Child of Destiny

The siege against the Oath City continued to rage without pause.

The once-pristine walls had long since become scarred by countless impacts. Towering sections of stone were cracked, battlements had patiently collapsed, and defensive towers burned beneath columns of black smoke. Yet, despite everything the demonic monsters had thrown at them, the overall fortifications still stood firm and refused to yield.

Along with the walls, the remaining hundreds of players fought with everything they had.

The warriors continued to push back the monsters that had managed to scale the ramparts. The knights below were still choking the collapsed parts of the wall, preventing the demonic creatures from flooding in. The mages exhausted their mana to unleash wave after wave of devastating spells.

The priests were the busiest as always. They either hurried from one wounded defender to another, desperately keeping the front line alive despite their own dwindling reserves, or purifying the bodies on the ground, both from the players and demonic monsters alike.

No one had the luxury of rest since another attack would always keep on coming.

Beyond the walls, the Royal Guards had formed countless spearheads that repeatedly charged into a monster tide. Their disciplined formations carved bloody paths through the battlefield before regrouping once more behind the city’s defenses. Whenever their silver appeared, piles of monster corpses were left behind, momentarily slowing the seemingly endless advance.

The battlefield had become a relentless meat grinder.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Far above the city, King Juron fought alone.

His greatsword blazed with golden light as he clashed against several Demonic Bishops of the Demonic Church of Terror simultaneously. Each swing shattered curses before they could even spread in the surroundings. Every eruption of holy aura forced the fanatics backward.

Even though heavily outnumbered, the king’s overwhelming strength kept them somewhat suppressed. He was preventing the bishops from coordinating the large-scale rituals they desperately sought to complete.

BOOM!

Not far away, another fierce battle unfolded across the heavens.

The City Mayor—Mayor Sheba—confronted the heretics of the Demonic Church of Envy amid swirling storms of emerald mana. There were countless magical constructs, summoned spirit beasts, and cursed projectiles filled the sky as both sides exchanged devastating attacks. Every collision sent violent shockwaves rippling across the clouds and causing thunderous explosions that echoed throughout the battlefield below.

Both sides were going all out, understanding that they could not afford to lose.

The battle below, where the players and the Royal Guards fight against the demonic players and demonic creatures, would most likely be the biggest key for this battle.

Fortunately for the side of the players protecting the Oath City, the defense was not held together by ordinary players alone.

Standing atop each of the four walls were the commanders personally appointed to oversee the city’s defense—each one a legend in their own right.

…

On the eastern wall, Poseidon had transformed the battlefield into his own kingdom.

An immense Water Domain covered the entire section of the battlefield. There were water torrents roaring through the monster horde like raging rivers. The massive tidal waves swept away hundreds of monsters at once before freezing into towering walls of ice that blocked the succeeding advances.

Every drop of water became a deadly weapon under his command. They either turned into spears or chains while also turning into deadly whirlpools that could crush enemies in the process.

Through the special powers of the legendary weapons in his hands, the [Divine Trident], even the blood spilled by the fallen monsters was purified into crystal-clear water before joining the endless assault.

The eastern front had become the safest section of the city.

However, it was also precisely because of this reason that the demonic players had painted his back as the highest priority target.

More than a dozen demonic players simultaneously launched coordinated assaults against Poseidon, forcing him into constant battle.

Powerful curses, assassination attempts, and long-range bombardments were continuously targeting him along with the horde of the remaining demonic creatures around him.

With such a concentrated attack, he barely had enough time to support the entire battlefield. His concentration was also greatly being drained during the entire process, especially with his overwhelming domain.

Even then, the ocean refused to retreat.

…

The northern wall belonged to Hades.

Unlike Poseidon’s overwhelming elemental destruction, Hades fought the battle of attrition.

The corpses of fallen monsters rose one after another, turning into his slaves. Undead beasts, undead ogres, even zombified bodies of the fallen players.

The entire skeletal battalions marched back into the battle moments after dying. Every creature that perished only strengthened his army.

His undead continuously intercepted the advancing horde, buying invaluable time for the exhausted defenders to recover.

Unfortunately, such power came at an immense price. Maintaining such a huge undead army simultaneously while commanding each of them across an entire battlefield consumed mana at an almost impossible rate.

Cold sweat covered Hade’s face. His breathing had grown heavy while the dark circles beneath his eyes further deepened.

Despite repeatedly drinking expensive mana potions, his reserves were approaching their limit. However, he continued raising the dead again and again.

The undead never knew fear or tiredness.

…

In the meantime, the southern wall had become a stage of deception.

Loki laughed despite the dire situation while hundreds of identical copies of himself were scattered across the battlefield.

Every clone he summoned fought independently. Some dueled powerful commanders of the demonic players, others infiltrated enemy formations, while the rest disguised themselves as monsters before suddenly striking demonic players from behind.

