Rick had been prepared to be saddened by the sight within the cavern. He regretted having put such a promising youth in such a dangerous position.
However, the cave lit up by the glowing moss covering the ceiling didn't have the scene of tragedy Rick had been expecting. Instead, it looked like a field hospital.
All over the floor were platforms, a dozen rectangular tables of dirt carved out of the ground. And while most of those tables were empty except for bloodstains, some had a bed of leaves and branches with beasts on them.
It looked like several of the beasts that had been kidnapped for the magic ritual had gathered for treatment here. The bitter smell permeating the tunnels was probably the smell of medicinal herbs. Although most such herbs were a lot more effective when used for potions, they were still helpful in their raw state or simply dried and turned into powder or paste to apply to wounds.
Since the burrow was simply a camp for injured beasts to recover, Rick was about to leave and see if Mond had found anything. But right as he turned around, he saw something that wasn't a beast out of the corner of his eye.
In a corner of the large cavern, practically hidden behind a resting table and a bunch of other beasts, Toz's body was lying motionlessly.
Rick made sure to put away his mace and look friendly as he entered the cave. The beasts, tired from their injuries or tired from caring for the injured, merely looked up and, upon noticing the lack of ill intent, laid back down.
As he got closer to Toz, despite not seeing any signs of life knew that he was alive. But as Rick approached within touching distance, he was stopped by a couple of cats, one with grey fur and one completely orange and on fire.
Since they had accompanied Toz into the guild a few times, Rick hoped that the cats would recognize him as he recognized them.
Rick didn't know if they recognized him. Or just didn't trust him, but the two cats stood in front of Toz's motionless body, growling and hissing at Rick.
Right as Rick was considering forcing his way past and giving Toz some potions, the cats stopped and turned around.
"That's enough." Although hoarse, the voice was unmistakably Toz's.
Despite sleeping soundly, so he could recover as quickly as possible, Toz woke up when Nil and Mindle got restless and started making noise.
They knew he needed as much rest as possible and wouldn't recklessly disturb him, but since they did, it had to be because of something serious.
Though Toz hadn't expected to see Rick standing there in front of them, looking a little worried and confused.
Toz had vague memories of being dragged with several other beasts by the cats and other wild beasts who were still healthy enough to help their compatriots of the Tumbling Thunder Forest. He also knew that they ended up in a cavern where the beasts gathered to get treated. It was a place without any grudges or disputes due to the agreement of several sixth level beasts, especially so after many beasts had died in the ritual.
Although humans might not be accepted even considering there wasn't supposed to be any fighting, it was thanks to Toz and his cats that so many beasts had managed to escape from the clearing alive. The cats even got help dragging Toz to the burrow.
While the cats wouldn't carelessly let other beasts get close to the unconscious Toz, they gratefully accepted the medicinal herbs and plastered them all over Toz and the purple cat they had rescued.
Toz had been planning on resting until he was fit enough to walk back to town where he could get some proper potions. However, now that Rick had shown up and was happily handing Toz a high level healing potion, there wasn't any need to wait longer before heading back to town.
While Rick went back out into the forest to talk with Mond, Toz shared some of the high level potion with the purple cat. The cat, despite appearing sick and malnourished, looked intimidating. Although most of its muscles had dried up and thinned out during the ritual, there was still some left.
The fur was mainly dark purple but with tiny white markings, that looked like sparks, here and there. And the scars on several parts of its body gave the cat a menacing appearance. Especially the scar crossing its right eye vertically.
All of them had been taken aback at that since it was challenging for spirit beasts to develop scars, even if they were gravely injured. For the purple cat to have so many scars and for them to be so apparent, the injuries had to have been life-threatening and extremely grueling for the cat to recover from.
That a cat with such a tough life, even if unconsciously, called for help, proved how dire the situation had been for the beasts used as sacrificial material for the magic ritual.
Even with the high level potion, it took a few minutes for the purple cat to begin showing signs of it getting revitalized. Restoring its muscle mass would take either more potions or more food and time. But healing any internal injuries that had arisen from the ritual's draining didn't take much, and the purple cat soon snorted and took a deep breath.
After living a solitary life where it fought and recovered alone, the cat was surprised to find three other beasts and a human watching it as soon as it opened its eyes.
The purple cat was understandably panicked as it, despite its lingering injuries, backed away from Toz and the other three cats.
With a cave wall to its back, it felt a lot more secure. But it knew it was still injured and didn't have any mana to fight its way out.
With the feeling of security that having all foes in one place gave it, the purple cat calmed down enough to properly assess its enemies. Even if it didn't have much of a chance considering its current state and having the numbers disadvantage, the purple cat wouldn't give up. The scars on its body were proof enough of that.
