A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 867 - 608: Shadow of Darkness_2

"I just saw a black shadow rushing towards us; didn’t you see anything?"

"No..."

Ann and Lumiaire exchanged glances, then shook their heads, while Mary bit her lower lip.

"Miss Ann, please be careful."

"I know, I’ll leave it to you, since we can’t see it anyway..."

As she spoke, Ann stepped back several paces, hiding herself beside Lumiaire and quickly cast defense magic on both herself and Lumiaire. Meanwhile, Mary took a deep breath, her left hand holding a gun and her right hand pulling out the magic wand that tutor Lani had given her.

"Whoosh—————!"

Just then, a mind storm lightning suddenly erupted, hurtling towards Mary. It was so fast that an ordinary person would not have been able to react, and even Mary couldn’t—after all, her reflexes weren’t superhumanly good.

But that didn’t matter, for before the Golden Eyes, there were no secrets!

Before the storm lightning had even erupted, Mary had already seen where it would end!

As the lightning burst forth, Mary raised her magic wand and swung it forward. The raging storm lightning, as if a droplet falling into a pond, quietly vanished before her, then morphed into several blue light blades, racing back towards the direction from which the lightning had come!

This was precisely one of the spells Mary had learned from Lani—Kalya Repayment!

"Clang, clang, clang!!"

Soon, amidst the flash of swords, Mary’s reflected light blades were shattered. At the same time, the dark shadow flashed again, rushing towards Mary, its light blade with a dim glow aimed straight at her throat.

"Whoo————!"

The adversary’s movements and reaction speed were swift; had Mary not possessed the Golden Pupil, she might have been killed in the initial encounter. Fortunately, through the Golden Pupil, Mary quickly saw through the enemy’s trajectory, instinctively stepping back while gripping the magic wand in her right hand high, then light exploded, condensing and forming a great sword over a dozen meters long, sweeping across!

Kalya Great Sword!

"—————Huff!!"

This strike was something even the dark shadow could not ignore. It had to halt its advance, leaping backward swiftly, while at the same time, Mary raised her left hand, aiming forward and pulling the trigger.

Accompanied by the sound of gunfire, the dark shadow’s body trembled momentarily.

But for it, that was the end.

"Huff——— !!"

At that moment, the War Hammer whizzed from the side, striking the dark shadow’s body like a boulder, smashing it away. The next second, Duanmu Huai descended from above, a foot crushing down on the dark shadow. He clenched his fist and hammered down on his opponent with a punch that, like the Iron Hammer, smashed the adversary’s head and buried it into the floor.

"Bang!!!!"

The dark shadow’s body twitched like a dead fish, and then there was silence.

"Huff........."

Only then did Mary lower her magic wand and let out a sigh of relief.

"That’s great, Mr. Duanmu... I thought I wasn’t going to make it."

"You did well, Mary."

At that moment, a blood-stained Duanmu Huai rose to his feet, glanced at the body on the ground, and nodded at Mary.

"To fight against a Dark Chapel Warrior means your combat skills have certainly improved. It seems you have grown quite quickly."

"Ah... uh... thank you......"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s praise, Mary’s emotions were mixed. She knew that not long ago, she was just an ordinary young lady, spending her days having afternoon tea with friends at cafes, reading books at the library, discussing topics among girls... and now she was wielding a weapon, fighting on an aliens’ warship...

By the way, how’s the situation over there?

Mary snapped back to reality and looked toward the battlefield ahead, only to see it was a complete mess... Well, it looked like the fight was over.

"So it’s done, then."

At this moment, Ann stretched lazily while Lumiaire frowned slightly.

"To be honest, do you think what we’re doing is really okay? Just barging onto someone else’s warship and attacking an alien race we’ve never met before..."

"For the Tribunal, all alien species are targets for eradication."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand dismissively.

"Moreover, these guys are no good either."

Attacking the Star Spirits didn’t put much psychological pressure on Duanmu Huai. Although the Star Spirits seemed impressive at a glance, they were ultimately nothing special.

In the game, when humans first battled the Star Spirits, it was because the Star Spirits had attacked a human colonial planet. Later investigation revealed the situation to be as follows.

In fact, when humanity was colonizing those planets, the Star Spirits had already discovered them and, abiding by the principle of "protecting weaker races," they had observed humans.

Well, that was the Star Spirits’ claim, but no matter the principle, the reality was essentially surveillance, wasn’t it?

Would you be happy if someone monitored you under the pretense of protection?

And speaking of "protecting weaker races," there’s been no sign of the Star Spirits protecting humans at all. Although a part of the Star Spirits considered protecting humans after discovering the human colonies were contaminated by the Insect Race, the Supreme Council of the Star Spirits ultimately ordered a destructive strike on those polluted planets.

That’s exactly why the Tribunal adheres to the principle, "Non-humans surely harbor different intentions."

One must always remember that humanity’s fate must absolutely, absolutely, absolutely be in the hands of humans themselves. Whether the others are good or bad, humans must not naively entrust their fate to other races, because when push comes to shove, other races will definitely betray or sell out humans for the sake of their own species.

The Forerunner were the perfect example. Facing a pincer attack from the Flood Demon and the Forerunners, the allied Forerunner race ultimately surrendered, leading to the destruction of the Ancient Humans.

This proved that, regardless of the culture or civilization, good or bad, as long as they are not human, any covenant, even alliances, are untrustworthy.

The Tribunal would never choose to negotiate with any alien species, let alone ally with them. The Tribunal only trusts humans. If betrayed by humans, that’s a foreseeable loss, after all, it is one of human nature’s traits.

But to be betrayed by an alien species, that is plain stupidity—after all, the Tribunal should never trust aliens. The moment you trust an alien, you’ve made a foolish decision, which means that sooner or later, those aliens will become traitors that destroy humanity.

Especially when facing the Evil God, Duanmu Huai certainly didn’t believe that other alien races would sincerely die for humans under such pressure.

After all, they’re just aliens, the kind whose heart surely bears different intentions.

And for Duanmu Huai, any alien species, even though they’re not enemies of the Tribunal for now, will sooner or later become enemies of both the Tribunal and humans.

If they are to be killed sooner or later, might as well do it sooner than later, right?

However... there are alien bugs on this warship, Star Spirits, and even Dark Chapel Warriors?

This warship has issues.

With that thought, Duanmu Huai narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

"Lumiaire, access the warship’s information and see if you can find any useful intelligence."

"Yes."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s order, Lumiaire nodded, then reached out to press the main control console. After a moment, Lumiaire turned her head to look at Duanmu Huai.

"This warship was originally heading to Mother Star Aile to warn our kindred there that the Alien bugs have learned of their location."

"Oh?"

Duanmu Huai raised his eyebrows. This event also occurred in the game, but by the time the players got involved, Aile had already fallen, so at that time the planet was a three-way battle among players digging through garbage on Aile, Star Spirits trying to reclaim their homeland, and a vast number of alien bugs. As for the reason for Aile’s fall, players only knew it was due to an alien bug invasion.

"What about the specifics?"

"Unclear, but it seems to be related to that Dark Chapel Warrior. There’s no record of it."

"Are Aile’s coordinates in there?"

"They were destroyed, but I can restore them."

"Good."

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai’s smile curled up at the corners of his mouth.

In the game, the Star Spirits destroyed human colonial planets to stop the infection. So now that their home planet was being infected by the Insect Race, reciprocal action didn’t seem excessive.

"Notify the fleet, prepare to depart. We’ve got some fun ahead."