Chapter 448: Have You Seen Transia’s Special Emergency Medical Care?

“Boom”

The dazzling spirit lightning exploded in the putrid swamp air.

Those electric serpents that shot out from the darkness writhed frantically, transforming by the operator’s will into devouring snakes that exploded over a wide area, dragging all those caught within into the stimulation of electrical energy and the terrible paralysis of electrocution.

This is currently one of the most commonly used area spells by player Spirit Mages, taught personally by Grand Duchess Tris.

Lady Tris is quite skilled with lightning. Her incredibly shocking large-scale static field during the Gnoll siege of Crimson Citadel is still widely discussed among players today.

Unfortunately, that spirit spell similar to a “domain expansion” is visibly high-level spirit magic just by looking at it, not something that little players at this stage can use.

But that’s fine. Low-level spirit magic has its own set of techniques, and players have already figured out a smooth combo for “maximum DPS” at this stage.

Currently under Pigeon’s precise control, this charged and enhanced spirit lightning explosion’s position almost blasted that skulking Corpse Mage out of its concealed state, while also blowing away its three skeletal knight guards. The second Dancing Light spell that was casually thrown out completely destroyed the concealment spell, fully exposing this fellow on the now clamorous battlefield, while also conveniently marking the Corpse Mage’s exact position with several small light orbs.

But this doesn’t prove that Pigeon’s detection was particularly impressive.

Mainly because this Corpse Mage had just thrown a charged “Phosphorus Burst” toward the forward sentry post, completely exposing itself in front of Pigeon while successfully breaking through the Goldflower soldiers’ tenacious defense line.

Pigeon didn’t even need to give a warning.

At the same time he used spirit lightning to flush out this Corpse Mage, the hidden Gugu Chicken and Miaomiao Shark immediately launched a decapitation attack against it.

Blood Wings beat like fierce winds, leading with Lord Kudel’s signature nightbat charge. Wielding a replica Crimson Ranger greatsword, Gugu Chicken fiercely charged into the Corpse Mage’s squad, the 270° wide-range Crimson Whirlwind Slash trailing the enchanted blade’s scorching flames.

After drawing out the cool sword light, he followed up with a Shadow Step, allowing the Tomb Guard to break the Corpse Mage’s defense while dodging the frenzied attacks from the surrounding undead.

As a Midnight Hunter, Miaomiao Shark raised his heavy crossbow, and after two seconds of charging, the aimed shot used a penetrating enchanted bolt to strike down the rising Corpse Mage again.

The terrifying impact force from the Witch Hunter’s magic arrow lifted its withered body from the mud and slammed it hard against a skeletal warhorse nearby while entering a penetrating burning state. Meanwhile, four blood hounds wearing iron beast armor also broke through the Corpse Mage guardian’s defense under Miaomiao Shark’s “Kill Order” command in coordination with Gugu Chicken.

With the three working together to this degree, this unfortunate Corpse Mage’s fate was already sealed.

The fact that it could be assigned to the outer defense line proved this fellow wasn’t an important character. Although it was a high-level undead, it couldn’t be said to have outstanding strength. Under the hunters’ prepared ambush, the Corpse Mage couldn’t last thirty seconds before being decapitated by Gugu Chicken’s sword.

However, destroying these high-level undead bodies doesn’t mean they’ll return to the netherworld. When Gugu Chicken picked up the Corpse Mage’s head, the latter was still spouting vulgar curses.

Listening carefully, you could even hear this fellow’s distinctive trill.

Well well.

This turned out to be a Northern Corpse Mage.

“Sentry Post 3 threat eliminated!”

Pigeon leaned on his staff while recovering spirit energy, asking in the team framework:

“Cheche, Ah Yuen, how’s the situation on your end?”

“Haven’t discovered any Corpse Mages or Netherworld Knights at Sentry Post 2 yet. The fighting isn’t intense here, those Goldflower people even launched a counter-charge.”

Cheche mocked:

“These folks seem quite proud of bullying mindless skeleton sticks.”

“Tracking a Netherworld Knight at Sentry Post 1, that coward ran away, we’re in pursuit.”

