Berserk: The Prophet

The battle lasted a full day. As night fell like a piece of black velvet, the soldiers of the Serpent Cult retreated into the darkness. Their figures disappeared into the night like ghosts, leaving behind a scene of devastation. Only scattered firelight and painful groans remained on the battlefield.

The allied soldiers were exhausted, and their victory came at a heavy price.

Everywhere you look, you see soldiers vomiting black blood from snake venom, their lives hanging by a thread, ready to be extinguished at any moment. And there are soldiers, severely wounded but not yet dead, wailing in agony.

The Azure Disciples, who were serving as the accompanying military doctors, were immediately extremely busy, as all of Barkley's top doctors came from the Azure Disciples.

Having been poisoned by snake venom and engaged in intense combat, many soldiers obviously did not have time to receive treatment. Even those who did had to undergo immediate ligation and bloodletting, and were injected with a special serum developed to combat the snake venom of the Serpent Worship Cult—antibodies from cattle, sheep, and horses that had been purified by numerous scholars of the Azure Disciples and had a certain resistance to snake venom.

However, it was clear that many soldiers were no longer in mild condition; their limbs, already turning purple and black, needed immediate amputation to save their lives. Those soldiers who still had time needed to have the venom sucked out, but they needed to ensure there were no wounds in their mouths or oral cavity, as even the smallest crack could be fatal.

Green and Akasha were following behind the Blue Disciples, helping to bandage, immobilize, clean, suture, ligate, and drain blood from the wounded. Even the smallest act of assistance in such a horrific scene was appreciated; perhaps their kindness could save several precious lives.

Barkley's technical expertise surprised and delighted Green. He never imagined that in Barkley's capital, these doctors had already developed a centrifugation technique for producing serum, which was a very painstaking endeavor.

As night deepened, the flames on the battlefield gradually died down, and the soldiers who needed to be transported and treated gathered together, leaving only the oil lamps in the hands of the Azure Disciples still flickering. Their figures appeared particularly lonely in the night, but they became the only people to whom the wounded could find warmth and hope.

The doctors didn't have a chance to rest until almost dawn.

The Azure Disciple that Green and Akasha followed was named Dorfno, the second son of a fallen nobleman. He was a scholar who chose to become a doctor because of his faith in the Goddess of Justice and his desire to save more people who were persecuted by the Serpent Cult.

Tonight, Green and Akasha have learned how to inject serum with syringes from Dolphnoch. Although the needles are not as thin as they were in their previous lives, they are enough to save lives in such a critical time.

The survivors who had been grouped together after being poisoned by snake venom had shown significant improvement in their complexion, although many were still running a fever.

The Azure Disciples' primary task is to treat the soldiers who have been poisoned by snake venom; other simple wound care can be left to ordinary medics and soldiers.

As dawn approached, the Azure Disciples gradually finished their work and sat down on the ground to take turns resting for a while.

"...In Crest, my like-minded friends and I learned a great deal. Together we studied human medicine and how to deal with the curse of the Serpent Cult, as well as those poisonous things. We first experimented on animals."

"It didn't go as smoothly as we had imagined at first. The animals died, the serum wasn't extracted, and we didn't even think about injecting it into the bloodstream. The coagulation reaction took away countless pioneers."

"Everything we've achieved has come through countless experiments and the sacrifices of volunteers who had been poisoned by snake venom and had no other recourse. In fact... I have to admit that medicine cannot save everyone, but I have always believed that it can save the lives of the majority."

Dolphnoch leaned against the large rock and recounted to Green his experiences as a scholar of the Blue Disciple in Crest. Soon, he fell asleep wearily against the rock.

Aikasa had already fallen asleep on Green's shoulder, and Green was also getting sleepy. Looking at Dolfno, tired yet full of conviction as a doctor, Green felt a pang of nostalgia for his days as an assistant at the operating table, when he was allowed to help with minor surgical procedures because of his excellent performance.

A major surgery usually takes more than ten hours, and I often fall asleep in the corridor. I am so exhausted that I can no longer feel hunger, and low blood sugar is a common occurrence. I always carry one or two pieces of candy with me and eat them when I finish work.

Candy... what does it taste like? I haven't tasted it in so long, I can't remember anymore.

With those initial memories in mind, Green also drifted off into a deep sleep.

............

【Sword Wind】

Early in the morning, the group followed the scouts who had come to meet Cadi to the port. They were greeted by Wolf, a commander of a thousand men from the Judas.

Dozens of double-row warships used for transporting soldiers were lined up neatly. The soldiers of Juda were already fully equipped and ready to go, and they boarded their respective ships one after another following the instructions of the quartermaster.

Following Wolf's footsteps, they soon arrived at a warship that was even larger and more magnificent than the other warships—the "Stormstorm".

It was a large three-masted warship, about 36 meters long and 5 meters wide, with oars 4 meters long. Its size far exceeded that of other ships, and it was also equipped with a bronze battering ram at the bow.

In addition to being propelled by human oars, it also utilizes wind power. The ship is equipped with two types of sails: a small sail for use when the wind is strong and a large sail for use when the wind is weak.

The ship also had more than a dozen cannons installed between its hull layers, which made the "Stormstorm" not just a transport ship, but also a powerful warship.

Greene remembered seeing similar ships in Burns’ library; they were the type of ships commonly used by the Vanskellians, though the Vanskellians didn’t have any decent cannons mounted on their hulls, nor were they as heavy and tall as the Stormwind.

It is said that Judas has researched a batch of warships that can carry more cannons, but the wars that have lasted for nearly a hundred years have been too long to be put into practice.

The ironclad ships owned by Mertenheim, which separated from Barkley, seem to be able to mount dozens of cannons on their hulls. However, those ships are said to be powered by magic, and magic, whether in the land of Pendor or in Barkley, has little remaining. Only the Dragon Tear Gem, which has been circulating on the continent of Pendor for many years, still contains magic.

The salty sea breeze reflected the morning glow, and they soon followed Centurion Wolf to board the Stormwind. The captain was a naval commander named Kosherif.

They were lucky enough to stay in a room next to the more spacious captain's cabin on the top floor.

Looking at the boundless sea, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks and sand made Green feel his heart pounding powerfully. This was a sight that every inland man had longed for.

The sun has risen above the horizon, and the sea is gradually turning golden. A new journey to Grant is about to begin.