*swoosh*
The swishing sound of the wooden arrow is heard in the dense forest before it grazed a wood and lost its momentum The boar that stands near, runs away from this place.
"Ugh, I missed again," Erika grumbled a little, this is not the first time she missed her target. To be fair, her bow is not a good weapon to be used in this dense forest.
"Now now, don't think too much about it. You can leave the fighting in this place to me," Evan said proudly.
This is the fifteenth floor of Goldensand Dungeon. It consists of a forest that is denser than the forest on the thirteenth floor.
"It is weird that we get another forest on this floor," mumbled Zea.
"Don't think too much… There is no logic in the placement of floor in the dungeon."
Glancing at Luis, Zea asked, "So what kind of monster spawned on this floor?"
"It is mostly animal, boar, bear, wolf and the enhanced version of those animals like giant boar or dire wolf," Luis explained, he then continued. "Right, this forest continues until the next floor. On the next floor, there will be monsters like the orcs and ogre."
"There is a giant boar ahead— It charges toward here, moves away from the path!" shouted Evan when he sees the giant boar. Following the instruction, the other three move to the sides, away from the charging path.
The giant boar is around 170 cm tall —similar to many human heights— and has a length of more than three meters. They attack by rushing toward their target and impaling them. When a giant boar charges, it can't change its direction without stopping first.
Noticing that it didn't hit any target, the giant boar started to decelerate. It wants to stop moving before charging again in a different direction.
"Attack now!" Evan moves toward the giant boar. He swings his sword as hard as he can toward the hind leg. The attack hit and injure the giant boar. Blood gushed from the injured part, stunning the giant boar.
Zea moves after hearing Evan's shout. Using her usual tactic of hit and run, she attacks the bottom part of the neck then runs to the side again.
Erika and Luis observe from the side thinking that there is no need for them to join the battle.
…
"This sword is better than what I think," said Evan after finishing the giant boar.
Zea squatted near the dead giant boar. "Have you all ever felt sad to not be able to eat your hunted animal? Uh… If only there is a way to get the meat of this giant boar."
"Well… there is nothing we can do. All animals and monsters in the dungeon will turn into particles short after their dead," said Luis.
Erika thinks for a bit before saying, "Actually, I heard a rumor that there is a skill that lets someone get all the things from the monster. If I am not wrong, it is called [Dismantle]?"
"I wonder if we can get something like that?" said Zea.
Luis's ear twitched a bit when he hear that. Hr thought, 'Now that Zea said it, there is a chance we will get that skill today.'
Changing the topic, Evan asked, "So anything to do on this floor?" He looked at Luis, which Luis answered, "Nope." Evan then looked at Zea and Erika, both of which also answered "No".
"So, the next floor?"
There is an orange cloth that is tied to a tree every few meters. This orange cloth is the guide to the next floor. If someone follows the orange cloths, they will be able to reach the next floor. It is also easy to get lost in this forest so this method is used to guide dungeon explorers. This 'orange way' is also used on the forest next floor.
✦✦✦✦✦✦
The four of them reach the stairs to the next floor in no time. There is no major accident that is worth reporting, only a small battle that they won easily. They decided to get a little rest before going to the next floor.
A person with a soldier outfit reached out to the four. He came from the deeper floor, along with 9 other soldiers. One of them is lying unconscious on a stretcher. Carrying an assault rifle in his hand, he asks the group, "Hello, do you have any potion?"
Luis looked at the other three, all of which shakes their head. "Sorry, we don't have one, but we—" answered Luis before being cut by the soldier.
"That is too bad… Well then—"
"Wait a minute, I have a [Healing (small)] skill. I don't know how effective it will be, but it might be worth trying?" said Zea. She also looked at Luis, waiting for permission to heal the injured soldier. Luis nodded, he is also curious about how much can the skill heal.
"Really? Then, please come here." The soldier then shouted to his comrade to stop.
…
Six soldiers stand on the outside, they will observe the surroundings to make sure nothing will attack them.
"We have done the first aid to stop blood loss from his arm, but that alone is not enough." explained the soldier. The unconscious soldier is having a pale face, signing the lack of blood. He has a big wound on his arm that is covered using a white bandage. There is also a thing that is used to stop blood loss is gripping his upper arm.
Zea moves forward to use the [Healing (small)].
"Did something happen below?" Luis asked the soldier that approached them before.
The soldier looked back and decided to explain a little, " Something did happen on the seventeenth floor. We are ambushed by a big water serpent that suddenly comes out from the lake. All of us are injured, but he is the only one that gets a big wound. Well, the big wound on his torso is already closed, but we have no more potion to heal his left arm."
"Is he okay? I mean… is he still alive?"
"Yup, we are lucky we can use the potion in time and heal the wound on his stomach. The bad thing is he already lost some amount of blood that makes him is unconscious."
…
"Can I open the bandage to see the wound? I want to see how bad the wound is. There are more bandages to wrap the wound right?" Zea said to one of the soldiers.
"Sure," that soldier opened the bandage.
"Woah… This is bigger than what I expected. This is the only wound that he have right?"
"Yes, this should be the only one. As far as we know, there is no damage to his bone."
"Well then, I will try…" Zea focused on the wound and muttered, "[Healing (small)]
Little by little, new tissue is being generated. In no time the wound closed.
"There it is, done."
✦✦✦✦✦✦
After thanking Zea for healing the wound, they decided to part ways. The soldier will go back to the surface, while Luis's group wants to go deeper for a bit more. They are watching the soldier's back, discussing the skill effect.
"So, how strong is the healing?" Zea asked the other three.
"It should be the same strength as a low-quality potion," Erika answered. "But are you okay? No cost to your body?"
"No, I am really okay… But a low-quality huh? This skill is better than expected. How much is a low-quality potion again?"
Erika pondered, "It is not that expensive, one potion is usually priced at seven or eight dollars. And to treat a wound that big, it needs two potions, so fifteen dollars for the treatment before."
"It is cheap!" Zea suddenly feels bad for all doctors in the world. Their job now has a competitor that is very cheap and can heal many things.
"Yup, it is cheap. I have a friend that is a doctor. He has worked as a doctor since before the dungeon. Now they all said that life is hard… When the dungeon was first discovered, they can still live easily, but with more and more potions that come from the dungeon, sigh…" Erika sighed. "Let's go to the next floor."
Luis replied, " Wait a minute, so what happened to the doctor now?"
"He is still alive. I mean, there are many things that can't be cured by a potion. It is just their income did decrease a bit. But I heard he just bought—"
Evan closed Erika's mouth, stopping what she says. "Yup, stop there. It is not good to gossip about his life. Let's go"