Before Duanmu Huai set out, it was necessary to first look back at the history of Star Sea Online.
According to the history of Star Sea Online, in the 20th millennium, human civilization reached its peak, an age also known as the Golden Age of Humanity. At that time humanity almost ruled the entire Milky Way, establishing colonies on countless planets.
Then the Machine Crisis broke out, and the Golden Age came to a complete end. Coupled with the schemes of the Chaos Evil Gods, the human empire rapidly withered. Under the interference of the Warp storms, humanity lost contact with the vast majority of its colonies. Even within the Solar System itself, darkness fell everywhere.
At this time, the Emperor stepped forward, pulling back the empire of man that was about to plunge into the abyss. After this, he created the Primarchs and, leading his armies, began the Great Crusade—reclaiming the colonies lost after the Golden Age in order to restore the glory of humanity.
However, Horus' rebellion dealt the empire yet another heavy blow. In the millennia that followed, the Imperium of Man clung to life by a thread, standing at the edge of destruction. Finally, the "If I can't live, then I'll drag you all to death with me" Black Hole Project was unleashed, sweeping across the galaxy.
Yet among all this, there was something very important:
Although many human colonies survived, the level of civilization across these colonies was extremely uneven.
In fact, after losing contact with the Imperium in the late Golden Age, many colonies outside the Solar System regressed into stagnation and decline. Over time, some even fell back to conditions barely better than primitive society. When the Emperor led his fleets to those colonies, he found many planets stuck in primitive or feudal stages. At that time the Imperium didn't pay much attention to these colonies; perhaps the Emperor thought to develop them later once the Great Crusade was complete—but the rebellion cut that plan short.
In short, even though the Imperium could send churches soaring into space, the truth was that many colonies were still living at backward levels of civilization.
After the Black Hole Project destroyed the Imperium, these colonies could only fend for themselves.
Thus, the development of many colonies diverged greatly—from worlds stuck in primitive society for tens of thousands of years, to interstellar civilizations capable of space exploration.
One curious phenomenon also emerged, perhaps due to residual effects of the Black Hole Project: many colonies treated their own homeworld as Terra, the birthplace of humanity. In fact, when players went exploring, they discovered not just one or two planets calling themselves Terra, but hundreds, even thousands.
Of course, not a single one was the real deal.
The player who first discovered this hidden advancement quest encountered just such a developing civilization. This civilization had already broken free from gravity and started exploring its star system. But in one of their planetary research bases, they screwed up and connected to the Warp.
The result… naturally, the base was destroyed, everyone died.
That player received a distress signal, and since he was the adventurous type, he dove into the base, fought through it seven times over, even into the Warp rift itself. He eventually completed the mission and gained an all-new advancement class.
Compared to other nightmarishly difficult advancement quests, this one wasn't so bad. The core was basically: "I don't know who I am, I don't know where I am, but I know I must slaughter everything in front of me." In other words—kill everything blocking your path.
The reason Duanmu Huai chose this quest was because of the special effect of that advancement class—
It could permanently kill demons.
Yes. Kill.
Normally, Warp demons cannot truly die. Even if defeated in the material world, they simply return to the Warp and reform. Like the demons Duanmu Huai had encountered earlier—no matter how fiercely he struck them down, they were only "banished" back into the Warp, not destroyed outright.
But this advancement class allowed players to kill demons completely—both in the real world and in the Warp, dead beyond recovery.
At the time this shocked countless players. Everyone knew that banishment versus permanent destruction—there was no contest which was stronger. Some professional teams even tried to recruit that player for tryouts.
And then… nothing came of it.
After learning he was invited by a pro team, that player's nose went straight up to the sky. He told his parents he wouldn't go to college, he would become a pro gamer. His parents then teamed up for a "professional mixed-discipline beating" that left him unable to live independently. In the end, forget tryouts—they confiscated his gaming equipment altogether. He was even paraded in the news as a negative example, warning high school seniors to study hard and not waste their futures on games.
