Damned Healer-Chapter 92: Super Complex

The whole group gathered in the main building. Not long after, Damon and Rhea walked into the meeting room.

The two had been in the Empire checking on the egg's condition — which was under the Empire's best support — when they received news about the mission. So they handled both things and came back.

Rhea sighed before turning to them. Everyone could feel the indescribable pain she was trying to hide:

"The egg finally stabilized... that idiot was burning materials from other universes to feed it with Yang. He didn't care if the stuff was pure and ended up contaminating most of the fetus. His goal was to make it hatch fast, as strong as possible, even if it meant its life would be short and miserable..."

Everyone clenched their fists, consumed by rage. Rhea went on:

"William has this amazing physical-assessment blessing. He can pinpoint exactly what's wrong and often finds a cure easily — sometimes even people from other Empires ask permission to have him take a look. But... William seemed a bit confused. There's something else wrong with the baby inside the egg, so he's going to keep studying it carefully for a while."

Raon had once mentioned that his father planned to give him the creature as soon as it was born — probably as a temporary bodyguard until he was strong enough on his own.

So the logic was to just feed the egg as much as possible, make it hatch fast and strong. What the hell else did he do to it? Everyone was anxious and pissed.

"Let's trust William. He'll figure it out and help. Not to mention, the egg's original problem is still there."

Rhea finished, casting a brief glance at Darian. He remained expressionless. Truth was, he had no idea what people expected him to do about any of that.

Changing the heavy mood, Damon brought up something else important:

"The Empire received a Rank D mission for you. But it's not a regular one — it requires an Invasion Group, with a 15-person limit."

Darian had studied and learned a lot during his time training. He really made the most of his stay with the clan.

When a mission comes in, it arrives with a set rank, which isn't directly tied to how difficult it is, but to the level of people who are allowed to participate. Rank D means only those with one or two rings can go. This is a rule that can't be broken — or else they'd always send overpowered people to finish everything.

The mission description includes its goal and how many participants are allowed. That way, the Empire uses its own parameters to define the mission's difficulty and which clans are suited for it.

The Empire takes this stuff extremely seriously. Failing a mission doesn't just mean losing High Humans and their rewards — it also triggers a penalty on the Empire itself.

When a mission is failed, for one whole year, all future missions come with a note in their rewards: Penalty Applied, due to previous failure.

That penalty stacks, and it depends on the level of the mission that was failed. There have been cases of double failures in Rank A missions in a single year. That forced the Empire to stop accepting missions above Rank C and tanked their rewards to pathetic levels. The damage from that was permanent — after all, the Empire's power is built on those rewards.

So the mentality toward missions was: complete it no matter the cost. If everyone dies and only one survives, but the goal is reached, it's still a win.

"We've been selected to participate, along with two other groups from different clans," Damon said. Then he looked at Darian and sighed. "Feels like fate. The group from the Red River Pact clan, led by Raon, will also be going. On top of that, a group from the Empire's third biggest clan — the Amazon Sentinels — was chosen too."

Everyone was caught off guard. Those two clans, again? Both of them had recent ties to Darian.

"It wasn't some scheme by his father. The Empire itself picked the groups based on the mission they received," Rhea added, noticing everyone's expressions shift.

"This mission's a bit tricky. But nobody here is naïve — you all know the beef between you. That's why the mission leader will be Gregor, from the Amazon Sentinels clan. He's extremely reliable; I recruited him myself back in the day. Unfortunately, he chose to live near where he was born, in the Great Forest down south."

"Anyway, even if Raon wants to stir up trouble, he'll have to hold back. This mission isn't a joke. Everyone's gonna need to put in work if they wanna make it back alive."

Everyone nodded, still doubtful. Damon took a deep breath and started explaining the details.

The mission takes place in a universe where power basically doesn't exist. Life is extremely rare there, with very few galaxies around.

But in that place's distant past, a shift in the heavenly laws occurred, causing a total transformation. A unique and mutating power appeared — something like a virus, which quickly spread across the whole cosmos.

