It had to be said that this blasphemous relic moved extremely fast.
When Duanmu Huai took the elevator and rushed back to the Steel Hammer once more, everything before his eyes had already completely changed. The raw material warehouse that had looked calm and orderly when he left was now filled everywhere with blood, mangled limbs, and those similarly mutated mutants.
"Oooooo!!!"
Before the elevator had even fully stopped, accompanied by a howl, a mutant suddenly wrenched open the elevator doors, shouting as it swung its two sharp claws straight at Duanmu Huai. Duanmu Huai directly stretched out both hands, grabbed the mutant's flailing claws, and twisted hard, forcibly tearing the claws straight off its body. Then Duanmu Huai clenched the severed claws and stabbed forward at the mutant in front of him!
The claws easily pierced through the mutant's body, blasting it together with the mutant behind it straight backward, pinning them firmly to the wall.
Duanmu Huai then strode out of the elevator, coldly staring at the army of mutants before him. He opened his mouth and roared.
"Get the hell out—————!!!"
With Duanmu Huai's roar, the next instant, an incomparable aura of fear filled with destruction and death exploded outward from him as the center, enveloping the entire ship in just a moment. Even Anne, standing behind him, felt as if her heart had been smashed hard by a hammer when she heard Duanmu Huai's roar, her vision spinning and her head reeling. Not only that, in Anne's eyes, Duanmu Huai's figure gradually grew larger. His already towering body became even more ferocious and terrifying, like a mass of writhing, clawing monstrosity trying to tear her apart!
Not just Anne—at this moment, every living person on the ship felt an overwhelming suffocating sensation, as if they had been thrown into the deep sea and were about to drown!
Fortunately, Duanmu Huai's fear aura was quickly retracted, and Anne barely managed to regain her senses. After spending so much time by Duanmu Huai's side, her resistance had increased as well.
"Huff...… Sir Knight, that move of yours is really getting scarier and scarier."
Patting her chest, Anne stepped out of the elevator and uneasily looked around.
"Those monsters...… are they dead?"
"They were dead to begin with."
Duanmu Huai shook his head, then looked at Anne.
"You and Olgis go back to the bridge first. I'm afraid Guleya and Rani alone won't be able to hold it."
"Sir Knight, you're going to look for that blasphemous relic by yourself?"
"This isn't the surface. If you get ambushed, it'll be troublesome. You go back to the bridge first and stabilize the core area as much as possible. Leave the rest to me."
Duanmu Huai wasn't worried about Rani, but he was more concerned about Guleya. Guleya's personality was relatively gentle, and from what they had seen so far, this blasphemous relic clearly specialized in mental attacks. Duanmu Huai himself had his fear aura and could essentially ignore such mental assaults, but Guleya was another matter.
So, following the usual sisterly bonds and relationship logic of Japanese anime and games, having Anne go back to watch over her was the safer choice.
"Alright."
Anne didn't object. On one hand, she really was worried about Guleya. On the other hand, she also understood her own shortcomings—being a mage, she excelled at supporting from the rear and not at charging head-on. These monsters weren't very strong, but they were fast, not to mention the narrow corridors inside the ship. If she got ambushed from behind by a monster...… she wouldn't even have the strength to fight back.
Thus, Anne nodded, took Olgis with her, and hurried off toward the bridge. Duanmu Huai, meanwhile, put away his warhammer and drew the chainsword from behind him.
"Buzz—————!!"
Accompanied by the violent roar of spinning teeth, feeling the vibration transmitted through the weapon in his hand, Duanmu Huai curled his lips into a savage grin.
His favorite moment had arrived!
"Guleya!!!"
When Anne and Olgis hurried back to the bridge, they found it already in complete disarray. More than half of the crew who had been responsible for operating the ship lay on the floor. Not far away, mutant limbs were scattered everywhere. Guleya, covered in blood, stood there, glaring fiercely ahead.
Hearing Anne's voice and seeing her and Olgis return, Guleya finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Anne, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. What about you, Guleya? Are you hurt?"
"No, but these things are really hard to deal with...… Rani and I are having trouble holding them back..."
As she said this, Guleya shook her head helplessly. At first, they had tried killing the monsters by striking vital points, but they soon discovered that the creatures completely ignored such attacks. Even piercing their heads or hearts couldn't kill them outright. Left with no choice, Guleya had to fight using dragon shouts and dragon breath, while Rani directly brought out the Moonlight Greatsword...… all in all, although it was dangerous, they managed to protect the bridge.
"By the way, where's Sir Knight?"
"He went alone to find that blasphemous relic..."
"Is that okay? Those monsters seem really hard to deal with..."
"I think...… it should be fine, right?"
In fact, Duanmu Huai was very much fine right now.
Or rather, he was enjoying himself immensely.
"Buzz—————!!!!"
The rapidly spinning chainsword mercilessly tore through the body of the mutant before him, splitting it cleanly in half. Duanmu Huai then strode forward and brought his butcher's blade down on another mutant.
This was the feeling!
