CH700 Thera’s Perspective

“Can I get a hand over here!”

“Coming!” Thera yelled back, rushing through the floor past other patients to reach one of the many healer’s sides, finding them focusing on someone who’d just been brought in, their large intestine hanging out of a gouge in their torso while they did their best to keep them alive.

Despite everyone around wearing one of Ben’s mana bracelets, there was still a matter of skill needed to finish a task quickly, not something they always had in urgent cases such as that which is where she came in, moving the organ back into place with her magic while forcing the body to cannibalize itself to make up for the lost mass as tissue knit back together, looking no worse for wear other than the drop in overall weight that would leave them a bit weaker until they got enough food in them to replace it as she gave the patient some quick orders.

“Low activity for the next week if you can help it and focus on eating your regular meals, I did the best I can but you’ll be low on blood for a while so you might get lightheaded but you’re done.”

Her bedside manner could have used some work but they were busy enough that she didn’t have time to care. Even if things had slowed down, thanks both to the bracelets and the end of the wave, there were still people constantly fighting across the planet, with some major battles still taking place every single day. The fighting was never going to stop which meant neither was the work, but they had dedicated healers and the demons didn’t, the longer they held out, the easier it would supposedly get.

At least that was what she was telling herself but when she was there it didn’t feel like it. Even walking around deserted or overstuffed cities gave a better impression than being in a single hospital, the surrounding feeling of pain and death was oppressing each time she walked into it, even if she knew that she was making a difference.

Each time she went to one, she alone was enough to make their load manageable, in some cases even more than that with the one she was in serving as a good example. While the hours went on she healed more than could be brought in, leaving the place in a bearable condition for the rest of the light and life mages with her, giving them all just a bit of rest by the time she was finally done.

“Good work today,” The hospital’s director told her, the same woman she’d been working with since the beginning of the second wave who she embarrassingly still hadn’t learned the name of. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired, but who isn’t? I still have some more personal work to do too so I’m going to have to head out soon.”

“Oh, of course. Don’t worry, every one of us here appreciates having whatever help you can give. Will we be seeing you again tomorrow?”

“Mhm, as long as there’s not an emergency I’ll always give you some warning if I’m going to be away so I’ll do what I can.”

“Wonderful, then we’ll look forward to having you.”

They parted from there, Thera back off into the world to what bits of peace it contained.

Since that hospital wasn’t close to an invasion point the city was a lot more packed than others she would go to, acting as one of many places others went to escape the peril of their homes which crowded the streets, even if it still showed signs of danger.

Just walking to the nearby gate, there were already more injured being ferried through for whatever treatments they could get but that was never going to stop and it couldn’t be her sole focus in life. With the way things were looking, no matter how bad it could get their world wasn’t going to fall before the third wave, meaning she couldn’t skimp on her combat either, even with the thought filling her with complicated emotions.

The third wave.

She was sure it was something on plenty of minds but it had only become more so on hers for the recent talk she’d had. Ben wanted to get to a point where he could personally influence the results of the war, something that felt like madness and almost certainly stemmed from all of the negative experiences he’d had since coming to the world, which was one thing. He had an overall terrible evaluation about the safety of the planet and even if she strongly disagreed with the conclusion, she couldn’t deny how he’d come to it.

No matter what was thrown at him, he had overcome it each time. If he wanted to somehow solve the invasion then she wasn’t going to stop him, especially considering that if a god really did need to be dealt with, he most certainly had a perfect skill to handle it.

The real problem was beyond that. He still thought he was going to fail, probably doomed to die in the process. What was she supposed to say or do about that? If he was so certain that the world didn’t stand a chance then even if she wanted to she wasn’t going to doubt him but then the reaction should have been something else. He should be running away, not looking at any way to inch up his odds no matter how still in the negatives they would be.

Just thinking about it was leaving her stressed, with her only saving grace being what he needed to get to that point. As good as he was, he said he needed to awaken two separate skills in the months they had left.

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She believed in Ben, she was willing to place the entirety of her trust and faith in him if it came down to it, but achieving that was another thing entirely. She could comfortably tell herself that he wouldn’t get to that point so he wouldn’t be tempted to throw his life away and she could believe it. It didn’t matter how good he was at raising skills, what he was aiming for was different. Even if she thought he might manage it one day, that timeframe was something else entirely.

So that meant on that front there was nothing to worry about, with only an entirely different problem left. She understood why he believed that things wouldn’t end if they just survived past the third wave, even if she wanted to hope it was a reality she could still prepare for, meaning she just had to get better herself to deal with it, gaining what strength she could in the time they had left. If things didn’t end there then that just meant they’d need to hang on through a fourth wave and a fifth and however many it might take for the demons and their god to get to the point that their world wasn’t going to be conquered, and with that frame of mind she went out to the untamed lands.