For a moment, the world was deceptively 'calm', with the only sound resounding being the pained bellows of the Rhino. With Mikael having disappeared into the massive body of the Titanhide Rhino, the situation was 'almost' calm, with 'only' its pained cries echoing through the air. But that was merely the calm before the storm, as an instant later—
BELLLOOOOOWWWWW!!!
The behemoth let out a deafening, agonized cry before its body erupted into violent motion. It thrashed and writhed in unbearable pain, its enormous frame slamming into the ground again and again. Each convulsion shook the earth, and under its sheer weight and savage flailing, the ground across a radius of hundreds of meters began to crack and fracture.
The reason for its writhing agony?
Mikael, who had entered through the 'door' that was its now empty eye socket, didn't waste a moment before launching a flurry of powerful punches at his surroundings.
And as solid and durable as the Titanhide Rhino was, having Mikael tearing it apart from the inside was far from pleasant…
Boom boom boom.
Resounding BOOMs echoed—whether it was the sound of the Titanhide Rhino repeatedly colliding with the ground, or the sound of Mikael's punches landing on the vulnerable interior of the colossal demonic beast, no one could tell.
But what was certain is that, as the seconds passed in this violent and 'invisible' confrontation, the thrashing of the Titanhide Rhino rapidly weakened. Blood began to seep from every pore of its body as its internal organs were being mercilessly destroyed by the small human it had once dismissed.
For a moment, a flicker of regret passed through the behemoth's mind, for having picked a fight with the small human when it hadn't needed to. Yes, it hadn't been obligated to start this fight.
The Titanhide Rhino, unlike the other demonic beasts, possessed a superior intelligence thanks to an opportunity it had obtained in its youth. It had taken a large step toward becoming a Spiritual Beast, and as a result, its intelligence far surpassed that of its kind.
It wasn't a true Spiritual Beast, but it was intelligent enough to restrain its destructive instincts and could have simply ignored the small human if it wanted to. Unfortunately, it didn't. It chose instead to 'play' with this small human to amuse itself.
At this moment, it truly regretted that decision—but there was no medicine for regret. And rapidly, the light in its one remaining eye began to dim, its thrashing grew weaker and weaker, until finally it stopped moving entirely, the life gone from its gaze.
Unknown to the world, a demonic beast that could have one day become a Spiritual Beast fell in the Savagefang Mountain Range—unnoticed by anyone, including Mikael, who found nothing particularly noteworthy about it beyond perhaps a slightly higher intelligence.
SPLLUUURRRCH!!
The stomach of the now-dead behemoth exploded in a shower of flesh and destroyed internal organs, from which a bloodied, one-armed figure emerged. Covered in gore, splintered organs, and fresh blood, it was a truly horrifying spectacle.
The figure took slow steps forward, revealing its visage, it was Mikael. His cold gaze, filled with an unparalleled ferocity, ignored the gore coating his body and the unimaginable pain wracking him. All of his focus was on the two Zephyr Wolves that still remained. He began to walk toward them, slowly, deliberately, completely ignoring the fallen Titanhide Rhino.
Step. Step. Step.
Each step Mikael took resounded in the ears of the two demonic beasts like the approaching steps of death itself. Every normally insignificant sound rang with unprecedented clarity in their ears, and both of them—even the Alpha—trembled as they looked at the one they had once considered prey.
GRRHHNNK!
From the trembling Alpha's mouth came something between a growl and a whimper.
It was warning/pleading Mikael not to come any closer, but he didn't react as if he'd heard anything at all. He just kept walking, his pace smooth and unimpeded.
Faced with this scene, this steadily approaching 'monster,' the last Early-stage Zephyr Wolf—already paralyzed with terror—couldn't hold it in anymore. With a strangled whimper, it turned on its heels and bolted.
For a moment, only two remained: Mikael and the Alpha, locked in a silent confrontation, the cold emerald eyes of one meeting the partially terrified gaze of the other. Neither moved. But then—
The Alpha lowered its head in submission, whimpered once more, and turned to flee, chasing after the one that had fled before it.
Contrary to what could have been expected, Mikael didn't pursue them. He didn't even flinch, didn't make the slightest motion to follow. The instant the Alpha left, Mikael's movements stopped completely.
His once-cold eyes, filled with unbreakable determination, became glassy in an instant. The moment he was 'safe,' he lost consciousness. He didn't even have the energy to fall. His body shut down completely, not bothering to close his eyelids or collapse to the ground. That's how bad his condition was, his body needed to preserve every sliver of energy just to survive.
Which made sense, after all. He had already pushed himself far, far, far beyond his limits. It was like someone who could normally run 20 kilometers forcing themselves to run 500. The level of fatigue he resented was simply unimaginable, and that's why his body shut down the instant it could.
The only reason he'd made it this far, while so far past the point of collapse, was due to a combination of factors: part of it was his steel-like willpower, part of it was the newly forged Ferocity-based Cultivation Technique, and part of it was the vitality-rich herbs he had consumed.