It was like a natural force — just like water, earth, fire, and so on. In some universes, unique natural manifestations can show up. And in rare cases, entirely new elements are randomly born.

At first, that mutant power in the universe wasn't a big deal. But it had terrifying growth potential, and over the years, it ended up dominating most of that place.

It was called: the Demonic Shroud.

That power eats up and absorbs every other natural element. In living beings, it seeps into their bodies slowly, changing them bit by bit.

Luckily, life is tough, so even though it works gradually, races there adapted to its presence. But over generations, the changes got so extreme they ended up spawning all kinds of crazy mutations.

That power grew until it became like a thick mist—a cosmic, diabolical shroud drifting through the universe.

Every planet gets covered by this shroud at least once a day, plunging it into total darkness.

Still, life adapted, and the universe carried on.

But... an aberration was born.

A Primitive Beast. A life form able to wield that power in a way nobody ever could—absorbing it to make itself stronger.

From the moment it hatched, this creature could consume the Demonic Shroud like it was feeding its own body and soul.

Nobody even dared dream of fighting it.

As a result, that creature completely dominated its universe and became a sort of supreme deity.

Time passed...

But it wasn't satisfied. After all, it was a mortal, and one day it would die. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

With that in mind, it dedicated itself to mastering every facet of that power. It developed a method to refine stars and galaxies, speeding up the Shroud's natural multiplication.

Its goal was simple: cover the entire universe with that stuff. The change would be insanely fast, and life wouldn't adapt in time—leading to extinction.

However, it figured that if that universe consisted solely of that power, it could fuse its soul with it and achieve immortality.

It wasn't a fool's dream—there really was a chance. Once it succeeded, it could leave that universe without being trapped there forever.

So the mission's objective was clear: kill that Primitive Beast.

Then, destroy the core of that amassed power. That would weaken it drastically, and when it tried to regenerate, all life there would have naturally built resistance to this "virus." From then on, the phenomenon would be under control, and it'd be almost impossible for another entity like that to ever arise.

Damon continued in a serious tone:

"The Empire classifies this mission as super complex. That sinister power is like poison—even for High Humans. For every day you stay in that universe, you'll lose 10% of your strength, and your body will be progressively corrupted. In other words, you'll have at most ten days to finish, and with each passing day it gets harder."

"As I said, nobody in that universe is mortal anymore. They all have abnormal powers and were unified by that idiot into some religion. Meaning the whole universe could turn against you. As for the Primitive Beast, its power equals a two‐ring Spiritual Guardian and it could even go toe‐to‐toe with a three‐ring."

The group swallowed hard. Indeed, this mission demanded extreme caution. One slip, and they wouldn't even find the target—they'd die first.

Rhea nodded and explained:

"The Empire doesn't know everyone's blessings exactly. But when missions this big pop up, all the major clans get called to discuss, and each leader knows their clan's standout figures."

"As you can imagine, Raon's blessing is perfect for this mission. He'll be the main powerhouse—able to trigger his blessing when the Demonic Shroud covers everything. His father made sure he got selected, since this is the perfect chance to clear his name."

"Gregor, meanwhile, has the Cursed Element Blessing. He can pick a target and any natural element—even a mutant one like that power—and completely nullify it. That's perfect for facing the Beast, and his clan immediately added him to the team alongside their group."

"As for us... people in the Empire know Harper's blessing—her family has tons of military ties, and she's shared that info before. Her Sonic Blade has massive potential here. The Demonic Shroud forms a dense, particle-filled fog—an ideal medium for sound waves. In that environment, sound travels with less dissipation and more efficiency, letting her make ultra-precise, far-reaching attacks."

Harper let out a heavy puff—but yeah, one of the group's secret tactics is for Veyle to blanket the area in her fog. Then Harper can hit with boosted precision over a huge area, since the shroud's density supercharges her sonic blades.

Everyone got why that choice made sense. With those three groups and blessings harmonized, Raon would be the oppressive frontline force, Gregor would perfectly neutralize the final boss, and Harper would be the untouchable executioner.