I Shall Pervert the Heavens

Amy's breath came in ragged bursts as she yanked her sword free from the last goblin's corpse, green ichor splattering across her leather armor. The metallic tang of blood—both goblin and her own hung heavy in the air, mixing with the earthy scent of the surrounding forest. Her arm throbbed where the club had struck, the fracture sending sharp jolts of pain with every movement, but she gritted her teeth and pushed it down.

[Shroom Gnome <Lv. 1> injured: Arm fracture.] Zach immediately notified her, knowing fully well this will help make her more cautious of fighting the goblins, Amy heard his voice echoed in her mind, calm and analytical, like a strategist dictating moves on a battlefield map.

He couldn't feel pain himself not in this form but he monitored her vitals through the mana vein, a subtle weave of mana that connected them like invisible threads. It was one of the perks of being bound to a dungeon core; Amy had learned that much in her weeks underground. Dungeons weren't just stone and traps; they were living entities, ancient relics from the world's genesis, born from the gods whims to test adventurers and monsters alike.

She nodded absently, even though he couldn't see it directly, and tore a strip from the hem of her tunic with her good hand. The shroom gnomes milled around her, their fungal caps bobbing as they bashed at the fallen goblins to ensure they stayed down. One gnome clutched its mangled arm, tiny eyes wide with what might have been fear or confusion. They were simple creatures. Back on Earth, he'd been a programmer, crunching code for games that mimicked worlds like this while also reading novels. Now, he was living one, and these gnomes were his pixels made in flesh flesh.

"Bandage the gnome first," Zach instructed. "We can't afford losses. The shaman's forces are converging eight more goblins inbound from the east, closing fast."

Amy knelt by the injured gnome, wrapping the cloth around its arm with practiced efficiency. Her Healer class kicked in instinctively, a faint glow of mana seeping from her palms to knit the bone. It wasn't much—her mana pool had ballooned to 191 with the level-up, but sustaining it drained her quickly. Titles like *Child of Mana* were rare blessings which helps makes one mana more pure, plentiful and recover quickly.

As she finished, a guttural screech pierced the trees, echoing from the with the bushes. The goblin shaman. Amy's heart skipped. She'd seen its type before, in tales from traveling merchants: twisted greenskins who tapped into primal magic, remnants of the old wars when goblin hordes nearly overran the elven borders. Shaman were chosen by the spirits of the wilds, corrupted mana twisting their bodies into vessels for chaos. This one, with its crooked staff of bone and feather, likely commanded debuffs that sapped strength or summoned illusions to confuse foes.

"Move to higher ground," Zach urged. "The western ridge—flank them from above. Gnomes, form a perimeter."

The trio of gnomes shuffled into position, maces raised, their simple minds following Zach's macro commands like scripted NPCs. Amy dashed through the underbrush, her Dexterity stat now 14 with the level-up—propelling her silently despite the pain. Concealment <Lv. 6> wrapped around her like a cloak of shadows, muffling her footsteps and blending her with the foliage.

From the ridge, she spotted the remaining goblins: a ragged horde of twenty, herded by the shaman. Two elites stood out—hulking goblin warriors <Lv. 5>, their iron swords notched from battles past, skins scarred with tribal tattoos that glowed faintly with infused mana. The shaman chittered orders as it lifted it's staff high, Amy could feel the mana flux, a ripple in the air like heat off a forge.

The ground trembled. From the site, where the knights' corpses lay rotting, a fissure cracked open. Mud and stone erupted, coalescing into a hulking form: a lesser earth golem, a goblin shaman's crude ally. It was no grand construct like those forged by dwarven mages in the mountain holds, those legends type of golems toppled city walls during the Great Schism, a war five centuries ago when magic fractured the continents. This was a mongrel thing, cobbled from dungeon dirt and infused with wild mana, standing eight feet tall with fists like boulders. Its eyes glowed with the shaman's will, rumbling as it lumbered forward.

"Shit," Zach muttered in her mind, a rare slip of his human frustration. "Adapt. Target the shaman first—disrupt the link. Gnomes, harass the elites."

Amy leaped from the ridge with her sword drawn, mana channeling into the blade for that instinctive empower. The golem's presence made the air feel thick as if gravity itself was pulling harder slowing her. She landed amid the goblins, thrusting at the nearest <Lv. 3>, piercing its throat in a spray of blood.

[Goblin <Lv. 3> killed! +45 EXP]

The horde swarmed. Clubs swung, iron swords clashed against her guard. One elite charged, its blade whistling through the air. Amy parried, the impact jarring her fractured arm, making her grimace in pain. She countered with a dagger, slashing at its thigh, but the elite shrugged it off, its Endurance stat far superior.

"Roll left!" Zach barked. "Use the terrain—roots to trip it." Zach who has been observing the terrain like a hawk immediately issue an order.

Amy obeyed, diving into a tangle of exposed roots from an oak like tree. The elite stumbled, and Amy used the opportunity to drove her sword upward, embedding it in its gut. Hot blood poured over her hand as she twisted it fereciously lacking any form of elf like grace.

[Goblin Warrior <Lv. 5> killed! +120 EXP]

EXP: 15/956 → 135/956

The rush was intoxicating, but another golem was closing in, it swung a massive arm, capable of shattering a tree trunk and sending splinters flying.

"Damn it," Zach growled. The other two gnomes bashed at goblin legs which ultimately did nothing but enrage then the more. The shaman from afar cackled as it weave more mana into the golem, making its form denser according to Zach point of view. He saw it as a kinda of boost but maybe one with side effects, like drugs.

Amy, not having time to think pressed forward, weaving through the fray. Her Swordsmanship <Lv. 3> guided her thrusts—precise, economical, born from days of drilling holes in stone slabs. But the goblins adapted as the shaman order them, forming a shield wall with scavenged wood and metal from the knights' gear. A thrown knife from her belt felled one, but another elite flanked her, sword grazing her side. Which surprisely tore her leather making blood sip out from within but being a healer, it was nothing to her as she immediately heal herself.

The fight devolved into chaos. Goblins screeched, piling on the gnomes; one mushroom head caved under a club. Amy kicked one away, her boot connecting with a jaw, but the golem's footfall shook the ground, knocking her off balance. She fell, rolling to avoid a boulder-fist that cratered the earth where her head had been.

Seeing where this was leading to,Zach knew, if he doesn't intervene in the next few minutes the casualties will be plentiful.

After all, if Amy dies, then there wouldn't be any female to breed his armies and that is something he doesn't want to experience. So the only choice was to use his humanoid form.

The Demon King form of Zach's current own was a pale imitation, lasting only 20 minutes before his core overheated, forcing reversion to his cubic form.

"No choice I guess," Zach said. "Hold for ten seconds. I'm coming."

Amy nodded after receiving his order and immediately order the gnomes to keep running around the goblins and buy time till Zach arrivals. She knew how powerful Zach humanoid form was, remembering how she and her teammates were brutally ended and the other part were he... Shaking her head off those embarrassing thoughts she quickly dodges one of the goblin that threw a rock at her and threw a flying knife at it.

Boom!

Startled by that sound, Amy turn around and saw a figure towering at seven feet, skin like obsidian armor etched with faint glowing red runes, horns curling. Eyes burned crimson, and claws like scythes flexed. Instantly she knew who it was, although the current Zach form and past one were somehow different but the connection made it easier for her to tell who was who.