Chapter 1195 Pursuit (Part 1)
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Shin was looking at the compass that he had gotten from Archbishop Ronald and observed it with full interest. It was pointing him in a certain direction, which seemed to be the general direction that he had to go.
It also indicated numbers that seemed to be the approximate distance between him and his target. And from what he could see, it seemed like the other party was pretty far from him. The compass indicated a couple of thousand miles which could only mean that his target was in another city or an isolated map far from the Holy City.
Opening his map, Shin made a silent calculation inside his head, trying to guess the general location of his target. "Umbra City? That place is always under the dark sky due to the high density of Dark Elemental Mana. No wonder they choose that place to hide."
Shin could already guess the thoughts of the opposing side. They would be using the environment of the Umbra City to their advantage, making their stats not affected by the 'sacred' aura that was currently protecting the kingdom.
After the last invasion of the Corrupted Cult, the Righteous Churches built a series of towers that were connected to one another to summon the blessing of their respective gods. Due to this, the Saint Heaven Kingdom was under the powerful protection of different blessings, making the corrupted creatures to be greatly weakened.
This blessing would last until the melting of the ice wall separating the Frozen Kingdom from the rest of the world, so it would be at least less than a month within the game.
This was one of the main reasons why the Corrupted Cult was completely defeated despite them being able to secure land from the outskirts of the kingdom. Aside from the constant assault of the players and the churches within the kingdom, the weakening effects of those blessings played a huge role in that final battle.
This was one of the things that Shiella had played at since she was the one, who convinced the churches to build those towers. With the Church of the Sun and Moon and the Church of Light supporting the idea, the rest of the Righteous Churches followed suit.
Shin did a mental calculation while trying to guess the route that his target was going to take. From what he could see, it seemed like they were heading toward one of the borders of the Saint Heaven Kingdom, where the current event was happening.
From what Shin could remember, there was a special event that came alongside the melting of the 'Divine Ice of Sealing'. It was said to be the invasion of monsters and the players needed to repel them to prevent further damage to the kingdom.
Shin ignored that event since the rewards were not that appealing to him. Only the players, who were trying to catch up with the leading pack would be interested in it.
The event would provide a huge experience boost when hunting the monsters at the border, giving the players a great leveling speed during the entire event.
They could also gain some 'Hunting Points' that they could exchange for some items that could further help them during the event or some equipment that they wanted from the exchange center.
There were some exclusive equipment sets that could be exchanged from the exchange center with decent stats. It might be inferior compared to the top-notch equipment set that Shin and the other Godlike Players were wearing, but those equipment sets were still much better than what the mainstream players could hope for.
There were also some limited-edition items – as well as unique mounts and pets – on display for exchange that could attract the players who loved collecting.
Overall, it was a pretty interesting event that would provide the players with a lot of fun and benefits. Shin could already see a flood of players heading toward the borders of the kingdom to join the fun.
Given that, Shin could already guess that his target of pursuit would like to use the crowded and chaotic environment of that place to escape.
Shin's head started to work faster as he was formulating a series of plans inside it. After a few minutes of thinking, he realized that there was a problem that he needed to deal with once he found his target.
Fighting that mysterious player from the Demonic Churches was one thing, but dealing with the people accompanying him would be another matter.
This demonic player would most likely have powerful abilities given that they could assassinate an NPC of a church with an archbishop status. Or at the very least, they should have powerful tools that could weaken such a strong NPC to the point where they could fight him.
From Shin's current knowledge of the game, such tools could only be used when there were other people around to operate them. Based on what he just heard from Archbishop Ronald, there seemed to be some accomplices when the assassination occurred.
They might not have been around when the assassination started, but the hired Chronomancer seemed to be sure that there were other people surrounding the room when everything took place.
Thinking about it, Shin felt that he was not confident enough to face this group of people. He might still stand a chance against that mysterious assassin when it came to a one-on-one battle, but he was not sure if he would still be able to pull it off if the other people on their side joined in.
Given the current situation, he only had three choices that he could use. The first was to ask for some help from his companions. Even a few of them were more than enough to handle the unforeseen situations during the battle.
The second was to lure the other party toward the more chaotic place within the border, involving the players who were hunting there for the event. He was sure that there were quite a lot of competent players who would be joining, so he was sure that once players from Demonic Churches appeared, they would gang up on them to get the bounty reward from the Righteous Churches.
The third choice was for him to face the opposing group by himself while hoping for the best. He could prepare himself to the best of his abilities while also looking for the opportunity to take care of the other party one by one.
Thinking about that, Shin started contacting his friends to see what they were up to. Unfortunately, yet also as expected, the others were also busy with their respective businesses. All of them were doing quests that they set aside up until now with the rest already taking on their respective Tier 3 Class Promotion.
Siegfried: Man~! I am busy right now. I am in the middle of taking my promotion quest and this is the third time already! Don't bother me. F*ck! I got killed again!
