“Get the injured to safety!” shouted Zack.
He held a handkerchief to his bleeding forehead as his slime Bla came up close to him with a wobble that said, “Aren’t you one of the injured?”
“I’m fine,” he said to it, grinning.
The slime was not completely satisfied by his response, but it followed Zack’s orders and went about carrying the badly wounded. The dragon remained frozen for the moment, but there wasn’t much time. The adventurers needed to cart the injured to safety and regroup, and they had to do it quickly. Zack saw to his own wound, then began aiding the medics. Meanwhile, Nils’s and Ellen’s voices rang out clearly.
“Use antiseptics and styptics on any open wounds!”
“Physickers, prioritize healing those with minor injuries! We want the healed to help us here!”
“Be careful with any broken bones! Do not use your physicking on them!”
Those who were safe raised themselves on unsteady legs and helped one another up.
The stench of blood, the cries, the shouts, the moaning—none of it felt real. Shiori felt for a moment as if she were watching a scene straight out of a movie, her brain refusing to accept what met her eyes as true. But there was no denying the reality that faced her, and with shaky hands, she reached into her pouch and pulled forth a painkiller. Her lover stood steadfast, gripping his left arm as sweat beaded on his pale face. She knew the pain he was experiencing must have been nigh unbearable.
“You hurt yourself saving me,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
Alec shook his head.
“All I did was move to protect what matters. I didn’t even think twice.”
Even under these circumstances, he put up a brave front. Shiori could do little more than respond with a wry grin. She also knew that, under similar circumstances, she would likely have done exactly the same thing to see Alec out of danger.
“Take this,” she said. “It’ll help with the pain.”
It was a pill, and one they were warned not to use in excess. Made with extract from alraune root, it was tremendously effective for pain relief, but poisonous when ingested in large amounts over short periods. Nils said that until the medicine ran its course, it could produce powerful drowsiness, lethargy, and headaches. He made certain that each adventurer carried only enough for a single day.
Switching off the body’s ability to use its pain sensors was, in and of itself, a dangerous and risky move. It was impossible to know what damage would persist when one ignored and fought through their injuries. Painkillers were thus not a medication to be used recklessly.
“Each of you gets two, and they’re to be used only in dire circumstances.”
Under ordinary circumstances, Nils would never have allowed these painkillers to be in the hands of the inexperienced. But in a battle against a dragon, the medics could not be everywhere at once. Nils had thus made an exception, knowing that any one of the adventurers might find themselves bereft of help, and in situations where they might need to fight through pain—or ignore it entirely—to survive. Shiori and Alec were now confronted by such a reality—the physickers around them were rushed off their feet.
“I’ll be okay,” Alec said, swallowing the pill. “I don’t think I broke anything.”
All the same, the constant pain wore at both his mental and physical endurance. This was not to mention the fact that the dragon was liable to move again in an instant. Fortunately, it was not long before Ellen made it to Alec, and Shiori could breathe a sigh of relief.
“Must have been incredibly painful for you to fall back on a painkiller,” she muttered, inspecting his injury and confirming that nothing was broken. “Nothing serious, good.”
In the next instant, the swelling subsided as her physicking did its work.
“I’ll be fine now,” said Alec. “Thanks. Go help the others.”
“I’m on it,” said Ellen, speeding off.
“We better get to it too,” Alec said. “The dragon is rising again.”
“Yes...”
Unfortunately, about half of the mages—who were responsible for binding the beast’s movements—were in no shape to fight. With time working against them, Shiori and Alec moved to help where they could.
The physickers never stopped moving. Ludger was waiting for them with his wife motionless in his arms. He’d managed to get them both out of immediate danger.
“Marena!” he shouted, tears welling in his eyes. “Marena! Hang in there!”
Her arm was broken at an awkward angle, and it was not a mere dislocation or joint injury. Though it was not her dominant hand, it was nonetheless disastrous—Marena needed both arms to wield her spear effectively. Worse still, she couldn’t even stand, and just opening her eyes took significant effort. And yet, she forced a smile to her face and, though it felt incredibly heavy, raised her hand to touch her husband’s face.
Ludger was younger than Marena, and she’d watched him grow into a strong and trustworthy vanguard adventurer. But at heart, he’d never really changed at all—he was still the cowardly and tearful youth who had chased after her, lost to his love.
“I’m okay,” Marena uttered. “I still have my short sword. I can still...fight...”
It was not easy for her to get the words out, but they roused her even as the abyssal dragon’s roar chipped away at her spirit.
“Don’t be stupid,” Ludger shot back. “That’s no ordinary magical beast we’re up against out there!”
Marena couldn’t possibly stand up to such a fearsome dragon with just her short sword. She knew this as well as anyone, but she bit her lip, frustrated that she would have to leave her husband to fight without her. More than anything else, though, she knew that she hadn’t been herself since the battle began. With adrenaline powering her, she had not felt much in the way of pain, and yet her body had felt dull. She’d been more exhausted than usual, and it had built up; she hadn’t been able to move or fight as she usually did. And yet, even now, she insisted on being healed and getting back out there.
“No more fighting for you,” said Julia, placing a pale, gentle hand over Marena’s mouth. “We have to make sure this break is properly seen to, and we’re going to do that somewhere safe.”
The former Imperial was part of the physicker team. Physicking, however, was not all-powerful. It could remove poisons and close wounds, but it could not heal broken bones back into their former shape. To use such magic on Marena now would only connect her bones at the odd angle they were bent at. If care wasn’t taken, Marena would never use a spear again.