Warhammer Fanfic: Starting with a Core Cabin

Dealing with the man wasn't particularly difficult. As soon as his health bar appeared, Duanmu Huai charged forward with Olgis and quickly took him down. Afterward, they returned to the real world. However, staring at the system prompt before him, Duanmu Huai didn't feel even a bit satisfied.

[Quest: The Angry Soul — Completed]

[Quest Evaluation: Barely Passing]

[Although you were not his first choice, your demonstrated combat power barely earned his approval]

[Triggered follow-up quest: The Sleeping Girl]

[Soul Cards +5]

Damn it all… Duanmu Huai really wanted to swear. He knew that repeated failures in the instance would lower his final rating, but this sarcastic tone? What was with that subtle disdain in the system's words? You've got no right to judge me when you're the one giving out bottom-tier rewards!

By the end, Duanmu Huai had finally pieced everything together. The man was torn between the guilt of failing his daughter and the pride of having created a new life—agonizing over both identities, looking for peace. Then, just as Duanmu Huai arrived, the bastard dumped all of his burden, went to that world to sleep forever with his "daughter," and left the mess behind for someone else to clean up!

What the hell? You chase your own so-called peace and then shove all your troubles onto someone else before bailing? You're a complete scumbag... At this point, Duanmu Huai only regretted not smashing his head into dust earlier when he had the chance.

Even the quest title "The Angry Soul" had misled him. Duanmu Huai originally assumed it referred to the purple-haired girl's rage over her father's death. In the end, the "angry soul" was actually the man himself, consumed by self-loathing and frustration over his own twisted desires and cowardice—so he was just mad at himself the whole time?

I really should've crushed you completely... Wait, I already did. Never mind. No point arguing with a dead guy.

Duanmu Huai closed the quest window in silence and turned to the newly received soul cards. Because of the low evaluation, he only got five basic cards—and one of them couldn't even be used.

[Ghost Mansion (Bronze)]

[Cost: 1]

[Whenever your follower (excluding vengeful spirits) is destroyed, summon a vengeful spirit to the battlefield]

[Phantom (Bronze)]

[Cost: 2]

[Attack: 2]

[Defense: 2]

[Lethal]

[Undying Grudge (Bronze)]

[Cost: 2]

[Deal 3 damage to one enemy target]

[Necromancy (2): Damage increases to 5]

[Death's Shortcut (Bronze)]

[Cost: 2]

[Grant one of your followers the (Lethal) effect]

[Ansejo (??)]

[Cost: 3]

[Attack: 2]

[Defense: 2]

[Sealed (Cannot be used)]

Five cards, four usable, and all of them bronze-tier. The last one was even sealed—totally unplayable. Well, he wasn't expecting much anyway. These were necromancy-type cards, and necromancy cards had their own unique mechanics. Many of their effects required a certain number of fallen units in the graveyard to activate the (Necromancy) trait.

For example, the [Undying Grudge] card meant that once there were at least two dead cards in the graveyard, its Necromancy effect could be triggered, increasing the original 3 damage to 5. Of course, activating Necromancy would consume two cards from the graveyard in the process.

And those dead cards naturally came from units destroyed in battle. Fortunately, Duanmu Huai wasn't short on corpses—after all, he could summon puppets endlessly, and each destroyed puppet would add one to the graveyard tally.

Right now, Duanmu Huai had at least a hundred cards stocked in his graveyard, more than enough to fuel his combos. That was the beauty of it: with Necromancy-type cards in hand, he could form a positive loop—flood the field with puppets, let them die, and then use [Undying Grudge] to take out enemies.

In the future, once he obtained higher-tier Necromancy cards, their power would only scale further when paired with his puppet spam. Even more valuable was Duanmu Huai's biggest gain this time—[Death's Shortcut], a bronze card.

And the reason was simple: it granted the (Lethal) effect! Lethal! In Necromancy terms, (Lethal) was a rule-based instant-death curse. Unless the target had specific immunities—like being immune to special effects or only vulnerable to direct damage—it meant certain death with just a touch.

This also meant that if Duanmu Huai encountered another high-level demon like a Bloodthirster, he wouldn't even need to risk sending Olgis into battle. He could simply summon a puppet, cast [Death's Shortcut] to grant it (Lethal), then have it charge in and make contact—and boom, instant kill.

Of course, Duanmu Huai didn't plan to use this card on himself or Olgis. That was because the (Lethal) effect was permanent and wouldn't go away unless the unit died. For safety's sake, it was far more efficient to pair it with disposable puppets.

That way, it was both cost-effective and energy-efficient, not to mention expendable. He could summon, kill, and replace them freely—no need to worry about long-term consequences. Plus, with this card paired with [Phantom] and [Vengeful Spirit], clearing out the minions of the God of Decay would be significantly easier.

