Warhammer Fanfic: Starting with a Core Cabin

Everything began anew. Just like before, Duanmu Huai and Olgis entered the world of memories, once again witnessing the man's heartbroken grief over his daughter and his joy after resurrecting her. Then, the moment arrived again.

"Thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump!!" Urgent knocking echoed through the mansion. Soldiers broke down the door and rushed in, clashing with the man once more. Then one of the soldiers drew his longsword and thrust it at the man—

"Bang!!" At that instant, an iron hammer came crashing down, sending the soldier flying. Immediately after, Duanmu Huai stepped out, shouldering his warhammer, and stood between the man and the soldiers.

"Who are you?" Only then did both the man and the soldiers notice Duanmu Huai's presence. In fact, he had been standing there the whole time, but neither side had seen him until he actively intervened. Only when he disrupted the scene did he suddenly "appear" to them.

"Are you another accomplice of that necromancer?" Seeing Duanmu Huai, the soldiers' expressions changed drastically as they hurriedly retreated. Duanmu Huai sneered, raising his warhammer. "Leave this to me, sir. I'll take care of these annoying pests."

He gave off the full aura of a final boss's right-hand man.

"Ah... oh... this..." Faced with Duanmu Huai's sudden appearance, the man was clearly stunned and didn't know how to respond. But Duanmu Huai didn't give him time to react. He immediately swung his warhammer, sweeping the soldiers at the door away like rag dolls.

Then he strode straight out the mansion's main entrance. Outside, dozens of fully armed warriors stood frozen, staring at him in fear and disbelief.

"Come on, lads." Duanmu Huai gripped his warhammer tightly, locking eyes with the soldiers. "Let me have some fun with you!"

His villain energy was off the charts.

Soon, the soldiers rushed forward and engaged him. But for Duanmu Huai, dealing with them was no trouble at all. Unlike those ghostly apparitions, these soldiers were just ordinary fighters. His power armor completely nullified their attacks.

He didn't hold back. While tanking their attacks with ease, he launched a brutal counteroffensive. At first, everything went smoothly—but as the battle dragged on, Duanmu Huai began to feel that something wasn't right.

He clearly remembered that when he first stepped out of the mansion, there were only thirty to forty soldiers waiting outside.

Yet by now, the number he had smashed with his warhammer had already exceeded four hundred, and more kept coming. Was this some kind of bug?

If this were a game, Duanmu Huai would've already filed a complaint to the GM. This was clearly a problem—either there was a code error, or the instance was corrupted. Or maybe the design was just set to infinite respawn?

Ultimately, Duanmu Huai chose to keep grinding and see who would run out of stamina first. He kept going… until the sun rose, and he was forcibly kicked out of the memory instance again.

"How strange… what exactly is wrong?"

Chewing on tough jerky, Duanmu Huai sat in front of the ruined mansion, frowning in confusion. These rations were the same ones he bought before leaving Silver City. They tasted awful, but at least they filled his stomach.

He had originally thought that, with his veteran experience, cracking the logic behind the instance would be a walk in the park.

He hadn't expected to fail twice in a row… There must be some clue I haven't noticed yet. Duanmu Huai had encountered instance-type scenarios like this in games more than once, and he was no novice. He was certain that among everything he had seen so far, there was definitely something he had overlooked.

So, what was it? Wait, could it be that I misunderstood something?

As he pondered, a realization began to surface—he had overlooked a critical point: Whose core thoughts created this space?

Every fragmented space drifting through the warp was shaped and stabilized by the powerful will and emotions of a particular entity. For example, the puppet house Duanmu Huai had visited before had been stabilized by the puppeteer's emotions. As the saying went, "He who tied the bell must untie it." In other words, the ultimate goal of clearing any space was to confront its core.

So then—who was the core of this mansion?

Duanmu Huai had originally assumed that the purple-haired girl was the core of the space. But thinking back on it now, that didn't seem quite right. While the girl had indeed witnessed her father's death, it didn't necessarily mean she was the emotional anchor of this space.

It was also possible that the man hadn't completely died at the time and had seen something in his final moments. After all, they had seen him carrying his daughter's corpse back to the mansion earlier, and at that point, the girl clearly hadn't been revived yet.

So, could the man be the one who formed the core? But if that were the case, why had the last rescue attempt bugged out? For that man, having someone defend him from the soldiers and helping him escape with his daughter should have been an ideal resolution—shouldn't it?

Or, drawing from the Frankenstein reference, was it the daughter who longed for a companion like herself? That didn't seem to be the case either. If such a desire existed, it would have shown up clearly in the memory sequence.

Damn it, if his Charisma were as high as it was in the game, he could've just talked to everyone and pulled out more info. But with a Charisma stat of 1, Duanmu Huai was... utterly powerless.

Although he could brute-force his way through the instance using trial and error, each failure would lower his mission evaluation. If this kept up, he might not even qualify for the minimum reward... Wait!!!

At that moment, Duanmu Huai's eyes suddenly lit up as he recalled Olgis's earlier question: Why did that man both love and hate his daughter?

He had given Olgis an answer at the time—but thinking back on it now, maybe the real "solution" lay hidden in that very contradiction. Duanmu Huai didn't believe his reasoning had been wrong… but the question was, how did he resolve it?

