A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 265: Chapter 213 – All Fears Stem from Insufficient Firepower_1

Upon the moment that he saw Marikas change form, Duanmu Huai could feel a powerful fear welling inside him.

It was a fear that he could not control, a fear that came from the core. It was not like his own Fearful Aura ability, systematically compelling an individual to feel terror. This was the despairing dread of confronting the end of all life —— the inevitable conclusion of everything

The fear of death.@@novelbin@@

Indeed, it’s the power of the Rune of Death!

Once he noticed this, Duanmu Haui, initially shocked, then rejoiced. He’s considered a Demon God now, practically a Demigod in the Main Universe. Even a being of such elevated status as himself is experiencing this fear. This means the “Predetermined Death” truly has the power to kill a deity!

Knowing just this is more than enough for Duanmu Huai.

Just one small problem…

How should he go about fighting it?

Clasping the Thunder Warhammer in his hands, Duanmu Huai stared at the Black Dagger-wielding Marikas in front of him, swallowing hard. He now knew for sure that this creature could kill deities, so there’s a chance it could kill him too. He currently had a “rebirth” talent but the problem is, the power of death doesn’t necessarily obey his expectations.

Like some berserker who could revive seventeen times but still, it died with just one blow from the Death Eye.

What if Predetermined Death also has this kind of power? Duanmu Huai might really die here.

“Huff!!”

Marikas didn’t seem to want to be wasting any breath on him. He jumped into the air, his great sword swinging violently, then a red-black Sword Qi roared downward. It darted straight toward Duanmu Huai, who had no choice but to lift his Thunder Warhammer to defend himself.

“Boom!!”

The Sword Qi struck Duanmu Huai, a strange power coursing into his body with it. The power was like an icy flame, rapidly pulsing in his body, and simultaneously, a system notification appeared before Duanmu Huai.

[Warning: Suffered an instant kill attack——successfully resisted, gained the curse——Predetermined Death]

[Predetermined Death: The Hunting God’s flame brings you pain and curse, all attributes reduced by 5% (stackable)]

What the hell?!

The sight of the notification nearly scared Duanmu Huai to death.

Is this a joke? All attributes are reduced by 5%, and it’s stackable? If I get hit a few more times, would my stats drop into negatives?

What’s the point in fighting if I’m already starting with negative twenty points!!

Duanmu Huai, realizing his disadvantaged position, quickly retreated, summoning tens of Puppets as a blockade. His attributes had reduced by 5%, even his maximum health reduced by 5%! If he took a few more hits he would run out of health!

No wonder Gedwin was killed by the Black Dagger Assassins. This debuff is unbearable for anyone! Duanmu Huai had heard that Gedwin was swarmed by several Black Dagger Assassins – a few rounds of that and Gedwin’s attributes would’ve been sliced down to the bare minimum.

By the way, only Duanmu Huai’s Charm’s base-value of 1 remained robust. It seems there is an advantage in having attribute values locked.

If it was more than 1 it would’ve been even better.

No more fooling around!

Duanmu Huai did not want to follow in Gedwin’s footsteps and become yet another victim of Predetermined Death. He hence resolved to not engage Marikas directly but to fall back to his true skills as a Soul Walker—— summoning.

First, he summoned[Puppets]to set the scene, then activated[Power of Dragonization], moving the[Puppets] from his hand out of play, transforming all[Puppets]on the field into [Giant Dragons]. Attack!!

In the blink of an eye, several Giant Dragons appeared before Duanmu Huai, who roared and opened their mouths wide to breathe scorching flames at Marikas. However, Marikas was oddly nimble and darted past the dragon’s breath without breaking a sweat. He lunged into the dragons, instantly unleashing countless Sword Qi in all directions, hacking through several dragons in an instant.

Damn it, this thing is really hard to handle!

Upon witnessing this, Duanmu Huai gasped in horror. Marikas attacked quickly, covered a large area, and could kill instantly. This made normal card summons useless. Now, all he could do was summon more and more cards to fight against him.

Biding his time while the dragons were getting killed, Duanmu Huai quickly activated the[Mobile Armor], giving himself a protective shield——no matter what, he must not be killed by one single attack!

Frankly, Duanmu Huai considered Marikas as a formidable enemy. He himself had minimal agility and reaction time, and always relied on strength, spell resistance, and rushing in without a care. This strategy would usually work with most opponents, but against those like Marikas with its own agility and evasive abilities, it would be a completely different scenario. What’s worse, she could also curse him, if she were to attack for a few rounds, Duanmu Huai could find himself killed instantly!

As a result, Duanmu Huai told Bambi and the others to move back, while he himself put some distance between him and Marikas, quickly summoning another wave of Puppets, transforming them into Sacred Knights. He also swiftly summoned a batch of Creatures and Mechanical Soldiers to charge at Marikas.

