Mercenary Black Mamba

The captain, Mike, Jang Shin, and Emil’s faces all flushed white with fear.

The scar left by the whip was gruesome, as the diamond coating on the whip had acted like a saw.

He had avoided getting hit by a direct shot, and each hit had only just grazed past him, yet his skin was still torn open like a wide-open mouth. His skin looked like it had been chewed up and spit out by a pig. Black Mamba looked to be pretty calm about it, but his comrades’ faces had become immensely pale.

Bell Man’s comment of whether he was pastry or a salmon fillet, both of which involved precise knife cuts before cooking, made sense.

“Zeolite powder, stat!”

Jang Shin hurriedly reached into the first aid kit and pulled out a pack that was as wide as two fingers and handed it to Bell Man. Zeolite powder was a blood coagulant. It caused the blood to seep into the veins quicker and released clotting elements. By speeding up blood clotting, it made it that much faster to stop the bleeding.

Bell Man’s hands moved rapidly.

He opened the zeolite powder packet while readying the chitosan bandages, which were also used to quell bleeding.

There were thirty-six places that Black Mamba had been injured. Looking at his state, he was in danger of going into shock. According to Bell Man’s judgement, if he didn’t stop the bleeding within five minutes, Black Mamba could die from blood loss.

Bell Man was blotting the infected wound with alcohol when he froze.

‘What is this?’

His eyes grew wide. It looked devastating on the outside, but the bleeding had already stopped. The shallow cuts were no longer bleeding, and the deep wounds were clotting quickly. Even with the zeolite powder and chitosan bandages, stopping the bleeding this fast was usually impossible. It was as if his wounds had been clamped shut the moment he turned around.

Blood coagulation happened when fibrinogen was changed to fibrin. Although it depended on varying conditions, it usually took about ten to twenty minutes for the blood to start clotting.

As time passed, bleeding persisted, even if smaller veins were damaged. In this case, several arteries had been cut. This was incredible. He was a human that logic surpassed.

Bell Man let go of his suspicions.

Trying to understand something impossible only made his head hurt. When dealing with Black Mamba, it was hard to decipher what was normal and what wasn’t. He even had to suppress his greed in wanting to analyze Black Mamba’s peculiar blood.

If the bleeding has already stopped, there was no reason to apply emergency clotting protocol. He had already put the chitosan bandages back in the first aid pack and reserved them for later use. The chitosan bandages are built like sponges. When they were wet with blood, the chitosan protein reacted with it and patched the broken veins.

“If all critical patients were like this guy, I’d be out of a job. All I have to do is clean and stitch! Hahaha.”

Bell Man gathered the disinfectant and first aid kit and let out a dispirited laugh.

“Bell Man, remove your hands for a moment.” Black Mamba, who had been lying down, sat up.

His fractured jawbone and clavicle weren’t too big of a deal, but the real problem was his ribs. The ribs’ function was to protect important organs such as the heart, liver, and lungs.

If more than two ribs were broken, it caused severe complications, including possibly causing strain on the organs, nerves, and blood flow. The lungs were especially prone to damage.

If the lungs were damaged, it became a critical situation. The amount of oxygen intake decreased and made the healing of other wounds a slower process. The slower healing caused more critical results to follow.

When Black Mamba activated his resonance, he was able to register his blood circulation and internal organs. However, he couldn’t fix his bones. He had to manually check those.

He splayed his fingers wide and placed them on his left chest. He inhaled deeply and touched each rib as if he was playing the piano. When he was in junior high, he had been beaten to a pulp once. He had learned this checking skill back then.

The second and fourth had a fracture, and the third was broken.

The broken third rib was putting pressure on his lung. He gritted his teeth, breathed in deeply, and put both his hands on his left chest.

“Ah!” He decompressed his diaphragm and pushed upwards. His right thumb and index finger pushed deep into his skin, almost as if it would penetrate it. He grabbed his pushed in rib and slowly pulled it outward. Black Mamba’s eyes popped, and sweat fell from his forehead.

