Child of Destiny

...

After traveling on their respective mounts, Owen and Ithilien arrived at the entrance of the Maze Forest. When they arrived there, they were immediately greeted by a familiar sight. The entrance of the map was bursting with activity, where the flow of players was constantly entering the forest while some set up their stalls nearby to sell their things.

The pair felt a little nostalgic when they saw the sight. Then they looked at each other before heading toward the entrance.

But before they could even take a step forward, a commotion quickly occurred at the center of the crowd, making everyone halt in their tracks.

Bang!

Not long after, they saw someone being thrown out from the Maze Forest. It was a Demon Hunter (a special tier 2 branch of the elven archer class) who looked like in his early twenties.

Looking at this player, the surrounding players quickly noticed that he was completely beaten up with his HP Bar only having a sliver of health.

With the current update of the game, where it had a very high realism, players in a wounded and beaten up state clearly reflected how much they had suffered and the current health that they currently had.

It was pretty much the same in the real world with the only exemption of the floating health bar and status window that every person had over their heads.

Seeing the player lying on the ground, the surrounding players quickly gathered around and formed a circle while chatting with each other. Some of the players, who set up the stalls near the scene started packing up and hid among the crowd.

Given how quick the reaction of the players and how fast they formed a crowd, it seemed like this scene was quite a common occurrence.

Curious, Owen and Ithilien joined the crowd to see what was happening. Even though they could roughly guess what was going on based on the gossiping of the surrounding players, they still wanted to see what the current situation in this place was.

Not long after, they saw a group of layers coming out from the Maze Forest. They acted arrogantly like a third-rate villain as they walked toward the poor elf.

"Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to come back here again? If you are not willing to pay the taxes and entry fees, then get lost and look for another grinding place," said the leader as he sat on his feet in front of the beaten elf, grabbing the hair and raising the head of the latter.

On the chest of this person, there was an emblem of a golden sun between two mountain peaks, indicating the guild that they belonged to.

Hearing his words, the surrounding players murmured to each other, giving out their respective comments with a whispering tone.

"Tsk! Look how arrogant these guys have become. He is just one of the thugs who bully the players weaker than him before, but he started acting like a tyrant after joining the Golden Dawn."

"Taxes? Entrance fees? This is a public grinding spot. It is not owed by the Golden Dawn."

"Yeah! What are those people from the Golden Dawn doing? Are they going to let these members act as they please? It is not like they are the owners of the Kingdom."

"Hah! You don't have to say that. Those guys only care about profits, they don't care about how their people act or about their reputation."

"Heh! They are only like that to the weaker and independent players. They are picking their targets and bullying those without backgrounds. If they encounter a real expert, they are always wagging their tails like obedient dogs."

"Tsk! Tsk! What happens to the glorious Golden Dawn of the past? They are nothing but a bunch of losers now."

"They only became like this because of the humiliation that they have suffered after trying to target the 'Dark Knight' before. They have lost quite a lot of faces when their top experts are beaten by him and even accept the encirclement of thousands of people. Imagine how humiliating is that?"

…

Listening to the gossip of the players around them, Owen had gotten an idea of what was going on. It seemed like his battle against the experts of the Golden Dawn had greatly impacted their reputation, making them lose quite a lot of talented players during the process.

"Serves them right," he muttered with a smirking face.

Hearing his words, Ithilien tugged his arm before signaling him to lower his voice. If they invited trouble right now when they were about to complete her chain quests, it would be a troublesome matter.

Even though they were quite confident about their current strengths, fighting a huge guild was still out of their league. They were unlike those monsters in their adventurer team, who could take on a large army on their own.

Moreover, the Golden Dawn was not the only one that was targeting them. The Mythical Guild and Clear Water Guild also had their eyes on them due to the major quest that she had.

At the same time, Ithilien also reminded Owen not to cause any trouble since it would be problematic once those people realized that they had come back again, especially when they were trying to clear the quest right now.

Bang!

The two were immediately disrupted by the sounds of fighting, making them raise their heads and turn back at the entrance of the Maze Forest.

Right now, there was a small group of players fighting against the members of the Golden Dawn, surprising the two.

"That is enough, Moren. You don't own this place, what is your right to collect taxes and entrance fees here?" said an Elven Forest Guardian, another special tier 2 class branched out from the regular Archer Class.

"Hoh-ho! Look at who we have here. Isn't this the famous Commander of the Flying Squirrels? Commander Anderson" said the leader of the opposing group, who was named Moren, in a sarcastic tone.

He then stood up and spread his arms before looking around. "What? Are you going to try to fight for the rights of these independent players again? Just like last time?"

"Have you already forgotten what happened after you got trashed by those people from the Mythical Guild?" he added in a provoking manner.

As if he was not satisfied yet, he quickly continued. "Your fame has long ended. You are no longer the mighty Commander of the famous Adventurer Team. You are only a lonely squirrel abandoned by those who used to call family."

"You have to accept this now. Loyalty is nothing in the face of benefits and bonds will crumble in front of a mighty fist."

Hearing that, the people behind Anderson quickly unsheathed their weapons, getting ready to fight. But before they could do anything, they were quickly stopped by their commander, making them glared sharply at Moren while gritting their teeth.

Those words hit a sour spot in them. The previous members had joined the Mythical Guild straight away after their commander lost a duel against one of the elders of that guild.

At the same time, among the crowd, Owen was currently suppressing his anger as those words seemed to have hit him too. Or to be more precise, it hit Ithilien's sour spot since a similar case had happened when her old friends had sold her out to the Mythical Guild.

He clenched his fist tightly and gritted his teeth while a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. It felt like he would slaughter those people from the Golden Dawn if he heard more nonsense from them.

