Gerald quickly ran back the way he came and out of the temple. The battle was in full swing, and luckily the Minecrawler King appeared to be losing.

However, it was not easy at all. Many human warriors were wounded or dead, and even more of them were too exhausted to fight. The Minecrawler King apparently had one of its legs crushed by a falling boulder and a steel bolt pierced its mouth.

Many scratches and wounds littered its body and the net was tangled around it. The beast was crushing the rocks around it in rage, but it was all futile.

Spells and steel bolts rained on it one after the other and it was clear that the poison already entered its body. ist movements were sluggish and inaccurate, and it was slowly losing its strength.

"Probably another half an hour and it should be all over… I need to hurry!"

Gerald quickly came out and only spared a glance at what was happening, before casting wide-area magic and taking control of as much stone as he could. He also pulled a few swords close with Telekinesis, just in case.

With a mass of rock floating behind him, he ran back inside, this time completely unconcerned about the disgusting stuff on the ground as he needed to preserve his energy.

Bringing stones to the evolving Minecrawler Queen, he quickly started to think about an appropriate spell.

"Let's try with a Puppet first!"

Almost immediately a human-shaped puppet rose from the ground and picked up a sword. It then ran forward without fear and swung its sword…only to collapse before it even reached the fleshy cocoon.

"Wha-! I lost the connection with it!" Gerald raged loudly.

"You!" He pointed his finger towards the blob of flesh in anger. "Bitch, I clearly felt you! How dare you break off my connection with my spell! Fucking piece of shit!"

He grabbed a piece of stone and swung his arm, triggering an explosion an instant before it left his hand.

Boom!

The stone shoot through the first layer without any problems.

"Hmm, ah, screw it! I'm just going to bury you under rocks and let's see what happens!"

Stones rose from the ground and formed themselves into long spikes. Next, they started to spin like a drill, and lastly, they were pushed with great force from Wind magic and flew towards the cocoon.

Splat, splat, splat!

The stones skewered the cocoon as easily as a piece of jello, and bodily fluids gushed out of the wounds. The being inside squirmed in pain as the exoskeleton didn't yet form and it was currently in its most vulnerable stare.

"Good! Again!" Gerald shouted and formed another batch of projectiles.

Glglglgl~

Bubbles came from the wounds as the blood, mixed with yellow puss-like fluid, gushed out.

"Just die already!"

Gerald did his best to destroy the nasty cocoon, but it was simply too big! He barely scratched the surface of the being inside, and although it released a lot of blood, that was mostly old veins that ruptured and released the toxic waste.

Determined to kill it, Gerald gritted his teeth and took the pouch of gunpowder, and squeezed it hard in his palm.

"I don't know if this is going to work, but you better die quickly and stop suffering for no reason!"

He pinched his nose with his right hand and stuffed the pouch in a deep wound that was relatively dry compared to others. Then he jumped back and shouted, "Now burn!"

Flames spewed from his hand towards the wound and almost immediately after…

BOOM!

Flesh and blood splattered across the cave and Gerald barely avoided it by crouching behind a makeshift stone wall. An eerie silence followed the explosion and only the dripping of blood was heard in the room.

But then… A sound of movement entered Gerald's ears.

"Shit…" He slowly looked up, only to see the most horrific sight in the world.

Five meters tall, pink and purple flesh, with blood flowing out, and a face of a monster with no eyes, and hanging muscles around the mouth that were supposed to become hard mandibles…

It was possible one of the most horrific and disgusting things Gerald ever saw. Its legs were soft and veiny, completely unsuitable to carry the weight of that monster. The pulsating veins almost made him puke!

It slowly turned towards Gerald and the air around it started to heat up as a flame ball started forming at its soft and disgusting mouth.

"Oh, hell no! Don't you fucking dare use magic against me!"

Gerald quickly jumped up and lifted his cannon towards the monster. "Die!"

Boom!

His last shot was fired since he didn't have any more gunpowder left. It hit the monster in the chest, tearing flesh and organs, making it squirm in pain, and also stopping the Fire spell.

But then, a second later, it started again!

"I said no! Stop it!"

Gerald cast a Stone Shower and sharp stones rose from the ground and then rained from the ceiling. The monster stopped its spell again…only to resume it seconds later.

"No, no, no! Repeating Fireball!" Frustrated, Gerald shouted a chant out loud and fireballs left his palm one after the other.

Boom, boom, boom…

They exploded, one after the other, forming small flashes of light as the flames consumed the flesh of the Minecrawler Queen.

But it was not enough. The monster was determined to kill him no matter the cost and it preserved in the spell formation even though it was being bombarded by flames.

Rumble!

A rumbling sound was produced as the spell of the monster was completed and it flew through the cloud of smoke towards Gerald. The giant ball of flames, almost bigger than him, hit him square on the chest and blasted him back.

Just before the impact though, a few words escaped his mount as he closed his eyes and lifted his arms for protection: "Iron Body!"

BOOOM!

Like a barrel of oil exploding, fire engulfed the entire room and even escaped through the hallway up to the other parts of the temple.

Gerald crashed into a wall behind him and fell into the scorching blaze.

A man, covered in flames, with his armor and flesh burning and melting, stumbled towards the Magma Flowers where he collapsed with his last breath, barely conscious.

The Magma Flowers almost immediately sucked away the flames and cooled him down, waking him up and clearing his mind.

"Just this once… I fucking love cold…" he whispered and then immediately entered a coughing fit where he coughed out fresh blood and smoke.

The outer layer of his armor evaporated almost instantaneously and he suffered severe burns even though he used his strongest defensive magic. Although it had saved his life, that surge of Mana was not without its consequences.

His veins and skin ruptured and he felt weakness all over his body, almost as if he just finished the most difficult workout in his life. His body was trembling in pain and he had to grit his teeth and use all his will to even move.

He wanted to rest, but the beast had other ideas. Another surge of Mana started to gather inside its body, ready to send another blast his way.

Gerald was desperate and pissed off.

"Oh, fuck off! Just die already!"

Shouting with anger, he pointed his finger at the monster's head as the remaining Mana started to gather under his skin.

Pssssh!

There was a flash of light and a part of the monster's head suddenly evaporated, creating a small steam explosion.

At the same time, Gerald's finger was blasted open, with blood dripping from the cracks in the skin and muscles, with internal trauma giving it an unnatural color.

"AH! Fuck, it hurts! It hurts so bad!"

Almost 100 MP left his body in an instant, creating the most powerful spell he ever created. The momentary blinding flash of light was the concentrated light beam targeted at the Minecrawler Queen, killing it instantly.

"Lasers are cool and all, but I don't think I like destroying my finger in the process…" Gerald gave a wry smile as pain washed over his body and his mind entered a state of confusion, rage, bloodlust, fear, and anxiety, all at once.

It felt like his mind was expanding but in an overly aggressive way. It was like trying to tear apart a piece of rubber in an attempt at making it bigger. It was excruciatingly painful.

He screamed, he cried, he laughed and roared all at once for as long as he could. And when even his voice gave out, he just continued by blankly staring into space, with a look of suffering on his face.