Damned Healer-Chapter 484: Invisible Battlefield

Niara looked at Darian, who nodded. Then she started channeling all her draconic power through the tiny connection into that figure.

Outside, all the instructors could see the couple at the top, but couldn't make out the details.

They'd tried for ages to force the Soul's Divine Flame to submit and put a primordial heart into someone of their race. They even used other Spiritual Guardians blessed by Heaven's Will, who got trapped in this universe. Nothing worked.

Now they were sure the Missionary was convincing that stubborn entity. As soon as it finished, they'd capture him fast.

They feared only the Missionary — everything else was irrelevant. They had no idea Niara had another primordial heart inside her. If they'd known, they'd never have let them reach the top.

That heart was the rune the Divine Dragon gave her in the past. Niara had learned to use it as a core, functioning like rings for the Spiritual Guardians.

That figure planned to fuse the two primordial hearts. They knew that when used right, it could trigger apocalyptic power.

In seconds, everything from Niara was given over.

The small flame inside the seal shrank and retreated into the rune at its center. When it all died down, the rune turned into energy and passed through the tiny opening Niara had made.

She felt something enter her body and an intense heat rise in the center of her chest where her core sat. It changed fast, gaining strange new potential and capacity.

It lasted a minute, then a small white light left Niara and floated to Darian.

'I was born and used by them for thousands of years. Before, I was somewhere else where I could hear and sense many things. Sir, I can't give you much, but this is all the knowledge I have about this world and the enemies' plans.'

The voice sounded in Darian's mind; he absorbed it all, and his head filled with images and info.

Then a bigger white light came out of Niara.

She widened her eyes, feeling the figure disconnect completely from the core, like a link cut off forever.

That light took shape before them. It was an ethereal humanoid figure, white and without any sign of gender, with a soft appearance.

As it appeared, the figure roared, its voice thunderous across that world. Everyone on the mountain felt their souls stir.

"You inflicted me with countless years of pain and humiliation. I will never forget. Today, I'll take some interest!"

Outside, the instructors were now joined by hundreds of powerful figures — all the reinforcements that had come to secure control. Among them was a figure with nine rings, the commander of them all.

Even so, when those words hit them, everyone felt a terrible instinctive danger and froze.

The ethereal figure hovered at the mountain's top, coldly staring at those outside.

"Die!"

**RUMBLE!!!**

The world lost color, drowned in blinding light. Only a roar was heard; the mountain exploded. Everyone inside was reduced to dust by a terrifying wave of power.

At that moment, people outside felt panic, realizing the mountain's sealing power had been broken. Not only that... the whole place was violently attacked!

The light expanded, swallowing them with no chance to react. On contact, it felt like an energy inside their bodies detonated. They had no way to resist.

It didn't stop: it hit the earth and the skies. Then a violent cracking sound echoed.

After several seconds, when the world's light finally started to return, Darian and Niara breathed in deeply.

They found themselves on flat open ground, everything around looking like a desert.

The entire mountain — and anything around it — had been obliterated and flattened. At the same time, the sky and horizon looked covered by webs spreading and growing without end.

'Thank you... at least now I can disappear having taken a bit of revenge...'

Saying that, Darian and Niara watched a tiny remnant of a soul fade completely above them.

They both sighed. That figure had sacrificed themself to use all of Niara's power in a terrifying way.

*CRACK!*

The skies groaned as spatial fissures grew every second.

It was a sign that this small place had been damaged at its very core and couldn't hold itself together anymore. Everything was about to explode, and anyone who stayed would vanish with it.

That figure had kept the promise — gave everything it had to Niara and Darian, and even created a chance for them to escape... or almost.

The ground split open fast in several different spots.

In every direction around them, fifty-one humanoid figures appeared, releasing a heavy, bloody aura.

"Shit! Didn't kill them all!" Niara said, surprised.

Darian snorted. That figure never said it would kill everyone — only that it would help them escape. And it did. It even took down nearly half of the strongest ones.

Now they were surrounded, and in just a few minutes, the whole place would disappear. Fifty Black Blood creatures with eight circles, all high-level. And one of them had nine circles.

Before, Darian had to look for a tiny opening just to kill a single enemy with eight circles. Now, his situation was terrifyingly complicated — almost hopeless.

Niara stepped closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with him. Her expression was calm, waiting for his plan. Darian took a deep breath, feeling both her will to fight and that strange, irrational trust she had in him.

Anyone else would've felt despair — but he stayed completely cold and thought fast.

Ever since the day Rhea had recruited him to become a Spiritual Guardian and he accepted, his life had jumped from one desperate, near-death situation to another. That made him used to it, always thinking ahead, always planning every move. Now, without even noticing, Darian was releasing a chilling aura.

Niara felt it, and her heart started racing. She remembered all the hard situations they'd already faced and survived. No matter how bad things looked now, she was sure they'd make it through together.

She wasn't putting all the weight on him. Darian was the brain of the duo — once he said what to do, they'd both fight with everything they had.

Those fifty-one figures surrounding them... stared at him like something was drawing them in. Then, all at once, they felt a shiver down their spines — a deep, primal fear.

It took only five seconds before the enemy leader, the one with nine circles, roared:

"You think you can escape?! Keep dreaming! Attack and kill them!"

At that moment... Darian looked at the leader, a mocking smile curling on his lips.

How could they get out of that? They didn't have enough power or time. But a battle isn't won only with brute force or tactics. The real fight starts before the clash — it begins in the mind. And in that invisible battlefield, where fear had already been planted in the enemies' hearts, he was already the winner.