After making sure all the worms were burned away, Elara finally let go of Oswyn's hand and looked at the stunned medical officers outside the room.
"The worms in his body have been completely cleared. Put him down, check him carefully, and treat him properly."
The medical officers outside the room snapped back to their senses and replied in a stammering voice.
Elara pulled Oswyn out of the room and walked toward the next locked room where another mutated soldier was kept.
When they entered the second mutated soldier's room, Elara didn't reach out with her mental tentacles right away. Instead, she took out the Mirror of All Things from her sleeve and handed it to Oswyn.
"Put this on. It's one of the sacred artifacts I got from Geranium Kingdom. It can clearly see through anything and analyze its strengths and weaknesses. Use it to study these worms and create an antidote that can suppress them directly in the human body. If there's anything you don't understand, ask me."
After teaching Oswyn how to use the Eye of All Things, Elara spent the entire afternoon using her mental tentacles to force out the worms from the bodies of over twenty elite scouts who had been infected and mutated.
That night, without stopping to rest, Elara led five teams from the medical department and ten thousand fully armed elite soldiers. They rode swiftly toward the southern border.
Southern Frontier, Gojin Sea Region.
The accompanying military doctors, realizing something had happened, examined Francis and immediately isolated him. They left one lead doctor to monitor him, while the rest formed teams to inspect the soldiers one by one and isolate anyone showing even minor signs of abnormalities.
By the time Elara arrived, several isolated cabins had already been set up.
The lead doctor inside Francis's room quickly came out to report the situation when he saw her arrive.
In short, aside from Francis and a few soldiers showing early abnormal reactions, most of the examined soldiers were not showing any symptoms for now.
The situation was still stable and under control, but only temporarily. According to Oswyn's report, the incubation period of these worm eggs in a normal human body lasts at least four to five months.
It had been nearly four months since Francis personally led troops southward, and those currently showing symptoms were the earliest ones to follow him.
The rest had not yet shown symptoms, but that could change at any time.
The doctors could not visually determine whether the soldiers had worm eggs inside them. Based on timing, the coming days were right in the outbreak period, and the number of abnormal cases could rise suddenly.
After understanding the situation, Elara instructed the medical team she brought to distribute the medicine, tools, and protective clothing. She told them to assist in checking the soldiers, then strode into Francis's room.
Inside, the lead doctor had been preparing a medicinal bath for Francis. So when Elara entered, what she saw was his completely bare body, sitting in the tub, his handsome face pale and resting unconscious on the tub's edge.
Elara raised her hand. A transparent thread of spiritual energy slipped out from her sleeve, winding toward Francis like a snake. It wrapped around his solid chest and firm, narrow waist.
A burning pain suddenly shot through the places the tendril touched. Francis was jolted awake by the intense pain, his muscles tensing instinctively.
When he saw Elara standing outside, looking at him calmly, he suppressed the groan in his throat. His feverish, confused gaze looked at her and he instinctively tried to rise and salute, "Your… Your Majesty…"
Elara lightly moved her finger. The spiritual tendril lifted Francis out of the tub with ease.
His field of view rose sharply. This was the first time Francis had seen Elara's spiritual tendrils. His aching, foggy mind processed slowly, and after a while he realized he wasn't wearing anything at all.
Francis, usually stern and composed, showed rare embarrassment. A faint blush crept across his face, and his breathing quickened. "Y-Your Majesty… please… allow me to…"
He struggled slightly, but the transparent tendrils wrapped tightly around him, leaving him completely unable to move.
"Don't move." Elara interrupted him, her gaze steady as she looked at his naked body bound by the spiritual tendrils. The moment they touched him, his internal condition appeared clearly before her eyes.
After the heavily wounded advance squad returned, Francis had immediately led the army south. Logically, he had encountered the Puppet Soldiers only a few days after them. His exposure had lasted far longer, so his condition should have been worse.
Strangely, his internal state was much better than those mutated soldiers from the advance squad.
The worm eggs in his body had only reached his waist so far, and they were far less active than those she had seen in other bodies, as if something inside him was suppressing them.
Could it be that Francis's internal strength was too powerful?
As Elara pondered, thinking she must write a letter to Oswyn to study the differences in how the worm eggs affected different individuals, she moved Francis onto the bed with her spiritual tendrils. Lost in thought, she forgot to pull the tendrils back.
"Mm!"
A strange shuddering sensation suddenly spread from his core, rippling outward like waves across his entire body.
Francis had fought in battles for many years, his body strong and hardened, but this was the first time he felt so weak and powerless.
It was as if he had been completely opened up, exposed without resistance before the distracted and regal young woman nearby.
"Y-Your Majesty…" Francis discovered his voice could tremble and rasp like this, his breathing so rapid it nearly burst his eardrums, his chest rising and falling violently.
Elara was pulled out of her thoughts by his trembling, barely suppressed voice. Seeing his unfamiliar expression, she paused for a moment. Then, she gently withdrew the tendrils that had gone too far in her distraction. Her voice was cool, "Endure it. This is necessary. There's something inside you. It must be removed."
Without waiting for Francis's response, Elara deepened her spiritual probe.