Bell Man’s eyes became huge, and he could barely breathe.

A human being able to repair a broken rib himself was a medical miracle. Crack— This was the sound of his ribs being shoved back into place. His comrades shuddered. Bell Man wiped his sweaty hands on a towel.

“Ah!”

Bell Man sighed in relief after finishing the procedure on Black Mamba. The other mercenaries, who had also been holding their breath, all breathed sighs of relief.

“That’s amazing. France’s army is a mess, but on the medical side, it’s the best in the world. You will be known as the best doctor ever. When we return, we’ll have to cancel your medical insurance.”

Black Mamba’s expression looked much more comfortable as he answered casually, “That sounds great. Every time I see the deduction on my paycheck, it makes my heart ache.”

“What are you going to do about the lung damage? We don’t have the supplies or the medication to treat it. You can let it naturally heal itself, but the pain will be intense.”

“No problem. Prepare some food for me before I gobble up Bell Man.”

Jang Shin immediately put down his back pack. He threw two packs of rations to Black Mamba. Mike intercepted them and opened them for him so he could eat.

“This won’t cut it, will it?”

“The more, the better.”

Jang Shin knew how much Black Mamba ate after a raging battle. Jang Shin started to pull out a bunch of things from his backpack.

Dried lizards, a pit viper, rattlesnakes, grasshoppers, large spiders, a chameleon, a scorpion… All the dried foods he possessed made an appearance. Jang Shin always seemed to have a lot of food with him.

Mike and Emil stared at Jang Shin with their mouths hanging open.

“Black Mamba, we’re out of morphine.”

“When have you ever used it? Do as you usually do.”

“Ha, you’re no fun.” Bell Man smiled and injected the morphine.

Emil and Jang Shin whispered to each other.

“What, how could he joke like that!”

“He’s trying his best. Just laugh.”

Bell Man ‘s expression was distraught.

“Bell Man, how bad is the injury?” The captain was seriously anxious. Even the smallest injury to Black Mamba was detrimental to the team.

“Captain, if it was you, you’d have already died twice.” Bell Man’s reply was full of emotion. The road to Paya had cost the Legion Etranger team a lot without reaping any rewards, due in part to the captain’s stubbornness.

“Haha!” The captain laughed bitterly. There was nothing left to say.

Bell Man, feeling a bit sorry, reported properly, “Five broken bones, wounds in thirty-six places. I don’t have enough thread to stitch them all up, yet there’s nothing much we can do. He’s not in shock, I don’t have to stop the bleeding, the wounds aren’t infected, and his muscles have returned back to their original places. All I have to do is sterilize and sew him up…”

“So, what’s the verdict?” yelled the captain at Bell Man as he repeated the same thing over and over again.

“His injuries are serious, but it doesn’t seem to be that big of a problem.”

“If you think of it as serious, then it is, and if you don’t think of it as much of a problem, then it isn’t. Which is it? Is it serious or is it not a problem?”

“There’s no problem since it’s Black Mamba.”

“Look how easy that was. Why’d you make it sound so complicated?” the captain muttered to himself.

Bell Man glanced over at the captain, who seemed to be reacting more angrily than usual. It seemed like he had switched souls with Mike.

“Are there no internal problems?”

“Of course there are. He has five broken bones; how could he not have internal problems?”

Bell Man didn’t realize the fact that he was acting crabby.

“Nigimi joto, joto, joto joto joto!” The captain repeated “joto” several times while pulling at his hair.

“What’s wrong with him today? Is he on his period or something?” Bell Man muttered as he stitched up the wounds.

Black Mamba closed his eyes and observed his vitals. Small pieces of glittering specks were floating around in his blood. They stuck to his veins or were swept away through his circulation.

