Child of Destiny

...

A few minutes during Shin's battle against King Yulis.

Diablo just entered the secret passage when a sudden sense of dread washed over his body. It was as if an existence way beyond his level had sent its eyes on him the moment when he set foot at the passage.

He hesitated for a moment since he knew that it was already beyond his limit. But since there was no one else who would investigate this place other than him, he had to continue and at least see what was hiding beyond the dark corridor in front of him.

Putting his guard up, Diablo used most of his stealth-enhancing skills to make sure that his presence would be as unnoticeable as he could as he stepped into the dark passage.

While moving forward, he saw huge piles of bones at the side of the passage whenever he reached a certain distance. From what he could see, those bones came from humans and monsters.

Aside from the decaying bodies that had yet to turn into bones, he also saw a few corroded bodies due to some unknown toxins. His eyes which could see through the dark also saw some smoke and vapors coming from those bodies, which indicated that it was not that long since they had been corroded.

The deeper he got into the secret passage, the more remains of a human and monsters he found. They were scattered around, making the whole place very messy.

The entire passage was not that long. Aside from it being slightly inclined and headed deeper to the ground, the distance seemed to be not far.

Not long after, he stood in front of a pair of huge metal doors that were tightly shut and completely locked.

Observing the engravings and the rune patterns that the metal doors had, he could tell that whatever was locked behind them was something very powerful.

Diablo was not sure if he had to open these doors or not. After all, it was no different from him freeing the entity trapped behind these doors if it escaped.

Click!

Clank! Clank! Clank!

While he was hesitating, he suddenly saw the locks of the door moving on their own. The runes that were engraved into the metal doors were also shining with crimson light forcing him to shield his eyes due to the sudden illumination within the dark.

Bang!

When the final lock was finally undone, the doors slowly opened themselves as if someone were pulling them from the side of the room.

Dong!

When they were finally opened, Diablo felt a strong gust of wind that blew at him from the inside.

Swoosh!

He crossed his arms in front of his face and lowered his stance so that he would not be blown away by the air current.

When the blowing wind finally stopped and he was able to recover, he slowly raised his head and looked through the doorway.

It was at that moment that he saw a dark shadow moving inside.

When he tried to focus his gaze and used the observation ability of his 'Demon's Eyes' to look clearer in the dark, the massive silhouette of the creature was gradually revealed in front of him.

"Sh*t!" he cursed under his breath when he realized that it was a giant centipede that was coiling around inside the room.

Judging by the massive size of the room where it was trapped, Diablo could get a rough estimate of the side of this monster. From what he could see, it was at least hundreds of meters long.

Hum!

Diablo felt a cold shiver that ran through his back as he saw hundreds of red lights appearing one after another within the dark room.

Looking closer at them, Diablo realized that they were the eyes of the centipede!

They were looking at him, seemingly staring straight into his soul as they carefully observed each of his moments.

Shriek!

Then there was a soul-screeching cry that came from the centipede as it opened its mouth. It then charged straight out of the room, heading toward Diablo as if it found its food.

"D*mn!" Diablo did not hesitate to use all his speed-boosting buffs and turned around, running back to the direction where he came from.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

He left a series of afterimages behind as he climbed up the inclined passage toward the outside.

He did not dare to turn around as he knew that the giant centipede was chasing him with a speed no lesser than his. He could also hear the series of explosions that indicated that the entire passage was being destroyed as the centipede ran through it.

Rumble!

He could also feel the intense tremors of the walls, which indicated the rapidly approaching monster. The concrete floor and ceiling also shook violently, having long cracks and falling dust and rock fragments respectively.

Swoosh!

A few moments after an intense and thrilling running, Diablo finally dashed out of the secret passage.

But he did not pause his steps and continued to run away from the entrance as far as possible. He only stopped when he reached a considerable distance before turning around.

Boom!

Right after he did, a huge explosion suddenly erupted along with the breakthrough of the giant centipede. Its body emerged from the ground which was immediately shrouded by the thick and huge cloud of dust while rock fragments flew in the air and scattered in every direction.

Diablo watched from the distance as he watched the giant centipede wreak havoc on the castle and destroy all the structures nearby.

At first, Diablo felt a little guilty since it was most likely because of him that this gigantic monster had escaped. But after seeing how it destroyed the corrupted nest and even devoured all the surrounding corrupted monsters and demonic creatures in a gulp, he felt rather good.

That was until he saw the giant centipede stop what it was doing before dashing toward a certain direction.

