A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1643 - 1096: Just in Time

Chapter 1643: Chapter 1096: Just in Time

With the arrival of Duanmu Huai, the crisis at Bastion Fortress was temporarily averted. The reason was simple: Duanmu Huai’s previous strike from the sky created a massive gap dozens of meters wide on the frontline battlefield, which was impassable for the Demon army. They could only stare helplessly.

Meanwhile, the fortress commander quickly organized the troops and began reinforcing the defenses.

The students were utterly exhausted, sleeping for an entire day and night before coming back to life... but that’s understandable since they’re still kids.

As for the Archangel, after delivering his message, he disappeared again without a trace. Whether he truly returned or was hiding somewhere else was unknown. Duanmu Huai didn’t care; the fact remained that neither Angels nor Demons were trustworthy. Humans must hold their destiny in their own hands.

"Brave Lord."

At that moment, the fortress commander also came up to the wall and bowed to Duanmu Huai. He held nothing but awe for this Hero who could single-handedly vanquish hundreds of thousands of the Demon Army.

"Oh, morning, need anything?"

"No, just wanted to thank you."

"No need to thank."

"Not just for driving back the demonic attack."

The fortress commander shook his head.

"But also for your students... To be honest, at first, I really thought we couldn’t hold on. But those kids truly surprised us. You must understand, on such a battlefield, even seasoned soldiers can despair and sometimes abandon fighting out of fear. But these children, even with pale faces and trembling bodies, insisted on fighting. And thanks to their help, my soldiers survived such a life-and-death situation..."

"It’s their own choice; I didn’t do anything. If you want to thank someone, thank them."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand, and the commander nodded as well.

"That’s my plan, but may I ask where they are..."

"They’re still sleeping; probably too exhausted. But it’s nothing serious."

"Indeed, they should rest well."

The commander didn’t say much more, just turned to look at the battlefield outside the wall, frowning.

"Frankly, even though we were somewhat prepared for a demonic attack, the fact that Demons would participate as well really caught me off guard."

"Aren’t Demons followers of the Demons? Their participation in battle is normal, right?"

"That’s true, but such a massive army, how the Demons managed to gather remains unknown."

"...Oh, by the way, just a casual question."

"Yes? Brave Lord, do you have a question?"

"Where is the nation of the Demons?"

"The nation of the Demons? It’s in the canyon past the other side of Mount Arreat..."

"Oh, could you mark it on the map for me, please?"

"Of course, no problem, but Brave Lord, this is..."

"Hehe."

Facing the commander’s puzzled gaze, Duanmu Huai merely chuckled, fiddling with the Rose Knot in his hand, as if casually chatting.

"No special reason, just asking."

"Ah, I see..."

Silently marking the location on the map Duanmu Huai provided, the commander said nothing further—some things are better left unknown.

"Well then, Brave Lord, I have work to do, so I’ll take my leave."

"Okay."

After bowing to Duanmu Huai, the fortress commander turned and left.

But at that moment...

"Boom——————!!!"

Just as the fortress commander was about to descend the wall, suddenly, there was a loud roar from the sky! Followed by a blinding flash! The commander instinctively turned to see what had happened, only to be hit by a sudden gust of air that blew him off his feet. Fortunately, Duanmu Huai reacted swiftly, grabbing him; otherwise, falling off the wall could have meant a direct replacement.

"Enemy, enemy attack!"

Clutched by Duanmu Huai and still in shock, the commander shouted urgently, moving quickly to the edge of the wall to look outside... but saw nothing there.

"Huh? What happened just now..."

Confused about the situation, the commander suddenly felt a large shadow casting over him. He looked up and then...

"What is that thing!?"

He saw a strange metal construct floating above him, spreading wings like a bird. It looked like a peculiar triangle, with things resembling legs pointing downwards, expelling massive air currents.

Could it be some sort of demonic weapon?

In the midst of the commander’s confusion, Duanmu Huai’s voice came from beside him.

"Oh, sorry, this is one of our Tribunal’s equipment."

"Oh, I see... You gave me quite a scare, Brave Lord."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s response, the commander finally relaxed. He knew the Tribunal had a lot of bizarre things, like that huge metal war vehicle before which was already impressive, and now they can even create something that flies in the sky...

"I’m sorry, I need to find a place for it to land, that platform over there is fine, right?"

"Of course, then I’ll take my leave first, I need to inform the soldiers not to panic..."

