Child of Destiny

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Phantom and the rest of his group could not help cursing when they saw what Shin had done. It was not that stunning if they were talking about someone who was a strong Godlike Player or Maverick God since such a feat of surviving that kind of explosion was pretty much normal to them.

Even Phantom, Claude, and Sylvie could also escape or survive that kind of powerful and explosive spell if they wanted to.

The problem here was how Shin had done it.

He first destroyed the magic circle to affect the activation of the spell when it was already about to be activated. The spell was supposed to be detonated at that time, but Shin was still able to respond within that millisecond timeframe and affect the scale of the spell, which also led to its collapse.

That Tier 2 Spell was supposed to devour Shin, who was in the middle of its formation, yet he calmly and composedly stomped his foot on the ground sending a powerful lightning current everywhere.

Anyone in that situation would first think of escaping the place rather than staying in the middle of it and destroying the magic circle that had already been activated.

What was even crazy about that was Shin decided to stay in the same spot despite destroying the magic circle. It was common knowledge to escape from that place when the magic spell collapsed since it would lead to a strong explosion albeit being delayed due to the crumbling magic circle.

The explosion could even become much stronger than the original spell if the mana that it carried was a lot larger than ordinary spells.

Fortunately, Shin disrupted the flow of mana when destroying the magic circle, resulting in a lesser explosion. But it was still much stronger than any other explosion, which could kill a knight in an instant.

Yet, Shin decided to stay despite knowing all of that. Then, as if he was purposely flexing his battle prowess, he executed a powerful technique that did not only cut through the explosion but also the collapsing magic itself.

If it was a powerful knight standing in the middle of that explosion and activating a strong defensive skill to protect himself or an assassin with very high mobility using a movement skill to escape, then the group would not be surprised since it was a common occurrence.

Those cases were still acceptable. But what they just witnessed was way beyond their understanding of the game.

They might have seen someone cutting through magic before just like Zero and other top gods of the game. However, those spells were nothing but simple to slightly intermediate spells rather than a collapsing Tier 2 Spell.

Shin casually cutting through it naturally shocked the group as they instantly understood the gap between them and this person.

"He must be a powerful Godlike Player or Maverick God. Be careful!" warned Phantom as the expression on his face was getting graver with each passing second.

"And someone who ranks very high up there at that!" added Wolf as he still felt the horrifying feeling when he was exchanging blows against Shin.

Wolf was a very skilled Maverick Ranker, who could rank quite high if he joined an official competition and became a Titled Ranker. He was also confident that he could fight a few Godlike Players and hold his ground very well without losing much.

But just a simple exchange with Shin was more than enough for him to humble him, especially that single strike earlier that made him think that he was striking a huge boulder or a metal gate despite attacking a player.

Just thinking about it sends shivers down his spine.

Valdez also wore a solemn expression on his face as he also felt something strange when exchanging blows with Shin.

The battle prowess that they had witnessed was one thing, but Shin's awareness, reflexes, and responses to every situation were on another level. He must admit that they had underestimated this person, who was supposedly a target of their 'hunt'.

They now understood why the Supreme Temple and Martial Alliance had to mobilize the players of the entire faction just to catch a single person.

This person was no different from a raid boss that required an expedition team.

Realizing that they were currently in a not-so-desirable situation, Phantom finally concluded. They would not be able to take down Shin if they had to hold themselves back, much less capture him with the prison prism.

Coming up with this conclusion, Phantom looked over his shoulder and said to the two behind him. "Wolf, go and be a guard for your brother. Valdez, protect Sylvie with all you have."

"Eh!?" the two were caught off guard by his words at first, but they quickly understood what Phantom meant by them right after.

"Are you planning to use that state? Don't you say that you still have not mastered it?" said Valdez with a frown.

In response, Phantom shook his head and added. "Not only me. Sylvie and Claude also need to use theirs if we want to finish this quest."

As someone who also passed the Tier 3 Promotion Quest, he also knew about the special states that the players underwent when trying to clear their respective promotion quest; Valdez had it too. However, he also knew that they were levels on it, and his special combat state was way below the standards that a real top expert possessed.

Phantom, Sylvie, and Claude happened to be lucky enough to stumble upon such an opportunity. They respectively met a strange NPC that gave them a series of odd quests. They first tried clearing them out of boredom or fun since they did not have anything better to do, but they later realized something strange going on after clearing a few more quests.

At the end of the chain quests, they realized that they were able to enter a strange state of combat after clearing the final quests, which was very odd.

Then they received a special recommendation letter that led them to an NPC without any details, who gave them a few tests.

