After taking care of the last high ranking goblin, Luke dropped to the ground. He was exhausted. Each fight since he left his house until now hadn't been tiring by themselves, but the sum of all of them was. Even though he was confident now that he could go through the previous circumstances a lot easier now, he realized that goblins were only the beginning. If he had this much trouble with the first organized enemy he encountered, what would happen in the future when hostiles become exponentially stronger?

A sudden rumble from the clouds, distracted him from his pondering. He looked above and saw flashes of light, followed by sound that announced that this was officially a thunderstorm now. Luke loved to watch the power of nature. Staring at this storm, after the world changed, reminded him that even if he powered up, a single lighting could erase his existence.

Luke stood up looking toward the altar. He realized that he couldn't leave that thing standing. Although the two strongest shamans were gone and most of the Magic of the pedestal had been destroyed by the explosion, he didn't know if others magic users could take advantage of it to make something more dangerous.

He looked around but didn't found anything he could use. The structure was built entirely of wood, but there was no fire that could endure the heavy rain. Then, he realized that there was a simple way to solve the situation. He took the three bodyguards swords and dismantled them. He kept only the blade. He inscribed a two symbols enchantment on them but didn't activate it yet.

Luke ran to the pedestal, Steve trailing him happily. It seemed that the end of the fight had elevated the wolf mood. Luke guessed that some of his personality was rubbing on his companion. Steve energetically pranced behind Luke. It looked like the fight hadn't sapped any of his strength.

Luke told the wolf to remain below and not go up the stairs for safety reasons. Then, he continued advancing until he was next to the pedestal. He stabbed the three iron swords (he noticed after holding them that they weren't made of steel. They were too heavy and not durable enough to be steel) up to the middle of the weapons. He switched the enchantment on and retreated as fast as he could. He had estimated that the spell shouldn't take effect immediately after he activated it but better safe than sorry.

Fortunately, his assumption weren't entirely wrong: he had enough time to leave the platform and get 10 meters further away before the first lightning struck. Why? Easy, because he had transformed the swords into lightning rods. He put the hieroglyphs for ‘attract’ and another for ‘electricity'. Added the fact that they were made of metal, and you get a flashy way of destroying an evil altar (yes, that word was used on purpose).

Luke knew he should leave asap but there was something about seeing thing burn that was captivating. So he couldn't resist the impulse of watching as three successive rays hit the blades and lighted the wood where they had been stabbed. It took no time for the fire to spread. Five minutes later (and two more heaven's punishment), only ashes remained of what once was the goblin’s greatest weapon.

In hindsight, he should have left after the first lightning. The storm appeared to have lost its power after discharging so much energy and started to slowly disperse. This brought light back to the world making darkness recede. Under the improved illumination, Luke looked all around and his face paled. From the hamlet, an uninterrupted mass of bodies was coming in his direction. He wanted to run, however he realized that with so many archers and shamans there was no way he could escape. He backed without rushing, trying to not catch the horde attention.

The massive group stopped twenty meters short of the stairs and a group of officers came forward. The group was formed by a dozen shamans and two times that of captains. Luke was curious why they hadn't discovered him when he remembered his camouflage. He guessed that if he didn't cause a ruckus or engaged in combat he should be able to leave.

Suddenly, the goblins seemed to reach a decision and shouted order to the common goblins. Groups similar to the first patrol he found separated from the mass and starting going in every direction. The leaders had realized that the enemy that killed their bosses couldn't be too far. The scouts amounted to more than half of the whole tribe (he doubted there existed a goblin from this hamlet that wasn't currently present). They ran off in an organized manner, thought with the objective of not leaving a stone unturned. If there was something to find, it would be found.

From a hundred meters away excited cries could be heard. Luke didn't know what could elicit such a reaction, though he decided that anything positive for the goblins was negative for himself. Then, the scouts got closer and Luke realized what they were carrying. It was the relic! This was a nightmare, he destroyed the altar to avoid it being utilized again but he forgot to dispose of the root of the problem, the sphere.

The magical ball looked slightly different from before. The number of strands had reduced to half what it was. As a consequence, the blue light had become brighter. The oppressive feeling that permeated the relic before seemed to have disappeared.

Luke decided there and then that he had to take care of the relic. He couldn't let it be. Besides that was the easier option (the other being eliminating every goblin present). He took off toward the scouts to intercept them the furthest away from the horde that he could. He was considerably quicker than any goblin so he got in the way of the group well before the halfway mark. There were three goblins with the one in the center transporting the sphere. He launched three Mana Bolt, disintegrating their heads. Faster than the bodies could drop he grabbed the relic and ran off.

The effects were instant. The horde started running in his direction with the stronger ones getting in front of the mass. Still, Luke and Steve were faster (Steve wasn't as fast as Luke but he could outrun goblins without a hitch). After a minute the distance had expanded to a hundred meters. At this moment Luke discovered a problem he should have predicted: they had run in a random direction, so there was no way to climb the cliff that surrounded the valley. Even if there was, he wasn't sure they could go up before the archers and shamans got at striking distance.

Luke pondered but didn't figure any way out. Then he looked down at the sphere. It felt warm to the touch. Luke noticed that it also released a pleased feeling. It looked like it desired to be held by him. He decided that the only opportunity he had was unraveling how to use the relic in his favor. At least this time, when he was safe he could choose what to do with it.

Steve wasn't in danger as the Luke was the one who attacked, revealing his presence. So, the human sped up to his limit to gain more time for his desperate attempt. By the time he arrived at the bottom of the cliff there were a hundred and fifty meters between the human and the goblin vanguard. He estimated that he didn't have time for half hearted or safe trials. Thus, he pulled the entirety of his Mana repository.

First, he dispelled any strand that hadn't been disposed of. Then, he focused his Mana into a thin line connecting it to the blue and green core he could see. The energy was accepted slowly in the beginning, but it added velocity the longer it went. It took ten seconds for his Mana pool to be completely absorbed by the relic. Luke was having a sense of emptiness inside that he adjudicated to having spent every ounce of his Mana. The sphere on the other hand, had a content brilliance several times stronger that when he started. Luke didn't think he could remain conscious for long, so he sent a mental image to the sphere with two messages: protect me and Steve, take care of the goblins.

Just before he closed his eyes and lost consciousness, he saw a new light surround the relic and then explosively expand to cover the whole valley.