A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 2650: Chapter 1784: This Hero Wants to Collaborate (Ben’s Taste Is Super Mild)

"How do you plan to deal with the Demon King?"

Although according to the coordinates, Lisetta successfully teleported Duanmu Huai to the Demon King Territory, she couldn’t teleport him directly in front of the Demon King Palace because Lisetta discovered that the Demon King was cautious enough to set up an Anti-Magic Domain in his castle, which meant all magic was rendered useless.

Moreover, the castle was situated atop a high mountain, with only one path leading to it, and the entire castle was heavily guarded, with presumably no less than ten thousand demons defending it. Even though Lisetta thought Duanmu Huai might be able to fight his way through directly, she still felt a bit uneasy. After all... Duanmu Huai was just one person, whereas there were many on the opposing side.

Additionally, there was a city at the foot of the mountain, seemingly inhabited by many demons, at least from the direction Lisetta could see. This city’s scale was comparable to the earlier Royal City and guarded the only road leading up to the mountaintop castle. In other words, if one wished to take this road up the mountain, they would have to pass through the city.

The tens of thousands of demons within were no pushovers.

But if one didn’t take this road, then they would have to climb the steep mountain walls surrounding it.

This made Lisetta a bit uneasy.

"That’s nothing you need to worry about."

Duanmu Huai stared at the castle’s silhouette in the distance, pondering for a moment.

"How big is this mountain?"

"Eh?"

"Can you figure out how big this mountain is?"

"That’s not too difficult. Ah, I have a map..."

Lisetta took out a map and thoroughly explained it to Duanmu Huai. To put it simply, this area was easy to defend but hard to attack. The surrounding terrain was treacherous, and countless demons were patrolling the sky and ground. Although Lisetta could fly in the sky, she was not a match against sheer numbers.

In previous worlds, when faced with such situations, either the Hero used their personal charm to rally everyone together against the Demon King or infiltrated the Demon King Palace with a small squad for a decapitation strike.

But now... in Lisetta’s view, neither option seemed feasible. After all, Duanmu Huai had no intention of recruiting companions, and as for relying on others... well, the very sight of him was enough to make that country’s people tremble in fear.

So, how did Duanmu Huai plan to proceed?

Under Lisetta’s watchful gaze, Duanmu Huai contemplated the map for a moment before standing up.

"Do as I say."

That’s all he said.

In Lisetta’s eyes, Duanmu Huai’s request seemed quite simple: repeatedly open teleportation portals and send Duanmu Huai to specific locations. As for where, Lisetta only knew it was somewhere at the foot of the mountain. Duanmu Huai would go there, circle around, and then return.

After repeating this confusing process four or five times, Duanmu Huai finally stopped and asked Lisetta to teleport him to another mountain far from the castle.

"Alright."

Standing there, Duanmu Huai looked at the distant castle and nodded in satisfaction.

"That’s about enough."

"What exactly are you doing? Are you planning to abandon the attack on the Demon King Palace?"

Lisetta stared puzzledly at Duanmu Huai, who simply sneered.

"I never intended to attack the Demon King Palace."

"Eh?"

"For such vile filth, it’s best to annihilate it completely."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai raised his hand.

"I suggest you close your eyes."

"What do you mean by......."

Before Lisetta could finish speaking, Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers.

In the next moment, the entire world turned pure white.

Lisetta shrieked, reaching out to cover her eyes. Her retinas seemed burned by the light, utterly destroyed, leaving only darkness behind. All Lisetta could sense was the almost heart-stopping roar echoing in her ears and the ground trembling beneath her.

She couldn’t even keep her balance and fell to the ground. Fortunately, as a healing goddess, Lisetta still had some skills. She hurriedly healed her eyes and opened them again to look ahead.

Then, Lisetta witnessed an incomprehensible scene.

On the horizon, the mountain and castle had vanished without a trace. A massive, black mushroom cloud shot into the sky. Dark clouds covered the heavens, and the earth was completely engulfed and shrouded in the dust rising from below. The majestic city was nowhere to be seen.

"Wha- what, what exactly...?"

Staring at the Royal City before her, Lisetta was dumbfounded. There, the city, mountain, and castle had all disappeared, leaving only an enormous crater stretching several kilometers long. The Demon King, the Demon King Army, and the Demon King’s castle had all vanished completely, without a trace.

