Child of Destiny

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Boom!

A dense cloud quickly enveloped the entire surrounding as the gorgeous flames and savage ice clashed against each other.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

'Slayer Skill: Moonlight Steps'

Shin, who just threw the blazing bird to clash against the ice dragon, quickly transformed into a streak of light that pierced through the dense cloud. He reached the opposite end of the cloud within an instant and appeared right in front of Leviathan, who was already expecting something like this to happen.

Leviathan's fingers danced in the air as he tugged the invisible strings, which suddenly turned into a prison cage that trapped Shin inside.

These strings that were invisible to the eye suddenly revealed themselves right after Shin stepped into the cage. They were also releasing a cold vapor coming from them that made their appearance more obvious.

With a series of movements of Leviathan's fingers, the icy strings suddenly tightened seemingly trying to wrap themselves around Shin.

Shin could already see his body being cut and shredded by these strings the moment when they came close to him. The dense ice elemental mana that they carried could freeze his limbs while their sharpness could instantly cut through them immediately after.

He then quickly scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes and saw that this sting prison was covering quite a large area, so even if he used his movement skills, it would still be impossible to escape from them.

He could only take a stance while gathering as much Eternal Flame as possible before releasing them and forming a spherical barrier that covered every direction.

'Perfected Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermillion Bird – Pheonix Embrace'

Swoosh!

The barrier seemed to be a miniature sun made of gorgeous flame that kept on rotating along with the blazing tongues that were clashing against the enclosing ice strings.

The ice strings melted the moment they came in contact with the blazing barrier before turning into a vapor that slowly dissipated in the air.

Seeing what was happening, Leviathan controlled the ice strings once again gathering them together and creating a thicker and sturdier version. They looked like tough ropes made of cold steel.

They wrapped around the blazing barrier, trying to crush it.

At the same time, Leviathan retreated to prepare for his next move. He knew that this was not enough to stop Shin, so he had to reveal as many cards as possible.

The ice golems and frost puppets could no longer hold Shin despite the assistance of his domain. The best they could do was to buy him a couple of seconds to delay the opposing side.

He had to take out a more powerful puppet to take down Shin. "I am planning to save this when the Empire Wars starts, but I guess I have no choice."

Boom!

He was mumbling to himself, an explosion erupted in the distance as Shin detonated the barrier to completely get rid of the ice ropes wrapped around it.

Shin slowly walked out of the thick fog as the small fragments of ice fell from the sky – they were the residual parts of the ice ropes.

Shin was preparing for a big move while Leviathan was about to take out his special puppet. They stared at each other's eyes, seeing the intention of each side.

Rumble!

But before they could even move, an intense earthquake suddenly shook the entire region.

The two almost lost their footing due to the strong shaking of the ground, but their eyes never left each other since they knew that a single opening was more than enough for the opposing side to end their lives.

At the same time, the surrounding trees started to fall one after another. Shin could also see that a landslide was about to begin in some parts of the mountains surrounding them. The continuous rain was making the land soft while the violent wind was uprooting the trees, making the earth even more unstable.

Paying closer attention to the face of his opponent, Shin noticed that Leviathan must have known the reason for the earthquake, especially when he saw that there was a clear sense of urgency on the latter's face.

'This is bad! It seems like the demon seed is trying to absorb the surrounding life force to forcefully break its shell!' Leviathan could not help but wear a grave expression when he thought about this.

Their mission was to capture the sealed Spirit King in this place as soon as possible while the demon seed would to the rest for them.

That demon seed was supposed to grow into a 'Flora of Death' that would turn the entire region into a plagued land. It was a type of plant that only grew in the depths of hell which would continuously release a demonic energy that would, in turn, corrupt the filling the air mana in the air.

This was a plan that Paimon had devised when they planned to turn the entire Dark Cloud Kingdom into the main hub of the demons that were arriving from Hell, particularly the Bug Tribe.

The portal connecting the Bug Tribe and this realm was already opened, and the Pandemonium Descendants were only waiting for the arrival of the Vanguard Force of these demons before waging war against the surrounding countries. .net

This region, the Stormy Mountain Range, was a natural barrier that would be blocking their forces once the war started. Paimon wanted to get rid of it before that time came and even wanted to turn it into a 'shield' that would protect their territory instead.

Paimon had already planted the seed for quite a while and it was about time for the 'Flora of Death' to grow.

But he did not expect that something powerful was sealed within the mountain range, which was why the growth of the plant from hell was being suppressed.

Even the monsters within the region were starting to mutate at an insane rate due to this hidden power within the mountain range. It was leading the evolution of the monsters and making it hard to explore the deeper parts of the region, especially when the monsters were constantly becoming stronger.

Due to this, their operation was greatly hindered, delaying their plans.

