Damned Healer-Chapter 450: Terrifying Survivability

Five minutes later, Darian picked up the Supreme Artifact he’d left on the ground back in Vadise. His expression was tense as he activated his senses, sweating cold, hoping it had actually worked.

"Yes!" he said excitedly when he felt the other Supreme Artifact was still intact. Then he turned to the others. "It’s time!" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

With a wave, the spatial channel opened again.

Darian turned to the Elder and tossed the Supreme Artifact toward him without another word. He just looked him in the eye, silently telling him and the Matriarch to move as planned.

"Go in! Anything alive that shows even the slightest hint of resistance — kill it right away. Don’t hesitate, don’t show mercy!"

"GO!"

All thirty thousand of them jumped through the channel.

Darian waited until everyone was inside, then jumped in after them.

...

On the other side... the first thing everyone noticed was the total darkness. Then came the Yin of death and the oppressive feeling hanging in the air.

Darian snorted and waved his hand, scattering all the dust away. It rushed upward, letting sunlight shine through again.

They were standing at the bottom of a deep abyss. Around them, everything was destruction and rubble.

"Quite the memorable gift," Darian murmured softly.

That massive crater was more than thirty meters deep and nearly reached the Supreme Artifact he’d buried. Everything above had been completely wiped out — the entire royal castle and everyone in it were reduced to nothing.

Darian leaped into the air, and everyone followed.

When they reached the sky, the sight before them was terrifying. The center of the explosion had been the royal castle, but it had also wiped out the entire capital.

Of course, knowing the values of that planet, nobody living in the capital was weak. A wave of power had leveled buildings, instantly turning that great city into ruins. Even so, the people there were powerful Spiritual Guardians and wouldn’t die so easily. The few weaker ones had been saved by defensive artifacts or nearby allies.

In the end, only those right at the center died without a chance to react — every member of the royal family.

The entire army stared at that level of destruction, dumbfounded. They all swallowed hard; Darian really was ruthless. None of them had ever seen something so terrifying before.

How many had he killed in one go?

They had no idea that Darian had checked everyone’s karma in the castle beforehand. If he’d found even one neutral or innocent person, he would’ve sent a warning before the blast — likely saving almost everyone, even if it hurt his plan. But he wouldn’t have hesitated to do it.

Luckily, he didn’t need to. With the planetary war going on, the royal castle had entered full war mode, and all unrelated civilians had been sent away.

"Everyone in the capital!"

Darian’s voice thundered through the ruins.

"I won’t say this twice. We’re from Vadise, and we’ll wipe out everything and everyone who dares resist. If you don’t wanna get involved in this war, leave the capital — as far as you can."

The moment his words echoed, every survivor among the rubble looked up and saw the army above... each one with only seven rings.

All those humanoids glared with bloodshot eyes full of hatred.

"Kill," Darian said coldly.

At that instant, his entire army roared, and their draconic power erupted like a tsunami.

At the same time, thousands of humanoid figures jumped into the air. They all had seven or eight rings — the elite of the universe in terms of power. Coming from all across the planet, more and more of them rushed toward the capital.

Darian smiled coldly. Painita had done exactly what he’d asked before, and just as expected, the Immortal of Runedell had found it too suspicious and premature. He probably thought it was some strange plan of Painita’s, so he had gathered all the strongest ones far away to stop any attempt from her.

That had happened almost an hour ago. Which meant the planet now only had those with seven or eight rings left — still too weak to turn the tide.

Suddenly, high above, three figures radiating intense golden power appeared.

Darian looked up at them. Just like on planet Vadise, where one Elder with nine rings had stayed behind, in Runedell, three very old figures with nine rings had been left there.

They were elves with aged faces and white hair. Their life energy was almost gone; they didn’t have much time left to live, which was why they’d been spared from the war.

*KILL!*

The thirty thousand beasts roared fiercely, attacking from every direction. Meanwhile, Darian drew his dagger and shot straight toward the three nine-ringed elders.

