Eastern Great Winter Forest, Yumo's Wooden House

As the winter sunlight streamed through the window and into the room, the darkness inside was completely driven away, welcoming the light of dawn...

At this moment,

the adorable Miss Mengxi was affectionately hugging the giant teddy bear Yumo had specially made, lying obediently on the bed. Judging by the smile constantly tugging at her lips, this little cutie was probably enjoying a very pleasant dream.

Across from the bed, an incomparably beautiful black-haired girl sat quietly on a wooden chair with her hands resting on her knees and her eyes closed.

Even when the sunlight fell across her breathtaking face, the black-haired girl showed no reaction.

She simply sat there like a statue, motionless.

Naturally, this beautiful black-haired girl was our Miss Yumo.

Although Yumo had successfully transformed into human form through the secret techniques of the elves, she still retained many habits from her days as a building.

The most deeply ingrained of them all was sitting completely still like a wooden doll, quietly contemplating life.

Of course, sometimes she was simply spacing out.

Passing the time...

Clearly,

Miss Yumo had entered building mode once again.

Originally,

under Mengxi's endless coquettish pleas, Yumo had helplessly been dragged into sleeping together. She had thought sleeping was just sleeping, but who would have imagined that childified Mengxi would immediately wrap around her arm like an octopus, constantly trying to maximize physical contact between them.

That beautiful sleeping face at close range, the faint jasmine fragrance, and the soft sensation coming from her arm all made it difficult for Yumo to maintain her composure.

Even,

Yumo felt that her fingertips had vaguely brushed against Mengxi's pure white panties...

If ordinary people were embraced so intimately by such a breathtaking existence, they'd probably want to devour her right there and then, wouldn't they?

Thus,

to prevent any accidents,

after resting with her eyes closed for a while and confirming that Mengxi had fallen soundly asleep,

Yumo let the teddy bear take her place and allowed it to be trapped between Mengxi's slender arms and soft snowy thighs, while she herself sat down on the chair and silently watched over the sleeping girl...

And while keeping watch,

Yumo's consciousness entered the mental space she had constructed within herself, just as she had done countless times before.

The subject of her contemplation

was naturally the battle of Garos Fortress.

--

"Sigh~"

After carefully reviewing the details of the battle, Yumo couldn't help letting out a long sigh within her consciousness space.

During this battle,

only around two thousand Abyss Demons had died because of the counterattacks of the defenders.

And over half of them had died to the initial fireball bombardment and the city barrier afterward.

Once the Abyss Demons entered the city and engaged the soldiers in close combat, the battle became completely one-sided.

Although the Abyss Demons indeed had numerical superiority, the combat abilities of the defenders left Yumo dissatisfied.

Excluding those directly blasted apart by Limo, these human soldiers had to pay the price of roughly twenty lives just to kill one Abyss Demon...

They really are kind of weak...

Moreover, the soldiers' combat experience and understanding of Abyss Demons were shockingly poor.

For example, when encountering poisonous Abyss Demons, many soldiers charged into the toxic mist like idiots.

When facing water-attributed Abyss Demons, they actually attacked them with fire magic?!

Some Abyss Demons had weak points on their backs, yet they kept concentrating their attacks on the chest armor...

'Seriously...'

Shouldn't these soldiers have memorized all the information on these basic Abyss Demons by heart?!

Sigh,

have they simply lived in peace for too long?

Or...

was the intelligence wrong?

But that shouldn't be possible.

After all, humanity had confronted Abyss Demons for so long...

Though the soldiers' performance was disappointing, Yumo had still found some things worth being happy about.

For example, the purple thing created by the Crown Prince of the Snow Night Empire, something suspiciously similar to a "missile."

As expected of a Child of Destiny.

He actually managed to make something like that. Amazing~

Just one shot from that iron lump had instantly killed tens of thousands of Abyss Demons!

Even after all this time, Yumo hadn't lost that many Abyss Demons in total.

Of course, the weapon wasn't without flaws.

