Ari had discovered a downside to handling the round so well that he didn't have to constantly work his body to exhaustion in order to survive.

Now, when he fell asleep, he found himself able to dream.

Watching his companions die at the hands of the monster that ended humanity was one thing, watching them die at his own hands was another. Still, he could handle those. He had seen so much death over the years in this hell that he was numb to it.

No, the dreams of death and blood were tolerable, even comforting, perverse sort of way. What almost broke him were the pleasant dreams.

The vignettes of frantically cultivating back to back with Seo-joon, cooking side by side over a gas range with Andre, clasped tight in Liz’s arms, pressed tight against each other in the crack underneath a giant’s floorboard, not daring to breathe while the giant passed overhead. When he felt comfort in the company of his friends, then woke to find himself alone, on the cold stone floor of a cave. They were gone, and he would never know them again.

He would meet them, almost certainly if they made it to the end, but they wouldn’t be the friends he knew. Forty years of memories down the drain, and he had no choice but to pick up the pieces and start building anew.

Every time he woke up like that, he wanted to curl up in a ball in the back of his cave and wait for the round to end. But no, he owed it to the memory of his friends to fight. There were things he knew, things he could do that could save them no end of grief and trauma, and if that meant that they weren’t the friends he knew anymore, so be it. He would wring every last drop of blood from every single round if that meant that he would have the power to avert even one of the horrors he had seen.

After all, what else were healers for?

*******

Ari woke in the morning of the eighth day to a bellow that shook the earth. He was on his feet and in a fighter’s crouch before fully reaching consciousness.

It took him a few moments after being startled awake to put the pieces together.

So that was real? I think I convinced myself that it was a hallucination. It made sense, now that he thought about it. He shook his head. Alright, let’s go.

********

Ari was back in the crown of a tree, feeling the wind on his face and watching the sun rise.

It had been a matter of a half hour to reach the clearing he thought of as his kitchen, killing a cowed Forest Stalker on the frantic run over, and a matter of minutes to use the firewood stashed around to create a roaring fire. Then, just moments to throw the Stalker corpse on the fire and it began to belch black, oily smoke into the air.

He willed his jaw to unclench. The area boss had to be killable, he reasoned, by a relatively fit human with strength and a little luck, that was the whole point. By now, he was far from the average human.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Mana roiled in his core, grown to the size of a marble from the pinprick it had been, and his torso seemed to thrum in concert with it, muscles tense and ready to spring. His endurance skill, raised up to Common level 5 by his agonizing cultivation, made his body tough enough to turn aside a knife blade or take a blow without flinching. The pastel sword rested in his hand like an extension of his forearm, control refined by years of practice in another body and days in this one, bolstered by a level 9 Basic Sword Combat skill. He was ready, he would have to be.

Absorbed in his preparation as he was, even he couldn't miss the Area boss as it crashed towards his clearing. Literally crashed, as the beast shouldered aside a tree and it fell to one side with a splintering thud, missing the tree he crouched in by feet.

As it muscled its way through the ring of trees surrounding the clearing, Ari was struck by the beauty of it. He had seen thousands of monsters, but you never got over the primal thrill, the shiver that ran up your spine upon seeing a creature too big, too powerful to exist.

It was a larger version of one of the stalkers, but perfected. The scales that covered the torsos of the stalkers covered every inch of its exposed skin. It stood the height of a draft horse and half again as broad, muscles rippling under its scales and claws the size of kitchen knives digging into the soil. Its nostrils flared, jaw opening to reveal two rows of gleaming, razor sharp teeth.

But, while his mind reeled, his body reacted. Mana surged down mostly clear pathways into his thighs as he leapt from his perch, silhouetted against the sun as his mana empowered muscles carried him feet into the air before he began to descend. His sword, held in a two handed grip, swept down like a curtain, guided subtly by his skill and cutting through the rushing wind as if it wasn't there. He trusted the path of the blade, squinting his eyes as he fell and he felt the blade be ripped from his hands as he focused on his landing. He absorbed some of the impact with flexed knees before careening to the side in a roll that dispersed the rest of the force.

He lurched to his hands and knees before his eyes opened to lock with the eyes of the monster.

They were wracked with pain, staring helplessly into his own. He backed up frantically before realizing what he was looking at. His eyes tracked up to see his pastel-hilted sword, buried a blade-width deep in its back, carving through scale, a sheet of muscle, severing its spinal cord and resting halfway through a lung.

He watched, stock still as the blood gushing out of the boss’s back slowed. It’s heart slowed to a stop, its eyes dulled.

[Performance Assessed]

[Skills demonstrated:]

[Sword Combat - Basic→Common, Upgradeable. 9→1/10]

[Ability to effectively use a sword in combat. Grants increased control over weapon. First strike with a sword to an opponent will carry increased impact.]

[Mana Bolster - Uncommon , Upgradeable. 2/10]

[Grants ability to bolster bodily structures with mana, temporarily improving their strength. Mana used is expended. Skill accessed without system assistance. Grade Increased Common→Uncommon. Mana used is partially expended. Portion of spent mana is permanently infused.]

[Secondary Objective Fulfilled! (Defeat the Area Boss) End of round rewards increased.]

[Title acquired (8)! Complete round to claim.]

[All secondary objectives fulfilled! Hidden Objective completed! Would you like to end the round now?]

Huh, he thought. I didn't expect that to actually work.