Child of Destiny

...…

Shin was experimenting with the other special effects of the 'Elemental Unification' ability when he suddenly sensed a strange fluctuation in the air. The Elemental Mana in the surroundings seemed to have been disturbed, but very gently, which was why the movements were barely noticeable.

The moment when he set his gaze toward the direction where he felt the strange fluctuations were coming from and following its main source, he happened to 'see' a familiar person in the distance. "Eh!? What is she doing here? I thought she was busy doing her Elemental Spirit Quest."

It then comes to him in the very next moment, "Hmm. Don't tell me this place is the setting for that quest. Is it somehow related to the strange movements of the monsters within the region?"

As he was discussing with himself, he realized that the other party had also noticed his presence.

He thought for a moment before deciding to go and greet her. She could also be a great help to him when dealing with his current mission. At the same time, he could also help her with her task in exchange.

He was about to head in her direction when he suddenly heard the voices of Solus and Hanzo.

"She must be here to free the sealed Elemental Spirit King somewhere in this place."

"Only an Elven Sage like her can build a connection and form a contract with an Elemental Spirit King."

Shin could not help but pause his tracks while looking at the two in surprise. He then smiled and nodded. "Now this is interesting. I guess I should tag along with her while investigating the area to see what a Spirit King looks like."

…

At the same time, Alice was currently confused about what Shin was doing here. From what she had heard from the others, he was supposed to clear a quest, which seemed to be an Empire Quest level. "What is doing here? This is supposedly a neutral region based on the map."

"Don't tell me he is here to release another content of the game," she added after remembering every trouble Shin made in any place he went.

She suddenly felt a little nervous when she thought about this. Everything that Shin got involved with always became a big event, or some sort of trouble whenever he appeared. "There will be no accidents this as well, right?"

Swoosh!

When Shin arrived at her location, Alice could not help but step back a little. It was her subconscious reaction after thinking the line of thoughts that she was having just earlier.

Seeing her actions, Shin could not help but look at her confusedly. "Why are you so surprised? You just noticed earlier in a distance, don't you?"

Alice smiled awkwardly before responding. "I just don't expect you to be in this place. Aren't you busy dealing with your follow-up quests?"

Shin stared at her for a moment before throwing his suspicion at the back of his head. He then answered honestly. "One of my quests leads me here. I have to investigate some of the suspicious movements of the monsters around here before I am fully authorized to cross the borders between the two nations – or at least freely leave or enter the borders of the Storm Empire."

He then shifted the topic to Alice and asked. "How about you? What are you doing here?"

Alice hesitated for a moment as she was not that close to Shin. She did not know how to have a proper conversation with him, especially when she had this strange feeling within her whenever she saw him.

But since Shin was taking the initiative and leading the conversation, she felt that it would be rude to not say anything.

"I am also here for a quest," she paused for a moment as he looked at her three Elemental Spirit Companions before sighing. "It is an Elemental Spirit Quest-…"

After that, she explained what happened to her. She started with her experiences in her Promotion Quest, particularly what led her Elemental Spirits to be promoted to their previous ranks, which was equivalent to Supremes, Monarchs, and Spirit Kings.

Shin was not surprised about it since a similar thing happened to Solus and Hanzo as their strength was closely connected to his. Moreover, he had also completed other Elemental Spirit Quests, which helped him promote the ranks of his Reaper's Retainers.

Currently, he had six elemental spirits on that level, namely: Solus, a Fallen God Spirit; Hanzo, an Ancient Void Spirit; Astaroth, an Obsidian Guardian Spirit; Blackie, an Abysmal Penumbra Spirit; Whitie, a Sacred Radiant Spirit; and Grimrace, an Eldritch Psychic Spirit.

Vladimir, who was already a Noblesse Crimson Spirit, was also not that far from their levels and was only lacking one final push that would help him reach that level.

After hearing what Alice had said, Shin felt that having Elemental Spirits with such levels and ranks was something 'very' normal.

Little did he know that the two of them just happened to belong to the abnormal ones.

Shin was still listening attentively until Alice mentioned the incident that happened right after her promotion quest, particularly how the Abomination King had ambushed her and how her two Elemental Spirit Companions had to sacrifice themselves so that she could escape with the rest.

That was only when Shin realized that Alice's original five Elemental Spirits revolving around her were now down to three.

Then Alice mentioned when the event quest was triggered right after the specific number of Elemental Spirits reaching the level of Supremes, Monarchs, and Spirit Kings was met.

Based on what the quest details had mentioned, the number of Elemental Spirits reaching that level needed to be at least five before it was triggered.

Hearing that, Shin could not help but sweat profusely as he suspected that he was one of the reasons why that event quest started.

Calculating the time, he had already three Elemental Spirit Companions on that level. He was already done promoting Astaroth into a Supreme Elemental at that point, so adding the other three that Alice had, it was without about their fault.

Realizing this, Shin could not help but awkwardly scratch the back of his head while subconsciously dodging the gaze of Alice.

Girls were quite sharp in these cases, so she immediately noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere. Even if she could not see what expression Shin was making due to his mask, she was still able to feel that he was acting a little strange.

Then she suddenly noticed the specks of lights circling Shin. Other people might not be able to notice it at first glance, but given that she was an Elven Sage, which had quite a close relationship with the spirits, she was able to instantly notice their difference compared to the other elemental spirits.

