A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 12: Chapter 8 Confrontation_1

The wind-howl echoed through the sandstorm.

A dark shadow spread over the wilderness, and not far away, a band of horseback trackers slowly halted their steeds. At their sides, several canine creatures, their bodies a monstrous shade of red as if demons themselves, roared with a low growl. Their eyes fiercely ablaze, itching to tear apart any prey standing in their path. Even the howling wind or the sand-laden storm could not halt their progression.

“Our quarry is just ahead.”

The leading knight said softly, his body cloaked in crimson battle armor atop an unusually massive warhorse. His comrades, too, showed an eager glint in their eyes upon hearing the news. They had already lost several squads but none conceded defeat, for the evil god they worshipped craves war, bloodshed, and death.

Whether friend or foe, any sacrifice of blood and death would be offered up to their great deity and bring honor!

“Kill!!”

The sparking war hammer whistled through the air, striking heavily on the enemy’s head, smashing both the helmet and skull into fragments in a single blow. Duanmu Huai gave the lifeless body a swift kick, unhesitatingly held his war hammer tightly, and launched an attack against the advancing cultists of the evil god.

This time, the attackers were not usually cultists but fanatics of the chaos evil god. Clad in half-armor, horned helmets, and wielding battle axes, they resembled fearsome looking Viking pirates. However, Duanmu Huai showed no intimidation towards these villains. Standing at the collapsed castle gate, he blocked everyone’s path.

A single warrior can keep a thousand enemies at bay!

Want to reclaim your offerings? You will have to step over my corpse!

Duanmu Huai was now bloodthirsty. He was fond of brute force as a player and there is certainly no retreat for the present Duanmu Huai. The idea of surrendering or negotiating with these cultists of the evil god never crossed his mind.

The duty of the judge is to eradicate chaos forces. No compromise, no negotiation. No matter who the adversary is, or how numerous they are, if they believe in the chaos evil god, they must be wiped out!

If a city worships, then destroy the city.

If a nation worships, then destroy the nation.

If a planet worships, then destroy the planet.

If a world worships, then destroy the entire world!

To undermine the Chaos Evil God and its followers is the unchanging duty of a Judge. Any compromise or surrender is an intolerable betrayal! It will completely seal all the skills and characteristics of the Judge!

If loyalty is not absolute, there is absolutely no loyalty!

“Bang!!!”

Flesh splatters as Duanmu Huai swings his war hammer and knocks each chaos fanatic to the ground. He has not immediately used his soul card because these chaos fanatics are of low-level and he by himself is enough to handle them. Being a veteran player, Duanmu Huai is quite familiar with the Four Great Chaos Evil Gods and their followers. These men are quite evidently followers of the Brutal God, who revels in war and bloodshed. Basically, their ranks consist entirely of warriors. Yet, these warriors are not idiots. Even barbarians know to seize opportunities, these fanatics are no fools. If he were to use the soul card now, it would only present them with an opportunity.

The power of Ogis is exceptionally formidable and for now, it serves as his trump card. There is only one chance to summon it and Duanmu Huai knows these fanatics very well. If Elisa is valuable enough, they are likely to summon the high-profile demons of the Evil God, hence the insurance that Duanmu Huai held onto.

After all, to kill a chicken, there’s no need to use a butcher’s knife. He could single-handedly deal with these frets!

“Sigh……”

After knocking down another incoming fanatic with his hammer, Duanmu Huai finally let out a sigh of relief and took a glance at his panel. Since yesterday, he has fended off four to five waves of attacks from these cultists. He has also leveled up to fifteen and didn’t add any points to his strength; instead, he raised his physical and mental attributes to 10 – the former increasing his resilience, and the latter mainly upgrading the overheating limit of subspace, enabling him to use more cards at once.

According to logic, Duanmu Huai should have allocated all his points to the mental attribute to maximize the overheating limit of subspace, but he was aware that this boost would only be valid if the owner himself existed. The Soul Walker may seem omnipotent but fundamentally it resembles a summoner, be it soldier, magic, or gear, they are all essentially summoned from another world. Eliminate the summoner itself, and everything else becomes irrelevant.

Before crossing over into this world during PK, Duanmu Huai had ruthlessly annihilated countless Soul Walkers who specifically invested in mental attributes. Naturally, he was aware of the Soul Walker’s vulnerabilities.

A magician ignoring defense, would ultimately be thrown out of the arena and then finish off in a set. There were quite a few Soul Walkers who were smashed to death by Duanmu Huai’s hammer back then, but at that time he was using a soft girl character, which many players enjoyed playing.

If it were now, seeing a malicious two and a half meter tall man smashing their heads with a hammer, those people probably wouldn’t find it too enjoyable anymore.

“……….”

