The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “We’ve got you, Setsuko; don’t worry about it.” Erik slapped on Iodine Touch. It was modified Wraith’s Touch, numbing and cleaning the area it was applied to, turning it yellow. He took out a clean scalpel and held her with Deni’s help, quickly opening a hole in her neck and inserting the tubing.

  Setsuko flailed, not knowing what was going on.

  “Storbon!” Erik yelled, seeing that he was close. “Hold her down!” He applied his fingers to Setsuko’s neck, checking her vitals.

  “I’ve got diagnostics—Deni, you get an IV in her.” Erik pulled off Setsuko’s armor vest and tossed it to the side.

  He used Simple Organic Scan to check her for any other hidden wounds. Deni got the IV in and fed Setsuko Health and Stamina potions.

  “Low blood pressure, high heart rate,” Erik observed. Deni was pouring a healing potion on Setsuko’s face directly.

  From her eyes down, she was a wreck. Erik didn’t want to think what would have happened if she wasn’t wearing her helmet. Its straps had been sawn apart, the helmet falling off some distance away.

  Erik took out the painkiller potion he called Ket and injected it into the IV tubing before storing it away.

  Setsuko stopped freaking out as Erik sat back. Deni was using healing spells and healing potions on Setsuko’s face, rebuilding it.

  “It’s okay, Setsuko. It’s okay. You’re going to be fine.” Storbon kept her pinned to the ground so she couldn’t interfere with Erik or Deni’s actions.

  Erik kept checking on her condition but she was good now; she had plenty of Stamina and the healing potions were working well.He focused on repairing her skull surrounding her brain and healing her brain, which was showing signs of swelling. Deni focused on healing her upper airways and neck.

  Erik dosed her up on more painkillers. There wasn’t enough space for them to numb the connecting nerves with Wraith’s Touch, so they could only speed up the healing process so that she didn’t have to suffer quite as long.

  Erik poured in his own healing spell as her healing accelerated.

  Setsuko was bucking but with the tracheotomy she wasn’t able to make a noise other than raspy breathing, since the air wasn’t passing her vocal cords.

  Erik didn’t want to force her into unconsciousness; they didn’t know what condition her brain might be in and she had lost a lot of blood.

  Erik scanned constantly to see what the condition of her brain was.

  “Setsuko, we’re moving to somewhere more secure.” Erik looked into her eyes. He pulled out a stretcher and put it beside Setsuko.

  “Roll her on her side,” Erik ordered. They did so and he slid the stretcher under. “Roll back.”

  She was on top of the stretcher as Erik used a carabiner to attach the IV potion bags to his chest.

  “Storbon, you take the front; I’ll take the rear. Rugrat, we’re good to go!” Erik shouted after Deni had secured Setsuko to the litter.

  Rugrat had organized everyone else in the meantime. “Medics and patients in the middle; security front and rear!” Rugrat hollered. People moved to their positions, creating a battle ready formation.

  “Three, two, one!” Erik and Storbon lifted Setsuko. Deni had applied some Wraith’s Touch to Setsuko’s face. Enough of it had been rebuilt enough for her to use the numbing agent.

  Erik used his thumb to touch Setsuko’s shoulder, to keep scanning her vitals to see if anything changed while in transit.

  Setsuko kept on breathing through the tube hanging out of her neck.

  “Move out!” Rugrat ordered, leading them. The boss creature’s body and the greaves had been stored away.

  They headed out of the room and went straight for the platform that led to the surface. They all rose up together on the platform, finding the sun giving off fading rays of light. Rugrat sent a message to Glosil on their current situation as Erik worked on the various wounded.

  By the time they reached the gate to Vuzgal, Yao Meng, who’d had his leg cut up and his shoulder smashed from hitting a wall, was able to walk on his own power. Deni had been controlling and checking on Setsuko the entire trip. The next thing they had to repair was the damage from her eyes to her jaw; it was all superficial damage, thankfully. Deni packed the wounds with bandages to stop the bleeding.

