Damned Healer-Chapter 485: Instinctive Divinity
When the fifty-one enemies moved, Darian raised his hand too, gently grabbing Niara's.
At that moment, she felt his soft power flow through her body and spiritual root. A strange nostalgia washed over her, and she instantly understood what he meant to do.
Niara smiled and spread her wings. The ring on her finger glowed, completely deactivating its effect.
All the enemies stopped midair around them, tense. In that instant, Niara's ethereal form vanished, along with her mask and assassin cloak.
The beautiful Dragoness appeared before everyone, her eyes shining like beacons, glowing with a deep, celestial blue. Suddenly, her skin was covered in white scales, and her spiritual root was pushed to the limit. A sacred, oppressive aura erupted from her.
She had given all her draconic power to that figure to trigger the previous strike, leaving only a faint remnant. Niara didn't have enough energy left to activate the Divine Dragon Possession, but Darian's white power could still form the White Dragon Armor.
And the best part...
Ever since the first time she'd activated the White Dragon Armor together with her spiritual root, it had created a resonance with the world's laws and with her Bloodline — giving others the overwhelming feeling of standing before a true Primordial Dragon.
Beside Niara, Darian's spiritual body pulsed, and all his chaos power started to flow. Unfortunately, since he wasn't in his real body, he couldn't use the Primordial Physique. Still, the core that generated his chaotic power remained in his soul, letting him draw on it.
The two unleashed terrifying power.
Darian radiated a grayish energy that crushed anyone who tried to sense it, while Niara looked like the very incarnation of the Divine Dragon, making the entire sky tremble.
"You really think we came all this way without a way out? Come on then… come…" Darian mocked calmly, waving his hand to provoke them.
All the enemies stared at them, too scared to move.
"You think you'll stall for time, or that we're idiots? You freaks won't leave this place alive!" the leader snarled coldly, then roared, "Execution formation! Let's finish them off!"
At his command, everyone nodded firmly. Deep down, fear had already rooted itself in their hearts. Nobody knew how those two had invaded the place and caused so much destruction; those fifty with eight circles had survived purely by luck.
Add to that Darian's semi-immortal soul, overflowing with strength, and now the abnormal power released by both of them — no one wanted to take chances. The best way to win was to rely on the brute force of their numbers.
They positioned themselves in the sky, forming a ring around the pair, trapping them in the center with no way out. Then they all roared at once, and a scarlet and black aura spread in every direction.
Their powers intertwined, then converged into a single person — the leader, the one with nine circles. The execution formation was simple but effective: it perfectly united everyone's strength into one. The leader's aura changed, and the space around him began to crack under the crushing weight of the power he received.
Niara stepped in front of Darian, her eyes burning with pure fighting intent.
The leader stared back and let out a dry laugh. "Hahaha… you wanna fight? Too bad for you, I'll end this quick."
Niara didn't respond.
He waved his hand forward, and a blinding light bloomed around his fists. In the end, he was an assassin too, and his specialty was power concentration. He could focus all the energy he'd received into a single, absolutely unstoppable strike.
He was convinced that an attack could kill even a Spiritual Guardian with nine rings like a bug, let alone those two.
"DIE!"
It took only five seconds before the light shot out like a scarlet lightning bolt.
Niara couldn't hold back anymore — her calm expression dropped, replaced by mockery.
She leapt into the sky toward the apocalyptic blast. Everything happened too fast — the energy reached her instantly. But then… a distortion rippled around her.
On the ground, Darian just watched with a satisfied smile.
*Devourer's Gambit Blessing.*
There was no explosion.
All fifty-one enemies froze in disbelief as the attack hit Niara's chest and simply stopped, like the world itself had frozen.
It made no sense — the world's laws and common logic didn't apply here… that was a blessing! A Mannaz using a blessing — none of them could believe what they were seeing.
Niara roared, and all that energy dissolved, gently absorbed into her body.
While everyone stood there in shock...
"RAAAAAAAAAH!"
She suddenly roared again, wild and frenzied.
Her fists shot out like meteors, as if her body had been taken over by a starving beast. The ones around her reacted too late, trying to gather what little power they had left.
