Because of Duanmu Huai's orders, the entire ship had been sealed off. As a result, he could only advance step by step toward another raw material warehouse at the rear of the ship. As Duanmu Huai moved forward, he could clearly feel that the divine aura had begun to tremble noticeably. This was perfectly normal. Even if this blasphemous relic was nothing more than an artificial idiot, it could still sense the divine aura emanating from Duanmu Huai.
If it were a living god, that would be one thing. But right now, it was nothing more than a relic. What ability could it possibly have to contend with a true god?
However, it was obvious...… it had no intention of surrendering just like that.
At this moment, inside the raw material warehouse located at the rear of the Steel Hammer, amid countless piles of stacked ore, a sculpture shaped like a looping, interwoven DNA helix was emitting a dim red glow. Surrounding it were thousands upon thousands of mutated creatures, clustered around it as if trying to draw closer, yet unable to approach.
Soon after, the strange sculpture began to tremble. Then, a circular, bizarre blood-red sphere emerged from within it.
In the very next instant, the entire sculpture erupted with blazing red light!
"————————!!!"
Immediately afterward, the mutants that had originally been kept outside the sculpture were suddenly yanked into the air as if attracted by a magnet, flying straight toward the strange sculpture! In the blink of an eye, the exterior of the sculpture was completely covered by those bizarre mutants. Not only that, from ventilation ducts and passageways all around, countless mutants flew out as well, like trash being sucked into a vacuum cleaner, surging toward the grotesque sculpture!
"Rumble rumble rumble...!"
Such a massive disturbance naturally could not escape Duanmu Huai's notice. He stopped in his tracks and cautiously stared ahead. Just moments ago, Duanmu Huai had suddenly felt that the divine aura had grown much stronger, and the surrounding walls and corridors had begun to shake violently, as if in an earthquake———though this wasn't the surface, so an earthquake was impossible.
Which meant that thing was going all out?
That was only natural. If it didn't, it would be too late.
"Sir Knight!"
At this moment, Anne's voice suddenly surfaced in Duanmu Huai's mind.
"What's going on? The captain says the rear of the ship has already been completely damaged..."
"It's nothing. Just a cornered dog jumping the wall. Just wait there!"
"Boom!!"
However, before Duanmu Huai could finish speaking, the wall and ceiling beside him suddenly collapsed. Immediately afterward, a tentacle thicker than Duanmu Huai himself swept horizontally toward him!
"In your dreams!"
Duanmu Huai naturally wasn't about to let it succeed. With an angry roar, the chainsword in his hand was instantly wrapped in pitch-black flames. Then Duanmu Huai gripped the rapidly spinning chainsword and swung it straight at the tentacle. The berserk chainsword cut through the tentacle as easily as butter. A shrill scream rang out, and in the next instant, the severed limb recoiled as if electrocuted. Duanmu Huai tightened his grip on the chainsword and raised his head, staring coldly ahead.
"—————————"
At this point, the entire space had fallen into deathly silence. That tentacle strike had punched straight through the hull of the Steel Hammer, and gravity and atmosphere vanished along with it. The immense pressure swept away the debris floating in the air. If it were an ordinary human, even if that strike hadn't killed them outright, they would have been flung into the vast sea of stars, or simply died from suffocation and hypothermia.
But now, Duanmu Huai stood firmly on the shattered steel corridor, chainsword clenched tightly in his hand, coldly gazing forward.
After the floating debris had been sucked out into space, Duanmu Huai finally saw the true form of the monster that had attacked him.
Hmm...… its shape was simple, really. To put it plainly, it looked like one of those massive jellyfish from the deep sea: a hemispherical head on top, with several enormous tentacles hanging below. And Duanmu Huai immediately saw that the jellyfish-like body and its tentacles were formed from countless mutants fused together!
"Well damn, so this is Super Fusion, huh."
Duanmu Huai casually spun his sword.
"Then let me give you a Fusion Release!"
After saying that, the jet pack on Duanmu Huai's back erupted, propelling him like a cannonball straight toward the monster before him!
"—————————!!"
Seeing Duanmu Huai charge at it, the monster hurriedly swung its massive tentacles, wrapping toward Duanmu Huai from all directions in an attempt to stop his advance. However, faced with these thick and dangerous tentacles, Duanmu Huai didn't care in the slightest. A flash of blade-light appeared, and the tentacles lunging at him were instantly severed into pieces. Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai himself didn't slow down at all, continuing to rush forward like a cannonball, slamming directly into the shell of the monster—formed from countless fused mutants—that resembled the surface of the moon!
"Boom———!!"
With that violent impact, the hard outer shell was blown open with a massive crater. But this was far from over. From all around the crater, tens of thousands of mutants burst out like a raging flood, screaming and flailing their arms as they tried to completely engulf Duanmu Huai!
But for Duanmu Huai, this level of threat was nothing more than child's play!
