...…

Cloe was stabbed by a longsword and pierced through her abdomen. And immediately after that, her assaulter swung that sword sideways, severing her body in half.

Even if Shin managed to react in time, it was still to late for him to save her. He stared blackly at that sight and didn't know what to do.

At the same time, the others were also been shocked at the sudden turn of events. They even cursed in their hearts when they received the system notification of Cloe's death.

Fortunately, the others around the assaulter managed to regain themselves almost immediately and moved away from that guy before things went for the worst. Stephanie and Morgan quickly used their movement skills to distance themselves from that guy.

And before that assaulter managed to chase after them, Simba immediately positioned himself in front of that man to prevent him from doing more.

As for the identity of the assaulter? Surprisingly or Unsurprisingly, he was the 'King' that they supposedly needed to escort to the Church.

The 'King' looked at them with a mocking expression on his face before saying. "Heh! It is really easy to trick a bunch of goodies like you. To think that you guys are going to fall to such a simple trap?"

He paused for a moment to take a good looked at their solemn expressions before continuing. "Heh, do you guys honestly believe that I will let you mess up with our plans that easy? I already swap myself with that trash King of yours. Especially the moment that I heard that some representatives of the three churches had entered my turf. I even go with the lengths of tricking my own comrade to make sure that his trap is going to work."

And when those words left the mouth of the 'King', a suddenly system notification sounded at the group's ears and registered at their notification log.

*Ding!*

System: Quest Update!

System: You have been tricked by the fake king and fell on his traps. You need to defeat him to prevent him from making further chaos in the Holy City, or at least escape from this place to avoid falling to another potential schemes of this guy.

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Quest Name: The Fake King

Quest Type: Hidden Main Quest

Quest Difficulty: Hell-Master (V-)

Quest Details: You have been tricked and fell on the trap of the fake king. You need to stop him and the evil Archbishop here and now, so that you could prevent them from causing more havoc in the Atlas World.

Quest Conditions:

•Expose the true colors of the impostor secretly, so that the Churches eyeing the Corrupted Cults will make their move.

•Find the real King Cassius secretly, before the impostor King succeed on his plans.

•Escort the real King Cassius on any Righteous Church and make sure that he is in a safe place.

•Kill or defeat the Fake King and Archbishop Hervil to prevent them from causing more havoc.

Quest Process (70%):

•Expose the secret deed of the impostor King without being discovered. (Done)

•Rescue the Real King Cassius. (Partially Done/Null)

•Escorting the King Cassius in to a Righteous Church while securing his safety. (Null)

•Kill the Fake King and Archbishop Hervil. (0/2) (In Progress)

Quest Rewards:

+5 Levels

+25 Legacy Points (LP)

+1000 Fame

+50 000 Reputation Points

A Special Skill Book that was related your Class

The whereabouts of the real King (Increase of Affinity with King Cassius in a great margin)

????

Quest Penalties:

• -10 Levels

• -1000 Fame

• -20 000 Reputation Points

• Destruction of the Holy City

• A large decease on your Authority on the Church of the Sun and the Moon

• Death of the King Cassius

• ???

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"And now, the real difficulty of this quest finally shows itself," muttered by Simba when he was done reading the details of the updated quest. And the others were also thinking the same.

Well, aside from Shin. It was because was still starting blankly at the air in front of him. He was not looking at something if someone took a look at him. But from his perspective, the sight of Cloe being severed in halves.

And with that sight, some of his unpleasant memories couldn't help but flashed inside his head and eyes. Then some of the hidden feelings that he almost forgotten started to resurface once again; an intense killing intent was starting to emit from his body.

That killing intent was vague at first, but as the time went by, it became more and more distinct and was enough for the others to notice it completely.

Simba didn't manage to fee it at first because he was currently standing in front of the fake king, who was currently releasing a pressuring aura.

Bang! Bang!

And that was the same moment when another pair of huge monsters fell from the ceiling of the room and landed on the both sides of the group. They were a pair of minotaurs that were holding a huge battle-axe on their hands.

Simba took a quick look at those newly appeared monsters before muttering to himself. "Tsk! Now, we need not deal with another bunch. What's more, this group is even more troublesome than the previous one."

