As the night wore on, the bustle in Thalendor began to die down considerably.
Seeing that there was nothing left for them to do there, they decided to leave the city and go hunting together, just the two of them.
Without the Guild group with them, Lisa didn’t mind Lohan climbing onto her and wrapping his body around hers like the Living Armor.
Even though they had used that form for a few moments in front of the group, no one seemed to notice, or chose not to comment when they saw it.
But even so, Lisa still didn’t feel comfortable being seen that way by Alice for the time being, so they avoided that form as much as possible.
And considering how powerful Lisa had become after her evolution, while they were dealing with Level 11 monsters, the Living Armor form wasn’t really necessary anymore.
The speed Lisa could project and the power of her current attacks had made her practically unbeatable at that level.
"So, how about we gradually increase the level of the monsters we hunt until we discover our limit?" Lohan suggested, not only enveloping Lisa’s body but also analyzing all the changes she had undergone and what the evolution had altered in her body.
Lisa could feel his gel coursing through her body, which made her a little uncomfortable, but seeing that Halon was just "studying" her muscles and such, she was relieved.
’Luckily Halon isn’t some weird pervert...’
"I think it’s a good idea, considering you’ve already ’faced off’ against a Level 13 monster, how big do you think the gap is between us and that?" she asked curiously, referring to the Level 13 Mana Stone that Lohan had absorbed in the past.
Remembering that, and comparing the strength of the monster he’d seen with the strength Lisa had shown so far, Lohan was unsure. "I don’t know if I can use that as a comparison. That monster was a life form totally different from anything I’ve ever seen, and it was always in its natural habitat. If I were to compare it in that state to us now, it’s as if it were one evolutionary step above us..."
Lisa’s eyes widened upon hearing that. "Really?! Damn..."
"Damn...?? Hahaha, I’m more surprised to hear you say ’damn’ than I am by that monster’s strength!" Lohan laughed, surprised by this side of Lisa.
"Stop laughing, Halon!!" Lisa shouted angrily, while beneath the fur on her face, the fox’s skin was red as a chili pepper.
Now that Lohan was pressed up against her body, he could see beneath the fur on her face, finally noticing the blush she usually hid so well, and laughed even harder.
Lisa grew even more furious. "Why are you laughing so much? I just used a common figure of speech that almost everyone uses!"
"Haha, using ’Damn’ itself isn’t funny; what’s funny is seeing you use it for the first time." He explained. "Before, you acted so cold and distant; it’s cute to see you opening up to me like this and acting more naturally."
Lisa froze for a second at his words.
’Am I opening up and acting more naturally with him?’ she thought.
Analyzing again how she acted with him, and comparing that to how she acted with everyone around her, even though Alice and Dylan were her best friends, no matter how hard she tried to remember, she realized she couldn’t find a single moment when she had acted like that with them, even after so many years of friendship.
’Maybe because of their fear of opening up completely to me, I also hold back a little when opening up to them... as if I can’t step down from the pedestal they’ve put me on.’ Looking at Halon, she saw the difference. ’While Halon treats me like an ordinary person, that allows me to act like the ordinary person he treats me as!’
Realizing this was surprising to Lisa.
Even some of the anger she felt toward Halon had subsided after realizing this.
Understanding why it was so pleasant to be with him, that sense of freedom he gave her, just by treating her that way, was liberating in a way she had never felt before.
’But cute? Did he really say he thinks the way I’m acting is cute?’ Realizing this caused Lisa’s mind to almost short-circuit, with a mix of shyness, anger, happiness, and various contradictory feelings that rarely surfaced all at once in her chest.
Lohan noticed her silence and thought that maybe he had annoyed her beyond the limit, but then, he felt two movements at the back and laughed even more. "Hey, I love that you have two tails now, it makes it twice as easy to understand how you’re feeling!"
"HALON!" Lisa shouted angrily and with even more embarrassment, realizing that her tails really did give away what she was feeling!
Feeling she should punish this cheeky Slime, Lisa unleashed Spirit Flames all over her body, lightly burning his membrane, but in the next instant he formed black scales around himself, resisting most of the damage from her flames!
If those had been normal flames, he could have resisted them completely, but since Spiritual Flames also burned part of the target’s spirit, Lohan still felt a burning sensation.
Fortunately, the power of the flames Lisa had created was far below what she used to deal with real enemies.
Seeing that Halon had gone quiet after that, Lisa gave a victorious smile and began running at top speed toward their Guild Base, which would be their first stop before beginning the night hunt.
But Lohan wasn’t quiet because he regretted the injury; in fact, he was using his Evolved Digestion to analyze Lisa’s flames again more carefully, trying to understand how it worked and if it would be possible to replicate it without digesting his friend!
He knew how powerful those Spiritual flames were, and if he could replicate them, he was certain it would be a new tool in his arsenal, as powerful and useful as the magical webs he’d learned from the Weaver Spider!