Feeling the sensation transmitted through his hands—the tearing of flesh, the severing of bone—Duanmu Huai's eyes burned ever hotter. This was one of the reasons he loved doing things personally. This feeling of destroying with one's own hands, of slaughter, of ending all life, devouring souls, burning them away, and returning everything to nothingness! In this moment, he felt like the supreme existence of the world itself, with the existence or annihilation of all things resting on a single thought!!
"Raaaahhhhh!!!"
Just as Duanmu Huai burst through yet another door, a towering mutant suddenly lunged out from the side toward him. Duanmu Huai dipped his shoulder, narrowly dodging the blade that grazed past his ear, then swung his sword backhanded, severing both of the mutant's legs and sending it crashing to the ground.
However, the monster clearly had no intention of giving up. Its legless body suddenly leaped forward like a fish, while its two foreclaws transformed into blades that stabbed toward Duanmu Huai's head. Duanmu Huai merely shifted his body to dodge the attack, then circled halfway around to the mutant's rear, raised his heavy boot, and stomped down hard!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Under Duanmu Huai's merciless trampling, the mutant in front of him turned into a pile of mangled flesh in the blink of an eye. He then turned around and continued forward.
To Duanmu Huai, the mutants encountered along the way posed no real obstacle. Moreover, he could clearly sense that at the rear of the ship, there truly was a strange reaction of divine power. That was only natural—by now, Duanmu Huai's own aura already enveloped the entire warship, and each god's aura was unique and exclusive. It was like how everyone ate different food, so the smell of the farts they let out was different.
Yeah...… probably.
At least for now, Duanmu Huai could more or less guess the power traits of this blasphemous relic and its god.
It was probably focused on mental control and capable of controlling completely dead lifeforms...… hmm, the God of Decay definitely wouldn't get along with it, but the Prince of Excess might actually like this thing quite a bit.
"Click...…"
Just as Duanmu Huai entered a corridor, a heavy steel door suddenly opened, and Anne's figure appeared from within. At this moment, Anne was covered in blood and severely injured.
She raised her head and looked at Duanmu Huai.
"Ah, Sir Knight, something terrible has happened. Guleya...… Guleya suddenly attacked us, I..."
Before Anne could finish speaking, Duanmu Huai swung his sword without the slightest hesitation. The spinning chainsaw effortlessly cut straight through Anne's slender waist, slicing her cleanly in half. The girl maintained a posture of seeking help as her upper body spun through the air and crashed to the ground. Even so, she lifted her head in shock and looked at Duanmu Huai, raising both hands as if trying to say something to him.
At that moment, however, Duanmu Huai's heavy boot came down mercilessly.
"Bang!"
The next instant, the girl's body trembled slightly, then turned into an illusion and vanished. In its place lay the remains of a mutant.
"Trying to fool me with an illusion of this level is really underestimating me."
Duanmu Huai's movements never paused for even a fraction of a second. His heart was utterly unmoved, and he even felt a bit like laughing. From this, it was clear that a blasphemous relic was still just a blasphemous relic. Although it possessed some self-awareness, its intelligence was extremely limited, probably on the level of an artificial idiot. Even though he did quite like Anne, that didn't mean he would lose all rationality just because he saw a woman.
What happened next only confirmed this even more.
Aside from Anne, one girl after another whom he knew appeared before him, using all kinds of excuses in an attempt to stop his advance.
What left Duanmu Huai most speechless was that Lelia even showed up among them. This brain-dead blasphemous relic probably had no idea why Lelia was on good terms with him and just randomly pulled someone out of his memories to imitate.
Then what if he changed it up a bit? For example, something he was thinking about right now...…
"Save me...!"
Sure enough, the moment the thought crossed Duanmu Huai's mind, a Pleasant Goat turned the corner and ran toward him, only to be immediately split in half by Duanmu Huai's sword.
Ah, that felt good. He had accomplished something even Grey Wolf hadn't managed to do. Truly satisfying.
From this alone, it was obvious that this blasphemous relic really was just an artificial idiot.
"Clang!"
Just as Duanmu Huai finished slaughtering his way through another corridor and entered a lounge, he suddenly saw a locker beside him shake. Duanmu Huai turned his head and looked toward the locker, then opened the door. Inside, a cute little girl he had never seen before was curled up, staring at him uneasily.
"Y-you, who are you? Big brother...… where are Daddy...… Mommy? What on earth happened here?"
The little girl looked at Duanmu Huai with tear-filled eyes. Her fragile appearance would have softened even the hardest of men, and Duanmu Huai was no exception. He lowered his weapon, reached out, and gently picked the girl up, then...… suddenly tightened his fingers and tore her apart!
"Shua———!!"
Almost instantly, several tentacle-like appendages burst out from the girl's body, grabbing toward Duanmu Huai's face. However, they only made it halfway before collapsing limply. The cute little girl in Duanmu Huai's hands transformed into a strange, ugly, infant-like mutant.
"Hmph, that's all?"
Duanmu Huai snorted coldly as he looked at the monster torn in half in his hands and tossed it aside.
Come on, seeing my face and not crying?
That was no ordinary kid anymore. It definitely deserved a heavy punch.
(end of chapter)