But…

Damn it, who exactly is the boss here?!

Looking at Marikas, holding a black great sword, rampaging through his summoned minions, Duanmu Huai was infuriated. It reminded him of so many anime boss fights where the boss would summon a bunch of minions to fight the hero, but then the hero would harvest his minor enemies progressively, then execute the boss…

How does it look like I’m the Boss here??

It doesn’t matter, let me be the Boss then!

If worst comes to worst, I have only this trick left!

As Duanmu Huai had anticipated, none of his summoned beings —— be it Dragons, Creatures, Mechanical Soldiers, or even Sacred Knights —— were a match for Marikas. Those who lacked defense were sliced through, while those who were slow to react were avoided. Duanmu Huai had tried using magic against him, but Marikas was faster than the spell could cast itself!

Truly like a dog!!

“Return the fragment, you thief!!”

At this moment, Marikas had already killed Duanmu Huai’s summoned creature, and it roared as it raised its sword, charging straight at Duanmu Huai.

However, facing Marikas’ black sword, Duanmu Huai did not dodge, he only stood still, reciting the standard operating procedure of the Judge in his mind.

1. Start reciting the Weapon Hymn.

2. Face the enemy, place your arms behind your back.

3. Pray to The Emperor, let your love and passion guide your righteous punishment.

4. Press the startup device.

5. Count to 3.

6. Throw it forward.

7. Look for a cover.

8. Pray for redemption.

“Splut!!!”

Marikas’ black sword ran through Mobile Armor, quickly, black-red flames rushed towards Duanmu Huai. At the same time, an Armed Enhancement once again appeared above Duanmu Huai’s head, he raised his hands, revealing a ferocious smile, looking at Marikas before him.

“Surprise! Mother Fuxk!!”

The next moment Duanmu Huai, under Marikas’s gaze full of doubt and surprise, pressed the button in his hand vigorously.

“—————————”

Bright light filled the world at this moment, even the originally blood-red ground turned into a pale color. The mushroom cloud surged into the sky, reaching up into the clouds. Hot flames and explosion bloomed around, engulfing everything in an instant. The deafening sound, even bursting the heart, emerged, accompanied by waves scattering around.

The dark temple could not withstand such a violent impact and shattered like jenga. Everything was engulfed by the violent shock wave. If it weren’t for Bambi and Melfy fleeing far enough, they probably wouldn’t be able to dodge such a terrifying destructive attack.

“Cough…cough…”

Duanmu Huai slowly got up, he was likewise in bad shape, half of his Power Armor shattered under the violent bombardment. Luckily, the durability of the heirloom-quality equipment and Duanmu Huai’s own physical attribute helped him survive the blow.

But that dog wasn’t so lucky.

“MMP… bastard, weren’t you very good at running?”

Looking at Marikas, who fell not far from him, covered in charred marks, Duanmu Huai spat out a mouthful of blood and yelled at him.

Yes, this is the ultimate move every MT player has against agility users.

Explode in place.

No matter how awesome you are, if I blow up the entire map, where can you run to?

I’m thick-skinned and can definitely withstand it, but whether you can or not is another matter!

The so-called battle is to attack the enemy’s weakness with our strengths, with such a thick health bar and high defense, isn’t it a waste not to suicide a bomb?

The weapon Duanmu Huai used is an imperial rocket bomb, originally this should be launched with a missile launcher, but players like Duanmu Huai don’t really like to use it because of low agility and slow response, not high accuracy. Once the shell is fired, people probably have already run away.

So someone got an idea from ‘Radiation’.

Those mutants can hug miniaturized nuclear bombs to play suicidal attacks, why can’t we?

So soon this move became the staple of many melee players. It doesn’t matter if you can’t hit, I’ll rush over holding the bomb, and take you to death together – oh, sorry, my armor is thicker than yours, I have more health, and my defense is higher, I won’t die hahaha!

Apparently, this guy is just as unlucky.

Duanmu Huai grabbed his war hammer and walked step by step to Marikas’ side, the latter was down and his black sword was stuck in the ground—— it seemed that Marikas wanted to reclaim his great-sword to protect himself in the last moment, unfortunately, the blast radius of this thing is not small, everything within a radius of one kilometer centered on Duanmu Huai was flattened by the explosion. It was already lucky for Marikas to have a body left.

Duanmu Huai silently raised his war hammer and smashed it down hard on Marikas’ head.

“Splut!!!”

With a soft sound, Marikas’s head was crushed into mince by Duanmu Huai. In front of Duanmu Huai, Marikas’ body gradually decomposed into thick black smoke, the smoke incessantly swirling, congealed together, rising up. Then, a rune appeared before Duanmu Huai.

It looked like a curved cross, it was all black, encased in mysterious bright red flames.

Is this the Rune of Death?