A Core Ship From The Start Chapter 1009

Chapter 1009: Chapter 696: Target Locked Chapter 1009: Chapter 696: Target Locked Duanmu Huai collided head-on with the Red Dragon, which let out a heart-wrenching cry as it plummeted toward the ground, crashing heavily into the forest. It desperately shook its body, trying to stand up and retaliate. However, Duanmu Huai simply swung his hammer onto its head, and the head, bigger than Duanmu Huai's own, burst like a popped ball, turning into a puddle of blood.

At the same time, melodious music started playing, its vibrating waves turning into thunder that gathered and exploded in the air.

“Boom———-!”

With an explosive boom, the spreading sound waves shattered the Goblin squad tailing the group, vibrating their bodies into indistinguishable bloody fragments. Simultaneously, a silver-haired girl descended from the sky, her fingers twitching slightly as she reached out. Suddenly, the Mountain Giants who had crossed the sea of flames changed–roaring as they charged forward, then their bodies split at the waist, their lower halves still running as their upper bodies completely misaligned, and like sliced ham, they fell in pieces into the flames.

“We…we've been saved??”

Startled, Klay halted in his tracks, staring blankly behind him–Was that army of nearly a hundred Goblins, Mountain Giants, Orcs, Geassian Yankees, and a Red Dragon, completely annihilated in the blink of an eye?

Not just Klay, but the others were also at a loss for words. If not for the burning forest in front of them, the bodies all over the ground, and the pervasive smell of blood, they might have thought they were dreaming.

Then, they saw a tall, dark figure slowly walking out from the flames.

It had the form of a Demon, with a skull emblem on its chest that shone golden in the firelight, and its shoulders with the Double-Headed Eagle were covered in blood.

But at that moment, seeing its presence was incredibly reassuring for Klay.

However, the color drained from Ben's face.

“Lord!”

He quickly knelt down before the Steel Warrior, paying his respects.

“Lord?”

“Kneel down, you idiot!”

Watching Klay stand there dumbstruck, Ben cursed under his breath, then forcefully grabbed him, pulling him down to kneel. In this era, a Lord still held the power of life and death over his subjects. Of course, the temperament of each territory's Lord was different; for example, Elascoe, the City Lord of Silver Moon City, was easier to talk to.

But the Tribunal… just by the looks of it, you could tell they were not the kind to be merciful.

“Alright, no need for such trouble.”

Duanmu Huai glanced at the Adventurers in front of him dressed in the Blades of Judgment uniforms and waved his hand dismissively.

“I came as soon as I got the message, and yes, you sent the signal in time… Alright, now, can someone tell me what exactly happened?”

Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Klay hesitantly stood up.

Now, it was his turn to shine.

“……….Uhm……….”

After listening to Klay's report, Duanmu Huai pondered in silence. Ogis and Mary had also finished extinguishing the forest fire and returned to his side, looking at Duanmu Huai.

“You say that Geassian Yankee used some strange magic, and then those Goblins and Mountain Giants just stopped moving?”

“Yes, that's right, Lord, it was as if they suddenly turned into puppets… They were yelling and screaming, but then they abruptly just stood there motionless.”

“Hmm……….”

Duanmu Huai thought about it. If it were only this, there were many methods to achieve a similar effect, like the Heart Stealers' mental storm, or some magic, such as Commanding Awe, which was quite convenient for dealing with these lower life forms.

But Duanmu Huai knew this incident wasn't so simple.

The reason was just one–he checked his system information bar, and it did not show any experience points.

That's right, the system info showed that Duanmu Huai killed the Red Dragon and the Geassian Yankees, Mary the Goblins, and Ogis the Mountain Giants and Half-Beastmen. All these were recorded.

But the experience points earned were zero.

Logically, this was impossible, because even with a vast level difference, there should be at least a minimum of 1 experience point to gain. But it was zero…

As the saying goes, “There's something fishy when things are strange.” This clearly indicated that something about this situation was not normal.

And why was it the Geassian Yankees?

In Duanmu Huai's memory, Geassian Yankees thought very highly of themselves and rarely submitted to other beings. That so-called Supreme True God or whatever sounded like a fake name. No deity would give themselves such an embarrassing name–it was like if your childhood nickname was Dog Egg, and if you found out as an adult that it was recorded, it would be utterly shameful.

It seemed this matter warranted investigation.

With this thought, Duanmu Huai made a decision.

“Ogis, inform Gavi to send people to scour this entire area, and if they find any clues about that so-called Supreme True God or whatever it is, report to me immediately.”

“Yes.”

Ogis, who was perched on Duanmu Huai's shoulder, nodded.

