Child of Destiny

...…

*Ding*

System: A member of the Bug Tribe of the Underworld has appeared on the Lower Plane!

System: The connection of the 'Lord of the Flies' to this realm has become stronger!

System: The portal between this realm and the Bug Tribe could now be established.

At the same time, Shin, Leonard, and Diablo received these notifications from the system, Paimon and the rest of the Pandemonium Troupe had also gotten the same message.

Paimon smirked when he saw that before standing up and walking out of his tent. He had been expecting this to happen, so they could now proceed with the next part of their plan.

"Finally! We can now proceed with the opening of the portal."

This was not exactly what he wanted since there were a couple of accidents that happened, making their preparations a little awry. But since he had already prepared for such scenarios to happen, he had left certain preparations for their plan to go back on the right track.

He just did not expect that the Dragon Centipede would evolve into a real member of the Bug Tribe of the underworld.

Outside the tent, Belial, Amon, and Baal were already waiting. They looked at him before nodding their heads.

They had already been informed that Lucifer could not join them for the next step because of certain matters that prevented him from playing in the real world, so they could only put extra effort into the tasks that were left to them.

They then went toward the edge of a cliff where a dark and eerie valley was located. They looked down for a moment, looking at the valley before exchanging glances at each other once again.

With a nod, they went to their respective positions and stood at the four corners of a demonic pentagram on the ground. There was an empty corner, but that did not matter match since there was a statue of a demon placed on it – it was the statue of the 'Lord of the Flies' and the Demon King of Gluttony, Beelzebub.

There was a spherical gem attached at the center of the forehead of the statue, which greatly resembled the energy core that the Dragon Centipede had, but much smaller. However, despite its size that it had, the life energy that it contained was much richer and denser than what the centipede used for its evolution.

At the same time, after taking their respective positions, the four took out an energy core from their respective inventories and placed them at the center of the stone table slab in front of them.

Then they took a slight step back before chanting a series of demonic incarnations while channeling their demonic mana into the pentagram beneath their feet.

Not long after, the energies from those cores sipped to the pentagram before heading to the center.

Swoosh!

Then a purple pillar of light suddenly shot toward the sky, seemingly trying to pierce toward heaven.

"Urgh!"

"Argh!"

The four could not help but groan painfully due to the rapid draining of their mana. They felt like they were being sucked dry by the pentagram and it would not stop until they were dead.

This lasted for a couple of minutes before the phenomenon finally calmed down. The purple pillar of light gradually receded toward the ground until it completely disappeared. But it left a tear in the air that looked like a dimensional rift.

This spatial tear was quite small, but the aura that was leaking out from it was hard to ignore as it could make the surrounding mana become contaminated within an instant. Looking a little closer, someone could see a spiraling mana within the tear.

The four commanders of the Pandemonium looked at the tear for a couple of moments before finally stopping to channel their mana into the demonic pentagram after seeing that it could now sustain itself and work properly.

It was at that moment when Paimon and the rest received another message solely for them.

*Ding*

System: The portal of the Bug Tribe of the Underworld is now established.

*Ding*

System: Quest Update – guard the dimensional gate until the Bug Tribe arrives.

 Estimate time – 90 Days

Seeing the estimated time, Baal could not help but frown his brows deeply and complain. "A whole month's worth of time in the real world? Isn't this a little too long?"

"We can't do anything about it since we failed to capture enough life energy from the Sacred Light Kingdom. You should be thankful that the entire operation works after all the mishaps that happened," said Paimon.

"Tsk! Tsk! Those guys from the Empyrean Talon sure know how to mess with us. Should we constantly target them too?" asked Baal as he was quite eager to try fighting the said adventurer group.

"This is not the time yet. For now, we must proceed according to the plan that Lucifer has given us," said Belial as he started walking away. "My job here is done. The rest is up to you."

Baal clicked his tongue repeatedly before complaining a little more. "Tsk! Tsk! Why is guarding this place have become my task? I am supposed to do with my other job."

"Leave those tasks to the other members of the troupe. They have been idle recently, so it is only right for them to pick up their pace," said Paimon as he also left.

Amon did not say anything and also left. He did not get along with Baal well, so it would be better to avoid any conflicts that could affect their missions.

*********

Real World.

World Gaming Organization Headquarters.

The people from the monitoring department slumped on their respective seats as they saw everything unfold on the big screen projected in front of everyone.

"Argh! We failed. They still failed! The portal is about to open."

"We are doomed! More work is about to descend! More overtime is about to come!"

