Child of Destiny

...…

*Ding*

System: You had learned why the monsters within the Stormy Mountain Range were undergoing a huge mutation, and why they became more active.

*Ding*

Quest Update: A plot of the Demonic Churches was undergoing a most important pace, and you discovered it when you were investigating the region.

A demonic seed from the depths of Hell was currently planted in this place, making the surrounding area corrupted and affecting the monsters residing in it.

It was also trying to absorb the life force within the region, trying to hasten its growth pace.

*Ding*

Quest Update: A Spirit King happened to be sealed within the depths of the region, deep in the ground. It sensed the strange movements of the mana in the air and felt the presence of a creature from Hell.

The Spirit King used all its remaining powers to try to suppress the demonic seed, but it was not enough to defeat the latter.

Later, the Spirit King came to the idea of influencing the monsters within the region, leading to their sudden mutation.

But in return, the four guardian monsters, which were the center of her seal, had also become more powerful and made the suppression of the seal to be strengthened, weakening her greatly.

This also triggered a war between the two sides which was starting to affect the entire region – monsters turned more active as they became more powerful.

*Ding*

Updated Conditions: The Stormy Mountain Range was currently in grave danger. Help the Spirit King defeat the demonic seed of the 'Death Flora' before reporting to Commander Taiga of the Storm Fortress.

…

Reading through the string of notifications, Shin now had a clearer view of the current situation. At the same time, it also made his currently ongoing quest to be halfway through being cleared.

Now, Alice's current quest had become his quest two since the only way to deal with the demonic seed that was on the verge of sprouting was to free the Spirit King from their seal and form a contract with them.

He had to help her clear her quest so that he could clear his own.

The two rushed toward the location of their first target, knowing that their time was currently limited.

But when they arrived at their destination, Shin was greeted by a surprise.

He could not help but look in front of him with a strange gaze. What he saw was an ancient-looking Treant standing in the middle of the forest while emitting an extremely powerful aura.

Its appearance was not the reason why he was surprised. It was because this Plant-Type Monster was from the species that he was looking for a certain exclusive quest that he had.

To make sure that he was not seeing wrong, Shin even activated his 'True Sight' to look more into its details.

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[Monster Name]: Ancient Treat Protector

[Monster Type]: Plant

[Monster Index]: Shadow Elemental Mutation

[Monster Rank]: Overlord/ Mutated

Level: 165

Health Points: 5 Billion

Skills:

…

…

-----------------

No matter how hard Shin looked at it, the details of this monster were oddly similar to the three beast-types monsters that he had found in the Starry Spear Mountain Forest, the Trinity Apes such as the Stoneback Gorilla; Steelfist Ape; and Ironhead Chimpanzee.

Those three Overlord Monsters were also closely related to a monster called the 'Heavenly Dominator', which was said to be the King of Land Monsters, particularly the mammal-type beasts.

What was special about these was those monsters were connected to one of his most important quests, which was given to him by Berlin. The same quest was asking him to collect certain materials for a Divine Armor.

When looking at the available information from the official website and forums of the game, Shin had to give up on looking for the four main materials that he needed since they could only be collected from extremely powerful monsters from the Awakened Continent.

However, the other materials could still be found within the high-level neutral regions within the Aurora Continent, which was why Shin was looking for them from different sources. He even put up a request for these materials in the Hand of Midas if they ever encountered them.

From the look of it, he happened to have a lucky day today. It seemed like he found another clue for the quest.

He even opened his quest panel once again to look at the materials that he needed to collect to make sure that he was not wrong.

(Chapter 1254)

Looking at the bottom part of the quest, he found what he was looking for.

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- Forest Guardian

0/1 Branch of the World Tree

Four Mountains

0/1 Heart of the Green Dragon

0/1 Seed of the Ancient Treant Protector

0/2 Antlers of the Golden Stag

0/1 Essence of the Will-O'-Wisp

-----------------

The first monster mentioned was one of the powerful monsters that possessed one of the four main materials that he needed and the rest were the monsters that were on a similar level as the 'Trinity Apes'.

Given that there was an 'Ancient Treat Protector' in this place, and there was a total of four monsters and four seals altogether, it would not be hard for Shin to make a guess.

"I guess this has become my quest as well," he mumbled after confirming everything. He then turned to Alice and said. "There is something I need from this guy. Can I take it after we take it down?"

Alice looked weirdly at Shin as she replied. "Isn't that already a given?"

Shin chuckled before stepping forward. He had already tested the effects of a Tier 3 Skill earlier, and it gave quite a lot of insights. His experiences in using his skills and sword techniques under the influence of the 'Graveyard of Swords' had furthered refined his understanding of them as well as his swordsmanship.

Right now, Shin wanted to put a few of them into practice. But since they were currently in a hurry, he would not be holding back and summoned his best abilities.

Alice looked at his back for a couple of moments before sighing. She then followed him as she prepared for the battle.

***

As Shin and Alice started taking down the four guardian monsters within the Stormy Mountain Range, there were huge movements in the Dark Cloud Kingdom.

Given that there were huge actions in their forces, it would be impossible to them from the neighboring nations. But they did not care as they were already aware of the impending war.

They were already prepared for this, so there was no need to hide that much aside from the fact that they were already under the Demonic Churches.

Moreover, the movements of their large forces were just a distraction to misdirect the attention of the neighboring nations while they were currently focusing their main combat force on setting up solid defense in the area where the dimensional portal was located.

