CHAPTER 63: CHAPTER 63: A WELL-DESERVED REST

We were teleported back to the village. The change from the hellish battlefield to our quiet, familiar patio was abrupt and disorienting. Even I, who was used to being teleported, felt my whole stomach churn.

The girls who had stayed behind, the guild members who didn’t participate in the GRB, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw us appear suddenly. None of them had moved from this spot to wait for us, even though they didn’t know when we would return; they had only prayed for our safety and health. As soon as they saw us, they all ran toward us, relieved that we had all returned safe and sound. They approached, but before they could ask anything, the notifications appeared in front of me.

[GRB Has Been Finished]

[Congratulations to "Hero´s Guild" for getting first place on your first attempt]

The announcement resonated, not only for us, but for the entire world. "Hero´s Guild" had managed to get first place in the GRB on our first attempt. The world would be surprised, and I yearned to see Carlos III’s face when he found out I wasn’t in the cell. I hope he’s trembling with fear, hahaha.

As soon as I felt that joy, all the adrenaline suddenly vanished, and the accumulated fatigue from twenty-four hours of fighting hit us with full force. My knees gave out, and I fell directly to the ground without even being able to put my hands out. The others also fell next to me; the victory was sweet, but the exhaustion was total.

The girls who had stayed behind immediately came over and helped us take off our armor, which weighed a ton. As soon as they saw the condition of the armor, they understood that the battle had been incredibly difficult: armor dented to the point of not even having its original shape, the shields were completely bent, and even had missing parts. One by one, they carried us and took us to our huts so we could get some proper rest.

Tala led the others, giving them instructions to make sure we were all taken care of. She herself came over to me and carefully lifted me up. I felt her strong arms, so different from the fury of battle, as she carried me and personally took me to her hut. My eyelids felt like lead, and I didn’t have the strength to say anything, only to feel the gentle movement of her body as she walked. Sleep was the only thing that mattered now. After twenty-four hours of an endless war, we had won, and finally, we could rest.

Energy Overload

I don’t know how much time passed until I could open my eyes. The first thing I saw was a hut, though not as I remembered it. All over the floor and walls, there were broken weapons and armor that we had used during the GRB battle. The air was filled with the smell of burning wood and the sound of a soft metallic clang and the crackle of wood burning. In the distance, I saw Tala’s figure, standing in front of a forge, carefully hammering one of the armors. The scene was so peaceful and normal that for a moment I felt disoriented.

She, without stopping her hammering, seemed to feel that I had woken up.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Did I wake you up with all this noise?"

"No... I’m fine now," I replied, sitting up carefully. My body felt strange; it was too heavy, as if I were carrying weights all over my body. "How much time has passed?"

Tala put the hammer on the anvil and came over to me with a bowl of water. She offered it to me and looked at me with concern.

"Sixteen hours. All the others are in the same situation. Many people are worried because they won’t wake up."

I took a long drink of the cold water. The liquid helped to clear my mind. "It’s normal... it’s a side effect of energy overload."

"Energy overload? What’s that?"

"When you level up, your health and mana reserves are immediately refilled. It’s an automatic system created by the gods, I suppose. But mental fatigue doesn’t recover that quickly. We fought for twenty-four hours straight without a moment of rest. It doesn’t matter that our health and mana were fine, all that mental fatigue accumulated. It will take them about one or two days to fully recover."

She looked at me, her brow furrowed. "But why are you okay? You should be going through the same thing as them."

I laughed a little, a bitter laugh. "It’s not my first energy overload. The first time it happened, it took me three days to wake up... and the same will happen to them. It’s something my body already knows how to handle."

Suddenly, Tala’s eyes widened as if she had just reacted to a key part of my explanation. "What do you mean twenty-four hours passed? If only sixteen hours have passed here..."

"That’s right," I nodded. "According to the GRB moderator, the time inside that world is twenty-four hours, while outside it’s only one hour."

Tala sat down beside me, placing the bowl on the floor. She looked thoughtful, processing everything. After a moment of silence, she asked me in a low, serious voice: "What happened in there? How did you manage to win?"

I leaned back against the wall, the memories of the battle coming back to me. The victory, the desperation, the girls’ bravery...

"It all started with a notification. We were transported to a castle and told that we would be besieged by a demonic army for twenty-four hours. The situation was a complete suicide. I decided that I would handle containing them on the drawbridge alone so that the rest could search for the treasures and win."

I paused, the image of Manaia staying by my side and my first encounter with the demons came to my mind. "At first, it wasn’t that difficult. I had my slowing abilities and my [Sanctuary of Life]. I was finishing them off by the hundreds. Manaia healed me and kept me on my feet. The rounds passed, the enemies leveled up and got stronger, but so did we. It was a leveling machine, but I hadn’t realized how exhausted my body was."

"The situation became desperate in round ten. The numbers became uncountable. Hundreds of demons and a general that seemed invincible. In the following rounds, the [Sanctuary] was no longer enough. I had to sacrifice my arm and my leg to finish off the generals. The GRB was mocking me, and I didn’t manage to kill the last general in time before the next round started. When the round eleven notification appeared, I was facing six generals at once, and a black tide of thousands of demons was overwhelming me."

My voice grew stronger, charged with the emotion of that moment. "I thought I would really die right there. I only thought that if I died, all the others would also die as soon as the monsters broke through the walls."

Tala was surprised by my words and moved behind me, hugging me like a koala. I could feel her large breasts pressing against my back while she said:

"You must have suffered so much."

I enjoyed the feeling of her soft, giant breasts as I continued the story.

"That’s when they appeared at the most critical moment. I thought they were crazy. That they were fools for coming to such a dangerous place. But seeing Anya and Karely casting [HellFire] and [Lightning Storm] from the walls... Seeing Lira and Elnara with their [Explosive Arrow Rain]... It was the biggest relief of my life. Then, Riven, Zela, Zyra, and Vira, ran toward me, and told me that they were now level 60, that they had leveled up at the same pace as me!"

"The battle became a symphony of destruction. I used [Nocturnal Temporal Flash] to move like lightning and finish off the generals, while you all protected the rear. But they ran out of mana, and the massacre stopped. The generals realized this and ordered all the demons to ignore me and attack the defenseless girls. I felt a fear I hadn’t felt in a long time. I couldn’t defend them; I was too far from them to reach and protect them. I was trapped in an impossible decision. When I thought everything was about to go to hell... we managed to level up one more time, and mana and divine energy were completely restored. It was the stroke of luck we needed. I was able to finish off the generals once and for all, and together, we finished off the rest of the horde. The last demon fell, and only silence remained."

I finished speaking and looked at Tala. Her eyes were wide open. She hadn’t moved an inch while I was talking. The story was long, but from her expression, I knew she had caught every word. Now she knew what the GRB was and why we were so exhausted after returning.

"You’re my hero, always sacrificing yourself for all of us. We really are so lucky to have you here..."

Tala’s words sounded like gratitude, but her actions didn’t match. Her mouth began to kiss my neck as she slid her tongue toward my ear before whispering:

"My hero, let me give you a small reward..."