My Harem of Dangerous and Crazy Women as a Reincarnated Necromancer

”Get ready,” Mark said, his voice low but firm.

There was no time to work out plans or strategies.

Whatever was coming down that corridor would arrive in a matter of seconds.

Rose moved first, and to Mark’s surprise, the vampire had enviable reflexes — in less than a blink she was already behind one of the stone pillars supporting the first floor’s ceiling.

Yuki, for her part, didn’t hide.

Instead, she crossed to Mark in quick steps and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him behind what appeared to be a massive chunk of collapsed wall.

The stone block was large enough to conceal three people, and Mark had to admit that as improvised cover it wasn’t bad at all.

”Please stay here, Master,” Yuki said in a tone that was clearly not a suggestion.

Before Mark could respond, the assassin had already launched herself toward the ceiling.

Her hands and feet found invisible cracks in the stone above with an ease that defied gravity, and in under two seconds she was suspended directly above the corridor entrance, like a spider waiting for its prey.

Only for her body to vanish completely an instant later.

’Alright... we’re all in position.’

Mark peeked over the edge of the fallen wall, just enough to have a line of sight down the corridor.

The trembling had intensified — it was no longer a subtle vibration but a steady rumbling he could feel through the soles of his boots.

Whatever was heading toward them was close.

Very close.

The monsters on the first floor — those giant spiders and stone gargoyles that had been completely ignoring Mark and his group — suddenly turned their heads toward the corridor.

All at once, like marionettes pulled by the same string.

’That’s not a good sign.’

And then, out of the dark corridor, came running a... nun?

’Huh?’, Mark thought, blinking in disbelief.

The woman wore the unmistakable outfit of anime nun, except that parts of it appeared to be armored, along with a rosary hanging from her neck that bounced violently against her chest with each stride.

She had dark blue hair, a young face, perhaps twenty-five, with soft features and light green eyes.

But that wasn’t what left Mark with his mouth hanging open.

What truly surprised him was what she was carrying.

”What the hell...”

She had five other women loaded on her like luggage.

Two under her left arm, two under her right, and a fifth draped over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

All five were unconscious, or at least Mark hoped they were only unconscious, because the state they were in wasn’t exactly encouraging.

They were all covered in blood.

A lot of blood.

Their armor was shredded, with pieces missing as if something had torn them off with its teeth.

One of them had her arm at an angle no arm should ever be at.

Another had half her breastplate completely caved inward, and the one hanging over the nun’s shoulder had hair soaked in a dark liquid Mark preferred not to identify.

’What the hell happened to them?’

She shot out of the corridor, then stopped dead beside the nearest pillar.

Her eyes swept the room in a fraction of a second.

Then, with a care that contrasted brutally with the speed at which she’d arrived, she set the five women down on the floor and arranged them side by side in quick succession.

Mark watched the whole scene from behind the wall, holding his breath.

His mind was already running at full speed.

Their presence meant there had been a group that had gone in before them.

A group that, judging by the state of its members, had been completely massacred.

’So the only one left standing was what looks like the group’s healer... that says a lot about what’s down there.’

But his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden movement of the first-floor monsters.

They all moved at the same time, as if someone had flipped a switch.

And they converged on the nun, charging toward her from every direction at once.

An avalanche of monsters closed in on the woman from all sides.

The spiders moved along the walls and ceiling, the gargoyles flew rapidly in her direction.

’She’s dead...’

A single person in her condition couldn’t deal with that many enemies, and even if they were first-floor monsters, they were still extremely powerful.

Let alone while protecting five unconscious people.

The math simply didn’t work out.

The first spider to reach her was enormous, dripping a greenish liquid from its jaws.

It launched itself directly at the nun, aiming for her head.

But she didn’t even turn to look at it.

’What is she doing?’, Mark wondered, baffled by the woman’s stillness.

Instead, along her arms from elbows to knuckles, a pair of gauntlets materialized.

They were white with gold details, glowing with a faint light that seemed to pulse like a heartbeat.

But without a doubt the most striking thing about them was their size, they were completely disproportionate to the woman’s slender frame, and covered in runes Mark didn’t recognize.

And then the nun threw a punch in the monster’s direction.

It was a simple motion, just a straight jab, no apparent technique, no elaborate stance.

And as if by magic, the giant spider ceased to exist.

It didn’t die. It wasn’t crushed. It didn’t go flying.

It literally vaporized in midair.

’HUH?!!!’, Mark thought, utterly unable to believe what he’d just seen.

One instant it was there, and the next there was only a shockwave that lifted dust from the floor and a shower of light particles that dissolved before touching the ground.

The punch hadn’t even made direct contact with the spider’s body, the pressure of the impact alone had been enough to disintegrate it completely.

And with that, the rest of the monsters stopped.

Mark was completely still behind the wall.

His eyes were wide open and his brain was trying to process what he had just witnessed.

From his position he could see Rose behind the pillar, and the vampire wore exactly the same expression as him, a mix of disbelief and a very healthy survival instinct screaming at her not to move.

’Holy shit...’, Mark thought, incredulous.

The remaining monsters didn’t move, almost as if they were processing what had just happened to one of their own.