Ah Yuen replied irritably:

“This is the first time I’ve seen such a cowardly undead. We had just launched our attack when it abandoned its skeleton army and ran away with its tail between its legs. I think this fellow might be ‘talented’ – I’ve decided that after we catch it, we’ll send it to the fighting club to open others’ eyes, and get some pocket money on the side.”

“Be careful.”

Pigeon warned:

“Although there can’t be more high-level undead commanders in the outer defense line, it’s hard to say if their escape is a trap or not. I think you should stop pursuing after a while, don’t cause any casualties.

Although dying every three days is a combat resource, right now we need to conserve our manpower.”

“F**k! You jinxed it!”

After about ten seconds, Ah Yuen cursed from over there:

“It really was a trap, they had three more Netherworld Knights and several hundred elite skeletons waiting here. Good thing I was prepared, time to see the power of Brother Loyalty’s hand-crafted ‘big baby’.

Hey, watch your Uncle Yuen run awa- I mean, tactically retreat while leaving you a big firework show.

Boom.”

The characteristic buzzing of the hand-crafted Iron Fist and violent explosion then sounded in the communication channel. After another ten seconds or so, Ah Yuen sent back a “successful tactical retreat” message that finally put Pigeon’s mind at ease.

He turned back to survey the situation around Sentry Post 3. Those skeleton armies advancing through the muddy ground no longer had the “wave-like” charge formation from earlier.

This indicated that after they eliminated the commanding Corpse Mage, this skeleton army had entered a chaotic state and could only carry out instinctive attacks based on the dead’s hatred for the living. However, the battlefield width around the sentry post wasn’t sufficient for the skeleton army to press forward on all fronts.

Therefore they could no longer threaten the regrouped sentry post guards.

“These Goldflower people are decent.”

Pigeon evaluated very harshly:

“They defended for over an hour under the skeleton army’s wild attacks without a single death, that’s already quite impressive.”

“I think you just don’t want to acknowledge their excellence.”

Carrying the replica Ranger greatsword and holding the Corpse Mage’s head, Gugu Chicken came over. This fellow said with a grimace:

“These are absolutely elite troops. At minimum, the People’s Army soldiers under Maxim couldn’t achieve this level. Looks like the Short Marshal really pulled out all the stops to save face in front of Lord Murphy.

But I saw that Phosphorus Burst seemed to hit the sentry post earlier, was anyone injured?

Getting burned by undead bone fire is very painful.

I have personal experience with that.

That cursed thing even carries corrosive damage, if not treated quickly it’ll leave disabilities.”

“Mm, I’ll go take a look.”

Pigeon spread his wings and hovered up, saying to Gugu Chicken and Miaomiao Shark beside him:

“You two patrol around here, see if there are any more hidden commanders. After dawn we’ll take the Corpse Mage head to the Shadow Intelligence Bureau’s rear base, see if we can get some rewards from E-Sister.”

“OK!”

Carrying the vampire heavy crossbow, Miaomiao Shark pulled out a deer leg from his spirit bag and threw it to his four magnificent war beasts. Watching Pigeon fly toward Sentry Post 1, this excellent Midnight Hunter stretched his shoulders and looked at the darkness ahead, then turned to Gugu Chicken and said:

“Should we go check it out? I always feel like there must be some ‘rare units’ like Corpse Mages and Netherworld Knights in this outer defense line. Although we don’t know if they can trigger hidden quests, these fellows can communicate, right?

We’re just sitting around anyway.”

“Hey, why not just ask and find out!”

Gugu Chicken raised the Corpse Mage head in his hand and gave it a hard slap, causing the unfortunate Corpse Mage who had been “waiting for death with closed eyes” to instantly open its eyes in rage and shout a string of Northern curses.

“Hey! Why is your mouth so foul?”

Gugu Chicken retorted:

“Other undead are all very quiet. Stop cursing, save your strength, old fellow. Do you have any unfulfilled dying wishes? If the reward is appropriate, we can help you know.”

“Are you vampires f**king sick in the head?”

That Northern Corpse Mage with only a head left cursed:

“I just died here, and when I died I hadn’t provoked anyone! First I was awakened and disturbed from my rest by those damn Gnolls, and now I’m being humiliated by you like this!

