Damned Healer-Chapter 608: Energetic Incentive

Darian stared at the hundreds of cold gazes fixed on him. His mind was completely calm, but an intense fury burned in his chest.

Ever since the day he became a Spiritual Guardian, Darian had dealt with traitors everywhere. Wherever there was great power and conflict, there were always people trying to take everything for themselves, without caring about honor or dignity.

Because of that, Darian had instinctively felt from the start that things inside the Nether Spirit Race wouldn't be any different.

He was sure he had done everything perfectly and that there was no way to be discovered. So how did they find him? The only possible answer was that they had been informed he would arrive.

"Hehehe... human, you really came."

A dry, mocking voice echoed from deep within the cave.

"Activate it!"

He roared, and all the runes around Darian pulsed. A spatial power covered him along with a bright light.

In the next second, sunlight and air filled with bloody fluctuations surrounded him. He had been taken somewhere else.

Darian found himself in an open area, at the center of an immense plaza in the middle of the city.

All around him were thousands of Nether Beasts of every size and type. All of them held bone spears that radiated dense power.

These were far, far stronger than the Nether Beasts Darian had faced at the beginning. They couldn't even be compared.

Darian's gaze locked onto a humanoid-like figure at the center. It was three meters tall, and the power it radiated was far above the rest. That was clearly the leader of this race.

"Who told you about my arrival?"

Darian asked coldly, and that figure smiled maliciously.

"It seems you already understand your situation. My race does not lack informants and allies among the Nether Spirits. Did you really think you'd live long after making our attack on that tribe fail? Hahaha..."

Darian snorted, his expression unchanged. Ailik was an innocent young woman who trusted everyone in her tribe. But very likely, people extremely close to her were traitors.

A dense killing intent surged inside Darian. The Nether Tree certainly knew about those traitors, but revealed nothing, so the balance would be maintained, even while helping the Nether Spirits.

"I'll be very direct, so listen carefully." Darian's voice echoed in a flat, emotionless tone. "I came only to take what's buried at the center of this city. I have nothing to do with either race. But now... I can't leave and put a certain Nethergod Spirit in danger."

His eyes changed, and a subtle multicolored light appeared. His aura also shifted completely, with space distorting around him.

Darian couldn't use his primordial physique. But after understanding the five corrupted elements and the power of the Void from Ailik, with his spiritual root, he managed to manipulate a bit of that power in the environment.

While flying for two days toward this city, he managed to strip away the Void and keep only a small portion of elemental power; with that, he subtly energized himself and activated the Seven Elemental Stars Physique.

All the Nether Beasts felt a chill run down their spines instinctively. Darian stared at the leader and continued:

"I'll give you only one option. Hand over all the names of the traitors within the Nether Spirit Race. Then I'll take what I came for and leave without causing any trouble. Or... I'll start killing without any mercy until I get everything I want. You have five seconds to decide."

After speaking, Darian took Tir out of his inventory. The three were still asleep, but he could use just the sharp bodies of the daggers.

That leader snorted coldly. "You'll kill us alone? What a joke...!"

Mid-sentence, his expression suddenly changed as he realized he was paralyzed. And it wasn't just him: the thousands of most powerful Nether Beasts were also shocked. All of them realized that some strange energy was preventing them from even blinking.

Darian slowly floated above the ground.

That leader roared with all his strength, forcing his energies to circulate. "He has nowhere to run, KILL HIM!"

His shout seemed to carry a bloodline power, making all the Nether Beasts feel their bodies break free.

On his chest, Darian noticed a strange object that looked like a small bone. It pulsed with vitality, along with the power of the five corrupted elements. It had to be the supreme treasure of the race's leader, and to sustain it... countless Nether Spirits must have been sacrificed regularly.

"You bastard, die!"

A sea of enemies charged at Darian from all directions, their bone spears brutally piercing through space.

Darian merely moved his dagger lightly. He felt his entire body overflowing with energy, along with an insatiable killing intent.

**SLASH!**

An eerily sharp sound echoed throughout the entire city.

Darian slashed cleanly toward the leader. His spear was cut in half; the leader himself was cut in half; the entire plaza, stretching for several kilometers, was also cut in half.

A long line of Nether Beasts was brutally turned into chunks of flesh. Everyone else around froze, completely horrified.