  They got back to the castle carrying Han Wu, who had regrown a stub of a leg but was exhausted, and Setsuko, who still required heavy healing, into the medical wing that they had created.

  Erik checked her once more. Her breathing was good. The brain swelling he worried about hadn’t appeared and her blood pressure and heart rate were normalizing. He took out a syringe, adding a potion to the IV that was still attached.

  The tension in Setsuko’s body faded as she passed out.

  “Okay, we’re going to focus on repairing any remaining damage.” Erik said as he looked to the other medics with him. He assigned them different areas to focus on and they started, rebuilding Setsuko’s face.

  Erik removed the tube from the tracheotomy and healed up the damage to her neck and once again used his Simple Organic Scan to make sure that there were no other issues that he had missed.

  He checked on Han Wu afterwards.

  “Will she be okay?” Han Wu asked.

  “Setsuko will be fine.” Erik responded. He wasn’t sure what kind of mental state she would be in after all of this, though. The Ten Realms were amazing but Erik hadn’t figured out how to magically heal psychological wounds yet.

  Han Wu gave a short nod, as if understanding Erik’s unsaid words.

  Erik and the other medics then reviewed everyone who had come back from the second floor. The spores had gotten into most of their systems. With their Body Cultivations, it hadn’t affected them yet but if the spores mutated it could go bad quickly.

  The spore infections was all solved with some quick heals and they were sent on their way. The spores used hosts as food and a large enough infection would have eaten them from the inside out.

  “Fucking Ten Realms,” Erik cursed as he wiped his face, tired as hell. He checked the rest of the medical wing before he headed out to the debriefing.

  Rugrat, Glosil, Yui, Choi, Roska and Niemm were there already.

  “Setsuko’s wounds are healed—keep a watch on her. Han Wu’s tourniquets were released and his limb is regrowing. We’ll keep him till he’s all good but shouldn’t be long with how advanced his Body Cultivation and levels are. The dungeon team has been cleared of spores. We will be doing spot checks on those who came in contact with the dungeon team over the next couple of days to see if any spores became airborne and infected others,” Erik summarized as he entered the room. The tension seemed to snap and everyone took a breath.

  “All right, the first floor is cleared. What squad will be going in next?” Erik asked.

  “Yes.” Glosil sat upright. “Tiger Platoon’s first section.”

  “Good. We’ll start a rotation, the day after tomorrow. Get them used to their new strenght, how did the loot recovery go?”

  “Well, we have put more Mana cornerstones to the side. The Mana cornerstones that are located at the Mana gathering formation plates are already showing signs of growth. We were only able to open a few vaults and other secured storage areas in the capital today—it had too many traps. I’d rather do it slow than get people hurt.” Glosil took out an inventory of items.

  Rugrat took it and passed it to Erik.

  “Good call. Tomorrow, Special Teams One and Two will clear the second floor. We’ve thankfully got a map on most of the floor now, so it should be much faster. Then, we will head to the third floor and scout it—if possible, push into it a little,” Erik said.

  Niemm moved in his seat.

  “Issue, Sergeant?” Erik asked.

  “Sir, we took bad casualties,” Niemm offered.

  “We took casualties but we were lucky—no one was left with permanent damage. Everyone has their own way to deal with that kind of trauma. We lost people taking this capital. W
e don’t know how long we’ll have peace. We need to be ready to fight. We can’t just go home because it is getting a little hard,” Erik explained.

  “I was wrong, sir,” Niemm said as he saluted, still slightly uneasy.

  Erik nodded, letting it go and looking to the rest of the room. “Tomorrow night, we’ll have the memorial service for our fallen.” His said as his voice softened.

  The others in the room refrained from making eye contact, each of them seeing and remembering something that only they knew.

  Erik left the meeting and checked on his notifications.

  ==========

  Skill: Healer

  ==========

  Level: 64 (Journeyman)

  ==========

  You have become familiar with the body and the arts of repairing it. Healing spells now cost 5% less Mana and Stamina.

