Child of Destiny

Shin slowly walked forward with light steps, not even leaving any footprints on the sand.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

In response, the opposing side turned to him almost at the same time, before quickly forming a battle formation.

Bang! Bang!

Their heavy steps reverberated throughout the field.

Rumble!

Shin could also sense the strong pressure coming from them, which was much stronger than what he was feeling earlier when he was fighting against them.

This time, he could tell that they were not planning to help him improve his skills and mastery over them.

He could clearly see that they were now planning to thoroughly beat and properly trash his style.

“Why do I feel that this is some sort of practical test right after all those training sessions?” he mumbled while looking at the array of enemies before him.

“Well, this is quite good too. I can at least test something now,” mumbled Shin along with a wide grin.

Now that he had mastered the ‘Phantom Dance’ skill and comprehended most of the mysteries of ‘Phantom Movements’, Shin felt that he could now do a few more things.

Under his complete control over the phantoms, he could now let them execute the more complicated techniques in his arsenal without expending too much mental strength.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Right after releasing his nine phantoms, Shin controlled them manually and let them execute one of the movement techniques that he had mastered, which he felt to be extremely compatible with the ‘Phantom Dance’ skill.

Moreover, since he would be using this technique to complement the ‘Phantom Dance’ skill, he had to name it according to the theme.

‘Phantom Movement: Mirage – Ghost Evanescent’

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

All the phantoms execute the movement technique under Shin’s control, producing multiple afterimages each.

They looked like an entire army that would be going to war.

They uniformly stood behind Shin, who was looking at the army of sand soldiers along with a huge smirk underneath his mask.

The burden that his mind was getting from this was a bit negligible, giving him enough mental strength and concentration for more advanced techniques.

With this, Shin took the initiative to enter the combat state of Reality Manifestation before following it with his version of ‘Natural State’ to explosively increase his overall combat prowess.

‘Natural State: Pinnacle Zenith’

Swoosh!

Along with his fully activated ‘True Sight’ skill, Shin quickly entered the strongest state that he could currently muster.

Boom!

A moment later, he urged all his phantoms to charge forward along with the ‘ghosts’ that they had created with the movement technique that they were using, making them look like a large army sprinting straight to their opponents.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

On the other hand, the sand soldiers maintained their battle formations. Those at the forefront raised their spears and prepared themselves to greet the incoming phantoms and ghosts.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Unfortunately, no matter how tight and solid their battle formation, it was nothing before these phantoms and ghosts.

All their attacks just passed through the bodies of the incoming phantoms and ghosts, which continued to charge at them with extreme fierceness.

Right after passing through the initial blockade, these phantoms and ghosts swung their swords at the sand soldiers before them, executing a variety of sword techniques.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Shin, who was hiding himself among his ‘army’, suddenly moved and repeatedly swapped places with multiple phantoms.

His movements were extremely fast, switching with different forms and sword movements whenever he switched places with each phantom.

Moreover, these phantoms were moving at an extremely fast speed, which made them appear in different places under the effects of the ‘Ghost Evanescent’ movement technique.

When Shin switched places with them, multiple sand soldiers died almost at the same time, turning them back into sand once again.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

From other people’s perspective, the scene seemed to be of two armies clashing against one another.

However, the truth was completely different. This scene was only produced by a single person against an entire army of sand soldiers.

Shin could also produce a similar result if he used his usual style. However, since the tower had restricted him from using most of his cards and only left him with the skills and abilities under the Phantom Swordsman Class, and a few that he could use under the combat state of Reality Manifestation.

Regardless, with this newfound power and ability, Shin felt that he would become even more powerful when compared to what he could do previously.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shing!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Multiple sand soldiers were destroyed under the barrage of attacks that Shin was throwing at them, further decreasing their overwhelming number and destroying their battle formations.

With the rate at which he was destroying the opposing army, even their insane spawn rate was unable to replenish their numbers.

Given how fast they were being annihilated, it would not take that long before the entire army was thoroughly destroyed.

Bang!

Seeing this happen, the Sand General, who was observing everything from the top of a dune, finally made some movements.

It slowly rose from its sitting position and stood straight.

Bang!

A strong shockwave suddenly erupted from its body, pushing everything in the surroundings away from it.

Boom!

This shockwave continued to sweep everything, making the dune that it was standing on slowly collapse and turn into an inverted dome.

The sinking sand also solidified and became extremely hard, turning into a massive battle arena that could fit hundreds of soldiers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the same time, the remaining sand soldiers that were fighting Shin exploded one after another, turning into dust that fell into the desert.

Shin slightly raised his brows when he saw all of this. He then walked forward before stopping at the edge of the inverted dome.

From there, he saw the Sand General standing haughtily at the center.

It was standing with a straight back and arms crossed, emitting an extremely strong and very intimidating aura.

From its posture alone, Shin felt like it was inviting him to a duel.

…

Pursing his lips a little, Shin shrugged his shoulders before jumping off the edge, accepting the challenge.

He knew that this must be the final trial for this floor, which would also test whether he was worthy or not to step into the next floor.

“Let’s see if I can do it this time,” mumbled Shin as he stepped forward.

He could still remember how he was somewhat beaten up by this Sand General during their last confrontation.

He knew that this opponent was much stronger than it looked on the surface, especially after personally experiencing its might previously.

He was greatly suppressed by its martial prowess alone, which made Shin somewhat pressured.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

He did not wait for anything and quickly summoned his nine phantoms. He was not planning to gauge the strength of the opposing side any longer.

Instead, he was planning to overwhelm it with his newly found powers.

Along with these phantoms and the ghostly afterimages that they had created, the Sand General was surrounded from all sides.

The situation seemed to have turned, where the opponent was the one being overwhelmed by their numbers.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Without further ado, Shin initiated the opening move, controlling all the phantoms and their ghosts to charge ahead, attacking from every direction.

Shin did not immediately move, seemingly waiting for the opposing side to make their move.

However, the Sand General remained unfazed, understanding that these phantoms and ghosts were unable to do anything against it.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

All the attacks just passed through its body, unable to deal any damage.

This lasted for quite a while before Shin finally made his move.

Whoosh!

He swapped places with one of the phantoms, appearing right behind the Sand General.

Shing!

He then swiftly swung his sword, attacking the exposed back of his opponent.

Clang!

It was only at this moment that the Sand General made its move. It did not even make any complicated or advanced moves, just slightly turning the glaive that it was holding toward its back, blocking the incoming attack.

However, Shin did not stop here. He swiftly swapped places with another phantom, which was attacking from another tricky angel.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

At the same time, he immediately swung his sword, turning into multiple flashes that overwhelmed that side.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Unfortunately, the same thing happened.

The Sand General casually yet skillfully blocked all the sword flashes with its glaive.

Shin was still not discouraged and continued to attack this way, constantly switching with the phantoms that were attacking from all sides and continuously throwing a series of attacks at the same time.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The repeated collisions rang throughout the battlefield, bouncing and echoing on the inverted dome, which was their battle arena.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shin continuously attacked this way, even increasing the pace of his attacks, particularly the switching of positions with the phantoms.

Under the combined effects of his Natural State and Combat State, Shin slowly entered another trance during the battle, leading to a whole other level of evolution.

…