Heal, Heal, Heal!

Franz heaved a huge sigh. Disappointment laced his gaze, and he scoured his brain to find a method to stop the Saintess from delaying the healing line.

"I actually came here to lend a hand. Is there any patients who hasn't been attended to yet? I can use a healing spell or two." Serenia offered, her brows knitted as she entered her serious mode.

Franz didn't expect her to say this. Because of her past attitude, he thought that she would be too haughty to offer healing in this kind of place. Not to mention, she was known to not be very well-versed in her powers as she spent little to no time developing her. What aid could she provide?

However, they were really lacking in numbers, and more people were going to arrive. They needed the help of anybody that offered. Franz was hesitant, but upon seeing Serenia's determined eyes, he caved in.

"..Ask Layla to bring you to them. Some patients were left alone because their injuries weren't as severe as the others, but please try to help them to the best of your abilities." Franz replied.

"Alright. Are you Layla?" Serenia looked at the trainee on her left.

Layla nodded furiously. "P-Please follow me, Saintess."

Serenia followed her and arrived at a secluded space in the corner of the hall. People were laid down on thin mattresses spread across the ground with little to no space between them.

"Just what kind of danger caused so many people to get hurt?" Serenia furrowed her brows as she knelt near one patient and observed his condition.

The man in front of her had a fractured leg and some scratches here and there, but nothing life threatening or potentially dangerous if left alone.

"I didn't see it, but apparently a horde of monsters suddenly appeared.. along with a small dragon. It's suspected that the dragon purposely tried to attack the Holy Palace for unknown reasons. They're still trying to eradicate all the enemies as we speak." Layla calmly explained as she gathered medical supplies by her side, going off to treat the patients' condition.

"That's terrible.." Serenia gasped. She narrowed her eyes and started to focus on the patients. All the fighting should be taken care by those soldiers for now, she had to save lives here. There was no time to waste.

"Alright.." She rolled her sleeves up and closed her eyes, muttering spell incantations in a small voice.

She felt a field of magical energy surge up around her and the patient, who was squirming at the weird feeling of being treated.

After a few seconds passed, he regained consciousness and felt little to no pain. The bone fracture he had was completely mended, and the scratches disappeared without a trace. There was still a little bit of soreness, but one could say that he was completely healed.

The man was so surprised that he immediately jumped up and stood on his two legs, aggressively hammering down on the previously broken leg to check that he was truly alright. He passed out from the sheer pain before, but he felt like he was going to pass out again- only, this time it was out of shock.

He shouted out as he jumped all over the place. He kept repeating the words "IT'S A MIRACLE!!".

"S-Saintess, what kind of healing magic did you use?" Layla saw the man's change and questioned.

"That doesn't really matter, does it? Let's move on to the next patient." Serenia put her index finger up to her lips, shushing the girl.

She scooted over to the next person, then the next, and the next... there was no end to the line.

"Hmm.." Serenia looked over to even more new patients being delivered in makeshift stretchers and knew that this wasn't going to cut it.

'I didn't learn an area spell, I focused more on single, targeted ones, but.. At this rate, a lot of people are potentially going to die.' Serenia bit her lips.

She wanted to go treat the more serious ailments, but had a feeling that they wouldn't let her. Besides, the people she was treating was equally sick in their respective ways. For example, the man from before didn't have an open wound, but his fracture was in danger of developing a deadly infection.

She had to make sure this side was treated as well if she wanted to move there, but she had been observing the 'better' healers for a while now and didn't think they would be capable of taking over her task with her speed and proficiency.

At the same time, Serenia would not be able to treat those fatally injured people all by herself.

'I'm stumped.' Serenia wiped a layer of sweat from her forehead and sighed out loud.

"Are you tired, Saintess? You have been healing them nonstop.. If you need to, please rest a bit." Layla voiced out her worry. Her attitude towards Serenia completely changed after she saw how efficient and steadfast the Saintess was at handling the treatment.

"No.. Rather than being tired.." Serenia mumbled, looking over her incantations and trying to make some sense out of it.

Serenia's body actually had a monstrous amount of mana- the fuel needed for these spells, so she was covered in that section. The problem was, she wanted to create an area spell out of scratch by modifying the spells she knew at the moment.

It was possible. She had done it before with other spells in other elements. She studied the formula and dissected it into decipherable portions.

'I could alter some things here and there.. Would it work?' Serenia wondered.

She heard a new batch of patients were coming in, and decided that it was better to try and fail rather than be stuck in this endless loop and cause even more tragedies.

"Layla, can you take over the treatment by yourself for a little while? I need to do something."

"Of course, Saintess!" Layla replied in a resolute tone.

The young girl thought that the Saintess was fatigued but didn't want to admit it, and went on to pray for the Saintess' fast recovery as she performed her own spells on the patients, trying her very best.

Meanwhile, Serenia was completely immersed in her own world, tinkling with the spells and forming what she thought was a reasonable incantation. A completely new one.

After a few minutes of experimenting, Serenia tested the spell.

"Area heal." She called out.