Erwin had paid a heavy price for his compassion and lapse in concentration.

Under normal circumstances, he definitely wouldn't have been such a pushover against an opponent like this. However, his opponent on this occasion was a woman, and quite a beautiful one, at that, so that was already one of his weaknesses. It seemed that Erwin simply could never bring himself to kill beautiful women.

Even more importantly, he was thinking that if he were to absorb, convert, and devour the body of elemental matter that was Theresa, then after she met her demise, not even a single trace of her would be left behind. It would be as if she truly never existed in this world. Having said that, given the current level of his abilities, it was still quite difficult to execute the aforementioned process.

From Erwin's perspective, one's body was the best proof that they had once existed in this world. This viewpoint of his was actually very narrow-minded as well, and in reality, he knew that there were many ways to prove that one had once existed in this world.

He was able to bury the body of his teacher, Professor Hawk, with his own two hands, but he was unable to provide...