A warm, soft feeling covers my entire body.
It feels like something fluffy has climbed on top of me.
Something subtly heavy is pressing down on me, but strangely, it doesn't hurt.
It's slightly different, but if I had to describe it, it's like being in contact with a cloud...
This soft something carries a faint warmth, and just touching it makes my mind feel at ease.
*Perhaps I'm dead...*
Thanks to this sensation, I briefly thought this way.
The position seems a bit reversed, but heaven is associated with clouds after all.
After such an intense battle, it wouldn't be surprising if I really had died.
So they still send you to heaven even if you've been a complete bastard...
With that thought, I opened my heavy eyelids. I needed to assess the situation first.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the Saintess sleeping on top of me.
I could see her using my chest as a pillow, sleeping soundly. Her flowing golden hair tickled my skin.
She must have been quite tired, as light dark circles had formed under her eyes.
What I had felt as warmth was actually her body heat.
*Huh?*
At this moment, I couldn't help but be confused. Why is she sleeping here?
No matter how tired she was, it would be really difficult to end up in this position by accident.
However, while questions formed in my mind, my body continued to assess the situation.
What I thought was soft turned out to be her skin, and the cloud-like fluffiness was her large, large...
"Oh, shit."
Having figured this out, I quickly separated her from my body.
Supporting her back and shoulders, I carefully placed her on the floor, trying my best not to wake her.
In that moment, a chill ran down my spine. Curiosity or whatever else didn't matter right now.
For a moment, base desires surfaced, but I quickly suppressed them.
First, I needed to hide this situation.
Hastily getting up, I let out a sigh of relief.
"That was a close call..."
I'm really fortunate that neither she nor the other party members woke up first.
For me, this might just be an accidental happening, but for them, it wouldn't be.
I could already picture it. The party members seeing us in that position and going ballistic.
-KYAAAAH! You perverted bastard!!
-Hero! Do you have no human decency?!
-Yulice, Yulice, are you okay?!
-Disgusting, truly disgusting...
"Oh..."
Just imagining it made my head throb.
Is this what they call a mental attack? Considering how stressed I get just imagining it, it must be a powerful mental attack.
Ssshhh...
As I was thinking about this, ash scattered from beside me.
The blackened corpse of the Energy-Devouring Hungry Ghost was decomposing and floating away. Born in a cesspool, the Energy-Devouring Hungry Ghost couldn't even leave a corpse behind.
Riding the wind and flying into the sky, its appearance was almost beautiful in a way. I felt a slight disappointment watching it.
*I guess I can't farm that...*
I thought I might get something good since it was the third Gu Poison, but if it doesn't even leave a corpse behind, there's nothing I can do.
"Ugh..."
"Grr..."
As I was staring blankly ahead, one by one, they began to wake up. Adel, Lily, Camilla, and Yulice, in that order, clutching their throbbing heads.
They all looked dazed.
"Gasp! The Insect King, what happened to the Insect King?"
"...? Ah, right!"
Suddenly, as if regaining their senses, they looked around with tense expressions.
"Ah..."
Then, seeing the Insect King's corpse, they let out sighs of relief. It was quite a sight to see from the sidelines.
"I'm sure I saw something before I passed out..."
"Yes, definitely some ominous magic circle..."
Then they suddenly recalled their last memories.
They clearly saw an ominous magic circle activating and passed out when the ceiling collapsed.
So they had no idea what happened afterward.
I watched them for a moment.
"Maybe it naturally disappeared...?"
The next words made me facepalm.
"That makes sense. It was a very ominous magic circle, but given its size, there was a high chance of failure."
"Or maybe it was just meant to be threatening!"
"Or perhaps what came out of the magic circle was much more pathetic than expected."
"That Insect King, struggling to the end, only to go out so anticlimactically."
I could only think to myself:
*They're talking complete nonsense...*
What?
After I busted my ass saving them, they say it was weaker than expected?
The magic circle didn't activate? The summoned creature was pathetic?
Damn it, they're talking such crap just because they didn't see it. They don't even know who they owe their lives to.
Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who found this ridiculous.
"Everyone, what are you saying?"
Yulice stepped forward.
"Do you really not remember... no, did you really not see anything?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"You know, the giant worm that appeared and..."
She spent some time explaining what she had seen.
