What was going on?
The orcs had suddenly shifted their focus of attack. The trade convoy, which had been barely holding on, instantly felt the pressure ease. It was only then that they realized something had changed. They looked ahead and saw a towering figure in terrifying armor swinging a massive warhammer, locked in brutal combat with the ferocious orcs.
"Hiss—!! What kind of monster is that?"
One of the soldiers gasped, sucking in a breath as he spoke in shock, and the others were thinking much the same. After all, in the minds of most humans, orcs were the very embodiment of savagery, brutality, and raw physical might. And they weren't far off. Most orcs were massive, monstrously strong, and bloodthirsty to the extreme. Normally, when humans encountered orcs in a head-on clash, the outcome was rarely in their favor.
But the black-armored knight before them was clearly no ordinary human.
They watched as he wielded a thunder-charged warhammer, smashing one orc after another to the ground. Brilliant arcs of lightning danced with each blow, accompanied by explosive thunderclaps that made the battlefield look like a blazing inferno straight from the depths of hell. And yet, rather than cower, the orcs became even more frenzied. This was the kind of battle they lived for!
Only the strong were worth challenging!
Unfortunately for them, Duanmu Huai had no intention of joining their WAAAAAGH.
To outsiders, he might've seemed even more berserk than the orcs themselves—but in truth, Duanmu Huai was completely calm inside, without the slightest ripple of emotion.
On one hand, this wasn't his first time dealing with these monsters. As a seasoned player, he was long since used to slaughtering them.
On the other hand, this was also a form of self-protection unique to Inquisitors.
As mentioned before, the gods of the Warp found it difficult to interfere directly with the material universe. Their most common tactic was to manipulate emotions and tempt mortals toward corruption. In response to the spiritual seduction of the Chaos gods, players had developed four guiding principles—commonly known as the Four Commandments of Judgment.
Fight without frenzy. Think without obsession. Be clean without filth. Enjoy without indulgence.
Fight without frenzy—you may fight, but never lose yourself in bloodlust, or the God of Tyranny will seize the opening.
Think without obsession—you may think, but don't overanalyze, or the God of Trickery will twist your mind like a puppet.
Be clean without filth—keep yourself clean and avoid the filth of the streets, and the God of Decay will stay away.
Enjoy without indulgence—you may enjoy pleasure, but don't abandon restraint, or you'll fall into the trap of the God of Desire.
As long as a player lived by these four commandments, it was very difficult for the evil gods to find a gap through which to influence them. Ultimately, it all boiled down to one rule—always know your limits. Don't throw yourself into madness with no way back.
"Swish—————!!"
While Duanmu Huai was still fighting and killing on the battlefield, Olgis silently appeared at the rear. She raised both hands, and the threads on her fingers flashed. In the next instant, dozens of puppets materialized out of thin air and charged toward the orc horde, blocking the weaker low-level orcs from advancing any further.
The tide of battle shifted once again. The orcs had previously pushed the trade convoy into a desperate situation, but they'd suffered considerable losses in the process. Now, with Duanmu Huai, Olgis, and her puppet army launching a surprise assault, the orcs were once again thrown into chaos, suffering heavy casualties. While orcs were typically known for their relentless, no-retreat style of battle, it didn't matter—no matter how fired up they got, they couldn't summon matter from nothing, nor could they magically unlock invincibility hacks for themselves. In the end, the orcs were smashed to death one after another by Duanmu Huai's relentless hammer strikes...
This just went to show—subjective willpower couldn't override objective reality. Even WAAAAAAGH had its limits.
Boom!!!
When the last orc fell and became a corpse, the battle was finally, truly over.
"Whew...…"
Duanmu Huai took off his helmet and let out a breath. These death-before-retreat orcs were genuinely annoying. Even the Skaven knew to flee and scatter when their formation broke, but orcs? Total annihilation meant nothing to them—after all, their entire existence revolved around fighting.
Winning or losing was secondary.
That's why fighting orcs was such a pain. Winning brought no sense of accomplishment, and losing was just disgraceful.
"Thank you for your help, brave knight...…"
At that moment, the members of the trade convoy cautiously approached. Although Duanmu Huai looked incredibly intimidating, he was at least human—which came as a relief to them. If he had turned out to be an orc or some other monster, things would've taken a very different turn.
"No need to thank me."
Seeing their relatively restrained reaction, Duanmu Huai put his helmet back on.
"After all, we have to take this road too. Can't just let a bunch of orcs run wild here."
As he spoke, he turned his head and noticed the young knight who had been hugging his sword, trying to sneak away. Duanmu Huai snorted and signaled to Olgis. She gave a slight flick of her pinky, and in an instant, the young knight screamed in despair as threads bound his entire body and dragged him back.
"Trying to run? You useless coward. When I told you to fight, you didn't dare, but now you've got the guts to run?"
Duanmu Huai stared coldly at the young knight and gave a dismissive snort. The latter just lay on the ground trembling, too scared to utter a word. At that moment, the caravan leader glanced at the young knight instinctively—and then his eyes widened in shock.
"Young Master Louis? Aren't you Young Master Louis?!"
"...…Eh?"
Hearing the caravan leader call out, the young knight jumped in fright. He quickly lifted his head, and upon recognizing the caravan leader, his face turned pale. He immediately looked away and pretended not to know him.
