Even though the chief had indeed said that this battle would determine the fate of humankind, the main reason that Jodel had joined the First Army was for his own clan; he had never given a single thought about gaining anything in return from others.
It didn't matter whether or not they appreciated his efforts, he had to complete the job anyway.
Although Jodel still thought the same way, when he recalled the nurse's smiling face and the taste of the fresh and hot food, he felt a strange surge of warmth inside his heart.
Perhaps the things he was doing were more important than he imagined.
After he finished a bountiful meal, Jodel returned to his squad.
There were some new faces in the nine Sand National groups that he served in—this was nothing new; the rear was continuously sending soldiers to the front line and, among them, there were veterans who departed later as well as new recruits. As the front line always incurred a certain loss after a battle, it was necessary to transfer and adjust numbers frequently.
To his delight, he saw two of his companions who had been guarding with him at the belfry.
"I thought you had died over there and that only Ka… Farry and I escaped." Jodel pulled them into a tight hug and patted their shoulders hard.
"We were lucky. When the belfry collapsed, we happened to be on the lookout on the bottom level and was able to avoid all the falling rocks," his comrade replied. "It was you who shocked everyone, to think you would be unharmed even though you were up on the stairs. If we had known earlier, we wouldn't have left first."
"No, leaving as soon as possible was the right choice." Jodel shook his head. In situations like that, even if they could survive, they would have most likely encountered the demons that were heading for the belfry. If Kabala hadn't saved him, he wouldn't have escaped demons' encirclement. "Unfortunately, the others weren't so lucky."
In the end, only half of the ten-person squad survived—even though Sand Nationals had been through far too many occasions of bidding farewell to their teammates and were accustomed to seeing death, he still couldn't help feeling sad inside.
After all, after over half a year of grinding training and teamwork they had formed a new type of relationship—this type of relationship was no less close knit than his relationship with his friends and relatives among his clan.
Even though he was overjoyed to see his surviving comrades, Jodel still felt somewhat puzzled.
The importance of Gust Castle was obvious, even he understood this. It was the capture of Metalstone Ridge that had caused the two flanks of their line of defense to fall apart after all. Likewise, abandoning Gust Castle would transfer this pressure to the Sand City and Sedimentation Bay, causing them to be face the same predicament.
He had originally believed that the First Army would guard this city to the death, until it was completely swallowed by the demons.
Of course, being able come out alive deserved celebration, but he did not feel as elated as he had thought he would. If the entire First Army line was defeated, not only would all the deaths of his people become meaningless, his clan's hard-won hopes would be for naught.
But as he had to abide by the responsibility of following orders and his trust in the chief, he didn't voice his questions in front of his two comrades.
"May the Three Gods accept their souls."
"May the Three Gods protect them in their afterlife."
After silently praying according to the traditions of the Sand Nation, one of Jodel's comrades changed the topic. "Let's not think about this anymore and talk about something light-hearted. You might not know but tonight Lord Iron Axe will come and inspect the encampment, and there'll be a play performance!"
"A play… performance?"
Other than boosting the troops' morale, the commander-in-chief must have come here to deliver a new command, which was not unexpected. But something like a play seemed completely irrelevant to war… People from the Sand Nation didn't have such refined hobbies so he didn't understand why his comrades were so excited.
His comrades clearly saw his befuddlement. "Yes, the famous Star Flower Troupe will be coming!"
"So?"
"Have you actually never heard of them? Drow Silvermoon from the Osha Clan is one of the members of the troupe!"
…
After circling the area in hovering mode, 'Seagull' landed stably in the airport at the western pass of Cage Mountain.
Nana stepped down the gangway ladder and immediately followed the medical staff to the medical camp.
"Report the situation of the wounded," she said while walking and throwing on her white doctor's jacket at the same time. "Order the beds according to the rules in the First Aid Handbook, those with injuries to their critical organs take priority."
"Yes," the nurse acting as her assistant replied hurriedly. "Currently the encampment has accepted three hundred and twenty-six injured, among them fifty-five are in critical state. Their beds are lined up in tent one. In order to prolong their survival, most of them have been overdosed with Delaying Agent."
"The Delaying Agent is not a problem. Be careful in administering anti-shock therapy after the drug effects wear off—if the pain is too intense, use Dreamland Water to stop the side effects first. You have already prepared the Dreamland Water that you'll be giving them later, right?"
"Y-Yes," the assistant replied.
Even though it was not her first time assisting Miss Angel, she still could not get used to the cute, petite and delicate girl that looked no different from a girl next door calmly giving out instructions like an old and experienced scholar.
"Oh yeah." Nana stopped before the number one tent. "The therapeutic devices that I asked you to prepare before, you've prepared one for every patient right?"
"Yes, but…" The nurse hesitated and subconsciously addressed her with a respectful term. "M'am, are you really going to treat so many patients at once?"
According to the nurse's experience, it would take at least several days of water treatment to treat over fifty heavily injured patients and pull them out of danger.
"Of course." Nana smiled at her. "Relax, as long as I am here, they will all live."
Looking at Nana's confident smile, the nurse felt her worry alleviate considerably.
She inhaled deeply and followed Miss Pine into the tent.
…
After Nana put on a pair of specially created rubber worm gloves, she stood in front of the first patient's bed.
Her evolution on her Day of Adulthood allowed her ability to gain a new characteristic. Her original simple summoning power could now also be attached to objects and could continuously heal the injuries around her.
Compared to directly injecting magic power to heal, the effects of her new ability was clearly not as good; at least, it could not result in visible, rapid injury healing. However, it would use up a lot less magic power, and didn't require her to continuously use her ability, which was the biggest advantage enchantment had.
As long as the the enchanted object kept existing, the patient's injury would slowly heal, and this allowed Nana to heal multiple patients at once. More importantly, it fundamentally removed the pain caused by the repetitive worsening of the patient's injury due to the alternating treatments that occurred when there was insufficient magic power. After her High Awakening, she had performed an experiment in the campsite at the back of Sedimentation Bay. A gauze that she enchanted with her magic could maintain effectiveness for over a week; this was already enough to pull the wounded out of a critical state.
The only problem was after she used up her magic power, the object would not disappear but remain inside the body of the patient. If she wanted to get the most out of her magic power, the enchanted object must be as close to the worst part of the injury as possible. Thus, Nana looked at the medical resources in the Dream World and decided to use the suture line for internal injuries and the gauze for external.
She picked up a scalpel and skillfully cut open the bloody abdomen of the patient. She found the puncture in his gut pierced through by a bone spear and quickly sewed it together.
The thin thread made from sheep intestines could be naturally absorbed by the body, and it wouldn't need to be extracted after recovery. It could be regarded as the perfect medical material.
Of course, for hard injuries such as broken bones, the suture line would not work—but injuries like this would not endanger a patient's life immediately and she could very much leave it up to the physicians and nurses.
The development of Neverwinter's medical institution system had already progressed from emergency treatment at the beginning to a group of medical staff that could independently perform simple treatments.
"After the blood water has been drained, stitch up the wound. Next."
"Yes!"
"Place a drainage strip at the wound and monitor the injury."
"Leave it to me."
"Amputate this leg first, we will think of something later."
"Understood!"
"…"
Under Nana Pine's instructions, the medical staff were all immersed in a tense yet organized medical treatments. At that moment the medical encampment became another bustling battlefield.