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Atlas World (Inside the game)

BOOM!

The battle on the Sky Island reached an incredibly high degree. The scale of this battle was so intense to the point that no player could intervene.

It was a perfect representation of a clash of the titans.

A literal one at that.

The giant golden bird and the three-headed snake with a massive size were fighting without bothering about their surroundings, which was why the whole place was completely devastated.

Their attacks could either blast or flatten a mountain, so no one dared to get near them. They were too afraid to get caught with the crossfire. After all, they would be killed instantly if they were hit even by the residual energy of their attacks.

The players who managed to survive the previous attack of the three-headed snake and the initial clash of the two monsters earlier distanced themselves from the titans clashing against each other.

Greed was still the scariest thing of all, despite knowing that they were no match against those two titans, they still chose to stay and watched the battle from the distance. And they seemed not to have any plan of leaving unless they saw the end of this battle. Or to be more specific, they were not planning to leave until they got their hands on the loots that these monsters were going to drop.

Each of the powerful groups stationed their best and fastest men at the most optimal places where they could reach the potential drops with the quickest route possible while also being safe at the same time.

All of them were waiting for the right time to come and it was already getting near as the gigantic beast was starting to show some signs of weakening.

...

"It's about time," muttered Arthur as he watched the battle from a certain mountain peak away from the main battlefield.

They were already waiting for quite some time already, so when he noticed that the movements of the two monsters were starting to get sluggish, he immediately informed the others to get ready.

"It took longer than expected," said Shin as he stood up from the ground while using his sheathed sword as support.

At the same time, the others were also starting to stand up while also having their respective preparations.

Shin swept his gaze at them for a moment, making sure that they were fully ready for battle before turning his head towards Arthur while asking. "What about the thing that we are looking for? Spotted anything suspicious yet?"

Arthur used this 'Dragon's Eyes' to scan the surrounding area around the two beasts battling in the distance before shaking his head helplessly. "I still can't see them – there are no signs of them at all. But whoever it is, I'm pretty sure that they are a Dragonoid."

"Dragonoid?" asked Chaotic Luck with a slight frown.

"Yeah, some of them are basically half-dragon and half-human while the others are beings who either have dragon powers or bloodlines in them," answered Arthur instantly.

"Like that Draconic Serpent over there?" asked Daulla while pointing at the three-headed snake.

Arthur nodded his head once again when he heard that before saying. "Yeah, kind of. But that giant over there is a lesser kind. The real Dragoniods, have a much denser Dragon Blood flowing in their veins."

"So, what's the deal with this Dragoniods then?" asked Cloe with a frown.

Hearing that, Arthur thought for a moment before replying. "I encountered a couple of Dragoniods from the quests that I got from the 'Sanctuary of Dragons' before. They are quite arrogant and too confident about their strengths; even though they are not real dragons."

"At the same time, they are also very greedy when it comes to matters regarding Draconic Powers. Whenever they encounter a situation where they can rob some Draconic Powers from the others, they will surely grab that opportunity no matter what."

Shin knitted his eyebrows for a moment before asking. "But how can you be sure that it is them?"

Arthur looked at Shin as if he was some sort of idiot when heard that question. He then pointed at the flowing specks of lights circling around him while saying. "My little dragons, remember?"

Seeing that look from Arthur, the corner of Shin's mouth couldn't help but twitch. "Alright, I get it. So, what's the problem now?"

"Well, I'm suspecting that there is a Dragonoid lurking somewhere here and waiting for these two monster beasts to weaken themselves," answered Arthur with a little frown.

"With the powerful souls of these two giants, I'm pretty sure that they are more than enough for that Dragonoid to evolve into a real Dragon or a Dragonkin," he added after a quick pause.

Hearing that, Shin slightly nodded his head before falling into deep thought. 'We are still missing something here.'

He started recalling everything that happened since the beginning, trying to find the thing that they might have overlooked. And while thinking about this, his thoughts suddenly fell into the things that happened recently.

'It is pretty obvious that whatever is happening right now, that strange Wingman with golden wings set everything up. After all, he is the one who gave the quest to Arthur and Leonard.'

'Considering this track, then what if Mammon also gets his own quest from that NPC? I'm pretty sure that I heard him say that he was too late earlier. It seems like he also has an idea that Garuda is going to be reborn.'

'No, he even beat us on collecting the sacred items left by Garuda before he died. So, he clearly knows what is happening.'

He then paused for a moment to turn his head towards Daulla, 'I follow his pattern, then is it possible that Archimedes and Daulla also get their quest from the NPC?'

Trying to confirm his suspicion, Shin walked towards the mage and asked. "Daulla, can I ask something?"

Daulla knitted her brows when she heard that, confused. But she still nodded her head, indicating that it was fine.

Seeing her nod, Shin didn't hesitate any longer and asked. "Where did you get your quest to revive Garuda? Is it from his spirit itself?"

Daulla was still confused why Shin was asking this now. But based on what she had witnessed so far, she was sure that there was a reason for Shin to ask that question at his point in time.

So, she fell into deep thought, trying to remember everything as much as possible before replying. "From what I can remember, we didn't immediately get the quest to revive him."

"In fact, we didn't even know that he is Garuda during that time; we thought that we only picked up an ordinary pet when we first encountered it," she added after a quick pause.

"You didn't even get the quest that gives Archimedes those wings?" asked Shin with a deep frown.

"Oh! The Class Promotion and Conversion Quest? We get it from a different time," answered Daulla almost instantly. "We got that quest when we brought that injured bird to a certain temple."

"Though, our main purpose at bringing it in that temple is to heal the strange injures that we couldn't cure with healing skills," she quickly added.

"Then?" asked Shin.

"Then we suddenly get the quest when we encounter Sildra with his newly acquired Class," answered Daulla instantly.

"But now that I think about it. It is really a strange quest since the first step that it instructed us is to go back to that Temple, where we get the rest of the quest details," commented Daulla to what she previously said.

"Do you remember the name or appearance of the NPC that gave you the quest?" asked Shin.

Daulla was slightly getting tired of the series of questions that Shin was asking her, but she at least remained patient and answered. "I'm not sure about its name since that NPC didn't have one. What he has at that time is some sort of title-…"

She trailed her words a little as she was trying to recall the name before continuing. "Ah~! Yeah! I remember! What he calls himself at that time is 'The Exiled One from the land of Glowing Feathers' or something."

Shin's thoughts suddenly paused when he heard the title and quickly opened his quest panel reviewing the details of their quest. And that was where he saw the words 'Land of Glowing Feathers'.

'Assuming that that guy is the same NPC who disguised himself as the Head Keeper earlier, then we practically received our respective quest from the same person!' thought Shin to himself before asking himself. "Then what about Sildra and the three-headed snake? Is it only a coincidence that they got involved?"

It only took Shin an instant to quickly reject the idea. "Nope, it is definitely not."

'Then what if Sildra also got his quest from the same NPC? Before or after he encountered the three-headed snake?' he thought to himself before a sudden idea entered his head.

"Arthur, what is the difference between a Dragon and a Dragonkin?" asked Shin while turning his head.

Arthur was taken aback by the sudden quest but he still responded instantly. "Dragons are Celestial Beings who are close to being Divine given their unrivaled powers."

"Meanwhile, Dragonkins are Transcendent Beings who are slightly weaker than the real Dragons. And instead of having a massive and gigantic body, what they have is a humanoid form which is housing a battle prowess that can almost rival a real Dragon when they reach their peak."

Hearing that, Shin immediately had a realization before mumbling. "I think I now know who we are looking for."

...…