Under the same night sky Calista admired, close to her village surrounded by a dense forest, a medium-sized cave stood solemnly.
The night breeze blew violently around the cave, and a tiny sound, akin to countless creatures rushing to eat something, came from inside the cave.
Munch!
Crik!
Crisk!
With a disturbing sound ringing through the air, Ezekiel opened his eyes.
"What the... how come I'm still alive?" he muttered. Looking down at his body, what he saw stunned him.
The angelic beauty with a powerful aura that had struck fear in him was nowhere to be seen. Instead, what he saw was a tiny, gray figure. His hands and stomach bore strange marks, as if cut by sharp swords. He wasn't wearing anything to cover his body, except for a tiny piece of cloth barely sufficient to cover his private parts.
"No, no... Why... This can't be," the shaking words erupted from Ezekiel's mouth. The nightmare he had tried to prevent before the high authority had turned completely useless. He was stuck in a completely disgusting body.
"I can't live like this. I, the mighty Ezekiel, how can I live in this disgusting body of a mere goblin?" Ezekiel realized that the body he was in belonged to a goblin easily, even though he hated them. He couldn't hate them blindly, so he remembered their appearance clearly.
Thud!
At that moment, while Ezekiel drowned in despair, something nudged his body, pushing him away and knocking him to the ground.
"Urgh, who?" Annoyed, Ezekiel looked back only to see a herd of goblins moving recklessly to eat a large corpse of some unknown creature.
Seeing them, Ezekiel felt like vomiting. The reckless movement, the way they ate, the way they moved—it all made him sick.
"Baaagfh!"
A load of puke came from his goblin mouth. The feeling of disgust remained within him, even though his body had changed.
"No, I can't do this anymore. Killing myself is better than this," Ezekiel muttered. Grabbing his neck with his own hand, he prepared to strangle himself. But at that moment, the reckless movement of the goblins pushed him away again.
His effort to kill himself became useless from that, and without emotion, Ezekiel looked back. When he did, he saw one of the goblins looking at him. It was the one that had pushed him twice.
Seeing that Ezekiel was lying on the ground, the goblin came close to him and offered a helping hand.
Ezekiel gazed at the offered hand.
"Ha-haha-haha! High authority, are you expecting me to take this pitiful offering hand of this disgusting creature? You've gravely mistaken my resolve."
After Ezekiel grabbed the hand, instead of accepting the goblin's help, he pulled the goblin toward him and threw it to the ground.
"A pathetic creature like you should be the perfect thing to let out my anger and despair."
The goblin that fell to the ground was the same as Ezekiel, even in terms of strength. Suddenly, Ezekiel jumped onto its body and began to hit it as it struggled to defend itself.
"Die, die, die, you sinners, die!" Ezekiel continued to hit the goblin on the ground with all his might. His hands became swollen, and blood spurted out, but the same happened to the goblin.
Halfway through, he realized his strength alone wasn't enough to harm the creature further. Nearby, he picked up a large rock, struggling to lift it. With the rock in his hand, Ezekiel began to hit the goblin continuously.
Creek!
Crewk!
With each hit, the goblin screamed in agony. Blood spurted out with each strike, staining the rock and Ezekiel's hands.
Seeing the pitiful goblin helpless under his mercy, Ezekiel felt a sense of satisfaction.
Unknown to him, the sounds of the goblins that had excited him so much caused another group of goblins, who were busy eating the crops of the creature, to stop what they were doing and look back.
They saw Ezekiel bearing down on the weak goblin viciously, a smile on his face. Goblins are a species that hunt in groups, even though they often fight among themselves When eating, they do not typically kill each other, and hunting together requires them to set aside their internal conflicts. Upon their first glance at Ezekiel, who was mercilessly attacking the weak goblin, the herd of goblins realized that this goblin was different, almost like a devilish being.
At once, all of them dropped the food in their hands and stood up. Suddenly, they rushed toward Ezekiel.
All Ezekiel felt was the sudden force that befell him. In the next moment, he was surrounded by the group of goblins, their little monstrous forms bearing down on him. The powerful ones delivered strange strikes, while the weaker ones scratched at his skin until it ripped off in some areas.
"You bastards!"
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It hurt his pride. Ezekiel, who had easily defeated his opponent, felt his soul crushing down as the goblins' punches landed on him.
Thud!
A stinging kick sent him flying backward, colliding with the cave wall. Dust rose and tiny debris fell around him. Leaning against the wall, Ezekiel stayed there for a few minutes until the goblins approached him.
"Even in my death, I shall purify this world!" words came from his mouth before he jumped onto the goblin rushing toward him first.
The goblin was unprepared for Ezekiel's counterattack and was slammed in the face with a fist, falling to the ground.
The other goblins screamed and rushed toward Ezekiel in groups. They jumped, trying to catch him and rip him apart.
But Ezekiel's movements completely changed as his focus shifted solely to the movements of the goblins' limbs. When they attacked, he reacted quickly to evade them.
Despite being in a goblin's body, he had once been the strongest angel in heaven, so avoiding something like this was easy for him. However, the problem arose with the weak physical capabilities of the goblin's body.
Even though Ezekiel managed to evade the first few goblins, he eventually was surrounded by others and knocked to the ground. Faced with countless beatings from the goblins, Ezekiel attempted to struggle or grab another goblin.
Meanwhile, one goblin lifted the rock that Ezekiel had smashed into the weak goblin earlier and dragged it toward the others who were beating down Ezekiel.
As the goblin came closer to him, it lifted up the rock and slammed it toward Ezekiel. He saw the giant rock incoming for a moment before his head was crushed under it.
In his dying breath, crushed by the rock, his hand moved feebly for a few seconds, and a few words escaped from his mouth.
