Damned Healer-Chapter 103: Found Signs

Everyone waited for the leader's decision. Gregor looked at them and said:

"But it's not that simple. The fact that Raon brought the core of the supreme artifact is something no one on Earth would've believed possible. His father doesn't have that kind of power."

Leander nodded. "Yeah, there's something hidden in this mission—something big enough for the Red River Pact Clan to burn such a valuable resource."

"Could the Empire have hidden information about the mission?" Darian asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No," Leander replied without hesitation. "My mom and my brother read the full mission on the missionary altar. This is clearly something not written directly. Probably info only high-ranking people with secret knowledge would know."

Gregor let out a huff. "My clan knew ahead of time that the Red River Pact Clan was taking this mission super seriously. But we didn't expect it to be like this. We just knew Raon might try something weird... that's why I brought this."

He then showed a small, grayish cylindrical artifact. Leander recognized it—his mother had helped Gregor get that before the mission.

"This is a copying artifact. Super hard to find. Basically, it can copy data and info from specific artifacts," Gregor explained, staring at Darian seriously. "The plan was always to keep Raon under surveillance. If he did anything sketchy, we'd copy all the footage from our group crystal. That way, even if his clan tried to cover things up, we could release the footage and force the Empire to respond. We just didn't think Raon would have the power to kill us—and then complete the mission."

The Empire couldn't really ban that kind of action. After all, if nothing shady happened, there'd be no reason to hide anything. Plus, since the artifact was so rare, its use would be limited, stopping things from getting messy.

Darian's eyes lit up hearing that, but he quickly took a breath. Not knowing what was coming made everything more intense. If Raon brought something that powerful... it meant a serious threat—and maybe a huge opportunity.

Darian thought hard. All the white and black power he had came from the underworld people who attacked his brothers. He didn't have much white power left—and worse, he'd used over 90% of his remaining black power against Raon.

"I think you should copy my footage too. Raon's death was... a bit dramatic," Darian said, pulling out his group crystal. "Once we're back on Earth, his clan's probably gonna lose their minds over what happened. So, we leak the footage. Everyone who hates that clan—and Raon—will help shut down any retaliation."

Gregor didn't hesitate. He activated his artifact and connected it to Darian's crystal. A faint grayish light flowed between them. The process took about a minute, then everything went dark.

He focused on the footage...

Then his expression changed. "What the hell... why is there a gap in the recording?"

Darian gave him an innocent look. "Not totally sure..."

He explained, not sounding very convinced, that Raon had activated something and the universe's power reacted—it came from underground. The core was in that area, so even without the full shroud over everything, it could still exist. Darian felt it affect him, but managed to purify himself using his power. Raon, though, got completely consumed.

Everyone quickly gathered around, trying to see the footage from Gregor's artifact. They saw the cut scenes... then Raon in such a miserable state that it gave them chills.

He died slowly, and in a way that was almost unbelievably painful. Even his final moments were weird and brutal. He just exploded—it was like some evil demon was behind it all, doing it with sick delight.

"Another problem..." Leander muttered, his expression tense. "We don't even know what caused that. What if using the core does the same thing to us?"

"Don't stress too much. If it happens, I can purify one more time," Darian replied quickly. "Anyway, this'll be our trump card once we're back on Earth. For now, we need to deal with what's in front of us. Leader, what's your call?"

Gregor took a deep breath and looked at Darian.

"There's no safe choice... but you seem to bring results. Alright—let's fight and hope for the best," he said.

Darian and the others nodded. Then, they all turned to the four sealed in the back, their eyes full of cold resolve.

***

Hours passed.

By now, deep within the underground temple, those four were already dead—turned into fertilizer for the supreme artifact of their own clan.

"Darian... thank you. I hope we meet again someday." The voice of the giant golem echoed from the stone Darian was holding.

He activated all his power, summoning high-level earth runes and sealing the entire temple for a few seconds. That prevented any energy from the supreme artifact from leaking out.

When it was done, Darian told him to get as far away from the temple as possible, then go back to sleep underground, safe and sound. He was already free. Once he woke up fully recovered, he'd explore the universe with his great power... he might even become the strongest creature in this place.

