A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 117: Chapter 100 – Fight Back!_1

Thanks to Felin’s guidance, the group’s pace increased significantly. According to the captive’s report, the evil dragon Fafner had taken over Doomsday Canyon as its lair and the evil dragon legion’s headquarters. And thus, Duanmu Huai and the rest, in accordance with the captive’s report, arrived at Doomsday Canyon.

Then… they saw dragons covering the entire landscape.

“There are so many dragons…”

Witnessing the dragons sitting or lying in the distant canyon, Lorena couldn’t help but sigh. Even the others wore tense expressions. After all, anyone who saw so many dragons gathered together would feel a deeply-rooted shock.

“According to that dragon’s statement, the lair of Evil Dragon Fafner is located in the volcano mouth on the other side of the canyon… Tsk, I wonder if this guy also has a metal jaw.”

Duanmu Huai glanced at the map and clicked his tongue lightly. Hearing his complaint, Greiya looked towards Duanmu Huai uneasily.

“Sir knight, what should we do next?”

“We must probably slip past them, sneak into the lair, and then find and behead Fafner.”

Ann immediately raised her hand, proposing her idea.

“Isn’t that how it’s written in all the adventure stories?”

“Hmm, typically that’s the case.”

Duanmu Huai nodded his head.

“But not this time.”

“Eh? Really?”

Upon hearing Duanmu Huai’s response, Ann blanked out for a moment. Duanmu Huai then looked at her and started to probe.

“Think carefully, what is our purpose?”

“Uhm…”

In the face of Duanmu Huai’s question, everyone started to ponder. Then, Ann looked at Duanmu Huai suspiciously.

“Is it… to eliminate Fafner… right?”

“Fafner is the instigator, not the outcome.”

Duanmu Huai shook his head.

“Indeed, the threat of an evil dragon is great, but honestly speaking, what a single evil dragon can do is quite limited. Even if it’s very powerful, there’s still only one of it. And if you think about it, the devastated villages we saw along the way, were they all Fafner’s doing? No, wasn’t it the evil dragon legion under its command?”

“…………”

At this point, the girls stopped talking. They all remembered the ruins and desolate villages they had witnessed along their journey.

However, Lorena looked at Duanmu Huai in doubt.

“But Sir Knight, I still don’t understand. If our target is not Fafner, then what is it?”

“Fafner is our main target, not the primary reason. The main thing is… isn’t it the dragons’ contempt for humans? If it weren’t for the dragons thinking that humans are weak and incapable, posing no threat to them, how could they be deceived by the evil dragon Fafner, doing its bidding?”

“Wait, Sir knight, you don’t happen to plan to… ”

On hearing this, Ann suddenly seemed to have a realisation. She looked at Duanmu Huai with an ashen face, who nodded affirmatively in return.

“Correct, we need to completely shatter the dragons’ mindset, to make these guys understand that humans are a race they simply cannot afford to provoke. If they dare to harm humans, they will face a threat to their extinction! Humans are not the prey that dragons can manipulate at will but beings just as strong as them!”

“……………”

Upon hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, everyone was stunned, and Duanmu Huai shrugged his shoulders, pointing to the canyon.

“Fortunately, all those here are Fafner’s lapdogs. They are the worst offenders who look down upon humans and treat them as low-grade, playthings. By annihilating all of these creatures, the number of dragons who dare belittle humans will dwindle significantly. Also, I believe their deaths will make the dragon race fully realize that humans cannot be provoked.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute!!! That’s impossible!!!”

Ann jumped up fiercely, waving her hands violently.

“Sir Knight, a few dragons are manageable, but there are hundreds of them down there! Add the dragon beasts; it’s an overwhelming number we can’t handle!!!”

As Ann pointed out, there were hundreds of dragons in Doomsday Canyon at that moment. Furthermore, besides dragons, there were their dragon beasts — half-human, half-lizard creatures that were similar to centaurs. These dragon beasts typically served as the minions and soldiers of the dragons. They could wield long spears and spit fire. The attack power of a single dragon beast was even comparable to that of a heavily-armoured cavalry.