Ptooey!

If only I hadn’t turned into rotting bones with all my strength gone, I’d definitely teach you a lesson!”

“Cut the crap, do you have any quests or not!”

Miaomiao Shark drew the hunting dagger at his waist and made threatening gestures with it on the Corpse Mage’s head, saying:

“This short dagger of mine is coated in deadly poison. If you don’t talk, I’ll carve the character for ‘useless’ on your forehead.

Quick!

Give us a quest!

Otherwise I’ll hand you over to E-Sister.”

“Who the hell is E-Sister? Why do you vampires have such weird nicknames? Ah ah ah! Don’t carve don’t carve, I’m already dead don’t humiliate me like this!

What exactly do you want?

In life I was just a poor wilderness mage, I didn’t have any treasure, just a small mage tower near Dnipro city.”

“Ah! Fellow countryman, you even have a mage tower! Why didn’t you say so earlier? Come come come, mark it on the map for us. After we finish this mess here, we’ll personally escort you back to take a look.

Speaking of which, if it’s a mage tower, there must be treasures inside, right?”

————————

“Damn! How did it end up like this?”

Let’s set aside Miaomiao Shark and Gugu Chicken interrogating the Corpse Mage for now. At Sentry Post 3, Pigeon landed and was startled by the scene before him.

Several officers were gathered together performing emergency treatment on Major Ron.

This fellow who had argued with Pigeon earlier was in quite a miserable state now. His originally handsome long hair had been completely burned off by phosphorus fire, with burn marks still remaining on his scalp. His arms and legs had burn marks, and his face was black and blue, probably from being hit by flying rocks.

He looked quite pitiful, but in reality only his exterior was damaged, with no harm to his vital functions.

At minimum from Pigeon’s vampire perspective, this fellow’s vital energy was still strong with no threat to his life.

The truly dangerous one was his adjutant beside him.

This tall Second Lieutenant had thrown himself forward to shield Major Ron when the Phosphorus Burst exploded earlier, causing him to take most of the damage from the Phosphorus Burst.

Not to mention his entire left arm being burned to bone, the large areas of burns on his chest and back had weakened his life force to the point it was barely detectable.

“Out of the way! Out of the way! You fools.”

Pigeon stepped forward pushing aside those soldiers with sorrowful expressions.

He crouched down rolling up his sleeves to examine this Second Lieutenant’s injuries. Seeing the other was about to die, he didn’t bother with anything else and grabbed a nearby soldier, extending his nail claws to scratch open the other’s wrist.

This action caused the surrounding soldiers to draw their war daggers.

They thought the vampire was going to harm someone, but were stopped by Major Ron’s shout despite his grim expression.

The Major watched as Pigeon used vampire secret arts to extract blood from the soldier’s wrist gathering it into a blood sphere, then used a kind of compression method to transfer the life force from this blood into the dying Second Lieutenant’s body.

“One isn’t enough! He’s too badly injured, we need several more healing blood spheres! Quick!”

Pigeon shouted, and immediately several loyal soldiers stepped forward rolling up their sleeves. This genuine feeling between comrades also softened Pigeon’s somewhat overbearing attitude.

He stopped talking and continued the previous extraction and giving.

This method is a variant of vampires’ blood drawing ability, not in the Blood Vulture Clan’s skill list, but is one of the “secret arts” he learned from the Young Lady.

The former armed Blood Servant army also had similar emergency treatment measures.

The most convenient aspect of this technique is that it’s not blood transfusion but rather using blood to transfer life force, so blood type matching isn’t needed. However, as it’s an emergency measure its effect isn’t great, only able to keep someone hanging on to their last breath.

Players don’t use this method much, but they’ve found it works quite well for saving NPCs.

After several minutes of busy work, although that Second Lieutenant’s life force was still as weak as a candle in the wind, at least the bleeding had stopped and his condition stabilized.

“His subsequent injuries can’t be treated here, he must be transferred to the field hospital near Smuggler’s Woods in the rear.”

