CHAPTER 319: CHAPTER 318: AFTER THE ATTACKS OF THE BIRDS 3

"You’re always coming here like it’s your own place. Why don’t you just join the military?" Grandpa Omar said as soon as he saw Treyton walk in.

"Grandpa, I’ve already said it a hundred times, I’m not joining the military. I just came to ask about the current situation of the base," Treyton replied, then greeted the others in the room before taking a seat next to his uncle Jeremy.

Everyone present was a high-ranking officer or someone in charge at the base, but all of them were from the military. He didn’t see any non-military officials yet.

Treyton already knew the people here, and they were familiar with him as well, so no one made a fuss about his presence.

However, he couldn’t help but feel slightly puzzled. He knew that two of the officers in the room had always been critical of him, especially after he left the military. Whenever they saw him, they usually had plenty to say. But this time, they didn’t say anything at all.

Treyton figured they were probably too worried about the state of the base to bother preaching at him, so he let it go and focused on the reason he came.

He repeated his question, "So what’s the situation now?"

"You can read this yourself," Uncle Jeremy said, handing him a few papers. Then he added, "The base is still in chaos after yesterday’s sudden bird attacks. A lot of people were injured, and many also died, especially in the temporary housing zone. A number of buildings were damaged too."

He continued, "The soldiers who weren’t injured and still had energy left worked through the night, helping relocate survivors to safer areas.

Others assisted doctors and nurses with treating the wounded and distributing basic medicine. Some were assigned to retrieve the bodies of the dead, while others were working on clearing out damaged buildings."

"Many soldiers were injured or completely exhausted from the fighting. So the base opened up temporary jobs and allowed civilians to earn base points by helping.

A lot of people signed up. With their help, the workload on the soldiers became more manageable. Still, even with all that support, the work isn’t done yet."

While listening to his uncle speak, Treyton also scanned through the report in his hands.

Since Uncle Jeremy had handed it to him directly, it was clear the report wasn’t classified. It could be shared even with someone like him, who wasn’t part of the military.

Most likely, the others in the room didn’t object either because he and his team had contributed significantly during yesterday’s attack.

They probably didn’t mind him seeing the report early, especially since this information would eventually be shared with the public or other departments anyway.

The report was a preliminary tally compiled that morning. It contained data on the number of injured and dead, as well as the buildings damaged in the attack.

The report was neatly categorized, breaking down the casualties between soldiers and civilians, and specifying which areas were most affected.

According to the report, more than 3,000 people had died in the attack. Over half of those deaths came from the temporary housing zone. The area with the next highest death toll was the market, followed by various soldiers stationed across different posts. Other zones had fewer casualties.

As for the injured, the report listed a high number of cases, though thankfully, the majority were classified as minor injuries.

It also noted that most buildings in the base had sustained some level of damage due to the birds. Several structures were deemed completely unusable after being heavily targeted during the attack.

Of course, this was only a preliminary report; the final count would likely increase once the base finished clearing all affected areas and conducting a more thorough assessment.

But even with just this early data, it was clear that the base had suffered tremendously from yesterday’s bird attack.

"As expected, the base indeed suffered a lot because of yesterday," Treyton commented.

"Yes, we indeed suffered a lot, but thanks to Luciel setting up a large cover here in the military area, a lot of people managed to survive through the five waves of flocks that came. If it weren’t for him, the number of dead would even be higher than what was recorded.

I also saw him fighting yesterday and his fighting ability is really incredible. His control of his ability was really high, as he could control the vines he had as if they were already part of him.

I also didn’t expect that his ability was already very strong as he could actually cover large areas with his ability.

The protective covers that he made were even very strong as they weren’t that damaged even though a lot of birds wanted to enter," Uncle Wilder said.

"He had covered a lot of areas and even continued to fight afterwards. I think he is even stronger than you," Uncle Jeremy added and then chuckled.

"Ciel indeed has a very high fighting ability and his control of ability is clearly stronger than mine.

As for his ability to make such a large area cover, it was due to the accumulation of his energy for a long time.

He had been storing his plant energy in those vines since he got them months ago. That’s why he was able to make those large vines to cover different areas in the base."

"He stored his energy in those vines?" Uncle Jeremy asked.

"Yes. Unlike us, those with plant abilities could also store their abilities in those plants. But those stored energies could only be used for the plant itself and not for others."

"We also have some plant ability users in the army, but they didn’t mention having that ability at all."

"They probably haven’t mentioned it yet because they don’t have the ability to do it yet.

I’m sure that Nichole has already taught how to do those things, as it was part of what they should be aware of if they wanted to be combatants even though they have plant abilities.

But storing many energies like that and controlling them as they like probably isn’t easy."