From the ancient calamity emerging from the magic circle, to them passing out, to the fierce battle that ensued.
Her story was quite detailed and lengthy, but unfortunately, the others didn't seem to believe her.
"...Is that true?"
"Are you saying the Hero worked that hard...?"
"Come on, how could he defeat an Energy-Devouring Hungry Ghost in that state? In some ways, it's more monstrous than the Insect King."
"It's true...! Ah, since the corpse evaporated, it's hard to prove it..."
Yulice pounded her chest in frustration.
I just watched her with a detached expression.
*Try all you want.*
Will they listen?
This was actually one of the effects of the curse.
The Curse of Obscurity.
It reduces the probability of people witnessing me gaining achievements.
Since earning achievements is the best way to gain people's trust,
it preemptively blocks that possibility.
Truly, whoever created this curse was incredibly malicious.
Still, Yulice continued to explain earnestly. She passionately appealed to them to believe her, that this was real.
Eventually, she managed to get nods from her companions.
"...Mmm."
"I see..."
Whether there was sincerity in those nods is another matter.
Yes, I know it's because of the curse, but sometimes it creates a strange sense of dissonance.
How can people's thoughts flow so flatly? As if someone deliberately twisted them.
"..."
Of course, this was a problem with no solution, so I quickly moved on.
Now it's time to take stock.
What did I gain from this battle?
During the fight, so many alerts popped up that I ignored more than half of them. Partly because the battle was so intense, but also because there were just that many alerts.
Naturally, I had some expectations.
[May fortune accompany your future path]
The first alert I saw was this.
Seeing this immediately made me think, "Has this bastard completely lost his conscience...?" but I'll skip the complaints.
Looking at the growth aspects, I achieved remarkable progress.
----------
Name: Luke
Lv: 79
[Skills]
Mana Control Lv5, Bright Style Swordsmanship Lv.5, Combat Focus Lv.5, Multicasting Lv4, Pain Resistance Lv8, Poison Resistance Lv10, Blood Flow Acceleration Lv4, Pain Memory Lv3, Blood Power Conversion Lv3, Blood Energy Absorption Lv4, Fireball Lv5, Indomitable Lv1, Master of Poison Lv1, Insect Arts LvMAX ...
----------
Opening my status window, I could immediately see how much had changed.
First, Mana Control, Combat Focus, Multicasting, Pain Resistance, and Poison Resistance had all increased by one level.
Pain Memory and Blood Power Conversion had increased by two levels. This was my first time using them, and I only used them for about 40 minutes.
While the Heavenly Martial Body helped, it also meant this battle was incredibly intense.
And there were three new skills.
"Master of Poison" derived from "Poison Resistance," "Indomitable" obtained after the battle, and "Insect Arts" as a quest reward.
*I've already tried Master of Poison, so...*
I immediately checked the details of Indomitable.
+
[Indomitable]
Your amazing mental strength affects your body!
Your physical abilities increase as your health decreases. Additionally, mana efficiency also increases.
+
"Oh."
I let out a light exclamation.
Simply put, it was a buff for low HP. Simple, but powerful.
And it would work very well with self-harm dark magic.
This battle definitely solidified the direction of my character. Growing exactly as I wanted.
Physical combat through Blood Flow Acceleration and Bright Style Swordsmanship.
Healing wounds from physical combat through Blood Energy Absorption and Regeneration.
And Pain Memory and Blood Power Conversion to return accumulated damage.
From now on, I could engage in truly selfish damage trading. I heal while we hit each other, and on top of that, I reflect damage.
The skills I'm acquiring fit my concept well.
If anything doesn't quite fit, it would be "Insect Arts"...
*Well, this is good enough on its own.*
Honestly, Insect Arts alone could overwhelm most concept characters.
We saw it today, didn't we? How terrifying Valkan could become just by controlling insects.
I probably won't use it to that extent, but there's no denying I obtained an incredible skill.
*Got the skill at max level too.*
As I was thinking about this, the party members started to move.
"Anyway, how about we get up now? We need to investigate the surroundings and find our lost bags. We have a lot to do."
"That's right. There's a lot to explore."
They seem to be starting the cleanup.
As Camilla said, there was a lot to do.
Of course, being a boss mob, it must have dropped something.
This much accounting is enough, now it's time to farm.
There were still many items to collect.