*BANG!*
One of them was hit, sent flying, and exploded violently as he crashed into the ground.
Panic spread among the rest — one of them had died from a single hit!
But they all knew why — they'd poured almost all their power into the leader. That one poor guy just hadn't reacted fast enough to defend himself.
The others drew their weapons, forcing themselves to fight despite the terror swallowing them.
'Niara…'
Darian tried to command her, but gave up — she no longer had any rationality left to hear him. He watched as they all moved to surround her, and she roared, striking with her fists like a raging storm.
The nine-circle leader was the only one who could block her head-on — and even then, barely. The others tried to attack from her blind spots, using assassin tactics.
But Niara fought like an instinctive divinity; no assassin could strike before she reacted. The battle turned into a barrage of explosive clashes, though she couldn't quite finish anyone off at that pace.
Ten of them kept their eyes locked on Darian. But he didn't move — didn't even seem like he intended to fight.
**CRACK!!**
A sharp, deafening sound echoed through that small world, making everyone flinch. Time was running out. In five minutes at most, everything would collapse.
Darian's eyes gleamed when he noticed the ten closest ones had stopped watching him and flew off to help the others. Then, when everyone was focused on Niara...
...he took a deep breath, swallowing the feeling of pure embarrassment ahead of time.
"Roar!"
He let out a strange, loud roar — and immediately covered his face with his hand, praying Niara and no one else would ever remember that.
In her Berserker mode, Niara could still tell allies from enemies — even just by their voice — though she couldn't understand words. Hearing Darian's roar, her primitive instincts — unable to reason but still sensitive to intent — reacted instantly.
She spread her wings and released everything inside her body in one single scream.
*ROOOOOOAR!*
A massive wave of soul power burst out from her, sweeping across the battlefield in the skies and engulfing every enemy nearby. Their faces went pale as paper — they were already exhausted, and that devastating strike caught them completely off guard.
Their souls were struck brutally. Instantly, it felt like their bodies were drowning in a sea of dark sludge, unable to move.
"!"
Darian was shocked. Niara had burned through every last bit of her gathered energy in a single soul attack. She had done exactly what he wanted — purely on instinct, without understanding a single word.
Moments later, she fell from the sky.
But before she hit the ground, she felt her body float — and smiled as she clung to Darian.
He, on the other hand, didn't waste a second. Still in midair, he coldly waved his hand. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Disappear."
A wave of black power burst out, hitting them all before they could react. Even the one with nine circles was completely overwhelmed by the soul attack. None of them stood a chance — they all exploded.
*CRACK!*
The world started to crumble. It wouldn't last even a minute more.
"Fuck!"
Darian turned, holding Niara tightly, and shot toward the skies in desperation.
He no longer needed to return through the original entrance — there wasn't time anyway. He picked a random rift and hurled himself straight toward the deadly danger, hoping it wasn't a stupid choice.
As he got close enough, he unleashed his full mastery and control over energy. The sinister spatial power froze for a split second — then he dove straight into the rift.
In the next instant, light flooded his vision.
He found himself high in the sky, right above the abyss that used to be the entrance. Behind him, the spatial fissure sealed shut and vanished as if it had never existed.
He sighed — looked like he'd made the right call. The rifts were exits, but there was always a chance he'd picked the wrong one... well, if it worked, it worked.
Darian took a deep breath and slowly landed on the ground.
He was back on the Root World line where he'd been before. Since it was still bright as day, that meant they'd been inside for less than twenty-four hours — and had made it out safely.
Without wasting time, he turned toward where he'd hidden his body. He moved quickly, reconnected to it, then picked Niara up, placing her on his back.
Soon, he was heading toward the place where the army was waiting for them.
"That was close."
He muttered as he walked with quick steps. If not for his partner and her powerful blessing, his chances of survival would've been close to zero. Honestly, he'd never have gone into that place alone. He'd have preferred to explore the world bit by bit to grow stronger — but that would've cost him the test and the chance to infiltrate.
"Dan... hungry..." A low, pleading whimper reached his ears.
"Hold on just a little longer. After this, you can eat as much as you want."
He murmured softly, feeling her hug tighten around him — warm, comforting — along with a peaceful feeling that filled them both.
