Battle Against a Demon

"Foolish mortal..."

The Tyrant Fiend gripped its weapon and looked at Duanmu Huai before it with a smug, mocking expression.

"You have no idea who you are about to face... I am..."

Who wanted to hear your nonsense?!

Duanmu Huai could not be bothered to listen to the Tyrant Fiend's opening monologue. He always skipped cutscenes before boss battles like this, okay?

They were going to die anyway. Why waste time on you?

With that thought, Duanmu Huai raised his left hand without hesitation. A thunderous boom rang out, and bursting flames shot forth the next instant, striking the Tyrant Fiend and interrupting its idiotic opening speech.

"You damned bastard!!"

The Tyrant Fiend clearly had not expected this human to be so bold as to interrupt it. It immediately flew into a rage from humiliation.

"I will smash you, you foolish tin can, into pieces! I will show you just how insignificant mortals are before demons..."

Didn't I say nobody wanted to hear your nonsense?

Naturally, Duanmu Huai turned a deaf ear to the Tyrant Fiend's roar. Having landed the first blow, he gripped his warhammer and charged forward, rushing straight before the Tyrant Fiend and swinging hard at one of its lower mechanical legs.

"Boom!!"

The warhammer crackling with lightning slammed heavily into the metal mechanical leg. Lightning exploded in all directions, even causing the Tyrant Fiend's movements to pause for a moment. But it quickly roared and swung its longsword down at Duanmu Huai.

"Bang!!!"

The flaming sword broke through the fragile shield and sank directly into the thick Shoulder Armor. Yet Duanmu Huai did not dodge. He knew this monster's weakness very well. The Tyrant Fiend's greatest threat was the high mobility granted by its three pairs of mechanical legs. If he could not disable them as quickly as possible, this fight would become much more troublesome!

With that in mind, Duanmu Huai tightened his grip on the warhammer, swung it with all his strength, and smashed it into the mechanical leg again. This time, the leg, already weakened by the previous heavy blow, finally gave way and shattered. As the Tyrant Fiend's body tilted sideways, Duanmu Huai followed with another thunderous hammer strike!

Material Misalignment!

The connection point of the mechanical leg completely ruptured beneath that blow. Sturdy steel twisted, deformed, shattered, and collapsed under the violent impact. With the front two pairs of mechanical legs destroyed, the Tyrant Fiend lost its balance and screamed as it toppled forward. Duanmu Huai naturally would not miss this opportunity. He sidestepped out of the way, gripped the warhammer with both hands, and spun his entire body in a fierce circle before bringing the enormous black warhammer crashing down onto the back of the Tyrant Fiend's head!

Critical Hit!

For most creatures, the back of the head was the most vulnerable spot, and the Tyrant Fiend was no exception. It relied primarily on nimble mobility to fight its enemies. While it possessed the usual demonic toughness in terms of defense, that toughness had its limits.

The defense-piercing blow sent the Tyrant Fiend crashing to the ground, but even then, it did not abandon resistance. The mechanical legs beneath it flailed wildly, trying to tear apart any threat that dared approach. At the same time, the Tyrant Fiend attempted to rise again and battle the crafty human before it.

But Duanmu Huai would naturally not give it that chance. He circled behind the Tyrant Fiend, raised his warhammer again, and brought it down upon the mechanical legs that were still thrashing about.

"Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!"

In the blink of an eye, the Tyrant Fiend's mechanical legs had been smashed into a pile of scrap metal. Without legs, it was now like a fish stranded on shore, able only to twist and flop desperately in an attempt to escape. But Duanmu Huai clearly had no intention of allowing that. He knocked the longsword from the Tyrant Fiend's hand with one swing, then strode up to the demon and planted a foot on both of its hands.

