The flow of light energy wrapped around her fingers and became a part of her as she felt the well in her magical core erupt. The whole body of the man started to glimmer, bringing with it a sense of ease. She could see the light energy, sweeping through the man's muscles and bone, healing it slowly but surely.
First, the bones started to crackle and hiss as it mended together seamlessly. Then the torn muscles were knit back together again, and fear and pain in the man's chest eased.
Snow could tell that he was going to live by the way he breathed and groaned less. She was glad that her magic was working, especially because she had thought she had lost it. But instead, she noticed that the large blockage she had was opening up bigger and bigger, letting her have better control of her magical power.
The light started to fade away from her fingers. While the magic around the man began to disappear. Snow felt a bit better in being able to help the man in front of her.
When the Players, who were watching on the side, saw what she was able to do they brought more severely injured people over that they have saved. Luckily, the ones that weren't close to the brink of death were sent to the other Healers, saving her energy. She felt terrible for denying some of them as they screamed and yelled at her for being inconsiderate to their health.
Snow would silently glare, while Dairen who would come over often, to check on her, glared down at those people with such diabolical force that they cowered in fear. Nobody wanted to be near Darien when he was in such a mood. They all knew and felt what he could do as they called him the silent guardian that watched over the Saintess.
At first, Snow had wondered where this title had come from. A Saintess was not something just easily handed out like candy to random people who could use the light magic. It was one of the requirements, but there were long processes, particularity of the church, that one had to go through. She wasn't endowed with such a precious title by anyone, so she flatly denied the claim as many times as she could.
"Saintess," one of the already healed patients came over, eyes glowing with excitement. He was the first one to be treated by Snow, and his name was Roy. He was a Sleeper that was baptized and awakened since the start of the Dungeon Overflow.
Snow was amazed at how quickly Roy had healed. He was already moving around, helping the other patients that were in the sickbay tents that were put up. One would have thought he wasn't injured if it wasn't the bandage that he had wrapped around his body.
"I'm Snow. I am not a Saintess." Snow, once again for the thirtieth time, replied. She was getting tired of saying it over and over again.
"Saintess, you can't say that. You are a miracle gifted from the heavens." Roy threw up his hand, ready to go into another bow.
Snow had to grab him by the shoulder, shaking him until he felt dizzy. "Stop with the bowing, please!” She exclaimed, it was getting worse and worse. The other heavily injured patients were looking at her in the same way, because to them, she was a Saintess.
"I can not. It would be sacrilege."
Smacking her head, she groaned, deciding to give up on her attempt to persuade the strange man. "Look, all those other healers over there, why don't you call them a Saintess? Huh?"
"Because their miracles are limited. You have brought me from death, and I heard you even resurrected people in the past." Roy's eyes were sparkling, telling her that he was brainwashed by the rumours that were going around.
Snow wondered what this man meant, she didn't remember resurrecting anyone before. It was an impossible feat to do. For such a rumour to stick on to her, she wondered who was spreading such lies.
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"Look, I don't know where you're getting these rumours, but please. Stop. I'm just an ordinary girl who can do a bit more light magic."
Roy nodded as if he agreed with her. Snow thought she had finally broken through to his thick skull until he spoke again, "Saintess, what can I do to help you?" He had a burning fire in his eyes, ready to do her every bidding.
It scared her.
"Just go help the other Healers. They might need some extra hands."
"Yes." Roy sparked up in gusto, standing up straighter than before as he rushed towards the other Healers with his own entourage of newly Awakened.
Snow wasn't sure how she was going to mend that incorrect information, it just seemed like a huge hurdle. For now, she just focused on what she could do, which was healing anyone she could. She didn't have psychedelic power or superhuman strength that could lift up the boulders.
The number of patients kept coming. Snow was busy going around healing, trying to keep the death rate as low as possible.
Tired and exhausted, the day had ended with the people still coming and going in search of parties.
