Damned Healer-Chapter 691: Pieces On The Board

At that moment, more than a million Abyssal Corrupted Wolves were gathered. Darian gave them a bit of the power coming from the Fiendlight and explained the foundation of the two basic techniques he had received from Heze.

Everyone focused… but within a few seconds, the wolves started coughing up mouthfuls of blood. The blood carried many fragments of their internal organs mixed in.

Darian hurriedly healed them.

After several hours, he couldn't even remember how many times that had happened. They were only trying to learn the foundation of the two techniques. They needed to complete this step in order to use *Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth* and *Primal Hunting Will*. But just the foundation alone was already far too hard to master.

Basically, they had to create and condense eighty-one runes using Fiendlight power inside their stomachs. These runes were terrifying things, and each one held great destructive power. The explosion of just one could destroy a mountain.

After everyone created the runes, they had to connect them to their souls. But when they tried to activate them, their stomachs exploded instantly. Fortunately, the physical bodies of these wolves were strong enough to survive a mistake.

If it weren't for Darian supporting them and healing them, they would've died or given up long ago. That wasn't a technique for fragile creatures or those without willpower. The difficulty level was beyond comprehension, a legitimate technique above the Immortal level.

Darian stood there thinking, watching, and reflecting. Something seemed to be missing…

"Ah, how stupid of me!" Darian suddenly slapped his own leg, having an idea. He moved his hands to his head and took the little wolf down, placing her in front of him.

"Howlyn, can you create these runes?" Darian asked, then explained in detail what he needed.

She listened carefully, then closed her eyes. The Fiendlight crystal on her neck pulsed softly. Soon after, energy flowed, and a small rune appeared.

"Excellent," Darian praised, gently patting her head. "Now, try to create a much weaker rune, with as little power as possible. You should be able to do it by manipulating the Fiendlight crystal."

This was something only Howlyn could do.

Thanks to her talent and control, a small rune with ninety-nine percent less power than the original appeared.

*Bang!*

In that instant, an explosive sound burst out in front of Darian. The runes had been destroyed.

Howlyn suddenly trembled. She curled up against Darian's arm, gently rubbing her head against him.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. You don't have experience, and nobody gets it right on the first try. We just need to try a few more times," Darian comforted her.

This process was extremely difficult, especially in the final phase. As the runes' power was weakened, Howlyn had to balance them delicately; otherwise, if the power became uneven, the runes would be destroyed again.

As expected, her lack of experience showed. She failed seven times in a row, but she didn't get discouraged. She persevered while being pampered by Darian after every failure. Niara just watched, pretty sure Howlyn was actually enjoying failing.

Until, on the eighth attempt, she finally created eighty-one faint runes.

Darian let out a relieved breath. She had finally done it. Still, that was only one of the steps. He wasn't sure yet if this would help the wolves.

Darian called one of them over and had him cautiously swallow the sphere of runes. After they settled in place, Darian personally sent a bit of soul power into the wolf, gently nurturing those runes to make them stronger.

"I'm going to cut my connection to the soul power in the runes. You must take control immediately. If you're even a second late, they'll explode," Darian said seriously to the wolf.

The wolf nodded.

Darian took a deep breath and waved his hand, cutting the connection.

"!"

Suddenly, all the runes lit up inside the wolf's internal organs. The eighty-one runes split apart and spread through all his internal organs, anchoring themselves there perfectly.

They fragmented repeatedly, from one to two, from two to four, from four to eight… Countless runes filled his insides.

"What… what's happening?" Darian muttered, shocked. That wasn't described like this in Heze's technique.

After a few minutes, he saw that the wolf was perfectly healthy and that the runes had connected to his soul flawlessly.

It was a success. Only Howlyn, with her incredible control over the Fiendlight, could create a rune that weak, and combined with Darian's mastery over soul power, nurturing the runes once they were inside someone else's body, everything worked.

"!"

Suddenly, the wolf's eyes widened as he felt something strange.

The runes inside him swam around his organs. They weren't under his control and quickly coiled around them.