Duanmu Huai had killed plenty of demons like Tyrant Fiends. In Star Sea Online, while higher levels could indeed resist damage, there was also the concept of exploiting weaknesses for instant kills. As long as one grasped every enemy's weakness and attacked accordingly, even a level-one player could eliminate monsters many levels above them. Killing monsters above one's level was hardly unusual in Star Sea Online, especially for a solo player like Duanmu Huai. His proudest achievement had been driving away a level-ninety Evil God Incarnation all by himself. It was after that battle that Duanmu Huai began receiving numerous commissions, rising from minor farming jobs to become a true high-end player capable of making money.

Compared with an Evil God Incarnation, this Tyrant Fiend was nothing more than a drizzle...

"Foolish mortal! You cannot kill me!"

Realizing it could not escape, the Tyrant Fiend immediately roared.

"I will return to my world and await my next descent. When that time comes, I will tear you to shre—"

Before the Tyrant Fiend could finish speaking, the sturdy warhammer came whistling down and smashed directly into its head, crushing the demon's tough skull like a watermelon. Immediately afterward, the Tyrant Fiend's corpse burst into flames, turning into black ash in the blink of an eye and vanishing into the air.

"Hmph. Too much nonsense."

Duanmu Huai glanced at the demon corpse as it disintegrated and disappeared, then snorted. Of course, he knew the Tyrant Fiend had been telling the truth. Demons like them could not be truly killed. Even if they were slain here, they would merely return to their own world. Even if someone tracked them down and killed them in their own world, they would not be completely destroyed. Instead, they would be reincarnated and revived once more as low-level demons.

But what did that have to do with Duanmu Huai?

No matter how many came, he would kill them.

Just as Duanmu Huai finished off the demon before him, a System Prompt appeared in front of him.

Mission "Intrusion" Complete

Mission Rating: Quite Good

Reward: 1,500 EXP, additional 1,000 EXP, level increased to Level 8, Attribute Points +1, Specialization Points +1, obtained "Maintenance Device - Repair Skull"

Follow-up Mission "Protection" Triggered

Mission Description: You defeated the followers of Chaos and rescued the sacrifice. But this is only the beginning. You may choose to take her away from here and return her safely. Or you may leave her here to fend for herself. Either way, the choice is yours.

Not bad.

Duanmu Huai was not surprised by the mission completion rating. Every mission had a similar system. When one accepted a mission, it was not simply a matter of eliminating the target according to the objective. The impact of one's actions during the mission, even the people drawn into it, could affect the mission rating and thus the rewards.

This was also one of the things that made Star Sea Online so appealing. Many players would carefully study every mission in order to determine how to obtain the best possible rewards.

Clearly, rescuing that girl was why his mission rating had been so high. If Duanmu Huai had ignored her, the rating likely would not have been nearly as good.

As for the Specialization Points he had gained, Duanmu Huai put them into Attack Weakness to increase critical damage. This was also the build he had used before being transported here. Although he had created an adorable young-girl character at the time, his actual playstyle had still been Duanmu Huai's signature berserk melee build—well, one could tell from his ID.

For the remaining Attribute Point, Duanmu Huai continued investing in Strength, raising it to 11. At the same time, he upgraded Space Marine Combat Training to LV4—his Charisma was locked and could not be increased, so this was his only option.

With that thought, Duanmu Huai turned around and saw the raggedly dressed girl peeking anxiously in his direction. Upon seeing him, she shrank back in fright, seemingly unsure what to do. Duanmu Huai did not care. He merely strode forward and gave her a glance as he passed.

"If you want to, follow me."

After saying that, Duanmu Huai walked straight out of this filthy, evil place. The girl hesitated for a moment, but ultimately followed behind him, forcing herself to do so—he could hardly leave her here with the scorched corpses of the Evil God Believers for company!

Naturally, these Evil God Believers had not chosen a bustling city district as the place to summon a demon. In fact, this was an uninhabited wilderness. Duanmu Huai had no idea where he was, but that was fine. After all, he had a local native beside him.