There were at least a thousand such dragon beasts here.

For Ann and Greiya, a few giant dragons could be managed, even dozens of dragon beasts were not a big threat, but hundreds of giant dragons, along with countless dragon beasts, would be a whole different story.

“I have the means to do it, so are you all ready?”

“This……..”

Faced with Duanmu Huai’s words, everyone was somewhat at a loss for what to say. Greiya hesitated for a moment before timidly raising her hand.

“Sir Knight, I don’t mean to plead for these giant dragons, but… wouldn’t it be too cruel to exterminate them all?”

“Only strength and deterrence can bring respect and awe.”

Duanmu Huai shook his head. His choice to confront the situation head-on rather than accept Ann’s suggestion to sneak in and behead their enemy was for the purpose of resolving the matter once and for all. Otherwise, what difference would it make if they eliminated Fafner? Fafner had many evil dragons under his command. As soon as Fafner was gone, would the other evil dragons obey? If Duanmu Huai were to complete the mission, the world fragment would belong to him, and he certainly wasn’t keen on being bothered by such troubles every day.

Therefore, dealing with the problem once and for all was simply the most logical course of action.

“Why did your people, Regnes, ally with Manaria? Isn’t it because Manaria is the strongest magic nation here?”

“Uh……..”

“Moreover, it is also a perfect chance for the turncoat giant dragons of Regnes to see that we humans aren’t to be trifled with!”

Having said all of this, there wasn’t much left for Greiya to argue… She was aware of the internal issues of Regnes, so she couldn’t claim that Duanmu Huai was wrong.

“But…how are we going to fight?”

Since Duanmu Huai had made a decision, and the others did not oppose it, the question now was how to execute the plan.

“There’s nothing much to fuss about, just charge directly.”

“…Wait a minute, that’s suicide!!”

“I have a plan, just follow me.”

“Uh……..”

To be honest, after hearing what Duanmu Huai had to say, except for Ogis and Felin, whose expressions were usually very reserved, everyone else had looks of worry on their faces. Although Duanmu Huai said to leave it to him, this could hardly be considered a strategy at all! If he had some tactics to mention, that would be one thing, but charging in blindly would be suicide, wouldn’t it?

As far as Duanmu Huai was concerned…

“The more complex the strategy, the more likely it is to fail. Don’t overthink it. Just go in directly.”

What does he mean by “just go”?

Although every part of Duanmu Huai’s plan was rather agitating, everyone had no other choice but to grit their teeth and sit on top of the Metal Secret Dragon, arriving at the slope of the hill — to be honest, just being here and looking down at the valley filled with dragons was enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

First of all….

Duanmu Huai silently raised his hand.

As per the usual, the puppet field was prepared. But this time, let’s make it a grand one!

Summon the Puppet Army!

With a turn of Duanmu Huai’s thought, in the next moment, hundreds of puppets quietly emerged from the air, forming a neat troop and converging at Duanmu Huai’s side. Though these puppets’ attack power was negligible, the fact that they could be summoned at zero cost was certainly a big advantage. Besides, just by their number, the sight of the puppet soldiers standing in neat formation did look like a large army.

“Wow, Sir Knight can actually summon so many puppets…”

Sitting on the metal secret dragon and looking at the puppet army surrounding them, Ann and Greiya couldn’t help but express their immense surprise. They knew that Duanmu Huai could summon puppets, but they didn’t expect that he could summon so many at once — although they weren’t sure about the combat power of these puppets, being surrounded by so many of them did provide a certain amount of reassurance.

At least it was better than the few of them charging down to their deaths.

“So……..”

Sitting at the front of the Metal Secret Dragon, Duanmu Huai raised his war hammer high.

“Charge!!”

With a single command, Duanmu Huai, controlling the Metal Secret Dragon and leading the puppet army, charged down the slope and lunged towards the giant dragons!!