"You two know each other?"
Seeing this scene, Duanmu Huai asked with interest. The caravan leader hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.
"Yes, Sir Knight… may I ask… what exactly happened…"
"Oh, it's nothing serious. Yesterday this guy called me some despicable demon, challenged me to a duel again and again, and ended up getting knocked down and tied up as my prisoner."
"I see...…"
Hearing this, the caravan leader finally let out a visible sigh of relief.
"To tell you the truth… he's actually the son of our merchant guild president…"
"Oh? So you want to take him back?"
"If… if that's possible…"
"He's yours. Keeping this kind of trash around would only waste food."
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai looked at Olgis, who again manipulated her threads and flung the young knight to the feet of the caravan leader. The caravan leader wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and motioned for his subordinates to carry the still-wailing young knight away. Only after the young man was gone did he turn back to Duanmu Huai and offer him a deep, respectful bow.
"Truly, thank you, kind Sir Knight. If not for you, the young master would likely be dead by now…"
"Oh? Has this idiot always been this dumb?"
"Well...…"
Faced with Duanmu Huai's question, the caravan leader looked a little awkward but still gave a quiet explanation. As expected, that brainless young knight was the son of the president of their merchant guild, Lakeborn Sword. He had always been fond of knights' adventure stories and had even pestered his father to hire knights to train him. But the young man clearly had no real talent. Everyone originally thought it was just a phase—after all, it was normal for kids to dream about becoming knights. He would grow out of it eventually.
That was what they thought at the time.
But what no one expected was that as he grew older, this guy became even more obsessed—completely consumed by knight stories. He would often wander around in knight armor with a sword on his back, imagining some old man in the city was an evil witch, or that a dragon was sealed beneath Carcassonne. He was basically like Don Quixote, constantly stirring up absurd and laughable incidents.
This gave his parents no end of headaches, but they couldn't stop him from pursuing knighthood either. After all, in Bretonnia, becoming a knight was "politically correct." If his parents tried to stop him, and he ran his big mouth outside, the guild's reputation in Bretonnia would be ruined. So they had no choice but to lock him up in their villa to keep him from causing trouble.
No one knew how he managed to sneak out… If he hadn't run into Duanmu Huai, he'd probably already be a corpse.
After all, while Bretonnia was described as a land of pastoral poetry, that only applied to the cities and the nearby rural towns. In a medieval civilization like this, areas between settlements were vast, desolate wildernesses. Bandits and raiders roamed freely, and creatures like orcs and goblins were common.
This LV3 weakling didn't even have a single artifact to protect himself—he would've been instantly killed out there, no question.
Duanmu Huai also explained his own situation. When the caravan leader heard they were from the Empire and trying to find refuge in Bretonnia, he patted his chest and promised that once they returned to Carcassonne, he would report to the guild leader. While Lakeborn Sword wasn't a major guild, lending a hand was no problem.
Having more connections was always a good thing, and that was Duanmu Huai's thought as well. So they decided to travel together toward Carcassonne. Now that they no longer needed that idiot as a guide, Duanmu Huai simply handed him back to the caravan. With how brain-dead that guy was, he'd probably end up leading them straight into an orc camp.
Of course, before setting off, the caravan didn't forget to torch the battlefield—burning the corpses of both allies and enemies alike, reducing everything to ash. It wasn't because Bretonnia practiced cremation. As previously mentioned, orcs were essentially a fungus species. Upon death, their bodies released massive amounts of spores into the ground, which would later grow into a new horde of little orcs.
If they didn't eradicate the roots now, the next time they traveled this route, they'd be facing an even bigger horde screaming WAAAAAAGH at them.
"Master, what was the deal with that human?"
As the group hit the road again, Olgis asked her question to Duanmu Huai with visible confusion.
"You mean that idiot? What about him?"
Duanmu Huai wasn't surprised Olgis had questions. After all, her main quest was to observe humanity, understand them, and experience their souls. Human behavior would naturally be filled with contradictions and confusion in her eyes.
"I don't understand… Why did he muster the courage to challenge you at first, only to surrender so easily after losing?"
Olgis was clearly puzzled.
"It's simple. The guy got scared. Don't be fooled by how fired up he looked at the beginning, all hot-blooded and fearless—that was just an illusion. The first time he attacked me, he did have a bit of a 'do-or-die' mindset. But by the second time, he was fighting for his pride… because he couldn't stand the idea of running away with his tail between his legs."
"But after that, he still kept following us?"
"He couldn't let it go. That's what happens with those half-assed types—no real courage to charge in and die, but also too prideful to run away. So he tagged along, hoping maybe another opportunity would show up."
Duanmu Huai curled his lip.
"That's why once he was caught, he surrendered so easily. The whole brave act was fake—he's just a paper tiger. One slap and he's flattened. He just didn't want to admit that he's a coward afraid of death, so he came up with excuses like 'choosing to serve a demon out of his own will' to save face."
Typical of chuunibyou. Always into skulls, defying the world, death metal aesthetics… edgy and cool on the outside… that guy was no exception.
"Humans are truly complicated…"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's explanation, Olgis couldn't help but sigh.
To that, Duanmu Huai only gave a chuckle.
Because it was true.
(End of Chapter)