Chapter 1087: First Test III
The medical bays in the arks filled quickly in the wake of the battle, and didn’t make nearly enough of a dent in the number of wounded that needed care. Taking charge of the situation, Leon ordered sections of the mountains and valleys below leveled and new first-aid centers erected. Given the number of arks lost, his people were looking at more than a thousand injured, and who knew how many dead.
As this was happening, the heavily damaged carrier was forced to make an emergency landing, nearly crashing in the valley in the process. Fortunately, it was able to stick the landing, as had one of his destroyers that had been shot down early in the battle.
That still left him with profound losses, however. One carrier and one destroyer were so heavily damaged that they couldn’t fly, while two heavy cruisers, three more destroyers, and a frigate had been lost. Complicating matters, all of his remaining arks that participated in the battle save for his Thunderbird Clan arks had been heavily damaged.
On top of seeing to their casualties, the remains of the enemy arks had to be secured and any survivors aboard them taken prisoner.
To that end, while the medical stations were being hurriedly constructed, Leon rushed to join the efforts to save as many of his people as possible. He didn’t get far before Valeria pulled him aside and urged, “You have to stay in one place! You have to be found if anything else happens!”
Leon snarled but conceded her point. The surviving enemy arks were still retreating, but he could see them starting to turn and converge far away. If they wanted to attack again, then while his people were busy tending to the wounded would be the perfect time. He had to remain on standby just in case.
“Get out there,” he growled. “Do what you can.”
Valeria grimly nodded while Leon returned to the largest medical station. He ordered Red and Maia to join her, keeping only four Tempest Knights around himself as guards. While he had to stay where he could be found, though, he could still help with some things, and used the storm clouds he’d summoned earlier to pour rain down upon many of the burning wrecks, helping his water mages contain and kill any blazes that might impair their attempts to recover bodies and wounded. He was immensely gratified to see Tribesmen working together to reach their comrades, from Bison using their strength to lift rubble to Spiders transforming into torso-sized spiders to crawl inside the crashed arks. Even Red, Nidar, and Astar helped out, using their large wyvern frames to stabilize parts of arks and transport wounded.
Over the course of several hours, Leon watched as men and women were carried into the medical stations in the hundreds, far too many no longer breathing. Using his tau pearl, he spared the time to tend to whoever needed it, while also monitoring the clean-up operation and the enemy arks.