Back to the City

Dealing with the man himself was not particularly troublesome. Once his health bar appeared, Duanmu Huai immediately charged forward with Okegis and swiftly cut him down.

After that, they returned to the real world.

However, Duanmu Huai's mood was far from pleasant as he looked at the System Prompt before him.

Quest "Angry Soul" completed

Quest evaluation: Barely passing

Although you were not his first choice, the combat power you displayed barely earned his recognition

Follow-up quest "Sleeping Maiden" triggered

Soul Card +5

Fuck me sideways... Duanmu Huai really wanted to swear. He had indeed failed two instances in a row, so the system's evaluation naturally wouldn't be high, but what was with that thick tone of disdain?

Besides, with your lousy performance, you still have the nerve to look down on me?

In the very end, Duanmu Huai finally understood what the man had actually wanted to do.

To put it simply, he had been tormented by the combined guilt of being a father and pride of being a scholar, suffering terribly and begging for release. As luck would have it, Duanmu Huai arrived, so that bastard dumped the burden on him, went to that world to sleep eternally with his daughter, and left the mess behind for Duanmu Huai to deal with!

What kind of person does that? You went off to seek peace of mind and dumped your troubles on me before running away? Your moral values are completely rotten... Duanmu Huai now regretted not smashing the man's head into more pieces when he had dealt with the boss.

As for the name of the quest, "Angry Soul," that name had misled Duanmu Huai into thinking the Purple-Haired Maiden had been enraged because her father was killed. In reality, the "Angry Soul" referred to the man's fury toward his own twisted and cowardly will.

So basically, he was just raging impotently at himself?

I really should have smashed you to death just now... Wait, I think I actually did.

Forget it. There was no point saying all that to a dead man.

Duanmu Huai silently crossed the quest off and then examined the Soul Cards in his hand.

Because of the low quest evaluation this time, he had received only the five guaranteed cards.

Ghost Mansion (Bronze)

Cost: 1

Whenever one of your servants (except Wraiths) is destroyed, summon a Wraith to the battlefield.

Wraith (Bronze)

Cost: 2

Attack: 2

Defense: 2

Certain Kill

Undying Grudge (Bronze)

Cost: 2

Deal 3 damage to one target enemy.

Necromancy (2): Increase the damage from 3 to 5.

Death Shortcut (Bronze)

Cost: 2

Give one of your servants the Certain Kill effect.

Anser Qiao (??)

Cost: 3

Attack: 2

Defense: 2

Sealed (cannot be used)

Five guaranteed cards, and he couldn't even use the last one. Fine. Just as expected. Just as expected.

Necromantic cards had a special feature: the Necromancy design. They possessed many special effects that required enough dead cards in the graveyard to activate.

For example, the Undying Grudge card meant that when there were two dead cards in the graveyard, Necromancy could be activated to raise its original 3 damage to 5.

Of course, after activating Necromancy, the corresponding number of cards in the graveyard would decrease by 2.

The dead cards in the graveyard naturally came from cards destroyed in battle.

Fortunately, Duanmu Huai was not lacking dead cards at present. After all, he could summon puppets without limit, and every destroyed puppet was equivalent to adding one card to the graveyard. At the moment, there were at least nearly a hundred dead cards in Duanmu Huai's graveyard, so many that he practically had nowhere to use them.

But things were different now. With Necromantic cards in hand, Duanmu Huai could establish a positive cycle—use puppets to fill the graveyard, then use Undying Grudge to kill enemies.

If he could obtain more powerful Necromantic cards later, they would only grow stronger alongside the puppets he used to fill the graveyard!

More importantly, Duanmu Huai's greatest gain this time was the Bronze card Death Shortcut.

The reason was simple: it granted his servant the Certain Kill effect!

Certain Kill!

The Certain Kill of the Necromantic system was a rule-based killing curse. Unless the opponent possessed a special ability such as "immune to special effects" or "can only be defeated head-on," it was essentially guaranteed death.

This meant that if Duanmu Huai encountered a high-level demon like the Bloodthirsty Maniac again, he wouldn't even need to risk deploying Okegis. He could simply summon a puppet, use Death Shortcut on it to grant it Certain Kill, and then have the puppet touch the Bloodthirsty Maniac once. The latter would drop dead on the spot.

However, Duanmu Huai had no intention of using this card on himself or Okegis, because Certain Kill was a permanent effect and would only disappear upon death.

For safety's sake, Duanmu Huai planned to use this card with puppets. That way, not only would it be relatively cost-effective, he also wouldn't have to worry about it consuming heat. More importantly, he could discard the puppets whenever necessary without feeling bad about the cost.

Furthermore, with this card combined with Wraiths and vengeful spirits, dealing with the followers and subordinates of the God of Filth would become much easier.

