Child of Destiny

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The two sides made a staring contest as they adjusted their respective formations.

Simba (Leonard) and Lawless acted to be the vanguards with Shin standing behind them to be their support. Then there was Zero who was guarding Charlotte and Arielle (Cloe).

Faker, on the other hand, already disappeared and continuously circled around the opposing group and carefully stalked the opposing mages and priests. He resembled a sneaky beast hunting for its prey.

Ember and Ravier remained in their respective positions with Seven and Owen guarding them respectively. They were fully ready to launch an attack the moment Shin and Black Hand gave them the signal.

On the other side, Immortal and his group also adjusted their formation.

Justin and Jugo quickly positioned themselves at the front of the group, acting to be the frontline with Lightning Fist, Sabec, and Basion right behind them.

Then there was Immortal standing in front of Jia. Flouree was right behind them and flanked by both of the priests, ready to give orders to the group.

Normally, the two priests should be right at the center to be protected. But since Flouree was currently the most vulnerable member of the group, she was the one who needed to be protected the most, especially since she was currently assigned to commanding everyone.

With that, the two priests were positioned on each of her sides since they were in better shape than her. They would be able to respond to unexpected situations much faster than her.

And this was also the time when Immortal chose to summon some of his undead monsters. After all, their current formation was clearly asking for it.

Though, he still chose to minimize the number of his undead to save more mana. At the very least, the efficiency that they could provide was pretty high.

He summoned a pair of skeleton knights, two bone archers, and four skeleton hounds. Each knight was paired with a bone archer as they stood at the very rear of the group. Then the skeleton hounds circled around Immortal and the rest of the backline, guarding them against every direction.

He already witnessed the terror of Faker's assassination technique. That ability to sneak in any kind of formation was terrifying, making it hard for the opposing party to deal with him.

These skeleton hounds might be a little weaker compared to most of his undead monsters, but they had the sharpest senses. With them around, Faker would find it hard to sneak past their formation and assassinate any of their backline members.

There were also the skeleton knights and bone archers which belonged to his elite summons. They might not be the strongest but they were still hard to deal with, especially when they were working with the skeleton hounds.

In the meantime, Elise and the three thieves from the Earners Mercenary Group also entered their stealth, hiding in the darkness and stalking the opposing side. With their advantage in numbers, the target that they chose would be very unfortunate.

After adjusting their respective battle formations and gauging the overall strength of their opponents, the two sides quite went into action.

Bang!

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Simba and Lawless quickly charged forward, planning to initiate the opening move. Both of them already used their respective means to absorb their weapons within their arms, enhancing their strengths.

They also entered their respective Reality Manifestation, not planning to hold back or hide their real strength.

Boom!

But at the same time, Justin and Jugo launched themselves forward to meet the two. They also underwent their special Demonification, using the power of their respective Demon Contractors to enhance their overall strength.

Normally, Jugo could only use his Demonic Transformation once within a day. After all, the burden that his body would receive was pretty heavy every time he used it. And if he used it more than that limit, the consequence that he would get would definitely harm his character foundation, he might lose some of his stats permanently.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the choice right now since he knew that he would only be beaten up by their opponents without the Demonification. He already experienced the current strength of Simba earlier, so he only very well the outcome if he didn't take the risk right now.

Justin also understood the gravity of their current situation. If he didn't reveal his cards now, then he might not even get the chance to use them anymore.

There was no drastic change in his appearance when he underwent his Demonic Transformation, unlike the others. Aside from the pair of curved horns that stuck out from his forehead and his demonic arm having some lava-like pattern on it, nothing much changed.

But contrary to it, the aura that he had suddenly increased drastically. There was even an illusion of a wicked demon manifesting behind him, indicating that his current strength was much higher compared to what it used to be.

Boom!

The two sides quickly collided and immediately engaged in an intense melee. Simba and Lawless, as usual, resembled a pair of ferocious beasts that had gotten loosed on the battlefield. They didn't hold back on their attacks as they quickly went on a rampage, seemingly trying to destroy their opponents with their bare hands.

But despite that being the case, their opponents were monsters in their own right. They matched the momentum that Simba and Lawless had, not willing to lose.

Jugo was still wielding his mental spike club and swung it at Simba as if there was no tomorrow. The surrounding air even created strong ripples from each swing of his spiked club.

Boom! Boom!

But despite the difference between them, Simba using his bare fists and Jugo wielding his spiked club, the two of them remained in a deadlock.

On the other side, Justin put his weapon inside his inventory space before clashing against Lawless in an intense brawl. He was still not familiar with wielding his newly found powers, so it would be better if he took the straightforward approach instead.

Bang! Bang!

Every time their fists collided against each other, a strong shockwave would always be created.