The people of the department were mumbling to themselves as they kept lifeless expressions on their respective faces.

Seeing this, Carlos shook his head and smiled bitterly. These guys still did not know that they had already avoided most of the disasters that they were supposed to face.

He clapped to attract the attention of everyone while saying. "Alright! That is enough for your complaints. Let's return to our usual selves and continue with our work."

"We have already overcome the most dangerous part and even avoided it. We should be thankful that the portal opening is delayed a little longer than expected. A month's worth of time is already plenty enough for the other departments to do their thing."

"They will not be able to blame us now since we have been doing our jobs very well as we spotted everything and reported to the higher-ups the entire event."

"We have already brought them more than enough time. The rest is for them to deal with," he added to encourage his people.

He paused for a moment before turning to Longhengrin standing beside him. Understanding the meaning of that gaze, the latter quickly smiled and nodded. "That's right, everyone! The time that has been given to us is more than enough for the Events Department to conduct the United Cup without problem."

"We can still redirect the attention of the public and let them continue to improve themselves before the next update arrives."

"Moreover, it is just a single portal. It will not do much to trigger another major update unlike what we have expected. At most, this incident will only become another big event."

Hearing those words, the members of the monitoring department finally regained their confidence and composure. They then straightened their backs and resumed their respective work.

Seeing this, the two leaders of the department nodded their heads.

"The only problem now is that Grand Centipedeus," whispered Longhengrin to the department head while adding. "The longer it stays in the Atlas World, the stronger it becomes. If it becomes a true member of the Bug Tribe, it will become a medium that will connect the two worlds and hasten the opening of the dimensional gate."

Department Head Carlos understood this, but there was nothing they could do since they could not get involved in the game.

All they could do was leave everything to their miracle boy and their friends to solve this problem.

The only concern that they had was the 'hope' in front of them was not strong enough to face such a creature. They were not at the level where they could fight such monsters, whose level and grade were beyond the current level of the players.

But since these three people were listed and labeled as Miracle Players, they could only hope that they would be able to create yet another miracle.

At the same time, he also hoped that the Righteous Churches would also make their move, or at least prepare for what was about to come. After all, the top-ranking members of their respective organizations should have sensed the appearance of the pillar of light.

The game should still have the balance. Since the Evil Faction was moving rapidly and making great progress with their Faction Quests, the Righteous Faction should be doing the same given the setup that the developers had.

The clues that the NPCs had left to the players with Transcendent Races and Classes about the living armors were one of them. But Carlos hoped that these players would discover more.

Thinking about it, he could not help but look at the certain figure projected on the screen. This particular player was one of the people that he hated the most, but recently the young man had become his beacon of hope.

"Please continue to make a miracle so that we can hold out for as long as we can."

************

Back in the Virtual World; the Atlas World

Phantom Island

Shin, Leonard, and Diablo were looking at the Grand Centipedeus with grave expression on their faces. The monster was one of the reasons, but the other was because of the notification that they had just gotten.

Diablo, as someone who used to be a member of the Pandemonium Descendants, had a clearer view of what was going to happen. "This is bad. We must take down this monster no matter what if we don't want the world to be flooded by the Bug Tribe."

He went silent for a moment before continuing to explain to Shin and Leonard. "If I am not wrong, Paimon and the rest must have summoned the portal. Although, I am not sure if it will still need to take some time until it fully opens."

"But given that the system has not given us any kind of additional information about the invasion of the Bug Tribe, I can confidently say that they have failed to fully open it."

Leonard tilted his head to the side before asking. "So what is the relationship between this guy and that portal that we have to kill it right here and now?"

Diablo pointed his dagger toward the Grand Centipedeus before continuing. "Because that thing over there will become a bridge that will connect the two worlds. Or at least become the nutrients that will strengthen the connection that they have which will hasten the opening of the portal."

"You sure know a lot of inside information about these things, huh?" commented Leonard as glared at the Grand Centipedeus.

"I used to be one of their higher-ups, after all," said Diablo as he wielded his daggers.

In the meantime, Shin was still observing the Grand Centipedeus closely while asking for more information from Solus.

But since she did not participate in the war between the Supreme Gods and the Great Demon Kings back in the Primordial Era, she had no idea how strong the forces of the opposing side were and did not know how to properly deal with them.

It was at that moment when the voices of Whitie and Blackie sounded inside his head.

[Master, use us for the possession this time.]

[Master, let us help you fight this filthy creature.]

...