Standing above what was left of the giant slug, panting, my body splattered with mucus and blood, I heard a sound:
Ding!
You have defeated [Rift-Maw (Predator) – Level 111]!
Your class [Blood Warrior] has reached level 90!
Your class [Blood Warrior] has reached level 91!
I let myself fall onto my back.
Slowly.
Like an emptied body. A survivor without an immediate reason.
The ground was warm. Sticky.
But stable.
For the first time in... how long? I wasn't in pain anymore.
I gasped, then gasped again.
Spasms of breathing, as if my lungs were rediscovering air.
— So this is... living?
I stared at the blurred, cracked, trembling ceiling of the cave.
— So this is... living without pain?
A smile formed on my cracked lips.
Then another.
Then a wave.
I started laughing.
First a breath.
Then a burst.
Then I howled with laughter.
A mad laugh. A freeing, fragile, desperate laugh.
— What a wonderful world...
How long had it been?
Since my last free breath?
