After learning all this from Azura, Duanmu Huai quickly locked onto his target.
The first to be defeated was naturally the legendary World-Eater Alduin. According to Azura, this great one's origins were extraordinary—he was the eldest son of the Dragon God Akatosh, and even an immortal being. Alduin had once tried to destroy this continent, but had been banished to the other side of time by humans using an Elder Scroll. In other words, Alduin had not died all these years, but had merely been exiled hundreds of years into the future…
Now Alduin was about to return, and only the Dragonborn could completely destroy him.
Well… although Azura had said so, Duanmu Huai did not buy into that.
After all, in games there were countless so-called bosses that couldn't technically be killed, but wasn't the Doom Slayer born to break such rules? Since the Doom Slayer could even kill demon lords completely, he refused to believe he couldn't also kill a dragon.
Could this thing really be stronger than a Champion Eternal or a Greater Daemon of Chaos?
As for what came next, naturally, were the Daedric Princes.
Now that the Daedra already knew of Manaria's existence, hiding information about Manaria had lost its meaning. In Duanmu Huai's eyes, the best approach was to invade Oblivion himself before they invaded Manaria, smash a few Daedra, and make them understand his strength. Only by killing one to warn a hundred could he make the rest drop any thoughts of extending their claws toward Manaria.
Of course, that was only treating the symptoms. But as long as it bought Manaria a little more time, so that Heaven could once again descend, it would be enough to deal with a Daedric invasion from Oblivion.
As for clues… the vampire he was currently tracking was the best lead. By following this thread, Duanmu Huai intended to find out which idiot Daedra dared to invade Manaria, then track it back to its Oblivion realm and chop that bastard to pieces.
After all, invading Hell wasn't something new for Duanmu Huai—he was well-practiced.
Naturally, while Duanmu Huai had things to do, others weren't idle either.
Lorena, as a missionary priestess of the Cathedral Order, was traveling through all of Skyrim on a religious tour. According to her, she had already communicated with several of the Nine Divines. At this point, Lorena was essentially acting as the representative of the Cathedral Order from Manaria, engaging in diplomacy in the name of her God of Heaven.
Well, this was a bit lofty as diplomacy went, but with Sahariel at her side, Duanmu Huai wasn't worried anything would happen to Lorena.
He naturally had no objections to this—if they could gain support from the local deities, so much the better. He also reminded Lorena to investigate information about the Cult of the Dragon, the only known lead related to Alduin.
As for Anne, she had buried herself in the College of Winterhold's library, unable to tear herself away. Duanmu Huai could only instruct her to research as much as possible in the library, to see if she could find information about the Daedra or Alduin. After all, once that princess's addiction to books kicked in, there really wasn't much else to ask of her.
As for those foolish Thalmor elves, Duanmu Huai put them at the very bottom of his priorities. In his eyes, they were the easiest to handle. Once the elven armies gathered, all he had to do was find a warship and bombard them from orbit, and those long-eared bean sprouts would sing surrender soon enough.
Civilization-level crushing was unreasonable by nature. If you don't like it, then field a warship of your own.
From his talk with Azura, Duanmu Huai not only gained a lot of information, but also completed the previously triggered hidden quest.
[Hidden Quest "Dark Shroud" Phase One Complete]
[You have learned the secret from the darkness, but this is only the beginning]
[Quest Reward: Random Gift Box +1]
["Dark Shroud" Phase Two Activated]
[Quest Objective: Stop the vampires' plan and utterly destroy their conspiracy]
"A random gift box, huh…"
Looking at the square red box in his hand, like the kind you'd place under a Christmas tree, Duanmu Huai's mouth twitched. This was a type of loot box unique to Star Sea Online. Unlike others, these didn't drop powerful weapons or skills—only cosmetic decorations.
Things like charms, clothes, masks, that sort of thing with no special abilities.
But, to be fair, some of the things you could get were valuable.
Back in the game, the female character Duanmu Huai used had worn a Starlight Robe that cost nearly a million to buy. It had no special ability, but looked absolutely stunning. That was something opened from one of these gift boxes.
Of course, with Duanmu Huai's current physique, he figured… there was no chance of pulling a dress again.
Pity he was playing single-player now. Otherwise, if he pulled something good, he could sell it on the forums.
Muttering to himself, Duanmu Huai reached out and opened the gift box. Smoke puffed out from the box, followed by a system prompt.
[You have opened the Random Gift Box]
[You have obtained Special Item—Equipment Shader]
An equipment shader, huh…
Seeing the system prompt, Duanmu Huai frowned. This thing was useful in a sense—it allowed him to change the colors of all his gear. But for him, it felt a little… wait?
Got it!!
Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up. He'd already thought of how to use it!
The night passed quickly.
