Damned Healer-Chapter 684: Immortal Celestial

Planet Grandmist was a magical colossus, as if it were a world separate from the universe itself, ten times larger than Earth.

At its center, the main continent pulsed with a prismatic glow, radiating an energy so vast that its colors could be seen from the vacuum of space, like a permanent aurora.

The main city rested at a point of perfect harmony. To the left, a majestic river snaked around the walls like the protective embrace of an ancient serpent. Behind it, a mountain range rose with the imposing presence of an eternal sentinel, watching the horizon like a monarch on a throne.

Throughout that entire place, there existed a planetary inscription that consumed nearly infinite resources, drained from other universes, and burned to nourish every inch of Grandmist with inexhaustible vitality.

When Darian and the army arrived, they were on the main continent, in a remote region.

Everyone immediately noticed something strange. They felt the fluctuations of countless defensive inscriptions already activated, sealing the space. It was as if the entire planet was on maximum alert.

"Do they know we’re attacking?" Barod asked, worried by the extreme state of alarm.

"That’s impossible. They might suspect we would attack because of the events in the other universe. But they can’t keep all defensive inscriptions active all the time, since they don’t know when we’d strike," Darian replied calmly.

Clearly, this was a measure to ensure that all spies and outside eyes on the planet couldn’t transmit any news.

Caliris’s demon spies were known throughout the universe. Even with all planets on high alert, exterminating countless spies over time, it was impossible to guarantee that none remained hidden. Still, preventing any information leak was simple. Just gather everyone in one place and watch them. If anyone tried to send any information in that state, they would be discovered immediately.

Ailik’s spatial abilities managed to take them to the heart of the city, passing through the defensive inscription without anyone noticing. However, once inside, it would be hard not to be seen. The power of the Void only hid them from senses, not from sight.

Niara turned to Darian, a bloodthirsty gleam in her eyes. "With an alert level this high, it’s impossible to sneak in. All that’s left is to attack head-on."

"Certainly. But there’s no need to rush. Everything is within expectations," Darian said, smiling to show there was no need to worry.

Inside his inventory, Ailik was focused, her eyes shining.

Thanks to her power, she could subtly distort the space ahead to see what existed inside the inscription in the main city.

Unexpectedly, despite the inscriptions set up outside, she couldn’t see anyone in the streets.

Only when she realized that the buildings were packed with powerful people did she understand. Just as Darian had predicted, everyone in the city was gathered together to watch one another.

Ailik murmured, "Master, there are two inscriptions in this city. The central one... I can’t see what’s inside, but it’s very powerful..."

’Look further back. I can sense a strange aura,’ Darian said to her.

Ailik’s gaze quickly swept from one building to another. Not even those layers of protection could stop her from seeing through them.

"What is that?!" Ailik suddenly exclaimed.

In the most secret recess of the city, there were five altars. Upon them rested various tributes. Meanwhile, the Alvs, armed with large tools, poured a viscous, blood-like liquid over the totems of the altars.

Those totems represented five different beasts. She had never seen anything like them before. When the liquid was poured over them, several runes lit up on the altars, until they became like spheres of light.

"They’re talking. Master, I’ll shift more power so you can hear," Ailik said seriously, and Darian nodded.

...

"Hahaha, it’s done! Lord Celestial Immortal, hurry! Hear our call!" one of the Alv elders laughed as he saw the altars glowing.

Beside him, at the center of everything, were more than a thousand Spiritual Guardians, who were also laughing. Around each of the five altars, there were hundreds of Spiritual Guardians. All of these people possessed nine rings.

Darian snorted softly. He had never heard the term Celestial Immortal before, but instinctively felt that it was something extremely dangerous. Everything about this looked like a summoning ritual, involving a massive amount of blood from powerful beasts and multiple Supreme Artifacts.

Summoning something between universes, even for the Spiritual Sovereigns, was impossible. But...