On the surface, the neighboring nations could only see that they were directing their forces toward their main rivals, which was not a secret to everyone. This created an illusion that they were about to wage an all-out war due to some conflict that they had purposely made.

But little did these nations know that it was only a smokescreen for the Demonic Churches to complete their preparations.

…

Right after escaping along with Belphegor, Leviathan immediately reported to Paimon about the events that occurred in the Stormy Mountain Range, particularly their encounter with Shin and Alice and the changes in the demonic seed.

Naturally, Paimon was quite enraged, especially when his meticulous plan crumbled just because of the appearance of Shin. He felt that this variable was getting more and more problematic as the time went by.

They had to somewhat deal with him and delay his progress as much as possible. They also had to be wary of him as he always appeared at the most unexpected places, where they were doing their secret operations. It was as if he always knew where the operations would take place and intercept them.

Shin had become the archenemy of the Demonic Churches, particularly the Pandemonium Descendants.

Paimon and Belial had already completed all the preparations for all their operations, including the special task force that would be constantly targeting Shin. It was a special group composed of highly trained assassins and sweepers, which would be led by Amon or Mephistopheles.

But when the task force was about to head out Lucifer, who was still busy dealing with the matters in the real, suddenly changed his mind and asked them to delay the 'hunting' plan for at least a couple of days, or maybe even an entire week.

The two were confused, but they trusted this leader of theirs, so they did not question his decision and waited for his explanation later.

Lucifer did not explain much and just told them that he needed Shin to 'reach' a certain 'level' as fast as possible.

The two had thought that it was about Shin's progress in the game, which somehow concerned Lucifer's mission or something, so they did not put much thought into it and waited for further instructions.

Given that, Paimon was tasked to oversee the progress of the things within the Dark Cloud Kingdom. The dimensional portal was already stable, so all they needed was to wait for the arrival of the Vanguard Army of the Bug Tribe.

Even Belial was tasked to collaborate with Paimon as this was their biggest operation as of now. They had to make sure that everything was going smoothly, at least until the first batch of the Bug Tribe arrived or until the 'Glutton Demon King of the Flies' successfully descended on the body of Beelzebub.

At the same time, they also had to make sure that Beelzebub was not killed during this time since it would disrupt the 'possession' process and they had to start over again. This was the main reason why Beelzebub was relieved to all his duties these past few days.

As a form of assurance, three out of the 'seven' Sinful Devils of the Pandemonium Troupe were stationed in the place where he was located to avoid any accident.

For the next couple of months (In-game time), the Dark Cloud Kingdom would be the main base of operation of the Pandemonium Descendants.

Paimon, who was reading the reports sent to him inside their secret base within the kingdom, suddenly turned his gaze toward the entrance.

Frowning slightly, he suddenly said. "Aren't you busy with your tasks? You don't have to keep coming here just because we are instructed to collaborate. You should be aware of how our organization operates as one of its heads."

Belial ignored the skeptical words of Paimon and took a seat on the nearby sofa before opening his mouth. "Do you think I am so free to keep on coming here? As one of the heads of the Supreme Demons, I also have more duties that I must fulfill within the organization, but I can't do most of them due to the new instructions that the leader has given us."

He then paused before asking casually. "How is our 'friend' doing in the Stormy Mountain Range?"

Paimon frowned deeply before replying. "It seems like they have already hunted down two of the guardian monsters – the Ancient Treat Protector and the Golden Stag specifically – and are already heading to the third one, the Will-O'-Wisp."

"Their progress is much faster than we expected. It will not take them that long before they open the dungeon entrance."

Belial thought for a moment before commenting. "That Green Dragon is not easy to deal with. Even if most of its powers are focused on maintaining the seal, greatly weakening it in the progress, it is still a dragon nevertheless."

"We may not get that much in sabotaging them, but it should have enough time to buy enough time for the demonic seed to sprout and cause enough chaos to keep the Storm Fortress later. The commander stationed there is such a huge torn to our side after all," he proposed while turning his head.

Paimon thought for a moment before shaking his head. "That will be too risky. If we appeared there right now, a Quest Scenario would be most likely to trigger, especially with the current state of the demonic seed."

"Even if we successfully beat them with our forces, the Dark Cloud Kingdom will be exposed way sooner than our original plan. It is not worth risking on such a losing gamble."

He then paused before clicking his tongue. "It is such a huge loss that I have used the demonic seed for nothing after all the meticulous plan that I have laid, but we can't do anything about it."

"It is just my miscalculation for not considering the appearance of those two. Or even if not those two, just the fact that I have overlooked someone may have accepted a quest to rescue that Spirit King is a huge mistake on my part."

Hearing that, Belial just shrugged his shoulders before standing up. "Since you have already decided, then I will not push this matter anymore."

"Instead, lend me some of your people. I have a perfect job for them," he added with a serious tone.

Paimon raised his head and squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what this guy was plotting.

Belial knew what the latter was thinking so he quickly explained. "Since our 'main problem' is currently busy with his quest here, isn't it a good time to redirect some of our forces for the other operations?"

"I also heard that the others are busy with that trouble we have planted in the other places, so it is the perfect time to move," he added after recalling the reports that he just received earlier.

Paimon realized something before grinning. He then nodded repeatedly as he liked the idea. "Alright. I will lend you the third squadron. Make sure to use them well."

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