Simba: Sorry, Shin Bro, I am doing my class promotion right now. It is really hard as the others say. I am not sure how to clear it, so I need to focus on this for now.
Arielle: Sorry, Shin. I am currently stacked inside an independent dungeon. I need to clear this first before I can get out. But even then, I have to clear my class promotion quickly since these two quests are closely connected. I only have a limited time to clear them both.
Lawless: Aw, too bad. I am already out of the Saint Heaven Kingdom to look for clues on how to upgrade my Bloodline inside the game – it will have a critical impact once I take on my class promotion quest. I will take some time before I can come back.
Faker: I am currently in an Ancient Battlefield for my Class Promotion Quest. I don't know when I can come out.
Owen: I must apologize, brother. I like to spend this time with Ithilien. Take care of your problems yourself.
Khing: You can take care of yourself, Junior Brother. I trust you – you can do it!
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The rest of the group had valid reasons behind their rejection, but what Owen had said was clearly 'selfish'. Instead of doing important quests to be productive, he was wasting his time chasing after skirts.
Shin chuckled a little as he was guessing that everything was coming quite well for Owen. "It seems like their relationship progressed smoothly."
As for David, his senior brother, Shin completely ignored the guy after spamming a series of 'encouraging' messages. He was sure that this guy was only there to annoy him.
After confirming that he would not be getting any help from this quest, he decided to take the route with the hardest obstacle to overcome. It seemed like he would be doing this quest by himself.
He could also consider hiring some skilled players as mercenaries, but he would like to face everything on his own rather than sharing the quest and its rewards with unfamiliar people.
While Shin was finalizing the plan inside his head, he suddenly appeared at the Teleportation Hall of the Umbra City. The place was not as packed as the other city that Shin had visited. After all, this was one of the most average cities within the Saint Heaven Kingdom.
Shin swept his gaze at the surroundings before heading out to the exit as soon as possible. And right after he left the hall, he immediately saw the plaza of the city which was almost devoid of people.
"It is really not as famous as the other cities," muttered Shin to himself.
Based on his estimate, the cities that were close to the borders of the kingdom were currently packed with players, who wanted to join the event. This was the reason why he did not want to head to those cities right away since he would be having some trouble.
At the same time, he also wanted to use this place as the starting point of his investigation. He would have to predict the movements of the other party by following their tracks. As long as he had their route drawn inside his head, he would be able to read how they were going to act and advance during this pursuit.
He could forget about the rest of the problems for now. First, he had to catch up to them and know exactly how many he was facing to know how he would deal with them.
After moving to a secluded corner of the city, Shin quickly took out the compass and looked at it. Not long after, the general direction where he had to go, and the approximate distance of his target was quickly displayed on it.
"North-east, approximately 500 kilometers," he mumbled before frowning. "They are already that far? That means they are moving through the official road for them to be this fast."
"Or they have special mounts that can travel through the woods completely unhindered," he added as he quickly moved.
He quickly headed toward the exit of the city and swiftly entered the woods while summoning Whitie, who was currently in his tiger form, at the same time. He then quickly mounted the white tiger with blazing paws and urged the guy to move forward.
Since the white tiger could move within the woods quite mobile and agile, Shin chose to travel through it instead of the main road. It was for him not to attract any unnecessary attention during the pursuit and to avoid the scouts of the other party, who were possibly looking out for their pursuers.
At the same time, Shin summoned all his Elemental Spirits and ordered them to scout the area ahead and secure a safe path for him.
The fastest and most mobile among them – which were Blackie, Grimrace, Hanzo, and Vladimir – were tasked to move independently while looking for the traces of the opposing party.
Given the strength of his opponents and the organization that they were involved with, Shin was confident that they were aware of the existence of the Elemental Spirits. If they learned about Shin possessing a group of elementals, he knew that they would use a 'Spirit Awe' skill to forcefully unsummon them.
Having these thoughts, Shin had to take the initiative and summon them first before striking an ambush. With this, he could deal the most damage to the opposing side before they could even retaliate. And if it was successful, he might even finish the other side in one fell swoop.
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While Shin was running through the woods with his mount and elemental spirits, his target of pursuit was able to sense them from a very far distance.
Within a mountain forest, which was filled with plant-type monsters, a group of hooded individuals were currently traveling along the road.
A few moments later, the person who was leading the group suddenly halted his steps before turning his head around. He looked in a certain direction, seemingly able to see their pursuers.
"It looks like the church has finally caught up to us," he muttered before turning to the others and giving out his orders. "Team 1 and 2, you are to be left behind and delay them to the best of your abilities."
"Buy as much time as you can while we are advancing to the rendezvous point. Once we reach that place, we can consider this mission a complete success," he added before turning around and continuing his steps.
He did not care whether the rest heard him properly or not. He also did not care if they had any kind of objections. He just said whatever he wanted and left.
In the meantime, the others quickly moved according to the orders given to them without raising any questions.
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