Child of Destiny

...…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Watching the battle between Westley in the golden combat suit and the Treant, Shin must admit that the former was quite skilled, pretty good in fact.

Westley's fighting skills were quite high, especially his military arts, swordsmanship, and gun fighting techniques. His perfect control over those impressed Shin, especially when he was switching to different modes of battle.

But at the same time, Shin also found that Westley was not as skilled as someone he knew in this style. The combination of military arts, swordsmanship, and gunfighting techniques reminded Shin of a friend inside the game.

Even though the techniques that the two were using had an obvious difference, indicating that they were not from the same forces. But the overall fighting style was so similar that Shin had mistaken Westley at first glance.

Alucard, the one he knew within the game, was a master of creating space between him and his opponent. That Gun-Fu that he had experienced was so good that it was giving Shin enough trouble during their sparring matches.

Then there were the 'Silent Steps' and the 'Sleep Walk' which were foot techniques that enhanced Alucard's swordsmanship.

Both techniques focused on spacing and sneaky attacks.

On the other hand, Westley majored in swordsmanship and set up a solid defense against the approaching vines, cutting them before they could even reach them. As for his gun fighting techniques, they focused on dealing damage to the Treant whenever he got the chance.

His firepower was also strong enough to destroy the surroundings, especially with those techniques that he possessed.

With the suppression that Westley was providing, particularly with the enhanced energies that he received from the rest of the Mech Corps, the Treant was slowly losing its edge in the battle.

Shin's eyes never left the two. His eyes were still glowing with Mental Energy, keeping the True Sight active. They were especially fixed on the body of the Treant, particularly at the jade-green core situated at its chest.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Roar!

Not long after, Shin saw that Treant released a deafening roar after it got hit by a series of modified bullets, which were also infused with a large quantity of Natural Force. It was gravely injured, making the core within it get agitated.

He could see that the flow of energy within the Treant's body was getting more violent and rapid. They converged into a single spot, forming a spiral storm within its chest.

"It is going berserk and exploding!" Shin instantly realized what was going to happen next.

With a gentle tap in the smartwatch, he sent a signal to the rest of the agents and the young executioner, telling them that they were about to make their move.

He did not care whether these guys would follow his instructions or not. Instead, he took a stance and focused his mind while regulating his breathing.

Using the Solar Breathing Technique and the unique circulation method of the Jade Kirin Scripture, Shin focused his Mental Energy on his sheathed sword, accumulating a lot of power.

At the same time, he also visualized the word 'Sword' inside his mind. He drew the word stroke by stroke while also infusing a variety of sword intent in it. He still had not mastered this technique and could not actively use it in battle. But he could at least achieve a similar result if he focused his mind enough and was not disturbed by his surroundings.

Aside from this, he was also doing his best to confine everything within him. He could not let even a hint of energy leak outside so that the others would not be able to notice him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the distance, Westley also noticed that there was something strange going on the Treant's body, especially when it suddenly attacked more aggressively and did not care about its defense.

Since he was too focused on his battle, he did not notice the subtle fluctuation in the distance.

His subordinates were also in a similar state as they were getting anxious about the actions of the Treant. Moreover, the formation was already on the verge of collapse due to the lack of energy, which indicated that they were already at the end of their ropes.

Due to all of these factors, they were unable to sense the silent shadows slowly and quietly moving closer to them.

Roar!

With another roar, the Treant was finally unable to suppress the uncomfortable feeling within its body and released everything!

The body of the Treant, which was filled with leaves, vines, and tree roots, convulsed a little before showing some signs of mutation.

Through the lenses of his helmet, Westley instantly realized that a large energy within the Treant's body was about to explode.

His face contorted as he quickly issued an order. "Retreat! Retreat!"

*Ding*

At the same time, he issued a retreat, the signal from Shin finally arrived, telling the agents that it was now the time to make their move.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Without any hesitation, the agents jumped out of their hiding place and pounced at the nearest soldiers. They stabbed their daggers at the back, throat, or head of their respective target, killing them in a single blow.

"Ahh!"

"Urgh!"

The Mech Corps, who were more skilled and aided by their combat suits, quickly realized that they were being ambushed. They adjusted themselves and responded within an instant.
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Bang! Bang!

Swoosh!

A chaotic battle quickly broke out between the two sides, making the soldiers unable to retreat.

Westley became enraged when he realized that they had been plotted by someone. He quickly aimed his guns at the agents of the Black Serpent Mafia while skillfully dodging the attacks of the Treant.

Swoosh!

But before he could even fire his gun, he sensed the presence of someone approaching him at an imaginable speed.

Without any hesitation, he turned and pointed his gun at the incoming assailant, ready to fire.

Puchi!

But before he could even pull the trigger, a thick and sharp vine sneakily shot out from the ground and pierced through his waist. It did not penetrate that deep given the toughness of his combat suit, but it still left a huge hole in the armor along with a shallow stab wound in the process.

Swoosh!

At the same time, a sword flash suddenly cut through the air and chopped off his arm by accurately targeting the joint of his combat suit, where the defenses were the weakest.

"Argh!"

