Taking a seat, Kai began piecing everything together.
"Right… my legs."
Suddenly, Kai remembered the unbearable pain he had felt before Oliver gave him the healing potion and he passed out.
Moving the gown to the side, Kai looked at his legs, only to find, much to his surprise, that they were in perfect condition.
Then the scene of him crashing into the tree flashed into his mind. Kai recalled the sound of bones breaking.
Just like his legs, his arms were also in perfect condition.
"Excuse me, shouldn't you be resting in the recovery room?"
As Kai was busy examining his body, a woman sitting next to him spoke.
"Recovery room?"
"Is this your first time?"
She pointed toward the hallway.
"If you go down that hallway, you'll see a room labeled [Recovery Room]. You're required to spend at least an hour there before you can be discharged."
Seeing Kai's confused expression, the woman kindly explained.
"Tony, what happened to Eric? He didn't make a single sound the whole way."
"I have no idea. When I got there, they were already like this."
Just as Kai was about to get up and head toward the recovery room, he heard familiar voices.
"Ah, Kai! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the recovery room?"
As Tony and Henry entered the fairy doctor clinic, they spotted Kai sitting in the waiting hall.
"You know it's my first time here, so I got lost. But… what happened to Eric?"
Kai's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Eric unconscious on Tony's back.
"No clue. The dragon guy left after killing the Goblin Priest, and we found them unconscious near the priest's corpse," Henry said as they entered the hallway.
When the giant fireball had been heading toward the forest patch, Henry was nearing the village gate.
However, when the massive Eastern Dragon made entirely of Ki appeared to stop the fireball, Henry turned back to help Tony and Eric.
When he returned, he found only Hobgoblin corpses, with no sign of either Tony or Eric.
After the explosion, Henry had seen the dragon guy heading toward the Goblin Priest's direction, so he gave chase.
When he arrived on the other side of the forest patch, he saw Tony standing in a daze while the Goblin Priest lay dead.
It seemed the dragon guy had left right after killing the Priest.
After checking and confirming that both Eric and the other guy were merely unconscious and not seriously injured, they decided to quickly transport the Goblin Priest's corpse back to the village.
However, the commotion soon attracted other hunting parties, so they left the Goblin Priest's corpse behind and focused on securing the true reward for their efforts.
Tony carried Eric and the other guy, while Henry carried the corpses of three Hobgoblins.
Along the way, they met Oliver, who helped lessen their burden.
Upon entering the town, they let Oliver handle the Hobgoblin corpses, while they headed to the clinic with Eric and the unknown man.
"You rest here. We'll drop them off at the ward."
Leaving Kai just outside the Recovery Room, Henry and Tony walked off to deliver the patients.
"This is…"
Upon entering the Recovery Room, Kai was taken aback. The entire room was filled with green particles, clearly visible to the naked eye, floating in the air.
Aside from the green particles, the room had only a few chairs placed against the walls.
Seeing everyone quietly focused on their recovery, Kai didn't make a sound and chose a chair to sit on.
As Kai made contact with the chair, a timer started on one of the chair's armrests.
As he looked at the timer, the green particles in the room slowly began gathering toward him. The particles passed through his gown, and the moment they touched his skin, they were automatically absorbed by his body.
As Kai's body absorbed the green particles, a warm sensation washed over him.
With more and more particles being absorbed, he began to relax, and his body started getting rid of small, hidden issues.
Soon, like everyone else, Kai entered a half-conscious state.
"Which idiot uses a Soul attack without proper training," Eldon muttered, glancing at the state of Eric and Grey.
"Give one to each and leave the bed for others."
Tossing two Rank 2 Spirit Recovery Pills to Tony, Eldon turned and began treating other patients.
"Where am I?"
After taking the Rank 2 Spirit Recovery Pill, Eric slowly opened his eyes.
The last thing he remembered was going out hunting with Tony, Omar, Henry, and Oliver. Everything after that was a blank.
"Thank God! You're fine. What happened out there? I heard you passed out cold."
Seeing Eric regain consciousness, Tony sighed in relief and asked.
After all, by the time he arrived, the Goblin Priest was already dead, and the Dragon guy was nowhere to be found.
At first, Tony thought it was Eric's doing. However, after examining the Goblin Priest's corpse, he realized it had been killed in a single, devastating attack, leaving no chance to resist.
There was no way Eric could have accomplished something like that.
"I don't know. Didn't we enter the Dark Forest, and someone attacked me?"
Eric had no idea what Tony was talking about. All he could remember was entering the Dark Forest and suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his head.
"I think I can explain that."
Out of nowhere, Grey, who had been listening to their conversation, spoke up.
"Explain what?" Henry asked, wondering if Grey knew what had happened.
"Although I can't remember everything either, I have a Gift called [Tiger Roar]. Whenever I use it, I black out and lose my memories for a while. But it's a very powerful soul-attack; even Elite monsters will lose consciousness when they're hit by it."
Grey went on to describe [Tiger Roar]. It had already helped the Royal Party many times, but its downside was harsh: it didn't discriminate between friend and foe, and even he, its owner, was affected.
The moment Grey proudly finished, Tony and Henry finally understood Eldon's earlier remark about someone using a soul attack "without proper training."
So Grey had been the cause of both his own and Eric's collapse.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Suddenly, Grey's call stone lit up. The excited voice on the other end shouted the second Grey tapped it.
"He picked up? Let me talk! Grey, where are you? We can't find you!"
"Take your time," Tony said, seeing that Grey's party was calling. "We're taking Eric to the recovery room."
"Don't worry; I'm at the clinic right now," Grey answered quickly, then ended the call. After all, using call stones wasn't cheap.
"There's still no sign of Oliver," Henry murmured.
They had just settled Eric into the recovery room; Henry and Tony now sat in the waiting hall.
"Don't worry. You can go if you need to," Tony said, noticing Henry's growing anxiety to check on Alice. "Just remember to tell the others back home what happened."