Not far behind Duanmu Huai, Elisa huddled herself, trembling and not daring to speak. She chose not to run away because in actuality, she had no way of fleeing. By Duanmu Huai’s side, she could still be protected by the Black Knight. But once she left Duanmu Huai, Elisa would be completely unprotected.

Not to mention, being so close would make it convenient for Duanmu Huai to turn around and smash her with his hammer if things went south.

I hope it wouldn’t hurt too much……

“Ohhhhh!!!”

Just at that moment, a sharp cry rose from the wilderness amidst the gale, startling Elisa.

“What… what was that noise? Is it a wolf?”

“The protagonist is here.”

Hearing this sound, Duanmu Huai was invigorated, gripping his war hammer and looking ahead. Soon she saw a number of figures on tall horses appearing in the wind and sand, accompanied by fierce-looking, bright red, four-legged monsters.

Indeed, they were the Chaos Hounds.

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai’s eyes were cold. The Chaos Hounds were weak creatures, not worth mentioning, but they were bona fide demonic creatures. Their appearance here indicated that they were summoned from the world of the Brutal God, meaning that amongst his enemies this time, there would definitely be powerful demons!

He wondered if this was a minor, intermediate, or major boss.

But a fight would tell!!

“Roar!!”

At this moment, along with an angry roar, the Chaos Hounds also spotted their prey, bellowing and sprinting ahead, charging towards Duanmu Huai’s location.

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai’s eyes flashed.

The next moment, a Soul Card flashed before him.

The Puppeteer’s Cloak was activated!

The Craftsman’s Faith was activated!

Drawing a Puppet and Armed Enhancement!

Summon the Puppet onto the field! Turn on the Puppeteer’s Cloak’s special ability, and add two Puppet cards into his hand!

Summon the two Puppet cards added to his hand onto the field! Added four more Puppet cards to his hand!

“Swish swish!”

In just the blink of an eye, a black cloak edged with gold, looking incredibly extravagant, covered Duanmu Huai’s power armor. The cloak fluttered in the windless air, and several puppets, dressed like rogues or assassins, burst out from it, rushing towards the enemy before them. In the blink of an eye, they were fighting the Chaos Hounds!

“Roar————!!”

Of course, the Chaos Hounds didn’t know what was blocking their path, but they didn’t need to. All they needed to do was shred anything that stood in their path. Hence, the Chaos Hounds lunged at the puppets in front of them and bit into their bodies. However, at the same time, the puppet’s daggers and curved blades were also stabbed into the bodies of the Chaos Hounds.

Soon, a large number of Chaos Hounds fell, and the puppets that were also fighting crumbled and disappeared without a trace.

“Hmm?”

Seeing this, the Red Knight atop his horse froze for a moment, then sneered.

“Magic, always such boring tricks, meaningless in the face of my lord’s power!”

As he spoke, the Red Knight raised his lance and pointed it at Duanmu Huai.

“Charge!!!”

Just as I thought you would make this move.

Watching the Chaos Knights rushing towards him, Duanmu Huai sneered, the disciples of the Four Great Evil Gods each have unique characteristics, those under the Brutal God look down upon magic, hence his disciples too disdain magic. That’s why Duanmu Huai dared to fight a thousand troops alone here. If it were the infamous Cunning God, Duanmu Huai wouldn’t foolishly commit suicide here – his subordinates are all master magicians, his approach would simply be waiting for a magical beatdown.

Tens of puppets once again sprinted out, rushing towards the Chaos Knights in front of them. Their damage potential isn’t high, but it doesn’t mean they are harmless. Soon, several knights were eliminated under the puppets’ attack. But the guy in bright red armor on the tall horse in front seemed unaffected. Instead, those puppets that tried to attack him were torn into pieces by the howling airflow before they could get close.

As expected, this guy is not easy to deal with.

Staring at the Chaos Knight charging towards him, Duanmu Huai’s expression was solemn. He gripped his war hammer in both hands and coldly watched his enemy approach, simultaneously conjuring another card into existence.

Armed Enhancement activated! Giving +2/+2 status boost to a unit on the battlefield!

At that moment, Duanmu Huai’s body seemed to blaze with intense red flames as if forged in a furnace. At the same time, a +2 appeared next to his status attributes.

The attack and defense values of the Soul Cards are calculated by dividing the player’s attributes by 10. Therefore, if Duanmu Huai’s current attributes were converted into Soul Cards, his stats would be atk 1/def 0 – with only his strength at 12 points and all attributes under 10 being calculated as 0.

Hence, when Armed Enhancement is activated now, it meant Duanmu Huai’s strength and physical attributes temporarily surged by +20 points within a short period!

“Roar!!!!”

At the same time, the Chaos Knight reached Duanmu Huai and swung his lance fiercely.

In the face of his attack, Duanmu Huai let out a roar, raised his war hammer high, and met the charge head-on!!