A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 129: Chapter 111: The Bell of the Dark Night_1

On this planet, the status of beastmen is very low.

It’s not just in terms of social status. Even when it comes to combat, a beastman ranks very low. If it were to be compared to an RPG, a beastman would be equivalent to the beginner-level slimes or goblins players encounter at the start of their quest. Even Ratmen pose more of a threat.

Ratmen can manufacture their weapons, enabling them to hold their own against various races. But beastmen are different. They don’t fabricate weapons and only rely on their bodies and claws in battle. The most they can do is pick up fallen weapons of their victims in the battlefield. That’s their limit.

Of course, one can’t be sure of the usefulness of such poorly maintained weapons.

At least for people like Duanmu Huai, even a surprise attack by beastmen presents little threat.

Duanmu Huai, being the most conspicuous in the team, naturally, attracted the attention of most beastmen. They howled furiously, charged at him, trying to prove their strength and power by causing the downfall of this terrifying presence.

Unfortunately, their blades couldn’t even cause a scratch on Duanmu Huai’s power armor, getting rebounded instead. Duanmu Huai, holding his war hammer tightly, swung it hard, sending all the beastmen in sight flying and leaving them like crushed pile of mud.

Ogis calmly sat on Duanmu Huai’s shoulder. With one hand holding a book and the other hand open, almost invisible puppet strings formed a deadly trap in front of them. Any beastman who dared to intrude got sliced into pieces, like being on a make-shift meat grinder.

As for whether they were fat or skinny, that was not something Ogis cared about.

On the other hand, Ann didn’t make much of a commotion. Duanmu Huai kept her behind him, having her use fundamental spells like Manaria Magic Missile. They were effective enough to deal with the beastmen.

As Duanmu Huai drew most of the attention of the beastmen, just like a tank drawing the hatred from enemies, the Frost Giant Bear Battle Group could fight more freely from behind. Cliff waved his giant swords and launched an attack against the beastmen with help from his companions, while the rear archers shot down beastmen one by one. Even Kevin, their employer, wasn’t idle. He had a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, comported himself properly in the battle. Not a single beastman could last a round against Kevin… he always managed to make his enemies lose balance at the exact right moment, ending them with a final blow.

“Boom!!”

When the last beastman fell, it was beginning to get dark. Everyone looked up, only to find the surroundings already dimmed.

“Phew… I didn’t expect we would spend this much time dealing with these beasts.”

Cliff kicked the corpse of a beastman beside him venomously, and spit out swear words.

“You don’t need to rush. We’ve cleared a batch of beastmen near Midheim, thus protecting others from harm.”

In contrast, Kevin seemed much calmer. He wasn’t wrong either.

As it had become late, and everyone was tired after the fight with the beastmen, with some having minor injuries, the group decided to rest overnight in the village inn and head out first thing in the morning. They piled up the bodies of the beastmen and burnt them down, as a warning to other intruders.

However… something was indeed odd about the place.

“Creak…”

Duanmu Huai pushed open the door of the inn and walked into the hall, casually scanning the room. The inn was empty, not a single soul in sight. Tables and chairs were neatly piled up, with no signs of a fight.

“This is truly strange, isn’t it?”

Kevin approached, scrutinizing the hall, then turned to Duanmu Huai and said. In response, Duanmu Huai nodded. After burning the beastman corpses, they had conducted a cursory search of the village, only to find something amiss. No signs of a skirmish, no bloodstains, or corpses. It was as if all the villagers had vanished overnight without a trace, no resistance, no struggle, and no clue about their whereabouts.

“Be cautious, don’t drink the water here, and don’t eat any food.”

Duanmu Huai nodded. He wasn’t sure what was going on. Although he had some guesses, there were too many possibilities, which made it hard for him to pinpoint the perpetrator.

Soon, the other mercenaries returned to the inn, sealed off the area and most went upstairs to sleep. Duanmu Huai, Ogis, and Ann remained in the hall, pulling an all-nighter.

“I’m actually finding this quite exciting.”

Sitting next to Duanmu Huai, staring at the burning fireplace, Ann looked around excitedly. It wasn’t surprising, it was probably the princess’s first all-nighter. For a “good girl” like her, just staying up past her bedtime was considered rebellious, let alone staying awake all night. This adventure was utterly exhilarating for Ann.

“Once you get used to it, you’ll realise it’s actually boring work.”

Duanmu Huai leaned against the wall, scanning the surroundings, shaking his head slightly.

“You should rest. I’ll alert you if anything happens.”

Earlier, Duanmu Huai had let out a reconnaissance servo skull. If anyone tried to cause trouble, he’d surely be alerted.