The girl followed behind him and told him about herself. Her name was Elisa, and she was the daughter of the lord who ruled this territory. Although this was a barren land on the Imperial Border, it was still their home. Not long ago, after attending a banquet held by a merchant in the city, they had been preparing to return to Rook by carriage when Evil God Believers ambushed them on the road. Her father and guards had all been killed by those vicious cultists, leaving only her behind as a sacrifice... Clearly, if Duanmu Huai had not arrived, she too would have become a victim of those Evil God Believers.

Elisa spoke through tears, while Duanmu Huai remained calm. Every player had done missions like this countless times. He sympathized with the young lady, but the damage was done. Other than telling her to accept his condolences, there was not much else he could say.

It was not as though he could bring the dead back to life.

"Do you know where this is?"

"Y-yes!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Elisa nodded vigorously.

"This is the wilderness beyond the Imperial Border..."

"Do you know the way?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

Duanmu Huai decisively chose to complete the follow-up mission first. After all, searching for a Sacred Artifact was complicated. Every planet's Holy Relic had a different story route. Some were buried deep within ruins, requiring players to investigate a large number of clues before locating the ruins, entering them, searching through them, and taking out the Sacred Artifact.

That was still the easy kind. Some Sacred Artifacts were even worshipped as Sacred Gear on their local planets, and that was troublesome. Players either had to charge in and seize them despite losing reputation, or follow the story and see whether there was a way to obtain them peacefully. Of course, that also depended on the Civilization level and standards of each planet.

A "Novice Planet" like this was manageable. Its Civilization was, at most, at the level of the Middle Ages. But the interstellar Civilizations encountered later were different—this was why players needed to build fleets.

After all, one person could not fight an entire space fleet.

Though by the late game, that was not entirely impossible.

Although Elisa was anxious to leave as soon as possible, she was exhausted as well. Since night had fallen, after escaping the Evil God Believers' hideout and temporarily evading their pursuit, they could only find a place to rest and wait until the next day to continue their journey.

Duanmu Huai did not mind. His Power Armor had also been damaged in his battle with the Tyrant Fiend and needed repairs as well.

Curled up beside the campfire, Elisa cautiously watched the tall black silhouette in the distance. They had traveled together all day, yet she had never seen this mysterious Knight remove his helmet and reveal his true face.

"Excuse me..."

However, just as Elisa gathered her courage to speak to him, she saw in astonishment that the metal box on the Knight's back suddenly opened. A white skull then flew out, circling around the Black Knight. From time to time, strange light shone from its hollow eye sockets, illuminating the Black Knight's armor.

"Eek—!"

Elisa jumped in fright at the sight of this bizarre thing.

W-what was that?

Could it be a dead person's skull? Was he perhaps one of the legendary Death Knights?

Come to think of it, there were skull symbols on his shoulders and waist... Weren't those the symbols Necromancers loved most?

Had he saved me because he wanted to turn me into an Undead creature?

Could that skull floating around him now also be one of his past victims?

Elisa stared uneasily at Duanmu Huai, unsure what to do. She desperately wanted to turn and run, but what would happen if she left? If she got lost in the wilderness, she would probably become food for Wild Wolves.

But if she stayed here... would that really be all right?

"What is it?"

Noticing Elisa's gaze, Duanmu Huai turned toward her. He had just activated the repair device and was repairing his Power Armor. As inherited equipment, this Power Armor could not only grow stronger alongside the player as they leveled up, but could also gain unique abilities by installing various attachments. Basically, Duanmu Huai could keep using this equipment all the way to max level without any issue.

After all, it was equipment meant to help an alt clear the story...

"Um... excuse me..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai speak, Elisa hesitated before asking timidly.

"Excuse me... Sir Knight... you are human, right?"

"Of course. Is there a problem?"

"If possible, I would like to see your face."

"..."

What an absurd request.

Hearing Elisa's question, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes. Then he opened his helmet and looked at Elisa.

"This should be enough, right?"

"..."

Elisa said nothing. She simply stared blankly at Duanmu Huai, and then... she toppled straight to the ground and fainted.

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai shrugged and silently put his helmet back on.

Knew this would be the outcome.