Fortunately, he didn’t have to take a more… extreme… approach, as the girls proved themselves trustworthy. And after some surprise, they didn’t change their attitude toward him much—except for maybe being gentler, as they now knew him to be extremely injured.

As for the boys? They didn’t know a thing, and he intended it to stay like that. After all, while he had recovered partially, he was still pretty weak all things considered. And while he had become a little more Unrestrained recently, he didn’t have the intention to begining to act foolishly. He would simply not limit himself anymore—for all the good and the bad it would bring him…

Meanwhile, as Mikael heard the tsundere words, he took on a remorseful expression. “I am sorry, Fairy Lifen. You are right. My words were spoken on impulse, without thinking. I shouldn’t have lied to Yulan~” he said that last word with a seductive undertone.

And when the latter raised her head to look at him, he continued, “To excuse myself, what do you say I give you a goodbye hug?”

“A goodbye hug? You mean a free hug?” joyfully exclaimed Yulan before looking at Mikael in admiration. “You are giving out free hugs? You are really a good guy!”

The next moment, Yulan realized something and let out a heavy sigh. “I see… this is the burden of being a femme fatale; nobody can resist me.” She flicked her twintails ‘seductively’ before approaching Mikael with a bounce in her steps.

It didn’t take long before Yulan’s soft body was in Mikael’s arms. At that moment, it could have been expected for Yulan to be flustered, but she seemed simply happy to have a ‘free hug’ so she just contentedly hugged him.

Meanwhile, Mikael returned the hug while placing his head on Yulan’s shoulder, allowing him to give a small smirk to Lifen—

Who instantly popped a vein as she cursed, ‘This bastard is doing it on purpose just to tease me! Yulan gets called “Yulan” in that warm, gentle tone… and me? I get a relatively formal “Fairy Lifen”!’

She huffed strongly, trying to take deep breaths to calm herself. ‘I shouldn’t get worked up, this bastard is trying to rile me up, I know it, but I can’t help it!’ she cursed, especially when she crossed her gaze to meet Mikael’s emerald eyes in which amusement glinted.

‘Damn it, with his attractiv—annoying teasing and smirk, I really don’t like it when he does this! I don’t like it at all—it’s just annoying!’ she inwardly complained, but unknown to her, a small smirk was present on her pink lips.

Moments later, she was brought out of her rambling when she felt a warm breath near her ear and then heard a low voice murmur, “Lifen~ do you also want a goodbye hug?”

Instantly, Lifen felt pleasant goosebumps break through all her body as she froze like a statue, paralyzed by the voice she recognized to be Mikael. Mechanically, she turned her head, arriving face to face with him, only centimeters separating her from Mikael donning an extremely punchable smirk.

Gulp.

She gulped, her eyes instinctively drifting to Mikael’s lips before she caught herself and raised her eyesight. It landed on Mikael’s green eyes, and she saw that he had caught everything she did—and that it amused him.

Instantly, her face reddened beyond what should have been humanly possible. “Idiot, dummy!” she cursed before ‘teleporting’ backward tens of meters from Mikael.

Instinctively, she nearly punched Mikael with her full power, her tsundere instincts, shame, and the urge to get back nearly convincing her to get some payback—but knowing that Mikael was injured, she didn’t.

‘Hmph! You’re lucky you’re injured, or else… I’d have shown you,’ she thought to herself.

In truth, if it had been anybody else in Mikael’s place who’d done what he did, she wouldn’t have only punched them—she would’ve definitely killed him. Hell, even if Mikael had done something like that two days ago, back when she definitively didn’t have a crush on him, she still would’ve punched him… while at the same time losing all interest. But now—

After two days passed talking and… nothing else—there was no flirt at all. Her previous small crush had grown from something really, really minuscule—so small that it probably didn’t even exist, as she kept telling herself—to now, where she was attracted to him far beyond just his physical appearance.

She was attracted to his personality even more than his looks. Appearance was only the thing that grabbed attention in a relationship, but personality was what decided whether things worked or not, and with Mikael, she’d grown more and more impressed the longer she spent time with him.