  ==========

  ==========

  16,026,992/16,500,000 EXP till you reach Level 51

  ==========

  It had been months since he had seen an increase in his healing skill. He had a bitter feeling looking at it. For his healing skill to increase, someone needed to be injured.

  Chapter: Talking Monster

  Setsuko looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling. Thoughts and memories rushed back as she grabbed at her neck, finding nothing but healed skin. She rubbed her face, which felt fine. She pulled out a mirror from her storage ring and she looked back at herself. There were no signs of any damage. She turned to the side, seeing where fresh skin met tanned skin.

  She touched the faint line around her face with shaking hands.

  “You’re awake.” One of the medics came over. “Are you in pain anywhere?” he asked gently.

  Setsuko took a few seconds, trying to talk, and coughing instead. She pulled out some water and drank, her mouth and throat were dry and rough. “I feel fine,” she warbled, not really believing her own words.

  “Tough damn bastard,” Han Wu said from where he was lying down. He had been napping but hearing Setsuko, he had woken up. His leg was still regrowing and he had an IV in his arm to accelerate the process.

  Setsuko looked at his leg but he waved it away, sitting upright.

  “What happened?” Setsuko stuttered, her voice still rough.

  “You were hit in the boss room. Erik and Deni stabilized you and brought you back here. Then they knocked you out and healed the remaining damage,” Han Wu said.

  His words were flippant but Setsuko knew that the process must have been anything but.

  “Where is everyone?” Setsuko asked.

  “They’re back at the dungeon, clearing out the second floor and then heading to the third floor. The rest are still clearing the city,” Han Wu said.

  Setsuko nodded.

  “How are you?” Han Wu asked after a few minutes, his voice concerned instead of being filled with his normal joking tone.

  Setsuko paused, trying to assess herself. She remembered one of the last lessons that they had gone through in their training. It hadn’t been official and had more of a relaxed air. Erik and Rugrat sat with them, telling them that they would change through war. They told of how their mental processes might change—they might get angrier or depressed. Those who had served in the military, that had been in battle, or lost people to conflicts before, understood their words. Setsuko had understood it in theory before but now, they’d taken casualties and the reality hit home for her. The pain, the feeling of helplessness; it was vivid—images, emotions, and feelings that she wouldn’t be able to leave behind.

  She knew that these feelings would be a part of her now until the day she died. She didn’t brush Han Wu off but sat there, thinking. The medic left them, his job done.

  “I don’t think that I will be the same but I won’t quit or leave the military,” Setsuko said firmly. She had gotten hurt but her brothers and sisters had banded together to help her, to save her life. She couldn’t dwell on it for too long. She had nearly died, yes, but only nearly. She wasn’t dead yet and she had people relying on her.

  She looked into Han Wu’s eyes.

  “You’re one tough mother.” Han Wu laughed.

  Setsuko laughed as well, touched by the care that Han Wu showed. The Alvan army wasn’t just a job for her anymore; it was a calling. Knowing that she was a soldier of the Alvan army was a powerful feeling; it gripped her guts. It made her see everyone in a different light: There were those who were her people, who could understand what she had been through and relate, and then those who would never be able to truly understand.

  ***

  Erik and Rugrat were having a little meeting before the second floor boss room. They had gone through the first floor, taking the most direct route, and then headed to the second floor. They searched the rest of the floor, only running into a few new beasts as they uncovered the entire floor.

  “Alright, Roska, your team is up first. Use Detect Life. Find the fucker and we’ll move in,” Erik said.

  Roska nodded as she moved to the doorway leading into the boss room. She used a Detect Life spell and headed into the room.

  The rest of the group flowed into the room behind her.

  Roska opened fire with a crossbow as soon as she found the Tree-topus. Her Fire-enchanted and poisoned bolts struck the creature, making it cry out and its limbs collapse. The powerful paralytic on the bolts slowed it. A half dozen other bolts hit it as it started to crawl away, trying to use its tentacles. Immobilized by the poison and burning from the enchantment, it wasn’t long before a tombstone appeared above its head.

