[Provide Anesthesiologist Medical Support For Task Force 404: 0/1]

* Follow Jane

* Obey Jane

“Have you done a HALO jump before?” David asked, connecting the oxygen tank to the adaptor integrated into his combat helmet.

I strapped on the helmet from the C-17’s cargo bay, fastening the parachute and securing the oxygen mask to my body. If you’d asked me before, I would’ve said no, I’d never done anything like this. But, as strange as it was, I knew exactly what to do. My movements were natural as though the knowledge had been imprinted on me the moment I stepped into this world.

David glanced at me, “Yeah, you’ll need that.”

Jane then warned, “Set your altitude sensor to 400 meters.”

David then explained, “So, long story short, Task Force 404 is dealing with the organization actually associated with the corrupted outbreak, the organization’s name is Divinity. Our forces are trapped in Solimat, an abandoned city northeast of Ludmilla and the main base.”

Jane then added, “Case will take point, opening up a path for Alpha Team to reconnect with Bravo. We’ll land at Alpha Team’s position. After that, we’ve got a lot to do. Ain, grab six NLAWs from the cargo bay.”

I nodded without a word, already moving toward six NLAWs attached to the cargo bay’s wall. I put the anti-tank missiles into my inventory, but from the looks of it, this mission would be one hell of a difficult one, wouldn’t it?

The alarm on the aircraft suddenly blared. The ramp at the end of the cargo bay opened, letting the gush of winds enter the cargo bay. Case, the silent point man, didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward, pushing the first equipment palette into the open air. It disappeared into the night, swallowed by the blackness. The force of the wind slammed into me, but my instincts kicked in. I secured the last few straps on my gear, making sure everything was in place.

David gave me a brief, unreadable look. “Let’s move, Ain.”

Jane was already at the edge, her eyes scanning the darkness below. “On my count.”

I took a breath.

“Three... two... one,” Jane said, and before I could process it, she was gone, leaping into the void with an effortless grace.

“Move! Move! Move!” David shouted, then pushed me into the end of the ramp.

The rush of air was deafening, and I felt the weightlessness take over as the ground dropped away beneath me. David was diving down right next to me, his clothes were hitting against the cold air of the sky. I also looked at the marker put on my vision, the landing zone.

The altitude meter showed that it was 10,000 meters above the ground. The air continued hitting my face, if not for the helmet that the military gave me, the air would surely freeze my face. I feel my body hitting through the thin clouds.

The view of the ground became clearer as our altitude continued to drop. I could see several flashes on the ground and silhouettes of armored vehicles. I checked my altimeter—it was already dropping faster than I expected, the 400-meter mark approaching. It was time to deploy the parachute.

I pulled the cord and the parachute expanded, quickly slowing my descent.

I glanced around—David and Jane were already below me, their figures becoming smaller as they descended. The landscape below was a city block, with shattered buildings and dense vegetation, reminding me of Pripyat.

The landing zone was a small city park, complete with a rusted playground and withering trees. My feet touched the ground, right next to where the two were landing. I quickly unpacked my parachute threw away the helmet and wore my ballistic helmet. The twos were unloading the pallets and putting them into their inventories.

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Besides the pallet was a squad of soldiers, and a bunch of dead soldiers littered on the ground. From the one person left, there were five dead bodies littering the ground. The two fighting soldiers were hiding behind a corner of the building.

“Ain, David, revive these people. Case is already handling the tanks and the APCs,” Jane commanded.

“Alrighty, boss,” David replied. David moved his hands. A glowing small dark red circle appeared on the ground, giving off a sinister aura. He then gestured to the dead soldiers. “Ain, move those dead bodies here one by one.”

I didn’t hesitate. My body moved on its own to move the dead body into the sinister circle. A blob of black slimes enveloped their bodies, covering them, and I wasn’t sure what they did. Considering that David was a necromancer, he might be reviving them with dark psionic energy for all I cared.

