Damned Healer-Chapter 144: The Price Of Their Choices

Niara snorted coldly. "Divine Aura of Life!"

Her body, covered in white scales, released an aura so big and intense it looked like a white flame around her.

The White Dragon Armor and the level B martial art didn’t have offensive power against non-Risen. But it was the one thing that resonated with the Dragon Bloodline and boosted her potential. When Niara activated it all, everyone with powerful Bloodlines was suppressed.

At the same time...

The people on the ground saw twelve black stars appear within the light, floating in a circular formation around Niara.

Those were Darian’s daggers, infused with black power.

The two of them were testing their capabilities. They were finally fighting together, each using a different side of power.

In this formation, Niara had power similar to a Primordial Dragon. She could influence the environment and people, and had supreme defensive and regenerative power. Darian, on the other hand, was the offensive side. Even though he technically only had about 30% of his full strength, his black power and daggers weren’t that weak.

On top of that...

Darian snorted and activated his two rings.

Unlike Earth’s universe, which had no power at all, this universe had tons of strong elements he could manipulate. Of course, it cost a huge amount of energy and depended on using whatever was available in the area.

Here, he sensed an abundance of wind and lightning elements. That worked just fine, and he summoned them.

At Niara’s center, a multicolored light flashed.

’Tempest Blink!’

*Vupt!*

Like a magic trick, the pair, who had been hundreds of meters up in the sky, disappeared in an instant.

Then, inside the castle, in the meeting room, a white Dragoness appeared like a ghost. Her eyes were bright with excitement. ’Amazing!’

She was thrilled with that technique. Meanwhile, Darian focused on the room. The Dragon King, panicking, activated something; spatial runes moved him instantly to a distant location.

But... he couldn’t leave the castle — it was his responsibility to defend it to the end. And Darian, with just a thought, would know exactly where he was.

*Slash!*

He moved the daggers, firing them and slashing in every direction.

"NO!"

Screams echoed.

Darian had zero mercy and attacked everyone in the meeting room. He would never kill an innocent because of his curse. Today, he’d make sure everyone with dense karma involved with the King would die.

Niara clenched her fists. The Divine Fist Art was activated, using only the power of Darian’s ring.

She roared and charged in, punching.

"AHHH!!!"

*Bang!*

This martial art was simple, but more than enough for her to cause serious destruction.

The two moved in sync. Niara attacked head-on, tearing through everyone in her path. Darian stayed focused, moving the daggers to hit those trying to run and hide.

Chaos erupted inside the castle. They ran and attacked everywhere, blood splattered all around. The pair had started a full-on purge.

Every now and then, someone would show up that Darian warned Niara to ignore. There were still some innocents in the place, and he was giving them time to escape.

After five minutes, Niara looked a little restless, hunting for the main target.

Darian said, ’He’s underground, don’t worry. We’re not gonna hunt across the entire planet — he’ll help us by gathering them.’

She nodded and flapped her wings. The blood that had covered her was flung away, leaving behind pure white... which now looked pretty terrifying to everyone who saw it.

Niara dashed and attacked, blasting through the castle walls and hunting down enemies. Some tried to flee in desperation, but the orders were to stay and try to hold her off. These Mannaz had no choice but to buy time with their lives... at least that was the King’s plan.

Minutes passed, screams and furious destruction echoed through the castle nonstop.

’They’ve arrived.’

Darian’s voice came through, and she abruptly turned and punched hard at an empty space.

*BANG!*

A shower of blood followed.

It was an assassin from the Bloodkill Claw. They already knew the Dragon King and the Academy controlled them. With this deadly attack on the castle, these assassins, with their terrifying weapons, were the enemies’ only hope.

But... Niara and Darian could dodge and take them out before they even activated the blade’s rune seals.

’They came in fast,’

Darian confirmed, sensing that the entire castle was now surrounded by Mannaz.

Inside, hundreds of assassins were moving toward them. Outside, many others connected to the King had answered his call for help.

They weren’t just coming from this planet — others from nearby planets had also been summoned. Hundreds of thousands now surrounded the castle. It was like an anthill, swarming on every side.

They knew they’d die in a single move from Niara, but there was no way to run — they had to fight with everything they had.

Niara grinned and kept attacking.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

With each punch, the castle shook and walls exploded. At the same time, blood rained everywhere.

After almost two minutes and dozens of attacks...

’They’re finally using it... idiots,’ Darian spat.

A few thousand regular Mannaz outside were now holding half-broken weapons that gave off a purple aura. They were corrupted weapons, taken from the Risen.

This was their final, desperate move. With the corruption of the weapons invading their bodies, their power would increase massively, letting them fight for a little while.

"KILL!"

Hundreds of these figures let out distorted screams and charged, storming into the castle.

Right behind them, thousands more followed. If the ones in front died, those coming up behind would grab their weapons and keep attacking.

The tactic was to start an avalanche of bodies against Niara. With the corrupted Mannaz putting some pressure on her, the assassins might find an opening and injure her with their weapons.

It was actually a pretty valid tactic. It could’ve worked against any Summoner who didn’t have many rings. But for these two, it only made things easier.

’The innocents have already left the castle. Everyone pointing a weapon at us now — even those who don’t know much about the King’s actions — will have to pay the price of their choices. Let’s end this,’ Darian said flatly.

Niara nodded and took a deep breath. Her white scales gleamed.

"White Mastery!!"

*Buzz*

The whole area trembled. Everyone’s eyes across a vast space were blinded. It was like a white sun had suddenly appeared in the middle of the place.

Then...

**RUMBLE!**

The corrupted weapons — and the Mannaz holding them — violently exploded.

Before, Darian had only known how to use the white power to heal, block, or purify corruption. Now, he could fully control corruption and turn it against the enemy. And that’s exactly what he did — everything with that corrupted power blew up with a deafening blast.

A massive wave of destruction followed. Thousands of weapons and people, packed with dense corrupted power, exploded at once.

A large part of them were already inside the castle, so everything was blasted into the air. Those still outside also exploded, and it all got swallowed up by the destruction.

In seconds, hundreds of thousands of deaths happened.

A thick cloud of black dust rose into the planet’s sky. At the same time... a stench of blood and the Yin of death spread out, making every Mannaz shiver as a chill ran down their spines.

That Dragoness was brutal.

Terrifying.

Merciless.

Five minutes later, a gust of wind blew all the dust away.

Nothing alive remained on the surface for miles.

Niara flapped her wings, landing in the middle of the ruins of the colossal castle that had been leveled.

She snorted, then waved her hand, using her power to open the ground.

The stones and earth moved aside. Right there, a hidden underground passage was revealed.

She knew that place very well. After all, she had spent a whole century trapped inside it.

Darian climbed onto her shoulder. They exchanged a look, and she sighed, calming herself a little.

’Let’s go,’ he said, and she moved.

...

Down there were the last survivors — and the Dragon King.

The passage wasn’t long, but soon the intense smell of blood made Darian feel sick. The walls seemed soaked with the Yin of death. Down here, surely thousands of times more people had died than the ones they had just killed on the surface.

When a big black gate appeared, Niara snorted and punched it with all her strength.

*BOOOM!*

It exploded open.

But when she saw inside... she stopped in her tracks, her eyes trembling.

She saw the huge scarlet pool where she had once been submerged.

She saw the terrified look of the Dragon King and a dozen other figures.

And she also... saw hundreds of scared, trembling gazes.

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