Alice immediately realized that all of them were either a Supreme Elemental, an Elemental Monarch, or something on a similar level.

Putting two and two together, her eyes suddenly turned wide while pointing at Shin. "You-…! You-…!"

She was unable to complete her words as she was not sure what to say. She wanted to blame Shin for what happened to her, but she also knew that it was not his fault as it was only an unfortunate accident.

Suddenly closing her eyes and forcefully calming herself, Alice could only sigh in defeat and accept her fate. "Forget it. It is not like you did it on purpose."

Shin chuckled nervously as he understood how scary this woman could be. He had experienced it at least twice or trice before. In fact, he was quite surprised that she did not explode and managed to hold herself back given her temper.

After recollecting herself, Alice went back to her topic. "As I said, it is also an opportunity for me to get a chance to form a contract with two Spirit Kings."

"And one of them is sealed somewhere here?" asked Shin.

Alice nodded as she added. "That is right. I noticed your presence earlier when I was investigating the area."

Shin slightly nodded his head before falling in deep thought. He was thinking that this piece of information might be related to his quest.

But after thinking a little deeper into it, he felt that it was most unlikely to happen. It could only be some sort of coincidence.

But at the same time, he also would not overlook this clue as the mutated monsters seemed to have started appearing when Alice's quest had started.

There was also another instance where the Demonic Churches might also have something to do with this, so he had to cover every angle to avoid any accidents.

After organizing his thoughts, he then turned to Alice and asked. "So, what is your plan? Are you going to survey the surroundings while looking for clues about the Spirit King sealed somewhere here?"

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. I need to look for the traces of that Spirit King while also looking for a way to break their seal."

Shin thought for a moment before saying. "Should we investigate the area together? After all, our purpose is somehow similar."

He was quite hesitant since he was not comfortable to converge with Alice yet. He was somewhat awkward, especially when he knew that Alice was the younger sister of that first girl who was close to him.

Alice, on the other hand, was hesitating whether to accept the offer or not for various reasons. One of them was she was afraid that she would be swept with Shin's 'bad luck'.

Everything that he got involved with always became a big event, so she was afraid that her simple quest would turn into something very different.

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Gulping nervously, Alice struggled hard as she nodded and accepted the offer. "S-Sure. We-... can help each other that way as well."

Shin found it weird as he saw Alice looking at him nervously as if she was afraid of something. He tried to recall if he had done something to her, but he could not seem to find anything.

But seeing that she seemed to be fine, Shin forgot about it and prepared to move. He got the feeling that these quests that they had were not going to end smoothly given the current clues that they had.

What he did not know was it was exactly what Alice was afraid of.

***

Somewhere in the other part of the Stormy Mountain Range, on the entrance facing the Dark Cloud Kingdom, a group of people were currently crossing the border and rushing toward the mountain range.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The leading person of the group suddenly took out a talisman and quickly right after. A transparent barrier was quickly formed and covered the entire group, protecting them from the raging storm of the mountain. The barrier also isolated them from the surroundings, preventing any kind of tracking or detecting skills to find them.

"We must move fast as the seed that Sir Paimon has planted here is about to sprout. It will help us break the seal protecting that dungeon," said the person running at the forefront of the group.

"There are four guardians that we have to defeat before the seal is broken. They have already been marked on our virtual map, so we will be moving separately to increase our efficiency."

"Each of the guardians is a powerful Overlord, so dealing with them will be quite troublesome, especially the final guardian."

"But if we stick to the plan and deal with the other three first while feeding their lifeforces to strengthen the Demonic Seed that Sir Paimon has planted, everything will be fine. Make sure to listen to my orders and don't stray from them to avoid any accidents."

While he was giving his instructions, one of their scouts, who was ahead of them, suddenly reported to him.

[Sir Leviathan, it looks like we have some company. Two people are already investigating the area. Given their pace, they may even stumble upon the location of one of the guardians.]

Leviathan, one of the seven Sinful Devils of the Pandemonium Troupe – the Envy Devil, was the one leading this operation. He was not sure why Paimon had instructed them to clear the isolated dungeon in such a troublesome area. But given the investment that the latter had put in this operation, he could tell that it was something of great importance.

"Look into their details," he instructed.

He was not in a hurry to take off the two players. This was a high-level neutral map, so there was a high chance that these two were top experts – apex experts even. Only those with abilities would dare to explore such a map.

They had to know their enemies first before making their move against them.

It did not take long for his subordinate to reply. [We can't see through their disguise, Sir. It seems like they are using high-quality items to hide their identity.]

Leviathan frowned deeply as he realized that this operation was not going to be as easy as they had expected. Only those overly powerful experts could possess such high-quality items that could hide themselves from the observation treasure that their scouts possess.

"Don't make anything rash. Follow them secretly in a safe distance and continue to observe their movements. Wait for us to arrive," he instructed, seriously warning the scouts about making any move against the two mysterious experts.

He then turned to the other person traveling with him. They were a mage riding a witch broom while lazily sleeping on it. "Hey, newcomer. It is time to work!"

"It is your time to show us that the leader is not wrong at choosing you for occupying that seat of Sloth."

...

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