Suddenly, his body began to wither. That abrupt change made Darian jump in shock. He felt as if the vital energy inside the wolf's organs had been completely drained.

Just as he stood there stunned, not understanding what was happening, a powerful energy flowed from the runes and flooded the organs, nourishing them with its power.

The runes lit up once more, greedily devouring the vital energy. The once faint runes began to shine with even greater intensity.

Darian analyzed it carefully, understanding better what was going on. The power of the runes inside the wolf had exactly the strength they were supposed to. But there had been an extra mutation, something that appeared because of Darian's interference with the runes.

"I think I created a variation of the original technique. Heze didn't foresee someone with my curse doing this. Well… this actually makes it much easier to use. Let's see where this goes," Darian concluded.

"Are these runes like parasites?" Niara asked, confused as she watched everything. To her, they felt more like leeches, draining the wolf's vital energy and giving something else in return.

Darian shook his head. "Not exactly. I'm sure the strengthening of the runes inside his body is a good thing. It'll make his internal organs even stronger. This wasn't in the original technique, but it'll benefit them, letting them use even more power."

"Something like that really exists?" Niara was surprised.

"Of course. All mortal races have fragile internal organs. That's why they have physical bodies to protect them. Even though it looks like you can release one hundred percent of your power, in reality, people can only release eighty percent. Most don't even know that. The reason is simple: if you released one hundred percent, your internal organs would be crushed before you even hit your opponent. So instinctively, you only use the energy your organs can handle. But now that they're being strengthened, the amount of power these wolves can release will increase too. Even their defensive strength will go up. This is definitely a good thing," Darian said, showing off the knowledge he had gained from that book.

The runes inside the wolf's body shone brighter and seemed to merge with his organs. The more vital energy they absorbed, the more they strengthened themselves.

After two hours, Howlyn managed to create hundreds of identical sets of runes. She kept getting better and faster at it.

After three days, all the Abyssal Corrupted Wolves had received a set, and Darian repeated the process. The result was identical, proving that the modification Darian made was solid and efficient.

Now, all of them could learn it quickly. The runes had the same power level as the original, which meant they could use the techniques without problems, and as a bonus, they gained an incredible boost.

With the runes perfectly connected, everyone in that race could now use Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth. This was one of the secret cards Darian had gained to clean up this universe in two years.

"Now you have to learn to use Primal Hunting Will on your own," Darian said, handing them all the knowledge.

Basically, Primal Hunting Will was a silent technique meant to affect a wide area, targeting the minds of everyone the user considered prey. It was designed to instill fear, attacking the soul and mind of the prey, driving them insane from terror. It would feel as if a murderous gaze was fixed on them, getting closer and closer, but they wouldn't know from where or how.

After leaving them to study, Darian took Niara and Howlyn back to the academy.

Inside the room, he handed her the five sacred weapons made from the body of the Divine Dragon.

"Absorb everything. You need to get stronger and learn to use Immortal Chaos Essence better. With this, all the pieces will be on the board."

Niara saw the confidence in his eyes and nodded, full of determination. Without hesitation, the five weapons turned into pure energy and were absorbed. Immediately, Niara entered a deep meditative state.

*Crack*

A few seconds later, a muffled sound echoed from inside her body.

Darian focused on sensing her, then took a deep breath, satisfied. Niara's four cores shattered and evolved together. She, who had gone through seven enhancement cycles, now surpassed Darian and reached the eighth in all of them.

Howlyn also watched Niara beside Darian, her eyes shining. She didn't really understand what was happening, but she felt that it was amazing.

***

A week passed. Then Niara opened her eyes.

Amber light flowed from within them like stars, and the entire room shifted, as if time-space itself had been suppressed.

The first thing she saw was Darian's gaze. A smile bloomed on her lips.

Darian nodded. "You finished first. Now you've reached the maximum limit of a mortal."

The nine core enhancements were complete. Niara's power multiplied instantly. It was equivalent to having nine rings. The next step was to become an immortal.

Darian calmly added, "Everyone's waiting. It took a bit longer than two days, but we'll start now."