Meanwhile, Lisetta watched as snowflakes fell from the sky. She instinctively reached out to catch them, only to discover they seemed less like snowflakes and more like some kind of white ash—why was this falling from the sky?

"Can you confirm if the Demon King has been destroyed?"

It wasn’t until Duanmu Huai’s voice sounded in her ear that Lisetta snapped back to her senses and turned to Duanmu Huai.

"I... I don’t know..."

"What use are you then... never mind, at least you can teleport."

"Wuuuuu..."

Lisetta felt like crying; she’d rather the other party call her useless than this feeling of acknowledging she wasn’t useless after all. It was even worse, okay! The feeling of being overlooked despite being somewhat useful was truly annoying!

"Can anyone confirm this?"

"Ah, if it’s Lady Isis, she might have a way."

"Where is she?"

"The Unified Divine Realm."

"Then let’s go back."

Duanmu Huai couldn’t even be bothered to glance in this direction and gave the order directly. Lisetta was somewhat puzzled but obediently opened the teleportation portal again as per Duanmu Huai’s command and returned to the Unified Divine Realm. Then Lisetta led Duanmu Huai to the highest-ranking goddess in the Unified Divine Realm, where Isis resided.

Although she was known as the highest-ranking goddess, Isis looked more like a kind and friendly old grandmother. When Lisetta and Duanmu Huai entered the room, the latter was sitting in a rocking chair, knitting and looking more at ease than a retired old cadre.

When she learned Lisetta wanted her to confirm whether the Demon King had been eliminated, Isis showed an expression of surprise.

"That’s surprising. Didn’t you see the Demon King being destroyed with your own eyes?"

"Well... should I say I saw it, or didn’t see it..."

Lisetta didn’t know how to answer the Great Goddess’s question. To say she saw it, she did see the Demon King Palace, and she saw it being completely destroyed.

But to say she didn’t see it, objectively speaking, she didn’t actually see the Demon King being destroyed... Contemplating this, Lisetta nervously glanced at Duanmu Huai.

Why did he have to use this method to defeat the Demon King? Couldn’t he face the Demon King in a fair battle like other heroes?

"Let me take a look."

Isis closed her eyes, paused for a moment, and then revealed a look of surprise.

"It’s really surprising; the shadow of the Demon King over that world has begun to recede. The Demon King has indeed been eliminated."

"Can it really happen like this?"

Despite having been mentally prepared, hearing the Great Goddess herself confirm it astonished Lisetta. The Great Goddess also smiled at Lisetta, nodding at her.

"You did very well, Lisetta. For your first S-level difficulty world-saving mission to reach this level is indeed outstanding."

"Th-thank you, Lady Isis!"

Even though many things that were hard to put into words had happened, Lisetta decided to express her gratitude to the Great Goddess first. As for what occurred in that world, she decided to talk to Lady Isis after this. In fact, Lisetta had many questions and anxieties during this world-saving mission. She also hoped for some answers from Lady Isis.

However, at that moment, Duanmu Huai came over.

"In that case, I happen to have something I’d like to discuss with you."

"What is it? Hero?"

Isis was not intimidated by Duanmu Huai’s demeanor and calmly gazed at him.

"I’ve heard that in this Divine Realm, you can detect disasters and crises faced by other human worlds and dispatch deities to summon heroes to save those worlds, right?"

"That’s correct."

"Then, I have a proposal."

"A proposal?"

"Yes."

Duanmu Huai spoke as he extended his hand towards Isis.

"Let me introduce myself; I am Grand Judge Duanmu Huai from the Tribunal. The Tribunal’s duty is to protect humanity at all costs and eliminate any threats to humanity... Compared to those frail heroes, we specialize in saving humans, so have you ever considered cooperating with us?"

"... Eh?"

Hearing this, Isis did not speak; instead, Lisetta turned her head in shock towards Duanmu Huai, looking aghast.

She couldn’t have misheard.

This man... is he seriously for real?

Wait, could the entire Tribunal be filled with guys like this? If that’s the case, can this really be called saving the world?

Thinking back on everything she had experienced following Duanmu Huai, Lisetta suddenly shivered.

For some reason, she felt this might not be a good idea.