Child of Destiny

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Necromancer Classes was one of those classes that could be considered as a 'scaling' class since it was quite 'useless' at the start of the game due to their lack of powerful farming skills and very squishy selves when hunting in the wilderness.

But as the game progressed, and these classes gained more skills and built up their undead forces, they became one of the overpowered classes within the game.

They were also quite troublesome to deal with due to multiple tricks that they had under themselves such as powerful dark spells, a huge army of undead monsters, and a variety of buffs and debuffs that they could use to enhance the strength of their army and weaken their enemies respectively.

It was a class that was widely known as the one-man army.

Right at this moment, Shin was seeing what this class could achieve when it reached its highest potential.

In the distance, Shin was watching three more phenomena as Immortal held the Cult Elder that he was fighting along with his Zombie Dragon.

The first was the splitting of the ground, where dense black smoke was currently leaking out.

It was highly concentrated corrupted mana!

A moment later, sharp bone claws reached out from the crack of the earth before widening it. Then a huge skeletal monster pulled itself from the crack. It was a gigantic skeleton with multiple arms that was holding a variety of weapons in each of its hands.

Not far from there was a huge black pillar of light that descended from the sky. It was like a huge column that supported the sky and connected it to the ground.

Bang!

Then a humongous monster suddenly walked out of this black pillar, revealing its hideous appearance. It was a giant wearing a set of monk-like clothes with four arms. The first pair were quite long possessing long fingers and sharp claws while the other pair was slightly shorter with its palms joined together as if it was praying.

Its face was like a rotting zombie, making it hard to stomach. It was also breathing out black smoke, which was the representation of the dense corrupted mana running throughout its body.

Meanwhile, a huge rift appeared in the sky. It spread wide, filling it with black cracks that spread in every direction.

Then a humanoid figure walked out of it. It looked like an ant compared to the previous two that first appeared. But the presence that it had was as strong as the two, especially the suppressive aura that it was releasing.

This humanoid figure was wearing a set of full-body armor that was unique to the glorious knights of imperial families of the past. It was also wearing a crown that indicated its previous status of being a king during its time.

But instead of releasing a glorifying aura, it was currently emitting a dark and sinister presence that could suffocate anyone.

Adding the double-edge sword stuck on its chest and the rest of the short swords and spears stabbed on its back, this humanoid creature looked wicked and horrifying.

Each of these new undead monsters was comparable to the Zombie Dragon that was currently fighting alongside Immortal.

Shin, who had seen everything from the distance, could not help but frown deeply as he felt immense pressure from each of these new summons.

In the meantime, Hanzo, who was in the speck of light form like the rest of the elemental spirits, suddenly opened his mouth. "The Skeleton Destroyer, the First Abomination, and the Forsaken King – all of these guys are ancient undead that used to strike a deep fear and cause a catastrophe in the entire continent."

Hearing those words, Shin could not help but raise his brows.

He was about to ask what they could do when Hanzo continued. "They are from the same era as me, who was first born right after the Ancient Era. Each of them possessed unrivaled powers that are comparable to the heroes of the past."

As Shin listened, he also saw that the Abomination Spirits surrounding Immortal suddenly fused with each of the ancient undead, possessing their bodies.

Boom!

Not long after, an even more powerful pressure was released from each of them, covering the entire island.

Shin's solemn expression turned grave as he watched all of this happen.

On the other hand, the Cult Elder, who was fighting Immortal suddenly started shouting after seeing the ancient undeads. "Immortal, you traitor! The Cult will never forgive you! They will hunt you down even at the end of this world!"

After that, he was submerged in the attacks that came from the combined forces of the four undead monsters on Immortal's side.

In the meantime, Shin as that the Death Knight, Undead Knight, and Doom Knight assisted Daven and Kazin in defeating royal guards of the cult assigned to the Cult Elder and escort the black pearl.

Immortal was originally planning to hide most of his cards since he knew that Shin was currently observing him, but he could not afford to waste more time here since he knew that the reinforcement of the cult would be coming here now at any minute. He had to defeat this Cult Elder as soon as possible and take the black pearl before it could happen.

Fortunately, he still had a lot of cards under his sleeve, especially when he now possessed the ancient relic of the cult. The 'Records of Undead' not only possessed a list of powerful undead monsters that he could get, but it also recovered all the techniques and skills of its previous owners, who were powerful beings.

With this treasure, he was confident that he would be able to defeat Shin in the future.

Revealing a few of his cards now would be a small sacrifice to build up his power and gain more advantage for their future battles.

Shin was trying to think of a way to take advantage of the holes in the contract and planning to sabotage Immortal and the rest somehow, but Immortal moved much faster than he had expected.

Or more specifically, he did not expect Immortal to be decisive enough to reveal his trump cards this early when he was watching them from the sidelines.

It did not take long for Immortal and the rest to wrap up this battle.

"Tsk!" he could only click his tongue as he felt a little pity that he could not do anything to sabotage them.

Regardless, he had already achieved his goal. He saved the villagers and even the rest who were captured by the cult.