Westley cried in pain as he let go of his gun while pressing on the wound of his chopped arm. He also glared at the person who attacked him, particularly at the shortsword in their hand, which was also releasing a dense dark and evil aura.

"An evil cultivator? No, their energy is similar but also carries a striking difference. It is more like an artificial energy," Westley quickly assessed the abilities of his ambusher while swiftly retreating.

The person who ambushed him was naturally the young executioner, who had been eyeing him since the very beginning. He had also accumulated a lot of energy since he started watching the battle and focused everything on that strike just now.

He originally wanted to end Westley in a single strike, but he did not expect that the latter was that fast to respond despite the perfect assassination attempt that he just launched. Due to that, he could only take the arm of the latter inside of killing them.

The two were about to break out in an intense battle when they sensed a strange fluctuation coming from the Treant.

Turning their heads at the same time, they saw that the body of the Treant suddenly ballooned. Then they instantly sensed the danger and were about to retreat.

But it was already too late-…

Boom!

The Treant 'exploded', sending sharp vines and tree roots in every direction. They covered a huge area, catching everyone within the range.

The soldiers and agents, who were busy fighting each other, got their bodies pierced by those vines while the rest had their bodies chucked by the tree roots.

The Mech Corps and elite agents were able to respond and protect themselves for a period. But given the power of the earlier explosion and the violent vines and roots that attacked them, they still got swept by everything and got critically wounded in the process.

Both Westley and the young executioner were able to protect themselves, but they got swept by the strong explosion afterward since they were the nearest to the Treant.

The bodies of everyone littered around while the intertwining vines filled the surroundings and sealed off the area.

Swoosh!

It was at that moment that an ember of fire burned bright in the distance.

Swoosh!

While everyone was down and the Treant was trying to recover itself by recovering the life force of those critically injured, a blazing trail flew forward.

It cut through the vines blocking its path and burning everything behind.

'Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – (Blazing) Flash Final'

Swoosh!

Leaving a flame trail behind him, Shin appeared behind the Treant while thrusting his blazing sword forward.

This strike carried everything Shin had. He had accumulated all his power and focused it at one point before releasing it with a single strike.

Roar!

The Treant cried in pain as Shin's sword pierced through its body and hit the core inside its body accurately.

All the energy that it was trying to accumulate scattered, making it unable to move. It could not retaliate, especially when the flames from Shin's sword spread within its body, burning everything within it.

Shin also did not stop there. "I will kill you while you are weakened!"

As he mumbled to himself, he quickly pulled the sword from the back of the Treant before holding it with both of his hands.

Focusing his mind, he infused the rest of Mental Energy into the sword while also bringing out all the sword principles that he had learned while striking and cutting the body of the Treant.

Blazing flashes repeatedly appeared with each swing of the sword.

Shin danced around the Treant while swinging the sword without rest. He repeatedly strikes the limbs of the monster, cutting and burning it. He was preventing it from recovering itself while also keeping an eye on the raging energies within its body.

He was particularly paying close attention to the corpse of the agent within its body, who was hugging the inheritance tome.

He knew from that start that this Treant was nothing but an outer shell. The real main puppet was that dead agent within its body.

Peeling off the outer shell would lead to the appearance of the main puppet later.

He knew that the core within the Treant was meant for the main puppet, promoting it into a zombie-like monster rivaling an expert of Domain Realm. It would no longer be a monster with nothing but physical strength like the treat, but a monstrous beast that far surpassed those with eight stars or even more.

"Six Stars is the highest category a Monstrous Beast can have, which is the same as Ethereal Opening Stage Experts and Peak of Grandmaster Realm."

"Surpassing it will make them a Disaster Beast, a Seven Star monster, those rival those Void Manifestation Stage or Rulers Realm."

"If they even evolved further, they would become a Calamity Beast or even a Terror Beast, which are as strong as Domain Realm and Transcendent Realm Experts respectively. Or Venerable Realm and Exalted Realm in terms of Mentalism."

Shin was recalling the category of the monsters in the real world as he continued to peel the outer shell of the monsters.

Fortunately, he had destroyed the core of the Treant, or else he would be in deep through if it was swallowed by the main puppet inside its body.

While he was attacking, a splitting headache suddenly assaulted him, making his movements a little sluggish.

'Sh*t! I have stayed in my Natural State for an extended period already,' Shin could not help but curse under his breath as forgotten that he was in the real world and not inside the game since he was too immersed in the battle.

Inside the game, where he was using nothing but an avatar, he could perform more freely since the drawbacks would be limited to his mind. His willpower was strong enough to carry such a burden.

But in the real world, where his body was not as developed and had yet to reach its peak potential, he would suffer a more serious drawback if he was not careful.

He had entered his Natural State, the Perfect Zenith, to make sure that he would be able to land a serious blow on the Treant earlier and prevent it from evolving further.

But he did not expect that the 'outer shell' would be this tough.

Seeing that Shin paused momentarily, the Treant, which was on the verge of collapse seized that opportunity and launched a counterattack.

But since it was not in a position to launch a deadly attack, all it could do was open its body and swallow Shin whole before he could even respond.

Swoosh!

Shin was devoured by Treant without putting up any resistance.

...