Warning of Doom

In the end, Duanmu Huai accepted the mission. After all, he had no desire to see Novice Village explode on the spot. Besides... it was not as if he had no idea how to resolve this mission.

In fact, during the middle and later stages of the game, players had discussed several times whether, if they had noticed the danger facing Novice Planet back then, there might have been a way to return and complete this mission.

The final conclusion was... it could indeed be done.

Looking at the entire End Times event, although Chaos ultimately won, the Chaos Legion actually appeared the least throughout the End Times. The ones truly causing trouble everywhere were mainly four races—the Greenskin Orcs, who loved to WAAAAGH across the continent; the Ratmen, who loved digging tunnels everywhere; the Necromancers, who intended to rule the world through death; and the Vampires, who waved the banner of imperial legitimacy.

That was also why players had generally not been very vigilant at the time. Most of the monsters they faced were those things, making it feel as if they were merely fighting ordinary defensive battles against invasions.

For example, protecting the Empire from Vampires, defending Bartonia from Greenskins, or safeguarding Zhendan from Ratmen...

Who would have known that the Chaos Legion would suddenly make its grand entrance at the end and blow up the entire planet with a BANG?

How was that any different from fighting World War II on Earth, only for the Zentradi to suddenly show up at the end and destroy the planet?

Who could have seen that coming?!

Simply put, countless alien races had gone wild, each acting with the goal of conquering the world—except for the Greenskin Orcs, who only wanted to WAAAAAGH. This left the various forces protecting Order across the continent running themselves ragged. Meanwhile, the Chaos Legion secretly made its moves while everyone else was too busy to look elsewhere. In the end, it successfully opened the Third Chaos Gate, tore apart the planet, and swallowed it into Warp Space, becoming the victor that profited while the others fought.

So, looking back at it now, the best solution to stopping all this was to crush those annoying Greenskins, Undead, and Ratmen, reduce their threat as much as possible, and then prevent the Third Chaos Gate from opening...

And the most important thing was the relic beneath the Temple of Ulric in Middenheim. Rumors said that the Chaos Legion had only performed the ritual that destroyed the entire planet after obtaining that relic.

Thus, for players, the most cost-effective approach was to bring Justice from the Heavens down upon the Temple of Ulric before the Chaos Legion reached it, blasting both the temple and that relic to ashes. If it could not be destroyed, then they would simply take it away. At the very least, that would avert the worst-case scenario.

Although Duanmu Huai wanted to go take that thing away immediately, the Temple of Ulric had not yet changed hands, and Ulric's followers were quite formidable. If Duanmu Huai charged in now, he would probably get beaten into a state where he could not take care of himself. So he decided to strengthen himself first, then talk about the rest later.

Fortunately, there were still several years before the End Times. At least the End Times had not begun yet, and Duanmu Huai still had enough time to strengthen his cards and raise his level.

And in this regard, the Lady of the Lake was not stingy with her intelligence.

Within a monastery in Montfort was sealed a powerful necromantic artifact—the Skull Staff. It could enhance a Necromancer's power, and rumors said that Necromancers had recently begun eyeing this Sacred Gear greedily.

Within the ruins of Todtheim was a Crown of Sorcery that contained the will of an evil undead mage. A legendary undead mage's will still lingered within it. Anyone beguiled by it would become a puppet controlled by that Crown of Sorcery.

Upon a glacier in the Miragliano region, a powerful Chaos Champion had once been personally slain by Sigmar. The Chaos Tomb Sword he left behind remained frozen beneath the glacier. This Demonic Sword devoured the souls of everyone it killed and bound them within itself—wait? Why did that sound so familiar?

Could that Chaos Champion have been named Arthas?

In any case, the Lady of the Lake explained several matters to Duanmu Huai. Most of them—or rather, practically all of them—concerned the locations of Sacred Gears aligned with Chaos and evil. Since Duanmu Huai could completely destroy these Sacred Gears—well, apparently she knew the Holy Grail had already been dismantled—she hoped to borrow his power to locate and dismantle the other Sacred Gears as well. Without these evil Sacred Gears, darkness and Chaos would no longer be able to stir up trouble across this continent.

How should he put it... she really was not hiding the fact that she wanted to set him up.

Though the Lady of the Lake made it sound lofty and noble, Duanmu Huai understood what she meant. She was basically asking him to draw aggro. After all, if he seized those Sacred Gears, he would inevitably draw the hatred of alien races such as Vampires and Orks. By then... huh?

It did not seem any different from now.

As an Inquisitor, was he supposed to refrain from smashing their faces into a bloody mess and instead call them brothers over drinks?

Then there was no problem.

Thus, Duanmu Huai and the Lady of the Lake happily made a backroom deal—the other party needed him to strike against Chaos and evil, while Duanmu Huai's duty as an Inquisitor was to strike against and eliminate Chaos.

Besides, he had taken the Holy Grail, and the Lady of the Lake had not pursued the matter. He could not be too excessive, could he? The more friends, the more paths available. Of course, these native friends... still required a certain degree of caution, lest he be sold off and end up counting someone else's money for them.

In return, the Lady of the Lake not only allowed Duanmu Huai to obtain those Sacred Gears, but even specifically bestowed upon him the title of Grail Knight. By rights, only those who drank the water of the Holy Grail could become Grail Knights, but Duanmu Huai was too wary, and the Holy Grail had already been taken away. Thus, the Lady of the Lake had no choice but to grant him Grace in another way, as a small token of appreciation.

Duanmu Huai did not particularly care. As long as it was not something he had to drink, he could relax a little.

But anything that entered his body required caution.

Then... it was time to act.

Duanmu Huai was not sure how many of the Sacred Gears she mentioned would be recognized by the system as Holy Relics, but no matter what, now that he had accepted the mission, there was no intention of giving up, was there?

If a Sacred Gear were recognized as a Holy Relic, that would be ideal. Then Duanmu Huai could raise the space station's level in the shortest possible time and activate Justice from the Heavens mode. By then, dealing with these people would be effortless.

In any case, after accepting the mission from the Lady of the Lake, Duanmu Huai had finally pinpointed the locations of the suspected Holy Relics.

And there was only one thing left for him to do.

Go get those things... back!