As the dark slime slowly crept over the soldiers’ bodies, I stayed on edge, my eyes darting between the two soldiers now starting to regain their senses and the battlefield around us. It felt like time stretched unnaturally, each passing second thick with tension. The wind rustled the withered trees in the park, the quiet before the storm.

I turned my attention to the cargo pallet. One by one, I began unboxing the weapons inside. The anti-tank missiles—RPGs, MAAWS, and others—were heavier than they looked, but I moved with urgency, carefully stacking them on the ground, ready to be passed off.

The task was simple enough, just hand them over to Case when he returned. But something about this situation unsettled me. I couldn’t shake the thought of what or who Case really was.

Every instinct screamed at me to question it, but my gut told me there were more pressing issues at hand. Even from the sky, as I had descended moments ago, I saw armored vehicles closing in, their heavy treads leaving tracks in the earth as they neared our position.

And yet, every minute or so, explosions rang out in the distance, massive blasts rocking the ground and sending plumes of smoke into the air. It was almost like clockwork—boom, another explosion, and the sound of another vehicle being taken out of the picture. I wasn’t sure what kind of skill Case had, but whatever it was, it seemed more than capable of holding off a whole battalion.

“Ain, I need you to give them an injection of 4 mg of Fentanyl each,” David asked while channeling some sort of dark cloud of energy from his hands.

“Wouldn’t it kill them?” I asked, never I injected someone with more than 0,02 mg of Fentanyl.

David then answered nonchalantly, “Aren’t they dead? I’m merely un-dead them. Well, unless you want a screaming party, then I suggest that you do it, dear anesthesia. The spell merely returned their soul, not exactly removing their pain.”

I looked for an injector pen, and there they were. A whole set of them, filled with fentanyl. I’d never really worked with something this potent before, but it was clear that the dosage was way higher than what I'd ever seen—1-10 mg per injection. That was way more than I was used to, especially when administering to someone who was just... ordinary.

Had I not been paying attention, I might’ve just used it without thinking and killed someone. These soldiers were already dead, and David didn’t seem to care much about how I felt about it. He’d already given me the green light.

I unscrewed the cap and carefully attached a new needle to the injector pen, making sure to double-check the dosage was 4 mg. I had no experience with this kind of revival work, and the whole situation felt a bit surreal.

David then peeled away the slimy substances covering the bodies using his power, revealing their thighs for the intramuscular injection. I prepared the injector pen, pressing it into the exposed muscle of the first soldier’s thigh. The needle slid in smoothly, and I quickly replaced it before moving to the next body.

It was a methodical work, then, after the whole pen ran out, I grabbed another one. Eventually, I injected all of the dead bodies with fentanyl. David then closed their thighs again, continuing the revival process.

As I adored the work, Jane then pulled me.

“Ain, can you accompany me? They said a VIP is stuck on that building,” Jane pointed her finger at a building located right across the street.

It was an apartment building, gunfire erupting from its windows, streaming in and out like a deadly dance. The building itself was only three stories high, but getting inside felt like stepping into a nightmare, if I were to be honest. The street outside, however, was wide open and exposed—too exposed. I wasn’t about to let this outing end with me getting torn apart by an autocannon.

Jane, unfazed by the chaos, urged me to follow and trust her. And despite everything, I did just that. What choice do I have?

We crossed the shattered asphalt street, the sound of gunshots ringing out as bullets struck our bodies now and then. My health bar ticked down with each hit, but I stayed unfazed, the pain nothing more than a fading annoyance. Finally, I reached the bottom floor of the building.

“Stay close to me, Ain,” Jane nodded.

We navigated the stairwells, the concrete steps creaking underfoot as we ascended toward the third floor. Every corner we turned, I couldn’t help but sense the tension in the air, the danger lurking around every bend. And then, it happened.

Without warning, there was a sharp click, and before I could react, the explosion tore through the room. The force of it threw me off my feet, hurling me through the air like a ragdoll. I crashed onto the hard asphalt below, my body slamming into the ground with a sickening thud.