Child of Destiny

...…

Shin was thinking about contacting Daven to discuss the said proposal once again. Even if he did not add the person as a friend, the latter still left a way to be contacted before leaving.

As he was considering an offer, the corner of his eye caught something. When he looked over, he saw that it was a person, who seemed to be wearing a knight's armor.

Seeing that person, Shin felt lucky as his instincts were telling him that this NPC should be the lead that he was looking for. "It seems like the system is finally doing its job."

When he walked over to check on the knight, he suddenly saw that the NPC was already dead.

"Tsk!" Shin clicked his tongue when he realized this before bending over to check on the corpse.

After examining the corpse of the NPC, Shin noticed that the person seemed to have suffered from corrupted energy before dying, which further confirmed his suspicion. The Corrupted Cult was indeed involved in this matter.

He was not sure how those people managed to sneak into the Sky Deceiving Valley when the borders of the region were closed to everyone. But since they managed to abduct the villagers, it was clear that they had a special method to sneak into a sealed region and even get out from it without getting noticed.

While he was thinking, he raised his head to survey the surroundings. The moment he did, his eyes suddenly turned wide as he saw that there were a lot of corpses scattered around.

All of them seemed to have suffered from corruption of corrupted mana just like the knight lying in front of him.

He quickly stood up and went to check their conditions. After looking around and examining their bodies, Shin realized that they had been in this state for quite some time.

He was frowning his brows when he suddenly heard some movements from the nearby bush. Turning his head toward that direction, and focusing his senses on it, he noticed that someone seemed to be in there.

Walking carefully, and putting his guard up, Shin walked over while cutting the bushes blocking his path. When he walked a little further in, he saw a knight leaning on a tree while enduring unimaginable pain and pressing on a gruesome wound on his waist.

Realizing that this knight seemed to be with the rest behind him, he quickly walked over and checked his condition.

The knight seemed to have sensed his presence and forced himself to raise his head and open his eyes with great difficulty.

Seeing Shin, particularly catching a glimpse of the signature mask under the shade of the hood that Shin was wearing, the knight forced a smile. "Gr-… greetings, S-… Sir Envoy."

Shin raised his brows a little when he heard how the knight had addressed him. He then realized that this knight might be one of the colleagues of the Village Chief when he was still a knight under the Righteous Churches.

"Are you from the village that Village Chief Choi has built?" asked Shin as he bent over while checking the wounds of the knight.

The knight smiled bitterly before nodding his head. "I am with the village chief since he is a captain of the Templar Knights."

"We heard from the village chief that it is because of Sir Envoy that we managed to escape our fates under the hands of those monsters (mindless vampires)," he added, thanking Shin.

Shin realized that there was no saving this knight even if he cast the 'Sacred Light' elemental skill under his skillset. Even the high-quality potions, particularly the Master Rank Health Potion, would not be helpful either.

Understanding his current situation, the knight smiled bitterly when he saw the helplessness in Shin's eyes. "You don't have to feel sorry-… Sir Envoy. All-… all of us are meant to see our end when it is time. Ours-… just happen to arrive earlier than the others."

Seeing that the knight was struggling to talk, Shin understood that he had to ask the main issue. "What happened to the village? And where are the residents as well as the village chief?"

Hearing that, the knight smiled bitterly before saying. "Those-… those wretches suddenly attack the village when-… when we are in a hunt for food."

"They-… come from the sea along with-… an army of corrupted monsters. They razed the village to the ground-… and abducted the residents-… and brought them toward the sea."

The knight paused for a moment as he endured the pain before continuing in great difficulty. "The-… village chief tried to protect the village and buy some time for some of the villagers to escape. But-… there are some powerful people from the cult-… which overpowered him."

"The villagers-… are all captured by them-… along with the village chief-… while seriously injuring us, who tried to fight and rescue them," pausing for another moment, the knight suddenly remembered something. "They also seemed to be… trying to experiment something in the village-… but failed due to some unknown reason."

"They-… then retreated toward the sea," he added before having a hard time maintaining his breathing.

Shin knew that this knight was already at his limits. He slightly nodded before contemplating the clues he had just gotten. "The sea, huh?"

After thinking about these things, he turned back to the knight, who was already at the end of his ropes. Shin was trying to decide whether to end the suffering of the knight or leave.

But when he saw the desperate expression that the knight was giving him, seemingly asked him to end this suffering already.

Sighing, Shin unsheathed the [Yamato] before placing it vertically before him and closing his eyes. He chanted the prayers meant to honor the heroes of the Righteous Church.

He then stabbed the sword accurately at the heart of the knight, making it as quick and painless as possible.

After that, he cleared the area, cutting the trees and bushes, before gathering all the corpses of the fallen knights. He piled them together before burning them with the Eternal Flame, which also purified their corrupted body so that they would not affect the forest.

He was sure that it was the reason why the Corrupted Cult left their bodies behind.