Not long after, they finally realized that the strange state that they could enter during combat was not an illusion, but a real thing.

The three did not were did not know that there were others, who experienced the same thing until they met each other and happened to share their experiences.

That was when they realized that this must be one of the new updates mentioned in the patch notes and developers' clues.

They had learned about these clues from their different experiences; Phantom overhead a conversation of top elites of a powerful guild, Sylvie accidentally stumbled upon it when she was clearing some errand quests, and Claude found out about it when he was looking for clues how to clear his promotion quests.

The three were able to clear their respective promotion quests due to this special state and after polishing themselves through repeated intense battles.

They still hadn't mastered these special states of combat. They also did not know how to call them yet since even the system was not giving them a clue about it.

They were trying to learn more about them, and suspected that they had something to do with the special states listed on the patch notes on the official website of the game – the Reality Manifestation, Hyperactive Immersion, Perfect Demonification, and Magical Formation.

There were not many clues related to these special states aside from Hyperactive Immersion since it was a legend in the Virtual Gaming World.

The three were aware that their special states were no way near these states, but they were at least a lesser version of those combat states.

"What are we going to do if we still can't take him on? Given the strength that he has shown us, it is highly possible that he can also enter such states," said Valdez with a deep frown before adding. "Heck! I will not be surprised if he has mastered them or even entered those legendary states listed on the webpage!"

Phantom smiled bitterly before saying. "Then we have no choice but to retreat if we can. Or just accept our fate to die here and lose a few levels in return."

"Let's just enjoy such a thrilling battle," added as he fixed his grip on his daggers.

As Phantom and others were talking in the party channel, Shin had no idea what they were talking about. But given the looks on their faces, he could guess that they were planning something.

He then saw the group move, seemingly following the instructions of their leader. They went into a formation while getting ready for the battle.

Phantom was left behind, facing Shin, while Claude and Sylvie looked for perfect spots where they could attack freely and support their leader without being distracted.

Shin did not bother to chase after the rest since he could tell what they were planning. Given the experience earlier, he knew that this group at least had three core members that he had to be slightly wary of.

At first, he thought that it was only the assassin, who was standing in front of him, and the marksman, who seemed to be as skilled as Alucard, who was previously known as the Gun and Sword King and was now a part of Empyrean Talons, as well as Morgan, who he knew in the real world and a part of Slayers Adventurer Team led by Lawless and Faker.

He could at least feel the air of an expert on these two from the previous exchanges that they had. But he was not expecting that there was another one in their group, who could also perform quite well – that Holy Mage, who just cast that Tier 2 Spell earlier.

He might have only seen her cast a single spell, but the timing and the accuracy of the spell were without a doubt among the top mages of the game.

She might not be as strong as the other mages that he had met before, but he could still see how skilled she was with that single spell earlier. He could see how meticulous she was and how trickly she could be after placing such a spell perfectly.

Shin could not help himself be curious about this group, particularly those three. He was not planning to recruit them or anything as he felt that they would not fit in their group, but he at least wanted to be acquainted with them.

They might be able to him and the rest of Empyrean Talons with the clues about the hidden mechanics of the game, particularly the special states of combat, as he could feel this certain air around them.

"Let's try playing with them a little bit to confirm my suspicion," he mumbled as he waited for the other side to finish their preparations.

It was not him being too confident of himself, but he just wanted to experience their full power so that he would also not hold back himself.

"Fortunately, no one has seen me using the 'Primordial Lightning' yet aside from Leo and Diablo. I can keep using it in this battle without worrying about the exposure of my identity," he mumbled as he adjusted his grip over his swords.

Crackle! Crackle!

The black-and-white electric currents swam through his entire body and danced in the air. They also flowed through his swords, making him look like a lightning person.

Seeing that, Phantom wore and more solemn expression as he took a stance. At the same time, he emptied his mind while trying to enter that special state of combat.

It took him quite a while to adjust himself and fully enter that ideal state. Fortunately, Shin did not attack him in that period, sparing him from being defeated while unguarded.

"Or he is purposely waiting for me so that he could also go all-out," he mumbled to himself fixing his grip on his daggers.

Claude and Sylvie were also ready, waiting for him to give them a signal.

As the atmosphere around these people was getting tenser with each passing second, someone suddenly appeared a few distance away from them and stood on a branch of a tree.

He hid his presence so that the others could not sense him before mumbling to himself. "Oh~! Now this is interesting. To think I will see an interesting matchup right after I arrive, this is going to be quite entertaining."

Pogo, the Killer Clown, sat on the tree cross-legged, planning to enjoy the show.

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