Child of Destiny

…

Shin watched the battle continue for at least more than half an hour. He could not help but become a little surprised that the forces of the Black Market were able to hold this long despite being repeatedly beaten by the two Overlord Rank Monsters.

What was even more intriguing about this was the fact that this battle was rather entraining to watch. Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, Shin was somewhat enjoying that the opposing party was struggling to fight the two overlords of this cave.

They also learned a few more things from Arlott and Illumi on how to properly control the players of the raid. Even though he was confident that he could do way better than them, he was rather surprised that the two leaders of the two teams dealing with the overlords had unique methods that he did not think about.

Out of all the people brought by the Black Market, the only ones that survived up until now were the trio of Arlott, Illumi, and Izumi along with the remaining DPS (Damage per Second) players, which were the mages, archers, a couple of swordsmen, and the ones with thief-related classes.

There were still a few healers that survived, but most of their tanks had already been wiped out. Aside from two or three from each team, the rest were already lying on the ground and waiting for the obvious outcome of this battle.

At first, when the two overlords went on a rampage after their sudden transformation, the two teams dealing with them were thrown into panic as chaos overwhelmed their ranks.

Fortunately, their leaders were quite competent to be able to handle the situation and lead their respective teams to continue the battle.

Then they realized that their attacks were not actually dealing any damage to either the monsters. They threw everything they had and tried all the things that they had in mind, yet none of them gave the result that they desired.

It was only later that they discovered that the aura barrier covering the two monsters was gradually weakening as more attacks were thrown at them. And when they realized what was happening, they started throwing everything they had to the two monsters, completely abandoning their defense.

This resulted in huge losses on their forces but it at least gave them enough leeway that they could use. They also lowered the durability of the two aura barriers to almost a fourth of its original state.

But despite that being the chase, Arlott, and Illumi were still wearing a grim expression on their faces as they completely understood that they would only get annihilated if they let the flow of the battle continue.

They had to do something to change the tides and turn it in their favor.

Both of them knew that it was time to use their final card. They no longer care about the possibility of the Stoneback Gorilla appearing out of nowhere during the most critical moment. After all, their main priority was to survive first before anything else, and this was already their last stand.

“We are going to use that thing!” shouted Arlott, finally deciding that this was the only way to survive.

Illumi did not voice out any complaint as he knew that there was no other way. He just nodded his head and signaled Izumi to start preparing.

Seeing the signal, Izumi did not even hesitate as he ordered his unit to quickly disengage in battle. Along with their retreat, Illumi led his unit to lure the Ironhead Chimpanzee toward the direction of the Steelfist Ape.

They were planning to group these two monsters together before using their final card.

From the side, Shin suddenly became interested when he saw the sudden change in the formation of the Black Market. He could not help but fix his position to a more comfortable position, quite intrigued with what they were planning.

Then he saw the unit being led by Izumi form a circular formation from the distance, surrounding the two monsters while the rest of the Black Market people lured the two overlords toward a certain location.

Not long after, the carefree expression on his face suddenly disappeared as he saw the unit from the distance set up a familiar-looking device. Or at least very similar to the ones that he had seen somewhere.

“Don’t tell me-…” When he was about to voice out his thoughts, the answer was quickly presented in front of him as he saw a bunch of cannons being set up by those people.

“Those advanced types of machinery are almost comparable to the ones that Tinker is making,” he mumbled as he remembered seeing the gadgets on display in his personal laboratory of Tinker when he visited it before.

He clearly remembered seeing such heavy cannons in that place.

It was known to everyone that Tinker was the number engineer within the game and was truly out of this world when it came to having amazing ideas about creating advanced gadgets and special tools.

Because of this reason, it was not strange for him to possess futuristic and very advanced tools and gadgets within this world filled with sword and magic.

Out of every engineer within the game, Tinker was the only one who had such things and even created them.

Shin had not seen anyone who possessed similar things or even reached the same level. Even in the online forums, he could not find anyone to reach the same level as Tinker when it came to engineering, much less magic engineering, which was a notch higher.

But right now, he was seeing the Black Market taking out such machinery on par with the ones that Tinker had created.

He must admit that he had underestimated this organization. He did not expect them to reach this level of technology in such a unique and one of the most difficult classes.

“They have hidden themselves a little too deep. I guess they are planning to use these tools when they are already on their wit’s end during the war with the Hand of Midas,” Shin was thinking about what could have happened if the war between the two sides continued without the Hand of Midas knowing about this.

Thinking about that, he did not forget to increase the number of spying crystals in the surroundings to further enlarge his scope when recovering everything that he was seeing.

This was going to be good material later for Thinker and an important piece of information for the Hand of Midas for the bigger war that was already around the corner.

After this, he slowly stood up and gently stretched his body. It was finally time to make his move.

With a snap of his fingers, three figures suddenly came out from the shadows behind. One bowed respectfully, the other was wearing an indifferent expression as if he was the most important person in the world while the last one remained standing with a nonchalant expression on their face.

