Simultaneously, inside the Battle Royal, before the gate leading to the 21st level, Yuris sat on a rock with a blade of grass tucked between his teeth. He draped his arm over Zack’s shoulder, staring ahead.
"When will Skyler come back?"
"It’s been hours."
Isaac shook his head beside them.
"What hours? You know, it’s not even been half an hour yet. Just wait—he’ll be back."
Austin chuckled, pointing toward the red-eyed mermaid pacing before them.
"We can wait, but watching her like that... you’d think Skyler ran off with someone else. She’s the reason it feels like hours."
A heavy silence settled over them again.
Eventually, Zack stood up and asked the pacing mermaid to sit down. After all, his head was starting to spin from watching her pace in endless circles before him.
But just as the mermaid settled down, a bright light flashed behind the group. All eyes instantly turned toward it, and they sighed in relief when they saw a familiar head of ash-brown hair, followed by long legs. The mermaid immediately stood up and rushed toward the appearing figure.
Only that... it seemed Austin, Zack, Yuris, Charles, and Isaac had sighed in relief too soon, because they nearly choked the next second. The reason? An unfamiliar woman with long white hair was clinging to Skyler, her legs wrapped around his waist, and her hands checking his chest through the torn open fabric. A very suggestive posture...
The mermaid froze at the sight.
Isaac sucked in a deep breath. His eyes moved to meet the others’, and the same thought flashed through all of their minds.
This bastard, Skyler, really had been with another woman while the little mermaid was worried sick about his return! Damn!
Charles rolled up his sleeves, angry, as he pointed his finger at Skyler, completely at a loss for words. Ultimately, he blurted out:
"How can you be such a jerk!"
Yuris followed, completely dumbfounded.
"Weren’t you supposed to be gone to get Riruru? How the hell did you get another woman in your arms in such a little time?"
His voice carried half disbelief, half envy—as if he were asking for advice instead of scolding him—earning him a slap. As Yuris turned to find the culprit in anger, everyone glared at him, making him seal his mouth shut. They glanced at the mermaid’s back, who had frozen like a statue before Skyler, thinking about how to console someone who had just seen their partner cheating.
Before the five could find the right words, the mermaid moved again, stepping closer to Skyler, who seemed busy stopping the white-haired woman’s wandering hands.
The mermaid’s voice came out far calmer than they had expected when she spoke.
"You are back."
Silence descended over the scene.
Yuris even held his breath.
Everyone was waiting for a slap, a fight—anything was fine as long as Skyler got beaten. This jerk from the start was a lecherous guy, eyeing multiple women!
He needed a beating!
Just like Yuris, everyone else was waiting for the same thing. However, unfortunately, nothing like that happened. Instead, Skyler simply freed one of his hands and rubbed the mermaid’s head, saying with a smile:
"Yes, I’m back."
"Sorry for worrying you."
Yuris released his held breath, shocked.
"What the hell?"
His words went unanswered, as everyone around him was equally shocked. Before their eyes, Skyler grabbed the white-haired woman by the waist and pulled her off him. His voice was relaxed as he coaxed her.
"I’m fine. Stop worrying. Look..."
He pointed at his heart. Only then did everyone notice the bloodstains and the horrifyingly deep stab wound there.
"The injury is almost healed."
The mermaid was the first to lunge at Skyler. Grabbing him by the collar, she pulled him down to her level, frantically inspecting the slowly healing wound.
"How did you get injured?!"
Charles and Isaac rushed forward as well. Any trace of humor disappeared the instant they saw the deep wound on Skyler’s body.
It was no ordinary injury.
A deep stab wound had pierced straight through his chest, narrowly missing—or perhaps striking—his heart, the most vital part of a human body. Just looking at it was enough to make their scalps tingle.
Zack, Yuris, and Austin quickly followed behind, crowding around him to check his condition. Isaac immediately pulled out a healing potion and handed it to Skyler.
"What happened?"
Due to the crowd, the white-haired woman, who had just been put down by Skyler, was forced to retreat. Riruru’s eyes flashed with fury. She wanted to throw everyone around Skyler away. But as her furious eyes fell on the mermaid checking Skyler, she felt dizzy, and then, to her surprise, she was forced to change back into her snake form. A golden light flashed across her body, and in place of the beautiful woman in robes, a white snake with bewildered red eyes appeared.
Skyler wasn’t the only one who noticed her transformation. Charles’s jaw dropped as he eyed the familiar snake and mumbled.
"Riruru?"
Equally shocked, Isaac dropped the bottle of potion in his hand. Skyler quickly caught it and softly patted the worried mermaid’s hand, prompting her to release his collar.
His voice remained calm as he uncapped the potion bottle and poured its contents over the wound that was already healing.
"It’s just a small injury. I’m fine."
Then, as if nothing had happened, Skyler turned around and began changing out of his torn shirt. He had his back to everyone, so no one noticed the coldness in his eyes as he glanced at the wound over his heart.
By the time Skyler turned around again, a smile was already on his lips—the familiar, infuriating smile Isaac and the others had grown accustomed to after going through so much alongside him. Skyler glanced at the stunned group before him and tsked.
"I told you guys a long time ago that she’s my wife. Your fault for not believing me."
Charles froze at his words.
"That was true??"