Luka guided both Luvia and Brea down towards the makeshift fortification. It appeared that they’d built the main portion along the walls, allowing the goblins or whoever to scale down and drop onto the Village wall without much effort.

"Luvia, Vaun, can you sense any goblins?"

’It’s annoying, these damn goblins are too smart for tierless.’

He gripped Oblivion tightly, slowly moving closer to their encampment, hiding behind rocky outcrops and boulders to avoid being spotted.

Though the engines and gears continued to spin and turn, there was no sign of any goblins or other monsters after killing the scout.

"Did something happen...?" He muttered.

He couldn’t rush, because the plan wouldn’t work if his group entered too fast. The enemy might’ve originally had forces here. But he couldn’t help but worry about a thought lurking in the back of his mind.

’What if the golbins were waiting inside the tunnel Iris took, and they had already clashed?’

"What’s wrong, Master?"

The fact that she used an oddly feminine voice despite her masculine form threw Luka off, forcing him to avoid looking her way.

"I think that things might be a little more hectic than we planned for. There’s something strange about the Shaman’s movements."

"Doesn’t the dark elf know anything?" Vaun asked.

’True...’

He’d almost forgotten Luvia was someone captured and forced by the Shaman to take part in the attack on Amol Outpost.

"Heh, what do I have to say to a damn pale skin!"

"Luvia!"

"Ah, well... I don’t know! They sent me away within a day. I was desperate not to get raped!"

Pressured by Luka’s voice, she admitted honestly, as they pushed against a large boulder just a few hundred metres from the goblin’s Outpost.

Up close, the building’s crude nature became more visible: rusted bolts, hastily nailed wooden planks, and pulley systems.

"Wait..." Luka glanced at the tools, the mining tools and various other objects that had zero relation to the goblins invading Babylon. He took a deep breath, trying to organise his thoughts as he placed them together.

’They’re building towards the eastern forest, not the west. The Shaman seems uninterested in the Outpost we took... What am I missing?’ He closed his eyes tightly, focusing all the Miasma inside his mind to clear his head.

That’s when he saw a small violet-blue crystal on the floor.

"No..."

"What’s wrong, Master?"

"Master?"

The two elves glared at each other, pushing themselves closer.

While Brea watched Luka with a strange expression, she then followed his gaze to the crystal, and her lips parted. "Oh..."

Meanwhile, Luka’s thoughts became finalised.

He’d overlooked everything because of his future knowledge, and what he ’thought’ might be the reasoning behind everything.

However, what if humans and Babylon meant little to the Fallen at this point, and the true purpose of their invading the Amol Highlands was the same reason as his?

To dominate the unique minerals and source of Mana and Miasma.

Then everything made more sense.

Use the Hobgoblin and Dark Elf as disposable pawns all to keep the humans focused on retaking the Village of Amol rather than the east. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Shit!" Luka cursed, then punched the hard stone.

’The Goblins want the Eastern Forest, the source of the Mana and Miasma!’

A sharp jolt of pain shot up his right arm before fading thanks to the absorption and healing properties of his Miasma.

"Master your hand!?"

Vaun never stopped being the most faithful half-elf, but Luvia started to change. Her eyes lowered to the Mana stone, something used by dwarves and other races when crafting magical weapons.

"Luka, something’s wrong, isn’t it?"

"Yes. There is a lot wrong! But I don’t know how much time we have to adjust our plan."

He wanted to say no or at least to have the answers.

But he didn’t.

"Brea, I know you are here to save Amol Village. It is likely the Goblins never intended to kill your people, or at least the dwarves."

"Mm, seeing this, I think you’re right." She continued with a more curious tone. "But, if they could manage something like this, then why wait until now?"

That was the answer he wanted to know.

’If the enemy has other people behind them... who could it be?’

He’d already removed the possibility of it being his brothers or father. It was too inefficient and lacked the finesse or brute force those crazy bastards might use.

Crunch!

"Hm?"

Luka glanced at a large cave on the opposite side of the fortress, though there weren’t any goblins around.

He could feel the strong Miasma of ’something’ from inside that dark cavern.

"Luka, that place is bad news..."

"I know, but we have to pass it on the way..."

Brea nodded, her lips curving into a smile as she found herself and Luka to have more in common than she initially believed. Each time he discovered something, she found herself just a few steps behind.

Meanwhile, the two elves finally stopped their little fight, and both stood before Luka, their eyes shifting to the cave.

"Let me scout it, Master!"

"Shall we scout it out?"

"You two?"

A high-elf and a Dark-elf working together.

One with the ability to scan for flora, and other signatures and dark elves, with a weakened version of both the elf and dwarf racial abilities.

Luka didn’t mind if Luvia and Vaun would work together, but when glancing back at the knights and hunters finally managing to settle on the ledge, he changed his mind.

"Let me and Brea go, you two need to help the knights and hunters prepare for battle, likely, we won’t make it down to the walls..."

"...Master?!"

"Do you need me to do this no matter what?"

Luvia’s devotion reached a qualitatively different state than Vaun’s. Even though she would sometimes mess around or act playfully to refuse his orders, the instant he became serious, so would she.

"Please, Luvia. Vaun."

