When Constance arrived at Milz Park, Malin’s City Guards and the armed citizens had already joined forces with Camilla’s Paladin squad, and they were fighting with gusto against the undead crawling out from underground and the Chaotic forces across the garden.
"Where’s Malin?" Constance spotted Camilla, who was directing the archers among the armed citizens from a high vantage point to surge towards the Chaos.
"Over there," Camilla said somewhat disgruntledly, gesturing toward the northern end of the garden not far away.
Constance looked in that direction, then almost burst a blood vessel—Hoffman’s favored apprentice, the very child he claimed needed the most protection, the one who never knew how to care for himself, was wielding a battle axe larger than himself to hack at Chaos Spawn and the undead, and in his other hand, he was holding a sawed-off lever-action shotgun, single-handedly reloading, while a Chaotic Believer in front of him fell down bloodied with a large machete.
...Was this the child that old bastard claimed needed protection?
As Malin cleaved a Chaos Spawn in two, Constance shook his head.
It was not that he had fallen, but rather, the bodies under Malin’s feet, those gory remains, were telling Constance with their own silent testament... he should save them instead.
...Tch, it doesn’t matter how many of you die!
Having shot all his bullets, Malin tossed the gun backward, and a Dos canine leaped up from behind cover to catch it, while its companion threw him a reloaded lever-action shotgun.
Malin cleaved an oncoming Chaos Spawn into kindling with his axe, then swept with the flat of the blade, slamming an attacking undead against the wall. The momentum of his axe did not stop and finally flew from his hand, chopping down a Chaos Spawn that had been pursuing the armed citizens.
Catching the shotgun, Malin held the barrel reversed, using the cast-iron butt to smash the face and arm of the oncoming Chaos, which was hideously disfigured.
More armed citizens charged to the front lines, yelling; they might not be able to handle Chaos Spawn, but at least they could help Malin block the Chaotic Believers, allowing him to focus on hunting down the Chaos Spawn.
"We must find Nagoth’s portal!" Looking at the relentless stream of Chaotic Believers, Malin shouted to the old Punisher by his side, "Old man! Do you have any ideas?"
"We need a Mage to look from the sky and see where these Chaotic creeps are coming from!" the old Punisher replied while reloading his weapon.
Malin blocked the impact of a Chaos Spawn for him. In a contest of strength, Malin was fearless; to others, Chaos Spawn might be fatal, but to Malin, this brute was still a bit behind compared to a bear-man.
After smashing the Chaos Spawn to the ground, Malin called out to the bear-man without looking back: "Oliver!"
A hammer larger than a human head smashed down on the Chaos Spawn’s skull in the next second.
With a roar, the bear-man seemed to have regained his vigor.
Malin reached out, caught the World Tree Sapling that leaped towards him, and thought about the time he replaced the handle of his axe with it. He had been a bit worried—after all, this was a Legendary weapon, not the kinds with interchangeable handles for chopping wood—yet the spirit of the axe convinced Malin with proof that it was quite pleased, even overjoyed.
Malin thought for a moment—right, not just any Legendary weapon could be handled with a World Tree Sapling.
Then he threw it to the bear-man Oliver, who caught the axe with both hands, turned around, and, with one blow to the face, split an onrushing Chaos Spawn in two.
Pulling the axe from the ground, Oliver tossed it back to Malin.
Meanwhile, Malin had turned several undead into flying chunks of flesh with the bear-man’s Hammer; turning back, he tossed their weapons across the sky, crossing each other. Having emptied his Shotgun, Malin threw it behind him, caught Blood Roar with both hands, and with a leap, dove into the Chaos crowd. The power he gained from this Legendary weapon allowed him to land a heavy blow that sent the nearby Chaotic Believers flying. The armed citizens rushed forward, seizing the moment of disarray in the Chaos ranks to press their advantage.
Malin swung his axe, felling Chaos cultists still trying to regroup; the assault teams composed of Orcs charged into the fray right behind him. Armed with hand axes, daggers, and revolvers, they were the most effective troops under Malin’s command at the moment.
Having shattered the last resistance of the Chaos cultists, Malin raised his axe high with a triumphant shout—not daring to bellow warrrgggghhhhh, for fear that invoking the Wrath of the Second God would really stir up trouble.
Resting the axe on his shoulder, Malin turned around and saw his mentor, the old man, smiling serenely.
His senior brother by his side looked helpless.
Malin took a deep breath, feeling that disaster might be imminent.
Yet someone understood the situation—new Chaos forces appeared at the breach, led by a tall man.
"It’s the Chaos Prince!" the experienced Punisher immediately recognized the figure.
"You’ve ruined my plans! You damned brat! I’m going to kill you!" he bellowed angrily, then started to transform into a huge monster as he charged towards Malin.
With both hands on his axe and holy Spiritual Energy flashing before its blade, Malin watched as it defied the bullets and accelerated. After blessing himself, he finally decided to throw his axe.
The Chaos Prince’s greatsword, meant to block the axe, was severed by the blade instead. Losing his balance on the charge, the Prince crashed askew into a nearby house.
The Chaos cultists, ready to charge after their leader, began to falter and turned to flee.
The Orcs, ready to fight to the death beside Malin, were first stunned, then burst into collective jubilation.
The small sapling returned to Malin’s hand from the half-collapsed house.
Malin turned around and looked at his mentor with a wide grin, "See that, old man? My glorious victory!"
"You lucky kid, it’s all thanks to that legendary weapon of yours," Old Hoffman walked over, patted Malin’s head, and then noticed the uninvited guest in Malin’s hood, "An Elem?"
"What?" Malin was startled, then looked around, "Which Elem are you talking about? One of those Orcs?"
"I mean the little one in your hood," Hoffman said, patting the little creature on the head as he spoke.
It chirped and then settled on Malin’s shoulder.
Malin glanced at the small animal, "It’s a person?"
"Yes, a sentient being from another world, very rare. In their home world, they are already an extinct species, existing only in some remote worlds or worlds far-flung like ours," Hoffman explained with a sigh, "But how did it get here?"
"Ah... that... like the axe..." Malin explained the situation.
Hoffman and Constance were both puzzled when they heard that both the axe and the small one were gifts given to him by Nagoth.
"What are your thoughts on this?" the two elders asked in unison.
Malin smiled and shook his head, "That depends on whether I feel like it, and as long as there are girls among mine who love this world, I definitely won’t be the gravedigger of this world."