Chapter 85 Continued

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Joe woke in his bed, clean but still in his clothing. He sat up onto his elbows as he instinctually radiated monster sense and when nothing came back on his monster radar, he instantly relaxed. Outside, the light still clung but dusk lay heavily, darkness soon to overwhelm the light. But it wasn't the light that woke him. The noise of shouting and revelry came relentlessly through the window. It was not loud, but it was not to be stopped as it thudded into the room and left his room in a dull roaring susurrus of distant noise. Lots of shouting. What's goin… Oh! Party… fight's over! Joe reveled in the softness of the bed, the exhaustion of the last seven or eight days of fighting beating his mental state to nothing, but the exhaustion was closer to mental exhaustion than any physical exhaustion. Granted, he was sore, but not much more than was normal from a good heavy workout the day before. It was a good soreness, the kind that left him feeling invigorated and still able to face the day, if just slightly painful. Nor was the exhaustion one of lack of sleep, as he'd slept more than enough each day.

No, the exhaustion was from the mental effort to push through day after day nonstop only to completely collapse in the relief of having made it to the end. It was a bone deep exhaustion softly covered in fluffy exhilarating relief of completion. He basked in it as he listened to the rising and falling shouts of joy from the main city. Any inner clan party was happening pretty far away, considering the soft and muffled nature of the noise. Joe collapsed back onto his bed from his elbows and decided to rest in bed for a bit.