...

    Shin and Cloe returned to the current headquarters of the Empyrean Talons, which was the underwater temple within the Forgotten Sea.

    They wanted to meet with the others before going to the team meeting, where they would review their previous battle against the Seven Seas Alliance in a deeper sense and discuss their next strategies for the next round.

    But when they arrived, they were suddenly greeted by a piece of unexpected news.

    "What!? They''ve backed out!? Are they planning to give up the tournament?" asked Cloe after hearing the news.

    "No, I don''t think so," said Leonard as he tried to guess the thoughts of the opposing team. "I think they just don''t want to risk fighting us after experiencing such a crushing defeat from us."

    Shin fell in deep thought as he assessed the plan of their enemies. "It may be a little ''cowardly'' to the others, but it happens to be the perfect solution for their current situation."

    He paused for a moment as he reorganized the information inside his head before further explaining his thoughts. "After what we have done to them – not only crushing them in the previous round but also destroying their spirits by purposely targeting some of their main combatants – giving up is indeed a wise choice."

    "They will only suffer further if they insisted on fighting us on the next match and will just suffer a psychological wound that we have dealt. The best choice they have right now is to avoid worsening their situation and affect their performance for the next few rounds – ''running'' away is the best choice at hand. It can also be considered as a tactical retreat for the entirety of the tournament."

    Hearing his analysis, the others could not help but nod and agree with him.

    "That sounds reasonable. This is a double-elimination round anyway," nodded Owen as he found it reasonable as well.

    "So, what''s the plan now?" asked Diablo.

    Shin thought for a moment before continuing. "Let''s review our match as plan and fix our little mistakes. Then we proceed analyzing the performance of our other rivals."

    "We can do whatever we want after that," he added before logging out of the game and entering their team''s virtual space.

    The others quickly followed.

    ***

    The next day was still a free day for everyone since the next match was supposed to be two days after the previous match.

    Adding that the Seven Seas Alliance had conceded for the next match, the Empyrean Talons had become the idlest team in the entire tournament right now.

    The decision that the Seven Seas Alliance was also officially announced by the tournament organizers, earning them a few contempt and insults from the players. But none of them cared as it was the best choice available for them.

    The top teams within the tournament and the experts had also agreed with the decision that they made after a deep analysis of their match with the Empyrean Talons.

    This also made the Empyrean Talons the scariest team within the United Cup, especially when they now had a 20-0 score in the standings.

    These points had automatically placed the team at the number one spot in the standings, which would greatly help them when they entered the quarter-finals, where they could choose the opponent from the bottom four of the top eight.

    The current bracket would continue until the top eight was determined, which was also where another draw show would take place.

    Those rounds would still have a double-elimination format, but there would be a seeding system, where the top four would be the seed teams while the bottom four would fill the rest.

    With the current points that the Empyrean Talons had, their advantage over the rest of the teams would be quite huge, especially when they were the only team that managed to do a perfect-point game.

    When some content creators and expert analysts analyzed the decision that the Seven Seas Alliance had made, a lot of people started to understand their choice.

    But at the same time, this also gave everyone just how scary the Empyrean Talons were when it came to strategizing against their opponents, targeting key players and focusing on the weakness of the opposing teams.

    Moreover, they had also realized how devious the arrangements that the Empyrean Talons had made, especially after understanding what the team had done to the Wild Brothers – particularly the eldest brother.

    This earned Shin yet another nickname – the Devil Strategist – adding to the already long list of nicknames and titles under his belt.

    ***

    The first thing that Shin did right after re-logging in the game was to open his skill panel and check on the changes that the ''Mondi''s Style'' had after setting the legendary sword [Durendal] as its ''Meteor Form''.

    ----------------

    Skill Name: Mondi''s Style

    Skill Rank: Legacy – IV

    Requirements: One needs to have a Sheath Wielding style to use this skill.

    Historical Note: Mondi is a famous swordsman during the time of the Warring Era. He became one of the top 10 swordsmen of that time because of his specialized style.

    Skill Details: Transform the sheath of your sword to different kinds of bladed weapon depending on the form of this skill.

    Available Form/s:

    1. Meteor Form: The sword-sheath will transform the longsword that you have sacrificed for this form.

    - Assigned Sword – Legendary Sword [Durendal (Sealed)]

    2. Conviction Form: The sword-sheath will transform the sword rapier that you have sacrificed for this form.

    - Assigned Sword - None

    Historical Note: It was said that Altus possessed the [Ring of the Brilliant Sun] and hid it along with his inheritance before he died in the battle against the Fallen Dark Dragon, Kardama.

    Note: This is a special Instance Dungeon Scroll (Solo).

    Requirements: Level 150, Tier 3 Class, and a high-ranking official of any churches of the righteous faction.

    ------------------

    Shin was supposed to do this as soon as he was free from his ''duties'', but it kept being delayed because of multiple things that kept on happening.

    "Finally! It is time!" he said right after making sure that there were no urgent things that he needed to do.

    After informing the rest of the Empyrean Talons that he was going for a mission within a Solo Instance Dungeon.

    Without further ado, he crushed the scroll in his hands and was teleported by it into the Instance Dungeon.

    Swoosh!

    ...

    Not long after, Shin opened his eyes and found himself in a foreign world, which was filled with brilliant flames.

    *Ding*

    System: You have used the Scroll of Eclipse!

    *Ding*

    System: You have entered the Brilliant Sun Dungeon, an independent place created by the Fifth Envoy of the Sun and Moon – Altus, the Seeker of the Sun and the Slayer of the Fallen Dark Dragon Kardama.

    *Ding*

    System: Dungeon''s Trial has been activated!

    System: Altus'' Inheritance has been initiated!

    ...

    Seeing the expected string of notifications from the system, Shin readied himself to clear the dungeon and get his hands on [Ring of the Brilliant Sun] as soon as possible, further enhancing his powers.

    But before he could even do anything, another string of notifications interrupted his thoughts and made him halt his tracks.

    *Ding*

    System: It has been detected that the challenger''s level, power, and achievements have far surpassed the limit of the trial – initiating the necessary adjustments.

    *Ding*

    System: The [Yamato] – the inheritance sword of Zepthus, the First Envoy of the Church – has been detected! More adjustments are needed.

    *Ding*

    System: It has been detected that the challenger has undergone a special God''s Trial – further adjusting the difficulty of the trial.

    *Ding*

    System: It has been detected that the challenger has more than one inheritance – adding another level of difficulty.

    *Ding*

    System: It has been confirmed that the challenger has many Reaper''s Retainers – the Trial''s difficulty has become much harder!

    *Ding*

    System: The Trial''s Difficulty has been set to the Highest Level (Chaos Difficulty)!

    *Ding*

    System: May the God of the Sun bless you.

    ...

    The corner of Shin''s mouth kept on twitching after seeing the next set of notifications before his eyes, especially after seeing the ''familiar'' difficulty level given by the system. "Chaos Difficulty again? I should have expected this already."

    "Well, this is not like my first time. I should be used to it," he added, trying to comfort himself, especially when he believed that this was not a good sign to start the day.

    It felt like his day did not start right.

    But when he recalled all the previous difficulties of his missions and quests, he realized that all of them were on the same level of difficulty – Chaos.

    "Is this what they call suffering from success?" he said mockingly before opening the trial''s description. "Let''s hope that it is not as hellish as the others."

    ......