Not only did he have a weird way of thinking that she’d never seen before, but he was also extremely charming and attractive and alo… she blushed red, ‘I like it when he teases me with that charming smirk… and when he bullies me a little, too.’

The thought hit her like a sledgehammer. She instantly froze, mechanically still, her mind going blank. It was like her brain rebelled against her—refusing to process what she’d just thought. But then—

After a few seconds spent standing like a statue, she ‘rebooted.’ At that moment, Lifen was absolutely mortified. “No, no, no, no, I aren’t like that. It’s the earlier surprise that burned my brain.” She nodded convincingly. “Yeah, nothing more. Totally. It’s impossible, I aren’t this kind of person… am I?”

Before Lifen could fall deeper into this treacherous line of introspection, she heard Mikael’s voice, previously talking softly with her airhead sister, suddenly echoed louder.

“Okay girls, I won’t delay our goodbye any longer, as I dislike goodbyes, so no need to needlessly prolong it, especially when I know we’ll meet again one day!” he declared, offering them a confident smile that instinctively made the sisters feel like he was telling the truth.

The next moment, true to his words, he turned on his heels and began to walk away from the devastated battlefield and toward the still-intact forest.

Step. Step. Step.

His footsteps echoed in the girls’ ears. The first to react was Yulan, who waved both hands cheerfully. “Good guy that offers free hugs! You can visit us at the Stillwater Palace whenever you want, you’ve got our guest tokens, so don’t forget to drop by one day!”

Lifen spoke just after, “Mikael, if you want to visit… I wouldn’t be too against it. Your presence is tolerable.”

Mikael’s answer was to keep walking while raising his hand behind him in a lazy backward wave, the back of his hand catching the light.

“Same for you, if you want to visit me, you’re welcome to the Wandering Sword Sect. I should be there in the next months once I’ve finished my exploration of the Savagefang Mountain Range. So on this note… take care.”

“Take care.” ×2

Mikael gradually walked farther and farther until his voice resounded one last time, “Oh, and pass my regards to Bai Qiang and Bai Wenjie. Leaving without giving my farewell would be somewhat rude.”

On that final note, Mikael continued walking without looking back. It didn’t take long before he was only a small dot, and then not even that, as he disappeared into the forest.

“Mikael has left…” sadly exclaimed Yulan, clutching the hem of her robes with a somewhat gloomy expression.

Seeing how her sister looked—and feeling how her own heart was clenching, Lifen cursed, “This charming bastard really has a big appetite… he had the gall to go after both sisters and s-su-cee-ded…” What began as loud cursing ended with her voice dropping lower and lower until it became completely unintelligible.

Yulan’s eyes lit up the moment she caught the word charming in her sister’s muttering. “Lifen, you’re a genius!” she suddenly exclaimed, grabbing her now-confused twin by the shoulder.

“What?”

“If he’s charming, and I’m a…” She flicked her hair. “Femme fatale, aren’t we the perfect couple?” she asked, eyes sparkling.

For a moment, Lifen said nothing—silent, still—but then—

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh……”

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped Lifen’s mouth.

“Why are you sighing?” inquired a confused Yulan, blinking her big, innocent eyes.

Lifen didn’t answer. Some things… were better left unsaid, especially for her sanity. ‘The heavens know I love my sister, but sometimes she really is… too much.’

Feeling more dejected than before, Lifen’s gaze rose, drifting toward the spot where Mikael had vanished just moments ago.

“Mikael… I wonder when we’ll meet again?” she murmured softly while looking up at the sky. “I hope it’ll be soon…” she added in a rare moment of honesty, struck by a strange wave of quiet sadness.

***

Meanwhile, hundreds of meters away, unaware of what had happened just after he left, Mikael was walking through a forest that felt eerily silent compared to how he remembered it just days ago.

What had once been a lush, thriving landscape had now thinned dramatically. The towering trees that had stood for centuries had been felled beneath the weight of countless passing demonic beasts, leaving only a few survivors behind, scarred, gashed, and clawed beyond recognition.