"Huahhh…"
When Guleya stepped out of the inn, she yawned. To be honest, the things she had learned yesterday had shaken her deeply. For Duanmu Huai it meant much, but even for her it was shocking—especially after hearing that only the Dragonborn could destroy Alduin. She couldn't help hesitating—should she start learning Dragon Shouts? If she was the only one who could use them, then…
"Yo, Guleya, what are you thinking about?"
As Guleya pondered, Duanmu Huai's voice came from behind her. She turned to him.
"Ah, Sir Knight, I was thinking…"
But before she could finish, Guleya froze in place, dumbstruck.
"Hm? What's wrong? Something troubling you?"
"No, that can wait, Sir Knight. But… what happened to you?!"
No wonder she was so shocked. The armor Duanmu Huai wore now was completely different from what she remembered!
She remembered his old armor as a massive black suit, inlaid with golden skulls, terrifying in appearance.
But now, the armor's color had completely changed!
The black had become pure white. The skulls were still there, but painted pink like those of a girl. Even the helmet, which had once resembled a grim skull, now looked like the head of a bunny with big buck teeth!
"Sir, Sir, Sir Knight, what happened to you?"
Looking at this bizarrely painted armor, Guleya instinctively backed away, unease in her eyes.
"Hm? Wasn't this armor normally scary? So I thought of a way to change its paint job. How about it? Doesn't look scary now, right?"
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai spread his palm. In his hand was a painted pink paw pad.
"See, even paw pads! Not scary at all now, right?"
"Uh… well… I guess it's not that scary anymore…"
Guleya didn't know what to say. True, the skull armor had looked terrifying at first, but once she got used to it, it hadn't felt so bad. But this paint job… the more she looked at it, the creepier it seemed.
Especially that bunny head helmet. Duanmu Huai had drawn two big eye sockets, painted the intake vent into white buck teeth, added a wide grinning mouth, and even drew two floppy ears on the sides.
It looked accurate enough, but… for some reason, when the bunny's crimson eyes flashed and it grinned at her, Guleya felt a chill in her heart. It didn't feel like a bunny at all, but like some monster disguised as a bunny.
It might not look so scary at first glance, but… why did it feel more disturbing the longer she looked at it?
"Ah… well… it is… kind of cute…"
Guleya turned her head quickly. She felt she couldn't keep looking—if she did, she'd be guaranteed nightmares tonight.
"Right? This is my masterpiece."
Duanmu Huai was proud. He had spent half the night fixing this paint job, and now he was thrilled. At least, at first glance, people shouldn't be frightened of him anymore.
At that moment, the Vigilant also stepped out of the inn.
"Good morning you two… huh?! Warrior, what are you wearing?!"
"Oh, just changed up the style a bit. Not bad, right?"
"Uh… well…"
The Vigilant glanced up and down at Duanmu Huai's armor, then quickly looked away.
"Well… let's move on. We should reach the Hall of the Vigilants today."
Soon, the group set out again toward the Hall of the Vigilants. Along the way, for reasons unknown, both Guleya and the Vigilant were completely silent. Duanmu Huai, walking behind them, was smug. After all, earlier they had passed some carts and travelers. Though people were shocked by his new appearance, they didn't immediately run away like before. This proved that his change of image strategy had worked quite well.
But this calm journey didn't last long.
When they crested the next hill, they saw black smoke rising from the valley below, and buildings engulfed in roaring flames.
"The Hall of the Vigilants is under attack?!"
Seeing this, the Vigilant was horrified.
"Who dares to attack the Hall of the Vigilants?!"
Realizing the seriousness, they hurried forward toward the burning hall.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!!"
But just as they neared it, vicious barking erupted. In the next moment, several jet-black hounds with glowing red eyes came charging toward them.
Seeing these blood hounds, the Vigilant's face turned grim.
"Vampires?!"
As if to confirm his suspicion, several vampires in black robes appeared from behind, wielding bloodstained weapons. In their hands were severed human limbs and heads, which they licked with laughter as fresh blood dripped.
"You damn bastards!!"
The Vigilant roared in fury, and at the same time Duanmu Huai leapt forward, warhammer in hand, charging the vampires.
To match his new paint job, Duanmu Huai had even altered the appearance of his Thunder Hammer. The hammerhead was now painted into a bright yellow carrot, looking surprisingly lifelike and cute.
But its lethality was completely unchanged.
Squelch!!!
The hammer swung and instantly crushed a vampire into pulp. Duanmu Huai then swept it sideways, cleaving two vampires in half. Their broken bodies flew apart, blood spraying across his white armor, painting it with dark red streaks.
Watching the giant white bunny, grinning as it swung a carrot hammer through a rain of blood and gore, Guleya gasped.
Tonight, it seemed she would have nightmares for sure.
(End of Chapter)