Tale of The Cursed Island: Beauty in The Beast

But then he quickly climbed down from the tree to catch up with Rour, who had just burst out of the forest.

Leo swore under his breath as he watched his two comrades leave their perfectly safe hiding place. 

He shook his head. He had no intention of joining their reckless charge. He would stay in the tree until everything was under control.

Like what he had heard in Rour's conversation with their Commander, this would all probably be over once the missiles were fired straight into that damn monster's nostrils.

So he would wait here—patiently.

Meanwhile, on the rolling hills, Slick Nick cursed as one of the Patrioteers from another unit was thrown through the air and crashed right into him.

Slick Nick let out a piercing scream at the top of his lungs. 

His body was flung several meters, dragged along the ground, and finally came to a painful stop when he slammed into something hard.

Rour glanced back and slowed his pace. The monster's barbels lashed through the air, shaking the ground with violent tremors. The earth cracked open and filled with small earthquakes, sending rocks flying in every direction. 

He saw several Patrioteers stumbling and constantly falling as they ran, thrown off balance by the quake.

Rour turned around and rushed toward his fallen comrade.

"It's okay, you're okay!" Rour tried to calm him down as he quickly pulled the unconscious Patrioteer off Slick Nick's blood-soaked body.

His hands moved fast, checking Slick Nick's injuries. 

Blood pooled in several places, and he found wounds on his temple and temporal region. There was also a laceration ran from the back of his right leg down to the lower half. 

As Rour assessed the injury, a small sigh of relief escaped him. The laceration was not deep, even though it was long enough to bleed profusely.

"Dizzy? Nauseous?"

Slick Nick shook his head.

"You hit those rocks hard, but the cut on your leg isn't deep. Try moving your leg to see how far you can stand."

As Slick Nick tested his balance, Rour turned his attention to the other Patrioteer. 

He saw the man was covered in blood. Completely from his head, body, and legs.

Rour immediately searched for the location of his carotid artery. Checked for a pulse to determine whether he was alive or dead.

He pressing two fingers against the carotid artery under his jaw. 

A faint throbbing could be felt under his fingers. He was still alive.

Then, his eyes caught the badge on the man's chest—a symbol of four diamonds embedded there.

"A Captain?" Rour muttered in a little surprise, "They also sent a Captain here?"

He refocused, searching for the source of the bleeding that had drenched the man in so much blood. Most importantly, he looked for any wounds that might have been caused by the monster's venom.

While also keeping a wary eye on the monster, checking repeatedly for its movements in the distance.

Carefully, he opened parts of the uniform to locate the wounds that needed urgent attention. 

A large bruise spread across the right side of the man's chest. It was probably about two inches in diameter.

Rour wasn't a medic, but every Patrioteer had basic training in first aid. 

And from what he could see, something was definitely wrong. The man's chest movements were unbalanced. When he breathed and his chest expanded, the right side barely lifted compared to the left.

Clearly, the chances of this man having multiple fractures were very high.

He thought about broken ribs. Or maybe worse.

He continued checking, moved on to the rest of his body. Focusing on the areas where the uniform was torn. 

Then he spotted the worst of it—a deep wound on the upper thigh, dangerously close to the crease.

Without hesitation, Rour pulled out his knife and cut open the fabric. 

From his chest rig, he grabbed a long strip of cloth, pressed it against the gaping wound, and tied it tightly to slow the bleeding.

By then, Slick Nick had managed to stand beside him.

The ground was still trembling under the monster's rampage. But fortunately, the cracks hadn't reached them. They were still a few meters away.

"We should be worrying about ourselves," Slick Nick said, pointing toward the medical helicopter hovering in the distance. "Medicineers will handle him—if he's still alive. We need to move."

Rour raised his head. Looking in the direction Slick Nick was pointing with some hesitation.

"Mr. Walden! Let's go!" Slick Nick pressed urgently.

A rough snort escaped from his nose. Right now, he had no choice but to save himself and his comrade.

Rour then grabbed Slick Nick's arm and helped him move as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, the medical helicopter seemed to be still circling quite far away.

From within, a white scanning beam projected downward toward the Captain who was lying unconscious. 

It moved slowly, sweeped across the Captain's body from head to toe, assessing his vital signs from a distance. To determine whether he was still alive or not

If there was any sign of life, they would move in for an emergency evacuation as soon as possible—even with the battle still raging. The goal was to quickly administer an antidote if he had indeed been exposed to the monster's poison.

But if there were no sign of life at all, the Medicineers would retrieve the body only after the battle was over.

Seeing that the medical helicopter started to move closer, and stopped several times to calculate the situation, with the scanning beam still projected onto his body, it was confirmed that until this moment the Captain was still alive. 

Now, they were just waiting for the right moment to ensure the safety of the rescue medics during the evacuation. 

Once the evacuation site was deemed safe from monster attacks, the helicopter would immediately send the recscuer down with a basket stretcher. 

After successfully evacuating the victim, they would conduct a general examination at the medical camp, provide appropriate treatment, and transfer them to the nearest Medical Center as soon as possible if necessary.

But an unexpected situation arose.

The monster suddenly went berserk.

This time it lashed its barbels in all directions, and stomped its massive feet.

The quake intensified, more violent than before.

Rour had no idea if his Commander was still alive—and whether his message had even reached the Patrioteers in charge of launching the missiles.

"Commander!" Rour tried his communicator again.

With all his might, he struggled to stay upright, falling repeatedly as the ground trembled beneath him.

Rour finally brought Slick Nick toward the back of a large hill—one that was relatively stable, with fewer loose rocks. They huddled against it, shielding themselves from the worst of the shaking.

They sat next to each other.

Slick Nick groaned in pain with blood running down his leg.

Rour desperately tried to contact his Squad members. Anyone.

Again and again, he also kept trying to connect to his Commander.

Every time the connection went through, all he heard was static sound coming from the other end. Still, he shouted, hoping somehow they could hear him.

"Shit!"