And so, a potential powerhouse who could have slain demons utterly… was destroyed by his own parents.
Surely, this was a plot of the God of Trickery.
Well then—now it was finally time for his own turn.
Arriving before the drop pod, Duanmu Huai pulled back his thoughts. The radar had already detected Warp eruptions. He didn't know how long it had been going on, but judging by the current state, the base below was no doubt like those unlucky labs in countless sci-fi films—transformed into a land of death.
He would just have to go see for himself.
With this in mind, Duanmu Huai stepped into the drop pod. The restraining clamps came down, locking firmly onto the shoulders of his powered armor, holding him in place. The next moment—with a violent impact—the pod blasted free from the battleship's underside like a shell, roaring through the atmosphere, plunging straight toward the steel base below.
BOOM!!
The heavy, reinforced drop pod smashed directly through the base's dome, crashing down into the facility's interior. With a hiss of hydraulics, the hatch slowly opened. Duanmu Huai stepped out, warhammer in hand, scanning the surroundings with vigilance.
What greeted him was a dim steel corridor, splattered with blood and corpses everywhere. Red warning lights flashed, accompanied by a shrill alarm beeping.
Mm. Now this felt familiar.
Seeing the scene before him, Duanmu Huai relaxed somewhat. This was the kind of battlefield he was used to—particularly those space stations invaded by Chaos, or derelict void ships. Scenes like this were everywhere. Yes, this was the battlefield he knew best.
So then… which way to go next…?
As he pondered, Duanmu Huai began walking forward, recalling the forum post by that player. According to him, the Warp eruption in this base wasn't an accident. One of the scientists here had been corrupted by demons, willingly embracing their faith, and deliberately tore open the rift to the Warp. …Well, what could be said? Heretics like that were everywhere, and the only proper response was immediate execution.
"GAAAHHHHH!!"
As Duanmu Huai thought this, a humanoid creature suddenly lunged out from a corner. It still wore the armor of a human soldier, but its face was twisted and pale—like a moving corpse. Duanmu Huai didn't even spare it a glance. His left hand shot out, seized its skull, and slammed it mercilessly against the steel wall!
BANG!!
The thing's head burst instantly, splattering against the wall.
"As expected—already corrupted by the Warp."
Duanmu Huai cast a cold glance at the bloody corpse, snorted, and kept walking forward. Normally, due to the suppression of realspace, Warp demons couldn't easily manifest bodies here. At the early stages of a Warp outbreak, most demons possessed living beings instead, twisting their souls and flesh into monsters for battle.
Of course, such monsters weren't very powerful. Hardly a threat—at least, not to an Inquisitor.
"ROOAAARRR!!"
At that moment, with a beast-like roar, more twisted soldiers stumbled out ahead, weapons in hand, firing wildly like crazed lunatics.
BANG! BANG BANG!!
Gunfire rattled, but the bullets didn't even scratch Duanmu Huai's armor. He quickened his pace, charging straight into their barrage, then hefted his warhammer and swung with brutal force.
BOOM!!
The hammer's sweep blasted all three soldiers into the air like ragdolls, sending them crashing into the walls with bone-crushing force. They dropped lifelessly to the floor.
But it wasn't over yet.
"Heheheh!!"
A streak of crimson lightning split the air. A small, twisted monster appeared from nowhere, cackling as it leapt at him. Duanmu Huai didn't even turn his head—he merely stepped back. The tiny creature slammed face-first into his armored backplate, pinned between him and the wall. Duanmu Huai gave a light shove backward—
CRACK.
The monster was flattened like a bug, twitching no more.
"These demons don't seem very strong."
He turned, glancing at the spot where the creature had already disintegrated into ash and vanished. His brow furrowed. From his experience, these demons were far too weak. The player's post hadn't mentioned their strength, but if this was all, it hardly qualified as a hidden advancement quest.
Unless… this was only the outer layer of demons?
Duanmu Huai pushed the thought aside and looked ahead.
Forget it. Keep moving forward, and he would find out.
(End of Chapter)