Soon, darkness fell.

Duanmu Huai quickly fell asleep with his eyes shut. Ann, initially excited and fidgety, succumbed to sleep eventually, sprawled out on the table fast asleep. Only Ogis remained awake, sitting in front of the fireplace, reading a fairy tale book by the firelight.

After some time, a faint sound rang out.

“Ting-ling-ling … Ting-ling-ling …”

Ogis lifted her head, glancing doubtfully outside. But beyond the inn was pure darkness, nothing to see. Simultaneously, a ring of bright blue light appeared around Ann, like some protective spell. Witnessing this, Ogis got up and walked towards Duanmu Huai.

“Master.”

“Hmm?”

Hearing Ogis’s voice, Duanmu Huai immediately opened his eyes.

“What is it? What happened?”

“I don’t know, but… Miss Ann, she…”

At this point, Ogis didn’t have to say anything more. Duanmu Huai saw the magic barrier emerging around Ann and immediately knitted his brows, standing up. As the princess of Manaria and the most powerful mage, although Ann might be a bit carefree, she always perfectly protected herself. If her protective spell was now triggered, that means… someone is launching an attack?

What on earth is going on?

“Thud… thud…”

Just then, Duanmu Huai heard footsteps from upstairs. Looking up, he saw the doors of the upstairs rooms opening one by one. The mercenaries within began to walk out slowly. Yet, they seemed to be not so much awake as in a sleepwalk, slowly descending the stairs and heading towards the inn’s entrance.

“Stop!”

Duanmu Huai planted himself in front of the door, trying to stop the mercenaries. However, they seemed to ignore his presence, continuing their march forward. Seeing this, Duanmu Huai let out a helpless cough. Then, he fixed a hard stare on the men, abruptly roaring.

“Stop right there!!!”

Accompanied by Duanmu Huai’s thunderous yell, the sleepwalking mercenaries suddenly snapped awake. Their vacant eyes gradually regained clarity, and, as they took in the situation before them, confusion covered their faces; they had no clue what was happening.

“Oh my, Sir Knight, what happened? What on earth is going on?”

Ann was shaken awake by Duanmu Huai’s roar. At this moment, Kevin, fully armed, dashed out of his room, staring at the scene before him, similarly stunned.

“What’s going on? Are we under attack?”

“No.”

Duanmu Huai shook his head, subsequently repeating what Ogis had told him earlier.

“Bell sound?”

Kevin frowned.

“I didn’t hear any bell sound.”

“I think I heard it…”

Unlike Kevin, Cliff seemed somewhat unsettled.

“I did hear a bell in my dream. It seemed to be guiding me somewhere…”

“Ding-a-ling…”

Before Cliff could finish, another faint bell sound floated over on the night breeze. On hearing this bell sound, the mercenaries’ eyes turned vacant again. Seeing this, Duanmu Huai let out another cold huff, effectively restoring the clarity in the eyes of the mesmerized mercenaries.

“It seems that the bell sound holds some special magical power.”

“Of course, and it’s not just effective on us.”

Duanmu Huai turned his head, looking out the window— outside, they could see several shadowy figures moving slowly. They weren’t anything else but the charred corpses of the beastmen that Duanmu Huai and the mercenaries had killed earlier. At that moment, these charred corpses were slowly shuffling forward like zombies, leaving the village and heading into the depths of the dark mountains.

“We must leave immediately.”

Kevin made up his mind instantly.

“The bell sound might be the main culprit causing the villagers to disappear. We must get to the root cause!”

“But we have no way to resist the bell sound.”

Cliff frowned; when he heard the bell sound earlier, he felt his brain start to get foggy, as if he was succumbing to sleep. Clearly, it was not an ordinary bell sound, but a bell sound imbued with magic.

Imbued with magic…

“Ann, can you solve this problem?”

Duanmu Huai turned to Ann. No matter what, as the most powerful mage of Manaria, the princess should have some ways to deal with it.

“Hmm… it’s supposed to work on the mental level? No, the soul level? Anyway, I can try.”

While saying this, Ann raised her hand. Soon, along with her chanting, rays of magic light rained down from the sky onto the mercenaries.

“This is a spell to ward against mental control, it should have some effect.”

“Ding-a-ling…”

Just then, as if to verify Ann’s words, the bell rang again. This time, however, the mercenaries had no reaction.

“Perfect.”

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai nodded his approval. Cliff and Kevin exchanged glances then turned to their subordinates.

“Fully arm yourselves at once, prepare to depart. We’re going to see who in the world is causing this trouble!!!”

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