Even without concentrating, he was able to automatically call up his resonance. Every time he did so, the glittering specks moved around much more rapidly.

New cells were born, and a large quantity of oxygen was delivered. His circulation became two, three, then four times faster. The tensile strength of his veins increased to account for the increase in pressure, so the places where the bleeding had stopped weren’t clotted with scabs. His natural ability to heal had become faster. The glittering specks attached to the places that were broken. The broken bones started to repair and stick themselves back together.

Black Mamba stood up from his seat.

“I should thank that Ocelot.”

The battle with Ocelot had caused him to upgrade his mental stamina. His internal movements had been amplified, and his regeneration ability had grown faster. His teacher’s words that only a fight against a greater force would make him stronger had been correct.

“What happened to Sergeant Burimer?”

Bell Man shook his head. “He won’t be able to recover.”

“Damn, let’s go!”

Jang Shin tried to help the staggering Black Mamba, but he waved him away. His outer wounds were no big deal, as they were already quickly healing. The problem was his internal wounds. He couldn’t quickly calm his chaotic heart.

In room 318, Burimer’s face was as white as a sheet.

Each of the mercenaries’ faces were dark. Black Mamba pushed up Burimer’s eyelids. His eyes weren’t focused, his pupils dilated. Black Mamba frowned. Truthfully, there was nothing to see. Like a flat tire, his life was slowly seeping out and away.

When the bullet had passed cleanly through his stomach and out his back, everyone had hailed it a miracle, but that elation hadn’t lasted past 20 minutes.

One light kick from Ocelot had created this destructive situation. Burimer had given up his life to save the captain. No human could have withstood the strength and speed equal to those of Black Mamba.

Through the thickly wrapped bandages, blood seeped out. Bell Man shook his head. The grazed kick had ripped apart his stomach as if it had been a knife.

“What a scary monster. His small and large intestines are ripped. Even if we were to evacuate him to a hospital, it would be impossible to treat him. Ripping open a stomach with one kick. Who would believe this?!”

“Damn, what is the identity of that monster?” The captain pulled at his hair.

“Will he be able to regain consciousness?”

“He has reached his limit.”

“We have to hear his last words,” Black Mamba said in a stern tone. What point would it be to live a few more hours in pain? Bell Man injected the remaining two epinephrine shots into his thigh.

“Black Mamba!” It was a delicate and weak call.

“I’m here, fisherman.”

Burimer tried with difficulty to focus his dimming gaze. “What happened to the monster?”

“Black Mamba got rid of him.”

“Of course he did!”

At Mike’s reply, Burimer smiled weakly. “Black Mamba, I’m going to have to cancel that boat ride on Lake Shari I promised you. Watching the sunset from that view would have been very nice.”

Burimer’s voice was growing quieter. A majority of the sound was that of air escaping.

“You shouldn’t speak.”

As Jang Shin interrupted, Mu Ssang stopped him.

“Leave him be.”

It was his last words. Delaying death for a few more minutes wouldn’t change anything.

“What is this?! Dying in a hotel room, how embarrassing.” Burimer was spitting up blood. As the air pockets shriveled, they were forcing out blood.

“Meeting a monster like that, I can now understand how those Frolinat punks felt. Black Mamba, make sure to rescue our comrades. Punish the jerks. And my familyyy.”

“I’m Black Mamba. Don’t worry about Silvie, Leah, and Julie.”

“Thank you. Black Mamba, you are faithful and just. I enjoyed the time I spent with you. Black Mamba, don’t bury me in this land. You won’t be able to take my coffin and bulldoze over Frolinat, will you? Cremate me and bury me at home. Damn, there are no fish in the desert. I miss the gefalaves, a species of fish similar to sea bream that can be caught in the oceans of Calbi. I was going to capture the monster at Lake Congo with you… If you sit on the back of the Queen’s Dock Ferry at Whales Swansi Bay, you’ll see the red wood building. Julie had asked to change it to blue…”