Both Isaac and Iris looked at Druak and in unison said. "WHAT!"
After finding the aged sting weed and approaching it both Iris and Isaac realised how badly it smelled and for the first time, Isaac hesitated to follow what Druak had instructed him to do.
Noticing them hesitate Druak picked up some of the aged sting weed, which had been lodged in the ground, and proceeded to rub it all over his body as he said. "The great arm gorillas can smell our scent, if you don't hurry up they will find us and tear us apart."
Iris seemed to immediately realise what Druak was talking about as it made complete sense that a horrible smelling plant like the aged sting weed would be able to block their scent but this also led her to wonder about something else. 'How the hell does this kid know so much."
Seeing both Druak and Iris rubbing the aged sting weed on themselves Isaac realised that he should probably do the same, and it was lucky he did as the great arm gorillas arrived mere seconds after he did so.
The sound of collapsing trees began to slowly approach their location. Rushing to find somewhere to hide both Isaac and Druak began running to Iris who seemed to have found a good hiding place.
All three of them hid under a rock formation that had a hole they could hide under. They watched the great arm gorillas who sniffed around for a few minutes. Seemingly confused as to where their prey had gone, they became enraged and started slamming their fist on the ground then charged off in different directions to look for the humans which had harmed them.
"Looks like they're gone." Iris muttered and began to get out of the hole they had hidden in, but as she did so a sudden feeling of the floor dropping was felt below her. It seemed the rocks Iris had knocked as she was leaving the hiding place had made the ground give way. Without warning the entire ground collapsed sending them falling into a seemingly bottomless pit.
"Ahhh ahhh ahhh" The sound of the three of them yelling echoed through the hole they had fallen into, which seemed as if it would never stop.
Suddenly the pitch black that surrounded them began to become lighter and lighter as a green hue began to be seen from below them. Seeing the ground Druak began to put the plan, which he had been thinking of as he fell, to work.
"Isaac when I cast my ice magic you need to cast your fire magic at the same time and Iris, strike the ground with all you've got."
Normally Iris would never listen to such demands but right now wasn't the time to complain so she quickly followed what Druak had told her to do.
They were now only a few meters away from the ground and Druak had begun to cast his ice magic, making it with as little mana as possible so it was mainly made up of the water vapor from the surroundings. Once Druak cast his spell Isaac soon followed suit, casting a massive ball of fire at it and in unison Iris also cast her most powerful sword aura skill.
Thehole they were falling down was covered in smoke and slowly subsided revealing three very bruised yet alive humans. Thanks to Druaks plan they had managed to make a pool of water and due to Iris's attack they had lessened the impact on them, this plan however only worked thanks to 1st and 2nd stage classes being more durable than normal humans.
"Is everyone ok." Druak asked as he examined his own body, which had a few cuts and bruises on it but nothing serious, the worst wound being a cut across his leg which was relatively deep.
"I'm fine. Thanks to my aura I only got a few cuts on my shoulder and arms."
"I'm… good." Isaac said as he struggled to breathe. Due to him being a mage type class his body durability wasn't nearly as strong as Druaks and Iris's bodies so he was in the worst condition of the three.
Hearing Isaac's wobbly voice Druak rushed over to him and began to circulate his mana into him, to see what kind of damage Isaac had sustained.
*Thud*
Druak hit Isaac on the head as he said. "Is this what you call good. You have at least 6 broken bones and have internal injuries all over your body. Hurry up and Drink this healing potion before it gets any worse."
After seeing that everyone was alive Druak began to treat his own wounds, wrapping them up in badges to make sure he didn't suffer from blood lose.
"You not gonna use a healing potion." Iris asked as she tilted her head curiously.
"No. We don't have many of them and they are far too valuable for me to use right now."
Iris could see that they had at least 3 [Minor healing potions] so she was rather confused with how reserved Druak was being, but since she probably wouldn't see him again after this she didn't want to get too involved so she didn't bother asking any more questions.
'This kids so strange. Once I learn why he saved me I'll just leave him be and go my separate ways.'
After covering his wounds with badges Druak and Iris waited for a few more minutes as they needed to wait till the healing potion took its effect on Isaac. Because the potion was only a [Minor Tier] potion it wasn't able to heal Isaac completely and took quite a long time to take effect, only managing to heal Isaac's wound by about 30 percent.
Luckily Isaac was able to stand after the effects of the potion took affet but he would have to be extra careful if they encountered any danger within this strange cavern that was covered in green glowing wildlife.
They were incredibly cautious as they walked within the cavern as, despite the wondourse plants that surrounded them, there could also be hidden monsters that could kill them within an instant if they weren't careful.
"I'll take the lead since you two have looked as if you have drained most of your mana and aura."
"I'm fine. I just used a little bit of my aura. I'll be back to my peak in no time." Iris said confidently. Yet contradictory to her saying she was fine, it was clear she wasn't as she had been sweating profusely due to aura drain for quite some time now.
Isaac wasn't any different from Iris as he had also been greatly drained of his mana due to all the spells he had cast. Luckily for Druak his mana core was quite high ranked for his age so he still had around ⅓ of his mana left, this however also great as if they encountered any 1st stage monsters it would be incredibly difficult to protect the two people behind him.
Despite all of this Druak still wanted to be at the front in case such a situation did happen, as it was better to expect the worst than not.
Druak walked up to Iris who was still arguing that she should be in front. "I'm the swordsman. I should… Wait, what are you…" Druak walked straight towards Iris and gently pushed her, causing her to fall flat on her ass.
"See. You're in no condition to be in the front. So just follow behind and stop arguing." Druak then turned around and continued walking through the cavern.
Her face flushed bright red, Iris muttered. "Why you brat. I'll make you pay for this."
Isaac looked back and chuckled, then turned around and followed behind Druak.
As they walked Druak had been collecting herbs occasionally but otherwise, it seemed that nothing very important happened. Iris seemed quite curious about what Druak was collecting, oftentimes staring straight at Druak, but for some reason never came up to him to ask what he was doing. Druak simply ignored the gaze of Iris and continued collecting, while Isaac followed closely behind the two and curiously looked at all the incredible wildlife that surrounded them.
After looking around for a few hours and finding no monsters Druak and the others decided it was probably best to look for somewhere safe to make a camp, and unlike Iris's group, made sure that it wouldn't be somewhere that monsters would often visit.
They ended up finding a small area surrounded by wildlife and decided to set up camp there. This only took them a few minutes and while they were setting up Druak and Isaac were talking and joking around.
"And then…" Just as Isaac was speaking Iris walked up to the two of them and asked Druak. "I have something to ask you. Could you come over for a minute."
"I'll be back in a minute, Isaac." Druak said as he followed behind Iris who walked to a small bush away from Isaac.