Capítulo 4: Chapter 2: Battle against the Demon_2
But what does any of this have to do with Duanmu Huai?
No matter how many there are, just kill them.
As Duanmu Huai finishes off the Demon in front of him, a system prompt appears.
[Task "Chaotic Intrusion" Completed]
[Task Evaluation: Quite Good]
[Reward: 1500 experience points, additional 1000 experience points, level increased to 8, Attribute Points +1, Specialization Points +1, Obtained "Maintenance Device—Skull Repair"]
[Follow-up Task "Guardian" Triggered]
[Task Introduction: You have defeated the followers of Chaos and rescued the sacrificial victim. But this is just the beginning. You can choose to take her away from here and send her back safely. Or you can leave her here, letting her fend for herself. Regardless, the decision is yours.]
Not bad at all.
Duanmu Huai is not surprised by the task completion. Virtually every task has similar settings where actions within the task, or even the actions of those inadvertently involved, can affect the task grading, which in turn affects the task reward.
This is one of the most appealing aspects of Star Ocean Online, where many players will painstakingly study each task to ensure they get the best rewards.
Clearly, saving the young girl is the reason for his high task rating. If Duanmu Huai had ignored her, his task rating certainly wouldn't have been this high.
As for the specialization points, Duanmu Huai invested them in "Attack Weak Points" to boost damage. This was his leveling plan from before his incarnation, where even though his character build was a cute girl, it still followed Duanmu Huai's aggressive melee style-- as evidenced by his ID.
As for the attribute point, Duanmu Huai again invested it in Strength, raising it to 11 points, and leveled up his Star Warrior combat training to LV4. After all, his charm was stuck, so he couldn't improve that, leaving him no other choice.
Having decided on this, Duanmu Huai turned to the ragged girl, who was peeking out nervously at him. When she saw him, she shrank back in fear, uncertain about what to do. Duanmu Huai didn't mind it; he simply strode towards her, glancing at her as he passed.
"Follow me if you want."
Having said that, Duanmu Huai left the polluted evil lands without hesitation. The girl hesitated for a moment before bravely following him. She couldn't possibly be left alone with the burnt corpses of the Evil God Cultists.
The Evil God Cultists would not choose a bustling city as their Demon summoning site. In fact, this was a scarcely trodden wilderness. Duanmu Huai obviously didn't know where this was, but it didn't matter as beside him stood a local.
The girl followed him and shared her story. She was Elisa, daughter of the Lord of this domain. Although this was a desolate territory on the Imperial frontier, it was home to them. They had been returning home from a merchant's feast in the city when they encountered the Evil God Cultists and were kidnapped. All her guards and her father were killed, leaving her as the only sacrificial victim… It was clear that without Duanmu Huai's arrival, she would have been sacrificed by the Evil God Cultists.
As Elisa told her story in tears, Duanmu Huai remained indifferent. Players have done similar tasks thousands of times. Although he sympathized with the young lady, there was nothing he could do except to move on.
The dead can't be brought back to life after all.
"Do you know where this is?"
"Of, of course!"
Upon hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Elisa nodded earnestly.
"This is the wilderness beyond the Imperial frontier…..."
"Do you know how to get out of here?"
"Yes."
"Then let's go."
Duanmu Huai decided to complete the follow-up task quickly. After all, finding the Holy Artifact was a complicated matter. Each planet's Holy Artifact has a different main storyline. Some are deeply buried in ruins, requiring players to investigate numerous clues, then pinpoint the location of the ruins before going in to find the artifact.
That was the easy part. Some artifacts were even worshipped as Divine Artifacts on the local planet, which complicated matters. Players either had to charge in and steal them, risking reputation loss, or follow the storyline and see if there were peaceful means to obtain it. Of course, this also depended on each planet's civilization level and status.
This "Novice Planet" was easy by comparison, its civilization at a medieval level, but the star civilizations in later stages would be a different story. This was precisely why players needed to build their fleets.