Once its characteristics became known, as long as the Abyss Demons focused their attacks and shot it down before it reached the swarm, it could be neutralized.

But that wasn't a big problem.

After all, as long as she deliberately held back and prevented the Abyss Demons from immediately destroying the "missile," it would certainly inflict tremendous damage.

If it could even injure Limo—though that was an unprepared Limo—its power definitely wasn't something ordinary Abyss Demons could withstand.

The only question was...

Could something this incredible be mass-produced?

Even if it couldn't, if they could occasionally launch one, the power gap between humanity and the Abyss Demons wouldn't be so overwhelming.

Besides that "missile," what made Yumo feel happy and satisfied was the strength displayed by White Yama and the heroine.

There was no need to mention the Heavenly Apostle.

Being able to fight against Limo in her released state for so long was enough to prove how powerful she was.

'There are still reliable top experts among humans~'

Of course,

what excited Yumo most was still the heroine's strength.

One against two.

She had nearly defeated two sixth-tier experts.

Without question,

Miss Mengxi had limitless potential.

As for why this girl could control Shadow of Silence Power, Yumo had examined Mengxi's body thoroughly and still couldn't determine the reason.

Her body is completely normal...

Perhaps,

the reason lies within her soul?

Yumo thought so.

However, considering how weak Mengxi's soul currently was, Yumo didn't dare take risks and perform any examinations.

She feared that the powerful aura of Shadow of Silence Power might accidentally inflict irreversible damage upon her soul.

At this stage,

she would continue following the original training plan.

Tonight, she'd have the girl take Amos Pills to speed up her cultivation.

Tomorrow, she'd immerse her in Soul Nectar.

By then, the symptoms of childification would surely ease as her soul power recovered.

Ah,

right.

Besides Mengxi,

there was also the little girl she'd rescued before, and those pills from the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church...

--

While Yumo was pondering and making plans inside her consciousness space,

the adorable silver-haired girl on the bed slightly frowned before opening her sleepy light-purple eyes.

"Sis... Sister Yumo?"

Calling out softly in an adorable voice, Mengxi rubbed her eyes and curiously looked at the giant teddy bear in her arms.

And after realizing

that the thing she was hugging wasn't Yumo,

the girl puffed out her cheeks and immediately released the teddy bear.

She then turned her gaze toward the black-haired girl sitting motionlessly on the chair like a statue.

At that moment,

an imperceptible strange look gradually appeared within Mengxi's eyes.

But very quickly,

that gaze was hidden behind her innocent and adorable expression.

The next moment,

the girl in the white lace camisole dress slowly climbed off the bed and, barefoot, quietly sneaked over to Yumo's side.

Yumo, however, remained completely unresponsive.

After all, the current Mengxi possessed neither Holy Magic nor divine power. Aside from her physique, she was almost no different from an ordinary person.

To Yumo, who had entered her consciousness space and was busy thinking, movements without hostility apparently weren't sensed...

This scene,

was silently engraved into Mengxi's heart.

Seeing that Yumo still hadn't reacted and merely sat there quietly with her eyes closed,

Mengxi grew bolder.

She slowly walked behind Yumo.

After sniffing lightly near Yumo's ear,

Mengxi raised her soft, rosy arm and boldly wrapped it around Yumo's neck from behind, rubbing her fair cheek affectionately against Yumo's.

?

Hm?

Naturally, that nudge brought Yumo out of her consciousness space.

Opening her ruby-red eyes, which were even more dazzling than rubies, Yumo looked somewhat helplessly at the silver-haired girl beside her who was smiling innocently.

She raised her hand and gently rubbed the girl's slightly sharp little head.

"You're awake?"

"Mhm!"

Mengxi nodded repeatedly and closed her eyes in enjoyment under Yumo's touch.

The two girls quietly interacted for a while.

Until Mengxi opened her eyes again.

"Sister Yumo~"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"My tummy's hungry. I want to eat the food Sister makes~"

Yumo: ...