Child of Destiny

...

After regaining himself, Shin resumed walking as if nothing had happened. At the same time, he suddenly asked. "Aren't you here to take the fragment of the broken [Excalibur]? How come you are not talking about it now?"

Hearing that, Zero couldn't help but smile bitterly before answering. "Let's say that I am not satisfied with the outcome of our duel. I am forced to cancel it because of your sudden enlightenment."

"I can always take it from you when the time is right," he added which made Shin raise his eyebrow.

"You are taking it as if you can easily take it from me," said Shin while turning to Zero.

But despite the discontentment on his face, he still took out a metal shard from his inventory before tossing it to Zero. "Here! I don't have any use of it anyway, so it is better for you to have it."

Zero unconsciously caught the shard and was about to say something. But before he could even open his mouth, Shin immediately beat him into it. "Don't refuse it. You said you are going to also lend me a hand in the real world. You can take it as a form advance payment or something of the sort."

Hearing that, the Sword God couldn't help but smile bitterly and shake his head helplessly. "I guess I can't refuse this then."

Shin slightly nodded his head in response before giving Zero a sidelong glance. "Now that your job is already done here, what is your next plan?"

Zero slightly knitted his eyebrows as he thought about his next plan. But after a few moments of thinking, he suddenly shook his head while answering. "I think I will be staying in this place for a time being since it is quite lively here."

"Moreover, it is the Corrupted Cult that we are talking about, so I will join the fun for the time being," he added as he put the metal shard within his inventory.

A few moments later, Seven caught to them and quickly reported to Zero. "Young-… I mean, Sir Zero. The Corrupted Cult are making some of their moves."

Zero slightly knitted his eyebrows before asking. "Who is in the lead this time and how many strong individuals they have in their ranks?"

"The Shadow Hunter Lewin is in charge but that may change once the Messengers arrive. As for the top experts that they have brought, I'm afraid that they quite a lot of them," answered Seven of them.

He then took a brief pause before continuing. "It seems like they have a huge operation in the area."

Hearing that, Shin immediately chimed in. "I guess they also discovered what lies beyond that wall of ice in the border."

Zero and Seven simultaneously turned their heads at him when they heard those words and waited for him to continue.

"There is a region beyond that towering wall that may be comparable to the new regions that are about to be released. And since it is a free area, I am pretty sure that they are after that place," he said in a nonchalant tone.

"Are you guys and the Hand of Midas Trading Firm also after that place?" asked Zero curiously.

Shin shrugged his shoulders before answering. "We are originally doing a quest in the area. But since we found a good spot to develop ourselves, then I guess there is no harm at setting up a base in here, isn't it?"

"Well, that is true," commented Zero.

"But I think we have another major problem aside from the Corrupted Cult," said Seven after a few moments of hesitation.

Hearing those words, Shin couldn't help but knit his eyebrows because his instincts were telling him that their situation was getting more and more troublesome as time went by.

"What is it?" asked Shin with a seemed to be tired tone.

Seven shifted his gaze between Zero and Shin a couple of times before answering. "Because of the large movements that the Corrupted Cult are doing, it looks like the Powerhouses residing within the Kingdom manage to sniff what is going on."

'F*ck! After all of the trouble that we went through,' cursed Shin inside his head before saying to the two. "I will meet with my group for now. How about you?"

"Let's go together. Didn't I say that I will not miss the fun?" answered Zero.

On the other hand, Seven stared at his young master weirdly as it was rare of him to see Zero talk friendly. The Dragon God Siegfried and the War God Simba were a few of the people who could make Zero talk like that since he saw them as equals.

'Did this guy make the young master acknowledge him? But he got his Godlike Title just recently. Is he really that strong?' thought Seven to himself while looking at Shin in confusion.

********

In the meantime, Shiella and the others were finally done wrapping the situation on their side.

The new 'slaves' of the Hand of Midas Trading Firm, Kristle, and Christine, also stopped fighting the other members of the Empyrean Talons and S.Tigris group. In fact, they were already on the losing side the moment when Cloe joined the battle.

Fortunately, the opposing side had no intention of really killing them. They were going to lose at least a couple of levels since they currently had a penalty curse that Shiella had put in them.

Christine was also somewhat relieved since the other side didn't kill any more of her vampires. Looking for the subjects that she could turn into a vampire was not a problem, but nurturing them to have combat capabilities was not easy.

What she was really curious about right now was the reason why her big sister changed sides. 'I know that this group is strong, but the other side is the Corrupted Cult. It is one of the largest organizations within the game that is composed of both NPCs and strong players.'

She then turned to Kristle and was about to ask her question. But before she could even open her mouth, the latter suddenly said. "I'll tell you the details later, just follow the instructions that are given to you for the time being."

"Ahh~! I can finally have a rest, fighting that crazy vampire lady sure is tiring," said Raven as he sat on the ground.

"Lowering your guard already? What if those people from the Corrupted Cult decided to attack right now?" said Ara to Raven with a sneering tone.

But instead of refuting her words like how he usually did, Raven continued to relax while saying. "I am no energy to argue with you right now, so please give me a break."

Hmph!

Ara wanted to say something but chose to keep it to herself while turning her head away from him while pouting her lips.

In the meantime, Black Hand and S.Tigris were currently discussing their course of action with Arthur, Leonard, and Shiella.

"With the Corrupted Cult members scattered around the entire region, evacuating the residents from this village is going to be close to impossible," said Arthur with a deep frown.

"Given those guys' temperament, I am pretty sure that they are going to sabotage us in the middle of evacuation," added Leonard as he nodded his head.

"Of course, we can't let that happen, which is why we are going to delay that quest for the time being," said Shiella in an instant as she thought to herself. 'How can I let such special NPCs to die like that? They can become useful to us once we relocate the Calderock Town here and promote it into a city.'

She already heard the rough plan of Shin from Cloe, so it was natural for her to start laying out a plan for it.

Shiella really liked the idea that Shin and Cloe had thought of. Building a city on top of a mountain with a stunning view would really attack a lot of players, especially when the location was in the middle of a high-leveled map with a lot of strong monsters.

On top of that, the region was in between two kingdoms where one was steadily growing while the other was a special map that might be able to rival the major regions of different races. Moreover, it was an open man that was available to everyone, unlike those regions that were about to come out.

As someone who was majoring in business for her studies, Shiella could already see how much profit they could get just by building a city here.

'That little rascal sure knows how to use his head,' thought Shiella to herself as she repeatedly nodded her head in approval.

But not long after, she started clicking her tongue and shaking her head while adding to her thoughts. 'But that is also a problem since he is starting to get too full of himself recently.'

Meanwhile, Arthur and Leonard couldn't help but look at her weirdly due to the changing mood that Shiella was undergoing.

'I am pretty sure that she is thinking how to deal with that smartass,' thought Arthur as he felt pity for Shin alongside a sense of satisfaction at the same time.

...…