One person can't possibly go against a cosmic fleet.
It's not something that couldn't be accomplished in the later stages, though.
Even though Elisa was eager to leave as soon as possible, she herself was utterly exhausted, and with the day growing late. After escaping from the lair of the Evil God Cultist and temporarily eluding their pursuit, they could do nothing more than quickly find a place to rest, only being able to continue on their journey at the break of dawn.
Duanmu Huai didn't mind, after all, his Power Armor had also been damaged in the previous battle against the Brutal Demon and needed repairs.
Cowering by the fire, Elisa cautiously watched the tall dark figure in the distance. They had travelled together for so long, yet she had never seen this mysterious knight remove his helmet and reveal his true features.
"Excuse me…"
However, just as Elisa gathered the courage to strike up a conversation, she was taken aback to see the metal box behind the knight suddenly open. Following that, a white skull head flew out from it and was whizzing around the Black Knight, occasionally emitting a sinister glow from the dark eye socket, illuminating the Black Knight's armor.
Ah!———————!"
Upon seeing this bizarre object, Elisa jumped in fright.
What on earth is this thing?
Is it the skull of a deceased person? Could he be the legendary Death Knight?
Speaking of which, he has skull insignias on both his shoulders and waist… Isn't that a Necromancer's favorite symbol?
Did he save me because he wants to turn me into an undead creature?
Could the skull currently whirling around him also be a former victim of his?
Elisa looked at Duanmu Huai with anxiety, but she didn't know what to do. Even though she badly wanted to get up and leave, where she could go from here? If she ended up lost in the wilderness, she could possibly become food for the wolves.
But staying here... Is it really safe?
"What's wrong?"
Noticing Elisa's gaze, Duanmu Huai turned his head her way. He had just activated his Maintenance Device—Skull Repair and was fixing his Power Armor. As an Heirloom Equipment, this set of Power Armor not only increases its power alongside the player's level, but it can also obtain unique abilities through installing various plug-ins. Basically, this equipment could serve Duanmu Huai till max level without issues.
After all, it's the equipment used to help low level accounts navigate through their story mode...
"Umm…. Excuse me…"
Hearing Duanmu Huai speak, Elisa hesitated for a while before plucking up the courage to ask a question.
"Excuse me… Sir Knight, are you… a human being?"
"Of course, is there any problem?"
"If it's possible, I hope to see your face."
"...…"
Silence greeted her unusual request.
Hearing Elisa's request, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes. He then removed his helmet and looked at her.
"Is this okay?"
"......…. "
Elisa didn't say anything. She just stared blankly at Duanmu Huai and then... fell to the ground unconscious.
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai shrugged his shoulders and quietly put on his helmet.
Just as he thought it would end this way.
Capítulo 5: Chapter 3 Go to the Ruins_1
"I'm so sorry...!"
Following Duanmu Huai, Elisa was looking embarrassed.
"I didn't mean to do that; it was just that I was too tired and was startled..."
"Mm."
"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that... I wasn't saying you, Sir Knight, are ugly. It's just, well... it's just..."
Elisa stammered for quite a while before finally murmuring.
"Just... a tad scary."
"That's alright, I'm used to it."
Duanmu Huai was pretty laid-back about it. Much as Elisa said, he wasn't really ugly, but... exceedingly frightening.
He had a fierce and sinister aura like that of a serial killer in a Hollywood movie.
If you described him, he'd be utterly ferocious, leopard-headed, ring-eyed, and could play the part of Li Kui without makeup, instilling the fear of death with just one look at him.
After all these years, Duanmu Huai had grown accustomed to it.
It was tiring, so he figured, he might as well lay back and let it destroy him.
After all, what can you do when even a cosmetic clinic's doctor suggests you can only be made to look like the Incredible Hulk?
Just then, Duanmu Huai noticed a cloud of dust up ahead. He halted and looked forward. Soon, several heat signatures were marked.