After doing some investigating, Paimon discovered that it was a powerful Spirit King from ancient times. He was shocked and delighted at the same time when he learned about this.

Even if Demonic Players such as himself could not form a contract with Elemental Spirits, turning such a special being into a corrupted one, particularly into an Abomination, would not be impossible.

If he was lucky and turned it into a Demonic Abomination, then he could even make it into his 'Blood Servant Avatar' once his race later became a True Demon. It was a counterpart of 'Elemental Spirit Companions' exclusive to Demon Race.

(First Introduction in Chapter 1206)

He put Leviathan in this task and even let Belphegor join the operation to make sure that there were no accidents would happen.

But who would have thought that Shin and Alice would appear at the most crucial time when they were about to carry the most crucial tasks for this operation and hinder them?

'We can't let the demon seed continue absorbing the surrounding life force as it will also weaken the seal trapping the Spirit King! We must clear the dungeon as soon as possible,' he thought before glancing in the direction where Alice and Belphegor were fighting.

They had put a lot of time and effort into this operation. They even prepared one of the treasures of their church to forcibly enter the said dungeon even if they were not qualified for it.

The sudden appearance of Alice made Leviathan realize that she was most likely here to free that Spirit King, or even form a contract with them.

They had to clear the dungeon, but before everything else, they had to first kill all the four guardians of this place and destroy the outer layer of the seal so that they could trigger the opening of the entrance.

But with these two trying to stop them, it would no longer be possible to complete those tasks.

If the demon seed even successfully exhausted the lifeforce in the region and weakened the seal trapping the Spirit King, then the situation would be even more against their favor.

The battle between the Flora of Death and the Spirit King would even erupt, making their mission fail greatly. Even if the Flora of Death would just spout and carry little Demonic Energy in it, the Spirit King would also be in a weakened state due to being sealed for a very long time.

The battle would be an intense one, where the outcome would be impossible to predict.

But with the presence of a Transcendent Race, particularly an Ancient Elf that had a close relationship with the Spirits, things could be bad for Leviathan and Belphegor.

If things turned dire for the Spirit King, then it could just form a contract with Alice and become their Elemental Spirit Companion.

No matter what choice they chose – whether continuing to battle against Shin and Alice to waste their time and wait for the Flora of Death to successfully sprout or to run away from this place as far as possible while spreading as much Demonic Energy as they could to give the flower from hell enough supplement for its growth – the outcome was already obvious.

This operation was already a failure the moment when Shin and Alice appeared.

Levithan could not help but glare at Shin sharply as he realized that they could no longer continue with this operation.

Since the result of this operation was already a failure, he no longer wanted to take out his special puppet and continue wasting more time here. He also did not want to use the demonic treasure in their possession since it would only be a huge waste given the current situation.

As he was contemplating what to do, he also happened to see Belphegor glancing in his direction, seemingly conveying the same thoughts. It seemed like the latter had also realized that they had already failed their mission.

Even if Belphegor still wanted to fight Alice as he could learn a few more of her tricks, he knew that it was not the time for it.

Getting killed would not be much of a problem for them, but if they got captured by these two, then it would be a terrible disaster.

Their status within the branch of the Demonic Church that they belonged to was very high, especially when they were expected to be the 'vessels' of the Great Demon Kings once they had descended upon this world.

Understanding the current situation, the two knew that their only choice was to retreat.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

No longer hesitating, both Leviathan and Belphegor quickly disengaged from battle and escaped using their respective means.

Shin was about to give chase when Alice suddenly blocked him. "We have no time to waste on them. I am receiving a summon from the sealed Earth Spirit Queen. It seems like she is in trouble."

Shin suddenly paused and looked at her, asking. "So, what do we need to do?"

Alice glanced at the update of her quest before answering. "It seems like we have to deal with the four guardians of the seal first before I can enter the Solo Instance Dungeon where she is sealed."

She then paused as she continued looking at the updated conditions of the quest before continuing. "And while I am clearing the dungeon, it seems like someone needs to deal with a continuous horde of monsters that have been corrupted by something called 'Seed of the Death Flora'."

"Once I have cleared the dungeon and formed a contract with Spirit Queen Gaia, everything can be handled easily as a Quest Scenario will be triggered immediately after," she added after she finished the entire updated conditions.

*Ding*

After listening to her, Shin also received a quest update from the system, telling him the entire situation.

It seemed like Alice's quest and the secret operation of the Pandemonium Troupe had somewhat affected his quest. He then fully understood what was going on after skimming through the updated details.

"What are we waiting for? Let's head to our first target before that seed or something grows into a plant of death," said Shin as he looked at Alice.

"Hmm." Alice then nodded her head before quickly heading toward their first target, which was the Mutated Monsters comparable to a Special Overlord that they had discovered earlier.

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