Under the cold lights, the steel elevator descended rapidly. Duanmu Huai gripped his warhammer, staring straight ahead without saying a word.
"Ugh… this outfit is really uncomfortable…"
Anne, wearing a space combat suit, couldn't help but complain. Since they were heading into open space, she naturally couldn't wear her usual clothes. And because she didn't like wearing powered armor, Duanmu Huai had found her a set of Star Alliance N7 armor instead… of course, for Her Highness the princess, this armor wasn't exactly comfortable either.
"Stop complaining. You should be glad you've got something to wear. Besides, isn't Aegis wearing the same thing?"
"Uuu…"
Glancing at Aegis, who was wearing the same armor, Anne had nothing more to say. She could only helplessly change the subject.
"But, Sir Knight, is that desecrated relic really that terrifying?"
"You can think of it as the crystallization of a god's resentment before death. That should give you an idea of how scary it is."
"A god…"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's answer, Anne's expression became complicated.
"I never thought a dead god could still pose such a threat."
"It might be even harder to deal with than you imagine… are you ready?"
"Of course. I'm not going to give up that easily!"
At that moment, the elevator reached the bottom.
"Boom!"
With a heavy impact, the thick steel doors slowly opened, revealing a pitch-black corridor before the three of them. Seeing this, Duanmu Huai didn't hesitate at all. He swung his hand forward, and squads of dolls appeared out of thin air, weapons in hand, charging straight ahead.
"No matter how many times I see it, Sir Knight's summoning really is amazing."
Watching this, Anne couldn't help but sigh in admiration. As the princess of Manaria, Anne herself was best at summoning magic. In fact, if it were her, she could also summon earthen golems out of thin air using Manaria magic. It was just that she couldn't summon nearly as many as Duanmu Huai, nor were they as easy to control.
"When the situation is unclear, overwhelming numbers are the most convenient."
Duanmu Huai stared ahead and spoke calmly. This was also a tactic often used by Soul Walker players in the game. After all, when exploring hive cities or derelict space hulks, it was common to get halfway through only to be swarmed by ambush predators or similar monsters using human-wave tactics. In such situations, Tech-Priests and Soul Walkers could still hold their ground, but if it were Space Marines, there were only two possible outcomes—
Either they slaughter everything, or they get slaughtered.
There was no third possibility.
In comparison, Tech-Priests and Soul Walkers could usually fabricate or summon an army before exploring, performing a full-area carpet search. Even if those units were wiped out, it wasn't a loss—at least they'd know what they were dealing with, instead of charging in blind like Space Marines and leaving it to fate.
Of course, Space Marines being able to fight was genuinely impressive…
"Oh, it's starting."
Sure enough, just as Duanmu Huai expected, he soon noticed that the dolls he had summoned were rapidly entering the graveyard. Clearly, this meant they had already engaged the enemy.
However…
"What the hell?"
Looking at the completely blank information panel, Duanmu Huai frowned.
Normally, when a doll was attacked, there would at least be a message like [XXX dealt X damage to Doll]. At the very least, this would let Duanmu Huai figure out who his opponent was.
But now…
His dolls were being sent to the graveyard en masse, yet there was absolutely no enemy information displayed?
Did my dolls suddenly decide to queue up and jump off a building or something?
"Anne!"
Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai stopped hesitating and tightened his grip on the warhammer.
"Fire off something big!"
"Huh? In here?"
"That's right. Blast the whole place open for me!"
With the enemy situation unclear, advancing recklessly was extremely dangerous. But since he didn't want to crawl through rat tunnels, the only option was to dig the rats out entirely.
"Well, alright. Perfect timing—I learned a move from Miss Shizuka earlier…"
As she spoke, Anne raised the grimoire in her hand. Duanmu Huai then saw the book float directly into the air, with multiple magic circles forming around it. Anne took a deep breath, clenched her right fist, and punched forward!
"White Destruction Ray!!"
"———————!!!"
A blinding white beam erupted instantly, firing forward like a battleship's main cannon. Everything in its path was torn apart by the overwhelming force. Even thick rock layers and steel corridors failed to withstand Anne's ferocious strike. When Duanmu Huai raised his head again and looked ahead, the once dark and narrow corridor and ceiling were completely gone, replaced by a vast, fan-shaped open space.