Noticing the sudden change in his mood, Ithilien quickly grabbed his clenched fist before he could even do anything reckless.

At a time like this, it would be better to ignore everything and drag Owen away from the scene. Unfortunately, the entrance of the Maze Forest was currently being blocked by these people, making it hard to sneak their way into it.

At this point, another commotion suddenly occurred as another group of people suddenly joined the drama.

On their chest was an emblem with a huge purple 'M' letter written in old English Text style. It clearly indicated the guild to which they belonged.

Seeing them, the rage that Owen was suppressing suddenly became more violent. He might have hated the Golden Dawn, but he hated the Mythical Guild more since they had played a larger role in breaking Ithilien's heart before and even messed with her the hardest. He would even forgive these people, especially those traitors who joined them.

Ithilien also felt some rage at the moment, but she was much calmer and more rational than Owen since she understood their current situation. She could only tighten her grip on his arm while waiting for the opportunity to get out of there.

But alas, heaven seemed to be not on her side since she saw her old friends among the group of Mythical Guild people walking toward the crowd.

She knew at that moment that it was already too late.

"Hey! Hey! Look who we have here! Isn't this Moren and Anderson? What are the two of you doing in front of the Maze Forest? You are disrupting the businesses around here; don't you think so?" said the leading person from the side of Mythical Guild.

He seemed to be a Blood Elf based on the crimson skin that he had. Adding the tattoos over his body and the huge ax behind him, it was pretty clear that he was in Berserker Class.

Moren looked at the other party and snarled back. "Keep out of this, Kendi. This is none of your business."

Ignoring him, Kendi, the Blood Elf, turned toward Anderson and said. "Oh~! Look at this. Isn't this our famous commander? What happened to you? Why do you look like a beggar right now?"

Hearing those words, Anderson could not help but glare at Kendi full of hatred. He could clearly remember the time when this guy had backstabbed him during one of their important missions.

This traitorous guy had stabbed him in the back snatched the quest item that they had worked on for months and handed it to the elders of the Mythical Guild just to get his current position.

Seeing that Anderson had no intention of talking to him, Kendi felt that this was going to be boring and quickly shook his head.

He then turned toward the crowd and said. "For those who don't want to get involved with this, it is better for you to distance yourself from here as far as possible, or else don't blame us for not showing any mercy."

"The Maze Forest will be exclusively used by the 'Big Three' right now, so I suggest you do not enter until further notice," he added while releasing a strong and scary aura that assaulted the crowd.

This guy might be an *sshole, but his skills and strength were still among the top Titled and Maverick Rankers within the game.

Hearing those words, the crowd felt disgusted and enraged. From the look of it, the 'Big Three' would be doing the 'monopoly time' once again, taking everything in the Maze Forest by themselves and not letting anyone inside.

Even though they were unwilling to comply, they did not have a choice but to follow their words since none of them could face these three Powerhouse Guilds.

"Tsk! Tsk! Is it that time already? D*mn! You are killing all the fun now," said Moren but did not say anything.

He first turned to Anderson and gave a provoking look before signaling to his people. "It is time to work guys. Clear the area and don't leave anyone behind. Make sure that there are no rats hiding inside the forest."

The crowd started to scatter and headed toward a safe distance away from the Maze Forest while the people from the Mythical Guild and Golden Dawn started making preparations for their 'harvesting' of the materials within the forest.

There was also an unwilling look on Anderson, but he knew that he could not do anything right now given his current influence and strength.

He had been assassinated by the Mythical Guild multiple times already, making his level lag behind the mainstream players. His equipment had also been robbed by them during those occasions as he dropped everything for every death. He had nothing on himself right now aside from his pitiful skills that could be countered by Kendi, who knew everything about him.

He could only sigh helplessly and signaled his friends to pick up the poor elf that had been thrown out and beaten up earlier.

While they were about to move away, they noticed that there was a pair of players walking toward the entrance of the Maze Forest despite everyone moving away from it.

"What are they doing?"

"Are they crazy? Don't they know who they are facing right now?"

The bystanders quickly started discussing with each other as they saw the pair ignoring everyone and walking straight to the Maze Forest.

"Hey! Don't you hear what I just said? Do you have a death wish?" shouted Kendi as he saw the pair. He felt humiliated for being ignored right in front of countless eyes.

Obviously, that pair was Owen and Ithilien. The former was walking straight and not caring about the gazes directed at them. He had a steady step and did not show any fear or hesitation.

Ithilien, who was slightly behind him, was wearing a bitter and helpless look as she knew that their plans were thrown out of the window once again. But she could not complain about it either given the current situation at hand.

At the very least, they were confident that they could handle this problem right now and solve it without a hitch.

Seeing that he was still being ignored, Kendi immediately became and enraged grabbed his ax before charging straight to the pair.

Boom!

His stomp on the ground resulted in a loud explosion where the ground where he previously stood crumbled while the air around him created a sonic boom sound.

He arrived beside Owen within an instant and was about to swing his huge ax down.

"Ah!"

The onlookers were amazed and scared by the instantaneous speed that Kendi had shown while also feeling pity for the poor and ignorant person, who dared to challenge the members of 'Big Three'.

Anderson was fast enough to respond. He wanted to save that player loaded an arrow on his bow and pulled it back with all his strength. He also infused his mana on the arrow, making it release a deep green light as he took aim forward.

But before he could even release the string of the bow, an unbelievable sight suddenly occurred and stunned everyone in the scene.

They saw the mysterious player slightly extend their arm to the side and accurately grab the face of Kendi before slamming it toward the ground.

Boom!

Then they saw the supposedly mighty and powerful squad leader of the Mythical Guild lying on the ground with his head buried under a pile of rubble.

...