No one knew where the real Loki was, nor could anyone predict where the next assassination would come from.

Within only a few hours, numerous enemy officers, demonic combatants, demonic necromancers, and demonic zealots had fallen to his relentless harassment.

Unfortunately, he was still unable to find the true masterminds hidden within the ranks of their enemies, making the relentless assault of the demonic horde unstoppable.

…

In the meantime, the west was dominated by Alucard.

Unlike the others, this battlefield was where he truly flourished. The blood that was covering nearly every inch of the ground had fallen under his command.

All the blood on the battlefield turned into his weapon, fueling his Blood Arts.

Scarlet threads danced through the battlefield like living serpents draining life from monsters before gathering around his magic rifles and the ones that he had conjured with his blood alchemy.

Bang! Bang!

Each gunshot became a crimson beam that pierced through rows of monsters. Every bullet curved unnaturally through the air, guided by blood itself toward vital points.

Whenever enemies managed to approach, the pools of blood beneath their feet suddenly erupted into razor-sharp spikes that impaled dozens simultaneously.

The more casualties the battle produced, the stronger Alucard became. In a prolonged siege as this, only the few players who fell under the necromancy path were more terrifying than him.

…

After enduring for a few more hours, a deafening war horn finally echoed from the distant mountains.

”Reinforcements!”

The desperate players, who were still standing to defend the city walls, had finally the ray of hope.

The hundreds of exhausted players instinctively turned toward the sound.

Heavily armored cavalry riding mounts such as dire wolves, mountain lizards, ferocious tigers, and other powerful mounts thundered downhill. These players were composed of elite guilds, renowned adventurer teams, veteran mercenary companies, and countless independent players who had answered the desperation call of the Oath City.

The entire sight had made the players throughout the city have a reignited hope!

”Finally! We made it!”

”I am dying of exhaustion! Fortunately, we have held the line!”

”These guys sure take their sweet time.”

Even the four commanders unconsciously relaxed after seeing this. Even King Juron and Mayor Sheba had somewhat heaved a sigh of relief because of this.

…

Far hidden within the forest, Henrick saw this as well. However, instead of being disappointed, he smiled quite widely instead.

”Here I thought that we would be lacking enough sacrifice to replenish the slaughter in the air,” he mumbled with a wicked grin. ”Fortunately, these people have served themselves on a silver platter!”

Right after, he issued a command through his telepathic connection with the demonic bishops fighting King Juron. ”You can start now.”

Right after, he turned around, not even bothering to look at what was going to happen next. Everything else would no longer concern him, so he just had to leave this place as soon as possible.

…

Right at the same time, the demonic bishops, who were fighting King Juron with the best of their abilities, had suddenly worn an extremely savage and insane look on their faces.

They stared at the king with their heretical eyes before shouting out of madness. ”For the Terror!”

Immediately after, they started throwing themselves toward King Juron, who swiftly retreated as best as he could.

Unfortunately, the opposing side had immediately detonated themselves simultaneously.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

It was not an ordinary explosion either. Each one of them unleashed the entirety of their corrupted life force, accumulated faith of madness, and demonic mana in a single suicidal ritual.

The heavens erupted into a crimson sun while the terrifying shockwave blasted across the battlefield, swallowing the king before everyone could react and spreading an extremely wicked corruption in the air.

”YOUR MAJESTY!”

The Royal Guards below cried in horror.

When the blinding light finally faded, the king was revealed once again. He remained suspended in the air, but somewhat battered.

His once-radiant armor had been shattered beyond recognition while deep wounds covered nearly every inch of his body. One arm hung limply at his side while blood was continuously dripping from countless injuries. Even the holy aura surrounding him flickered weakly.

Moreover, there was also intense corruption in his wounds, which was making it worse for him, especially when the same corruption was spreading throughout the city.

The explosion had not killed him, but it had gravely wounded the strongest combatant present while also putting the entire city, which they had defended with all they had, at risk.

At the same time, the heretics from the Church of Envy suddenly ceased attacking the City Mayor altogether.

Instead, every one of them spread their arms toward the sky while their bodies began dissolving into streams of black blood.

Ancient runes illuminated beneath the city, followed by an enormous magic formation expanding throughout the city before stretching far beyond the city walls.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground trembled violently, making the buildings shake while the streets were split apart. Even the mountains in the distance began to rumble.

”What-… are they doing?” mumbled Mayor Sheba in shock and confusion.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Not long after, the entire city shook while the enormous mountain in the opposite direction where the reinforcement was coming from started to crumble.

Ancient and suffocating pressure then rose from the depths of that crumbling ’mountain’.

This was then followed by an overwhelming fear gripping everyone’s hearts. They all instinctively knew that something unimaginably ancient was beginning to awaken from beneath that mountain.

…

At the same time, Immortal suddenly emerged from another mountaintop and smiled after seeing such a scene. ”It seems like I am not too late.”

...…