Knowing that it was a Tribunal device, the commander left at ease, and Duanmu Huai made a few gestures signaling the mecha to land on the nearby platform — originally meant for a catapult, but since it was broken, it served well as a temporary landing platform.

Soon, the mecha landed, and the hatch opened. Duanmu Huai saw a figure in a red robe descending from it... with two mechanical arms hanging behind.

Seeing this scene, Duanmu Huai twitched the corner of his mouth, then stepped forward and pulled open the robe.

"Whoa! Sir Knight, why do you just pull my clothes like that when we meet?"

Underneath the robe was a girl with a high ponytail of blue hair, she was none other than Maria, one of the Four Witches in the Duel City World.

"It’s because of your odd appearance; I thought you also started remodeling like those oil men."

Duanmu Huai pulled the robe away and glanced at the mechanical prosthesis on Maria’s back. Thankfully, it’s not a direct biochemical transformation like those oil men, but a backpack-style device.

"Why don’t you learn anything better instead of imitating oil men? Do you also want to have weak flesh and mechanical ascension? If Zhi Jingxiang finds out, she’ll fight me for sure."

Looking at Maria in front of him, Duanmu Huai was speechless. She is considered a genius scientist, capable of creating a tank in a Medieval magic world. Of course, Duanmu Huai wouldn’t let her slip by, so he brought her to the Tribunal, mainly in charge of weapon research and development.

Maria indeed made things easier for Duanmu Huai, she could handle most problems herself.

The only downside is that she seems very fascinated by the Mechanic Religion and the God of All Machines, and now she’s even started cosplaying as an oil man?

Is that okay?

"Oh well, but this is really useful, when I’m busy I can use these to handle things, now I understand how having more hands can be convenient."

"Anyway, have your fun, but don’t make it real."

Duanmu Huai patted Maria’s head, he didn’t want a real oil man appearing in the Tribunal.

"I know, but Sir Knight, your demands are really too tough. Without extra hands, I wouldn’t manage."

"All set?"

Hearing Maria’s complaint, Duanmu Huai arched an eyebrow, and Maria nodded.

"Yes, according to your requirements, I dismantled them and put them in space bags, then brought them over."

"Good, when can we start working?"

"Uh... right now?"

"Find a place with no people to start then."

"Is it that urgent?"

Faced with Duanmu Huai’s demands, Maria was taken aback, while Duanmu Huai nodded with a serious expression.

"I have a bad feeling, or rather, you came just at the right time."

After the experiment with Lumiaire, Duanmu Huai realized that directly bringing a warship took too long, so he thought of another idea: have Maria disassemble the original vessel, put it in space bags, and then bring them here for assembly — only Maria could do this; anyone else would be confused.

Now it seemed, Duanmu Huai’s idea was quite feasible. It’s evident the system’s traversal only considers volume, not quantity, and for Maria to disassemble this thing into pieces, she must have used hundreds of space bags.

And yet even hundreds of space bags are much smaller than a mecha.

The reason behind Duanmu Huai’s urgency also had cause.

After learning the truth of the Worldstone, he was worried that the Angels would be forced to act irrationally. Destroying the Worldstone wasn’t particularly hard for Duanmu Huai, but the problem was, once the Worldstone was destroyed, the seal suppressing humans would vanish, allowing humans to gradually regain their powers that once terrified angels and demons alike.

Would the Angels sit back and watch as humans regain their strength?

Duanmu Huai didn’t believe it for a second! No way!

What troubled him most was the possibility that as soon as he destroyed the Worldstone, Angels might descend and attack humans. Especially in the Kingdom of Heilixi — Duanmu Huai had a lot of stuff on hand, but nothing particularly useful for aerial combat. Fortunately, Maria’s timely presence relieved Duanmu Huai somewhat.

Since Maria arrived, it indicated his plan was successful. Up next was reassembling the disassembled items.

"How many days do you need?"

"Just me? At the very least half a month!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s inquiry, Maria looked at him wide-eyed in surprise—no matter how skilled she was, this was too much!

"I’ll send some Servo Skulls to assist you."

"Then... at least ten days."

Maria calculated again and gave a response.

"Very well, ten days it is."

Duanmu Huai pondered for a moment and nodded. If the plan proceeds smoothly, the ten days wouldn’t be an unbearable loss for him.

"I’m giving you ten days, and after those ten days, it must be completed!"

"...I’ll do my best, Sir Knight."