Stanis woke up in pain, the pain so sharp yet spread out that he felt his body was ripping him a new one. He gritted his teeth at one point in order to cope, but eventually released his jaw as all the drowsiness left his body. He had such a high tenacity; this was pain he could cope with.

He discovered that his body was numb and unresponsive due to the pain, but was pleased to find that all its functions still worked.

He pushed up onto his arms and surveyed his surroundings, quickly noticing that he was in a cave. It was dark and damp but also had a warmth to it. He slightly moved his arm to the left and felt resistance, warm resistance. He looked down to see Sil sleeping next to him, breathing so quietly that he could barely hear her.

He brushed the hair off her face and saw that she had a worried expression, her brows furrowed and quivering.

*thumpf*

A wet footstep echoed through the cave, Stanis binning all his thoughts as he was thrown on guard by this.

*thumpf*

He focused on the footsteps and noticed that it was a set of four feet. Hopefully a Jaguar. Nevertheless, he wouldn't leave the outcome of this meeting for chance to dictate as he scanned his body, surprised as he saw that he was completely naked.

Well, it made sense considering that he had worn Zelgard's clothes all this time and that they had obviously been ripped apart during the fight, but the lack of defence made him feel weak for the first time in forever.

*thumpf*

The incoming Jaguar was clearly not going to wait for him to collect his mind as it continued, each footstep echoing louder.

Stanis next checked his mana, focusing inwards to circulate his mana when he noticed that there was nothing there… He was now properly close to losing his mind as he frantically checked once more, and then again, finding only droplets of mana where there should have been mighty, uncrossable streams of it. There wasn't even enough for him to use Light healing, his cheapest skill at only three mana per use.

*thumpf*

Stanis activated Destructive mana recharge. Well, half-activated… It turned out that the ability worked by a suction force from his hand, and well, he just didn't have enough mana to produce that suction force in the first place. In fact, he doubted he even had a single point worth of mana inside of him right now.

*thumpf*

The Jaguar was now just out of sight and so Stanis decided to leave behind his mana, he had no time to figure it out right now. Instead, he decided to go to his last source of strength: Yils's movements. At least he had a fighting chance with them if the incoming Jaguar decided to get violent. He pushed up with his arms and fell back down, finding no support from his legs. He only had a second to look over once more, this time noticing that half his left leg had been ripped off and not even cleanly at that…

He had no time left to act as the looming shadow announced the Jaguar's presence, the Jaguar King's presence…

Serb walked in, his fur wet and shaggy as they drooped down. He seemed to have gotten larger than last time as he seemed like a monster to Stanis, a hungry, evil monster… Most eye-catching, however, was the wide, crimson gash he had ranging from the top of his left shoulder to the right of his hips.

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"I sensed you were awake" said Serb, his voice like thunder in the cave.

It was at this moment that Serb sensed that Stanis was edging back, moreover quickly noticing the fear in the Human's gaze.

Serb leapt onto Stanis's right leg, crushing bone as he shackled Stanis to the spot.

"Why are you running away? Are you scared I'll kill you now?" His questions sounded genuine and Stanis's expression dropped further at this.

"Do you think I'm going to give you a dog's death after everything you've done for us?" He moved his paw down Stanis's leg, crushing more bone as he did so. Stanis cringed at this.

"You better learn how to trust soon, else those who trust you will start treating you the same" Serb took off his foot and wiped the blood on the cave walls, leaving Stanis to deal with the pain and the piece of Serb's mind he had been given.

"Now that we're on the same page" Serb said, Stanis nodding at this, " let's tell you what happened."

"I mean I was struck down, but something of this size isn't enough to kill me" said Serb while scratching his large wound, some of the dried blood coming loose at this, " In fact, I managed to get up and watch the rest of the fight.

Although I wanted help, my body decided against that, forcing myself into a position where I was unable to do anything but watch.

I saw the Spectre whizzing off towards you. You released an utter fucker" said Serb, pausing at this.

"Spectre was struck down" he continued, " but you were worse off, falling to the ground like a felled tree. The Spectre carried on, clawing its way across the ground in order to at least feast on your body before dying.

I saw my people move, finally gaining some sense as they chased the Spectre down. Too late though, it had already gotten to your body. It chopped down, its claw easily slicing through your leg like it was mud" said Serb as he nudged Stanis's stump of a leg.

"Never seen a monster happier than that. That piece of shit was delirious with joy as it sliced through you, cutting more of your leg each time. It was so absorbed in its actions that it must have thought it had all the time in the world, which it didn't. Niss got there first, striking him off your body. And that was enough, it had already been a nudge away from death and her violent bash was far more than a nudge."

He paused once more, searching his own mind for how to continue.

"We had won, not a single Spectre was left alive. I was healed up to a standard and we searched the rest of the Spectre's territory in no time. I destroyed this crystal of theirs and killed the remaining Spectres while at it, all of us levelling up due to that.

I guess you held up your side of the deal, Stanis" said Serb, calm, before a fit of fury overcome him, "But at the cost of 64 of us."

It seemed Serb would lash out anytime and snuff out Stanis's life, but he managed to hold off and finish his sentence. "But then again, we gained around 60 little ones since you arrived, so I guess it's even."

Serb moved forward and firmly held onto Stanis's unflinching hand, flowing some of his mana into Stanis.

"The partnership is now set, Stanis"

He moved away after a few seconds and began to walk away. "We thought you were dead afterwards, your body colder than cold. But Sil said you had just over-drafted your body, and so each of us gave a little bit of mana to her. She channelled it into you over the last few hours, bringing you back to life." His voice was nothing but an echo as he finished. "Enjoy"

Stanis smirked and looked over at Sil, ignoring his newly made injury as he tussled her dirty hair. He stared at her sleeping face, her face better than flawless. A thin neck, thin jaw, soft cheeks, perfect nose, eye-brows thin, hair flowing and pure. Everything about her face seemed to be just right in that moment. His touching around made her wake up with a groan.

Stanis stared at her maroon eyes for just over a second before going in, clasping lips while holding her tightly. She was surprised and even shocked for a second, before gladly accepting it as she took the offensive, moving her hands lower.

Stanis managed to escape her deadly lips for a moment as he grinned.

Even if it was just for that fleeting moment, he forgot all about what he had gone through and what he needed to do and all the system messages he needed to read and all of that as she took off her dirty clothes.

Even her scarred skin seemed beyond perfect as they once again met lips, hands searching each other's bodies. The hours passed by quickly, the night filled with moans…