They were his Dark, Crimson, and Shadow Reapers respectively, which were Blackie, Vladimir, and Grimrace.

Blackie waited patiently for Shin’s instructions. Vladimir was still uninterested in everything other than himself while Grimrace seemed to be somewhat unsatisfied about something.

“Get in position and wait for my signal. Once give it to you, kill everyone in sight,” said Shin before quickly adding. “Don’t get too near those two monsters so that you will not be forcefully unsummoned.”

“And make sure not to damage those magic cannons. I need them for something.”

“Leave the two overgrown monkeys to me. I will handle them,” he instructed as he waved his hand, telling them to move.

Blackie respectfully bowed before slowly retreating and merging with the darkness of the cave. She then disappeared without leaving a trace.

Vladimir’s body liquified first before he turned into a pool of blood as he sank to the ground. Then that crimson pool was quickly absorbed into it without leaving a single drop.

In the meantime, Grimrace was like a ghost as he vanished without making any sound, making it like he had never been there in the first place.

…

Not long after, the people from the Black Market were able to finally lure the two overlord monsters on the spot that they desired. And right on that instant, Arlott and Illumi used a large-scale skill from their Tier 2 arsenal.

They used it with a combination technique that made their individual skills fuse together. They even used a series of scrolls to make sure that the power of these skills would amplify to an unimaginable degree.

Black chains sprouted out from the ground and wrapped themselves around the two monsters, locking them in place. 𝒷ℯ𝒹𝓃𝓸𝓿ℯ𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝓶

Some of them snapped as the two overlords fought back and started pulling the chains and uprooting them from the ground. But those black chains were quite stubborn and sprouted out a few more from the ground and started to tightly wrap the limbs of the humongous monsters.

At the same time, spears with the size of huge stone pillars started descending from above and fell on the Steelfist Ape and Ironhead Chimpanzee.

Some of them landed the bodies of the two overlord monsters and forced them to lower their bodies. The impact was so strong that it even forced the two overlords to kneel on the ground.

The rest of the huge spears that failed to hit the two monsters landed on the ground around the two monsters, stacking together and forming an entrapping formation that prevented the two Overlord Rank Monsters from moving freely.

While that was happening, the surviving members of their team quickly retreated, putting as much distance as possible. When everyone reached a safe location, Arlott and Illumi, who were already sweating bullets due to their keeping their respective skills active, finally gave the signal.

Seeing that, Izumi did not even hesitate for a second and quickly shouted his order. “Fire!”

With his words echoing within the cave, the mechanical cannons that they had set up surrounding the two huge monsters, finally charged up their powers before unleashing a devastating beam forward.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The beams of light flew straight to the two overlords, not giving them the time to react to what was happening.

They even brightened the surroundings as they left a shining trail on their path.

Boom!

Not long after that, the head of the beams finally reached their destination and hit the two monsters in the distance.

A very strong explosion quickly erupted as the dome of blinding energy appeared at its center.

The entire cave shook violently due to the impact. The walls trembled while the ceiling started to show some signs of collapsing. The stalactites on the ceiling even started to fall one after another, piercing the ground below and adding to the destruction that the explosion had created.

Fortunately, the cave still held out and prevented everyone from being buried alive.

Everything was thrown into chaos as the people from the Black Market used their remaining lifesaving skills one after another to save themselves. They had already expected this to happen, so they were pretty much ready for it and braced themselves for the impact.

Everything settled down, and the surviving people of the Black Market gulped a mouthful of saliva as their eyes were filled with anticipation.

They knew that the two monsters were still alive somehow since they had not received any notification about their deaths.

They all raised their heads and started in the direction where the epicenter of the explosion was located.

The thick cloud of dust and dirt was starting to subdue at that time.

They did not have to wait that long before they saw a pair of huge silhouettes standing in the distance. And when their line of vision was finally clear, they found that the two overlord monsters indeed survived, albeit barely hanging with their lives.

Looking at their health bars that there was only a sliver of points left, they quickly became motivated and almost cheered for their approaching success.

But they were still able to hold themselves back as they knew that this ‘sliver’ of health still represented a huge amount in terms of numerical value.

Arlott and Illumi were already exhausted, but their eyes were burning with excitement. Izumi, on the other hand, was already ordering his unit to start preparing for the next round of attack.

Their mechanical cannons might be powerful, but they still needed some time to charge their energy before they could fire another shot. It also needed to cool itself down since it would self-destruct if it tried to fire a series of attacks consecutively.

All they needed right now was to buy five more minutes before this struggle could finally end.

The three leaders were about to give their orders when they noticed that someone was actually standing in the middle of the two overlord monsters.

It was an unfamiliar figure that had never been with them before.

It did not take long for them to register that it was not someone from their group. It was also at that time when they realized what that person was trying to do.

“Bastard! Stop that guy!” shouted the three leaders, waking up the rest of their group.

But instead of answering their call, what responded to them was the cries of their dying comrades one after another.

It was at that moment when Arlott, Illumi, and Izumi that they had been working their asses for someone else benefit.

What was worse about it was the fact that it was already too late for regret.

……