Damned Healer-Chapter 488: Advanced Again

After almost twenty hours, the three of them had heard the whole story, their eyes shining. Awel asked tons of questions, getting more and more excited with every detail. They fully understood the new chance they had been given.

"So... big brother is our master now!" Eleri said with a wide grin. "We'll be your partners too, just like this tall lady?"

Darian nodded. "I did everything I could to make your new bodies as incredible as possible. It might be a little hard to get used to. Right now, you can barely use half the real power contained in the daggers. But even if you manage to use it all in the future, there's still plenty of room to improve. As for me, I'll have to evolve beyond the level of an immortal — so, you guys have the potential to keep up with me to the very end."

The three nodded firmly, clenching their fists.

"Hehe, I always wanted to call you Master like Tir does. Don't worry, Master, we'll do our best not to disappoint you," Awel said, sounding thrilled.

Tir lowered his head and spoke with emotion, "I'll protect and fight with my life to make sure that never happens again, Master. Thank you so much for bringing my sisters back."

Darian took a deep breath, looking at them. "You don't have to treat me any differently than before..."

"No," Eleri interrupted him seriously. "I'm sure the Master will always do his best to take care of the weak, just like he did with us. That's why this is the most important opportunity for our race, which has always had a hard life, no matter where we were."

Darian grew thoughtful at her words.

Awel nodded and added, making her sister's point clearer: "In the past, Brother— no, Master— once asked me what my life goal was, what I wanted for the future. Back then, I couldn't answer, so I asked Tir and Eleri, and the three of us thought about it together." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Now that Master said he'll become someone amazing... and since we three can easily sense others of our race... I, Tir, and Eleri promise to give everything we have to help our other lost and vulnerable brothers and sisters. That's our wish and our goal — we want to help others, just like Master did for us."

Darian nodded, pleased. He no longer planned to abandon what he believed was right just to get stronger. Saving the Heavenly Elemental Spirits who had no one to protect them was a good goal for the three of them. Besides, their race had incredible potential — they just needed a chance to grow.

He agreed, and the three of them lit up with joy. They wanted to talk more and explore everything, but the next battle was close, so Darian started testing them.

To his surprise, almost everything they could use before still worked.

Darian grabbed the dagger that emitted a faint greenish aura — now Awel — and infused it with his ring's power.

Awel pulsed, then vanished from his hand, perfectly merging with the surroundings just like before.

Niara was shocked — even she couldn't feel a single fluctuation from Awel anymore. It was as if she had entered the void and wasn't in this world at all.

But Awel could still communicate with Darian perfectly — and even better...

'Master, I can see everything clearly inside this entire place we're in.'

Darian nodded with excitement. His senses only worked through the karma of people, letting him locate anyone within a vast area with ease. But if there were no people around, he was basically like anyone else. Awel, though, could see everything perfectly — and even better, no one could tell they were being watched by her.

Awel returned to her dagger form. Then Darian sensed some movement in the distance — it was the army, exploring the area and gathering everything they could find.

Darian turned to Niara, who understood instantly, took his hand, and flapped her wings swiftly.

In seconds, they reached a forest. There, a group from the army was fighting dozens of mutant beasts that looked like boars the size of elephants, covered in multicolored scales.

As they approached from the sky, the army members turned, sensing their presence, looking confused.

Darian drew Tir and Eleri, who pulsed in his hands.

"Go, take them all." As soon as he said it, the daggers shot forward like lightning toward the beasts.

Tir pierced the ground, and the entire area glowed with a yellowish light. The next instant, spears of earth erupted upward, impaling several beasts with overwhelming force.

At the same time, the others felt their bodies being covered by a thick layer of ice. In seconds, they were completely frozen solid.

Eleri darted forward, the dagger brutally piercing one of the beasts. Then...

Everyone saw and felt the creature's life being completely devoured. In seconds, the massive boar seemed to shrivel up.

When it collapsed lifeless, the ground beneath it seemed to suck its body slowly into the void, dissolving its very existence.

Eleri rushed toward the next one, and the next — exuding endless hunger and desire, as if she hadn't fed in ages.

Up above, Niara looked a little disappointed — all the meat was gone.

Seeing all that, Darian's eyes went wide.

Only now did he realize a big problem: he had two mouths to feed, and both had black holes for stomachs. Niara and Eleri had no limits, and he had to always keep that in mind — and be ready to feed them.

Within minutes, all the beasts were gone. The two daggers floated back into Darian's hands on their own.

"Master, Master... I feel like I can make that thing, but it'll be a bit different," Eleri said quickly.

Darian gathered everyone again. The next battle was close, and the army was already starting to prepare.