Bang!

Their feet even sank to the ground as they planted them on it firmly. The pace at which they threw their fists forward was gradually building up a strong momentum. And not long after, their arms seemed to disappear as they continued throwing punch after punch.

In the midst of the chaotic field that the four had created, Elise silently got near Simba, planning to launch a sneak attack.

She was naturally on her Demonic Transformation, enhancing her cloaking abilities. She was in a similar case as Jugo, but just like the Annihilator God, she also didn't have the choice but to also use the power of her contractor in this battle.

A moment later, Jugo created an opening. And it was big enough for her to seize and try to assassinate Simba.

She quickly pounced forward and lunged with her poison-coated dagger, targeting the back of Simba's head.

Coordinating with her, Jugo skillfully repositioned himself on the other side of Simba, cutting off his possible escape route. Afterward, he swung his spiked club and angled it in a tricky trajectory to force the latter to make a choice.

If Simba chose to hold his ground and continue exchanging blows against Jugo, then he would be hit by the dagger targeting the back of his head. He might be able to survive that strike even if the dagger was coated with a potent poison. After all, he possessed a very strong constitution.

But that attack from Elise could stun Simba and make him immobile. It might only be for a second but that short amount of time was more than enough for the two Godlike Players to launch a coordinated attack and kill him, just like Shin and Faker did to GoodyShoe earlier.

On the other hand, if Simba chose to avoid the incoming dagger, he would be hit by the Jugo's spiked club. The damage might also not be enough to kill him, but it would still deal quite a lot of damage.

Moreover, it could also push him out of Jugo's way. It would break the formation of Shin's group, giving the Annihilator God access to their backline.

Either choice would be disastrous for their side, with the former case being the worst-case scenario.

But despite knowing the consequence, Simba still chose the first choice and decided to face the pincer attacks head-on. It was not because he was making a foolish choice, but because he was confident in the person who was watching his back.

Bang!

Simba swung his fist at the incoming iron club and sent it back with a strong rebounding force. Jugo was even forced to take several steps back to regain his footing. The Simba decisively stepped forward and quickly followed up with a series of punches, completely ignoring the threat of the poised dagger pointed at the back of his head.

Clang!

But before that dagger could even touch the hair of Simba, a flash of light suddenly came out of nowhere and accurately hit it at the very last moment, saving the War God by the narrowest of margins.

Shin suddenly appeared!

Shin then took advantage of the awkward posture of the opponent to follow up with another strike.

"Tsk!" Elise clicked her tongue as she felt that they missed the perfect opportunity to assassinate one of the key members of the opposing group.

At the same time, she also used one of her life-saving skills to escape her current predicament before entering stealth once again, looking for another opening.

Shin was about to use his 'True Sight' Skill to lock on Elise before giving chase when a fist enfolded with lightning suddenly struck from the side, heading straight to his face.

Due to the sudden attack, Shin was forced to halt his advance. He swiftly leaned backward to dodge the lighting punch by a hair's breadth. He could even feel the stinging feeling of the electric currents on his cheeks as he angled his head to the side.

Shin couldn't see Lighting Fist as he was looking at the other side. But that didn't prevent him from using his sharp senses and reading the next action of the latter.

Before Lighting Fist could even make his next move, Shin was already executing his counterattack.

Swoosh!

Lighting Fist was caught off-guard by Shin's move as it perfectly countered the attack that he was planning to execute. Left without a choice, he could only retreat and recollect himself. He already lost the initiative, so he could only reset and set up a tempo that was more favorable for him.

Shin wanted to ride the momentum and continue to be in control. But he only took a couple of steps when Sabec and Basion quickly intercepted him and forced him to halt in his tracks.

Fortunately, Charlotte gave him assistance and bombarded the path of the two with her spells, preventing them from moving forward.

The battle was already building up when Charlotte frowned deeply. And after a brief thought, she suddenly said on the party chat channel. – "There is still a member missing among them. That Demonic Human Archer. Look out for possible ambush!"

"Shadow Queen? Should I try looking for her or do I continue lurking around Immortal and others?" – asked Faker.

Shin didn't say anything as his hands were already full dealing with three people. Fortunately, the pressure on his side was not that heavy as Charlotte was focusing her spells on his direction while Arielle was giving him solid support with her constant buffs and healing.

Moreover, he left the commanding position to Black Hand, fully trusting the priest with the important role.

Black Hand understood it and gave his command. – "Continue targeting the backline of our opponents, especially the two priests on their sides."

"We can leave the Shadow Queen to Alucard and Ara, they could be the lookout for her possible ambush," – he added with a decisive tone.

"Understood!" – replied Faker before continuing with his job of threatening the back line of the opposing side.

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