Child of Destiny

...…

Phantom stood a few meters away from Shin getting ready for an attack from his opposition. But from the look of it, Shin had the intention of taking the initiative this time. He completely understood that he still had to keep an eye on the others, who would be attacking him from a distance.

And just like what Shin had expected, the opposing side took the initiative instead.

Phantom hopped backward, entering stealth, while Claude started firing without any hesitation.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With Shin's senses, he could already sense the incoming magic bullets despite them being fired from a place that he could not see.

Shin quickly responded by taking a couple of steps forward, slow, calm, and collected. But unexpectedly, those simple movements from him made him 'dodge' the magic bullets.

Shu! Shu! Shu!

The bullets hit the ground either behind him or beside his feet, sending dirt in the air.

Seeing that, Claude, as someone with the sharpest eye within the group, could not help but be shocked at what he had just seen. Shin seemed to be taking a casual walk in a park while the bullets seemed to have avoided them instead of trying to hit him.

He thought that he was just seeing things at first, but given his sharp eyes enhanced by his ocular skill, it was impossible to not see even the tiniest details.

Claude could not help but gulp hard after seeing that scene. But he still continued firing shots without a pause.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

This time, he had executed a series of gun-firing techniques, making sure that Shin would not be able to easily avoid them.

Some of the bullets curved during their flight, others took tricky angles, while the rest flew straight to Shin.

Shin could not help but slightly raise his brows as he sensed the incoming bullets right after they entered his 'Sensing Circle'. He could instantly tell that those shots were executed under different combat techniques.

He could tell that this person was very skilled and knew quite a lot of gun combat techniques.

Shin planned to do the same trick he did earlier, but he could already sense someone stepping in the 'Sensing Circle', indicating that someone in stealth was trying to launch an ambush.

With that in mind, Shin instantly changed his mind and used his combat technique instead. The black-and-white lightning divided themselves, separating each of his swords. The black one went to his left-hand sword while the white one went to the other.

'Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship: Infinity Edge'

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Intertwining black and white lines appeared in the air, forming a dome of net surrounding Shin. They blocked, deflected, and cut the incoming bullets while also preventing Phantom from approaching him at the same time.

Clank! Clank!

Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew in the air while the magic bullets were either cut in halves or redirected in another direction as they approached the dome-like net around Shin.

Phantom waited for everything to end, before pouncing forward in great timing and aggressive presence.

At the same time, his arms were crossed in front of him while holding the daggers in a reverse grip manner. Each other was coated with shadowy mana which resembled black flame.

'Advance Combat Technique: Ghost Slash'

As he was moving forward, a silhouette of himself was left from his previous location, mimicking his initial posture. There was also a shadow aura left behind his path, seemingly connecting him and the silhouette at his initial position.

'Assassin Skill: (Modified) Delayed Strike'

Shin, who just finished executing the 'Infinity Edge', was immediately greeted by the incoming strike, indicating how perfectly timed this ambush was.

Regardless, Shin remained called as he still had plenty of time to either dodge or counterattack.

He watched Phantom approach him at great speed while throwing a reverse cross slash at him. Given the black light tracing the trajectory of the daggers, Shin could tell that it was no ordinary attack.

With a slight frown, Shin suddenly used one of his in-game skills.

'Phantom Swordsman Skill: Phantom Steps'

Swoosh!

His figure turned into smoke as Phantom sliced through his body before appearing behind the latter, seemingly spat out by the shadow beneath the feet of his opponent.

Despite failing to his target and regardless of the threat coming from behind, Phantom remained calm as his attack was yet to end.

Swoosh!

At the same time, the shadow that was left behind in his position suddenly charged forward, heading straight to Shin, doing the same actions that Phantom did earlier.

Sensing the threat behind him, Shin slightly raised his brows as he somewhat expected something like this.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the same time, he heard the silent gunshots from the distance seemingly trying to block his escape route.

Regardless, he kept his composure and used yet another in-game skill, but an elemental one this time.

'Elemental Skill (Void): Void Step'

A small void rift suddenly appeared and swallowed Shin, making him dodge the incoming attack from behind before it spat him out right above Phantom.

At the same time, he was already swinging his sword down as he fell from the void rift above.

Shing!

'Extra Skill: (Modified) Falling Lightblade'

Crackle! Crackle!

Shin drew a vertical line with his sword as he swung it down toward his opponent. There was also the black-and-white electric current flowing through his sword, which also traced the trail left behind by the sword.

Phantom instantly sensed the threat and knew that he would be instantly killed by this strike once it sliced through.

The attack also came a little too sudden as he was expecting Shin to at least deal with his delayed attack first as well as the shots that were fired by Claude to assist him.

But he seemed to still have underestimated Shin's abilities. From the initial movement to the transition of skills and then to a sudden counterattack that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Shin was supposed to focus on avoiding the attacks directed at him, yet he initiated a counter instead.

Phantom was a little slow to respond despite the current state that he was in. He was supposed to have sharper sense and faster reflexes when he was in this state, but all of it was still not enough.

He could not even respond to the sudden attack. He did not even have the time to use any movement skills to escape as the sharp edge of the sword was already upon him.

Swoosh!

