Gerrad endured the onslaught of blows, his shield deforming further with each blow. Yet despite this, he remained stalwart and focused. His eyes remained on a single point like a hawk. Locked onto a small glowing crystal which poked from above its right pectoral.

"Raise your spears! Aim for that disgustingly purple crystal!"

The knights behind him, exhausted yet determined, slammed their shields in a line, reinforcing the shield wall.

The second line of knights dropped their shields and held their spears in both hands, holding their tips just above the shoulder of the knight blocking in front of them.

"Remember your training on how to protect your brothers and slay large enemies!"

The massive abomination stood before them and shrieked from the successive attacks.

It’s stringy spit spraying through the air.

The knights roared in unison.

"URAH!"

The sound echoed through the shattered remains of Amol like thunder.

Gerard’s eyes never left the crystal.

Every instinct within him screamed that it was the core holding the abomination together. The grotesque mass of flesh was constantly regenerated, but the crystal remained fixed in place no matter how violently the creature moved.

That alone made it suspicious.

Another massive arm crashed against their shield wall. Several knights coughed blood from the impact, while the blow sent both rows of men sliding back as they exhaled under the pressure.

"Endure!"

Gerard grabbed a spear and thrust it at the horror, his tip glancing the crystal.

"...Now!"

The first rank suddenly lowered their shields slightly.

The second rank thrust forward instantly.

SHHK! SHHK! SHHK!

More than a dozen spears pierced into the abomination’s swollen flesh simultaneously. Purple blood exploded outward while goblin faces embedded within the creature shrieked in agony.

"KRRRRAAAAAK!"

The monster staggered.

Its gigantic body convulsed violently as several spears struck dangerously close to the crystal, one even scraped the surface.

Gerard’s lips parted as he gasped.

"Is it enough!?"

Crack!

A faint fracture appeared.

Like a small thread of spider silk, it instantly grew larger, spreading across the entire crystal before the surface shattered.

The abomination immediately went berserk.

All ten malformed arms slammed downward wildly without rhythm or restraint.

Despite their shield wall imploding, knights were thrown like broken dolls into the air as their spears snapped beneath the monster’s sheer weight.

Yet amidst this foul and devastating chaos, Gerard smiled.

Because he could faintly see the movement of Miasma from the moment he gained the power of Wrath.

"My Lord should make short work of you, know, beast..." He staggered, unable to keep fighting as a familiar pair of hands grabbed him by the waist.

"Grandfather! You were so reckless just now!" Galatea scolded him.

"Shhh... look, look at the boy who stole your affections!" Gerard grinned as he stared up at Luka as if derranged or obsessed.

The crystal pulsed erratically beneath the abomination’s flesh as if trying desperately to protect itself.

But the beast forgot...

Gerard and the knights weren’t its only enemies.

From atop the shattered shrine, despite his screaming organs, there was a figure standing wreathed in jet black behind the abomination.

Luka stood Wrathtly, his arms elongated and wrapped in the massive gauntlets of Wrath.

Superheated Miasma puffed bursts of hot steam from the small exhaust holes across his shoulders.

His atmosphere resembled nothing of the human or Lord that the knights, warriors or even Gerard knew. He glanced over at the knights for a moment, his crimson eyes peaceful and empty of emotion.

"You’ve done well, Gerard."

Then he glanced further towards the fallen men, "and my dear knights."

There was something strange, an uncanny aura that lifted his existence to another level as a squall of black mist wrapped his body, as if it were a lover’s embrace.

For a moment, his crimson eyes almost appeared golden as they swept past Galatea and Luvia’s faces. His lips curved into a strange smile that, although faint, carried a passionate air.

"Iris, Luvia, Brea. Help take the warriors back and clear out any surviving goblins and their mana stones."

"Kikgigi?"

The abomination glared at Luka, almost in awe at his nonchalance, ignoring the monster standing a few inches from his face, to speak with females.

Yet the moment his eyes shifted to the goblin, its body trembled and recoiled, stepping back several times.

"A moment, ingrate. I am speaking to my women."

"L-Luka!" Luvia shouted, a rare sense of worry on her face. Their interactions normally included sexual tension, fighting, and constant irritation. Yet now, Luvia watched him with wet, almost tearful eyes.

Well, he couldn’t blame her when the surface of his skin cracked with dark red scars, almost like the surface of a broken ice lake.

’Forgive me, dark elf. I don’t have the strength to explain...’

