Child of Destiny

…

Shin was currently in deep thought as he ran deeper into the woods with Lycan’s lead. The barrier that was preventing them from going further was already gone, so they could now continue exploring the area.

They were also running away from the previous location, so he sent a message to the other group, telling them to meet up at a new location. He also attached the coordinates to the message.

As they continued to go deeper into the woods, Lycan noticed that Shin contemplating something. “Don’t think too much about it, young man. This place may be called a cursed land from the outside. But in truth, it is just an old kingdom that falls from the trickery of that wicked god.”

Shin immediately took note of the hidden information in those words, so he continued to inquire. “Are all of the monsters here the same as the ones that we meet earlier?”

Lycan seemed to scoff at Shin when he heard those words and quickly answered. “Don’t get fooled, young man.”

“There may be a lot of enlightened beasts on this land but not all of them are as friendly as those guys, especially when you put the corrupted ones into consideration.”

Shin slightly nodded his head and reorganized the information. ‘So, the monsters in this place are divided into two to three factions.’

‘The friendly beasts like the ones that we just encountered earlier. Those guys are most likely going to be the NPCs of this area. After all, it is hard to believe that there are other people living in this area.’

‘Then there are the hostile beasts. Based on what Lycan had said, they are also intelligent beasts and equally powerful as Lycan or those previous beasts. And if we put them on the same system as NPC Cities, then these beasts are going to be the ‘rebel’ and ‘bandit’ groups of this place. They can also be considered as the Dark Cities where red-name players are staying.’

‘Then there are also some corrupted monsters present in this place. It is the same corruption as the Corrupted Churches have, or is it more like a curse?’

After that, Shin turned to Lycan once again and asked. “Then what about the wicked god that you are talking about? I also hear that you said something about it to that black panther earlier.”

The wolf was silent for a moment before replying. “She is not a god, but a divine being that is full of trickery and wickedness. She is only being called a ‘god’ because she managed to seize one of the empty thrones that have been vacated by the fallen gods.”

Shin’s pupils seemed to shrink when heard those remarks. He had a pending quest that was related to gods. And the strange book in his possession was said to be a fragment of a god’s power.

It had been a long time since he heard about it. He even tried to inquire about some details about it from Solus, but aside from basic information, he didn’t gain anything noteworthy. It looked like he still needed to build up more affinity with her before he could get more information from her. .

Hearing about a piece of information about gods, Shin couldn’t help but ask further. “A god but not a god? It is a little confusing, but I get the gist of it.”

Lycan seemed to nod his head and continued. “That god is a little special as she had a lot of names given to her by a lot of civilizations. Some call her the Goddess of Ice and Snow, the others address her as the God of Winter, sometimes she is called the Queen of the Frozen Throne, or the Ruler of The Northern Sea, and many more.”

The wolf paused for a brief moment before continuing with a solemn tone. “But to us who know about her real identity and true nature, she is nothing but an evil being that manages to ascend to the divine realm through wicked means, and we call her the Wicked One.”

“You’ve been calling her a wicked god and evil being for quite some time now, but can you can explain to us why is that?” asked Shin as he failed to suppress his curiosity.

Lycan halted his steps and turned to Shin. “I can’t tell you all of the reasons since I only discovered a few of them when we are fighting the fallen Dragon Worshippers in this place.”

“But at the very least, I can share with you our discoveries during that time.”

…

“I didn’t know how those old scholars recorded the events here on the historical records. But I can at least guess that some of them are forged since that is how the wicked one manipulates things.”

“One of the instances is during the reign of the first king of the Saint Heaven Kingdom. At that time, the kingdom is way poorer than most of its neighboring kingdoms.”

“The strongest Kingdom on these lands is this place, the Draconian Kingdom. Though, based on the travelers that accidentally stumble upon this place, we learned that it is now known as the Frozen Kingdom.”

“But because of the Wicked One, this mighty kingdom suddenly fell.”

