Child of Destiny

...…

Erica and Eriko, this pair was one of the greatest duos within the virtual world since they were said to have never suffered a defeat when they were fighting alongside each other.

And adding the fact that they were former members of the Dark Hero Adventurer Team, a legendary group that could rival any powerhouse guilds, the two of them were pretty famous even among the players who were playing casually.

Among the top experts of the game, this pair was known as the Spear and Shield of the Dark Hero, a title that showered them a lot of glory during the reign of that adventurer team.

But it was not the case anymore since they were now branded as players who turned their backs towards their previous commander, which made their fame suffer a little.

But forgetting the current reputation that they had, their skills and battle prowess were still topnotch. In fact, they were still ranked among the top ten 'best partners' in the ranker's list.

...

"Is the portal still not ready yet?" asked Erica with full annoyance while glaring at Killion who was the current representative of the corrupted cult on this mission.

Killion would obviously not let himself be pushed around and glared back at Erica. 'Do this girl think that sacrificing our elite members is nothing? They will lose more than just a level when they got killed by those people!'

'Those guys are representative of their respective churches! Getting killed by those people will make us lose at least two levels alongside a guaranteed drop of our equipment!'

He wanted to talk back to this rude girl but he couldn't do that right now since this operation was very important to the cult. He needed to be patient since they really need the cooperation of these people for the success of their mission.

"We fail to collect all of the five tokens to the portal which is why we are proceeding with the backup plan for the time being," replied Killion after a brief moment before quickly adding. "But we still need a little more to activate the portal since we still don't have enough sacrifice to activate it."

Hearing that, Erica suddenly leaned back to the rest of the chair while saying. "How long are we going to wait? We have been sitting around here for quite some time already! When are we going to start moving? I am already starting to die in boredom!"

A moment later, a Human Guardian suddenly entered the tent and quickly said. "Why are you so impatient? Have you forgotten why are we here?"

"We are only here to assist them and not to actively get involved with their business," he added as he turned to Killion before continuing. "We may be just cooperating with each other but that doesn't mean that you can hide the details of this operation from us."

"How about you finally tell us what you are after from this operation?" he asked while squinting his eyes.

He already had some suspicion when the current leader of their group passed the details of this task to him earlier, but it looks like the Corrupted Cult was really plotting something big this time.

'The leader wants me to look more into it and try to figure out what is the real objective of these guys, but it is really hard to get any information from this guy as he is so secretive,' thought Eriko to himself while waiting for Killion to reply.

Unfortunately for him, the guy was pretty professional when it came to these kinds of things. He was also able to keep a poker face despite the pressure that the twin was emitting from their bodies.

'Tsk! These two sure become much stronger compared to the reports that we receive,' thought Killion as he shifted his gaze between Erica and Eriko.

Seeing that Killion didn't want to disclose anything, Eriko could only shake his head and sigh helplessly before turning to Erica. "Get ready. It is time to clear the area."

Hearing that, Erica immediately became lively and quickly stood up. "Finally, time for some action! Who are we going to take care of? I hope they are good enough to serve as a good warm-up before we face those guys."

Eriko rolled his eyes when he heard those words before clarifying what he just said. "I said clear the area, that means we need clear all of the monsters in the area. It should be the time for them to respawn."

"Eh~! Do you mean that? Then this is going to be boring again," said Erica as she immediately lost her interest.

"We can't leave them be since they are going to start attacking the camp again. Worse, they may even create a mess when the formation is finally activated," said Eriko as he urged his twin sister to come.

A few moments later, the two walked out of the tent, leaving Killion behind.

"Are you sure that we can trust these guys? They are pretty untrustworthy in my eyes," whispered Erica to her twin brother.

Eriko gave her a sidelong glance before answering. "I already told you before, you don't have to trust anyone aside from ourselves."

Hearing that, Erica immediately turned silent before nodding her head.

Outside the tent, there was another Human Guardian waiting for them. Based on his appearance, it seems like he was a few years older than the two. But despite that being the case, he was acting respectfully at the twin.

"How is the preparation?" asked Eriko as he continued to walk away from the tent alongside Erica.

"Eh? Why are you alone? Where is your partner, Brother Jude?" asked Erica, on the other hand.

The guy named Jude turned to her for a moment before replying to Eriko first. "Everyone is already on standby and waiting for your command, young master."

He then turned to Erica before answering her question. "As for Miko, she is currently scouting the area to make sure that the monsters didn't go berserk again."

Right after he said those words, the three of them suddenly heard a gust of wind from a certain direction as if someone was rushing towards them.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Due to that the three simultaneously turned their heads towards the direction where the sound was coming from. A few moments later, they saw a silhouette of someone who seemed to be running away from something.

Looking closely at that person, they immediately realized who it was. She was Jude's partner, Miko.

"Huh?" Eriko knitted his eyebrows in confusion and was about to ask what happened.

But before he could even open his mouth, Miko quickly shouted at them in a desperate tone. "Young miss, young master, we have a problem!"

"What is it?" – was what Jude wanted to say but he immediately shut his mouth when he heard a consecutive gunshot coming from a distance.

Bang! Bang!

Jude quickly moved when he heard the gunshots and positioned himself in front of the twin before raising his shield to block the incoming bullets.

Bang! Bang!

It was at that moment when Miko arrived beside them. And at the same time, the whole camp was immediately alerted as everyone quickly headed towards them.

"What was that?" asked Killion as he also walked out of the tent.

"We are under attack obviously," replied Erica with a cold tone as she was quite an on edge due to the sudden ambush. But at the same time, she was quite excited deep inside as there were actually some who dared to attack them.

Killion didn't mind her tone as he could understand her reaction. After that, he turned to the guards who were making their way towards him before whispering. "Don't tell me we have been spotted already."

"That is impossible, sir. Our forces purposely lured our opponents away from here, so the other side shouldn't be here," responded the guard within an instant.

'Then who could it be?' thought Killion as he knitted his eyebrows even deeper.

In the meantime, Eriko turned his head to Miko before asking. "What happened? And who is chasing you?"

He was knitting his eyebrows pretty deeply as he couldn't believe that there was someone who could make her run for her life.

'Is it the Sword God, or the Dragon God? It can also be the War God,' he thought to himself before quickly denying it. 'No, it can't be. Based on the preparations that we've made, those guys should be at the other side of the map, so who could it be?'

Then he suddenly noticed that Miko's body was actually trembling as her eyes were clearly showing some signs of fear.

Seeing that, Eriko further frowned his eyebrows before muttering quietly. "Who can put her in this state?"

He was about to lose his patience when he saw her didn't reply to him. But before he could even open his mouth, a familiar voice suddenly made him swallow back his words.

"Hoh~! You guys sure prepared a pretty good welcome party for our comeback. I can't help but feel-… honored."

...…