"....." The high elf bit her lips, her beautiful shape appearing like a mirage. "Understood, Sire!"

’She’s angry?’

Though there wasn’t a system pop-up for loss of affection or loyalty, he could feel the subtle rift between himself and Vaun for the first time.

’Next time I should listen to her more.’ He nodded.

Luvia faded into the shadows, though her stealth would help greatly with scouting. He couldn’t curb the bad feeling he had, and so Luka chose to protect his future soldiers, rather than himself.

He could heal most wounds.

They would die from almost anything beyond a stage zero goblin.

"Let’s go." He signalled to Brea, who nodded.

It might’ve been the dumbest choice for scouting, but if there was a sudden outbreak, he was confident in the strange, barbaric woman beside him.

’She won’t die.’

Even if he tried to kill her.

That was the kind of impression she gave him.

With Oblivion in his hand, he squatted, slowly traversing along the wall, his fingertips brushing against the sharp, pointed rocks.

Tap, Tap, Tap!

The pair crushed the gravel and stone beneath their steel boots before coming to the dark, ominous cavern.

Crunch!

Once again, the ominous sound came from within, like bones being crushed or broken.

"This seems like a dangerous idea..."

"Yeah." Brea leaned closer, pressing her oversized chest against his shoulder, her height now a little beneath his, as the fruity scent of her breath leaked into his nostrils. "Be careful, Luka."

"Mhm."

The moment the words left Brea’s lips, the cavern answered.

Crunch... Crack...

A wet grinding noise echoed from deep inside the darkness.

Luka immediately raised a hand.

"Stop."

Both of them froze.

The cavern air felt bizarrely cold.

Not naturally cold, but dead cold, like standing beside a crypt left unopened for centuries. Even the Miasma in the air moved strangely, flowing inward rather than outward, spiralling deeper into the cavern as though being inhaled by something unseen.

Brea slowly tightened her grip around the handle of her axe.

"...I don’t hear breathing."

"Neither do I."

That was the problem.

When they came closer, there was no sound. But anything radiating this much Miasma should have possessed an overwhelming life signature.

Instead, Luka sensed almost nothing; even with the system, it showed only a dark red bar shifting in the darkness, with a skull icon. Despite this, the pair stepped inside, prepared to face whatever appeared.

Suddenly, Luka felt a chill travel down his spine, followed by a violent instinct.

"Dodge!!"

Luka roared.

His body moved before his thoughts did.

He grabbed Brea by the waist and threw both of them sideways just as something massive descended from above.

BOOOOM!!

The entire cavern shook.

Stone exploded apart where they had stood moments earlier.

Dust and shattered rock blasted across the chamber as a gigantic figure landed on all fours with enough force to crater the ground beneath it.

Brea rolled once before digging her boots into the gravel.

"What the hell was that?!"

Luka’s eyes widened.

A massive creature slowly rose from the darkness.

Nearly four metres tall.

Grey-blue skin covered grotesquely swollen muscles, while jagged chunks of crystal protruded from its shoulders and spine. Thick iron chains wrapped around one arm like restraints, while the other arm moved freely without them.

A Cave Troll.

Luka’s expression darkened.

A corrupted Cave Troll.

Black veins pulsed beneath its flesh as Miasma leaked from its mouth with every breath. One of its eyes had burst entirely, replaced by a glowing violet crystal embedded directly into the socket.

The creature tilted its head unnaturally, then smiled.

A horrifyingly human smile.

The system window flickered violently before stabilising.

[Corrupted Cave Troll — Stage One Peak]

[WARNING: Extreme Threat]

[WARNING: Miasma Mutation Detected]

"...We’re leaving," Luka said immediately.

Even Brea didn’t argue.

That alone told him how dangerous the situation had become.

The troll suddenly opened its mouth.

Instead of roaring at them or trying to attack.

Crunch.

It bit directly into the stone wall beside it, devouring rock and crystal alike before swallowing everything whole.

Luka felt his stomach drop.

It’s eating Mana stones..."

The violet crystal embedded in the troll’s eye pulsed brighter.

[Danger: Monster’s Strength increasing rapidly!]

The gigantic creature lunged through the darkness with terrifying speed, one massive arm swinging toward them.

Brea reacted instantly.

"DOWN!"

She slammed into Luka, tackling him beneath the swing as the troll’s arm smashed through a stone pillar behind them.

CRAAAASH!!

The ceiling trembled, and countless rocks fell, blocking the entrance halfway. Chunks of rock began falling throughout the cavern, trapping them inside.

’Fantastic. A regenerating troll corrupted by Miasma and feeding on Mana crystals.’

Then its remaining eye locked directly onto Luka.

A deep rumbling voice emerged from its throat.

"...Hun...gry..."

The pair froze, both of them understanding something horrifying.

"Brea..."

"Yeah, I know!" She snapped back at him.

To speak human this well while in the transformed state of a monster... this thing was likely a freshly transformed human or dwarf.

"We have to end their misery." The Templar mumbled, her body flickering with a golden light, her divine aura.

He straightened his body, eyes locked on the huge creature, holding Oblivion with both hands, and gathering his Magenta Miasma along the blade’s tip.

"Brea!"