But the monster did not answer his questions and not that he expected one. The more he pulled, the more the shadow in the ground struggled, then cracked as he pulled.

Then with a grunt and a final pull, he finally managed to pull the whole thing out of the ground, so unexpectedly that he even stumbled back.

The monster was just as surprised.

It was a wolf-like creature, dark as midnight. Its appearance was like drawn shadow. Its flat head turned to him in surprise as if it was just as shocked to suddenly find itself under the light.

"So you are the ones causing trouble here?" Galthor asked with mild annoyance in his voice.

The wolf monster looked at him with flat eyes... eyes that shone with cold light and then growled as it twisted its body and flew at Galthor, mouth opened wide, black fangs dripping with saliva.

Galthor's other hand shot forward and he caught the monster in the head, crushing the head as easily as crushing an egg. His expression shifted to distaste as dark blood ran down his hand. "A Dire rank monster actually dared to attack me? Impressive for its courage."

He threw the monster's body to the side.

But just as he was about to return to the shield, Lady Pelica's voice reached him. "Be careful! That's a shadow stalker, very dangerous."

Galthor raised his brows. "It's only a Dire rank monster."

"Yes. But that's only if there's one of them. They hunt as a pack and that's why they are dangerous."

"A pack of how many?"

"Depends. From a few hundred to thousands. They also make use of shadow which makes it increasingly difficult to deal with them."

Galthor's expression changed and at the same time the shadows in the surroundings boiled to life. The trees became dense with shadow that even the enchanted light bulb could not cut through.

Then... the tide of shadows surged forward and collapsed on Galthor. An ocean of darkness that was filled with fangs and claws.

The masters shouted and even jumped out, running for the rolling tide that had just swallowed their master.

But before they even got close, something extraordinary happened. The ground beneath them softened to mud and they came to a sudden stop to avoid sinking.

The next second, the darkness ball that contained the Chief and the shadow stalkers was forcefully torn apart, black blood and body parts flying through the air.

And from that ball, something made of monstrous earth came charging.

It was easily twenty feet tall, double the size of Galthor. Its body was made of hardened and soft mud, and covered by a brown rippling energy.

It held a sword of at least ten meters tall and it easily walked on the mud. A voice came out of the mud construct, deep and grating. "Go back, leave this to me. I want to test the new relic."

The masters looked at each other and began to slowly retreat. Besides, all the ground around the shield camp was rapidly turning to mud.

Galthor turned towards the forest, the mud construct moving as easily as if it was his own body. "Let's see what you can do, Obsessed with charm!"

Then he moved... a blur, brown something that was here and then there. The air whipped loudly from his passing and mud slashed high into the air.

Within a blink he was into the trees, and the brown energy flowed into his sword with concentrated intensity as he raised it.

The same time the shadow stalkers already converged on him, growing and filling the air around him as they tore into the mud construct with claws and savage fangs.

But Galthor brought down the sword and the sea of darkness was instantly cut into two. The brown energy also leaped into the air, causing an explosion of its own that shook the trees and blasted back more of the monsters.

A grin echoed from the mud construct. "Alright, I'm getting used to this."

And then, Galthor began the slaughter of the shadow stalkers.

The masters and Lady Pelica watched from the sidelines as he fought. Each swing of the sword cut down trees and dozens of monsters. The ground was mud and would grow spikes to counter the shadow spikes.

Bones floated around, turning into arrows and spears that constantly pierced the monsters, shredding them into pieces.

"Should... should that relic be that strong?" Karathra suddenly asked.

Brakthar suddenly shook his head and touched the relic on his neck. "It seems that it's even more powerful than the one I have even though it was one rank below. That's... not something I expected."

One by one the masters nodded. Although the shadow stalkers were Dire rank, they were below the cursed rank and none of the masters would dare stand in the middle of the pack to fight them.

"The Chief is truly incredible."

Only Lady Pelica secretly criticized Galthor. '..the relic shouldn't be that strong on him even if it is a growth type and thus unique. Something else is at play here. Is this some kind of divine blessing? It's expected though. He's an Apostle...'

Either way, whatever was happening, Galthor destroyed all of the shadow stalkers that stood up to him while the rest turned tail and made away with their tails between their legs.

After that, Galthor wiped the mud armor around him away and looked at his surroundings with satisfaction. "This is really impressive, Obsessed with charm. I am satisfied with your performance."

The only feeling that Obsessed with charm sent back was of total bewilderment, as if it couldn't believe something itself.

Galthor didn't put much thought to this and he shrugged. There were hundreds of the shadow stalkers around him, majority with missing chunks of body parts. "How valuable are the shadow stalkers?"

Lady Pelica shook her head. "They are of little value. Since they are monsters kept by Monster Breeders, they reproduce fast so there's always more of them."

Galthor grunted and shook his head. "A shame. Well, there's nothing to be done... right, let me turn the ground back to normal. Ah, yes. You can all go to sleep. Big day tomorrow."

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