Strategic Retreat

Under the Holographic Projection, a blue planet appeared before them. To them, the sight was so dreamlike that it was simply unimaginable.

"Ah..."

Elisa's mother covered her mouth with both hands, staring wide-eyed at the planet before her. Kado and the Elf Scout were equally dumbfounded. Elisa, on the other hand, seemed relatively calm—after all, she had long known that Duanmu Huai possessed abilities similar to those of a mage, so it was not surprising that he could do something like this. Instead, she curiously leaned closer and looked at the Holographic Projection in front of him.

"Sir Knight, what is this?"

"This is a map of the world."

"Huh? We live on a sphere? Then where do we live?"

Hearing Elisa's question, Duanmu Huai quickly reached out and tapped the Holographic Projection. The image rapidly zoomed in, and Silver City along with the surrounding region appeared before them.

"Wow, this is Silver City? So this is what it looks like?"

The others gathered around as well, staring curiously at the Holographic Projection. The scene was simply too unbelievable; they had never seen anything like it.

"Ah, that's our Rook! And the guards patrolling the walls! You can see everything so clearly even at night..."

Elisa was like a child who had discovered a new toy. She eagerly leaned closer and looked around, then raised a hand in confusion and pointed toward the edge of the map.

"Huh? What are those densely packed shadows over there?"

"Hmm? Let me see..."

Only then did Duanmu Huai notice a cluster of moving shadows in the lower-left corner of the map outside Silver City. He reached out and tapped that area. The image zoomed in once more, and everyone saw a mass of Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists quickening their pace toward Silver City...

"Enemy attack!"

At the same time, the warning bells outside began to ring.

After all these days, there were not many people left in Silver City. Aside from a group of veteran soldiers who followed Knight Commander Kado, the other residents had long since fled the city to seek refuge elsewhere. Even the servants in the Rook had been dismissed. There were fewer than a hundred people left in all of Silver City, while the Ratmen army on the other side numbered at least in the hundreds or thousands. There was no way they could hold them off.

Fortunately, everyone had already been preparing to flee. They hurriedly gathered their luggage and climbed into the carriage.

"Sir Knight, what will you do?"

Elisa looked at Duanmu Huai and asked uneasily. It was no wonder she was worried. His armor probably weighed dozens of tons—he could crush a horse to death just by riding it, and a carriage was even less possible. The moment he stepped in, it would collapse.

"I'll stay behind and make sure those things don't follow you and cause trouble."

Duanmu Huai quickly gave his answer, then turned to Okegis.

"Okegis, go with them. Make sure you protect them."

"..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's order, Okegis said nothing and merely nodded slightly.

"I will take Madam and Miss to Blackwood Riverbank. I have a secret hideout there. We should not be discovered."

The Elf Scout was already seated in the carriage when she spoke to Duanmu Huai.

"I've marked the exact location on your map. With that strange thing, you should be able to find it easily."

"I understand. You leave first. Knight Kado too."

"Very well. You be careful as well."

After a brief exchange, the Elf Scout shouted and drove the carriage away at full speed under the escort of Kado and the other soldiers. Duanmu Huai watched their retreating figures for a moment before withdrawing his gaze and returning to the Rook.

It was already late at night.

The bright moonlight had been covered by clouds that had appeared at some unknown time, leaving the entire city in darkness. Standing on the Rook's balcony, there was nothing to see except the light cast by the Rook's torches. Duanmu Huai simply stood there, staring at the land before him, which was likewise shrouded in darkness—until scarlet life signs began to appear in his field of vision.

They were finally here.

Duanmu Huai's gaze was icy as he watched the Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists gradually approach Silver City. He rose to his feet and extended his hand. A card appeared at his fingertips, then silently vanished.

Then, behind Duanmu Huai, a strange manor radiating an eerie blue glow emerged as if it were an illusory image, flickering in and out of existence. He flicked his right hand and pressed downward through the air.

In an instant, nearly a hundred dolls silently appeared, lined up neatly like soldiers. Then they raised their weapons and pounced toward the enemy like panthers in the night.

At that moment, the army of Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists had already broken through the city gates and entered the city once again.

The deathly silent city clearly left those unwashed vermin unable to process what was happening. They had originally been looking forward to another wonderful ritual that would spread the God of Filth's "love" to all living beings. But the city before them, which resembled a graveyard, was clearly not the joyful ballroom they had expected. Just as the invaders looked at one another in confusion, unsure what to do, an army of dolls descended from the sky and charged directly into the ranks of the Corrupted Cultists and Ratmen.

The sudden appearance of the doll army startled the Corrupted Cultists and Ratmen, but at the same time, they had found their enemy. The blades wielded by the dolls were deadly, but as had been said before, physical attacks could hardly threaten the Corrupted Cultists, whose bodies were bloated and filled with viruses and rotten flesh. And dolls with only 1 Defense were no match for Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists. Almost the instant they charged in, the dolls were smashed to pieces. Aside from causing a slight ripple among the army of filth, their actions seemed to have achieved nothing else.

However, this was only the beginning.

As the dolls were smashed apart one after another, the dark manor behind Duanmu Huai, glowing with spirit fire, began to stir. Then its windows and doors flew open as if haunted! An invisible icy wind howled out, passed through Duanmu Huai's body, and raced toward the enemies ahead.

Then, the Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists discovered that the situation had changed.

At the same moment they smashed the dolls that had appeared from nowhere, Undead wraiths clad in white robes and radiating the chill of death suddenly emerged from within them. They opened their mouths and released deathly wails that made every living creature tremble. Then, like starving wolves pouncing on prey, the wraiths charged at the army of filth before them.

This was the power of the Ghost Mansion card Duanmu Huai had obtained from the Soul Fragment!

Ghost Mansion (Bronze)

Cost: 1

Whenever one of your followers, excluding Wraiths, is destroyed, summon a Wraith onto the battlefield.

From the sky, the army of Wraiths bursting outward in every direction looked as beautiful as a blooming white lotus spinning in the air. But to the Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists, these beings of pure death were practically their natural enemies. They began fleeing in every direction, because the diseases and poisons wielded by the God of Filth's followers were meaningless against Wraiths. They could not even touch the Wraiths' bodies. Yet every attack from a Wraith weakened the flames of their souls a little more.

Although the Wraiths themselves did not possess much attack power, their advantage was that, as incorporeal beings, they could not be harmed by ordinary physical attacks. Only elemental and magical damage could affect them. Unfortunately, the God of Filth's followers were equally lacking in that regard. Soon, Corrupted Cultists and Ratmen alike collapsed beneath the Undead's "touch." Their bodies became cold and stiff, their hearts ceased beating, and even the viruses dwelling within them withered and died beneath the wind of death.

That was why Duanmu Huai had chosen the Undead deck. No life could withstand death—not even viruses, parasites, or bacteria. Every flame of life would be extinguished amid the wails of the Wraiths.

Unfortunately, the bloody experience of countless players had proven that this strategy could at most affect high-level Demons. Greater Daemons and Chaos Gods themselves were not affected by these necromantic spells and effects. Many species with high magic resistance were immune to it as well. Against them, it seemed one could only face them head-on—and even then, they would not die.

Of course, if there were some Sacred Gear in this world capable of killing all things, it might actually work... but unfortunately, no such item card existed in the game.

But for Duanmu Huai, this was enough.

Watching the enemies already collapse beneath the army of Wraiths, Duanmu Huai nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave—after all, there was no point in him staying here any longer.

No one was going to complain about that...