Hearing Liam’s words, the goblin lord froze for a beat, then burst into laughter.

It wasn’t a chuckle. 

It was the kind of deep, wheezing laugh that shook his entire belly. 

It was if he’d just heard the most ridiculous joke in his life.

Just so you know, in the warp, the goblin race loved to enslave other races as their breeding vessels. 

Which was why they possessed quite the "hated" status. 

Many races hated the goblin race to core, for stealing their women, and turning them into sluts and breeding machines. 

But of course, for those special ones, the goblin race treated them with honour despite using those women for breeding. 

Not shared with multiple goblin men, and was throned with the title wife for exceptional goblin lord only.

As such Mize, she is in the special case category for them.

“Alright then,” he grinned wide, eyes glinting with amusement.

“Show me how you’re going to tear me to pieces.”

There was no warning.

The goblin vanished, gone from sight in a blink, as though someone had skipped forward a few frames in time.

He reappeared in front of Liam with zero sound, zero buildup.

Liam’s eyes remained calm, He reacted in a heartbeat, arms lifting to defend.

Inwardly, his thoughts sounded off, 'And I thought he was a mage by holding that staff'

But the goblin lord was already mid-swing, staff raised above his head, a sneer on his lips. “Ahaaa... I am a fake mage.”

Boom!

The impact was brutal. Liam’s body rocketed downward like a meteor, slammed into the ground with a deafening crash that sent cracks spiderwebbing through the earth. 

The land rippled and collapsed beneath him, forming a massive dent in the terrain.

To this, Mize shrieked in panic, worrying about Liam as she knew that he couldn't bring his true strength out here in reality.

But it wasn’t over.

The dust was still settling when, as if pulled apart by an invisible force, it split down the middle. 

Like a giant hand had spread it open.

The goblin darted through the clearing fog with frightening speed and swung his staff again, without hesitation, straight at Liam’s position.

Only this time, Liam was responded back. 

Fingers lifted, click.

In an instant, their positions switched.

The goblin lord blinked in confusion, instincts kicking in. 

He twisted and swung the staff sideways behind him, expecting Liam to be there.

But he hit nothing.

'Formation master?'

The goblin thoughts ran.

Liam reappeared a step to his left instead, palm raised, wrist flicking outward with ease.

The air shimmered.

Large, circular portals tore open midair, the rims glowing faintly with eerie runes. 

From their depths, thick, massive tentacles burst through, dark, wet, thrashing with weight and force.

Like missiles, they came out with powerful momentum. 

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Each slam struck with enough power to make the sky seem to ripple.

The goblin lord was thrown across the battlefield, his body crashing through the terrain like a ragdoll. 

He only stopped after skidding several hundred meters and forming a second crater at the end of his path.

Mize watched it all, eyes narrowing.

Those tentacles... she hadn’t expected that.

She knew where they were from. 

These tentacles once had bounded her that left her with no strength to fight back. 

'He was actually able to pull them into this world'

'although'

Though smaller than their true form, house-sized at most, maybe a few hundred meters in length, they were still far more than enough.

The goblin had been struck cleanly.

Still, as the dust settled again, he stood up slowly. 

He wiped the blood trickling down the edge of his mouth, and then, he grinned.

His aura surged.

Even Mize could feel it now, this time clearer. 

It was hard to describe, how aura worked among Awakeners. 

There was no system prompt, no numbers flashing, but she knew directly just based on auras alone. 

Tier 7?

She stiffened, and without wasting time, sent a mental message.

‘He’s Tier 7, Liam. Do you need help? Can you draw your full power from that space?'

The response came almost immediately, calm and collected.

‘Limited,’ Liam admitted. ‘I can’t bring much strength through from that space. It’s a shortcoming'

But then, a pause.

'However…’ A casual smile tugged at the edge of his mouth. ‘I have a way to deal with him. Since he abruptly appeared, I needed time to prepare.’

He glanced briefly over his shoulder at her.

And she understood immediately.

Stay out of it. Let your husband handle this.

'Make sure to teleport further away, I am suspecting he has some hidden means still unused'

Hearing this, Mize nodded instantly and vanished several hundred kilometres away to the far off distant. 

Not in the city nor in the castle. 

But she teleported to the other edge of the territory dome, hid herself in the clouds, and observed the battlefield through her skill. 

Down below, the goblin lord took a few slow steps forward, dragging his staff through the dirt beside him. 

His grin hadn’t faded, in fact, it had only grown wider.

He looked like he was enjoying himself.

A little too much.

But from Mize’s perspective, he was already done for.

She could’ve intervened. 

Even if the goblin lord is immune to most of her spells and skills, she doubted that she couldn't crack it as long as she was given enough time. 

But she didn’t move.

This fight… belonged to Liam.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The goblin lord tore across the battlefield like a cannonball, each swing of his staff detonating against the earth with enough force to reshape the land.

Every time he struck, Liam moved fluidly in response, fingers flicking, a crisp click echoing just beneath the thunder of impact.

Boom!

Position switched.

Boom!

Switched again.

Irritated, the goblin lord growled, muscles taut beneath his green skin as he swept his staff wide.

But this time, his lips moved, barely audible. He was murmuring something, likely activating a skill or spell.

Liam didn’t wait to find out.

Click.

He vanished, appearing several kilometers away in an instant.

The goblin lord noticed the escape, and sneered.

He had no idea what those tentacles were or what this man’s true class might be. 

But curiosity was meaningless when you planned to kill your opponent either way.

Then, with a flick of his staff, the weapon halted midair, recoiled slightly, and a thin crack began to form in the empty space before him, fracturing outward like glass.