Shin watched the corpses of the knights turn into ashes before using the powers of Earth and Metal to make the ground sink and close it. At the same time, he also summoned a huge boulder with the help of those elements before engraving some words on it to honor the fallen knights.

He stared at this monument or tombstone that he had built before turning around and exploring the forest a little more to make sure that he did not miss any corrupted corpses of the knights.

***

In the meantime, inside the base that God's Paradise had within the Golden City after garrisoning here, Jia was currently studying the battle videos she had recorded earlier.

Not long after, Sheryl, the team's main marksman, suddenly entered the room and saw their healer was as busy as she had always been. "Why are you watching them again? Afraid that you have overlooked anything?"

Jia gave her a sidelong glance before replying. "It will never hurt to study our competitors a little more."

Sheryl thought for a moment before nodding her head. "Knowing yourself and knowing your enemy will always help you in future battles."

She then turned back to Jia before asking. "So, how many weaknesses have you listed now?"

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Jain collected her thoughts briefly before answering. "They are strong. Stupidly strong on that of that, especially individually. But there are quite a lot of weaknesses when it comes to being a team."

"Aside from Simba, Siegfried, and Arielle – the rest of the team are quite disorganized when put in a team. They have the basic teamwork and decent understanding of each other, but it is not solid enough to match the teams on our level, who have been working together for a very long time."

"That knight Owen and the archer Ithilien are quite a good duo as well as that guy Archimedes with the Wingman Race and that Lightning Mage Daulla, who have better teamwork. But if they are put together in a team with the rest, they could not synergize that well, especially when faced with long-time partners like us."

"The assassin Diablo and that vampire Alucard are pretty powerful too, but their respective styles don't match with the rest as well-… or at least not yet. As for the beastmaster Akailu, he possesses a great understanding of his class and knows when to use his advantages in battle, but he doesn't know how to properly work with the team."

"As solo players, these guys are quite hard to deal with, but quite 'weak' during a team battle, which is one of the main factors of the upcoming United Cup."

"Then there is that strange summoner or necromancer of sort. He is quite an odd member of the group. He could be their secret weapon or a self-poison depending on how he performs."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "That is for the member assessment that I can see. As for the other aspects of being a team, they are also lacking in a certain area, particularly in having someone who can put a debuff on their opponents."

"Team battles are filled with a lot of unexpected developments. There were also a series of situations that you have to deal with while countering your opposition."

"Putting debuffs on the opposing side to limit their movements and lessen their advantages. Such a member is crucial in a team battle, especially when it is a chaotic one such as the team battles in the United Cup."

"The Empyrean Talons have quite a lineup, especially when it comes to firepower, but they are still lacking in quite a few areas," she added as she crossed her arms in front of her.

Hearing her assessment, Sheryl suddenly joined Jia in watching the battle videos while discussing. She particularly paid more attention to Alucard as she was completely suppressed by the guy during their previous battles.

Moreover, she also wanted to study the playstyle of Alucard, especially after seeing the resemblance of his techniques with the two rivals that she had in the previous game that she majored in.

While they were watching, Susanoo suddenly entered and saw them. "There you are. What are you two doing here? We are about to head out to clear some places in this region."

"We are garrisoned here, so we better do our job. The city provides quite a lot of benefits after all, especially such a high mana density and top-class Battle Arena," he added while leaning on the door jamb and crossing his arms.

Jia looked at him and refuted. "Aren't the others also arriving here? We are migrating anyway, so there is no need for all of us to be around."

"We can wait until the Frozen Kingdom is available before forming an expedition team. I reckon that the borders of the kingdom will be open tomorrow or the day after," she added before turning back to studying the battle videos.

Sheryl, on the other hand, squinted her eyes as she scrutinized Susanoo with her gaze. "Where is Kallavan? I seem to remember that it is his turn to oversee the activities of our team this time."

Susanoo awkwardly avoided her gaze before clearing his throat. He then betrayed his friend without any hesitation after feeling the pressure from her gaze. "He said that the Heavenly Resto-Bar of the Saint Heaven Kingdom is quite renowned, so he wants to try them out."

Sherly and Jia clicked their tongues when she heard those words before shaking their heads. They then ignored him and went back to what they were doing.

At this point, Ashura suddenly walked over. "Susanoo, come with me for a moment. I heard from our sources that Zero is around. Let's go try challenging him."

Hearing that, Susanoo could not help looking at his commander while suppressing the twitching of his mouth. "Ashura, don't you feel tired at all? You just have an intense battle with Sickarius, yet here you are asking for trouble with Zero?"

Ashura shrugged his shoulders, seemingly saying that he could not do anything about it. He then smiled and added. "It seems like coming to this kingdom is the right decision after all."

Susanoo helplessly shook his head before following his commander.

*Ding*

That was when they received a sudden notification from the system, which made them pause their tracks.

...