An Ideal Sand Bag!
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As the Paladin Commander that Maria was fighting was driven to a corner and almost slaughtered as her strike pierced his chest and left a huge wound, something suddenly started to change!
Countless of fleshy tendrils emerged from the wound on his chest, as his armor melted into a metallic slime-like substance, merging with his wounds!
Maria instantly noticed what was happening, this man was not like the chimera kids from before, no, his body had been "enhanced" with an even more refined method than those.
It seems that the Paladins of this second city in the Desert of Goldsand had undergone an even more drastic transformation, with an even more advanced method of modification, perhaps similar to the one the Heroes that invaded her Village had undergone.
"Would you look at that…"
The powers he held within were those of an Evil God's Fragment, and his armor was also cursed with its powers and miasma, made with its materials.