Child of Destiny

Roar!

As Akailu tried to do his best to fight against Calix, the latter repeatedly found a way to restrict his movements, casting spells and sending a variety of talismans that were meant to counter the Beastmaster.

Despite summoning all his pet monsters to fight alongside him, Akailu was still unable to break through the spells and techniques of his opponent, who seemed to be able to predict all his moves.

Under the gaze of this Divine Exorcist, Akailu felt like a little beast trapped within a cage and unable to do anything.

Calix was a Conqueror, which was an Epic Race that evolved from the Human Race after passing through the trial of the Tier 3 Promotion Quest.

Akailu had yet to evolve into an Ascended Being through his Ascended Class, so his stats were still quite inferior compared to his opponent. His abilities were also a level lower than his Calix, who received perfect boosts from his race.

Dyr was a special Beastman Race that Akailu had received alongside his Spirit Beastmaster Ascended Class. It had quite a lot of potential, just like Owen’s race, the Sacred Neanderthals.

Unfortunately, he had yet to fully understand his class, restricting him from taking another step toward evolution.

He remembered that Owen was inspired during their battle in that Hatchling Lair Dungeon, which enlightened him to fully unleash the potential of his Ascended Class and fully helped him to step into becoming an Ascended Race.

Dyrs and Neanderthals were both combat-related races, so Akailu suspected that he would be able to awaken the hidden powers of his race once he accumulated enough battle experience or suddenly got enlightened in a life-and-death battle, just like what happened to Owen.

This was the reason why he kept on holding his ground. He was even using a double fusion with his pet monsters, giving him more stats and extra abilities.

Unfortunately, it was still far from being enough to match the battle prowess of his opponent.

Due to him being constantly at a disadvantage, the rest of the group had to spend some effort to cover him, resulting in them having to take a step back when fighting their respective opponents.

Naturally, the members of the opposing side also noticed this, using the mismatch to their advantage.

Alucard became even busier due to this, needing to focus more on covering Akailu’s side. This led to him losing some control over the battlefield.

His tempo was now a little off, giving Aiming more initiative during their showdown.

Alucard knew that he could not afford to be constantly in the passive state, but he could not do anything about it either, since they would most likely lose Akailu in the process once he dropped the pressure on Calix.

Morris and Gernard also understood this, which was why they upped their pace to put more pressure on Diablo and Leonard, respectively, while also looking for opportunities to assist Calix whenever it appeared.

But Leonard and Diablo did want to drop their pace as well since they were unwilling to be in the same passive state as Alucard and Akailu. They both activated their respective Elemental Spirit Possession to keep the pressure on their respective opponents.

Morris and Gernard almost lost their tempo from this, forcing them to use their Ascended Abilities and Extraordinary Powers, respectively, to match the paces of their opponents. They knew that these guys would be able to turn the tide against them once they found even a hint of an opening.

In the meantime, Alucard was currently in a dilemma, thinking whether to stop being stubborn to compete with Aiming with gunfighting techniques and use his Blood Power Manipulation instead.

His pride, or more specifically the pride of the Gun King, did not let him be on the losing end when it came to gunfighting.

There could be many Sword Kings in the virtual world, as swordsmanship had a lot of variation and was divided into multiple paths, but there could only be a single Gun King – a true king of guns and gunfighting.

The path of the sword had a lot of variations and principles. The essence of each sword differs from one another.

Even though they would be converging at a single point later, reaching their True Origin, all the paths needed to be walked separately to avoid the conflicts and maintain the balance.

Guns, on the other hand, were a little different. Even if they had a lot of types with different purposes and usage, their root essence was still the same.

Moreover, the path that the Gun King Roger was walking at that time was to be the master of all guns, making him the true ruler of this area.

During his peak era of «Sword and Guns» Online, no one came close to his mastery over all the guns, which earned him the title of the Gun King.

No matter which gun it was, he had a great mastery over it, surpassing everyone who was wielding the same type of gun.

