Chapter 16: Coma

A mouthful of scalding fresh blood surged from William's throat, his head buzzing, the organs in his chest and abdomen hurting as if they had shifted position, clearly the shockwave from the earlier explosion had hit him hard.

William gritted his teeth against the pain, crawled up from the ground, and staggered toward Bulande's location.

When he reached Bulande's side, William squatted down, brought two fingers close to Bulande's nostrils, found Bulande no longer breathing, then immediately leaned his head, pressed his ear tightly against Bulande's chest, listened for a moment, and confirmed Bulande's heart was still beating.

William recalled the artificial respiration compression method written in the first‑aid booklet he had read before crossing over, crossing his ten fingers and laying palms to press on Bulande's chest; because he didn't know whether Bulande's sternum was fractured, William carefully controlled his force, fearing a broken sternum might pierce Bulande's lungs.

He guessed Bulande's lungs might have inhaled the liquid from that Mutated Slime, causing his breathing to stop; if he could press the slime's body out of Bulande's lungs, Bulande should regain breath, so William did not perform mouth‑to‑mouth ventilation.

After William pressed for a while, several puddles of black viscous liquid spurted from Bulande's mouth; although Bulande did not regain consciousness, his breathing finally returned to normal.

The black rain gradually lessened, and William, exhausted, plopped down on the ground.

"They say those who survive great calamities are blessed later; I wonder if tomorrow Bulande's father will bring a sack of copper coins to my house to thank me?"

William gasped heavily, dreaming of such a reward, when suddenly a drop of black rain lingered before him.

At first he thought he had misseen, so he blinked and looked again, discovering it was indeed a drop of black slime body floating before him, not falling further.

One drop, two drops, three drops......

More and more "raindrops" fell without touching the ground, hovering in the air; then, not only the "raindrops" from the sky, but also the black liquid bodies of the Mutated Slime scattered on the ground gathered into small black liquid spheres, floating up from the earth.

Seeing the bizarre scene before him, William felt an ominous sense rise within him.

In his current condition, continuing to fight was unlikely, let alone escaping with the gravely injured, unconscious Bulande.

"Damn, is that slime still alive? What should I do?"

Before William could think further, the tens of thousands of floating "water droplets" around instantly turned into bullets, all firing toward William's body......

"Is it almost here?"

David, holding a few villagers armed with weapons, followed behind John and the children and asked.

A few boys ran ahead, pointing forward, saying, "It should be just ahead, we see them! Hey, Bulande! William!"

The group saw two people lying on the ground not far away; judging by their clothes, they must be Bulande and William, and David hurried toward them.

"Bulande! William! Are you both okay?"

Seeing the two not responding to his shout, David quickly approached to check their bodies, found both Bulande and William severely wounded, took an expensive Mid-level Healing Potion he kept for survival from his waist pouch, and gave each half a bottle, using it entirely on them.

The Mid-level Healing Potion took effect, a faint yellow Magic Light lit their bodies, wounds healed at a visibly rapid speed; after the Magic Light faded from both, David checked them again, confirmed they were no longer in mortal danger, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He surveyed the scene all around,

and discovered, besides the battle traces of the two, a huge deep pit left by some magical explosion, yet the children's mention of a "giant slime" or any other magical beast left no trace whatsoever.

He inferred that the injuries on Bulande and William were caused by their duel, but William had sworn never to strike a companion; David thought William wouldn't break his promise, and the explosion that left such a massive pit didn't seem like a technique William could use.

David, still without a clue, first led the villagers to carry Bulande and William back to the village, deciding to later ask Xierna and the others to investigate together.

Bulande and William were taken to William's home for care; later, Old Bulande, the village chief of Bigen Village, upon hearing news of his son's injury, rushed over in a hurry; David explained the whole incident and his deductions to Old Bulande.

Old Bulande shook his head and said, "Then we'll wait for Xierna and the others to finish their investigation."

After all, only his son Bulande and David's son William were present, so he couldn't just accept whatever David said; although Xierna and the others were members of David Adventurer Squad and thus third‑party adventurers, Old Bulande still trusted their basic professional ethics.

When Xierna and the others returned after investigating the site, their conclusion matched David's exactly: they found no magical beast traces near the scene and could not identify the caster of the explosion that created the huge pit; the only way was to wait until Bulande and William woke up and ask them directly.

As for the children's somewhat unbelievable statements that sounded odd to the adults, they were simply ignored by everyone.

Old Bulande said nothing, tacitly accepting Xierna's proposal; he now wanted to scold David, but as village chief he still needed to reason without evidence that William injured his son.

On the second day after the two fell unconscious, Bulande woke up first.

Old Bulande, who had stayed awake for a day and night, saw his son awaken and immediately ordered hot water and food to be brought, then stepped forward to help Bulande sit up, asking concernedly, "Son, how do you feel now? Are the wounds tight?"

"It hurts…"

Bulande, bearing the pain, leaned against the headboard to sit up, looked around the room, and asked puzzled, "Father? Why am I not dead? Where am I? Wait, where's William? Is he okay!"

Upon hearing Bulande's awakening, David and the others also rushed over to check.

Old Bulande said, "You're alive and well; this is David's House, William is also fine, lying in another room, still in a coma; tell me exactly what happened. Who injured you?"

Bulande recalled, "I heard William went hunting slime in the Magic Forest, then got the idea to hunt magical beasts himself, so he led a few of us into the Magic Forest, where we encountered a huge black slime…"

He was swallowed by the Mutated Slime shortly after and passed out, so he knows nothing of what happened afterward, only that he led John and several others into the Magic Forest, then William appeared to help him, and he was swallowed into the slime's belly.

Everyone present, after hearing, wore expressions of disbelief.

"So, John and the others were telling the truth, there really was such a huge black slime, but why did we find no magical beast traces after arriving on site?" Xierna asked.

Bulande shook his head, "That can only be asked of William."