Chapter 30 – Wounds

*Inhales*
*exhales*
*Inhales*
*exhales*

Kieran stood kneeling on the battlefield, doing his best to get his breath back. All around him were several blocks of scattered stone. His forearms were filled with blood, and each of his claws was fractured. Inside his palm was a pale yellow stone in perfect condition, it was the heart of the stone golem.

As he stares at the golem's heart in his hand, the stone blocks around him begin to move slowly in the direction of the heart.

"As if I was going to let you regenerate."

Shaking his hand tightly, the stone heart cracked before exploding into a thousand fragments.

The instant the golem's heart exploded, a golden light shone in Kieran's right eye before disappearing as if it had never existed without anyone noticing.

After successfully killing this golem, Kieran was out of breath, his body was bruised. He knew he shouldn't rest in the middle of a battlefield, but his fight with the golem had exhausted him.

He heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he was greeted by a blade that went straight for him, before he could make a single move, the blade penetrated his ribs, causing him to feel immense pain.

"Hihi!"

A small creature with pale green-yellow skin held the blade with a hideous smile on its face. The creature's small hand moved as it twisted the blade several times inside the wound.

The creature barely measured 1 meter, its head looked almost like that of a goblin with its wrinkled skin, it had long fangs and small claws on each of its fingers, long pointed ears, and a grayish mane. Compared to the goblin, which was anthropomorphic, the lower body of the creature looked nothing like a human, it had two pairs of legs with three toes on each of these legs decorated with the same sharp claws that adorned its fingers, a small tail resembling a rat descending along its back.

Enduring the pain in his ribs, Kieran grabbed the little head of the gremlin with his hand, tightening his grip on his head before it exploded. Yellow blood covered Kieran’s body, but somehow he didn’t feel disgust or a desire to vomit like a normal person would in this situation.

From the beginning of this battle, he had been extremely calm. His situation didn't look horrible when he compared all the fighting around him to the macabre visions of his nightmares. The number of deaths he saw in these nightmares amounted to millions, and he kept seeing them every time he fell asleep without the possibility of forgetting that "she" ended up dying each time.

A team of five approached Kieran at this time.

"Hey, how are you? Want some help? If you're hurt, go back to the back lines, there are cultivators with healing abilities who can help you."

"Thank you, I'll go back there on my own."

Kieran staggered from the front, he slowly walked away, leaving a small trail of blood running down his arms behind him. The team saw him leave before returning to help the vanguard.

"Chief, why did you stop to help him? No crystal beasts were near, we don't have time to take care of everyone."

"Didn't you see that stone golem earlier?"

"The one throwing rocks in all directions?"

"Yes, this one, this guy is the one who killed it."

"Him? He hasn't even reached the Late stage of Iron rank. How could he kill a Bronze rank stone golem? Besides that, type of crystal beasts are the most resistant."

"I tell you what I saw. If he can come back after being treated, he will be a great help to us at the front."

While they were talking, another wave of crystal beasts arrived.

"Don’t flinch. Give everything you can! Protect the rearguard at all costs!"

"Yes, Chief!"

"Yes, Chief!"

"Yes, Chief!"

"Yes, Chief!"

***

Having made his way to the back line, Kieran found the injured area.

The guild Whisper of Life was known for its support type cultivators, many of its members possessing healing abilities.

As soon as the horde of crystal beasts had appeared, Sheyla, the representative of the Whisper of Life guild, had created a place to accommodate all the wounded, camp beds had been set up, and a hundred cultivators with healing abilities had been gathered among all the ones present.

It had now been an hour since the battle started, but more than 200 people needed treatment.

Kieran slowly walked towards the area, staggering with each step he took, more and more blood leaking from his wounds, he felt pain all over his body. As he approached the area, he fell unconscious.

A cultivator saw him fall to the ground and ran toward him.

"Are you okay?"

Seeing no response from him, the cultivator inspected the wounds on his body before calling for help.

"Come help me. We have to put him on a bed."

Several cultivators arrived to carry Kieran. His transformation was removed at this time.

A look of shock appeared on their faces.

"He is so young!"

"How could they allow a kid to go fight?!"

"It's not important right now. Look at his wounds, he has two broken hands, one of his lungs is pierced, and he has multiple fractures all over his body."

"These wounds are too serious to be treated by us. Only Sheyla can heal him. She's the only Bronze rank among us."

Quickly, Kieran was brought into a large tent. Inside was a young woman with short green hair and eyes resembling two emeralds.

She was standing in front of a woman who had one of her arms torn off, a scepter made entirely of wood with a small green crystal at its top was in his hands emanating a soft green light while small particles of green light lingering over the area where the arm had been torn off.

Compared to her usual jovial look, Sheyla's gaze was serious, sweat running down her face as her ability quickly drained her crystal essence.

The woman’s complexion on the bed recovered as the light around her arm diminished. Finally, after a few more seconds, the light disappeared while Sheyla staggered backward.

Holding on to her scepter, a light shone on her hand, and a potion appeared. Quickly opening the potion, Sheyla drank its contents before a light took away the empty potion.

Looking away from the woman on the bed, her eyes fell on the cultivators carrying Kieran.

"Miss Sheyla, we have a wounded man with serious injuries."

Sheyla lifted her hand in Kieran's direction, a circle made of crystal essence spinning over her palm before expanding to enter Kieran's body.

Sheyla's gaze changed for a moment.

"Put him on a bed. I'll take care of him."

Following the orders, the cultivators put him on a bed before rushing out of the tent, not wanting to disturb Sheyla.

Approaching slowly, Sheyla raised her scepter above Kieran's body before biting her lips.

"Ring of Life."

Sheyla's complexion suddenly paled, a green circle appeared around Kieran's body, radiating a soft light. Thin green particles emerged from the circle before melting into his, slowly healing each of his wounds.