“As for you…”

After issuing his orders, Duanmu Huai finally turned to look at his squad members who were eagerly awaiting his attention.

“You all go back and rest, you completed your task very well… Mary, take note of their names, along with the report, and submit it to Mistelina. We will discuss it after the investigation is concluded.”

“Understood.”

Mary took out her notebook, quickly jotted down the details, and nodded.

Duanmu Huai extended his hand and patted Klay on the shoulder.

“Well done.”

“Th-thank you, Lord.”

By now, Klay was sweating profusely, his mind a blank. When he saw Duanmu Huai turning to leave, Klay suddenly thought of something and asked.

“Excuse me, Lord, is this cult very important?”

“Hmm? Why do you ask?”

“Because you personally came…”

Klay didn't know what else to say; he had initially thought that only the Night Guards would arrive. It wasn't until Ben reminded him did he realize it was the Lord himself who had come. In his mind, it had to be something extremely important for the Lord to make a personal appearance.

It was only after Ben gave him a sharp twist in the back did Klay realize he had spoken out of turn. It seemed that this was not something he should be concerned about. Fortunately, Duanmu Huai didn't seem to mind.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Either way, you've triggered an interesting task. As to whether it's important… you'll find out in time.”

After saying these words, Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers, and suddenly, a teleportation portal materialized out of thin air. He then walked into the portal with the two others, and it wasn't until his tall figure had disappeared from their sight that Klay finally breathed a sigh of relief–only to be kicked hard by Ben.

“You idiot! Who do you think you are, daring to ask such pointless questions! Are you tired of living?”

“I was just asking… alright, my bad.”

Facing Ben's anger, Klay started to say something but instead bowed his head in submission. Indeed, what the higher-ups wanted to do wasn't something a lowly soldier like him should worry about.

But Klay still didn't understand what the Lord meant by triggering a task?

Of course, Klay wouldn't understand. In fact, Duanmu Huai was simply treating these squads as if they were players.

In games, there's often a similar plot.

For example, players might undertake a task to investigate a manor, and upon arrival, they dispose of the Undead Creatures there–typically, this would be the end.

However, if players get bored and start rummaging through everything, they might discover a secret chamber, then uncover information about Undead Artifacts. Once they report this information at the end of their task, a new quest line could be triggered, with the NPC saying something like, “Oh, adventurers, we never expected such secrets behind this; further investigation is needed…”

And so the next phase of their mission begins, and players delve deeper into the situation regarding the Undead Artifacts. They might unearth a Cult Organization and then investigate further, battling the cult. After the battle, they report back with the quest items they've collected.

The NPC might then exclaim, “My God, to think it was this! Unimaginable…” And so on, detailing a bunch of “sealed history” to the players before asking them to check the seals…

The players then check these seals to find them broken, the BOSS gone. Hence, the next task for the players is to find the BOSS…

Of course, in games, things are set up this way to cater to the player's experience, which means that the Lord, the King, and the like don't show up like fools until the very end when the BOSS knocks on their door, begging players to save the world.

After all, it's a game, which is understandable.

But reality could never be like this.

It's as though a few assistant police discovered major clues about drug trafficking, and rather than transferring the case to the drug enforcement department, they were left to solve it themselves–something that obviously would never happen.

What Duanmu Huai is doing now is using the Blade of Judgment squad to stumble upon tasks as if they were players. If they are ordinary tasks, he lets them resolve it on their own, but if it's an epic task, he'll refrain from snatching it outright… Isn't that much more convenient than scouring everywhere to activate quests himself?

And the reason he targeted the cult is simple: cults usually worship deities from the evil pantheon, and Duanmu Huai was still considering beating a few deities to give them a taste of their own medicine, as if looking for a confrontation. He was just waiting for a chance across the equivalent of an underground criminal organization, at which point he could lead the Tribunal to kick in the door…

Now, Duanmu Huai had found an excellent target.

The Geassian Yankees.

Staring down at the body of a Geassian Yankee, Duanmu Huai's expression was extremely cold. He hadn't forgotten that within his “Avatar of Calamity,” he still needed to eradicate three Civilized Races to unlock the second phase, and the Geassian Yankees clearly met the criteria. They were Aliens, nefarious Star Realm Creatures that posed a threat to Humans; these reasons were enough for the Tribunal to exterminate them.

Once this was confirmed, Duanmu Huai made his decision resolutely.

“We're going to the Star Realm,” he said to Mary.

“The Geassian Yankees have been slaying Humans and using them as sacrifices. This is absolutely intolerable; we must eliminate these Aliens without exception.”

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai clenched his fists, a glint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

“They must provide me with an explanation, or else they won't need to bother at all.”

Chapter end

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