The entire interior of the mining base had been utterly destroyed by that single attack. Duanmu Huai could even clearly see a semicircular breach stretching all the way to the far end…
Come to think of it…
"Isn't that a move from Magisa's world?"
Duanmu Huai remembered Shizuka mentioning that the strongest spell in her world was the White Destruction Ray, with the Black Destruction Ray above it—but that one couldn't be used unless it was a combined technique.
"Yeah. I was curious, so I chatted with Miss Shizuka about it. I thought the spell sounded interesting, so I recreated it based on her description and a bit of my own thinking. Looks like it works pretty well."
See that? That's what genius looks like.
Duanmu Huai remembered that Shizuka herself hadn't even learned this spell yet.
"———————!!!"
However, at that moment, a beast-like roar suddenly echoed out. Hearing it, Duanmu Huai immediately tightened his grip on the warhammer, while Aegis, sitting on his shoulder, raised her hand.
In the next instant, hundreds of dark figures burst out from all directions, surging through the opening Anne had blasted open and charging straight toward them!
"What are those things?!"
With the area illuminated, even Anne screamed in shock upon seeing their enemies. What appeared before them was a group of naked humanoid creatures. Their arms extended and curved like blades, their bodies twisted and monstrous. These mutants let out bestial roars as they rushed toward Duanmu Huai and the others.
"Perfect timing. Let's see what you're made of! Aegis, let's go! Anne, stay back and be careful!"
Shouting, Duanmu Huai clenched his warhammer and charged into the mutant horde like an out-of-control dump truck!
"Die!!"
With a furious roar, Duanmu Huai swung his hammer, smashing all the mutants in front of him away. The shockwave from the impact burst outward like ocean waves, blasting surrounding mutants into the walls. Those directly struck by the lightning-wreathed thunder hammer were instantly reduced to charred husks.
At the same time, Aegis moved. She raised her right hand and extended her fingers forward. Nearly invisible threads formed a spiderweb-like barrier in front of Aegis and Anne. With a forward sweep of Aegis's hand, the mutants lunging at them were instantly sliced into pieces by the razor-sharp filaments.
But then, something shocking happened.
"Hm? What the hell?"
Duanmu Huai smashed another hammer blow, clearing the area around him. But when he looked up, he froze—
The mutants he had sent flying, even those whose bodies were shattered, were standing back up again. Some had lost their heads. Some had gaping holes where their abdomens used to be. Some were broken clean in half.
And yet, even so, they showed no sign of stopping. As if they felt no pain or fear at all, like machines, they continued charging toward Duanmu Huai!
What the hell are these things?
This scene genuinely caught Duanmu Huai off guard, but he didn't dwell on it for long.
No matter what these things are, if they can't be killed—then I'll erase them with Destined Death!
"Haah———!"
With that thought, Duanmu Huai clasped his hands together and raised the warhammer high. Pitch-black flames of death quickly emerged. He roared and slammed the hammer down with all his strength. In the next instant, the hammer struck the ground, and black infernal flames erupted, sweeping through the entire space. The mutants engulfed by the black fire were instantly burned to nothing.
"Hmph. Tricks like this, and you dare show off—hm?!"
Seeing the mutant horde wiped out in one strike, Duanmu Huai lifted his warhammer and snorted coldly. But very quickly, his expression changed again.
Because Duanmu Huai realized…
He hadn't absorbed a single soul.
That was impossible.
As the God of Destruction, the souls of all beings he personally killed should enter his Realm of Oblivion, where they would burn and be converted into divine power. Yet here he had slaughtered hundreds of mutants, and not even a trace of a soul had been received.
What did that mean?
Could it be… that these mutated things were already dead?
Thinking this, Duanmu Huai was completely baffled. He couldn't understand what was going on at all.
What kind of power did that hidden desecrated relic actually possess? Clearly, the power of this desecrated relic was even stranger than he had imagined. How could something like this even exist?
It seemed he would have to go deeper and investigate properly.
With that thought, Duanmu Huai's expression hardened.
"We continue forward!"
(End of Chapter)