Chapter 16: Enemy Attack

A shadow passed by and a young man who's humming cheerfully looked up. He saw a beautiful blue bird passing by, blending with the clouds and the blue sky. It was early in the morning so the weather wasn't that hot.

Insig was feeling happy as he walked towards the [Hospital]. He didn't want to sleep because later in the afternoon, Rolly would teach him Martial Arts.

'I can somehow use the life aura to negate my sleepiness. With that, I can function normally throughout the day and finish my duty.'

Insig felt lazy from all the things that happened this morning but he still persisted and forced himself to work. He encouraged himself as he saw the entrance of the [Hospital].

'Insig! You're an adult already! Move your sorry ass!'

He entered the door and passed by a lot of security measures. He reached the reception and reported for duty.

'There's not much patients because it's still early in the morning but I'm sure that after an hour or so, patients would be flooding in.'

But what he didn't expect was that it was not a flood, but a tsunami instead.

*Huff*³ *Thud*³

The sound of heavy breathing and metal clanging reverberated throughout the forest as a wounded knight ran with all his might. With the speed he is going, it won't even be a surprise if the knight wished for another pair of legs.

The bloodied and dented armor he was wearing was full of scratches, no longer bearing any resemblance to the once clean and shiny steel armor.

There was a red badge on the top right of his shoulder, with a beautiful, graceful and majestic phoenix soaring towards the heavens.

He has dirty hair that was messed up from the fight. There was a large bleeding claw mark on his back, reaching from his shoulder to the waist vertically.

There was a spear on his right hand and a bear cub on his left hand. The cub has brown fur with a hint of gold at the edges, giving a sense of majesty. But this majesty was covered by the bloody scarlet color mixed in his fur.

The cub yelped and scratched the metal gloves binding him, creating a screeching sound.

Hearing this, the knight got irritated. He strangled the cub but didn't kill him. The cub stopped struggling as it ran out of energy.

"SHUT UP!!"

The wounded knight breathed in deeply. He calmed down a few seconds later. He looked at the cub's pitiful eye as he laughed hysterically.

"If you have someone to blame, blame those bastards! They killed my family and plundered the whole village! I'm gonna make those bastards suffer!"

The cub felt scared as he saw the insanity and burning fury in his eyes and voice. Even though the murderous intent was not directed at the cub, it still felt suffocated.

A few minutes later, there was a tremor in the ground.

*Thud!*³

The earth quaked as a couple of bears were running so fast on all fours, ignoring all the obstacles in its way, be it trees or stones. It was exuding an aura that felt like a giant boulder the size of a house.

The wounded knight saw the bears and the latter roared with an earth-shaking sound. The leaves were blown away as the sound waves passed by.

*Roar!!!*

The knight ignored it and looked forward. After passing through the vast expanse of trees, he saw a grassland swaying in the morning breeze. In the center stood a camp with soldiers going in and out.

Seeing this, the knight smirked and pierced the cub with a spear. The cub yelped in pain as its abdomen was pierced.

Hearing this, the couple of bears behind roared in anger.

The knight dashed towards the camp with the spear ready to launch.

The soldiers on the watchtower saw him and the bear behind. They immediately stopped him.

"Hey, who are you? Stop right there!"

The knight didn't stop and threw the spear towards the wall. The spear was embedded on the wall with the cub.

Seeing this, the knight relaxed and he laughed maniacally.

"You Ershnire b*tches! I'll bring you down with me!"

*Thud*

The knight froze as the ground beneath him opened up to swallow his legs. His body froze as cold sweat poured down on his face.

He felt a murderous killing intent behind him. He looked behind to see a giant mouth in his face. The ferocious sharp fangs exuded a sharpness that could break metal.

*Crack* *Chomp!*

The sound of skull breaking was heard as the knight died without a scream. The knight's body was headless as it fell to the ground

The bear that ate his head roared loudly as it dashed towards the camp. It wants to pour out his hatred for killing its cub.

A wounded soldier knocked into the reception of the [Hospital]. He was breathing heavily but he was muttering something.

"Call for a healer!"

The receptionist hurriedly said to the guards. The guards were about to bring the soldier away but he persisted.

"Wait!....Huff!....Huff!!....I....I need to spread the news!"

Hearing this, the guard stopped and looked grim, they got a feeling that something bad happened.

He told the receptionist something and there was a shocked expression on her face. She hurriedly went to a room and inside it was a formation.

There were runes written in a circular way. They were pulsating with energy as if they were alive. There was a pink mana crystal in the middle of it. She added a wisp of her energy and activated it. The formation glowed in a brilliant pink light that spread to the surroundings.

A sound was heard throughout the hallways and rooms. All the soldiers that were not in a hurry stopped what they were doing and listened.

"Listen, this is an emergency. I repeat, This is an emergency. All personnel that are available, please report at the south of the camp immediately! A couple of Level 10 Bear was lured into the base by the enemy kingdom. We need immediate assistance."

There was a momentary silence because the soldiers hadn't digested the news yet.

It was not after the sound was repeated again that all the idle soldiers immediately checked their weapons and bolted out. Amazingly, although the entrance was packed, the soldiers were disciplined and there were no accidents. Insig was one of them. After all, he was a soldier.

'The enemy attacked again? Looks like a fight will be here 2–3 months later.'

Insig thought forebodingly.

Small fights like this were only appetizers. Deploying troops to a neighboring kingdom would mostly take months of preparation and weeks of traveling, so if a full on war was about to break out, it would occur months later.

'Before a month passes, I must accumulate enough strength to survive the war!'

Insig thought while running towards the border.

Before Insig even reached the scene, he saw bloodied and mutilated bodies being brought away from the fight.

