Damned Healer-Chapter 94: Missionary Altar

In the conference room of the Azure Haven Clan, the group assigned to the mission was gathered. Rhea and Damon were there too, waiting for Darian to arrive.

This would be his first real mission—a moment when lack of experience could easily get you killed. Since everyone there had been through it before, they gave him time to be with his family before leaving. Meanwhile, they discussed possible issues related to Raon.

For this mission, Darian would have his blessing active and be at full power. That carried a lot of risk. Still, everyone felt like that idiot didn't have the brains to pull off anything serious. As for his clan, they probably wouldn't do anything that could ruin their image even more. Plus, the Empire had its own ways of stopping High Humans from causing too much trouble.

When Darian arrived, Leander handed him a small silver crystal, about three centimeters wide. "This is your group crystal. Pour a bit of your energy into it."

Darian did as told, and the crystal changed to red. Leander continued, "Everyone on a mission is required to keep it outside their spatial ring. It lets us track your location and communicate. It also has a recording system. If Raon tries anything shady but still completes the mission, the Empire will know."

Darian nodded, thoughtful. "There's no way to mess with this?"

"The group crystal is one of the Empire's most valuable artifacts. It's made to be tamper-proof. Only some overwhelming outside force could interfere with it—and if you run into something like that, you're not coming back alive anyway," Rhea said with a snort.

"There are some secret ways to bypass it," she added, "but the Empire forbids the sale and use of that stuff. After the mission, the crystals are checked. If there's tampering and no valid reason, Raon and his clan are going to get hit hard. They wouldn't risk that over a personal grudge."

Darian listened carefully. On Earth nowadays, nothing was really unbreakable or truly impossible. There were tons of artifacts with strange effects, and some that could cancel each other out.

Still, he'd seen his power work on things considered untouchable—like those daggers of his. Would it work on a group crystal too?

'Better not try anything without a reason,' he thought, then focused on what really mattered.

In the last fight, he saw clearly what Raon could do. He remembered the previous mission, where Oliver died. But honestly, that was nothing compared to what Raon had pulled off in the past.

'Yeah, he's definitely gonna try something... good. I'm looking forward to it.'

After showing Darian how to use the crystal, everyone got into their vehicles and took off.

Before long, they arrived at one of the biggest buildings in the city.

It wasn't just tall—it was also wide and built in a pentagon shape. The place had a long history. It had stood for centuries and had been the setting of a bunch of key events in Earth's past. It'd been rebuilt and upgraded over and over, especially upward. Now, it looked like a massive, intimidating fortress.

Outside, the first thing they saw was Raon and his crew glaring at them coldly. They just ignored them and looked toward the others who were waiting in the back.

"Oh, Lady Rhea," a voice called out, approaching.

It was Gregor from the Amazon Sentinels clan—the one leading the mission. He had to be almost 1.9 meters tall, with dark brown hair, thick and messy, some parts wavy and others braided along the sides. His eyes were warm and expressive. His clothes looked heavy, made from a dark, tribal-looking fabric.

"Gregor, did you get that thing?" Rhea asked as she stepped closer.

He just smiled in confirmation but didn't say anything else. Off to the side, Raon overheard and gave a serious look. Clearly, Rhea had said it loud enough for him to hear on purpose.

After greeting Rhea, Gregor shook hands with Leander and the others he knew. Lastly, his eyes landed on Darian, locking onto him with a sharp gaze.

Darian didn't flinch or look away. He'd faced pressure no one would believe even if he told them.

After a few seconds, Gregor gave a slight, friendly smile. 'Nayara told me about you. It's good to have a support who doesn't chicken out and knows when to fight. Usually, they're all cowards. First sign of danger, they stop helping their team and only care about themselves.'

Darian activated his curse and looked closely at him. He quickly let out a breath. Gregor had a pale gray aura, almost white. Not quite like Rhea's, but pretty close.

"You're a healer, right? I'm counting on you for this one," Gregor added, smiling brightly.

Darian nodded. The guy's eyes were sharp—like he saw everything and everyone clearly. He smiled a lot, but had that natural charisma you'd expect from a competent leader.

"Let's get this shit over with," came a dry voice.

Raon spoke and walked inside the building with his group. Everyone else just snorted, but honestly, there was no time to waste.

Except for Darian, everyone there had two rings, so overall power levels weren't that far apart—blessings aside. The mission would be split into three teams, each working in formation, but all under Gregor's command. So he just needed to know the basic role and capabilities of each person.

Once they passed through the huge glass doors, an older-looking man dressed like a soldier was waiting for them. Gregor nodded to him, and he led the group through the halls.

Darian had studied a bit about the major locations. Each Empire had two maximum-security sites.

The first one was the Celestial Altar. That place was used to transport them to the Divine Protection Universe and keep their human bodies safe. Its location had been set a long time ago. Every empire had one, and everyone knew where the others' Celestial Altars were.

The place they were heading to now was called the Missionary Altar. It was a mobile strategic point located in the heart of the Empire.

If the Celestial Altar were attacked, nothing would actually happen. It was impossible to destroy it, and the Empire had ways to bring people back from the other universe.

But the Missionary Altar gathered all of the Empire's power, accumulated by the Spiritual Guardians during missions or from the other universe. In short, even though it couldn't be destroyed, it could still be stolen.

Yep, there were quite a few reports of theft between empires in the past.

Before the Empires were consolidated, back when there were barely any Spiritual Guardians on Earth, there was an age of conflicts, theft, and bloody battles. But 99.9% of the fighters were just regular humans.

Over time, the number of powerful High Humans skyrocketed. That led to a situation kind of like the early days of the atomic bomb era back in Earth's 20th century.

No one wanted to fight directly anymore, because High Humans were way more destructive than any atomic bomb.

Their blessings were unpredictable and opened up all sorts of crazy possibilities. Even killing a High Human wasn't easy—some of the stronger ones could survive or even seal away an atomic bomb. That kind of weapon became useless.

Once the leaders understood how bad things could get, that shady organization stepped in to help the powerful communicate better.

That's how the Empires became solid and brought some peace and stability to Earth. Still, the distrust stuck around, and everything started being monitored to the smallest detail.

Back to the present—fifteen young people had just arrived at a colossal altar, hundreds of meters tall, located right in the center of the building.

It looked similar to the Celestial Altar, but instead of glowing celestial blue, it shined with a mix of colors. At the center, instead of a floating object, there was a small staircase leading into nothingness.

The old man stopped in front of them and stared. "You all know the rules and got all the info about the mission. Remember, failure means a deep wound to the Empire, and that affects your families and everyone living here."

His eyes scanned the group seriously, with an unspoken threat hanging in the air. "Forget your differences and work together. Follow the mission leader's orders to the letter and do your best to complete it."

Everyone took a deep breath and nodded. The old man huffed and activated an artifact he was holding.

Right away, something at the top of the staircase lit up, forming a five-meter-wide circular portal.

The teens moved forward. As soon as they got close to the stairs, a light wrapped around them, freezing them completely.

For five seconds, they couldn't even breathe. After that, the effect faded and they could move again. It was a mechanism to confirm they accepted the mission rules.

"Everyone, stay sharp for any emergency," Gregor's voice rang out firmly from the front. "As soon as you're conscious again, focus on hiding and figuring out where we are. We'll move carefully until we're sure of the target's real strength."

Raon heard that and narrowed his eyes, clearly annoyed. Darian wasn't sure if he agreed with it either, but he'd follow any order without hesitation.

"Let's go!"

He said, climbing the steps with steady strides. The others followed behind, crossing through the portal without looking back.

The moment exactly fifteen people passed through, the portal vanished completely.