Child of Destiny

...…

Shin followed Diablo as they sneaked inside the Corrupted Nest. His stealth abilities were inferior to the latter due to their class differences and advantages, but his technique was still quite good.

His training to move stealthily was still there, so sneaking like this would not be a problem, especially when his skills were enhanced by his secondary combative class and his sacred relic cloak, the [Death's Shadow].

By following Diablo, Shin was able to get a glimpse of the assassin's technique. They were quite crude and simple when compared to most of the people in the same field, but his self-studied and self-created techniques were one of the best. Adding the stealth skills and abilities that he had gotten from the game, his was still better than most of the players with the same or similar class as he had created them himself.

He was more familiar with all of these, making his control over everything reached a certain level.

Diablo had honed his own techniques, skills, and abilities to make it to his current level. But after seeing most of them, Shin realized that Diablo still had a lot of room for improvement.

Now that Diablo had the 'Soundless Assassination Technique', his abilities would reach greater heights, and become a true expert himself.

Shin could not wait to see how strong Diablo would become in the future.

The two of them sneaked inside the castle within the Corrupted Nest successfully. They did not encounter much of an obstacle along the way as Diablo had found a good path where they avoided all the monsters patrolling the area.

After entering, Shin immediately noticed the players guarding and patrolling within the castle. Most of them were highly skilled and at least rankers varying from low to high rankers.

It was quite a heavily guarded place given the skills and abilities of these players, but they were nothing in the eyes of apex experts like Shin and Diablo. The two were able to sneak past these players under their stealth.

But during their infiltration, Shin noticed something. These people were not from the Demonic Churches like he had expected. Instead, they corrupted players from the Corrupted Cult. He had not found a single demonic player, much less members of the Pandemonium Descendants that he was after.

Not even a single Sweeper of the Pandemonium could be found within the castle, which indicated that they had already left just like Diablo had said.

Of course, there was also a possibility that they were hiding inside a different base, but he had chosen to believe Diablo.

After exploring the castle for a few minutes and finding nothing, Shin could not help but frown. Aside from these patrolling players and a few of them guarding certain rooms within the castle that obviously did not have anything inside, the whole place was completely empty.

"Is this some sort of trap?" Shin could not help but voice out his thoughts after their unfruitful infiltration.

Diablo thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Probably, but I don't think it is for us. They may be expecting someone else."

"What's the plan? Should we look for another place?" asked Shin as he thought that there was no point in staying here.

Diablo shook his head. "There is no need for that. I am sure that our target is hiding somewhere within this castle. Paimon must have set up something within here – like an altar or something similar. I am confident that whoever took over his position, must be using it."

"How sure are you?" asked Shin with some doubt.

Diablo took out a black orb, which was glowing with a dark light, before answering. "A hundred percent. Even though I am not sure, this thing begs to differ."

"What's this?" asked Shin curiously.

"It is a tool that can find any kind of Demonic Altar or something similar. It is one of the treasures that I have stolen from the Pandemonium after infiltrating their bases a couple of times," explained Diablo, which made Shin shake his head.

"So, what's the plan? Should we explore the underground? There must be a cell dungeon there or at least a secret room," said Shin while scanning their surroundings.

Diablo thought for a moment before suggesting. "It will take some time for us to explore the whole castle to find the place that we are looking for given its size. It is more efficient if we explore separately."

Shin understood it and thought briefly. He then nodded his head, agreeing with the plan. "Alright. Let's contact each other if we find our target."

The two discussed a few moments, telling each other which parts of the class they would explore. After polishing their plan, they agreed to meet at the throne room after exploring the other areas. If there were some accidents along the way, they agreed to escape separately.

After that, the two disappeared and went in different directions.

…

Shin was assigned to the left wing of the castle.

He moved sneakily while alternating with his stealth skills while exploring. It had been a while since he had moved like this. He might not be his major area of expertise, but he was quite familiar with it given his training.

He did not engage in any fight during his exploration to avoid any commotion. He did not even assassinate any of the corrupted players guarding certain rooms and instead had chosen to take a detour and looked for other ways to enter those rooms like going through the windows.

He had already explored most of the rooms within the left wing after spending a couple of hours, but he did not find anything. He even started to doubt if there was something within this place.

But after seeing how the guards were positioned and the patrolling players were walking through the corridor, Shin realized they had been deliberately arranged that way. It was as if to lead someone to certain directions where the traps were laid.

After he was done exploring the entire left wing, Shin had engraved the blueprint of the whole place within his head. He had memorized everything which included the positions of the stationary guards and the routes of the patrolling guards.