All signs of life seemed to have vanished. Not even the typical chorus of a forest remained. No insect chirps, no birdsong, nothing. Just dead silence.

The only sound that reached his ears was the occasional rustle of dry leaves brushed by the wind, and even that, paired with the broken trees, gave rise to an oppressive atmosphere.

‘So this is what a demonic beast tide does to an ecosystem…’ He glanced around again as he moved farther away from the girls. ‘The damage is enormous, but since the forest was still lush when I arrived, the recovery rate must be fast, right?’

Mikael shook his head, choosing not to dwell on it further. He had more important priorities: namely, finding a place to recover. Even after two full days, his condition was still… let’s just say far from ideal.

Suddenly, he stopped, his body tensed, something in the environment felt off. Earlier, it had been quiet but empty. Now…

‘I’m not alone.’ He scanned the area carefully, avoiding the use of his Divine Sense, it would be too draining in his current state.

Rustle.

Turning toward the sound, he saw the underbrush to his right shift. For a moment, he simply stared, unsure whether it had been the wind or something else.

From the tangled vegetation emerged a two-meter-tall, eight-legged spider—or rather, what used to be one. Three of its legs were missing, leaving it to limp forward on five jagged limbs, each jointed like a serrated blade.

Its obsidian-black carapace was fractured in multiple places, thin trails of purple blood oozing from the cracks. Sections of its exoskeleton had been shattered, exposing raw, twitching flesh underneath.

Yet despite its ragged state, the beast radiated a chilling pressure. Its presence was unmistakable—an Early-stage Spiritual Foundation Realm demonic beast.

Its many eyes gleamed with icy hunger, and even while wounded, the oppressive aura rolling off its body pressed down on Mikael’s senses like a coiled threat ready to strike.

Mikael’s expression turned grim. ‘Fuck!’ Under normal conditions, he could have killed an Early-stage Spiritual Foundation beast with ease. So an injured one?

It should’ve been effortless. But he wasn’t anywhere close to top form. If anything, he was still in terrible shape…

For a few seconds, man and beast simply watched each other, assessing, measuring, looking for weakness.

Moonpiercer Sword Art – Second Movement: Eclipsing Crescent Cut

Knowing the fight couldn’t be avoided, Mikael acted first. He launched the Eclipsing Crescent Cut, silver Lunar Qi spiraling along Sangrelia’s still-cracked blade as she slashed toward the spider.

Krreeee!

💬Got Thoughts? I read every comment, and your words genuinely shape Mikael’s path.

———

A/N:

And with that, we end the small arc of Yulan and Lifen. Honestly, I’m pretty satisfied with how this arc turned out—but at the same time, I’m a bit dissatisfied with how it came out.

Let me explain. You see, I’m satisfied because I have the impression that the romance doesn’t feel forced. (Maybe it gave off another impression while reading, but at least it felt that way to me.) We can see the flirtation and the progression in mutual interest, which is exactly what I was aiming for.

It’s a Seraphis 2.0—in the sense that the romance with Seraphis felt somewhat forced and fast. It literally happened during a “time skip.” But this time, it’s the opposite—we see everything clearly, and I’m happy with that. It’s how I would’ve liked to write the Seraphis romantic interaction back then.

At the same time, I’m dissatisfied because this is a classic case of slow pacing from me.

Originally, I hadn’t even planned for this interaction. I was going to have Mikael recover for a while, then continue exploring the Savagefang Mountain Range. But then I had the idea of him getting caught with his ‘pants down’ while injured—and one thing led to another. In the end, the arc lasted four chapters more than it was supposed to…

Which is why I’m a bit dissatisfied. But at the same time, I like the arc—and it was a nice pause after the action-heavy chapters from the demonic beast tide arc, so... yeah. I’m conflicted and don’t know what to feel about it.

If you want to share your opinion, I’d be interested in hearing it.

———

📚 Chapters ahead await on Patreon: www./SDASLUMMY

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Glad you’re walking this path with me.

— End of Chapter —