The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness Chapter 386: That Move

“Half?”

Muen asked, “What does ‘half’ an?”

“Giggle—can’t tell you. The answer is actually a bit embarrassing.” Freya covered her mouth and laughed softly.

“Tch.”

Expressionless, Muen said, “Do you know which two kinds of people I hate most in my life?”

“Oh? Which two?”

“One is the kind who speaks in riddles and only says half. The other...”

“The other?”

“......”

In a strangely awkward silence, the two of them looked at each other—you look at , I look at you.

Freya stared blankly for a few monts before understanding what Muen ant. Yet even though she’d been teased, no anger at being toyed with appeared; even the curve at the corner of her lips didn’t change in the slightest.

“Mr. Muen is truly amusing. What a pity—because even so, I still have to ask you to leave this Lost Land first.”

“So afraid of ? As expected of a follower of the Love God,” Muen sneered.

“Afraid? Not quite. I just don’t want you disrupting my plan. And... letting you or any Saintess candidate reach the base of that tower—that’s the oracle personally handed down.”

“Personally handed down?” Muen’s brows knit slightly.

“In short, Mr. Muen should give up on the idea of dragging things out until the Death-Deed Writ wears off. Besides, right now you can’t even move, can you? Standing this close to , you’re probably the one who inhaled the most spores.”

Freya’s brows arced as if in sudden recollection.

“Ah, look at my mory—I even forgot Mr. Muen can’t move at the mont. Seems I’ll have to lend a hand myself.”

Freya stretched out a slender, snow-white hand toward Muen’s chest.

“Mr. Muen, please tell where you’ve put your teleportation scroll. Otherwise, if I do sothing improper while searching, your little Saintess might get angry.”

“......”

Muen didn’t respond to her teasing; he only watched her in silence.

Only when her hand was about to touch his chest did he suddenly speak:

“You seem to know very well?”

“Mm?”

Freya blinked, as if she hadn’t expected that question.

“In a way. I did gather quite a lot of intel on Mr. Muen. I’m fairly well-connected, after all. But unlike others, I don’t believe that fake intel about you two-timing around with multiple girls and being a useless playboy.”

“......”

No—so of that is actually true.

“Of course, part of the intel was given to by that one,” Freya continued.

I see...

Enlightennt flickered through Muen.

No wonder the information he’d shown outwardly shouldn’t have drawn such special attention no matter how you looked at it—yet from the start, Freya had treated him differently.

That old dog of a Love God—thinking about this much—how flattering.

A sha I didn’t manage to have a proper chat with It back in the Forest of Dead Doom.

Muen tugged at the corner of his mouth in a mocking smile.

“But I think, Miss Freya, you still don’t know well enough.”

“Mm?”

“Because if you really knew inside and out, you’d understand...”

Muen’s gaze sharpened. He suddenly thrust out a hand and clamped tightly around Freya’s wrist.

“I am not afraid of poison, nor of any abnormal status.”

Scarlet firelight surfaced in the deep lake-blue of his eyes.

At the sa ti, faint arcs of electricity sprang alive across his skin.

Crimson Fla, plus the Alchemy Domain.

In this state, even corruption from an Evil God personally can be resisted for a while—let alone so poisonous spores.

“Did you really think I’d approach you without any precautions?”

A flicker of surprise passed through Freya’s eyes—then her world flipped.

With one hand gripping her wrist and the other pinching her throat, Muen twisted, slamd Freya to the ground, and pinned her.

His knee pressed straight into her abdon. The ever-elegant, serene Saintess candidate now looked fragile to the point of weakness.

“Lady Freya!”

Brian, at the side, cried out in fury and shock. Even though he was so weak he could barely stand, pitch-black mire still surged outward, racing toward Muen.

“Brian!”

Pinned beneath him, Freya forced out a harsh order:

“Stand down!”

“But—”

“He can’t hurt . Stand down!”

The shadow mire receded. Brian glared daggers at Muen, murderous intent surging.

Muen didn’t spare him a glance. He only lowered his head, eting Freya’s eyes.

After a brief daze, those clear maiden’s eyes remained calm as ever.

“Cough, cough... What’s the point, Mr. Muen? You can’t kill .”

Freya coughed twice with difficulty, breath catching.

“Not only can’t you kill —you can’t lift the control on the others either. Even if you restrain , it’s aningless.”

Zheng—

A sword-tone thrumd.

Paul’s face twisted as if struggling against sothing, but his body still moved uncontrollably toward Muen.

“Sorry, brother.”

Paul raised his longsword with a bitter smile.

“Count in your debt.”

On the other side, a certain proud little loli’s face had turned scarlet. But as the small flower atop her head swayed ever more cheerfully, she finally couldn’t suppress herself. Her tightly sealed lips parted, and she squeezed out a few words:

“Go, Rayta.”

“Roar!”

Rayta, who only obeyed orders and had no idea what state his master was in, also began closing in on Muen.

Killing intent encroached.

“See? Mr. Muen, everything you’re doing now is aningless.”

Freya smiled. “So what if you’re unaffected by spores? So what if you’ve pinned ? You still can’t solve the fundantal problem.”

“......”

Muen’s eyes fell. Silence.