The metallic scent of blood and the innars flowing out made a gory scene that looked like it came from hell. Even Insig, who had seen some gruesome shits from being a surgeon on his past life, had to take a deep breath just to calm his mind.

"So this is war huh..."

Insig processed. He had never experienced war in his whole life. It was a scary and novel experience for him.

"What are you doing just standing around here‽ Fucking go help!"

One of the soldiers saw his white suit and angrily scolded him for being dazed.

Insig didn't even had the time to react to the voice directed at him since he was already being called at one of the wounded soldiers.

Insig wanted to see the fight, but as a healer, he had to save these people first. Insig went to the nearest soldier who's near death.

In one of the wooden stroller used to carry wounded soldiers away from the battlefield, a heavily-breathing soldier was lying on his back. Blood dripped to the ground from the leaking wound on his front. The soldier had his chest pierced. His ribs were broken and his lungs were damaged.

He administered life energy to the patient's respiratory system. The patient felt better but because of residual earth aura from the attack, the nearby tissues were still petrified.

"Huff... Huff.... I— Am I gonna die?"

The soldier said as he tried to breathe. He felt like there was something pressing on his chest, suffocating him. Squeezing his heart and lungs. His body felt cold and it was as if there were pins and needles on his hands. His energy diminished one by one as his eyes grew sleepy.

He knew what was happening to him, but he couldn't help but deny it in despair. He doesn't want to die yet, no one does. It's a living being's natural instinct.

"It's okay, I'm gonna save you. Just close your eyes and relax, I'll take care of everything."

Insig smiles and comforts his patient. The soldier was affected by Insig's confidence and relaxed.

"Thank you...."

Seeing this, Insig took out a scalpel from the assistant nearby and breathed in deeply. His face turned stoic as he closed his eyes. He imagined the surgery he was about to do.

'Can he really save him? The nearby healers left him because they thought he was a goner. Look, even his hand is shaking.'

The assistant looked doubtful at Insig, but he ignored it.

First was the prep. He would administer life magic to the circulatory system. This has 3 purposes;

1st is to imitate oxygen and keep the blood flowing.

2nd is to prevent the patient from dying of blood loss.

3rd is to somehow negate the pain from removing the petrified tissues.

The 2nd part of the surgery was the main issue, its to remove the tissues infected by the earth aura. This would allow the wound to heal.

The 3rd part of the surgery is the finisher. He would administer life energy to the wound to accelerate the healing process.

The plan may look simple but the tissues wounded were the lungs. He would need to spend a large amount of life energy just to stabilize the patient's circulation. That is like Insig himself breathing for 2 people. (Insig and Patient)

And that's not all. He would need to cut the least amount of nerves and tissues while perfectly removing the earth aura.

He also needs to avoid damaging the important parts of the lungs. Although they can be healed with life magic, he needed to save his energy because there were still more patients dying.

And lastly, before administering life magic, he would need to organize the organs back in the right way. If the patient healed in the wrong way, there might be problems that can cause potential hazard.

Insig didn't think about hygiene at all since they can be taken care of by the body. Once the body is nourished enough, the bacteria inside won't be able to damage the body at all, and would die in time…

All these thoughts were processed and calculated in seconds. He opened his eyes and his shaking hand stabilized.

The assistant looked at Insig's still and bright eyes. It was exuding a confident aura that makes one feel safe and secure.

'This.... What happened?'

The assistant was shocked as he looked at the dogmatic and confident charisma that Insig was releasing. His indifferent face even strengthened this charisma. This was the result of Insig's accumulated experiences in his past life as a surgeon. He was most confident when he had a scalpel on hand.

Insig didn't know about all of this as all the sound he heard was filtered out. He can vividly hear the heartbeat and breathing of the patient. He can see all the blood vessels, wounds, nerves, muscles and tissue. It was like there was a 3D hologram of the patient's body in Insig's mind.

Insig touched the patient's heart. This was where life energy was the most focused. This is also where the life energy is dispersed throughout the body.

He administered life energy in the heart, which dispersed the energy throughout the body. This would make the patient last longer. A second longer isn't that noticeable, but even if it was just for about a second longer, a miracle can happen in a blink of an eye.

Insig looked around and his eyes stayed at the assistant. He asked in a voice without the slightest emotion and undulation.

"What element are you? And what level?"

"Reporting to Sir, I'm a level 3 Core of the life element."

The assistant replied subconsciously because of the imposing aura Insig was releasing. There was even a hint of subservience in his voice.

"Good, put your hand here and administer your life energy. Do it continuously in small amounts, just like breathing."

The assistant followed the orders without questions. He knew that he was not in the lead here.

Now that the prep is finished. Insig moved his hands precisely and opened up the wounds. He easily cut the broken ribs blocking his way with the scalpel made of magic metal, and put them in a stainless tray.

Insig didn't blink his eyes as he cut the tissues surrounding the petrified flesh. He watched attentively as he didn't want an accident to happen.

All the petrified nerves, tissues, muscles, and blood vessels were removed sharply. There was not much blood flowing as a result of the petrification.

Insig inspected the wound to see if he missed any earth aura. After the inspection was done, Insig healed the blood vessels 1st— This is to prevent any more blood loss. He slowly administered and guided the life energy as he didn't want it to grow in the wrong way.

2nd is the nerves, 3rd is the muscles, 4th is the bones. He took the bones back from the tray and reconnected them. Fortunately, they were not petrified.

5th is the flesh, they were rather hard to heal as they were voluminous and needed a lot of energy.

And lastly is the skin.

Insig breathed heavily as the surgery was done. His working face was gone as he smiled brightly.

He looked at the stable pulse of the patient and his heart was filled with relief.

"It's a success!"