The three stood together, focusing only on him. They knew exactly who he was — and how dangerous and unpredictable he could be.

"Human brat! You think you’re all that, huh?!"

One of them drew a spear, and his blessing exploded like a storm.

Lightning and Wind merged, and the world turned chaotic around that old man and his spear. His power was terrifying, his blessing that of a Fighter — pure explosive offense.

**RUMBLE!!**

The world lost its color under the old man’s devastating attack. He moved like lightning, tearing through space and splitting the world itself. That wasn’t a metaphor — this was a nine-ring elder, the peak of the planet’s power. If he attacked Earth alone, not even all the Emperors combined could survive his onslaught.

Darian took a deep breath and instantly activated both of his physiques at once.

The seven stars lit up, burning all the power he had. Chaos energy surged, forming a thick gray armor around him. Both techniques are intertwined and fused together...

"DIE!"

*CRACK!*

The spear struck his chest almost instantly, piercing through him violently and ignoring his defenses completely.

The old man’s eyes narrowed. With the force of the impact, the instant Darian was struck and pierced, his body shot like a bloody meteor toward the ground.

*BOOM!*

A violent sound echoed, and the earth shook.

Up in the sky, the old man turned serious. How had someone with only four rings survived even for a moment against his power?

He’d planned to make him explode into blood immediately, then capture his soul with a supreme artifact. But... he felt a terrifying resistance, and his spear had only pierced him.

Still, he snorted, unconcerned. He had penetrated him and sent his energy through the body, utterly wrecking his organs and everything inside. It hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but...

"!"

Suddenly, a figure covered in blood stood up among the rubble.

Darian looked up coldly. Everyone saw his body wrapped in a layer of white light that faded right after.

"You kill me with just that? Sorry to disappoint, but I moonlight as a healer. With that little strength of yours, I still have a long, prosperous life ahead," he said.

All three old men stared at Darian in disbelief.

But then small, amused smiles crept onto their faces. The other two drew their weapons. Together, they’d make sure this invader died — and then read all his memories to pry out his secrets.

"NO! AAAAAH!"

Suddenly, screams of agony and despair rang out.

The three elders looked around, surprised. Those thirty thousand invaders with seven rings... were brutally slaughtering their planet’s people with seven and eight rings with insane ease. They looked like hungry tigers tearing into fragile prey, trying to flee.

In seconds, a terrifying bloodbath erupted.

"Oh? Too late to run now. I warned you and was merciful," Darian’s mocking voice echoed.

The three old men stared at him coldly. The signal had already been sent to distant allies; now they just had to deal with this insect — the rest would be handled later.

**BUZZ!!!**

The whole planet trembled when the other two elders unleashed their maximum power.

One had a Mage-type blessing, able to create terrifying spatial blades. The sky filled with hundreds of them.

The other had a Fighter-type blessing. He wielded two daggers, and a dark aura shrouded him, making him disappear into the air — an assassin-style blessing that allowed hidden movement under certain conditions.

The three moved at the same time, attacking Darian from all directions.

Darian took a deep breath and pushed his senses to the max.

Luckily, he could sense the dense black karma of the three. He could perfectly predict where the two fighters would strike; the real problem was the Mage’s spatial blades, which would come from far away.

*Wooosh!*

He moved at top speed using Chaos Blink. But escaping — much less winning — was impossible.

Winning wasn’t his goal, of course.

*BOOM!*

He flashed and exploded right into the spatial blades. The other two had to pull back some of their strength and attack from a distance, because those blades could even accidentally kill them if they weren’t careful.

Darian used that to his advantage, forcing the two to hold back and not unleash everything at once.

But...

His body took brutal hits. Still, he didn’t shatter — he simply fell and slammed into the ground with a boom.

The three elders were utterly stunned. That human moved in ways they barely tracked — and again, even after a direct hit, he hadn’t exploded. His defenses were utterly abnormal.

