A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 2659: Chapter 1792: This Hero Shows No Mercy (Turns Out the Negative Reviews for the Ronin Were Due to Optimization)

Lisetta’s mood could only be described as extremely complicated.

On the one hand, she had to admit that Duanmu Huai really was saving Humans; he had rescued quite a few Human slaves from captivity and wiped out a lot of Orcs.

But on the other hand, Lisetta found it hard to truly feel happy about it from the bottom of her heart.

Because the methods Duanmu Huai used were far too cold, brutal, and merciless. They were completely unlike what a Hero ought to do. Lisetta had once hoped Mary or Hei Chuan Chi Yin, who were relatively close to Duanmu Huai, would try to persuade him—at least get Duanmu Huai to rein himself in a little—but...

"I am just Mr. Duanmu’s Secretary."

With a gentle, refined smile, Mary politely yet firmly rejected Lisetta’s request.

"My duty is to record every detail of the Tribunal’s activities. Interfering in missions is not my job."

As for Hei Chuan Chi Yin...

"Sorry, I still don’t really understand the Tribunal’s way of doing things, that’s why Mr. Duanmu brought me here. I feel that before I thoroughly figure it out, it’s not appropriate for me to meddle."

She likewise had no intention of trying to persuade Duanmu Huai to change his actions because of this.

"But can you really just stand by and watch? Those innocent children were brutally killed too!"

Faced with Lisetta’s question, the two of them gave different answers.

"I don’t quite understand, but I believe Mr. Duanmu must have his reasons for doing this."

This was Hei Chuan Chi Yin’s answer.

Mary’s answer, however, was comparatively more serious.

"Believe me, Miss Lisetta, age is not a reason that can be forgiven. They are Aliens. They are born hostile to us, and they will be so in the future as well. At the very least they obtained a clean, merciful death, instead of falling into Mr. Duanmu’s hands—you do not want to know how the Tribunal treats its enemies. Any tiny seed may grow into a murderer who slaughters countless Humans; the Tribunal never takes risks. The fate of Humans must be held in Human hands, not left for those Alien Species to decide our life and death as they please."

Lisetta realized she could not communicate with them at all. The Tribunal’s Human supremacism was beyond her imagination. They didn’t just think Humans were the noblest Race; they thought every so‑called Civilized Race other than Humans deserved to die... This bloody, terrifying, savage creed made Lisetta tremble, unable to speak.

So afterward, all she could do was drag her listless feet and follow along with the group. As for this—Duanmu Huai didn’t care in the slightest.

He just needed Hei Chuan Chi Yin and Mary to keep that stupid woman occupied and stop her from constantly wasting his time. In Duanmu Huai’s view, even staring blankly at ants moving house to pass the time was better than talking with that brain‑dead Goddess. If he’d known, he would have asked to change a Guiding Goddess before this departure—at least get a reliable one, not an idiot who treated "saving Humans" like some kind of kids’ game.

Compared to the dejected Lisetta, the Beast King Bunogaios was now completely enraged. Having found nothing in the search outside had already driven it into a foul fury, so when the urgent news that the Academy had been attacked arrived, Bunogaios was so furious it directly flipped the table in front of it.

"Those bastards, how dare they! How dare they!"

Bunogaios was furious, and at the same time it felt fear. After all, the students of the Beast King Academy came from the various upper echelons of the Demon King’s Army; obviously, they would not be pleased to hear the bad news that their children had been killed. But right now Bunogaios had no time to worry about what consequences this might bring. It issued its orders at top speed, then charged toward Beast King Academy.

Unfortunately, when Bunogaios led its army back in a rage, all it saw were the charred remains of the Academy, and—as always—the High Tower built by stacking Orc heads along the roadside.

"I’ll definitely kill those bastards, definitely!"

Bunogaios was almost driven insane by rage—and if it had known that less than an hour before it passed through the checkpoint fortress again on its way back, Duanmu Huai’s squad had just brushed past it, it would probably have been so angry it puked blood.

But now, what it was about to face was the Demon King and the high command’s thunderous wrath.

At the same time Bunogaios learned what had happened at the Academy, the news was of course delivered to the upper echelons of the Demon King Palace, and when they learned of it, they were likewise driven mad with anger.

"This is simply outrageous!"

"We should wipe out these Humans completely; letting them live is a calamity!"

"We should immediately send troops to guard all important locations to prevent another attack!"

"That only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. What we need to do right now is immediately search for those attackers and completely capture those bastards! The populace is already panicking, especially in Bunogaios’s territory—many Orcs have even chosen to stay locked indoors!"

"That’s not even the only problem right now!"

Another Orc commander was focused on a more concrete issue.