He paused for a moment to consider their current situation before mumbling to himself once again. "Aside from Zero, I am the only one that can handle this guy. And since he is currently occupied with that archbishop, I guess I need to hold this guy on myself with leaving the monsters to the others."

After that mumbling, Simba was about to make his move when someone suddenly brush past him. And he was taken aback when saw who was that.

"Wait, Shin Bro!" Simba was about the to reach out his hand to prevent Shin from going when he suddenly felt the killing intent that Shin was being released from Shin's body.

Then he suddenly recalled what had happened, and that was when he realized the current state that he was in. "Eh!? Don't tell me he is at it again? I am not saying that this is bad given our current situation, but if he loses himself at a time like this, then no one can stop him unless he woke up on himself. Or if at least Brother Arthur was here."

The he took another look at the side where the Sword God was currently battling Archbishop Hervil.

Then he muttered to himself as he came up with a decision. "Hmm… that maybe possible. So, let's do it later."

After that, he turned around and started rushing towards one of the minotaurs. And when the others saw that, they couldn't help but became shocked at that sight. But before they could even voice out their thoughts, Simba already beat them on it. "Trust me for now guys, leave that guy to Shin. You don't have to worry about him, he can handle himself."

"First, focus at taking down the monster on your side and take it down for as fast as you can while I am going to buy you enough time for as long as I can. After that, help me rush down the one on my side."

He didn't wait for the others to give him a reply and continue at rushing towards the minotaur on his side. And since the others didn't have enough time to reply, all they could do was to comply at his orders and immediately started taking down the monster on their side.

...

Meanwhile, Shin was still walking towards the fake king with a fierce look at his face. The fake king was taken aback at first when he saw the expression in face, especially when he felt the intense killing intent that was being released by his body.

But he suddenly started smirking a little later and sneered at Shin. "Heh! An insect trying to block a vehicle? Don't bite more than you can chew, kid. Or else you are going to die with a miserable death."

Or rather, that was what he was about to say.

Because on the very next moment that those words left his mouth, Shin suddenly disappeared from his sight and reappeared right in front of him in an instant while squatting with a sword drawing position.

And without further ado, Shin quickly pulled out his sword from its sheath before swiftly swinging it towards his right.

Shing!

'Class Fighting Style: Quick Draw'

The speed and execution of that move was beyond the fake king's expectation, that was why he was gotten completely off-guard when he witnessed that. Fortunately, he was also quite face enough to respond at it and quickly positioned his sword vertically on his front to block the sword strike.

But when the swords were about to collide with each other, Shin's sword seemed to passed though the sword of the latter and didn't hit anything. This time, the fake king was completely surprise at what he had saw.

"It is not an afterimage. It is more like an illusion."

These where the thoughts that were running in the mind of the fake king when he suddenly heard something whizzing through the air right in front of him.

Whoosh!

And before he even managed to do anything, he suddenly discovered that his chest was already being pierced by a rapier from his opponent's hand.

'Extra Skill: Heart Seeker'

Then Shin quickly pulled that that rapier backwards while simultaneously swinging the katana on his right hand; and this strike seemed to be destructive as he put a lot of strength on it.

'Extra Skill: Destructive Slash'

A bunch of blood where thrown in the air as the [Yamato] landed on the body of the fake king. The latter failed to dodge because he was stunned by the previous attacked. And since this one also had a stun effect, it was a given that the fake king would not be able to dodge the follow up.

Shin quickly pulled his right arm backwards together the [Yamato]. And at the same time, he was thrusting the [Piercing Thorn] forward once again. But this time, he threw six consecutive stabs at the fake king while targeting his vitals.

'Extra Skill: Multiple Stabs'

Shu! Shu! Shu!

Shu! Shu! Shu!

All of the six stabs would naturally land cleanly since the fake king was immobilized. But that entire series of attacks didn't deal much damage on the latter. Nevertheless, even if that was the case, the fake king still felt a very dangerous threat coming from Shin with those attacks alone.

"Tch! Looks like I couldn't let my guard down even for a moment, huh?"

...