He did not know how much time he would take if he did it alone, especially when he did not know that other people got captured along with the villagers. His job became much easier when he collaborated with these guys, but he felt that something strange during the entire process.

Given how much Immortal and his people had prepared, he could see that they did not need his assistance at all. They could get the black pearl themselves even if they did not collaborate with him.

"Their original goal is to tie my hands and prevent me from interfering with this event," Shin clicked his tongue when he thought about this.

Immortal was afraid that Shin and the rest of Empyrean Talons would get in their way, especially when the villagers who got captured by the cult were supposedly under Shin's protection. They had expected that Shin would get a special mission from the system once he discovered that his people were under threat – he was a duke after all, and they were his subjects.

What confused Shin was how Immortal knew about it when this information was kept in secret. It was only recently that the public became aware of this.

At this point, Shin felt quite regretful that he had chosen the solo quest instead of the group version. If he chose the latter choice, then they would be able to stop Immortal and the rest with their plan once again.

"Now wonder the system had given me such choices – they were a clue after all," he mumbled before disappearing from his spot and appearing at the center altar once again.

Daven and Kazin were currently cleaning up the battlefield when Shin suddenly appeared in manner. He was walking toward them without any caution despite seeing what happened earlier.

Three knights, who were supposedly guarding the black pearl after defeating the cult's royal guards, suddenly disappeared from their respective positions and surrounded Shin.

But before they could do anything, Grimrace, Astaroth, and Hanzo suddenly appeared to intercept them. They guarded Shin from all sides while glaring sharply at the three undead monsters.

Shin might be confident that these guys would not be able to do anything to him due to the contract, but it would never hurt to always be careful. Always putting up his guard, especially when facing such a sly group, would be his best choice.

Even if Daven and Kazin possessed a Spirit Awe skill that could force his elemental spirits to be unsummoned, Shin would still get ample time to escape with the delay between the activation of such skills.

During the standoff between the two sides, Immortal suddenly appeared and slowly descended from the sky. He looked at Shin briefly before walking toward the black pearl.

Shin remained standing on his spot, watching Immortal's actions.

Immortal examined the black pearl after getting it before nodding his head. He then turned toward Shin with an evil grin. "It has been a while. I want to test my new strength against you, but I have a lot of matters to attend to, so let's meet again at the Hegemon Cup."

After that, a dark portal appeared behind him before he stepped on it.

When Immortal's figure disappeared, his undead monsters also disappeared as they were unsummoned by him.

"Hegemon Cup? Does this mean he will not be participating in the upcoming United Cup?" he mumbled in confusion. But then figured out what Immortal was planning.

This Lich God was planning to patiently bid his time and steadily build his force before making a comeback and shocking everyone with his powers.

He would most likely be lying low for the time being, which also meant that Shin would not have to worry about him that much.

Shin stared at the portal for a moment before turning to Daven and Kazin. "It seems like your task here is already done. How about you send the information that you promised so that we can leave."

Daven smiled as he replied. "How about you release our people first?"

Shin shrugged his shoulders before taking out the prison prisms where Rust and the swordsman were being held. He then tossed it in the air before it fell on the ground between Shin and the two apostles of Immortal.

Understanding what Shin wanted to do, Daven opened a virtual screen before sending a message to Shin, containing the promised information.

Shin did not immediately leave after getting what he needed. He first opened the message, making sure that it was reliable. He was still quite doubtful that these guys would give him the accurate information that he needed.

But to his surprise, it seemed like the information was the real deal given that he suddenly received a quest update from the system right after reading them.

He did not read thoroughly at everything and even ignored the notification since he was still not in the position to let his guard down. He did not want to be surrounded by his enemies while he was reading them.

He glanced at Daven and Kazin before nodding his head. After that, he turned around and left along with his Elemental Spirits.

He wanted to at least deal with these guys now that the contract was done, but after sensing those hostile gazes directed at him in the dark, he knew that he would not be able to deal with all of them alone.

In the meantime, Daven and Kazin did not dare to make their moves as they were also aware of the strength of the opposing side. They did not even dare to pick up the prison prisms on the ground when Shin was checking the message since they could feel the immense threat that he was emitting.

Even the other lesser apostles that came with them, hiding up until now, did not dare to make their move as instructed by the two.

Daven only picked up the two prism prisons after making sure that Shin had left.

"What a dangerous individual. His presence alone is enough to deter us from doing anything against him," mumbled Kazin as he recalled what just happened.

After releasing Rust and the swordsman, Daven stared in the direction where Shin had left off before turning around. "Let's go back. We will not be clashing against them for quite a while anyway, so it is not our concern."

"Do you think that they will head to that place to try closing the demonic portal?" asked Rust as she followed Daven.

"They don't have the choice. The Bug Tribe will be flooding in this real if they don't," said Kazin.

"I guess an Empire War will be taking place next," Rust felt quite excited when she thought about this.

"What's the point of being excited? We will not be participating in it anyway. We are tasked to focus on reaching the Awakened Continent as soon as possible," rebuked Kazin as they entered the dark portal.

"Let them fight among themselves while we develop ourselves."

...