Child of Destiny

...

In the depths of the Plagued Lands, there was a group of players gathered inside a tomb. Their current appearance was neither of any races available to the public.

They looked like an undead, but not at the same time.

Some of them looked like a sick person and were on the verge of dying, while the others seemed to have been infected by a contiguous disease, making them look weak and would collapse at any time.

But despite all of these, they looked quite intimidating and powerful, which was quite the opposite of their outer appearances.

These players were the ones who had discovered this ancient tomb and disturbed the rest of the fallen king. Due to what they had done, they had been cursed with the plague and tasked to spread it and accumulate enough life force to resurrect the fallen king.

This was a special quest or sort, which they had always wanted. But the ending was still not something that they had expected.

The first time they had discovered the tomb, they were quite excited about it, thinking that they had found a treasure trove. But who would have thought that instead of discovering any treasures, they would become like this?

"Our progress has been halted due to the involvement of the Righteous Churches. We can no longer expand as they have already set up the purifying outposts to block our advance," said one of these players, who seemed to be a zombified person.

He had a decaying mouth, which looked quite hideous, especially when with those teeth that were being revealed due to his missing cheeks. One of his eyes was also almost popping out due to the lack of muscles and flesh surrounding it.

There was a constant flow of black miasma coming out from different parts of his body, particularly from the gaps left by the decaying wounds all around him.

There was a sheathed katana on his waist, which signified his previous class before he 'died'.

"What can we do? It is to be expected, especially when we are somewhat close to the Divinity City. That is why I suggested earlier that we expand toward the opposite direction, towards the smaller city, since it is the much safer choice," this time, it was a woman with a pale face.

She was sighing as her companions were not listening to her. Even if they had become somewhat stronger than their previous selves due to the class and racial conversion of the plague that swallowed them, she still knew that they were far from threatening such a massive Imperial City, especially when it was the capital of the Divine Empire.

She was quite a beauty before she got 'sick'. Her face was like a fairy due to her smooth skin, particularly her emerald-like eyes that were as clear as water.

Even if her face had lost its color due to the lack of blood, she was still quite gorgeous, especially with the current set of clothes that she was wearing. It was a dress that seemed to have been made from the finest fabrics and reinforced by some ancient magic used during the old era.

She was also holding a long scepter that had a butterfly-like head, spreading its beautiful and majestic wings. The black gem attached to its tip was constantly releasing a black miasma, corroding the surrounding mana before it absorbed them.

"But we have the time for that," said another member of the group, who looked like a ghost due to the black miasma that was covering his entire body.

This person looked like a spirit because his silhouette was the only thing that could be seen. Aside from the outline of his body, nothing could be seen from him, not even his clothes and weapons.

The thick miasma shrouding his body was also helping him hide his presence by connecting with the surrounding air that had been contaminated by it, melding him into the environment.

"As we already know, we don't have that much time before the king devours us and turns us into nutrients, which will result in an existence wipe. It is no different from a character deletion."

"He has already controlled our fates right after we have disturbed his rest and come in contact with the plague."

"We are already quite lucky that we have been given a chance to live a little bit longer. We also have the opportunity to redeem ourselves by collecting more nutrients for the king by turning more lands into his territory."

He then paused for a moment before sighing. "But we also have a limited amount of time before we can regain our freedom."

"If we choose to spread toward the smaller cities, which are quite far from there, we will die before we can even reach our destination."

"Even if the nutrients that we can collect from the surrounding monsters are quite good, they still can't compare with the ones that we can get from a human and other races."

"It will take us quite a lot of time before we reach the other cities, which have the nutrients that we are looking for, and it will already be too late for us if we can't meet our quota in this process."

"We don't have a choice but to take the risk and try to invade the territory of the Divinity City and hope that they will not send any powerful being to eradicate us until we collect enough nutrients."

There was also a huge person standing not far from this ghost-like person. He had a muscular body, which seemed to have been made of different corpses and stitched together.

He was more of a corpse golem rather than a person. His head had also been hidden by a black sack, which only had a pair of holes for his eyes to see.

This black sack covering his head was similar to those of punishers or executioners during ancient times. But despite its plain appearance, this item seemed to carry a mysterious and eerie power that could enhance the strength of its wearer.

His appearance was very hideous and intimidating at the same time, especially with his huge size which looked like a giant person.

There was also a huge weapon leaning on the wall beside him, which looked like a combination of a huge hammer and a battle axe.

The sharp edges of the axe were somewhat serrated like a huge saw while the hammer side behind it had angular and pointed spikes on its head.

"No one wants to be like our other companions, who have already been devoured by the slumbering king earlier," said this giant person as he sighed.

He could not help but shiver whenever he recalled the hideous scene where the other members of their adventurer team had been pulled and shredded into pieces by the black fog that was filling the tomb room of the king.

"Berdugo is right. We are already lucky to be chosen by the king and avoid the same fate as the others. If we want to survive and escape such an ending further, then we can only follow the orders of the king and be 'faithful' to him," said another person, who seemed to have the most authority within the group.

He was the previous leader of the team, who was now the 'trusted aide' of the king.

Even though he was pained to lose his brothers and sisters, who had been fighting with them since the start of their journey from the previous games that they played, he could not do anything since they lacked the power to resist.

Aside from the fairy-like lady, his appearance was the most 'normal' out of everyone in the room, as he was more of a 'human' than the rest.

Compared to the others, he was wearing quite luxurious clothing, which seemed to be used by the ancient kings. The red robe, particularly, was so majestic that it made him like a true ruler of ancient times.

The golden embroidery that the robe also had a majestic feeling that was making him more of a noble rather than an ordinary person.

It was also filled with invisible magic runes that were used by ancient magicians, who were loyal to the king.

This king's robe was without a doubt a powerful artifact, especially when it was constantly releasing a mighty aura that could force those before him to kneel.

But despite all of these, Axion, the leader of the team, was not happy. It was because this robe was a cursed item that had been forced onto him by the spirit guarding the tomb of the king.

It was meant to be given to the perfect vessel that the king could use when he finally descended back to this world and became fully resurrected.

Axion knew that he was nothing but a sacrificial pawn that was meant to be the main ingredient for the resurrection of the fallen king.

Even if he was unwilling, he could not do anything about it since his 'soul' would instantly be devoured by the robe once he had any unfaithful thoughts against the king.

He had already been cursed and destined to die in this game, but there was still a sliver of hope that he was desperately clinging on.

So long as the king had successfully resurrected, his chances of survival would increase, which was quite ironic compared to the current situation.

The personal quest he had received told him that he could still survive this predicament after the king's revival.

His 'soul' would then get a new vessel, which would be specifically tailored just for him.

If he was lucky enough to survive, then he would most likely become more powerful than his current self and even surpass most of the experts here in the Awakened Continent.

"I just hope that we will survive until the very end of the event," he mumbled with a hopeful tone.

...