There, he let Eleri convert everything she'd devoured into that 'liquid'.

In the past, that liquid contained pure life energy that all Heavenly Elemental Spirits could absorb like a potion, healing quickly. It had been extremely useful, especially back when Darian didn't yet have white power.

But for people of other races, the effect wasn't as fast — still, it would be considered a treasure by alchemists, with various special uses.

When Eleri began releasing a bit, Darian collected the liquid in a vial and immediately sensed the changes. Eleri's new body now held the dense power of a Primordial Dragon. And since everything was connected to her...

"This has a bit of primordial power," Darian murmured, surprised. Eleri could barely control the new power, but she was already capable of forming a trace of it. In the future...

Darian had an idea, then turned toward two Mannaz near the army — one with Dragon Bloodline, the other from Enfield.

He gave them the liquid and told them to drink it.

As soon as they did, it dissolved instantly inside their bodies. The next second, Darian's and the two Mannaz's eyes widened as they felt a change.

It was subtle, almost unnoticeable at first — but their Bloodlines had become a bit denser.

It was important to remember that over the thousands of years in this universe, all Mannaz had their Bloodlines diluted through generations, becoming weaker and weaker.

"...if Veyle can make a more refined potion from this, and if Eleri can increase the density too... could the Mannaz actually become even stronger in the future?" Darian murmured, amazed at the possibilities.

Inside that Array, those with Enfield Bloodline gained more power, but it had no direct link to Bloodline refinement. It was more like, by absorbing the essence of the Blood Race, their human side slowly adapted to the Enfield power, getting stronger as a result.

But this power from Eleri had extraordinary potential for the future.

Darian quickly pushed that thought aside — that would be something for later. Right now, the battle was about to begin.

***

Three months passed.

During that time, they moved steadily between the lines of the Root World, wiping out everyone who granted Merit Power. At the same time, Darian visited and infused his chaos power into the openings that connected to the local Dragon Vein.

In their breaks, Niara and the three new allies got to know each other better. Niara and Eleri hit it off fast since they had a lot in common. Awel was more like Darian, and Niara knew how to handle her just by being herself — soon enough, those two got along too.

Tir, on the other hand, was a calm boy, always keeping an eye on his sisters. Around Niara — someone completely free of malice or complicated thoughts — he easily felt relaxed.

That day, they returned to the end of the Root World, with no intention of staying there any longer.

The entire final region was surrounded by a strange yellowish energy. It had been left there by Enfield — it was both the goal and the reward for anyone who reached that point.

"Everyone, break through. It's time to move on."

Darian gave the order to the Spiritual Guardians, who nodded excitedly.

Places like that existed in all five worlds of that Array. Inside them, the Spiritual Guardians could absorb the golden energy and, in a mysterious way, feel and manipulate Merit Power. Because of that, they didn't need to return to their own universe to advance their rings.

Not that it really mattered — after all, Darian could help them advance anyway.

Everyone focused as much as they could.

Darian, who had been waiting a long time for this, went first. His four rings trembled, and then a new, larger one appeared, surrounding the others — five rings in total now.

A bluish aura spread from his body, and he couldn't help but feel excited. Finally, after ten years, he had advanced again.

It didn't even take half a day before all the Spiritual Guardians reached their fifth ring as well. They had spent three months hunting enemies with five circles, and during that time, they'd learned to fight as efficiently as possible — and to work together better as a group.

When everyone was done, Darian led them forward. Now, they could only move ahead — if they tried to go back to the previous line, the Array would activate and force them into the next world.

They headed toward a large spatial distortion, like a portal.

Without hesitation, the great army stepped through it.

...

When they arrived, the first sight was similar to the Root World — a relatively normal environment, and a huge tree far to the north marking the point of arrival.

But...

Darian's eyes and senses immediately caught something ahead — very familiar presences.

"Lucy... why is she here at the entrance?" Niara muttered, feeling her presence too.

At that same moment, Lucy sensed them as well. They were less than a kilometer away.

A few minutes later, in the sky, the small woman with yellow butterfly wings and her partner approached Darian with tense expressions.

"Bro..." As she landed in front of him, Lucy spoke, her eyes trembling.

"What happened? Why do I sense fewer than fifty thousand Spiritual Guardians here? Where are the others?"

Lucy had been the leader of the one hundred and fifty thousand who entered with her. Darian asked that, thinking maybe they had found a group of enemies that granted Merit Power, leveled up, and moved ahead — but...

Lucy lowered her head and spoke slowly, "All the others... they were all killed..."

Hearing that, Darian, Niara, and everyone else froze in shock.