Child of Destiny

...…

Swoosh!

Shin used the final prism that he had gotten from Daven to keep the unconscious NPCs that the Corrupted Cult had captured to be the sacrifice for the Cult Ceremony.

He quickly headed to the five other altars where the NPCs were left unconscious to rescue them. His Elemental Spirit Companions also made their move right after receiving his instructions through mind connection. They destroyed all the altars at the same time, preventing those from sucking the life force of the NPCs.

Shin was able to move quite fast as Hanzo lent him a hand when traversing the different points of the cult's pentagram.

After saving everyone, and making sure that they had not overlooked anything, Shin quickly headed back to the center of the island. He wanted to see what Immortal was planning, and how the battle would take place.

This was a good opportunity to know how strong Immortal had become, especially when this guy had been promoted to the third of his class. The necromancer-related classes were quite a troublesome opponent since they had a variety of tricks and methods during the battle.

The main problem was the summoned undead monsters, which were numerous. When it was in the hands of Immortal, this army of undead monsters even reached a whole other level since the quality of his summoned monsters was way beyond the rest.

On top of this, there were also those powerful dark spells and debuffs that made them powerful dark mages. These alone already made them one of the most overpowered classes within the game.

Adding the fact that Immortal possessed a Transcendent Class and Race, who could form a contract with abomination elemental spirits that could possess his most powerful undead monsters, making them even more dreadful compared to the rest.

Aside from this, Shin also felt that Immortal had done something unimaginable. From what he had seen earlier, the latter seemed to possess both the Corrupted Powers from the cult and Demonic Energy from the Demonic Churches.

The two powers were similar to each other due to them being from the same roots, but they still had some noticeable differences.

Corrupted Powers were formed by corrupting the mana in the environment while using the special methods of the Corrupted Cult. They were also using this to build a connection to the Underworld and the Nether Realm, where the Original Corruption was coming from.

Meanwhile, Demonic Powers came from the Demons themselves. It came straight from the Hell, where the Demons live. Similar to the methods of the Cult, which was left by the Demons that invaded the Atlas World during the Repelling Era, the followers of the Demonic Churches were also building a connection with another realm.

But instead of building a connection with the realm itself, Demonic Believers built a connection with the Demons and the Demon Kings from Hell, or even the Great Demon Kings that ruled that place.

Possessing both of these powers would not only make an individual more powerful, but they would also gain more abilities that came along with them.

Boom!

When Shin arrived at the scene, an intense battle was already taking place. He hid in the distance while having a good vantage point where he could watch the battle.

The battle seemed to have reached its peak already as both sides were not holding back in the slightest.

Shin even saw that aside from the Zombie Dragon, Immortal had also summoned his Doom Knight which came from the Demonic Slaughterer that he had gotten from the Frozen Kingdom. It was from the body of Draco, the Grand Mashall that Shin and others had met in that place.

Aside from this Doom Knight, two more knights were fighting alongside Immortal, the Death Knight and the Undead Knight who were equally strong.

Shin knew that this was not the real strength of Immortal. The latter knew that Shin was most likely observing him, so he had to be careful when using his cards. He had to patiently bid his time and build his strength until he was confident enough to face this nemesis of him.

While observing, Shin could tell that Immortal was using his version of Elemental Spirit Possession on his summoned monsters. The three knights were possessed by different abomination spirits, which greatly improved their battle capabilities as well as their AI.

Aside from these, Shin also noticed the strange book that Immortal was holding in his left hand. This book was emitting a dark and eerie aura that Shin could feel even from a distance. The said book was also constantly releasing black smoke, which was a representation of highly condensed corrupted powers.

"What kind of item is that?" mumbled Shin as he stared intently at that black book.

He felt that it was most likely a special racial-specific item similar to his [Yamato] and [Nephilim's Gemini Mask] but with a slightly higher rank.

His [Yamato] was already on 'Obsidian Rank', which was most likely the highest rank at the current stage of the battle. But from the look of it, that book in Immortal's hand was much better than his, which indicated that it was most likely at 'Meteor Rank'.

Being able to sense the thoughts of Shin, Hanzo, who was the most knowledgeable among his Elemental Spirit Companions, suddenly said. "If I am not wrong, that is the Divine Grimoire of the Corrupted Cult."

"Divine Grimoire?" asked Shin with a slight frown.

Hanzo nodded as he explained. "That is right. It is a special treasure that the cult has created after sacrificing an entire empire's worth of population."

Shin's blood ran cold when he heard those words. His heart trembled when he tried to imagine the scene where the cult had sacrificed the people of an entire empire.