The Death-Deed Writ.

The others under control.

The spores.

Yes—he couldn’t solve any of these key problems right now.

Even the incoming attack from the two God’s Attendant Knights—he wasn’t afraid of them, but the Death-Deed Writ would bind him. Those two wouldn’t be.

To him, the situation before his eyes looked like yet another dead end.

Freya looked at him with pity. “Think carefully, Mr. Muen—you’ve got nowhere left to go.”

“......”

Nowhere left to go?

No. Not quite.

Eliminate all impossibilities, and there remains one path.

That one—last—path.

Muen released Freya and slowly stood, qi sinking to his dantian. With an incomparably grave expression, he said in a deep voice:

“Seems I have no choice but... to use my ultimate move again.”

“Ultimate move?”

“Ultimate move?”

“Ultimate move!”

Freya was faintly taken aback.

Margarita and Anne were stunned.

Phil’s eyes, on the other hand, lit up; she stared at Muen with blazing expectation, as if waiting for sothing.

Only Liya blinked her big eyes at Muen’s deadly serious face—then forcibly turned her stiff body aside and quietly covered her eyes.

“Yes. The ultimate move.”

Muen raised his hand. In an instant, all of his mana gathered into his palm.

“Are you insane? You know attacks are useless—”

“This isn’t an attack. This is...”

His tightly clenched hand slowly opened—and what burst out was not a mighty spell, but—

“Super·Ultimate·Never-Fails·Magic-Piercing Light-Kill·Illumination 3.0!”

Light.

Endless light.

More dazzling than the sun—brighter than everything.

In an instant, it washed the surroundings into pure white.

In that blaze, with faces full of confusion, Muen deftly donned the thickened sunglasses he’d long prepared, turned, scooped up the likewise-prepared Liya with one arm, and—with a quick glance around—noticed that Ailag hadn’t been eliminated, apparently having escaped by Illusion and tucked himself next to Liya.

So he grabbed him too—and booked it.

Since there was no way to crack this despairing situation by any ans, the only choice was tactical retreat.

Only an idiot would die locking horns here.

And ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ in this regard, Muen Campbell had never been inferior to anyone.

...

Muen fled fast. Only as the light began to fade did he, on instinct, glance back.

“Mm?”

The scene in the distance made him pause for a heartbeat.

Freya.

For the first ti, he saw a look of utter shock on the face of that girl who always wore a holy smile.

She hadn’t dodged the blinding light. Instead, she spread her arms and stood before her ashen-faced knight—

Using her slight, frail body, in the endless radiance, to cast a gentle shadow for her knight.

“That woman...”

...

“So that’s the so-called ultimate move?”

Completely unprepared, blasted full in the face by that beyond-limit Illumination, Anne and Margarita were in tears, so furious their chests were about to explode.

One had been paralyzed by the spores’ toxin; the other not only paralyzed but controlled. Both were delicate mages, and though instinct made them shut their eyes in that instant,

Their thin eyelids couldn’t possibly block that light.

Their eyes still burned like fire.

And the most infuriating part—that bastard ran without taking us along!

Of course, that was just venting. They knew Muen couldn’t possibly have escaped with too many people in that situation.

“You always exceed my expectations, Mr. Muen.”

Freya took out a handkerchief to dab at her tears, then looked toward the direction Muen had fled. Through the blood-mist, the tower stood tall. It took her a long ti before her blurred vision slowly cleared.

“Never thought you’d really get away,” she sighed regretfully.

“But so be it. Even with only four Saintess candidates left, it’s enough.”

As she spoke, a sudden pop sounded.

Everyone turned reflexively toward the noise—only to see Phil, who had been clutching her stomach and gro aning just now... deflate.

Deflated...

Like a certain kind of wife who, unable to bear the pressure, breathes her last fragrantly upon the bed.

“Heh heh...”

After a beat of shock and silence, Margarita looked at Freya with teasing eyes.

“Now there are only three.”

“Pfft.” Anne laughed rcilessly.

“...Miss Phil is quite unexpected as well.”

A subtle twitch pulled at Freya’s cheek.

“But three is barely workable. It’ll just an you two will have to work harder.”

Margarita and Anne, who had been gloating, froze with stiff little faces.

“The spores’ paralysis has lifted. Let’s go.”

Freya turned and started off in another direction.

“Wait.”

Margarita suddenly called out to her.

“You’re not going after Muen Campbell?”

“Chase?”

Freya didn’t look back. “Given the speed Mr. Muen just demonstrated, do you think I could catch him? Giggle—I won’t waste ti on sothing so pointless. I have proper business to attend to.”

“I... see?”

Margarita fell into thought.

“What are you thinking?”

Because they had to move forward, Anne finally regained a little control over her body. She leaned in and asked in a whisper.

Margarita glanced at the cute bobbing flower atop Anne’s head.

“I’m running a review—imrsive substitution.”

“Imrsive... substitution?”

“Yes. I’m thinking—if I were Freya... Forget it. It’s only a guess. For captives like us, ripe for the chopping block, it’s worthless.”

Shooing Anne away, Margarita walked on, watching Freya’s back—and murmured under her breath:

“It all just feels... a bit strange.”