Damned Healer
Chapter 154: Indestructible Meat Shield

Chapter 154: Indestructible Meat Shield

Darian pushed aside any lingering doubts. He’d already pulled off a few wins in impossible situations. No matter what came his way — he had to use it as a stepping stone to get stronger.

He focused on the woman, whose body was now cloaked in something that looked like black flame...

"Interesting. That really is a Risen Chief transformation," Darian muttered. As soon as the Elders heard that, their faces went pale.

"But... it was forced, and it’s incredibly unstable. Perfect..." he added, a grin creeping across his lips.

This time, thanks to his evolved rings, he could sense something he hadn’t noticed back when he’d seen other Risen Chiefs in the abyssal nest.

"Lucy, Lucius, give it everything you’ve got. These Risen don’t have any intelligence, and their powers are a mess. They’re stronger than the Mannaz from earlier, but they should be easier to kill," Darian said calmly. "Just watch out for their corruption. Keep your healing ready to cleanse that stuff off everyone."

"Yes!" both of them answered, their eyes gleaming.

*Flap, Flap*

Niara flapped her wings and shot up into the sky. Her bright celestial-blue eyes were locked onto the terrifying opponent ahead.

Darian snorted. Around the Dragoness, who radiated a holy white aura, twelve daggers cloaked in darkness spun in formation.

The group’s Elders looked up, cold sweat dripping down their backs. This was insane. A Risen Chief had power equivalent to a Spiritual Guardian with three or four rings.

Even if her power was unstable... that pair only had one ring each! And they’d been together less than two months!

The Academy Leader, off in the distance, was no longer surrounded by that massive black cloud. It was obvious now — that soldier he’d made was his trump card.

He must’ve lost everything, or almost all his power, to create her. But he clearly had total confidence in her. Who wouldn’t? Anyone with only one ring should be nothing but an ant in front of that thing.

But Darian and Niara didn’t need to say much to each other.

’Only one target. GO!’

He said, and Niara nodded, clenching her fists.

*RUMBLE!*

She blasted forward like a white lightning bolt, shaking the skies. Divine Fist Art activated — her fists were now covered in white flame.

The enemy stared her down as she closed the distance fast. Inside that corrupted body, Darian felt three different energies slowly awaken... she was different from anything he’d seen — and yet, somehow familiar.

The Risen Chief moved — suddenly.

In that instant, the entire area warped. Before Niara could even react, the Risen Chief was right in front of her, slamming a powerful strike into her gut.

*BOOM!*

The punch landed hard. The impact tore through her white scales, and blood gushed from her mouth.

She nearly hit the ground, but managed to steady herself with a rapid beat of her wings.

She healed instantly — but the shock didn’t fade. Her white armor, once the bane of corruption, now seemed to only barely hold up against that attack.

"!"

At that moment, the Risen Chief appeared behind her like a ghost. Spinning fast, her elbow crashed into Niara’s back.

Her movements were a blur. This time, Niara was sent flying toward the ground — but in mid-air, she was caught off guard again, another elbow smashing into her, nearly folding her in half.

*BOOM!*

She exploded into a group of Risen dozens of meters from where the main group was fighting. Everyone felt the force of that clash — and it terrified them.

Niara got up fast, more blood dripping from her mouth.

The second she stood firm, the Risen Chief’s foot aimed right at her head, forcing Niara to throw her arms up in defense.

*Crack!*

A sickening sound of bones breaking rang out. That kick shattered her arms like nothing.

But then...

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

All the daggers struck from different angles, catching the enemy off guard and forcing her to defend herself in a rush.

She stepped back several times, but not a single dagger left a scratch on her.

Her offensive power was overwhelming, and her defenses were absolute. Obviously, the daggers weren’t even on the same level of power as that Risen Chief.

Even freshly transformed and unstable, that enemy was way stronger than any regular Risen. She probably had power close to that of a top-tier, experienced Spiritual Guardian with two rings.

Darian had already fought Raon, who also had two rings... but Raon, without his blessing active and without his money power, was so weak it was laughable. He couldn’t be used as a benchmark for anything.

Niara roared and charged again.

*BOOM!*

Once more, she was thrown back. She couldn’t even put up a fight against that enemy.

And on top of that, the Risen Chief’s power was subtly distorting the space around her. Because of it, Niara couldn’t sense where the enemy was while running, much less predict her next move.

But...

That was just Niara, of course.

This time, the Risen Chief didn’t follow up with another attack.

*GWAAAAR!*

She let out a roar of pain. Niara smiled slightly when she saw a dagger perfectly lodged in the enemy’s collarbone.

The enemy was savage and dominant — but she was facing someone even more terrifying.

That subtle space distortion clouded Niara’s senses — but it clouded the Risen Chief too. It was perfect for Darian to use his daggers, since their material was known to pierce through space easily. After a few tries, he’d found a weak spot.

With another loud roar, the Risen Chief yanked the dagger out viciously. Then she crushed the blade and locked eyes on Niara. No — she was aiming at the center of Niara’s chest, where a small creature was hiding.

Darian let out a breath. His dark power had been sealed inside the enemy. He didn’t have the strength to kill her that easily.

But...

’She can’t kill you in one shot — not with how unstable her power is,’ Darian said calmly. ’I’ve got an idea. Just keep pushing forward... take the hits. We’ve got plenty of white power to heal you.’

Niara stared at the Risen Chief, who moved again. Now the space was even more distorted... with every attack, she got stronger, starting to learn how to stabilize her power. In a bit, losing would be even more certain.

"Fuck this!" Niara roared and charged, her fists burning with white flames.

Her partner had basically told her to charge in and let herself get beat up endlessly... so she would be the indestructible meat shield.

*Bang!*

The Risen Chief’s fist smashed into Niara’s face with a sickening sound. But this time, she didn’t get blasted away.

Normally, getting thrown back after a hit helped disperse the impact and reduce the damage. But Darian had told her to absorb it.

Niara spat out a ton of blood, and the scales on her face shattered completely.

Another wild punch came.

*Bang!*

Niara crossed her arms to block it by force.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The brutal, dry impacts kept echoing nonstop. Lucy and Lucius looked up, alarmed...

Niara’s clothes were in tatters, her body soaked in blood. Her white scales couldn’t even regenerate before the next hit landed.

She was moving her arms and body just to block. The only thing on her mind was protecting the place where Darian was hiding. Everything else — she let herself take the hits, flapping her wings forward — like she was trying to crash headfirst into the enemy’s fists in a wild frenzy.

"Focus, dammit!"

An Elder roared at the twins to stop getting distracted. Their only chance of surviving... and of not having this final galaxy wiped out, was to believe those two would win.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.