Snow wasn't able to sleep for long periods, she was always woken up by a few of the growing followers, who were becoming a bit of a headache. But strangely, her powers didn't lessen much even as the number of people she healed grew. She still felt full. Her previous powers would have left her exhausted after ten patients. Right now, she was sure she had gone through over fifty without breaking a sweat.
Laying down on the back seat, she wrapped herself with a blanket, staring at the night sky. It was surprisingly bright. She didn't think she would see the stars again in a long time. Honestly, it has probably been a very long time since she saw the night sky from the city lights that snuffed out the starlight.
Her eyes were tired. Her shoulders sagged as she fell momentarily asleep.
"Saintess!" Roy yelled in a hurry that sounded close to a scream.
Snow opened up her tired eyes and groaned. She wished she could sleep so she could be up and feel saner the next day, but it didn't seem like it was happening anytime soon. Slowly, getting up, she wondered if another injured person was being brought over. She reached for her shoes at the same time pulling back the covers.
Suddenly, the sound of electric cannon fire burst out from the other side of the camp, shaking the ground as it hit in between the building walls. A high pitch scream echoed out from camp, startling Snow as she bolted up.
Snow had a nagging feeling of what it was as she jumped out of the jeep. She went to the back of the trunk and started to pull out her armour. When she gazed down, the black armour was purified as if it had been thrown in bleach and washed until it turned a ghastly white. She noticed that the armour was severely damaged, making her cluck her tongue.
She walked towards the side of the car and looked in the mirror as if she still had her magical tattoo. Snow noticed a significant change to the intricate tattoo that once covered a portion of her face. Now, a full crown-like design covered her forehead, but the rest trailed down her neck and down her arms and legs.
She had wondered when such a drastic change had happened.
"What's happening out there?" Snow asked, leaving the jeep as she headed straight to the source of the sound.
Roy let her past as he followed behind.
"A monster outbreak is here." Roy was worried as fear laced his heart. He had seen the monsters that had run rampant and damaged the city. It was the main reason why the city was in this state.
"I expected as much." Snow didn't know when they would tangle up with the monsters, but she knew it was bound to happen. Her feet carried her towards the shouts and yells of Players and Hunters alike. They were fighting together in front of the battlefield.
A small group of Players was directing the group of survivors to the camp as they were chased by lizard-like creatures on two legs. Each one of them had a heavy weapon in their hands, cackling at them as they rushed towards the group with excitement.
Rodney flew in by himself, spitting out fire along the way at any close-quarter Lizardmen. Upon impact, they screamed in pain, flailing around as they were roasted alive.
The survivors ran past Rodney, allowing his Heavenly guild members to cast magic behind him. Their arrows of magic zipped through the air, hitting each and every one of the Lizardmen that strayed away from Rodney himself.
Rodney zigzagged in between the Lizardmen, slicing and dicing them in half, leaving behind a bloody trail. Until finally, he took down the last one.
Snow stopped, watching the quick reaction of the Heavenly Guild. She remembered how efficient they were compared to the other guilds, but what was more surprising was that Rodney himself didn't seem to be as phased as the other Players. She knew that strength-wise, he was similar to Mike and Dairen.
If one were to fight amongst each other, she didn't know who would win between the three.
Rodney came back from his nightly kill. He looked interestingly at Snow as a broad smile plastered his face. It wasn't often that Rodney smiled from his usual serious expression.
"Snow, it's glad to see you are doing well." Rodney came over and stood in front of her as he handed his gloves to Sarah, who rushed over to help. "I didn't think you would be awake so late."
"Things happen," Snow said. She wanted to go back and take a nap.
"I have been informed that the monsters coming out from the nearest dungeon have become a lot more erratic. In turn, sending out more monsters to cause damage to the city. Not even a few hours ago, we found some straggling monsters, but it wasn't until now that these monsters directly attacked the camp." Rodney said with concern. "If possible, I would like to ask for you to join us on a raid to take out the dungeon."
Snow froze when she heard him say those words. She did not want to get stuck once again inside the dungeon itself, becoming another long two to three months raid.