And also...

He got back up from the rubble, circled by that same white light.

Beyond his defenses, he had that magical healing. The only way to kill him was to use something that would destroy him instantly, but... the three of them already had nine rings and still couldn’t. Only an immortal could?

"Hehe... Old men in the grave are really that weak?"

The three snorted at the taunt. Sure, they were weaker due to age, but the gap from their prime wasn’t that huge.

They studied Darian, sensing something seriously off. The old Mage messaged the other two: he wouldn’t go all-out — he’d pretend, so the other two could hit with full force.

*Wooooosh!*

Noticing that, Darian vanished quickly and reappeared behind the old Mage.

The Mage turned and launched his blades at him. As a mage, he was fragile defensively, and the other two wouldn’t make it in time, so this time he had to attack with everything.

*BOOM!*

Darian lunged with his dagger, but before he could land the blow, his body was slammed and thrown violently to the ground in a massive explosion.

"DIE!"

The instant he fell, the other two didn’t wait for him to heal and surged forward, charging through the thick dust.

But...

"Blinding Break!"

A blade formed from the local Yin of death was fired swiftly into the air.

It wasn’t very strong, but there — the invisible assassin — he wasn’t that durable defensively. He was forced to stop and block.

Then only the old man with the spear shot forward like lightning.

**Clang!**

The muffled ring of metal colliding echoed.

At the same time, a wave of wind-and-electricity power from the spearman’s blessing swept the dust away.

"!"

Up above, the old Mage looked down — his eyes widened.

There, face to face...

Stood Darian, hand outstretched, and before him the spear pointed dead center.

But... the fragile human with four rings was holding the spear by the shaft with his bare hands!

In Darian’s eyes, there was a fierce red glow like a beacon. Around his body, a faint multicolored aura trembled, like an immaterial cloak.

Darian felt blood surge in his throat and spill from his lips. Holding that spear was suicidal — his internal organs had been completely destroyed. But he could fully heal.

He was ecstatic: the Primordial Stellar Physique was now fully formed!

His physical power had multiplied to levels he himself hadn’t believed. Now he could withstand a blow from an old man with nine rings. But it wasn’t just raw strength. Any energy that touched him was immediately subdued and weakened. That’s why hits like that could be taken.

Darian wanted to laugh. Before completing this physique, with only four rings, he had enough power to beat someone with six rings fairly easily. Beyond that, depending on factors and luck, maybe he could kill someone with seven — at most.

Now... even facing people with eight or nine rings, he wouldn’t be killed quickly. He could survive and hold on, thanks to the absolute defenses of this physique and his healing.

Killing someone above six rings was still very hard for him. But there could always be a chance. For someone to kill him? That’d be an incredibly arduous, complex task.

Now Darian had terrifying survivability with only four rings. Once he gained new rings and used all the resources he’d recently acquired... how strong would he become?

***

At the same time, far away — between the Vadise and Runedell system —

A massive assembly of countless powerful figures stood ready for a battle of unprecedented scale.

On one side, watching everything, was Painita.

On the other, a half-elf immortal also watched seriously.

Then...

That elf received a distress call, and his eyes bulged.

"What? How is this possible?!"

Without hesitation, that immortal ordered his Emperor: "Start the attack, I’ll handle this problem myself."

His words rang out as space wavered — and he vanished.

In that instant, Painita’s face went pale as she realized something was wrong.

She immediately grabbed a communication artifact and activated it in near-panic...

"WHAT?! HE’S GONE MAD!!"

She screamed like she’d heard the most unexpected, insane thing ever. No one knew Darian’s plan, and the Elder on that planet hadn’t had time to warn her.

Invading an Immortal’s planet? He could simply return and kill them at will — and she couldn’t protect him.

Without considering the consequences, Painita clenched her fists and roared to Morion: "Attack with everything! I have to go—"

Without waiting for an answer, she vanished.