A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 900 - 633: Happy Journey Begins

The sudden raid by the Drow Elves had failed, and naturally, they were met with a counterattack——Among the guests residing in the Black Oak Tree, there were also many powerful adventurers and mages. Perhaps at the start, they had not noticed anything amiss, but when the battle was truly underway, unless one was blind and deaf, everyone realized the Drow Elves’ attack and quickly rose to fight back.

The result was foreseeable. By the time the city guard team arrived, that group of Drow Elves assault squad had been wiped out.

"These damn dark-skinned bastards."

The Guard Team Leader’s face turned livid as he looked at the bodies on the ground, unable to contain his rage. The Drow Elves’ raids never left any survivors. This time was the same, nearly half of those inside the Black Oak Tree, including staff and guests, were killed by the Drow Elves. Those who survived were mostly battle-hardened and experienced veterans.

"How odd, these dark bastards seldom come up to the surface."

A Dwarf carrying a Battle Axe furrowed his brow and stroked his beard——he was one of the inn’s guests, and just moments before, he had smashed the skull of an unlucky Drow Elf with his axe.

"These Fallen Ones never appear on the surface easily. If they’ve come up here, they must be plotting something."

Standing beside the Dwarf was an Elf Ranger; his delicate brows were deeply furrowed, his face grave——The Elves and the Drow had always been mortal enemies, no matter the time.

"Could it be they were targeting you, you skinny stick?"

"I don’t think I’m worth a whole Drow assault squad coming after me, but this is indeed a very bizarre situation."

In response to the Dwarf’s jest, the Elf Ranger shook his head.

"Besides, what we killed were just scattered troops. Someone has taken out the main forces of these Fallen Ones. Otherwise, things might have gotten even messier."

"You mean that?"

The Guard Team Leader turned his head, looking toward the end of the corridor with a hint of disgust——there, the bodies of several Drow Elves lay on the ground. However, their appearance was very strange; the muscles and bones of these Drow Elves had melted away, making them look like wax figures scorched by fire, turning into clumps of "flesh." Their expressions were even more bizarre——half of their faces showed a sort of intoxicated smile, as if they were basking in supreme joy, while the other half showed a twisted fear, horrifying and strange.

The two expressions appearing simultaneously on a melted face was simply nauseating to behold.

"By the gods above, I’ve never seen such gruesomely killed fellows."

The Dwarf glanced over there, then quickly looked away and shivered.

"Although I don’t know what these guys went through, my intuition tells me they must have suffered greatly before dying. This couldn’t be the work of the mages, could it?"

"Sadly, I don’t believe there’s any spell that can cause such an effect."

Just then, a middle-aged man wearing a White Robe and holding a Magic Wand descended the stairs. He came over to the pile of bodies with keen interest and began examining them closely.

"It does seem like they were attacked by some sort of Illusion Technique. Considering illusion only attacks the mind, not the body, I do not recall any spell that could turn a creature’s body into something so..."

As he spoke, the Mage stirred the body with his Magic Wand——and the body of the Dark Elf began to undulate as though it were fermenting dough.

"...this strange."

"Hey, you Mages always like to fiddle with weird stuff like this, don’t you?"

Hearing that nauseating sound, the Dwarf immediately protested, and the Mage spread his hands.

"I told you, this is not the work of Magic. Perhaps the Elf has some insights?"

"I don’t know much either..."

The Elf Ranger looked at the half-melted bodies with disgust.

"All I know is that the Evil God they worship does indeed inflict some form of punishment on the Drow when they fail to please her, but it usually seems to have something to do with spiders..."

"Ah, so maybe that creature now has a hobby of making human dough."

The Dwarf muttered under his breath.

"I don’t think so. They were the main force, and from their current positions, it looks like they were aiming to attack someone in particular. Maybe the Drow found their prey, attacked, and then were eliminated by their target..."

"So who could have done it?"

In the face of the debate between the Elf Ranger and the Dwarf Warrior, Duanmu Huai yawned.

"Maybe it was a handsome good Samaritan passing by who doesn’t leave a name?"

Kasim and Roxia just stood by dumbfounded, unable to join in the conversation. Even as heroes who saved Neverwinter City, they were still rookie adventurers who hadn’t been on many adventures. Fortunately, the Dark Elf attack was discovered by them just a step late, which was why they were standing here instead of becoming corpses ready to be carried out.

As for Amelia, she knelt there praying for the souls of the innocent victims, asking for their peace without joining in such pointless discussions.