Pigeon wiped the blood stains from his face and stood up, saying to Major Ron who was staring at him:

“We have professional physicians and priests from the Avalon Church there who can treat him. Saving his life shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Then let’s do that, I’ll pay you.”

The Major immediately breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

That Phosphorus Burst earlier should have hit him but his loyal subordinate suffered in his place, making Ron feel uneasy in his heart.

Although weapons are blind on the battlefield and one must set aside life and death when going to war, if a life could be saved, the Major was still willing to pay a lot. He just regretted that this brave man with a promising future in the military would be disabled, never able to ride the battlefield with him again.

This level of injury would likely force this Second Lieutenant from a poor background to retire.

“Actually there’s no need to be so pessimistic.”

Probably seeing the helplessness in Major Ron’s eyes, Pigeon found an opportunity to quietly tell him:

“We in Transia have our own system for treating wounded soldiers, different from other places. Here being injured and disabled doesn’t mean the end of a warrior’s career. In fact we have a very special kind of ‘disability insurance’.

If you’re willing to buy such insurance for your adjutant and continue investing, our mechanics can guarantee he’ll return to the battlefield in the shortest time possible.”

“Ah?”

Pigeon’s sales pitch-like words left Major Ron quite surprised. Enduring the pain on his body he asked:

“What specific method? Using high-level spirit energy limb regeneration? Isn’t that high-level magic that only bishop-level priests can cast? There are only a few churches in the entire Goldflower Kingdom that can perform such healing.”

“No no no, not spirit energy, but technology and mechanics.”

Pigeon said with a grimace:

“Mechanical prosthetics, have you heard of this concept?

Technology first developed by the Halflings. By rights your Goldflower Kingdom should be familiar with these things after completing military reforms.”

“Ah, you mean those blasphemous things.”

Major Ron was clearly experienced, immediately understanding, but then shaking his head saying:

“Those things were previously viewed by the Avalon Church as blasphemy against life. They believed mechanical bodies were soulless defiled objects. Although the church is gone now, deeply rooted concepts aren’t so easily changed, the Goldflower Kingdom hasn’t introduced such evil technology.

You can make mechanical prosthetics?”

“Of course!”

Pigeon patted his chest speaking volubly:

“Our Countess Sharon specializes in this field, and her apprentices all have similar skills. They promise to guarantee until the end for every insured soldier.

Just 300 gold coins per person! Then 50 gold coins per month!

Credibility is completely guaranteed, the Count of White Mountain bought full war disability insurance for his 100 palace guards in one go.

He’s the Wolf Queen’s royal brother, mingling with bigwigs from various countries.

If he’s not afraid, what are you afraid of?

Our Governor Murphy’s credit is extremely solid! And you need to decide quickly.”

Pigeon glanced at the adjutant being placed on a stretcher, reminding:

“It’s best to complete the prosthetic creation while this brave one is receiving emergency surgery. Otherwise it won’t be so simple once he wakes up, mainly because that inhuman pain…

Not everyone can ignore pain like us warriors. Don’t you want your adjutant to return to the battlefield and fight alongside you again?

Or let him retire in regret after the first battle?”

“I never thought that Transians, known for their barbarism, would also have such good eloquence.”

Major Ron said with a straight face:

“Since you’ve said this much, it would be somewhat impolite for me to refuse further. But I want you to ensure my adjutant can return safely!”

“No problem! Come, sign a contract, pay the deposit, and arrange surgery for him immediately! Oh right, there’s a skeleton warhorse on the battlefield, you should go collect it later.

That was the Corpse Mage’s mount.

You also contributed, so this is what you deserve.”

“Huh? Transians can be this kind? Haven’t you hidden explosives in the skeleton horse?”

“Cut the crap! You gained reputation with us, so we must give you rewards, this is how we Transians do things. Effort must be rewarded. If you don’t want it then give it back to us! Also you can retreat now.

This sentry post is safe.”

“Retreat? No! We won’t retreat! We’ll guard here until my adjutant returns safely, until we defeat those Gnolls, until our forefathers and our country are proud of us.

Vampires of Transia, listen well, this is now our battlefield too. We have proven our ability and dignity.

Now, it’s time for us to fight for victory!”