There was loot to be had. Over the Ash Goblin's corpses, there was a chest that connected all of the corpses with a golden line.

Nilbog walked over, and after channeling the loot skill for a few seconds, received his reward.

Red Orb

You have triumphed in a scenario in which you were supposed to have perished.

Against the odds, however, you have survived, and have gained a life.

As long as this orb remains in your possession, dying will cause you to respawn at the end of the Mission, but all rewards gained will be lost.

If not used by the end of the Mission, you will gain 30 points.

That was...amazing. Red was the highest rarity, and for him to receive that because of surviving against a squad of goblins?

Well, for someone who was fifty, it's not much of a deal, but for someone who was level 20...

It wasn't just that. There were other Ash Goblins, and their Empowering skill, and the fight with the Bearl...combininging all of those, he truly should have died.

The Pianist was right. She did save his life, but that did not mean he was going to offer it to her. He'll repay her at some point, but not with his body.

He checked the rest body and stats. His HP had fallen to 95/130, and without Lady Viss's necklace recharging, his regeneration was a basic 13 per hour. STM was at 32/140, but most notably his overall STM had fallen to 310/700. He had been overexerting himself lately.

The only odd addition was the Energy Bar. It was at 78/120, and that was something he did not understand.

Few creatures beyond the most powerful used both Life Force and Energy, and the Pianist had done just that. Now, even though he could not feel whatever Energy was, the bar existed.

That time, when she had taken his Life Force and used it to Empower his fists, gave him a feeling of what Life Force was. It was deep within his chest, below where his two ribcages met, but he couldn't move it. It was at 97/120.

Hopefully, he could learn soon.

The last status was his Death Dancer status. He was somehow connected to the Pianist through his forced profession choice.

Death Dancer

Where you dance, death follows.

Looking into it provided no further information, though he could roughly guess that it allowed the Pianist, or a Death Siren as she goes, to have an instrument.

A tool.

Nilbog looked at his hands, tightening them into a fist, and then letting them go. He was victorious. Completely, and without running away. His Player Killer class, always a determinant, finally saved him with its resistances.

Only in this condition did Nilbog realize that physical attributes did not matter to the large degree he had believed it to be. A strong warrior was one that was able to work for long hours, able to endure pain, failure, and loss. He needed to become that, needed to move the same way she moved.

His body did not become stronger when she used it to fight an empowered Ash Goblin. Her attacks were, but the way she dodged, the way she anticipated their attacks--that was talent.

He picked himself up. There was no time to dilly dally, especially when he was feeling great.

He trekked towards the general direction of where his party was heading. 666 might have betrayed him, but that didn't mean everyone else have.

Still. It's going to be hard to kill that fucker. From the amount of hunting they have done, he should be around level 45 at this point--more than double. Everyone started with 10 in all stats, and since everyone gains 2 stats per level, the stat difference was at about...

He couldn't do the math, but the difference would be huge.

“It’s fine. Everything is fine. I can do this. You can do this!”