CHAPTER 59: AFTERMATH.

"Boom,"

I whispered.

Then pulled the trigger.

Behind me, the explosion painted the cave in orange and blood.

Right on cue, my cloak fluttered like it had been waiting for the perfect moment to add flair.

I didn’t look back. I didn’t need to.

Because the pressure, that soul-itching pressure was gone as if it had never existed.

The duration of my skill, [Minor Strength Boost], ended soon.

Even the effects of mana-reagent faded slowly.

And the pain came rushing in.

My heart twisted violently, like two gods were playing tug-of-war with it.

My lungs burned like I had been inhaling molten iron instead of air.

My vision blurred.

My knees buckled.

I barely registered the heavy weight of my own body until Bearlo caught me.

But the darkness was already spreading in from the corners of my sight.

Still, I managed one stupid, smug and fleeting thought.

You are just not my type, Death... try to tempt someone else next.

Before I completely blanked out, I pulled out a healing potion from my cloak and gave it to Bearlo.

And then the world fell away.

—

The first thing I saw was a pitch-black void, stretching out in all directions

I could feel my body—sort of—but I couldn’t see a damn thing.

Where the hell am I?

No, seriously.

Wasn’t I just in a cave where I gloriously defeated those stupid orcs in a completely fair battle before my body gave out?

I tried to piece it together, but there were no clues.

Did Bearlo kill me in my sleep or something?

I mean, I have been nice. But hey, who can really predict the whims of a sentient beast?

...Nah. That couldn’t be it.

Right?

This had to be some kind of dream or a nightmare.

But then...

Why the hell is my mind so clear?

I didn’t know what I had to do...

...So, I started walking forward.

I mean, I didn’t actually know what else to do.

So, I just kept walking.

Because what else was I gonna do? Sit down and wait for the void to applaud?

So I kept walking.

But alas... the void had no end.

Hell, I didn’t even know if I was walking at all.

Before I could even give up, the void trembled.

Then, without warning, something golden pierced through the darkness, blazing to life mid-air.

What the hell is that?

A... card?

Before I could get a clear look, the void shattered.

—

My eyes snapped open as I found the cave ceiling in front of me.

I was awake.

Back in the real world.

What the hell was that?

Was that perhaps the Card of Arcana?

Because unless fate decided to mess with my dreams, I couldn’t think of another reason why that would show up instead of, you know—a hot woman, a beach or literally anything else comforting.

I probably got that dream because I was close to it.

Tch.

I sat up as my body felt stiff as if I hadn’t moved it for a while.

That was the downside to this crap.

In this world, people didn’t mess with mana-reagents unless they had no other choice. Unlike stamina-reagents, which just stimulated muscles and just made you collapse from fatigue, mana-reagents overclocked your vital organs. Forced your heart and lungs to play at double speed.

It was helpful in fighting but also dangerous once the effect faded.

Hell, some folks swore overusing them could cause early baldness. Or worse, early death.

So yeah, unless I want to go out coughing blood and looking like a stressed-out monk, I had no intention to use it except when it couldn’t be helped.

My cloak wasn’t on my back.

That traitorous bastard probably bailed out the moment I collapsed.

I glanced around the cave, expecting at least Bearlo to be hovering over me with a worried look.

But no.

He wasn’t anywhere close either.

Then my eyes caught him.

A crimson bear sitting at the entrance of the cave like some meditating knight with straight back and still shoulders. Wearing the same martial artist robe he wore before.

And right beside him, gently hovering above the ground, was my cloak.

I raised my body from the ground and walked towards them with slow steps.

The moment I got close, the cloak turned, sensing me as it always did and turned in my direction.

"Tsk, ungrateful basta—"

I stopped.

The words just couldn’t leave my throat.

Bearlo wasn’t meditating.

He wasn’t sitting still.

He was unconscious.

He sat upright, yes, but his whole body was covered in blood.

His robe was torn in multiple places.

His eyes, what little I could see of them, had rolled completely white.

And then I looked past him... outside the cave.

And I understood.

Dozens of goblin corpses were spread across the clearing beyond. Some were mangled while some were torn apart.

Their tiny, twisted hands still gripped crude weapons with shards of metal barely shaped into swords, rusted daggers, splintered shields and even a few bows.

The ground was painted in green blood.

"You fool." I muttered, "Why didn’t you take the damn potion?"

I could still see a single healing potion tucked in his martial artist robe like a treasure... completely unaffected by the carnage outside.

The potion was the one I gave to him before I blanked out.

Why didn’t you take it?

As if awakening by my voice, Bearlo’s body twitched.

"Y-you... are awake, my liege?" A smile formed on his injured face. "Please don’t pity me as this was punishment for my own weakness."

With those words, he fell backwards with the same smile on his face like a guardian who had finished his duty.

Tsk.

I understood what he was feeling.

This bastard was blaming himself.

For being weak.

For freezing up when that crowned freak lunged at me.

That was the reason it fought those goblins who probably tried attacking us... and didn’t even use potion.

It was his way of atonement for his weakness.

A foolish choice.

But someone needed to tell this overly loyal idiot one thing:

I didn’t need pawns who would die for some stupid reasons such as guilt...

... I needed pawns who would kill for me.

I crouched down beside him and poured a healing potion in his mouth.

"Get up, you dramatic bastard."

He wasn’t dead, it was just that his body and mana gave out. So, he fell unconscious.

Truly the world is filled with fools.