If it were someone on Meru’s level, or one of the immortals who had won the great war of the past, everything would be different. Because of that, Darian felt a cold sweat run down his back.

This all seemed to be just a way to communicate with that Immortal. Sending simple messages, when that terrifying figure had given them something made specifically for that purpose, even across universes, wasn’t impossible.

The five altars glowed more and more intensely.

Darian reflected, feeling that his suspicions were correct.

Then he sighed. He had arrived at the perfect moment, right after they had finished the communication. If he didn’t interrupt this immediately, a complex variable might arise in the future.

Snorting, Darian said without emotion, "Get ready. I’m attacking."

Everyone swallowed hard. The plans now seemed to have changed, so they stared at him attentively, waiting for new orders.

A dagger appeared in Darian’s hand, while two young girls appeared at his side.

Darian looked at the army. "There’s no plan. I’ll break their barrier and immediately eliminate the most problematic idiots. Niara and I will draw them in. Archers, ignore everything except blindly firing at those altars. Use the chaos to destroy them. They’re trying to communicate, wanting to summon someone powerful from another universe. If that figure appears now, we don’t know what risks it could bring us. In other words, the altars must be destroyed."

Everyone was stunned by those words. Someone coming from another universe? The world was vast and full of abnormal beings, so allowing that to happen was indeed extremely dangerous.

That city had two defensive layers. Around it, there was a powerful but common inscription, which wasn’t a problem.

At the city’s core, however, there was another defensive inscription that Darian had never seen before, but whose power he could clearly feel.

It was made of Immortal power. All the altars were connected to it. If he attacked the core with everything at once, trying to destroy it all in one go, he suspected he wouldn’t be able to break that immortal inscription anytime soon.

For that reason, the best solution was to prioritize destroying the altars. Darian would make all the main enemies deal with him, preventing them from manipulating the greater inscription.

Then, with all the archers using those arrows, they could destroy the altars one by one.

Since they weren’t attacking the core, but rather something on the side connected to the inscription, the defensive power was much weaker. Countless arrows with sharpening rune seals, fired together, managed to get the job done.

After saying that, Darian grabbed Niara’s hand, and the two shot up into the skies.

Shortly after, he came down alone.

The dagger in his hands struck toward the first inscription. At that instant, an extreme yellowish light burst out from the blade.

**KBOOOM!**

Darian was like an arrow. That terrifying inscription was as fragile as paper before the power of Tir. More than ten layers of defenses were instantly pierced and blown apart.

Everything happened very fast. In two seconds, Darian had already destroyed the barrier and charged toward the building where the most powerful Spiritual Guardians were gathered.

In front of him, the yellowish power condensed, forming a black sphere fifty meters wide.

*RUMBLE!*

It fell, making the building collapse instantly. It was as if a meteor had fallen straight there.

That was the power of the Earth element at an extremely high level, which had created Celestial Obsidian, a type of absurdly hard and magical material.

A deafening alarm rang throughout the entire city. Possibly, the whole planet could hear it.

Darian was so fast that his attack on the inscription and the building happened first, and the alarm only sounded afterward.

Amid the dust and destruction rising into the skies, several miserable figures crawled out of the rubble. However, they were met by the fist of a furious Dragoness.

Blood splattered everywhere.

At that moment, Darian’s figure appeared behind an older-looking Alv. He was a Spiritual Guardian with nine rings, and Darian felt he was someone important.

All the most powerful ones were elders close to death. Because of that, they hadn’t participated in the previous great battle and managed to survive.

*Pierce!*

The dagger struck his back brutally. With a slight tremor, that elder was turned into a mist of blood.

However, inside the inventory, Ailik activated her power to connect with that soul. She was reading the soul’s memories, just like the Sacred Treasure Darian had obtained in the past could do.

’Master!’

She spoke quickly, then sent the images to Darian.

Darian was satisfied. He hit the target on the first try. This figure wasn’t the overall commander, but he was the grandfather of the one in command; because of that, he knew almost everything. Based on those images, Darian was able to get a general idea of the orders that the common people of that planet had received from the Spiritual Sovereigns.

