Damned Healer-Chapter 648: Within My Calculations

**BOOOM!**

A deafening roar echoed everywhere. However, facing the corpse's strike, a Dragoness covered in shining scales firmly grabbed its foot.

The gigantic, absurdly powerful corpse froze midair, unable to move even a single centimeter.

Murkum was in the region where the corpse's head should have been. When he saw that terrifying woman block the blow, his expression changed completely. He had never felt such fear in his entire life.

Without hesitation, he roared, activating everything he could to control that corpse.

"Malignant Blood Sacrifice!"

Murkum roared, and his blood sprayed over the corpse, plunging the world into a chilling silence.

"AH!"

The instant the corpse absorbed the blood, Murkum let out a startled scream. The energy flowing into him suddenly reversed its course, and even his blood essence and vital energy were voraciously devoured by the corpse.

That man, already extremely thin, suddenly withered completely, becoming nothing more than dried flesh and bones.

The corpse yanked the leg Niara was holding and shuddered. Its wings flapped, and a halo of light emanated from its body.

*BOOM!*

With an explosion of power, a sinister aura burst out, hurling everyone away.

Darian protected the two, keeping his eyes fixed on the horizon.

The giant corpse shot forward with all its strength, its colossal body disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Ailik's heart sank. "That direction..."

"It's the exit of Golden Sky Mountain!" Ramel exclaimed tensely.

Darian spoke with an extremely calm expression: "It's fine. Outside, the strongest of the five enemy powers has already been gathering for a long time. Besides, the corpse absorbed a lot of that bastard's bloodline and is out of control. It just ran toward the city because it sensed its head in that direction."

"B-But... the Sacred Treasure will absorb it," Ramel muttered, shaken.

Darian smiled faintly, and Niara walked up to them.

Seeing Darian's expression, Ailik snorted in relief. She had already learned from Niara that she didn't need to overthink anything. If Darian said it was fine, then all she had to do was wait for his orders and follow them exactly for everything to truly be fine.

"Let's go." Niara stepped forward and held Darian's hand.

Ailik clung to Darian's neck, while Ramel kept his true form as a small sparrow, clinging to Ailik's clothes.

Niara beat her wings and shot toward the exit.

There were two exits, but that corpse had no intelligence... after all, it had no head, brain, or soul. It moved purely by instinct, heading in a straight line toward the outer region and the barrier of the place.

Niara advanced at full speed. Everyone in that world looked up and saw a shooting star streak across the sky.

The Wood Spirits, Saelil, and Maeyu were certain it was them. Everyone took a deep breath and focused on staying safe in that place, gathering the treasures exactly as Darian had instructed.

In just a few minutes, they reached the boundary of the area.

The barrier had a colossal hole, opened by the destruction caused by the giant corpse. The enormous breach still carried terrifying traces of Nether energy, corroding the barrier's internal power.

The high-level Void power that had naturally created that place was entering a state of balance with the contaminating power invading it. Because of this, the entire area was becoming increasingly unstable. It wouldn't take long before it became accessible to anyone, allowing free entry and exit.

Soon, this treasure-filled region would be completely looted, leaving nothing behind. Darian had already foreseen this and made sure to tell his allies to focus on gathering the best things there.

When the group rushed through the opening in the barrier, Darian's eyes suddenly gleamed.

"The party's already started," Niara murmured.

*BOOM!*

At that moment, they heard a massive explosion and saw a gigantic violet-gold seal fill the sky. A violet-gold light descended, imprisoning the giant corpse.

"City Lord!"

Shouts echoed in all directions.

The violet-gold light of the Sacred Treasure spread across the sky and completely enveloped the corpse, seemingly sealing it with some kind of power. It only trembled slightly, unable to move.

However...

Alaric's situation was dire.

Jason, Caofeng, as well as the other two clan masters, along with several powerful figures from the Primordial Empire, were all around him. Among them were the three Primordial Chosen of the previous generation.

At that moment, the absolute peak elite of power in the universe was all gathered in the same place, all their attention focused on Alaric.

They had surrounded him, but they were in no hurry to act. They calmly observed as Alaric fought the corpse, clearly waiting for the right opportunity.