He didn't even glance at the mutant horde rushing toward him, intent on devouring him. Instead, he gripped the hilt with both hands, raised the chainsword high overhead, and stabbed it forcefully into the ground!
"Buzz—————!!!"
The shell composed of countless mutants could certainly be called hard, but the spinning chainsaw teeth were like a beast's fangs, digging straight through it with ease.
Strictly speaking, a power sword was more effective than a chainsword, but Duanmu Huai personally preferred the chainsword. Setting aside raw lethality, the pain it inflicted was on a completely different level. A power sword chopped something off cleanly, and that was that. But a chainsword was different—those crazily spinning, fang-like teeth chewing through flesh were the mechanical equivalent of lingchi execution. The pain and shock it delivered were things no power sword could match.
Just like right now—for this monster, Duanmu Huai was effectively sawing into its head with a chainsaw. That kind of pain alone was enough to drive it mad!!
It let out another furious roar, and the tentacles that had been severed earlier regenerated once more. It whipped them upward, smashing toward the top of its own head. But by then, Duanmu Huai had already cut open its skull and drove the blade straight down!
"Boom!!!"
Pitch-black flames erupted from the breach like oil gushing from a well, and the spreading sea of fire mercilessly swallowed the surrounding mutant horde. At the same time, the fissure below expanded under the burning black flames, rapidly growing from a tiny point to cover the monster's entire body.
Then...… it completely exploded.
"———————"
In a single instant, the jellyfish-headed monster was blown apart. The black flames became fireworks, mercilessly consuming every fragment. And as those fragments formed from fused mutants were burned away, Duanmu Huai finally found his true target.
It was a pitch-black, spiral-shaped, bizarre spire. It was emitting a faint glow as it slowly fell toward the depths of space.
Trying to run?
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai's gaze sank. He stretched out his hand toward the spiral spire and yanked hard!
The spiral spire that had been fleeing outward was instantly dragged back. Now it drifted helplessly through space, like a prisoner pushed out to the execution ground, waiting for the executioner's blade to fall.
And Duanmu Huai did not disappoint it.
With a single swift strike, he shattered the spiral spire completely, and it vanished entirely within the pitch-black flames.
Then, the scene before Duanmu Huai's eyes wavered. When he opened them again, he found himself standing on the completely empty bridge.
At the same time, lines of system notifications appeared before him.
[Purification Mission Complete]
[Obtained Blasphemous Relic—Divine Seal]
[Obtained Soul Card "Blasphemous Sphere (Legendary)"]
[Obtained Planet-Cracking Battleship Manufacturing Blueprint]
[Blasphemous Sphere (Legendary)]
[Countdown: 25]
[Whenever followers on either side of the battlefield are destroyed, convert the destroyed followers into Corpse Mutants]
[Finale: Summon a Blasphemous Avatar—Blood Moon—to the battlefield]
[Devour filth, purify it. Let blasphemy and depravity merge into one, and step into the depths of taboo. Humanity, in order to surpass humanity, created something that transcends humanity]
[Blasphemous Avatar—Blood Moon (Legendary)]
[Cost: 8]
[Attack: 1]
[Defense: 1]
[(Finisher) (Aggregation) When the Blood Moon appears, consume the number of Corpse Mutants on the field to gain attack and defense bonuses]
[Corpse Mutant (Bronze)]
[Cost: 2]
[Attack: 2]
[Defense: 2]
"Oh ho, this is interesting!"
Looking at the effects of the Soul Cards before him, Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up. After seeing these effects, he finally understood the operational logic of this blasphemous relic. Simply put, it first used mental corruption to drive people mad, causing them to slaughter each other. The resulting corpses were then used by the blasphemous relic to create monsters called Corpse Mutants. Once the number of Corpse Mutants reached a certain threshold, it would activate Aggregation, gathering all of them together and transforming them into a massive monster called the Blood Moon...… hmm, it seemed that what he had just killed could only be considered an incomplete form.
Which made sense. After all...… if it was called a Blood Moon, it should at least be as big as the moon, and what Duanmu Huai had destroyed was clearly only the size of a small asteroid.
This was good stuff!
Seeing this card, Duanmu Huai was extremely excited. Leaving everything else aside, using this against the Tyranids or Chaos armies would be a perfect match. When the two sides went to war, no matter how many died, as long as Duanmu Huai activated [Blasphemous Sphere] and converted all those corpses into Corpse Mutants, then aggregated them into a Blood Moon, it would not only boost his own combat power but also weaken the enemy's strength! That would prevent the corpses from being devoured by the bugs or carried off by Grandfather, wouldn't it?
Moreover, since these things were already dead to begin with, they naturally wouldn't be affected by the Deceiver or the Prince of Excess!
As for the blasphemous relic itself...
Duanmu Huai thought about it for a moment.
Better to just convert it directly. Keeping this thing around would only be a disaster.
(end of chapter)