This was clearly a plan by the Spiritual Sovereigns to buy time and recover. The moment the news that the Celestial Shadow had almost been killed reached them, they began setting everything up on the planet, in case Darian came to attack them.

They used something that was called a ’last resort’, without hesitating. Possibly, whoever they were summoning could, at the very least, hold Darian back for quite some time.

Even though Darian didn’t know the details, just those images allowed him to deduce that much.

"Enemy attack!"

Shouts echoed throughout the city. At that instant, one of those shouting was silenced as soon as he finished speaking; a greenish feather pierced his head. That Spiritual Guardian with nine rings was killed instantly, without even knowing how.

As soon as Darian and Niara began the attack and destroyed the first inscription, Udynes and Barod silently led everyone toward one of the altars.

There was no need for orders. While the beasts provided protection, the five hundred elite elven archers unleashed a barrage of arrows.

Those wooden arrows were fired as if they cost nothing.

"AHHH!"

They struck indiscriminately at the Spiritual Guardians who were protecting the altars. They needed to finish off those in front first, to be able to hit the main target.

When the Spiritual Guardians reacted, it was already too late. Even with the Tanks activating their blessings, it was still useless. The rune seal pierced through their bodies as if they were made of paper.

Several of those Alvs, who in the past considered themselves the top of the universe’s food chain, fell to the ground, trembling. Some of them tried to dig into the soil to hide in desperation. The sight of everyone around them being killed so brutally was terrifying.

With the collapse of hundreds of them, many of the others guarding the remaining altars were shocked and immediately drew their weapons, activating their maximum powers.

As a result, lights flashed, and distorted images filled the air like mountains, all crashing down toward the army.

With the collapse of space itself, the arrows flying through the air could no longer reach them.

"Archers, fall back and keep shooting. Don’t let them get close!" Barod shouted, commanding the beasts at the front.

The Alvs were truly terrifying. Upon seeing that the arrows had such tremendous power, they immediately found a way to avoid them.

That was the reason why Spiritual Guardians, and even cultivators, chose not to use bows and arrows, always preferring close-combat weapons. Once the other side was prepared, arrows would no longer pose such a big threat; it was enough to distort the space around them, and the arrows wouldn’t reach the target properly.

The alarm kept blaring, so all the Spiritual Guardians on the planet were certainly on their way to provide support.

*BUUZZ*

Suddenly, the Void trembled, and the world changed color. A bone whip shot toward the skies, striking downward like an unstoppable celestial blade.

Upon feeling the ice power within that whip, the Alvs almost screamed in despair.

Even before the whip hit the ground, its freezing aura paralyzed everyone below. When it fell, it annihilated everything in its path. Countless people were torn apart.

At the same time, murderous feathers danced among the enemies, killing everything they passed through, like a hot blade cutting through butter.

Aleri and Awel were barely seen by anyone. They were able to move through the shadows, using the power of their dresses and rune seals. Both caused chaos, creating a beautiful rain of blood across the battlefield.

That made those Spiritual Guardians who were interfering with the arrows open a gap.

*BOOM!*

As a result, the archers hit one of the totems on the altar, which shattered. The altar darkened instantly.

After destroying one totem, the army rushed toward the next.

"Stop them!"

The most powerful Spiritual Guardians at the center of everything shouted in panic. Those five totems had almost exhausted the resources the planet had been gathering for countless years. If the totems were destroyed, all their efforts would have been in vain.

"But can you stop us?" Niara mocked.

She and Darian were blocking the strongest ones, standing directly before the core of everything. Those figures couldn’t leave that place, by order of the Spiritual Sovereigns. Because of that, the defense of the altars was in the hands of the other, more average ones.

But, strangely enough, Darian was tense. That was because he felt that those people at the center of everything were faking their despair. In other words, something was wrong, and he didn’t know what.