A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 884 - 621 Pollution Diffusion

"How... how did it come to this?"

"It’s the plague! Prepare for battle!"

Duanmu Huai gripped his War Hammer tightly and strode out of the cave, surveying the surroundings. Under the glow of light, he could see animals from the forest approaching, including wolves, deer, and even wild boars and rabbits. However, at this moment, they were all rotting, with decay and foul stench all around.

"Amelia, I suggest you better pray to your deity for protection. Once infected by the plague, even as a Sacred Knight, there’s only death ahead!"

"Ah, yes!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s order, Amelia also hurriedly bowed her head, grasping her Longsword firmly and knelt down to pray softly.

"Great God of Justice Tyler, please grant us the power to avoid disaster, disease, and evil, to annihilate all wickedness, and to protect the lives of the innocent..."

"———————!"

The next moment, a column of light descended from the sky onto Amelia. She then felt a wave of warmth coursing through her body. She held onto her Longsword tightly and stood up, her body already emitting a faint light, like a human-shaped light bulb. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"Ugh... Shield Spell!"

In contrast to Amelia’s situation, Luganis was having a much harder time. As an Energy Shaping Magician, she had almost no means to defend herself, but fortunately, Luganis was well prepared. She raised her Magic Wand, and a moment later, a circular Field Barrier appeared beside her.

"You all must protect me..."

Looking at those distorted animals outside, Luganis’s voice changed; she absolutely did not want to get bitten by any of those things!

"Ugh..."

As for the black bear, it was now shivering and hiding in a corner of the cave, not daring to even breathe too loudly.

Duanmu Huai clutched his War Hammer and stared at the animals around him. They looked like the animal version of zombies, walking unsteadily, with decay all over their bodies, clearly a sign of plague infection. But... now was not the time to discuss these issues.

"Attack!"

With Duanmu Huai’s command, the battle began.

Ogis raised her hands, and invisible threads quickly unfolded, spreading like a spider.web through the forest. The animals trying to approach were entangled by the threads and then easily sliced into pieces.

On another front, Amelia also began her move. She took up her Longsword and shield, and like a bolt of lightning, she rushed towards the huge deer, which by now had completely deformed—its head was indented like a rotten watermelon, its antlers twisted like coral, and even its twitching brain was visible.

To be honest, just looking at such a scene was enough to make one feel nauseous. Amelia was also forcibly suppressing the revulsion in her heart as she charged towards the opponent.

"—————!!"

Facing Amelia rushing towards it, the giant deer reared high, then powerfully stomped down towards her with its front hooves. Amelia, however, raised her shield to block the stomp attack and then thrust her Longsword forward into the body of the giant deer.

"Eh?"

However, as the longsword penetrated, Emilia realized something was off with the feel of it. It didn’t feel like it had entered a body; instead, it was more like stabbing into a soft, mushy, and rotted cheese, with virtually no resistance at all. But at that moment, something even more unexpected happened.

Suddenly, the wound where the giant deer had been stabbed by the longsword began to expand and crack open. Then, several slender, worm-like tentacles burst forth, not only ensnaring Emilia’s longsword but even swiftly surging up along the blade toward her!

"Ice Cone Spell!"

Just then, a loud shout erupted from behind Emilia, and she saw a spinning ice cone graze past her, striking the giant deer squarely in the chest and sending it flying. Emilia also took the opportunity to grip her longsword tightly and step back, while glancing over her shoulder. There she saw Luganis, face rigid with tension, holding a magic wand and standing not far behind her.

"Be careful, Miss Emilia."

"Thank you, Miss Luganis... Watch out!"

However, while speaking, Emilia noticed a rabbit quietly approaching Luganis. The rabbit then suddenly sprang up, opened its mouth, and lunged at Luganis—only to smash directly into a transparent field barrier.

"Eek—!"

Luganis shrieked in alarm, not just because of the surprise attack, but also because of the terrifying appearance of the rabbit—through the transparent shield, she could clearly see the once adorable bunny now twisted into a monstrous visage. On either side of its head were three blood-red eyes glaring malevolently at her. Moreover, the rabbit’s gaping mouth was no less terrifying—it didn’t look like the mouth of a normal animal opening wide, but more like a fish’s mouth stretched into a large round shape, filled with sharp teeth that seemed to extend back into its throat!

"Don’t come any closer!!"

The sight alone was enough to nearly scare Luganis out of her wits. She screamed instinctively and lifted her magic wand.

"Shattering Sound Wave!!!"

"————!"

The howling sound wave exploded forth, surging forward, instantly pulverizing the mutated rabbit and blowing its fragments away.

Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai was swinging his war hammer, fighting amidst a pack of wolves.

This pack, like the other animals, had also mutated. But for Duanmu Huai, well...

Of all things to mutate into, you had to pick tentacles—I’m familiar with that!

Looking at the wolves before him, baring their gaping maws, revealing what seemed to be tongues mutated into tentacles, Duanmu Huai also felt like raising his right hand to transform into a tentacle, as a nod to his fellow natives.