If even a single one of those factors had been missing, Mikael couldn't have even dreamed of surviving what he did today. His body would've failed long ago, and by now, he'd be nothing more than a snack for the demonic beasts.
And just like that, the confrontation with the demonic beast tide came to a sudden and jarring halt, with an unconscious Mikael left standing in the middle of a battlefield that could barely even be called ground anymore.
The lingering aura of what had transpired, combined with the oppressive pressure Mikael was still unconsciously emitting, was overwhelming. So much so that all nearby demonic beasts instinctively avoided the area. In the end, Mikael escaped the tide—not the way he planned, not the way he wanted, but he 'escaped' all the same. In that moment, he was truly safe.
***
"Ugh…"
A tired, pained groan was the first thing that escaped Mikael when he regained consciousness. But before he could even process his surroundings, he was hit with a wave of fatigue so deep it felt like it would devour him.
The kind of fatigue that makes it impossible to stand. Impossible to move. The kind that drains all resolve and makes you want nothing more than to collapse somewhere comfortable and sleep for eternity.
Thud.
Mikael heard himself hit the ground, but he couldn't bring himself to care. His mind was too sluggish, too heavy to form coherent thoughts. And as 'misfortunes' never come alone, he wasn't just unbearably tired… he was also in excruciating pain.
Every single cell in his body screamed in agony, all of them tearing at the brink of collapse, just barely holding together. And of course, that wasn't painless—no, in truth, it was unimaginably painful.
But that wasn't the worst part. The worst was that he couldn't even writhe in pain to relieve himself, not even slightly. He could only lie there like a dead fish, the fatigue pressing down on him so heavily that even the simplest motion was impossible.
And so, time passed. Atrociously slowly. In Mikael's mind, he endured, endured, and endured…
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the suffocating exhaustion receded—somewhat. Enough that he could start to form coherent thoughts, pushing against the walls of pain and fatigue.
'W..h..a..t….i..s….h..a..p..p..e..n..i..n..g..?' His condition had improved, but only barely. He could think now, but only in fragments. The vast majority of his awareness was still locked in surviving the pain and fatigue, so the part of his mind that could process thought remained pitifully small.
After a moment of fog and confusion, memory returned. 'T.h.e..b.a.t.t.l.e..a.g.a.i.n.s.t..t.h.e..d.e.m.o.n.i.c..b.e.a.s.t.s…!'
His heart instantly sped up. Alertness returned like a floodgate opening, and he forced himself—through the pain—to push his Divine Sense outward and get a read on his surroundings.
What came back wasn't much. It was far from precise, and nowhere near what his eyes could offer him, but it was enough to understand the basics.
'I'm still in the same place… The place where I fought the Rhino-type demonic beast and that wind-attributed wolf pack!'
That realization immediately set off alarm bells. It meant he could be attacked at any moment. And in his current state? Forget fighting—he couldn't even move.
Defending himself was out of the question. He knew that. But even so, aside from a flicker of concern, he didn't panic. The main reason was clear: the intensity of the battle he'd just endured. The sheer violence of it. The lingering auras left behind would likely scare off most demonic beasts from approaching.
Ordinarily, that would still leave opportunistic cultivators who might try their luck scavenging the battlefield—but with that storm still raging in the sky, he doubted any of them would come.
And even if things did go south, he wasn't entirely helpless. He still had his Master's talismans. If it truly came to that, he could use them to defend himself. So outside of the horrific pain and exhaustion, he was… relatively safe.
Understanding this, Mikael let out a relieved sigh—which he immediately regretted as pain exploded in his lungs. 'FUCK!' he cursed inwardly, not daring to move an iota after that brutal reminder of how much worse the pain could get.
Knowing that, there was nothing he could do except wait for his condition to improve, which he did for a while… until he remembered something.
'I may be wrong, but I think I saw some notification flashes before my eyes post, and maybe even during, the Partial Enlightenment, no? I'm pretty sure I saw some after it ended, but during? That I can't be sure of. It wasn't exactly my priority at the time…'
Intrigued by the prospect—and with time to kill considering he couldn't even move—he took the moment to check the notifications he'd missed.
The least that could be said about them was that they were… interesting.
Author Note:
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Honestly this is one of my favorite chapter, especially the way Mikael took down the Titanhide Rhino by tearing it apart and after how he intimidated the Zephyr Wolves 10/10 on the badass scale.
Perso I am really satisfied with this scene and I think it close well the arc of the demonic beast tide which I am really satisfied with, I think I did a good job, the only regret is that like usual it was too slow paced I wanted to do something simple but it ended being 'dragged' 10 chapters…
This is a classic with my writting style but even if the arc was somewhat slow paced I think the quality counterbalance but maybe that's me and a lot of you think it's really too slow paced? I would like to know your opinion.
As for Mikael state post battle with the small recovery scene, I wanted to show how he truly pushed himself far beyond his limit and consequently he need to face the consequence.
Let me know your thoughts—especially about the arc as a whole.
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— End of Chapter —