“During that time, the Saint Heaven Kingdom doesn’t have a god that it worships. But all of a sudden, a certain church is built at the center of the Kingdom, and they call it the Temple of Winter.”

“They worship the God of Winter and that god is occasionally giving the Pope of that church an oracle, which helps the kingdom survive the disasters that they are going to face.”

“Because of the repeated success of those oracles, the first king of the Saint Heaven Kingdom become a loyal believer of the Church of Winter.”

“The god gives him an oracle and the king faithfully follows all of them.”

“Ordering an army to subdue the so-called evil forces. Then slaughtering the towns and villages that are said to be the home of witches and dark mages. And a lot of things that are recorded in the history books.”

“We don’t know if any of that is real or not. After all, we are not a resident of this kingdom. All of the things that we know are from recorded history.”

“Then one day, another oracle was given to the King. It is saying that the Draconian Kingdom is preparing for war.”

“The king is alarmed and immediately sends his scouts to confirm the oracle. And when he heard that the Draconians are indeed getting ready for war, he quickly sends an envoy to discuss building a diplomatic relationship between the two countries.”

“The king is aware that his forces are not strong enough to protect themselves from such a powerful kingdom as the Draconian Kingdom, so instead of making an enemy out of them, he decides to engage in a friendly relationship between them.”

“The Saint Heaven Kingdom may be weaker during that time, but they are rich in a lot of unique resources.”

“The Draconian Kingdom is not lacking in any kind of resources but one of the resources that the Saint Heaven Kingdom provide is greatly beneficial to the Draconians, which is why they agree to build a healthy relationship with them.”

…

“Then one day, the first king of the Saint Heaven Kingdom, King Cassius I, was invited to attend a bouquet hosted by King Grey, the king of the Draconian Kingdom.”

“King Cassius I, complied and showed his willingness to attend, especially when it was mentioned in the letter that the bouquet was the highlight of the Festival for Dragons, it was a special event for the Dragon Worshippers to meet a real dragon.”

“King Cassius I only became a believer of the Church of Winter, so he was also curious about the culture and religion of the neighboring kingdom.

“But during that event, King Cassius I witnessed the real power of a Dragon and how its worshippers could be. The king became afraid of their powers and started to fear them.”

“But aside from the fear that he was feeling, he also started to covet their powers. He started to have an ambition of also wielding such powers.”

“And that was the time that the God of Winter is waiting for. She gave an oracle that caused a huge disaster.”

…

Lycan suddenly stopped talking when he reached that point, making Shin click his tongue. They were about to reach the most important part, so he couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed.

‘This is exactly how a reader feels whenever an author ends the chapter with a cliffhanger,’ he commented inside his head as if he wanted to stab Lycan right now.

But he could do that since they suddenly encountered an unexpected variable. A winged person was standing in front of them, blocking their path.

Based on its attire which looked like an elegant robe from ancient times and the snow-white wings on its back, Shin could instantly tell what kind of creature it was.

An Angel!

‘Why is an angel in this place? Based on the current settings of the game, it is still too early for a powerful being like this to appear as a ‘monster’,’ thought Shin with a confused look.

He even used his True Sight Skill to take a look at its information panel. But aside from the bunch of question marks that greeted him, the only information that he could get was its race, which was called ‘Seraphim’.

‘This is not a monster, but an NPC,’ concluded Shin.

Then that angel looked at Lycan and spoke. “I did not expect that you are going to survive after such a long time. I can’t deny that I am quite impressed.”

The wolf glared at the angel before responding. “You are saying that after sealing this place and stopping the time for us with the Frozen Wall of Divinity.”

Hearing that, Shin immediately identified who was this particular NPC. ‘He must be the envoy of the Winter Goddess that build that towering wall of ice!’

Realizing that, Shin couldn’t help but look at the angel full of cautiousness as he was fully aware of how powerful this particular seraph was.

……