Hm? What's this...?
Seeing the heat signatures before him, Duanmu Huai quirked an eyebrow then stood his ground, gesturing to Elisa.
"Stay behind me."
"Oh, yes."
Upon hearing Duanmu Huai's command, Elisa obediently nodded and hid behind him. Real-world people were significantly more obedient than NPCs. When doing NPC protection missions, those morons would just charge headlong into enemies, and some would even directly trigger alarms, forcing him into annihilation mode... Those idiots must be doing it on purpose, right?
As Duanmu Huai mulled over these dull thoughts, the sand and dust up ahead parted to reveal a group of horse-riding Evil God Cultists, who now stood before him. Gazing at the ferocious-looking Power Armor up ahead, the Cultists too were taken aback. However, when they spotted Elisa behind Duanmu Huai, they immediately adjusted their maneuvers.
"Kill him, seize the sacrifice!!"
The leading Cultist drew his weapon and issued the command. Following suit, the others raised their weapons, whipped their horses, and charged towards them!
"Hmph!"
In the face of the approaching enemies, Duanmu Huai merely grunted before striding forward. He raised his War Hammer high and forcefully swung it downward.
"Bang—————!!!"
The electrifying War Hammer smashed straight onto the head of the oncoming horse, knocking it to the ground. Its rider, an Evil God Cultist, flew out screaming as Duanmu Huai backhanded him and sent him hurtling away.
"Haah!!!"
At that moment, another Cultist came galloping from the side. With a loud yell, he swung his sword down onto Duanmu Huai's armor. Yet his attack simply bounced off the Power Armor, leaving no mark. Before the Cultist could react, Duanmu Huai, the colossal Steel Warrior, slammed into him, sending him and his horse flying out.
To Duanmu Huai, these Cultists posed no threat whatsoever. Compared to the Chaotic Demon, their attack was like a tickle. As a result, Duanmu Huai didn't even need to dodge. He stood still like a Steel Fortress and blocked the horsemen's onslaught, knocking them off their horses.
In the blink of an eye, the Cultists were defeated by Duanmu Huai, left in shambles and nearly obliterated.
What on earth was that thing?
Witnessing his own horsemen being downed one by one by Duanmu Huai, the squad leader turned as pale as a sheet. Although this guy had seemed formidable from the outside, he hadn't expected him to be this formidable. His own men weren't even a match for him, and their attacks couldn't even leave a scratch on that robust armor!!
Was this creature summoned through the ritual? Then why isn't it obeying them? And why was it together with the sacrifice? Why was it even protecting her? Had something gone wrong?
I must report this to the boss immediately!!
With that thought, the leader immediately turned tail and ran. But as soon as he turned around, everything in front of him went dark. When he instinctively looked up, a massive shadow was descending from the sky, crashing towards him.
"Boom!!!"
The ground trembled, and smoke billowed.
When Duanmu Huai emerged from the smoke, all that was left behind him were the bodies of the squad leader and his horse.
"They sure are quick to catch up."
Duanmu Huai discarded the body in his hand, glancing over at Elisa, who was pale as a sheet, and remained silent. He wasn't surprised by this development. Given that the Core Cabin could detect and teleport him near relevant mainline information, the girl must have something to do with the mainline mission of this planet, and perhaps even with the Holy Artifact.
Well, they're usually the main characters anyway... Often it's 'heaven bestows great tasks on those who can handle them,' forcing them to go through family destruction, disability, betrothal annulment, family extermination, and whatnot...
"We need to leave here."
Duanmu Huai said, and Elisa shook her head.
"It's too difficult... The nearest city is nearly ten days' journey away. We can't possibly evade the search parties of those Evil God Cultists..."
"That indeed is a problem."
Duanmu Huai nodded, and then an idea popped into his head.
"Right, are there any ruins or something of the sort around here?"
"... Ruins??"
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