The moment Oblivion pierced through the Goblin Shaman’s heart, the battlefield seemed to pause.

"Khh...!"

The creature convulsed violently around the blade.

Dark, corrupted blood poured from its mouth while the corrupted Mana surrounding the shrine destabilised instantly. The black fog twisting around the structure began to collapse inward, with sharp, screeching noises like thousands of insects dying at once.

Then everything became silent.

The corpses and undead all collapsed to the ground, and experience income started to display in the corner of Luka’s vision.

Luka narrowed his eyes.

His breathing slowed slightly.

"Is it over?" Galatea suddenly asked, while dragging her sword from a goblin corpse, painting an arc of blood across the stone pillar.

There was a moment of peace in his heart.

His muscles all relaxed as his fury and stress dissipated. Wanting to answer her, he quickly turned away from the Goblin.

"Yea—Hrrk!?"

A sharp pain spread from his stomach, sharp bone fingers penetrated through his waist.

The sudden agony robbed the breath from Luka’s lungs.

"...Ghk!"

Blood trickled from his mouth as his body jerked violently forward.

The bone fingers protruding from his stomach slowly curled and snapped into place as they dug deeper into his flesh.

Luka’s eyes widened before instantly shrinking.

He’d missed the sign.

The experience from all the goblins slain made him misunderstand.

Not once did the experience of slaying the Goblin Shaman appear, though he thought it was just due to the sheer number of them.

He was wrong.

Behind him, the Goblin Shaman twitched.

Its ruined body had split apart from the chest downward while Oblivion remained lodged through its destroyed heart. Yet despite that fatal wound, corrupted purple Mana still pulsed throughout its flesh like a second heartbeat.

"Kih...kihih..."

The Goblin laughed weakly.

Its remaining arm trembled unnaturally before stabbing another sharpened bone limb directly through Luka’s side.

Galatea’s expression froze.

"...LUKA!"

A violent purple eruption exploded from the Goblin’s corpse, shaking the shrine as the surrounding bodies rose slowly into the air.

The fallen goblins scattered across the battlefield convulsed like puppets whose strings were yanked upward all at once. Flesh tore apart, bones snapped free from corpses before launching through the air toward the shrine.

Luvia immediately leapt backwards from the wall.

"W-What the hell is this thing doing!?"

Luka grabbed the bone arm protruding through his waist with both hands before jerking it down, snapping the hand clean off.

"...You disgusting..." Luka growled through clenched teeth.

The Goblin’s bloodshot eyes rolled upward with maddened delight.

"KRRRRAAAAAK!"

Then the corpse exploded apart.

Not outward.

Inward.

Every surrounding corpse, bone fragment and strand of corrupted flesh compressed violently toward the Goblin Shaman like a collapsing vortex.

Galatea’s face paled.

"...It’s absorbing them?"

It wasn’t using corpse explosion, but corpse absorption!

"Damn it!" Luka kicked the Shaman away, his movements dull and sluggish as he dragged Oblivion free.

The grotesque corpse tumbled across the shrine floor before violently convulsing.

Then the absorption accelerated.

Bones ripped free from nearby goblin corpses and shot through the air like arrows before embedding themselves into the Shaman’s swelling flesh. Rotting limbs fused while thick purple veins pulsed wildly beneath layers of expanding muscle.

The shrine groaned beneath the weight.

"KRRRRAAAAAAAK!"

The scream no longer sounded like a goblin.

But some kind of abomination born from the dark abyss.

Luka staggered backwards while clutching his bleeding waist, his vision blurred, and pain numbed his senses. The injury was bad, though he wouldn’t die... the bleeding constantly drained his life force.

Though his Miasma could regenerate most wounds, the depth of damage caused it to take more Sinful Energy than he currently had.

After using Inferno twice, his current tank was empty.

Galatea immediately stepped in front of him.

"...Fall back, My Lord."

A dense purple aura with no corruption aura surrounded her body as she raised her greatsword toward the transforming abomination.

Tap!

Luvia landed beside them soundlessly atop the fractured shrine.

She watched the abomination forming, focusing her golden pupils on the storm of corpses, both human and Goblin, protecting it.

"We should fight that thing with everyone!"

Luka’s expression darkened.

The growing mass of flesh slowly rose to its feet.

Too many limbs protruded from its body; it was like something from a nightmare. Dozens of arms, six legs all arranged in a bizarre and dysfunctional manner, and yet thanks to the necromancy, it worked.

Goblin faces writhed across swollen muscle only to melt back inside moments later with jagged bones piercing outward like armour as the monster leaked a foul-smelling black mist from its mouth.

And at the centre of the abomination, growing from its chest, was the Goblin Shaman, who smiled even wider than before.

Its broken torso remained partially visible within the mass.

"Kih...kihihihihi..."

Luka spat blood onto the shrine floor.

"...Of course, a filthy necromancer would become this sort of abomination."

Not giving them a chance to adapt after the last corpses became useless waste and disintegrated, the abomination took its first step.

A low crack sounded as it crushed the shrine beneath its feet.