After cutting the leader in half, Darian was about to continue attacking, since he felt the leader could heal using that bone, when he saw two figures coming from the skies, radiating terrifying auras.

They weren't flying, but distorting space itself. In mere milliseconds, they arrived to protect that leader.

Darian smiled. At that moment, all of his dark power surged.

*RUMBLE!*

Before he even attacked, the space-time around him began to collapse, cracks spreading in every direction. The grand city of the Nether Beasts was being directly destroyed just by his aura.

"What?!"

The two approaching figures were completely stunned. His aura had become ferocious and violent, an aura that wasn't even human. It felt more like that of a monster. In that instant, they realized their race had slammed straight into a wall of steel.

The moment they arrived in front of the race leader—

"Disappear,"

Darian's voice made the entire city tremble. His dagger seemed to come alive as it was fed by some kind of malignant energy; with a single slash, a massive blade appeared in the air, changing the color of the world.

"Void Shield!"

"Wave Breaker!"

The two newcomers were shocked. All they could do was defend with everything they had.

**KBOOM!**

Darian unleashed Blinding Break with all of his accumulated black power. The strike instantly shattered both of their defenses.

A terrifying energy spread in all directions, sowing chaos throughout the city. Every nearby Nether Beast didn't even have time to run before being torn apart.

Those two newly arrived Nether Beasts were extremely powerful and experienced. They knew how to manipulate the Void like no one else. Sensing the power of the attack, they grabbed the two halves of the race leader and moved away.

In that very second, when they were in the skies on the opposite side of the destruction, the race leader healed.

He opened his eyes, and his expression immediately sank. They had never imagined that the person they thought was their god of wealth… would suddenly turn into a god of death. This was completely outside their expectations.

Darian gave them the feeling that a blade was pressed against their throats, a blade that could take their lives at any moment.

It was as if…

…as if he were just playing around and didn't really want to kill them. He looked like a sadistic demon, crushing ants for fun.

Then…

A pair of red eyes turned toward him, making his body jolt.

*Wooosh*

Suddenly, Darian seemed to have teleported behind those people.

There was an excited smile on Darian's face. Finally, after a long time since creating Chaos Blink, he could now use its full power.

His spiritual root gave him what he had lacked, and now he could move short distances instantly and imperceptibly. This wasn't simple spatial manipulation; the technique he created used the power of chaos and other methods combined with space. Not even a space-time specialist would be able to notice his movement.

"NO!"

The leader screamed in terror when she saw Darian so close. She knew she should be running, but at that moment it felt as if her body no longer obeyed her, and all she could do was tremble.

The two figures roared and attacked Darian with everything they had.

Both were protectors of the Nether Beasts of the island, stronger than the current leader. One of them was the former leader, who was also the father of the current leader; the other was an elderly figure who had lived for a very long time at the center of this universe and, at the end of life, chose to return home.

Darian snorted. His daggers pulsed. He had killed many just moments ago and devoured their karma, replenishing some of his black power.

A Blinding Break with only one third of its previous power was unleashed. Because it was weaker, Darian could manipulate it with greater precision.

*Slash!*

"!"

With a single cut, the space split apart. And along with it, those two powerful figures had no chance to resist and were brutally cut in half.

Darian's hand shot forward.

He tightly grabbed the leader's throat, and he struggled in the air as if he were just a chicken.

Infinite terror rose in his eyes. Darian moved all the elemental power he was using in his physique into that Nether Beast's body, forcibly sealing its power inside.

Darian smiled coldly. Then he pressed the tip of the dagger against the leader's forehead.

"AHH!"

A scream of agony echoed out. Darian sent the black power he had devoured from those two dead ones into that person's soul, making them experience indescribable pain.

Little did he know that Darian could give him a dark rune that would be a thousand times worse. But Darian's goal wasn't to kill him that fast.

His scream echoed through the skies; it was so terrifying that all the ordinary Nether Beasts in the city hid away in fear.

After a few seconds, Darian stopped. That leader's soul was completely shattered, but…

A white power appeared and quickly healed him.

The leader's eyes locked onto Darian, almost popping out of their sockets. He understood that Darian could heal him and torture him indefinitely.

"My time is valuable. But if you want, we can stay here as long as it takes until you talk."

"N-No! I'll give you everything! Spare me!" that figure roared in total despair.

Darian smiled coldly. The right, energetic incentive always worked miracles.