As for the follow-up quest, [The Sleeping Girl], Duanmu Huai couldn't complete it yet. The objective required him to visit at least five Necromancy-type fragment worlds. So far, he hadn't even found the entrance to the next one. All he could do now was wait and take things step by step.

Anyway, the core card he obtained didn't seem especially powerful at first glance. With only 2 points each in attack and defense, Duanmu Huai finally understood how the purple-haired girl had gone toe-to-toe with him—she was simply average. Even though it was a core card, he honestly couldn't see what was so special about it.

All in all, he would just leave it for now. After obtaining six soul cards, Duanmu Huai left the Fallen Moon Forest and returned to Silver City. Although the elf scout had provided him with several pieces of information, Duanmu Huai hadn't triggered any quests aside from the Fallen Moon Forest one, so he didn't waste time investigating further—if no quest triggered, it was probably just background noise.

Returning to Silver City, it still looked just as dilapidated. There were hardly any pedestrians on the streets, only a few scattered soldiers patrolling the walls. The broken city gate had finally been repaired with great effort. This wasn't surprising—Duanmu Huai had heard from the elf scout before leaving that most of the residents had fled the city in panic due to the Skaven and cultist attacks.

After nodding to the castle guards, Duanmu Huai stepped into the castle. However, to his surprise, when he entered the main hall, he didn't see Alisa, her mother, or even Captain Cardo. Instead, the person waiting for him was the same man who had led the reinforcements earlier…

What was his name again? …Whatever. No need to remember a dead man's name.

This man was now lounging confidently on the lord's seat, gazing at Duanmu Huai with a faint smile. "Ah, Sir Black Knight, I must say I'm truly surprised. I didn't expect you to come back."

"I'm here to see Alisa. Where is she?" Duanmu Huai swept a glance around and asked in a low tone. Hearing this, the man smiled smugly.

"Ah, rest assured. Miss Alisa and her mother are quite safe… As for you… perhaps you should be more concerned about your own situation."

As he spoke, the man snapped his fingers. Instantly, a large group of armed cultists bearing the mark of Tyranny surged out, surrounding Duanmu Huai with crossbows, longswords, and shields raised.

"What is the meaning of this?" Duanmu Huai asked coldly, sweeping his gaze over them.

The man remained seated, his tone calm. "It's nothing, really. I've simply come to an agreement with certain parties. They hope I can… keep you here for a while—AHHHHHH!!!"

Before he could finish, Duanmu Huai's warhammer had already swung out, smashing straight into the man's legs with a deafening boom, shattering bone and dropping him instantly.

"Attack! Attack!!" someone shouted in panic.

The cultists of Tyranny immediately raised their crossbows and aimed at Duanmu Huai's head.

But the next moment, the entire scene before them split in half—literally. The soldiers in the hall, armed to the teeth, were suddenly sliced into dozens of clean sections, their limbs and torsos falling apart and thudding to the ground in a grotesque heap.

Only then did Olgis lower her hands. The glow of her puppet threads shimmered faintly between her fingers.

Duanmu Huai didn't even glance at the remains. He simply walked forward, step by step, toward the writhing usurper.

"You dared to collude with an evil god, betray order, and become a dog of Chaos."

"Y-You… Don't come any closer!!"

The black-armored figure towering over him left the man pale with terror. He tried to crawl away, dragging his broken legs, but it was useless.

"I am a lord personally appointed by the Emperor! If you kill me, you'll be defying the Empire—AHHHHHH!!"

Duanmu Huai stomped down on his outstretched hand with full force, crushing it into pulp.

"So what?"

"…You… You're resisting His Majesty the Emperor…"

Duanmu Huai didn't reply. He simply picked up the warhammer that had shattered the man's legs, raised it high, and stared coldly at the traitor beneath him.

"Anyone who betrays order and throws in with Chaos must die. Whether it's an emperor or a king—if they serve Chaos, they must be eliminated."

Then, he brought the warhammer down.

Bang!!!

Blood and brain matter splattered across the wall. The man's body twitched like a gutted fish, then collapsed limply, never to move again.

"Hmph." Duanmu Huai hefted his warhammer and turned away, not sparing even a glance at the corpse.

He hadn't expected this at all. Looks like reality really isn't as simple as a game…

"Oh? I didn't think you'd be so fast… I was hoping I'd make it in time."

Just as Duanmu Huai was pondering the situation, a familiar voice called out from behind. He turned to see the elf scout helping a wounded Cardo as she waved at him.

Behind them stood a shaken but unharmed Alisa and her mother.

"But fortunately… looks like I wasn't too slow either, huh?"

(End of this chapter)