As they waited for any response with great anxiousness, neither Arthur nor Boriat dared to speak. What Ani could say now would mean grief or happiness.
Seconds passed like hours for them before they finally heard Ani's voice again.
"She's… She's alive!!!" Her voice echoed in the whole area.
"..." Arthur and Boriat blinked in surprise for a few seconds before they looked at each other. Their faces went from fear to happiness in an instant.
"Yes!!!!!!" Arthur yelled as he clenched his fists.
"Hahahaha! This is great!! Oi, Mino! Come on!! wake up!!" Boriat looked at the unconscious hero before he gave him a strong nudge which pulled the hero out of his dormant state.
"H-Huh? W-Where… am I?"
"We're in heaven brother! The battle is over!!" Boriat exclaimed with a smile.
"Is… everyone ok? Kali…"
"We're all alive and in one piece!!"
The hero took a moment to understand what Boriat said before a small relieved smile appeared on his face. "I see… Thank god everyone is safe… *Sniffle*" Tears welled up in his eyes.
"Hahahaha! Are those tears I'm seeing?" Boriat asked with a grin.
"No… You're imagining stuff." Quickly wiping his eyes, the hero slowly lifted himself up with great difficulty. He was still feeling extreme pain all over his body but that didn't reduce his happiness.
They have achieved their goal in defeating these demons. It was brutal, dangerous and extremely tiring but they still did it. How can they not feel happy? It was their glorious day.
On the other side, Ani slowly helped the weakened Kali to sit down.
"How are you feeling, Kali?" She asked worriedly.
"I'm… alive?" She asked. Although Kali was awake, her current condition didn't look nice at all. Her body was extremely thin and her skin was pale as a sheet of paper. Her arms barely could move.
"Get yourself together, Kali. We're all alive!" Ani told her with clear worry.
"Really?"
"Yeah! They're all there! Waiting for us!"
"I see… I'm glad…"
"Yeah, here, drink this." Quickly rummaging through her storage, Ani quickly pulled out a healing potion. Since Kali was the one responsible for healing, these potions were only useful when Kali can't heal them.
Kali nodded her head as she slowly helped herself to the potion. Her dry lips chugged down the healing liquid before she heaved a sigh of relief. Almost instantly, the potion started taking effect.
Her atrophied muscles started regaining their normal size and her weakened body slowly rejuvenated. The magical effect of the potion would've made anyone in the real world shocked, including Arthur with how magical it was.
After a few moments, Kali was back to 60% of her normal condition. The potion wouldn't be able to completely heal her but it pushed her away from her near-death state. The rest required rest.
After she made sure that her friend was safe, Ani pulled out a mana potion and chugged it to regain some energy before she stood up and hurried toward the others.
She knew that they weren't in a good situation either.
"Here, everyone! Drink this!" Handing them a potion each, they drank it. Arthur examined the green liquid for a second before he took a sip curiously.
'Hmm, sweet! This actually tastes pretty nice.' He thought to himself before he chugged it all down too.
Immediately, he felt weird energy circulating in his body that made him feel slightly hot. However, at the same his injuries started closing visibly and the pain subsiding.
"Amazing." He murmured as he looked at the others.
Everyone was having the same effect. In a matter of moments, they were able to stand on their feet with some lingering pain.
"We're back, folks! Hahahaha!" Boriat smiled as he flexed his muscles proudly.
"Don't overdo it, Boriat! You're still injured." Mino smiled.
"Oh, well, I'm just glad we're all fine." Arthur shrugged and looked at the horizon.
The scene of the explosion and the fire that followed after it was truly magnificent. The traces in the ground were still there with a huge crater that covered the area.
"You really sent them to hell, Ani." Arthur blinked as he gave the little mage a side glance.
"Hehehe, I did my best! Although I can sense that some are still alive although dying slowly." She said.
"What should we do about them?" Kali, who just arrived after walking slowly, asked.
"We need to finish them off." Mino rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Hmm, can I take care of them?" Arthur lifted his hand.
"Hmmm? You want to?"
"Yes. Please let me do it."
"Ok, that's fine by me."
"Thanks."
After that, Arthur slowly descended from the hill toward the battlefield. His face had a small smile on it.
'Nice, now I can finish the objective.' He mused as he opened the objectives menu.
[Monsters killed: (220/250).]
'Only 30 are left before I get my sweet, sweet rewards. Hopefully there are enough of them to finish the task.'
With that, he started roaming around the place searching for dying demons. It didn't take him long before he found his first target. The demon was laying on the ground, swimming in a sea of blood as it died slowly. So, Arthur, with no hesitation, stabbed its chest, killing it immediately.
The number rose. So, he walked to the next one and did the same to it and to the one after it too. In a matter of minutes, Arthur went around and killed dozens of monsters. None of them were able to resist nor even move.
'This is disturbingly fun to do. Am I losing my mind?'
The fact that Arthur found it fun to kill these demons took him by surprise. He was never a violent person by nature and never did he kill any creature before.
Perhaps the memories of the character he was playing were affecting him or maybe he just learned to kill as an assassin. Either way, he didn't want to dive too deep into this rabbit hole of questions and simply finished his task.
[Ding!]
[Objective achieved!]
[You have gained +50 Ink Points, +10 points to all stats!]
Almost instantly, Arthur felt an endless surge of energy assault his body that he never experienced before.
"Oh!" His eyes widened in shock. He just couldn't put it to words how good this feeling was. It was more intense, more volatile and more rejuvenating than anything ever.
Arthur's muscles pulsed powerfully, his heart rate increased and every other function of body improved. His skin turned even glossier. He was going through a drastic transformation.
For the minute or so, Arthur felt every change in real time as he waited for the process to finish.
'I'm really strong now! Way stronger than ever before!' A wide grin appeared on the boy's face.
Eventually, the process reached an end and the surge of power slowly waned before vanishing completely. When Arthur was sure it was over, he opened his eyes and looked around him. The first thing he noticed was that his perception of his surroundings was way different than before.
His eyes flet clearer, sharper, able to absorb more details than ever before and look farther than he ever thought was possible. His other senses also felt more sensitive for all the good reasons.
"Oh boy, this is something else!"
However, Arthur wasn't done with his power up as he still had one last thing to do.
[Ding!]
[Targets detected.]
[Would you like to use ink absorber?]
'You're goddamn right I do!'