Look, we’re all part of the tentacle tribe, so how about you let us go... as if!

Die already!

"Boom!!"

The war hammer whistled through the air, smashing a wolf’s head into pulp. Another wolf took the opportunity to pounce from the side and bit onto Duanmu Huai’s shoulder—though unfortunately to no effect. Instead, Duanmu Huai grabbed the wolf’s head and, with a forceful pull, tore it from its body. He then roared and stepped forward. Black Flame erupted from his body, turning into thunder and lightning that spread through the woods. Wherever it went, animals fell and were burned to charred remains.

However, it was clear that the mutations were not confined to the creatures on the ground.

"Gaaaah—!"

A flock of crows also flew overhead, their feathers almost completely fallen off, their wings twisted and deformed like swollen blood vessels writhing and curling together, as they opened their mouths and screeched, diving towards the ground———then, very consciously, they disintegrated into separate chunks of flesh and blood, plummeting down to earth.

It wasn’t until then that Ogis silently lowered her hands.

Dealing with these mutated creatures did not waste much time for everyone; after all, even with mutations, they were just animals. This was like people becoming zombies after being infected by a virus, most of them were still only at the level of ordinary humans, it’s not like they suddenly mastered combat skills upon turning into zombies. Therefore, it didn’t take much effort to wipe out these mutants.

However, the expressions on Emilias and Luganis’s faces were not particularly good-looking. Although the intensity of the battle was not high, the level of disgust those mutants posed... perhaps they had never encountered such repulsive enemies in their lives.

"What on earth are these things?"

Clutching her magic wand, Luganis kept her distance from the corpses of those creatures, unable to approach them.

"Pestilence aberrations."

Duanmu Huai, carrying his war hammer, walked over and glanced at the bodies around.

"It seems this place has been infected."

"But... we’re still some distance from Neverwinter City, right? And it seems like nothing this horrible has happened there."

"We are far from Neverwinter City, but close to Heim Fortress."

In response to Luganis’s puzzled questions, Duanmu Huai shrugged his shoulders, then turned to look at Emilia.

"Right?"

"Yes, just through this forest, across the river is Heim Fortress..."

At this moment, Emilia’s expression also became tense; she agreed with Duanmu Huai’s statement. After all, if such a mutant plague was spreading through Neverwinter City, then it shouldn’t appear so far away. The only place nearby crowded with people was Heim Fortress.

"Then what are we waiting for, let’s go."

Originally, the group had planned to rest here for the night and then head to Heim Fortress the next morning. But after this incident, no one was in the mood to sleep. The corpses of those mutated animals were set ablaze by Duanmu Huai, including the entire woodland - a sight that made Luganis and Emilia twitch at the corners of their eyes, but they also knew there was no alternative, considering it was necessary to prevent the spread of the plague.

In contrast, the black bear was somewhat comical.

"I told you, don’t follow us."

Looking at the black bear holding onto his leg, sobbing with snot and tears, Duanmu Huai was at a loss for words.

"Wuu wuu..."

"Crying is useless, hurry up and run south, as far as you can, whether you survive is up to your luck!"

"Wuu...!"

In the end, it seemed the black bear did understand Duanmu Huai’s words and turned to run south.

As for how far it could run, that was its own problem.

"Alright, let’s go."

This time, even Emilia didn’t object; in fact, she now also wanted to hurry to Heim Fortress to check the situation. If Heim Fortress really had fallen...

With these thoughts, Emilia’s heart fluctuated throughout the journey, and after an indeterminate amount of time, the group went through the woods and arrived at the riverbank, quickly seeing Heim Fortress not far across the river———under the pitch-black night sky, they could see people patrolling the walls with torches in hand, and everything seemed to be peaceful.

"Phew..."

Seeing this scene, Emilia let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, Mr. Duanmu, it looks like Heim Fortress is all normal."

"Hehe."

At Emilia’s words, Duanmu Huai just chuckled and did not respond.

Soon, the group crossed the bridge, approaching the front of Heim Fortress———when a voice came forth.

"Halt, who goes there, what business do you have at Heim Fortress?"

Hearing the other party’s inquiry, Emilia was even more reassured, quickly stepping forward and replying.

"We are an investigation team from Neverwinter City. We’ve discovered a plague spreading in the nearby woods and have come to report!"

"What? Is that so?"

Taken aback by Emilia’s reply, the patrolling soldier was also startled.

"I will report to the commander immediately, please wait a moment!"

After saying these words, the soldier hurriedly turned and left, while the group stood at the entrance.

"Phew..."

Only then did Emilia truly relax, turning her head towards Duanmu Huai.

"Mr. Duanmu, see, Heim Fortress is very normal, there’s nothing wrong....

Uh... Mr. Duanmu, what are you doing?"

However, before Emilia could finish speaking, she saw Duanmu Huai take big strides to the fortress’s main gate, grab his war hammer, and then...

"Tribunal! Open the gates!"

Accompanied by a roar, Duanmu Huai charged forward and slammed into the tightly shut gates of Heim Fortress!!