......

    Shin first thought that such a huge commotion could attract the attention of the other forces, who were fighting in the distance. But he did not expect that they would only bother to send some people to investigate what just happened, but they remained on the chaotic battlefield and did not go anywhere.

    Little did he know, the impact that the hooded individuals that he had discovered earlier was much larger than he originally thought.

    They not only created more chaos in the already chaotic battlefield, but they also threw everyone in distress after successfully assassinating some of the leaders and the most powerful individuals, who were dealing with the chieftain-rank Plagued Monster, despite being noticed by most of the forces before they could even strike.

    Moreover, this mysterious group seemed to have specific targets in mind as they quickly took care of their targets and took something that those fallen people had dropped after dying before swiftly retreating without any hesitation.

    Due to most of the leaders of the top forces being taken down, the people from the top forces were forced to be in chaos once again. The formation of the ’allied’ forces started to collapse due to being a little disorganized, making them fight among their ranks and only choose to protect those from the same team or people with close relationships with them.

    The previous blockade that they had set up earlier to withstand the monster horde started to collapse, making the Plagued Monsters crash most of the players and start wreaking havoc in the middle of their ranks.

    The teams and individual players started fighting for themselves, trying to survive the monster horde rather than defeating the Plagued Monsters compared to what they were doing earlier.

    Moreover, those players with the highest battle capabilities among them were busy dealing with the chieftain-rank Plagued Monster, which was now free to cause more chaos at the backline due to the death of some of the leading figures of the forces from the top guilds and huge organizations.

    Due to all the chaos, these players had no time to care about the huge commotion that Shin had created in the distance.

    ...

    When Shin arrived on a cliff where he could see the battle between the players gathered at the Plagued Lands and the horde of the Plagued Monsters.

    The moment he arrived, he immediately saw the ongoing chaos on the battlefield. He also realized that most of the most powerful and skilled people who were supposed to be fighting against the chieftain-rank Plagued Monsters were currently missing.

    The chaos was much bigger than what he had seen earlier. Moreover, the formation that the players had created earlier was destroyed completely, letting the plagued monsters run wild within their ranks.

    Shin could also see the groups that the players had made, signifying the forces that they came from.

    There were also quite a few skilled individuals, who were too prideful to work with other groups, so they kept working solo. But at the same time, this showcased their skills and battle capabilities.

    This made them look so good, which also made a distinction between them and the rest of the experts on the battlefield.

    He had never felt it during the time he was working with Shin as the latter always found a way to deal with it. But now that they were working separately, Exheart could feel the burden of the ’bad luck’ that Shin was always carrying with him.

    "This guy will be the death of me if I continue to hang out with him," mumbled Exheart as he tried his best to suppress the twitching of his mouth.

    Despite all his complaints, Exheart still found the time to read the message while holding his group and fighting against the Plagued Monsters.

    After reading through the message, Exheart realized that Shin was not around during the time that the mysterious group had launched their ambush.

    Every time Exheart thought about that group of people, he could not help but shiver slightly as he could feel the danger that was naturally being emitted by their bodies.

    He also recalled how skilled and powerful those people were. Even after all the preparations that the ’allied’ forces had set up after hearing Exheart’s warning, they were still unable to stop those guys from assassinating their targets before retreating unscratched immediately after.

    It took some time for Exheart to construct his reply as he was busy fending off the attacks of the Plagued Monsters that were trying to break through their formation. But he was still able to finish everything before sending it to Shin.

    He described what had happened earlier a little roughly as the course of events was too fast. But he still put some effort into describing everyone in as detailed and informative as possible, not leaving even the tiniest details that he could remember.

    "Now that I think about it, wasn’t there a huge explosion in that place during the chaos earlier? Is he the one behind it?" mumbled Exheart as if he remembered something before glancing at the place where the massive storm of energy had been present earlier.

    ...

    *Ding*

    On the other side, Shin had received and skimmed through the message. He then went silent for a moment and fell in deep thought.

    "The group seemed to have a specific target in mind as they only took out the leading figures of the top forces along with a couple of skilled individuals. They had also retreated as soon as they had taken one of the loots that those they had killed dropped."

    "They have never cared about the high-quality equipment or unique artifacts that those people have and just taken an old-looking and somewhat tattered old book before retreating," he mumbled. "Strange-..."

    He was in the middle of figuring out their purpose when something suddenly flashed through his mind. His eyes suddenly turned wide as he thought of something. "Could it be...!?"

    He then looked at the corner of this inventory bag and stared at a black book in there, which seemed to have been collecting dust since he had gotten it.

    ...