"We don’t have enough supplies. Food on the market is already starting to run short! Quite a few Orcs have even begun killing their own slaves for food, but that won’t last long either!"

Duanmu Huai was using a scorched‑earth strategy. Every time he attacked a place, he would simply burn all the food that couldn’t be carried away. The food on Duanmu Huai’s side was more than enough for him, Mary, and Hei Chuan Chi Yin to enjoy themselves, and the Night Guard didn’t need to eat. As for those Human Soldiers—Orcs running all over the place obviously suited their tastes far better.

And the numbers were higher too, so there was no need to worry about running out.

If they wanted to eat, they could just kill one and cook it.

Orcs could eat Humans, but there weren’t enough Humans to keep them fed three meals a day. Part of the other food reserves had been burned, and although some of it remained, the problem was that, out of fear of those elusive raiders, most Orcs didn’t dare go out to work, so the flow of supplies throughout the entire Demon King Territory had been severely hampered.

"Right now prices everywhere are skyrocketing, and lots of Orcs are complaining!"

"That’s not our problem. I don’t give a damn about that, I just want those bastards dead!"

"Easy to say, but can you even find where they are? The Demon King Territory is so vast—once they left Bunogaios’s domain, they could have gone anywhere!"

"Maybe we can lure them out? Aren’t we still holding a bunch of high officials and members of the Royal Family from the Human Kingdom? All we need to do is loudly announce that we’re going to execute them all, then set up a trap somewhere, and we’ll be able to lure those bastards over and wipe them out to the last."

"How foolish. What good is that plan? Do you really think they care whether those royals live or die?"

"How could they not? Aren’t all Humans like that?"

"Enough."

Just then, a low voice rang out, cutting off the argument below. The Orcs lifted their heads and looked toward the figure sitting on the throne, who was clearly very displeased.

"They’re just a bunch of Humans. Fine, I admit they’re clever, but here, they have nowhere to run. They have no way of leaving my Kingdom...! Sturk."

"Here, Your Majesty."

Another Orc stood up and respectfully bowed to the Demon King.

"If I remember correctly, you have someone under you who’s good at locking onto targets through Prophecy Magic, don’t you?"

"Yes. I’ll summon it here at once."

The Orc named Sturk quickly gave a low order. A Soldier dashed out, and a moment later, another Orc who looked like a fox walked in.

"Prophet, we need your Strength."

Sturk fixed his gaze on that Orc as he spoke.

"The enemies of the Beast Race are rampaging across this land. We need you to find them, to lock onto them, and then we can exterminate them."

"A trivial matter, my lord."

The Prophet lowered its head and bowed, then took out a crystal ball and held it in its hands. The other Orcs also stopped arguing and stared at the Prophet. The latter closed its Eyes and began to mutter under its breath, and soon the crystal ball in its palms slowly started to emit a faint glow.

"Ah, I see them..."

The Prophet’s voice sounded.

"I can feel their presence—Humans, blood, brutality, madness. They want to destroy this world, to take back what they’ve lost. For that they will sacrifice everything... They’re advancing. Let me see... what is their next target? And who is their leader?"

Amid the Prophet’s murmurs, its clairvoyance slipped past the silent crowd and flew forward.

"Ah... Goddess! I see the Goddess!"

"The Goddess?"

The word caused a ripple of commotion among the Orcs.

"Don’t tell me another Goddess is guiding a Hero here to save this world? They really are stubborn!"

"But it’s pointless! As long as His Majesty the Demon King stands, they’ll just fail again and again!"

"What about the Hero? Where is the Hero?"

"I’m looking... I see him, he’s at the very front of the formation, he..."

The Prophet’s voice suddenly cut off. Its Eyes went wide with terror, its mouth gaping as a harsh, rattling gasp rose from its throat. Seeing the Prophet’s strange behavior, the other Orcs were quite taken aback, at a loss for words. Only Sturk frowned slightly.

"Prophet, are you all right?"

"I... n-no, no, no, no—don’t!! I don’t want to die! Destruction! Total Destruction! Save me, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die—!!"

With the Prophet’s wail, its body swelled up like a balloon, then suddenly burst. A tremendous blast rang out; blood mixed with flesh and viscera, and fragments of bone blasted outward, splattering all over the surrounding Orcs.

"........."

No one spoke. The hall fell deathly silent. The Orcs just stared blankly at the mangled heap of flesh in the center of the hall, the remains already unrecognizable, a chill running through their bodies.

In those final moments, what exactly did the Prophet see?

At last, the Demon King’s voice sounded, shattering that ominous silence.

"Sturk."

"Your Majesty."

"I order you, at any cost, to find that army, and the Hero and the Goddess. Exterminate them all—leave not a single one alive!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."