They could've used the golem to kill the target, but... Darian felt that would've been a dumb move. This Diabolic Shroud... it was like a poison that messed with both body and mind.

If the golem was actually dangerous to the target, the guy would've taken him out already. Most likely, because he was too naive and had a simple mind, he was easy to handle. All it'd take was invading his thoughts, and all his power would mean nothing.

Sleeping and getting super strong—while never actually living or learning about the world—definitely came with a price.

While the group got ready, Darian slipped off on his own to the central chamber. He went to the cauldrons there. No way he was wasting those potions. His Ring of Spiritual Inventory could hide anything inside, and he wanted to test if it could bring stuff from other universes without triggering the Empire's tax.

He couldn't fit everything—the inventory wasn't that big. But he felt like he could expand its space later if he made his soul stronger.

Darian grabbed fifty empty glass vials from the room. Then he stored five potions from each cauldron.

After that, he left and rejoined the group.

Everyone was locked in. They gathered up and moved toward the treasure chamber.

It was a long, dark tunnel that went deep underground. After walking for nearly ten minutes, they all came to a stop.

Leander knelt, touched the ground with his artifacts, and sensed ahead.

After a minute, he confirmed: "Another seal using the Diabolic Shroud. This one's way stronger than the one outside."

That made things clear—their target had come to this temple and made it to the treasure. He followed the same path as Raon—without even fighting the golem. Those skeletons were undead and could revive to fight again after some time.

"There are two layers," Leander continued. "The first one's more subtle, even weaker than the one outside. It's a trap—once you step in and move forward, the second layer, which is totally impenetrable, will trigger the alarm."

Gregor nodded, already expecting that. He turned to one of the fighters in his group.

This guy was named Eric, and he had a concealment blessing that activated under conditions similar to Raon's Eclipse Blessing. The difference was that Eric just turned completely invisible—sight, senses, sound, everything. Plus, he could extend the effect to allies.

Since the universe's power was covering everything, Eric could go all out. A grayish cloak covered the group, making them vanish from sight.

They moved in, stepping through the first defensive layer.

Five minutes later, they stopped in front of a tall black metal door, nearly ten meters high.

Eli was the trigger for the second layer. It was exactly where the temple's ultimate treasure was stored.

Leander knelt down again, focusing on sensing what lay beyond that door. At the start of the mission, he thought he wouldn't be that useful—but everything changed once they entered the underground.

He concentrated, and after a few seconds, he muttered in confusion:

"It's a big hall... totally empty. There's just a small altar in the center. On top of it... there's a book... and on the cover, I see two rune marks: one glowing white, the other black."

As soon as he heard that, Darian's eyes widened, stunned.

***

For some reason, Darian always remembered his sixth birthday vividly. That day, his mom gave him a gift he'd never forget.

He had just learned to read—his mom had taught him, and she'd noticed how hungry he was for knowledge. So she scraped together what little money she had and bought him a fantasy book.

Darian had no idea where she found that book. He remembered how new it looked, with stiff pages made of this weird, unique paper, and it was pretty thick too.

His mom couldn't afford something like that. Physical books were relics—almost no one had the cash to buy something so unnecessary. And those who could, usually just read on digital devices. She must've gotten it from a collector, but even then, it didn't make sense how she could afford it.

Even though he remembered everything clearly, her cheerful words at the time hadn't meant much to him:

"A pretty young woman sold it to me and recommended it. She said it was a great story, perfect for young people who love action and fantasy. It was never that popular, though, so there were still plenty of copies left at a low price."

Young Darian took the book and saw a plain black cover, with just two mystical symbols—one white, the other black.

From the moment he read the first page, he was hooked. He read it over and over, like every new read revealed something deeper.

...

When Darian returned to Earth as a full-fledged Spiritual Guardian, he tried to buy that book again. But it wasn't for sale anywhere in the capital.

While he was recently home with his brothers, he searched the internet—but he couldn't find a single trace of that book.

He found it strange, but a lot of things from the past had been lost forever. The wars to stabilize the Empires had left deep scars; servers were wiped, historical records destroyed.

He thought about going back to where he awakened. Back then, he'd had the book with him. But after waking up, he remembered everything around him was a mess, half-destroyed. A book that old probably turned to dust.

And now, in another universe, he found signs of that exact same book.