Chapter 84: Now, lets do it again

The joy of seeing this method work didn’t last long. Once all of the vein-like markings returned to the plant, the patient’s body started to convulse.

Nala and Telah’s strength held him down, preventing him from thrashing around, but they were then left with another problem: how were they going to remove the plant?

"Kanan, I got it. T-The plant, I can control it, but not for long. We need to remove it, l-like now!"

"Damnnit! Dammit! We’re going to have to open him up." Kanan looked around and saw a small knife used to cut herbs.

He quickly grabbed it, cleaned it as best as he could with water, then applied his spirit energy to the blade.

Yala stared at him with wide eyes. "Are you crazy?"

"Yes! Now, come here, Yala; I’ll be needing your help."

"But..."

"Please."

"Just hold on as best as you can, Golin."

"Understood."

Yala rushed to Kanan’s side. "What do I need to do?"

"We’re going to move quickly. First, I’ll cut him open; then, I’ll remove the plant. In that moment, you will heal the incision."

"Kanan, you’re cutting through multiple layers of the body to reach the liver. I can’t heal an injury that deep. M-Maybe close the wound, yeah, but to heal everything perfectly..."

"Don’t worry about it. Just follow my instructions."

Kanan used his energy to see where he was cutting. He was no surgeon; he hadn’t even played Operation before, but as long as he avoided veins and arteries, he hoped everything would be okay.

So, after finding a good spot to cut, he slit open the patient’s abdomen.

The smell of the poison melting his insides nearly made everyone gag, combined with the smell of the Yuratian body, since they weren’t human.

He had no trouble spotting the plant, though it looked slightly different, maybe because it hadn’t absorbed as many nutrients from the body as the other plants he had seen.

Quickly, he used his spirit energy to grab the plant, and together with Alue, they unhooked it from the patient’s liver. When prompted, Yalal began healing the wound, her energy being enhanced by Kanan’s own.

"Now, give him the antidote!"

With all of the patient’s thrashing, the Herbalists had to fight to get the antidote down the patient’s throat, but eventually, they were able to. If it weren’t for Nala and Telah keeping most of the patient in check, the herbalists wouldn’t have been able to get this done.

"I-I’m done healing him." Yala sighed

"Now we do the same thing to the other patients."

"Shouldn’t we wait for results first?"

"Normally, yes, but right now, we don’t have the time to wait. Let’s begin."

For the next thirty minutes, they operated on the other two patients. It was just as difficult, maybe even harder, for the female patient as the plant had attached to her lungs.

Still, they were successfully able to remove the plants from the patients, and Nala kept them in a bubble of space where they wouldn’t be able to infect anyone else.

"Oh gods, I’m going to puke." Alue left the healing hut to empty out his guts.

"Amazing. To think a method like this existed." Anuwat was impressed by Kanan’s ingenuity. Countless thoughts raced through her head, thoughts that made her question what if Kanan had been born into their village instead.

She shook off those thoughts. It would do nothing but eat at her mind. Her people were still alive, so she would protect them here and now.

"Sigh, I’m tired, and I barely did anything. All of this thinking makes me want to sleep for another three days straight." There was nothing he had to do except wait, so Kanan dropped to the floor and closed his eyes.

Golin and Yala did the same, the stress of the situation eating away at them.

"How long do we have to wait?" Telah asked

"Dunno. They could wake up now, in five minutes, an hour, or even not at all. We’ll just have to wait and see. The only positive thing I can take from this is that they are still breathing and the plant is no longer in their bodies."

Waiting felt like an eternity. The operation already took around an hour, which was relatively short considering what they had to do, but the mental strain made it feel like a whole day had passed.

So waiting on top of that was brutal.

An hour passed, and there was no response from the patients besides their breathing and their beating hearts.

Two hours passed, and still no sign of them waking up.

Then three, then four, then five hours passed, and still no sign of them waking up. Everyone had been resting their eyes at this point.

It wasn’t until the sixth hour that the first patient’s eyes fluttered open and his groans of pain woke everyone up.

"Nnngh! M-My body, it hurts!" He groaned in pain.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy. Take it easy." Yala eased him back so he could lie down, then began using her power to quell his pain.

"I-It’s okay. I’m ready for my death. I’m a proud warrior of the Nemean Tribe, and I’m glad that I’ve fought to defend our home. J-Just...please take care of my daughter. She’s young and will need guidance. I just wish I could see her during the blessing ceremony."

"Heh, what an amazing man you are." Hearing his words made Kanan feel like everything was worth it. "You’re fine, cured. The plant is no longer inside your body. You’ll get to see your daughter grow up."

"W-What? S-Shaman Kanan, do you mean it? I’m gonna be okay?"

"That’s right. Now get some rest; your body needs it."

He began to sob, his thankful tears drenching his face alongside his sniffs of joy. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I-I thought I would never see my little girl again. Thank you so much."

’Fuck. Just hearing him makes me want to cry. But knowing that he survived will make the feeling hit harder if he had died. I don’t think I’m ready for something like that.’