  Everyone felt a little more relaxed as the door to the third floor opened.

  Erik and Rugrat looked at each other.

  They needed that win. Without it some of their people might have started having doubts. It was like when someone was in a car crash; they needed to get behind the wheel again or else risk developing a phobia.

  For combat, that meant that they needed to get the person back into battle or else they could change in a negative way that put their life or the life of their fellow soldiers in danger.

  “Check your gear. Check on one another and take a cure poison potion so the spores don’t affect you. We’ll be heading to the third floor next!” Rugrat yelled.

  Everyone reloaded their weapons and checked one another, reloading their magazines.

  “Sergeants, on me,” Erik said.

  Roska and Niemm jogged over.

  “We’re heading into the third floor, have the marksmen up front. Their bullet rounds can hit harder and we might be up against creatures that could be up to sixty. We need to play it safe here. We’ll advance slowly but surely, clearing each room completely, recovering and then moving to the next if we can. In the first couple of rooms, I want to set a casualty collection point and defenses. If we run into something we can’t deal with right away, we need to back up to the defensive point. We can retreat to the surface from there or we can focus our firepower and use the defenses to stall whatever creatures we run into,” Erik said.

  “If we run into powerful creatures on entry, Erik, George and I will look to block. If that happens, everyone moves to supporting and buffing spells on us and curses and poison on the creatures, with everyone backing up into the last cleared room,” Rugrat said.

  This was where military operations from Earth met the realities of the Ten Realms. On Earth, everyone was essentially equal. They might have better protection gear and weapons but their basic strength and speed was at least similar. With levels in the Ten Realms, that changed. If your enemy had a greater strength or speed than you, they might be able to dodge weapons fire. Or in a close quarters fight, one punch might enough to kill their opponent. It was this kind of overwhelming power that necessitated changed tactics.

  They had gone over these tactics before but they wanted to make sure that they were ready. They hadn’t needed to use the more drastic tactics on the first two floors.

  Briefing done, they went back to their tasks. The greaves from
the altar went into Rugrat’s storage ring. The items so far were all of the Apprentice level because they were clearing the dungeon with so many people. Erik was interested to see what kind of items the group that came behind them might get with just their ten-person team.

  Erik took the lead as they headed down to the third floor.

  He got to the bottom of the stairs. There were two doorways ahead of him that led into dark corridors.

  A roar sounded out, followed by two others. The first was from right in front of Erik. He moved forward and fired his rifle at a massive minotaur as it charged from the doorway on the right with twin axes in its hands.

  “George, Rugrat!” Erik called out. It looked as though they would need to use their trump card already. Erik could feel that the minotaur in front was level fifty-eight.

  Erik rushed forward to give more room to the people behind him. The minotaur was slowing as poisoned rounds and bolts affected it.

  Erik fired at its feet. The minotaur lost his footing and slammed into the ground.

  George jumped from the stairs and glided in the air across the room, breathing fire on the corridor through the doorway to the right, catching the two other minotaurs and setting their fur on fire.

  Rugrat was moving and shooting. His rifle punched holes in the minotaurs but they were tough bastards. Their bodies regenerated even with the attacks still plucking into their flesh.

  One minotaur slammed its axe into the ground. A green magical circle appeared around the axe and wooden spears shot out of the ground, aimed at George.

  George burned them with an indignant roar of fire and lunged to tackle his attacker. His front claws tore bloody stripes into the minotaur as Rugrat targeted the other one, hitting it as it tried to slash George.

  The round tossed the minotaur back and slammed it into the wall.Rugrat put two more rounds into its chest and one into its head. It stopped moving after it slumped to the floor.

  Erik treated his target like a punching bag. With his new increases in speed, strength and Stamina, and with his stamina cost decreased by his armor, he’d turned into a boxing monster. Each punch was like a sledgehammer raining down on the minotaur.