We hastily got dressed and sprinted towards where the other girls were, my heart tightening in my chest, trembling at the thought that something might be happening to one of my Valkyries.

Even from a distance, I could see the scene unfolding before us. The girls who had been rescued were retreating, with my party protecting them from the creatures right in front of them.

The monsters were long and bulky but had a low stature, seeming to crawl along the ground. It took me a moment to realize that the creatures weren’t crawling, but walking on their short legs.

The crocodiles emerged from the water in a pack—there were ten of these reptiles surrounding the girls who had been bathing there. But they didn’t look like normal crocodiles, not even like typical beast-type monsters. Their skin was strangely dark, like pitch, and around their golden irises, their eyes glowed a vivid red.

"It can’t be..." I said to myself.

Unfortunately, I knew very well what kind of creatures they were. They were still monsters, but the way they existed was quite different from the others. I didn’t expect to see them at this point. They certainly weren’t supposed to be there.

Fortunately, they weren’t very powerful creatures, their strength focused on brute force with a powerful bite. Despite the scream from one of the young women, it didn’t seem like any of them had suffered a serious injury.

My Valkyries fought bravely, not giving the crocodiles any opportunity to get close to the girls. Sarah used her flaming sword against the reptiles, slicing them, Justine cast her electric magic at them, and Diane attacked those on their death’s door. Alicia and Erina stayed in the rear, protecting the non-Awakened and holding the backline. Every time one of those crocodiles was killed, its body exploded into a pool of thick liquid in the purest black.

I was impressed by their teamwork. If these were normal enemies, the problem would certainly be resolved in no time. But this wasn’t our usual situation.

As if the tar-like liquid had a will of its own, it began to float, piling up and forming the creature that had just been destroyed.

"There’s no end to this shit!" Sarah cursed as she sliced one of the monsters, only for it to come back to life a few seconds later.

Camula and I pushed our way through the crocodiles and reached where the girls were gathered.

"Rick," Diane called my name as soon as she saw me near her. "I’m glad you came to help us. Out of nowhere, these monsters started attacking us."

"Did any of you get hurt?" I asked to make sure.

She shook her head. "But they won’t stop coming. What are these creatures made of?"

"These monsters were created using magic," I explained. "No matter how many times you destroy them, they’ll simply restore themselves and return to the fight."

"Seriously?" Sarah said with a tense expression. "No, there has to be some way to get rid of them."

I nodded. "They were created by magic, so if we eliminate the caster, they’ll go down with her. The magic user shouldn’t be too far away, so all we have to do is find her."

I turned to the Valkyrie who would be most useful for this task. "Diane, for this mission, I’ll need your help. The rest of you stay here and protect the girls."

"Understood!" they all said in unison.

When my wives answered me with such conviction that they could hold things down there, the pressure in my chest vanished, and Diane and I set off in search of our enemy.

The caster couldn’t be too far from there to maintain control over the monsters, which reduced the number of places where she could be. To avoid being in plain sight for possible attacks, she had to be somewhere in the forest near us.

I pointed out the direction Diane should follow, and we ran as fast as we could towards it. It seemed my good memory of SCRL had paid off well. It didn’t take long for the two of us to spot the girl covered in a dark blue cloak. When our gazes met, we knew our fight would be to the death.

At that instant, the girl made a quick incantation, summoning two monsters to her side. These were no longer crocodiles, but a kind of land predator, faster and more ferocious than the previous ones. The wolves she summoned had fur the same color as the crocodiles, as if their bodies had been bathed in petroleum, and their eyes carried the same color pattern and murderous intent.

The wolves leapt towards us, each of them aiming for our necks with their jaws wide open. Even if their origin was that black liquid, the fangs of those creatures looked quite solid. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I’ve already beaten a wolf ten times your size! Get lost!" I shouted, brandishing my sword and splitting the lupines in half with a powerful slash.

"Oh." An impressed voice came from beneath the cloak. "What an impetuous man."

"I don’t intend to hold back," I said, pointing my sword at her. "You tried to harm innocents, and more importantly, you tried to hurt the ones I love. You won’t go unpunished for this."

"How frightening." The girl’s voice feigned fear towards me. "That was merely a simple greeting from me."

"You call that just a ’greeting’? Someone could have died because of those creatures," Diane said angrily.

But the woman merely shrugged. "If they can’t survive my weakest monsters, then honestly, their lives hold no value to me. More interesting than those girls is the boy who came to me. It seems my coming here has yielded quite a good result indeed."

Of all the people I could have run into here, my bad luck had clearly struck again. Right in front of me stood one of the members of the Night Apostles—and a rather troublesome one on top of that.