Child of Destiny

In the meantime, while the western side of the fortress was rapidly heating up, the situation on the eastern side was also picking up the pace.

After realizing that they couldn’t risk causing the rock formations facing the eastern side of the fortress to collapse just to find the artillery units bombarding the fortress’s Mana Dome, Donato decided to send an elite unit to search for them.

And the force he sent was one of the most elite units within their faction.

This unit had once been one of the assassin squads deployed by the Silver Knives whenever they needed to eliminate a specific target.

They were highly skilled at fighting in all kinds of environments and conditions, making them quite notorious within their field.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

However, at this moment, this notorious assassin unit was facing an adversary they had never encountered before.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Within the complicated terrain dominating the eastern side of the fortress, where countless rock formations of various sizes filled the area, dozens of shadows flashed from one place to another.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

They repeatedly clashed with the assassin unit dispatched by the fortress, seemingly hunting them beneath the cover of night.

Puchi!

After killing the final member of the enemy unit, one of the shadows finally stopped and looked down at the corpse before them.

The figure briefly scanned the surroundings, checking on the status of their comrades before giving a slight nod.

They then tapped the communication device attached to their right ear. "This is Wolf. Section Three has been cleared."

At almost the exact same moment, different voices sounded through the communication device one after another, each delivering a similar report.

[Hyaena reporting in. Section Four has been cleared!]

[Panther reporting in. Section Two has been cleared!]

[Jaguar reporting in. Section One has been cleared!]

One report after another followed in rapid succession, all of which were immediately acknowledged by the central command.

Owen, who had been sitting idly atop an elevated boulder from which he could observe much of the battlefield, couldn’t help but click his tongue upon witnessing the efficiency of the Deicide operatives.

"Tsk! Tsk! Military people sure are different," he commented.

He couldn’t help but be impressed by how organized they were and how quickly they eliminated every target within their assigned areas.

He had long heard the rumors surrounding this particular guild that Shin and the Hand of Midas had jointly established.

From what he knew, it was supposed to be a guild composed entirely of members with military backgrounds, specifically those recruited from the family Shin and Siegfried belonged to.

He had also heard that most of them were elite cadets from their military forces, which explained why their units were so highly trained.

At the same time, he had learned that the guild was divided into multiple units, with each one specializing in a specific field.

From what he was seeing now, the units assigned to this operation were mostly assassination units and firearm specialists.

Each member possessed Thief- or Assassin-related classes from various races, such as Twilight among Elves, Hunters among Beastmen, Spectral Thieves among Undead, and several others.

There were also a few Human Thieves and Assassins, but most of the Human members specialized in Gunslinger and Sniper Classes, which were mostly exclusive to the Human Race.

Owen watched the Deicide members continue to operate with remarkable efficiency and couldn’t help but shake his head once again.

He was starting to get a little bored because these people clearly didn’t need him to protect the artillery at all.

It felt like he was wasting his time guarding something that didn’t even require his protection.

Regardless, he couldn’t simply abandon his post just because he was bored.

After all, Shin would most likely beat him up if he caused any trouble that ended up complicating their operation.

"Tsk! Just until the Mana Dome collapses... just until the Mana Dome collapses..." He repeatedly muttered those words to himself, desperately trying to calm his restless heart.

He felt like he was going to die of boredom if Shin didn’t make his move soon.

...

Owen had joined this operation after hearing that they would be facing a powerful NPC who was already close to reaching the Tier 4 Realm.

He had been quite eager to give such an opponent a try, thinking that this operation would finally give him an interesting battle.

Unfortunately, it seemed that he would have to wait quite a while before they could fully launch their "real" objective given the current situation.

"If I had known it was going to be like this, then I wouldn’t have joined this operation. I should’ve just stayed in the battlefields of the Dark Cloud Kingdom," he mumbled, complaining to himself.

Even though he was already sick of fighting mediocre demonic players and the occasional demonic creature there, he could at least find that a little entertaining compared to his current situation.

He also regretted not going to the Lesser Kingdom of Juron after hearing about the chaos caused by the Demonic Churches in that region and how intense the battlefield had become.

He had even heard that Diablo and Alucard had fought against apex-level experts there, especially Diablo, who had gone as far as fighting one of the powerful executives of the Demonic Church of Terror.

Shin had even come late, but he had also fought powerful opponents.

First was Leviathan, the Envy Devil of the Pandemonium Troupe. Then, it was followed by an intense battle against Elemental Anomalies.

And as if it was still not enough, he also fought another high executive of the Demonic Church of Terror.

The Dark Cloud Kingdom was likewise filled with Demonic Players.

Unfortunately, despite spending so much time fighting there, Owen had never encountered a high-ranking executive of any Demonic Church who could provide him with the thrilling battle he wanted.

That was why he had eagerly joined this operation, refusing to miss another opportunity.

Now, however, he was already itching for some action, yet the competence of the people around him made it impossible for him to find any reason to move.

...

On the other hand, Samael, who had only recently joined the circle of professional gamers, found the members of Deicide extremely impressive.

He had played several other games before «Destiny’s Fate» Online was released and had watched many experts of the virtual world in action.

He had also watched top guilds wage their wars and studied how they handled large-scale battles and covert operations.

However, this was his first time witnessing something like this.

The way Deicide fought was fundamentally different from how elite and top guild players usually operated.

"No... they aren’t just fighting," he muttered as he continued watching the Deicide members take down their targets one after another and systematically clear the areas assigned to them.

He couldn’t quite explain the difference between these Deicide operatives and the elites of other top guilds, but he could at least tell that they weren’t fighting like ordinary players.

They operated more like real people rather than individuals simply playing a game.

Owen naturally noticed the way Samael was watching the Deicide members and immediately understood what the rookie Paladin was thinking.

"These people aren’t just ordinary elite players..." he said, answering one of Samael’s unspoken questions. "They truly understand their own strengths and weaknesses..."

"...and, more importantly, they know how to combine their abilities to compensate for each other’s shortcomings," he added while looking at the Deicide operatives.

"They understand what it truly means to be a ’unit,’ something most experts from top guilds and huge organizations don’t."

Samael nodded slightly before asking the question that had been bothering him the most. "Why do I feel like they’re not really ’players’ and are something else?"

Owen smiled before nodding. "You’re right... These people aren’t players."

He paused for a moment before answering. "They’re soldiers."

"Soldiers?" Samael repeated with slight confusion.

"They are real soldiers in the real world," Owen simply said.

The answer did not satisfy Samael. "But that doesn’t explain why they operate so differently from other elite players," he asked.

He had seen other people take advantage of their professions in the real world to enhance their abilities within the games they played.

He had even watched top experts of the virtual world employ similar strategies to reach the heights they had achieved.

Yet, despite all of that, he still felt something different from the members of Deicide.

There was a unique feeling in the way they operated that he couldn’t quite put into words.

Owen immediately shook his head. "It’s hard to explain because it has little to do with the mechanics of the virtual world itself."

"However... you’ll understand it sooner or later, once you truly find your own unique style of fighting." He chuckled before refusing to elaborate further.

"Like finding my unique Combat State, like yours and the others?" Samael asked.

Hearing this, Owen couldn’t help but laugh before nodding. "Yeah... that’s one part of it."

He was beginning to understand why Shin had brought Samael along for this operation and specifically assigned him to fight alongside him and the members of Deicide.

Shin wanted Samael to see something beyond simply "fighting."

Owen then turned his attention toward the members of Deicide, who were now engaging another battle against the additional forces dispatched from the fortress.

"The way you fight is one thing... but a unique Combat State is more than just your fighting style."

......

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