The entire shrine trembled beneath its weight.

Wood splintered apart while shattered stone rolled from the stairs below. Despite its grotesque appearance, the monster moved with terrifying force, dragging its oversized limbs across the battlefield like a rabid beast stitched together by madness.

"Kraaaaaak!"

A massive arm swung downward, smashing at Galatea and the shrine.

Galatea reacted instantly.

"Hah!"

She raised her greatsword with both hands just before impact.

The collision exploded with enough force to crack the floor beneath her boots. Her aura exploded in a dense burst as she gritted her teeth, muscles bulging to the limit as she fought the overwhelming strength. "Agh... damn it...!"

Her feet lifted from the ground as it forced her backwards several metres.

The creature didn’t stop.

Another arm slammed downward immediately after the first, then another, and another, as it rained blows.

The shrine collapsed where Galatea had stood moments earlier.

"...Kh!"

She slid backwards across broken timber, her boots carving deep trenches into the wood as splinters exploded around her. Every strike from the abomination grew heavier than the last.

It wasn’t fighting intelligently.

It simply crushed everything in its path with raw force.

"KRAAAAK!"

Another arm descended.

Galatea twisted sideways just in time.

The entire section of the shrine exploded apart beneath the blow. Broken stone and shattered corpses rained across the battlefield while nearby goblins were flattened into bloody paste by their own transformed ally.

"Tsk! What a fucking beast, it just attacks wildly without any thought!" Luvia spat from a nearby wall, her eyes scanning constantly for an opening.

The abomination screeched again before all six malformed legs suddenly bent, creating a soft squish.

Then it exploded forward, far too fast for something so enormous.

"Galatea!" Luka shouted.

Galatea’s eyes widened at the sight, "W-What!?"

She hastily raised her sword to protect her abdomen.

Face with the charging creature, which slammed into her shoulder-first.

Her greatsword bent backwards against the impact before Galatea herself was hurled through the air. She crashed through a barricade and smashed into the lower shrine wall hard enough to crater the stone.

"...Ghk!"

Blood leaked from the corner of her mouth, and yet even then, she forced herself back upright immediately. Likely ignoring any pain that she felt.

"Peh!"

She spat crimson onto the ground before glaring upward at the abomination with a murderous fury.

"I’ll carve you apart, you ugly sack of flesh!"

"Galatea!" A gruff voice bellowed.

"Grandfather!?"

The next moment, a huge male stood before her, the familiar back and armour of her grandfather. Gerard held his kite shield with both hands, prepared to protect his beloved family, while shouting to the rest of the knights and warriors.

"What are you all waiting for! Stand up! Fight once more... this is the last battle for your town, your land! We cannot let this abomination run free. Follow me!"

Gerard stepped forward without hesitation.

The old knight planted his shield into the shattered earth just as the abomination descended upon them once more.

"KRRRRAAAAAK!"

Its massive arm swung downward like a collapsing tower.

BOOOOOM!

The impact blasted dust and splintered wood across the battlefield.

Gerard’s boots sank deep into the stone beneath him while veins bulged along his neck. A dense crimson aura erupted from his body, roaring violently around his armour like burning blood.

"...You damn monster!"

His shield groaned beneath the pressure, but Gerard refused to yield to this aberration.

Behind him, Galatea slowly watched with wide eyes at the strength and vigour of her grandfather, who seemed much younger than before.

His movements were smooth and lacked the struggle he’d been suffering for almost five years now, bringing a surge of joy to her chest.

"...Grandfather."

"Stand up!" Gerard roared without looking back. "You are a knight of Alverain. Have you already forgotten your training!?"

Galatea’s breathing trembled briefly.

Then her fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword once more.

"...No."

"Who do we serve?"

"Babylon!" Galatea and the Knights cried out.

Shield after shield stacked together as they stood beside Gerard, all eager to support him, the old knight who guided their path in the darkness.

An old man who fought harder than they did!

Meanwhile, as if challenged by the knights. The abomination shrieked furiously before slamming down another arm.

Then another.

Over and over, it smashed the knights with more than ten arms, all with enough force to knock out a cow.

Each impact shook the battlefield violently as Gerard continued blocking head-on. Blood slowly trickled from beneath his gauntlets from the sheer force alone, yet his stance never collapsed.

The nearby warriors stared in disbelief.

Because one old knight stood against a monster large enough to flatten buildings.

And he held the line.

"Push forward!" Gerard roared.

His crimson aura exploded outward again, rallying the exhausted soldiers around him. The fear lingering across the battlefield slowly crumbled beneath the sheer force of his will. He shouldered their fears, worries and pain.

All for victory!

And they answered his call.

"Protect the commander!"

Another arm crashed against them.

This time, the entire formation slid backwards several metres through mud and blood, yet none of them broke ranks.

"Agh!"

"Hold!"

"Dig your feet in!"

The abomination screeched violently before all its malformed limbs descended together in a rain of flesh and bones. Yet Gerard remained at the centre, unmoving and stalwart in the face of an abhorrent terror.

"For the Lord!"