Bang!

Fortunately, a transparent golden barrier suddenly appeared and blocked the descending sword. The timing was perfect, surprising Shin a little.

Shin held his sword tightly, preventing it from flying from his hand, as it rebounded from the barrier that came out of nowhere.

That barrier was way tougher than most of the defensive skills he had seen. His powerful attack did not even leave a scratch on that barrier, although it shook violently from the strike.

Smirking, Shin felt a little interested in the Holy Mage, who obviously cast that barrier to protect Phantom.

He briefly glanced in the direction where he sensed the fluctuation of mana in the air, indicating that the spell was cast from that direction.

He did not try to head there and take down the Holy Mage just like how one of the common strategies written in a book manual – take down the support first and the battle would be much easier.

He became a little arrogant at this point or somewhat overconfident. But he had a reason for that since he wanted to try something in this battle.

His eyes suddenly turned cold as he fixed his grip on his sword that rebounded from the barrier.

Crackle!

Then a silent electric current flowed through the sword as he swung it down.

Swoosh!

His arm seemed to have disappeared when he swung, only leaving a bright trail in the air.

This skill was a combination of two in-game skills under his arsenal, the 'Destructive Slash' and 'Solar Cut'. But instead of using the usual fire-elemental mana, he used the 'Primordial Lightning' in exchange.

At the same time, he also applied the technique that he had learned from Old Ryong recently but using two of them at once. He used both the 'swiftness' and 'heaviness' together, producing a surprising result.

The sword came fast yet also heavy at the same time.

Then adding the elemental powers of the 'Primordial Lightning', this particular strike came a little too strong even for the sturdy barrier to withstand.

Shing!

Crackle!

Phantom at that time had already known that he would be receiving yet another attack right after the previous one.

Since Sylvie had already brought him enough time with that perfectly timed barrier, he could now escape from this current situation that he was in.

Without any hesitation, Phantom used one of his movement skills to retreat.

Bang!

Then, right after he appeared a few distance away from his previous location, he saw that the barrier that Sylvie had placed in there exploded and shattered into pieces like glass.

He also could still see the lightning trail left in the air, tracing the path that Shin's sword had taken with that strike.

Phantom shivered as he could already imagine what would have happened to him if he had been even a fraction of a second late.

Boom!

But Phantom did not have time to breathe as he saw Shin suddenly stomped on the ground and propelled himself toward his direction. There was even a sonic boom during the charge.

Swoosh!

Without any hint of hesitation, Phantom used a series of buffs to boost his speed as he could already see what was about to happen next.

Dodging the first strike that was thrown at him, Phantom continued to retreat, trying to distance himself away from his opponent.

He was performing quite well, but that was only for preserving his life. He did the best he could to dodge each strike from Shin, which was almost scaring him.

Each strike was fast, but they also carried a heavy feeling in them, making it impossible for Phantom to dare block those strikes. Some of them also carried a sense of sharpness instead of heaviness, but that also made them so deadly for some unknown reason.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the same time, Claude was firing a series of shots, trying to assist Phantom with the best that he could.

But despite trying his best, Shin was still able to continue his aggressive assault, not giving Phantom any time to escape.

What was crazier about this was Shin blocking, dodging, and deflecting those magic bullets while attacking.

Every little movement of Shin seemed to be from a god. Even the simple tilting of his head to the side made the bullet miss him with the tiniest margin, which shocked Claude, thinking that it was nothing but luck.

Phantom tried to escape multiple times with his movement and life-saving skills, but despite his desperate attentions, Shin seemed to be able to predict all his actions and always be ahead of him all the time.

Whenever Phantom used a movement skill to appear in a different location, Shin was already there waiting for him. When he was trying to use his speed to get away, Shin stuck to him like a gum, unwilling to let him go.

All of these were even happening under the barrage of shots from Claude.

Realizing that the two of them were not enough, Sylvie disregarded her plan of using advanced spells and joined them.

She was trying a few spells here and there, trying to give Phantom a window that he could use to get away from Shin. But no matter how hard she tried, Shin seemed to be completely unbothered and even increased the intensity of his attacks.

Even if she provided shields and barriers for Phantom, Shin always found the latter under stealth.

How could Phantom escape from Shin when the latter kept his 'True Sight' active along with the 'Sensing Circle' territorial skill? So long as he stepped into the range of that skill there was no escape, especially with the current stats that Shin had.

The only way to get away from it was to use a long-range escape skill or a series of instantaneous skills that could not be interrupted.

In this battle, Shin showcased a skill and battle prowess that even overpowered two Godlike Players and a Maverick God, who were in the third tier of their respective classes.

The three of them might not be in the top rankings of the Godly Player List, but they were still highly skilled players of the game.

What they were seeing was a complete madness.

During this entire battle, Pogo, who was watching secretly in a distance, could not help but raise his brows at the scene. He was also surprised by what this guy could do by himself.

Then, a sudden thought flashed through his mind, and pulled out a virtual screen, opening the official forum of the game.

After that, he uploaded the video that he had recovered along with the live feed of the battle in the end.

"Let's see what is going to happen next," he seemed to be enjoying everything before licking his lips, excited about something.

...