It pointed directly at Liam’s distant position.

“Oh?” Liam raised his hands. 

A dozen glowing portals bloomed behind him in a sweeping arc.

Without hesitation, thick swarms of tentacles erupted outward, spiraling around him protectively until he was entirely wrapped within their mass.

Then came the strike.

Boom!

An invisible wave tore through the sky. 

The ground split apart beneath Liam’s feet, jagged fissures racing outward. 

Some tentacles exploded into wet fragments.

The wind roared, lifting soldiers and beasts alike into the air like discarded toys.

From the sidelines, Mize’s eyes widened. “A space crack? What the hell is this goblin doing?”

The shockwaves crawled along the remaining tentacles and slammed into the center, but Liam remained untouched, shielded by the sheer layers of his summoned mass.

Above him, the goblin lord reappeared, descending fast.

Liam sensed it.

Even hidden beneath the writhing limbs, he narrowed his eyes, catching sight through the gaps. “Again?”

His brows pinched slightly as he noticed a faint red shimmer clinging to the goblin’s staff.

It came down hard.

'It's time'

Boom!

The land cracked again, even deeper than before. 

The tentacles didn’t stand a chance, they were shredded to ribbons by the force of the blow.

But Liam was already gone.

The goblin lord hovered midair, scanning the field with his divine sense, frown deepening.

“Teleportation,” he muttered with disdain. “Such a damn nuisance.”

Just then, Boom!

A massive tentacle dropped from above.

He reacted swiftly, swinging his staff up in time to deflect it. 

The blow was parried aside, and he drove his weapon into the air in retaliation.

But before the shockwaves could follow through, the portal vanished.

Then it happened again.

And again.

Every few seconds, another portal opened.

Another strike came.

Frustrated, the goblin lord zipped through the battlefield at random, hurling blasts into the air, slamming his staff in every direction.

Still, the tentacles kept sneaking up on him, striking from clever angles, forcing him to keep spinning, dodging, blocking.

“Enough!” he roared, wild-eyed. “Show yourself, you coward!”

Boom!

He knocked aside another tentacle with a crushing swing, the force cracking the sky itself. 

But again, the portal disappeared without a trace.

He hovered there, motionless for a moment, gaze sweeping across the chaotic battlefield below. 

The horde and Liam’s summoned shadows clashed like mindless beasts, tearing into each other without rhythm or mercy.

And up here, far above, the real battle played out.

Each gesture from the two combatants reshaped the land below.

Mize watched silently from the distance, her eyes sharp, thoughtful. 

She traced Liam’s presence, not in this space exactly, but she could feel him somewhere near.

He wasn’t here… but he was still attacking.

“How interesting…” she murmured, genuinely impressed. “To fight like that… That’s not bad at all.”

"It's quite my style, attacking from safe distance"

The goblin lord, however, understood none of it.

All he knew was that more tentacles kept hammering at him with terrifying force, and he hadn’t seen Liam once.

His patience snapped.

His gaze shifted to Mize.

Just a glance, and her body flinched before she could stop herself. 

"H-he can see me?!"

She panicked, hurriedly teleported away hundred of kilometres more. 

At the same time as she moved, she recoiled slightly, one arm instinctively drawing over her chest in revulsion.

“If you won’t show yourself,” the goblin lord sneered, voice low and sickening, “then I’ll ravage your wife right before your eyes.”

“Huh?” Mize blinked, her gaze still discerning the battle, and she naturally heard this. 

In the next breath, he moved, faster than a blur. Strangely enough, she felt as if her soul had been locked by something. 

He shot through the air like a phantom and was on her in a heartbeat.

Mize narrowed her eyes in irritation. 

"what the hell?!" Mize was completely panicking for the first time this week, her face paled in seconds as somehow, the goblin Lord managed to keep up with her teleportation speed. 

She tried teleporting away again, but the space was jammed. 

She gritted her teeth, angry. 

"Do you think I didn't kill you because I can't?"

She growled like a furious kitten mid air. Her hands lifted, glowing orbs forming at her fingertips.

But the goblin merely snorted.

"And do you think most races don't have countermeasure against beings like you?"

"Huh" Suddenly, Mize felt something wrong in the air. 

A strange object appeared in his palm, small, metallic, twisting, and he murmured something beneath his breath.

“You think I’ve no way to deal with little girls like you? Hahahah!”

"Don't be too complacent, do you think I wouldn't have any means to restrict you! Now fall!"

Her heart skipped.

A sudden, sharp premonition surged through her. Something was wrong.

The object in his hand unfurled like a flower opening under moonlight.

Before the glowing orbs could form, his attack came first. 

Her body weakened instantly. Her limbs went slack. It was as if someone had drained her spirit dry in one breath.

Her eyelids grew heavy, and a shimmer wrapped around her, forming a transparent cage in midair that sealed her where she floated.

Meanwhile, the tentacles had already begun closing in.

Dozens of them surged toward the goblin lord from every direction.

But this time, a large khaki shield expanded from his body, deflecting them all with ease.

Boom!

The tentacles struck, bounced, and slid harmlessly away.

He turned toward the battlefield, lips curling into a smug grin.

He laughed. “Now... will you come out and face me directly?”

His eyes drifted to Mize, slow, unashamed, crawling over her with such lewd intent that her skin broke into goosebumps on its own.

She wanted nothing more than to step out of her own body and flee. Panicking, even a little bit of tears crept out from the corner of her eyes. 

And somewhere deep inside the crack of space, a horrible being was enraged.