"I... I will purify this world..."
Ezekiel became silent, and the goblins that had been watching him die turned away and returned to the creature's corpse they had been eating.
just as they prepared to resume eating, suddenly, the dead body of Ezekiel began to float up. From his body emerged a strange mark that resembled a cross with a loop at the top.
The scattered blood and flesh of Ezekiel's head began to gather again, reshaping his head and repairing it perfectly. The wounds in his body healed, including the deep cuts in his skin.
Within a minute of floating, Ezekiel's entire body was completely rebuilt, and he opened his eyes.
The look on Ezekiel's face was one of utter confusion as he examined his body.
"No matter how I look at it, the feeling of powerlesnes I felt in front of High Authority is still the same. Yet, I don't even have any physical powers I had in my original form. How could I revive despite being an ordinary, weak goblin? There's no way a sinful goblin could possess a power like this."
While Ezekiel was doubting, the goblins rushed back toward him, jumping onto his body.
Without much resistance, Ezekiel was crushed again under the weight of the goblins' fists.
But before they could leave, Ezekiel's body stood up again.
"Kha-kha, I don't know what's going on, but I shall still purify this world," said Ezekiel as he rushed toward the goblins.
After a desperate fight, he died again, only to revive a few minutes later. He managed to take out a few goblins while being hit by others, and in that time, he also died again.
In the cave, the screaming sounds of the goblins echoed through the air.
As time passed, deep streaks of blood spread through the cave. The goblins fought against one weak-looking goblin who was drenched in blood.
Only half of the original herd of goblins remained, while the others lay lifeless on the ground.
Among the goblins, there were a few who were noticeably larger than the others. They stood beside the smaller ones and urged them to fight Ezekiel.
"Raghh!"
With a menacing scream, Ezekiel jumped onto the first goblin that came at him and began to wrestle with it. From the previous battles, Ezekiel realized that his usual fighting style was ineffective against these larger foes, so he adapted his strategy mid-battle.
"The best way to fight them is their own way, although it's unacceptable to me to use an inferior technique like this. I have no choice," Ezekiel abandoned his thoughts and gave in to the goblin instincts taking over his way of battling. Like a crazed beast, he began to use his sharp nails as weapons and maim the others.
"Screech!"
A goblin screamed as Ezekiel's sharp nails ripped its skin off. A trail of blood flooded from its wound as it fell. Before it hit the ground, Ezekiel jumped onto it, thrusting his sharp nails into its chest until one pierced through the goblin's heart.
"I think I'm getting the hang of it," Ezekiel stood up, his green skin completely covered in goblin blood. As he looked at the other goblins, they suddenly felt threatened.
"Graaah!"
A large goblin from the group began to roar, and with that, they started to move. Bolstered by them, the other weaker goblins rushed forward alongside them.
"Ha ha, idiots. You should have done it before, but oh well, either way, you're still going to die."
Ezekiel dashed forward and jumped onto a goblin, wrapping his hands around its neck. The goblin struggled to break free, but Ezekiel tightened his grip with all his might.
Bang!
Suddenly, a huge force hit Ezekiel, throwing him away. A larger goblin sprang into action, rescuing the weaker one from Ezekiel's grip.
"Damn bastards!" Despite his limbs shaking with exhaustion, Ezekiel still stood up. No matter the condition he was in, he eventually fully recoveres.
From the nearby ground, Ezekiel picked up a medium-sized rock that just fit his tiny hand.
"Let the purification begin!" With those crazed words, he rushed back toward the goblins and their leader. The cursed roared and voices of pain echoed through the air as the mist of blood only grew more and more.
After a while, only one large goblin was left alive in the cave, relentlessly hitting the corpse of Ezekiel that it had just put down.
Ezekiel's body was lifeless, but the goblin didn't stop its onslaught on the corpse. It was filled with fear and seemed to be in a trance, driven solely by the thought of eliminating this unknown abomination.
After a while, the goblin also grew tired from hitting and fell to the ground.
Huff!
A rough breath exhaled from it as it looked at Ezekiel's corpse. The breath was a sign of its need for rest, as the battle that had lasted who knows how long had exhausted it to its limits.
Thud!
The goblin lay flat on the ground, closing its eyes.
Thump!
But within a few minutes, it heard a sound like footsteps. Suddenly, the goblin opened its eyes just in time to see Ezekiel lifting a giant rock aimed at its head.
Thunk!
Without a second thought, Ezekiel slammed the rock down and crushed the goblin's head. Blood spurted out, and the goblin fell silent.
The whole cave turned silent, with only the corpses of goblins and the unknown creature remaining.
Gruuk!
Breaking the silence, a strange sound came from Ezekiel's goblin stomach. He felt hungry and needed something to eat.
"Despite being revived, it seems hunger is not something that would dull on its own."
Ezekiel's eyes landed on the corpse the goblins were eating before. It was mangled, and he couldn't figure out which creature it belonged to, but a thick fur could be seen.
Upon seeing the saliva on the corpse left by the goblins, Ezekiel's expression turned grim.
"Tch!"
He turned around and walked out of the cave. Outside, the moonlight brightened the surroundings. As Ezekiel emerged, a cold breeze greeted him, and he felt a sense of comfort enveloping him.
"Hmm!"
Ezekiel took a deep breath, and within it, he caught a sweet aroma.
Nearby the cave, there was a giant bush field with red, plump berries growing. Ezekiel spotted them and walked toward the bushes, plucking one and putting it into his mouth... Crunch! With one bite, the juice from the berry flooded his mouth. It was sweet, but nowhere near the delicacies he used to enjoy in heaven.
"shit" He felt annoyed but continued to eat the berries.