The new beast that Equidna materialized in front of her was a tiger. Instead of colorful fur marked by black stripes, its body was almost entirely dark. Thick droplets of the liquid that had created it dripped from its form. The only parts that weren’t that shade were the ferocious features exposed right in front of me—its open mouth, red like raw flesh, and its large white fangs, solid and ready to tear us to pieces.

The tiger then leapt towards me, but my Shadow Assassin was faster. With her knives formed and infused with shadow energy, she lunged in to attack.

"Fatal Slash!" With her two blades in hand, Diane delivered two fierce cuts against the beast, destroying it instantly.

Avoiding the puddle of sludge, I ran towards Equidna, my legs at full speed and my sword prepared for a diagonal strike against her. Equidna focused her attention on me, her hand raised to counterattack with magic.

"Just kidding," I said to her, and right after, "Gather."

I feinted, revealing Diane, who had been teleported behind me. I had to be grateful for having called Diane for this. I don’t think I could have pulled off this kind of combo without training with her or with Sarah.

The instincts of my Shadow Assassin and her ability to think quickly in the middle of combat were perfect for this kind of tactic. Plus, Gather didn’t consume Mana, so we could keep this up for quite a while.

Diane’s blade went for Equidna, but the Night Apostles member evaded in time, losing only her hand.

"You’re not funny, you know that?" the cloaked woman said to me.

"Really?" I replied with a broad smile on my face. "My wives think otherwise."

But it seemed Equidna wasn’t in the mood for my jokes, both her hands pointed at us as she created new beasts for the fight.

The first was a deer, raising its antlers as it tried to pierce my flesh. The second was still forming in Equidna’s hands, but I could see the head of an eagle taking shape, its eyes glowing red with golden irises. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Flash Thrasher!" With my sword, I cut off the monster’s antlers and struck its neck, severing its head.

Finally, the eagle had taken form, and the bird came at me next, its claws ready to slash at my face.

I could have said bye-bye to my eyeball if Diane hadn’t deflected the attack. Each of her knives parried the eagle’s claws with mastery, and then I had the opportunity to eliminate the creature.

"Thunderblade!" With a strike imbued with electric energy, I split the eagle in half in front of us.

That Equidna wasn’t playing around—her next attack was bigger than all the ones she had launched so far.

"Eh?" A surprised sound left my mouth when I saw a trunk and ivory tusks, accompanied by that unmistakable sound.

"Rick!"

If Diane hadn’t grabbed me and pulled me aside, the elephant would have trampled me. I didn’t know how much HP that would have cost me, but I certainly didn’t want to find out.

The beast, the size of a small house, destroyed every tree in its path, some even torn out by the roots. After laying waste to the ground beneath its crushing weight, the elephant finally turned toward us and began its march, its collision course fixed on me.

I didn’t believe my sword would be able to cut a monster of that size. But my sword wasn’t the only weapon I had. If my Strength wasn’t enough, I still had my Magic.

I extended the palm of my hand toward the beast, recalling my fight against Zalrorg and the intense heat that had destroyed the Lich. This time it wouldn’t be my Flame Sword—rather, I channeled the fire to gather in the palm of my hand.

"Fireball!" The blazing sphere shot straight into the elephant’s head, and it disintegrated like all its fallen allies.

We turned back to Equidna. Our battle against her wasn’t over yet. To defeat her, we had to make her expend all her Mana or reduce her HP to 0. So far she hadn’t suffered even a scratch, but every time she created or restored a monster, it cost MP.

Just a little more and we’ll be able to defeat her.

I was prepared for the next monster she would send against us. It could be a lion, a mountain goat, or a fucking hippopotamus. No matter what I had to face, I would win. Together with Diane, maybe we could pull it off.

But to my surprise, Equidna lowered her hands.

"We are not going anywhere," Equidna said, frustration in her voice. "I can’t defeat you, but you can’t defeat me either. I’ll retreat for today."

"Eh?"

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. After all the mental preparation I had done, the villain was simply going to withdraw. What a splash of cold water.

"So you’re going to chicken out, huh?" I said to her.

"You won’t provoke me like that. We’ll meet again, and when that happens, I’ll strip the secret of the philosopher’s stone from your corpse," she said coldly.

Equidna’s body shimmered as if she were a mirage in the desert, then vanished as though she had evaporated. I could no longer feel her presence, and neither could Diane, so we assumed she had truly left.

My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the ground. It had been quite a while since I had pushed myself so hard in a battle. Even the fights against the monsters I had faced before hadn’t been as exhausting as my fight against the Night Apostle.

"At least... I’m still alive..." I said, out of breath.

If Equidna had truly withdrawn, that meant her monsters had disappeared and were no longer attacking my Valkyries. I looked at their stats on my HUD, and since their MP consumption had stopped, I believed they were out of combat. Diane and I stayed there, resting for a while.

"Hey, Rick," Diane said after her breathing had calmed down. "You’ve never seen that woman before, right?"

"That’s right."

"Then how did she know you received the blessing from the Lost Temple?" she asked.

"Among her abilities, she can sense that kind of thing," I answered, but something still left her uneasy.

"But even so, it’s strange, isn’t it? How did she know your name and that you would be in Valleria?" Diane asked, her eyes fixed on the ground.

I sighed. "I have a theory about that. I can tell you, but promise me to keep it a secret. Don’t tell this to Alicia."

Diane’s eyes widened. She closed them for a moment, maybe preparing herself, and then spoke.

"I promise."

"Remember when I said that the Noble Apostles are behind the Silver Fang?" I asked.

"Yes, I remember."

"A party member of mine, his name is Leo, left our party to join the Silver Fang."

"Why would your friend tell them about you or the Lost Temple? Are his morals so low that he would open his mouth like that?"

"Even though some of the things I’ve heard from him these past few days are pretty weird, I don’t think he would tell the Silver Fang about me. Maybe they did something to him, and that worries me. I don’t want Sarah to know."

There is the possibility that Leo was manipulated or being held by the Silver Fang. There are several ways to make a man talk that send chills down my spine. Even if he’s been acting like a jerk lately, Sarah still considers him a friend of ours, and I don’t want to see her sad and worried about him.

"Understood. I’ll keep my mouth shut." Diane finally said.

"Thanks for backing me up."

"But what will we do next?"

"We need information about the Silver Fang. Fortunately, the next city should give us a good lead."

"The city the girls came from. Ah, right. I believe there’s a Silver Fang post there."

"That’s right, if we want to get a lead on Leo’s whereabouts, the best place to find it would be where he went to enlist." I said to Diane with a smile on my face.

There was another reason I wanted to find Leo. If he was in danger, I would help him—not just because of Sarah, but also because we had fought together in the past. Back then, I was a weakling, so I feel like I owe him.

But there was another possibility. Leo had refused to save Ironburgh, something that seemed completely out of character for him. Not receiving the blessing from the Lost Temple must have changed something in him.

I didn’t know to what extent, but if he was acting deliberately, putting Sarah and me at risk, I would never forgive him.

That said, there was only one way to clear things up—our new destination: the city of Greenville.