The Sword King, on the other hand, just happened to have the strongest swordsmanship in that game, which gave him the ability to defeat all his competitors.

…

As Alucard was stuck in the dilemma between dropping his pride and continuing to compete with Aiming in terms of gunfighting, Leonard, who was the acting leader of this group, had finally decided to retreat.

“We are pulling back!” he said in the chat to prevent the opposing side from knowing their intentions.

The others could not help but pause briefly due to they did not expect Leonard to issue the command to retreat. From their understanding of him, he was the type to continue moving forward without fear, even in the face of insurmountable adversity.

Understanding their thoughts, he quickly added. “We may be the strike team and granted the freedom to do whatever we want. But we must remember our other purpose in this match.”

“The Vice Commander has told us to only pick the battle that we can afford to win. We must retreat as soon as the situation is not in our favor.”

He paused for a moment to create himself some breathing space against Gernard before continuing. “Our opponents are more familiar with his place than us. They must have some special means to communicate with their teammates since they have chosen this place as their home map.”

“We have been fighting against them for quite a while now and have yet to gain any advantage. We don’t know if they have already informed the others about our clash.”

“The longer we stay in this place, the more dangerous it is for us.” he then took another pause to push his opponent further back before quickly adding. “Don’t be too disappointed that we are retreating. We still have plenty of time to deal with them later.”

“For now, we have to take a tactical retreat and reorganize ourselves before the next battle!”

Hearing his words, the others had also calmed themselves a little, adjusting their pace so that they could prepare to retreat as soon as Leonard had signaled it.

Akailu, on the other hand, could not help but feel a little bitter as he knew that he was the sole reason why they were currently in this situation.

He knew that the others could find a way to at least eliminate one of their opponents if they were not covering for him.

His earlier fear had truly become reality, becoming a hindrance to the team and restricting their overall abilities.

He even believed that the three would be able to hold themselves against the others in a 3-vs-4 scenario if they were not being burdened by him.

Lost in his thoughts and guilt, Akailu committed a mistake in his movements, giving Calix enough opening to launch a powerful attack.

“Sh*t!” it was already too late to dodge at that time as the spell that Calix had sent was already right before him.

Swoosh!

Fortunately, the shadow behind him suddenly moved and swallowed him up, along with his pet monsters, and sent them in a safe location.

“Hey! Keep your mind sharp! It is not like you to commit such a rookie mistake!” scolded Alucard as he resumed firing at Calix and Aiming with a stronger momentum, forcing them into a defensive stance.

Whoosh!

At this point, Leonard finally found the opening that he was waiting for and leaped into the air before forcing his body to land at the center of the formation of their opponents, who happened to be near one another.

Boom!

This produced a huge explosion that swept through dozens of meters around him, forcing the four to scatter.

At the same time, the shadow surrounding the entire corridor seemed to come alive and swarm toward the group, forcing them to use their respective means to protect themselves.

When everything settled down, the members of the Earners Mercenary Group found that Leonard and the others were already nowhere to be found.

“Tsk! They escaped,” Morris clicked his tongue after realizing what had just happened. “A little bit more and we will be able to trap them with the team that the Captain is leading.”

“It is my fault. I don’t expect that they will be this decisive at retreat as it is not the style the War God is known for,” said Gernard as he looked at the dark corridor where he suspected Leonard and others ran off to.

“What’s next?” asked Aiming as he rested his assault rifle on his shoulders.

Gernard turned to Calix and asked. “Have you put a tracking talisman in them?”

Calix was currently furrowing his brows as he signed. “I originally put them on Akailu and his pets, but it seems like Diablo has discovered them in the last exchange through his Shadow Powers.”

“They are all ineffective now,” he added with a sigh.

Gernard did not blame him and just raised his brows. “It is already lucky that we have encountered them this early, so there is no need to be too disappointed.”

“We are moving according to the plan. We are regrouping with the Captain and the others at the Central Hall. Everything else will be based on our situation,” he ordered before turning his back and walking in the opposite direction where Leonard and others had disappeared to.

……