His hands inside the black gauntlets trembled, barely enough to raise them to his waist.

"Brea."

"...I got it..."

The ogre bit her lip, turning towards the abomination as she shook her head, the amount of Miasma remaining inside her almost zero. They both understood that she couldn’t summon a basic judgement spell right now.

Divine energy took the longest to recover, even more so when created through uncanny means.

She turned back for a moment, whispering, "Don’t die."

It wasn’t like she doubted him, but something inside her chest thrummed whenever she saw him in danger. A strange phenomenon that started from the moment he complimented her true form.

"Haa... I truly have become attached to these mortal feelings."

Luka slowly turned back toward the abomination.

He glanced the large monstrosity up and down before cracking his neck.

The pain long became a dull, distant debilitation, and even breathing felt like someone plunging a fork into his lungs.

"I wanted to save this world."

Luka began speaking as he walked towards the beast.

"???"

"To ensure humanity continued, even after we eventually vanished or grew tired of the mortal realm." Luka’s eyes shone golden for a moment before the light refracted, leaving them crimson.

"Does a monster like you understand such a grand goal, a desperate reason to continue?"

The abomination tilted its grotesque mass to the side.

Multiple goblin faces embedded within its flesh twitched and shrieked incoherently as if trying to understand Luka’s words.

"Krr...?"

Luka laughed quietly.

A dry, exhausted sound leaked as his expression dulled.

"Of course not."

Steam hissed softly from the vents of Wrath while black-red Miasma curled around his body like mourning cloth. Every step he took left faint cracks along the shattered shrine beneath his feet.

Yet, despite his ruined condition, the abomination was the one slowly retreating, as if, by sheer instinct, it sensed the impending destruction of its soul. He paused within an inch of the creature, quickly grasping its throat with his massive arm, the deformed black gauntlets taking on a monster’s form.

"I watched humanity claw its way through despair." His voice remained calm. "War after war. Extinction after extinction."

The golden flicker briefly returned to his eyes.

"I endured betrayal, grief and eternity itself for that purpose."

The flames of Wrath swirled, a storm growing with each second as his muscles screamed in agony. The abomination pulled away, desperately screeching before raising all its malformed limbs and slamming downward together.

The entire shrine shook from the impact as dust and flesh exploded in all directions, stone and bone almost killing the injured knights.

"I have lost my powers, lost my wings... lost everything I held dear."

Luka walked straight through the destruction.

His words were monotone and deep, as a massive arm swung towards his head, his eyes snapped to the aberration.

Thunk!

Wrath severed it instantly, the clawed gauntlets easily tearing through the decomposing flesh with ease.

Another smashed downward from above.

"I’ve seen this before."

Luka caught it with the massive gauntlet, shattering the stone beneath him from the force and weight, and yet he remained motionless and calm as if unaffected.

His crimson eyes slowly lifted toward the abomination’s central crystal.

"And after all that..."

Crunch!

He shattered the corrupted crystal with the pinch of his fingers, the surface shimmering before it exploded into millions of dull shards.

His voice lowered into something only he and the wind might hear.

"...You think I would allow filth like you to threaten it?"

The abomination froze.

Every malformed limb convulsed violently.

"KRRRRAAAAA!"

Its scream distorted midway before collapsing into wet, choking noises. Purple veins rapidly spread across its enormous body as the shattered remains of the crystal dissolved into ash between Luka’s fingers.

Then the flesh began collapsing inward.

Luka no longer looked at the abomination; he needed to find somewhere to collapse, his skin hissed with a searing heat. His internal temperature was far beyond what a normal human could survive, if not for his evolution in the forest.... he would be dead.

Burned alive by his own Miasma.

The creature’s corpse toppled entirely off the shrine, crushing ruined barricades beneath its sheer weight as it reached out towards Luka.

"Krrrr...."

Not aggressively, strangely and confusingly.

Then a familiar sound pinged in Luka’s mind, stealing his attention.

[You have absorbed the countless souls devoured by Grimglar the Esteemed (Tier 1)]

[You have gained 2000 EXP]

"Haaaa...."

With a long sigh he could finally let his wariness fade, the first battle to change the future was over, he’d won by the skin of his teeth.

It couldn’t be like this next time.

As Luka relaxed, he lost the state of focus that kept him conscious, and the world faded to black.

As he fell, he heard several distinct voices calling his name.

All of them women.