"That Divine Grimoire of the Cult is used by the most powerful Necromancers that became known throughout the world. It was also the very item that made the first evil necromancer, Zramek Metus, become an evil being comparable to deities. That grimoire is called the 'Records of Undead'," added Hanzo with a solemn tone. "I don't know that it falls into the hands of one of your enemies, Kiddo.

You must be careful when facing him."

"If that is the case, then the rank of that item must have surpassed my [Yamato]," mumbled Shin with a deep frown.

"That is not necessarily the case," said Solus as she chimed in. She paused for a moment before continuing. "From what I can see, there are multiple seals cast on that grimoire. However, it is still slightly better than your sword as it is most likely at the peak of Obsidian Rank right now."

"It is a Divine Relic of the Corrupted Cult after all," added Hanzo.

"A relic, huh?" mumbled Shin as he was also in possession of a relic, which was his cloak, the [Death's Shadow]. However, his relic was still in the process of evolving while Immortal's grimoire was in the process of being unsealed.

After that, his eyes were suddenly attracted to the bone scepter that Immortal was holding with his other hand, which resembled the skeleton hand of a huge creature. This was the very weapon that was on the same level as his [Yamato].

Watching the battle from the distance, Shin could see how powerful Immortal had become after their last encounter. He, himself, could feel immense pressure just by watching the battle.

He felt that coming here was worth it since he could spy on the current strength of this enemy.

On the other hand, the Cult Elder that Immortal and his undead monsters were fighting was not something he could overlook.

This NPC was most likely a boss monster comparable to the Level 165 Emperor Rank Monster. On top of that, the elder was also a powerful dark mage who was able to cast multiple advanced spells at once.

If not for the protection of the Zombie Dragon, and its humongous body, Immortal would most likely be in a sorry state right now despite possessing such a powerful item like the 'Records of Undead'.

The exchanges between the two had changed the topography of the island. The forest was flattened while the trees had dried up after the two sucked the life energy from the surroundings.

The nearby mountain had also been razed to the ground due to the powerful spells that the two had cast during their battles.

After watching the battle for a little more, Shin also cast his gaze at the different parts of the island and saw that Daven and Kazin were fighting against a group of cultists that came from who knew where.

These cultists were trying to prevent the two from getting the black pearl situated at the center of the altar, which was the main target of Immortal on coming here.

The two were putting up a good fight despite being surrounded by a huge group of cult members. Moreover, those NPC cultists were at least as strong as Peak Titled Rankers while a few were comparable to Maverick Gods and Godlike Players.

Shin slightly squinted his eyes as he looked at the battle. These two apostles of Immortal seemed to be much more powerful than what he had expected.

They were slightly inferior when compared to apex gods like Shin and the others, but they were at least on the same level as the peak gods in the lower rankings.

He then recalled Rust and the swordsman that he temporarily captured and felt that they were on a similar level.

"It seems like we have to pay more attention to these apostles," he mumbled as he put them on the same level as the Troupe Members of the Pandemonium Descendants. He felt that these two forces would be their main rivals at the battles in the future updates of the game.

Apostles, an elite group that Immortal had under him. It was the secret force that he had built way before the release of this game. It was also the main force of the Undying Guild, who was following him faithfully.

Sooner or later, Shin and the others would be clashing against them since they were from different factions.

After taking a mental note, he turned his attention back to the battle between Immortal and the Cult Elder with the hopes of understanding his opponent a little deeper.

He put more attention on the moves and spells that Immortal had rather than his undead monsters. He wanted to learn what kind of combat state Immortal was using.

But even after a long time, he still could not figure out what it was. He had limited knowledge of this area, but he could at least compare it to the previous experiences that he had when facing opponents that could enter those special stats.

But despite all of that, he still failed to find any resemblance between what Immortal was using and the others. It felt like another category of combat state that was still unknown to the public.

Regardless, Shin still kept on observing Immortal, memorizing everything the latter could do and taking note of what he could.

The battle continued to escalate until the Cult Elder exploded in power by consuming his life force, which greatly burned his Health Bar while fighting Immortal.

It must be some sort of berserk skill.

In exchange, Immortal, the Zombie Dragon, and the three power knights were suppressed by the powers of the Cult Elder.

Shin knew that the battle had escalated to a much higher level. He also could not help but think how he would fish in these troubled waters without violating the contract that he had with Immortal and his party.

While he was trying to figure out a way to trick the system with holes in the contract, Shin suddenly sensed an immense dreadful aura coming from the distance.

That was when he saw three phenomena occurring in the distance.

A moment later, his expression turned dark as he watched everything take place. "Tsk! This guy has become much more powerful after reaching Tier 3 of his class."

...