Shin thought for a moment before contacting Diablo and telling him his findings. He later learned that the latter had also found a similar thing. Diablo had also memorized everything like Shin, and when they compared their results, they realized that everything seemed to be leading to two places.

One of the places that the guards were luring them was the throne room, which obviously a trap. The other one was leading toward the outside of the castle, where a secret entrance was located. Given that the guards were deliberately 'guiding' them there, Shin felt that this secret entrance that was supposed to be hidden was yet another trap.

But after not finding anything, Shin and Diablo felt that they had no choice but to head over to those areas, which were inviting them.

What the two felt uncomfortable about was the fact that the two places were in the opposite direction and quite far from each other. It was pretty much obvious that these two places were meant to separate the forces that would infiltrate the castle.

The two fell silent for a couple of moments as they weighed the choices that they had. They had also considered all the possibilities inside their heads.

After a few moments, both came out with the same decision – they had to head to the two places separately.

One of the main reasons was to prevent the opposing side from escaping when the trap on the other had been triggered. The other reason was to save more time since they felt that whatever the other party was doing, they were about to be done with it.

Aside from that, the two of them were confident with their respective strength, especially Shin who was already in the third tier of his class. Even if he met a King Class Monster with a level over 150, he was confident that he would be able to hold his ground. He could even escape if he wanted to.

Diablo was in a similar position, especially with his class. Even if he could not face whatever the other side had prepared for them, he was confident that he would be able to escape even if he could not fight.

"Alright, let's go with this," said Diablo.

"I'll head over the throne room while you go to the secret passage," said Shin. He was nearer to the throne room, so he suggested this to save more time.

"But before anything else, we must time our movements. We will enter both places at the same time," said Diablo after serious consideration. It was to prevent the other side from responding and avoid them from making any preparations.

Shin nodded his head before ending the call and heading toward his destination. It only took him a couple of minutes to arrive outside the throne room. He had hidden himself under the shadows of the stone pillars of the corridor while also using his stealth skills.

He was waiting for the signal from Diablo before making his move.

*Ding*

When he had received the message and after taking a glance at it, he quickly sprung into action.

Swoosh!

He dashed straight to the door of the throne room while tightly gripping the sheathed [Yamato] with his left hand.

His figure was like a blur when he made his move which disappeared within an instant. Before the patrolling guards and the guys guarding the door could even respond, flashes of light cut through their bodies.

All of them stood stunned in their respective positions as Shin appeared in front of the door and sheathing his sword.

Click!

When the subtle sound of the sword and the sheath close reverberated in the quiet corridor, the bodies of the guards fell on the ground with soft thuds before dissipating into specks of light.

Shin did not even bother to look at them as he placed his right hand on the door in front of him before pushing it.

Creak~!

There was a creepy and eerie sound when the door was being opened, but Shin remained unbothered. He remained to be on guard as he opened the door, preparing for any kind of ambush.

But nothing happened until the doors of the throne room were fully opened.

Shin looked inside and saw a dark room without any kind of light. Aside from the light from the corridor that entered through the door, the entire room seemed to be completely dark.

Shin knitted his brow slightly before stepping forward. When his foot stepped through the doorway and he entered the throne, the doors suddenly swung back and closed themselves.

Bang!

Shin did not even turn around to look like his eyes remained fixed in front of him while his other senses remained sharp, preparing for any kind of attack.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

It was at that moment when the torches attached to the pillars of the room lit up one after another, illuminating the entire throne room.

One by one, the torches brightened up as the light moved closer to the other end of the room, where the throne was located.

Click!

When the final torches were ignited, Shin finally had a clearer look in front of him. He squinted his eyes as he found a pair of people up front.

One was a hooded figure standing beside the throne while holding a huge bone scepter with a purple gem attached to its tip, which was releasing a dark and wicked aura.

Shin could feel that this person was quite strong but not strong enough to threaten him. But, on the other hand, the other person made his expression under his mask change a little.

It was an elf sitting on the throne haughtily. This elf was looking at him with expressionless eyes while resting his elbow on the armrest of the throne while his chin was being supported by his fist.

Shin ignored the handsome appearance and other features of the elf as his eyes became attracted to the golden crown over their head. A single look was more than enough for Shin to figure out that it was the crown relic that he was after.

Shifting his gaze, he noticed a pair of exquisite swords lending on the other side of the throne, which were emitting a dark light that could give Shin an eerie feeling.

Looking at these two, Shin twisted his neck left and right to produce a series of popping sounds before walking forward fearlessly.

...…