After discussing for a while, nobody came up with any useful suggestions. Even Duanmu Huai didn’t know what those Drow were doing bothering to come to the surface when they were just bored. He was aware of the Drow tradition of attacking surface Elf communities, but that was usually deep in the mountains and forests; the Drow wouldn’t be so idle as to cause trouble in Deepwater City... Anyway, it shouldn’t concern him.

Nothing useful was found on the bodies of those Drow Elves either, as Drow Elves would never be so foolish as to write their mission targets on paper. The Guard Team Leader conducted a search and questioned everyone present, only to leave frustrated and empty-handed — it just so happened to be his shift on this dreadful night, and he could already foresee the miserable fate awaiting him.

Meanwhile, the innkeeper hurried over, looking at his badly damaged inn, he felt like fainting. As an apology, he announced that all the customers present would not be charged, and said the inn would close immediately for repairs — the innkeeper certainly couldn’t go find the Drow in the Dark Region to demand compensation; the loss was almost entirely his.

The Black Oak Tree attack immediately became the top news of the day. When Duanmu Huai and others were having breakfast at a nearby pub, they could already hear many people discussing the incident.

"Big cities are truly terrifying,"

Kasim remarked as he sipped his soup.

"When I was in Neverwinter, I never thought I’d be attacked at an inn."

"Generally speaking, Drow seldom come to the surface, let alone a multicultural hub like Deepwater City. They’re not exactly a race with a good reputation."

Duanmu Huai patted Ogis’s little head as he spoke.

"But I didn’t expect that group of Drow Elves to be so cruel. They didn’t even spare the children working there..."

Amelia clenched her fists tightly. Honestly, looking at the bread in front of her, she didn’t have the slightest appetite.

"What else would you expect? Do you think the Drow Elves’ bad reputation was made up out of thin air? They’re not a benevolent kind. Typically, if you encounter a Drow Elf, don’t hesitate to strike. One hundred out of a hundred times, you won’t make the mistake of hitting a good person."

Duanmu Huai scoffed, then turned to Kasim and Roxia.

"Remember this, this is the way of the Drow Elves. Here it’s still the surface; they don’t have resistance to sunlight. But once we get to the Dark Region, that’s the Dark Elves’ home field. By then, you’ll face relentless attacks and assassinations of this intensity 24/7."

"You can’t be serious..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai speak, Roxia’s face suddenly turned pale, and Kasim didn’t fare any better.

"This is the Dark Region. What did you expect, a picnic? If it were really that simple, then those adventurers wouldn’t all fail to return."

The Drow attack was the first time these surface rookies truly experienced the terror and cruelty of the Dark Region. Except for Duanmu Huai and Ogis, the other three hadn’t had much advantage in their battles with the Drow Elves, having barely managed to deal with their enemies by exerting tremendous effort.

But those they faced were just the remnants of a Drow raiding party.

And yet, there were many more such enemies underground...

However, no one backed down. Although the atmosphere over breakfast was a bit grim, after eating, Kasim, Roxia, and Amelia all went to purchase supplies, making preparations for their journey to the underground.

"Young calves are not afraid of tigers,"

Duanmu Huai shook his head while holding a cup of honey tea, sitting on a chair. Actually, he now rather hoped they would back down. But unfortunately, it seemed they were not going to give up so easily. Youthful, passionate, reckless — not altogether a bad thing, he mused.

But...

"Alright, Ogis, time for us to head out."

Duanmu Huai stood up.

He had no intention of continuing to travel with them, especially after experiencing his "triple threat" techniques. Duanmu Huai was eager to delve deeper into the Dark Region and indulge in some good battles to gain experience points and to level up Pleasure God and Old God’s Will as soon as possible.

Having them follow along would make it hard to let loose completely. Especially Amelia, the Sacred Knight — who knew if she might complicate things with some troublesome words.

So...

"The time for a joyful outing has arrived. Let’s set off,"

Duanmu Huai lowered his head to Ogis and spoke, and she put down the book she was holding and climbed onto Duanmu Huai’s shoulder in a practiced manner. Then, Duanmu Huai glanced down the street and walked away in the opposite direction — unlike the others, he was well aware of the situation in Deepwater City and knew the entryways to the paths leading to the Dark Region. Even by himself, Duanmu Huai was unlikely to encounter any danger.

As for the task of caring for the rookies, he would leave that to someone more adept.