After all, it was hard to truly know another's heart. Even if the man did harbor complicated feelings toward his resurrected daughter, how to resolve such inner turmoil… even he himself might not have had an answer. "Sigh…"

Duanmu Huai let out a long sigh. In the past, when he encountered similar situations in games, he would simply rely on high Charisma to force a breakthrough. With enough Charisma, these kinds of missions were usually simple—either persuade the other party to resolve their emotional conflict, or make them accept his viewpoint outright.

In short, high Charisma meant powerful persuasion. Clues were easier to uncover, and missions were easier to complete. It was just like playing an RPG: if you were a warrior, you could only charge through the front gate, fight your way through mazes, and brute-force your path to victory. But if you were a rogue, you could sneak around to the back door and head straight to the ending.

As for now… that was completely out of the question. Duanmu Huai was the very picture of that unlucky brute-force warrior. And with a Charisma stat of just 1, he might as well have been cursed. No choice but to try again.

On the third night, Duanmu Huai and Olgis once again stepped into that world. This time, when the man smashed open the tomb and carried his daughter's corpse away, Duanmu Huai stood in front of him, blocking his path.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course," the man replied, holding his daughter's corpse tightly in his arms, not even sparing Duanmu Huai a glance.

"Are you certain you won't regret it?"

"If I don't do this, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

"..."

Alright then, you said it yourself. Duanmu Huai shrugged, stepped aside, and watched as the man silently carried his daughter's corpse back into the mansion. He sighed again and followed after him. Frankly, he felt like this attempt was doomed to fail as well.

If it still didn't work, then he'd just have to switch to another soul fragment. Resigned, Duanmu Huai pushed open the mansion door.

However, to his surprise, what appeared before him this time was not the familiar entrance hall and living room—but a pitch-black corridor stretching into the distance.

Oh? A change? Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up. Change is good. Even if it wasn't necessarily a good sign, at least it meant something had shifted—there was still hope.

"Be careful," Duanmu Huai whispered to Olgis beside him, then stepped forward into the corridor.

Behind them, the door slowly creaked shut. For a moment, everything was engulfed in silence and darkness. But soon, a torch on the wall ignited with a low fwoosh, casting flickering light over the narrow hallway.

Duanmu Huai walked forward. Next to the torch was an oil painting.

It depicted the man alongside a woman Duanmu Huai had never seen before. Judging from their intimate pose, they were likely husband and wife. And just then, the man's voice echoed faintly once more.

"Back then… I never thought I would marry a woman like her…"

As the man muttered, the torches along the corridor lit up one after another, illuminating the path ahead. Oil paintings gradually emerged on the walls, each paired with the man's narration. He spoke of how he had met and married his wife… how she died after a difficult childbirth… how he, deeply in love with her, swore to raise their daughter well.

But happiness didn't last. His young daughter fell gravely ill and, despite all efforts, died in his arms as he cried out in despair. Yet the man did not give up. He devoted himself to research, using all his knowledge and means to bring her back. In the end… he succeeded, and he failed.

"My daughter never called me father. Who exactly is she?" His voice turned hoarse, filled with confusion and sorrow. "I only wanted my daughter to return, so why did I end up creating a new soul? This shouldn't be possible. Aren't memories stored in the brain? Then when I resurrected her body, shouldn't her memories have returned too?"

So that's it… Hearing the man's anguished cry, Duanmu Huai nodded slightly. It was now clear the man was a scholar rather than a mage. Judging by his explanation, he had indeed attempted a Frankenstein-like resurrection, reconstructing his daughter's body and expecting her mind to come back with it.

His reasoning wasn't without logic—human memories were typically stored in the brain, so in theory, reanimating the brain should revive those memories as well… but this world didn't always operate by scientific theory.

"She's not my daughter… but I love her. I wish she could become my daughter—my most perfect creation. This is the only way I can find solace for my real daughter…"

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai and Olgis finally reached the end of the corridor.

Duanmu Huai reached out and pushed open the heavy wooden door. Inside, he saw the man in a white coat slumped in a chair, looking utterly dejected. Behind him, on what appeared to be an operating table, the purple-haired girl lay silently, her eyes closed as if asleep. The man slowly looked up at Duanmu Huai.

"Do you think I did something wrong?"

"To be honest… I'm not sure either," Duanmu Huai replied, spreading his hands. "All I can say is, your daughter has been brought back. Whether or not this is the outcome you truly wanted…"

He trailed off, shrugging.

The man lowered his head again. "You're right. Is this what I really wanted? I don't even know. As a father, I failed—because I didn't truly bring my daughter back. But as a scholar… I succeeded. I created a brand-new soul. A miracle no god has ever achieved!!"

So that's it… a father's remorse mixed with a scholar's pride. No wonder he's so conflicted.

"Then, there's only one thing left for me to do."

With those words, the man stood up, gazing intently at Duanmu Huai. At the same time, a massive skeletal undead took form behind him, its eyes burning with eerie light.

"Come," he declared. "Let me witness your power!"

"Phew…" Duanmu Huai exhaled slowly, gripping the hilt of his warhammer as he stared at the man. Oddly enough, his heart calmed.

Now this... this is the kind of problem I know how to solve.

(End of this chapter)