At that instant, Alaric roared, activating 100% of his power.

A manifestation appeared in the skies, completely transforming the scene. Everyone could see hundreds of shadows emerge around him, making them all swallow hard.

That was the supreme technique of the Celsiel family, in which all the former City Lords of that family left behind a portion of their power for the successor.

Each of those shadows possessed enough strength to face a great expert. With hundreds of them, it granted him practically infinite power. In that state, his gaze and aura made the very world tremble.

Of course, everyone knew that this was Alaric's ultimate trump card. After using it once, he would never be able to use it again for the rest of his life.

Even so, at that moment, he was no longer just a man in the Heaven Saint Realm. His aura completely surpassed that realm. Even the auras of the Primordial Chosen seemed fragile before him.

The arrival of Darian and the others did not go unnoticed. Everyone turned their attention toward them, surprised, with weapons also aimed in their direction. Alertness reached its peak, and killing intent flared. The atmosphere felt like a colossal war about to erupt.

"Looks like we're going to have to start a massacre," Niara commented, her eyes equally filled with killing intent.

Darian did not respond. His gaze and senses swept over everything, carefully evaluating whether his plan would work properly.

Those people began preparing to attack. The strategy was clear: they would attack to drain Alaric's precious energy until he weakened, and then deliver the fatal blow.

'Don't come over here!'

Alaric's voice echoed like thunder in the minds of Darian and his group. His gaze was fixed on them, and only those four could hear him.

"I… I'm sorry. I couldn't do everything fast enough..." Ailik replied sincerely. In fact, she had faced difficulties, and when she was very close to finishing, the enemies arrived sooner than expected.

But that ended up being a good thing, because Darian was able to change the original plans.

Alaric replied: 'Don't worry. Actually, from the start, I didn't have much confidence that you could stop this… because this is destiny. This is the final battle between my Celsiel family and those bastards. Our karma is long, and we've had countless conflicts throughout history. There were times when people from my family acted like vengeful idiots; at other times, those bastards had their turn. Karma is something you can't escape. At some point, everything has to be paid for. You can't blame yourselves. Either way, I've been prepared for this for a long time. Everything is within my calculations. I just need your help with one thing.'

"Oh? Just tell us," Darian replied emotionlessly.

'The Sacred Treasure has been completely infected. Even though it's acting as if it's helping me suppress the corpse, in reality, it's merging with it. Its ambitions are even greater than I anticipated. After controlling this corpse, it will start a massacre to strengthen itself. All it wants is to restore the absorbed power to its most powerful state.'

Hearing that, Darian snorted. That completely destroyed the entire fallacy of "protector of the universe" that the Sacred Treasure was supposed to represent.

It was truly possessed by the madness of the Nether. And, most likely, the five powers would guide it toward the nearest islands, allowing it to freely feed on innocent lives.

'The Sacred Treasure has its power spread across six different places: the four branch runes, the main rune, and the beast's head. Although it looks like it's helping me suppress the corpse, it's actually injecting a portion of its power into it. When all seven energy deposits are balanced, it will begin the fusion. That will be the ideal moment for me to destroy it. The window of opportunity will be extremely short, but I need to seize it. If I calculate the timing correctly, the worst outcome will be the dissipation of my control over it. But my life will remain unharmed,' Alaric explained.

"Seriously?" Ailik and Ramel were shocked when they heard that.

Darian, on the other hand, was absolutely certain that it would not work.

'It's because it's also plotting against me. It wants to escape my control while paying the lowest possible price. That conspiracy is what created this single opportunity. However, I'll need your help to take advantage of it. While I execute my plan, I need you to stop these people for a few minutes...' Alaric said gravely.

"If that's all, then rest assured. These people won't reach you," Darian replied calmly.

"I'll entrust this to you. Thank you very much," Alaric said.

Darian nodded. He turned to Niara, and she immediately understood.

Thus, just like that, they remained outside the encirclement. The enemies split up, and a third of them aimed their weapons at the group, but did not attack immediately, only taking up a combat stance.

Even so, for some reason, everyone felt something terrifying. A chill ran down each of their spines.