Diablo raised his head brows for a moment as he looked in the direction where the giant centipede was headed. Then he suddenly realized that that direction was headed to the Maze Forest.

His eyes suddenly turned wide in realization before giving chase.

Swoosh!

He also sent a message to Shin, informing the latter about the current situation while also contacting Owen and the rest of the people stationed in the Maze Forest.

But he also received bad news from the other side as they informed him about the declaration of war of the 'Big Three' to the Sacred Light Kingdom.

Even though they were somewhat expecting it to happen due to Diablo's warning earlier, the timing that they had could also not get worse due to the appearance of the giant centipede.

And from what he had seen earlier, this centipede was most likely an Emperor Class Monster. Such a monster would not only create chaos for the whole kingdom but also destroy whatever was on its path.

Given that it was targeting the Maze Forest, Diablo felt that the kingdom was already doomed. It was unless something as powerful as this Emperor Class Monster Boss appeared.

Diablo heard from Shin that the latter had to deal with the business on his side first. Shin still had to retrieve the Crown Relic that was on his side before he could catch up to the rest.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Diablo did not have a choice but to reveal a couple of his trump cards.

Since he did no longer find any sign of Pandemonium Descendants in this corrupted nest, he knew that Paimon had pulled out their forces from the kingdom. Their main goal had most likely been accomplished.

Diablo did not have to reveal his cards since most of his main targets were no longer around. But since he felt a little obligated at the current situation, he felt lending a hand a little.

Taking out a whistle that looked like the skull of a small monster from his inventory, Diablo turned toward the giant centipede ahead of him blowing it.

Hong~!

The sound of the whistle was soft and quiet, but it seemed to have been heard by the giant centipede.

The centipede suddenly halted its advance and slowly turned around. Its hundreds of eyes looked straight at Diablo, seemingly glaring at him.

Seeing that, Diablo suddenly smirked before saying. "Come at me, you ugly creature. Let me play with you for a while."

He then put the skull whistle in his mouth once again and blew it as hard as he could before turning around and running in a random direction.

He did not even bother to look at the giant centipede as he was confident that it would chase after him no matter what.

Shriek!

With a loud cry that seemed to be able to shake one's soul, the giant centipede chased after Diablo. It destroyed all the trees on its path and flattened the ground in its wake during the chase.

Diablo did not dare to look behind as he knew that it would be the end of him the moment when he slowed down.

He was planning to lure the giant centipede to an isolated place or a corrupted nest first before using more of his trump cards to buy as much time as he could.

If possible, he would want to destroy all the corrupted nests within the kingdom by leading this giant centipede around. But he knew that it would be impossible since the effects of the skull whistle would most likely disappear after an hour or two.

The skull whistle would also lose its effectiveness the more he used it, so it would be better to refrain from using it often.

Aside from those intentions, Diablo was also planning to lead the giant centipede away from the Maze Forest as far as possible, so he could buy more time for Owen and the others to set up a much stronger defense.

The forces of the Big Three were busy with the towns and cities around the Sacred Light Kingdom to prevent those places from sending any kind of reinforcements. They would still take some time to conquer everything, so they would not be able to attack the Maze Forest for the time being.

With that, Diablo had to lead the giant centipede around and lead it to a 'stroll' until they found a way to deal with it.

But a few minutes after leading the giant centipede, Diablo sensed something unusual.

His eyes turned sharp as he quickly activated the second phase of his 'Demon's Eyes' without any hesitation.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then a group of people suddenly surrounded him from all sides as the giant centipede was still a few distance away from him.

Raising his head, Diablo stared at the person leading the group before smirking. "So, that was it, huh?"

"You waited for me to use the [Soul-Luring Whistle] before making your move. You are planning this from the start so that I can't escape," he said to the opposing side.

Amon, who was leading the group of sweepers with him, shook his head and said. "Well, it will be hard for us to catch you if you run away again. It is already a lot of trouble to find you, so how can I let you go that easily?"

"I guess it is another arrangement of Paimon? Or is it Belial, who gave you this idea?" asked Diablo as he glanced behind him, looking at the huge cloud of dust that was rapidly approaching from the distance.

Based on the speed of the giant centipede, it would catch up to him within just a couple of minutes.

Amon did not give a direct answer and just said. "I will be in deep trouble if you analyze my current style and strength, so I have no choice but to follow this arrangement."

He then raised his hand and pointed it to Diablo. "Go! You don't have to defeat him. Just buying enough time for the Dragon Centipede is more than enough."

...