of all Elements,” he added with full seriousness. “However, that land has already been brought by the Elemental God to the Divine Realm during his ascension eons ago.”

Hearing this, Solus also wore a serious expression after hearing about the Elemental God. She seemed to have recalled a certain incident during her time in the Land of Gods, which made her entire body tremble.

“That is also the reason, when the Elemental World splits and becomes the current Elemental and Spirit Realms,” she added.

Listening to them, Shin seemed to have gained a certain understanding of the world and realms. ’Elemental World? And the shattered and scattered Elemental and Spirit Realms?’

’From what I remember, the System calls the main server the ’Atlas World’, not Atlas Realm. I guess there is more to it than what we players can see on the surface. After all, the main server itself is also divided into Higher and Lower Planes, which separates the Divine Beings and those beneath it.’

’Are they somewhat related?’ Thinking about this, Shin could not help but feel that this place where he was currently trapped had a greater secret than he originally thought.

“If that Elemental Land that the Elemental God brought to the so-called Divine Realm or Land of Gods shared similar properties with this place, then there must be something connected to it somewhere in this place,” he mumbled, which the old elementals had heard.

They simultaneously turned their gaze at him while nodding their heads.

“The Liege is wise and knowledgeable!” said Solus, praising Shin with bright eyes.

“That is what I am thinking as well,” snorted Hanzo, somewhat unimpressed.

…