first time first place

The war in All out War was practically over. The alliance between Lordsbane, Tempest, Judgement, and Ages (the latter being the one Vangark belonged to) had dominated. The initial battles had now turned into mere skirmishes between small rebel groups trying to capture villages with the aim of declaring war on a city. There wasn’t much to do except the daily tasks to earn some necessary rewards, like chests with photo fragments or badge chests.

The faction had declared war on the Lost Realm. He had stayed out of all the other battles of this type because, even without participating, he still received the rewards. However, when he read the announcement, he decided to join in. Since he had performed well in the Lost Realm of his alliance, he thought he could do something similar here. The role of healer suited him quite well, so he planned to continue that job, especially since he wasn’t strong enough to inflict serious damage on all the enemies they had to defeat.

By noon, everyone had to head to the Domain. Vangark was busy with other tasks when he realized most of his companions were already on their way. He quickly prepared his troops—three deployments in total, each with a medical cart—and marched as fast as he could to arrive on time.

Due to his delay, he arrived at the end of the battle against the **Dragon Warrior**, so there wasn’t much he could do. The troops marched toward the next objective while some of his companions were killing the **Dragon Twins** along the way, which allowed them to face the **Dragon Priest**. He didn’t stop; he just kept moving forward, knowing from past experiences that he could fall behind. He simply followed the path marked by the forest of tall trees on both sides.

As he advanced, he thought about the best way to fulfill his healing role, analyzing how little time it took to kill the first opponent. In his alliance, he would send one army at a time, and once the resources were depleted, he would send the next. But here, he would need to change his approach if he wanted to reach the top three in the healing rank. Although there were no rewards, he had joined to stand out in front of his comrades.

Once the tank was positioned in front of the Dragon Priest, Vangark deployed two of his carts—one to heal the tank, and the other to heal those staying behind the enemy lines. He alternated between the two, and then, without hesitation, he added the third cart, as the resources hadn’t diminished enough and the enemy, like the previous one, was being quickly defeated.

“If only it were the same way in our alliance, it would be less boring,” he thought as he scanned his peers for injured people. It had already become a competition, not only with himself but with all the other healers. The Dragon Priest fell, and immediately, without any rest, they marched toward the next objective, Dragon Urrax. Vangark didn’t move forward right away. He checked the rank first—fourth place—a slight smile appeared on his face.

He now had a clear idea of how to act against the next enemy while following his companions in the caravan, which no longer stopped to eliminate the Dragon Twins. The path was no different from the previous ones—a wide, large road flanked by trees on both sides. Everyone was hurrying, especially the healers, as the first to arrive would usually position themselves near the tank, who had T5 units, and healing T5 troops gave more points than healing T4. Even if he arrived later, he would still heal the tank. He already knew how to direct each of his three armies.

That winged beast, the strongest of the three monsters inhabiting those lands, hovered at a low altitude, its wings kicking up dust and creating small whirlwinds over the troops that began to surround it. Vangark had already positioned himself on some palisades to heal the tank, with his other two armies at the rear. When the attack began, he had to abandon his main deployment position, as it wasn’t within range for healing. It was difficult to see who was injured in that chaos—it was an odyssey. Others, like him, were also scrambling to heal. It was as if two battles were being fought—those attacking the dragon and those healing—and he didn’t want to lose the second. According to what he knew, this was one of the last Lost Realms. Healing also earned points for the logistics ranking, though he was far from the top spots, but that didn’t matter at the moment. His primary goal was to be number one against Urrax. He deployed his medics more effectively than he had against the Dragon Priest, but he had to stop healing the tank as there were too many others doing the same, often leaving that deployment idle. So, he moved it closer to the other army and occasionally healed the main warrior.

Urrax, being the strongest, wasn’t as easy to kill as the other two enemies, which Vangark saw as a positive. He still had plenty of resources in his three carts, and therefore more injured soldiers to heal.

In the Domain lands, the ranking isn’t visible—or at least he couldn’t see it. It was his first time participating in a while, so he wasn’t aware. He rushed to help anyone who needed it, even if it was just a few soldiers. Everything added up for him. He glanced at the dragon, which was becoming increasingly wounded, while he grew more exhausted.

When the dragon finally collapsed, causing the ground to shake, the ranking for those who had dealt the most damage appeared first, followed by the ranking of the healers. And there he was, in first place. If he had shouted then, perhaps others would have looked at him strangely, so he simply gripped his weapon tightly and ordered the return to the main castle.

His decision had been the right one against Urrax. Having three armies healing simultaneously made the difference compared to the Dragon Priest, allowing him to achieve his goal of taking first place.