As for the Sleeping Maiden quest, Duanmu Huai currently had no way to complete it. The quest required him to visit at least five Necromantic Shard Worlds, and he still had no clue where to find them. He could only take things slowly.

In any case, the card's attack power wasn't particularly high.

In fact, it was only after looking at the card that Duanmu Huai understood why the Purple-Haired Maiden had been able to fight him to a standstill.

With only 2 points of energy for both attack and defense, she was merely on the same level as him...

Although it was a core card, Duanmu Huai truly couldn't see what was so impressive about it.

In any case, he would put it aside for now.

After obtaining the six Soul Cards, Duanmu Huai left the Fallen Moon Forest and returned to Silver City.

Although the Elf Scout had provided him with several pieces of information, he hadn't triggered any quests outside the Fallen Moon Forest, so he hadn't wasted any time. Since no quest had been triggered, they were probably nothing more than rumors.

Upon returning to Silver City, he found the place just as run-down as before. There were practically no pedestrians on the streets, only soldiers defending the walls.

The city gate, which had originally been smashed apart, had only just been repaired. That was hardly surprising. Before leaving, Duanmu Huai had heard from the Elf Scout that most of the city's residents had been terrified by the attacks of the Ratmen and Evil God Believers and had fled the city.

After greeting the castle guards, Duanmu Huai entered the castle.

However, when he reached the castle hall, he was surprised to find that the people waiting there were neither Elisa and her mother nor Captain Kado.

Instead, it was the man who had previously led reinforcements here... What was his name again?

Regardless of his name, the man was currently sitting arrogantly in the lord's seat, calmly watching Duanmu Huai.

"Ah, what a surprise, Sir Black Knight. I never expected you to come back."

"I only came to check on Elisa. Where is she?"

Duanmu Huai glanced around and asked in a low voice.

Hearing his question, the man revealed an even more smug smile.

"Ah, please rest assured. Miss Elisa and her mother are both perfectly safe... You, on the other hand, might want to consider your own situation."

As he spoke, the man snapped his fingers. In the next moment, a large group of fully armed Brutal Cultists suddenly rushed out from all around them. Holding crossbows, swords, and shields, they surrounded Duanmu Huai.

"What does this mean?"

Duanmu Huai swept his gaze around the room and asked coldly.

The man merely smiled.

"It isn't anything serious, really. I just reached an agreement with a few people and hoped to keep you here... Aaaaaah!"

Before the man could finish speaking, the warhammer in Duanmu Huai's hand suddenly flew out and crashed into his legs, snapping both of them.

"A-attack! Attack!"

Seeing the man come under attack, someone quickly shouted.

The Brutal Cultists raised their crossbows and aimed at Duanmu Huai's helmet. However, in the next moment, the scene before the soldiers suddenly split in two, cleaved diagonally apart.

Immediately afterward, the fully armed soldiers in the hall, wielding blades, swords, and shields, were sliced apart as if by invisible blades. Their bodies became scattered chunks of flesh strewn across the floor.

Only then did Okegis lower her hands. The radiance of Puppet Strings flashed across her fingertips.

Duanmu Huai paid no attention to these tiresome trivialities. He simply strode forward toward the usurping lord.

"You dared make a deal with an Evil God, betray order, and become a servant of Chaos!"

"D-don't come any closer!"

Seeing the tall, black-armored warrior approaching, the man whose legs had been smashed was deathly pale. He struggled desperately, but he couldn't move even an inch.

"I am a lord personally appointed by the Emperor! If you kill me, you will make an enemy of the Empire... Aaaaaah!"

Before the man could finish, Duanmu Huai stepped on his palm and crushed his right hand into a smear of flesh.

"So?"

"...By doing this, you are opposing His Majesty the Emperor..."

Hearing that, Duanmu Huai reached out and picked up the warhammer that had smashed the man's legs. Then he raised it high.

"Those who betray order and defect to Chaos must die. Whether it is an emperor or a King, servants of Chaos must be destroyed!"

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai brought the warhammer down with all his strength!

Bang!!!

Blood mixed with brain matter splattered across the wall. The man's body leaped like a fish, then collapsed heavily to the ground, never moving again.

"Hmph."

Duanmu Huai withdrew his warhammer and didn't spare the idiot's corpse another glance.

Who would have thought something like this would happen? It seems reality really isn't a game...

"Goodness, I never expected you to move so quickly... I thought I could make it in time."

As Duanmu Huai pondered, a voice suddenly came from behind him. He turned his head and saw the Elf Scout supporting the badly injured Kado while waving at him.

Behind her stood Elisa and her mother, still shaken out of their wits.

"But fortunately, it seems my speed wasn't too bad either, was it?"