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Apocalypse Healer - B3 Chapter 9
🕑 Added 2025-05-08 10:00:06 +0000 UTCInterlude
The Saintess looked across the battlefield, her nose scrunched up in disgust. The acrid smell of blood, rotten flesh, and corruption struck her nostrils like a train at full speed. It occupied her senses, forcing her to cast [Purification] around her.
Only as the surrounding air regained its fresh and pure nature did her features ease up. She adjusted her robes, glancing at the unmoving bodies of the Undead and Infected surrounding a towering man clad in heavy plated armor.
He wielded a broadsword that rivaled the hulking man’s size like a toy, cleaving through rotten flesh and reinforced bones alike, treating the Infected and Undead as nothing more than an inconvenience. But while it was a simple fashion to eliminate most Infected and Undead, they could not afford to waste the Holy Knight’s energy like that.
“Your time is up, Silas.” An elderly man strode up beside the Saintess, his cold and calculative eyes a shocking contrast to the brilliant white flames shrouding his arms.
One moment, white flames gathered in the elderly man’s palms, and in the next, they whistled through the air, hitting two Armored Ghouls in the chest. Albeit immune to physical pain, the Armored Ghouls let out pained screeches as the brilliant flames erupted and spread.
It was a mere matter of seconds before the untainted flames had consumed the tainted creatures, burning their souls and physical bodies at once.
The Armored Ghouls collapsed, their corpses burned to cinder, yet the Holy Flames didn’t disperse. The elderly man made a simple gesture, and the blazing flames burst into multiple brilliant fireballs that spread into the surroundings, hitting multiple targets in the head, back, and chest. Regardless of the struck area, the Infected and Undead hit by the fireballs conjured from Holy Flames suffered the same fate: their foul souls burned to a cinder within seconds before their tainted bodies followed.
“I understand your patience, Frederick.” The Saintess inclined her head. “But be careful not to waste too much energy. The Undead may belong to the rot and have to be removed, but our sacred mission does not revolve around these poor souls—and you know that.”
She smiled gently at Frederick, who, as cold as ever, merely glanced at her, and cast [Holy Blessing] on him and Holy Knight Silas. While additional support may not be necessary, the Saintess called upon her Authority, conjuring a brilliant halo overhead. She felt a subtle shift in the purity of her holy power and lifted her hand gently.
Words of Power rolled from her lips as she used the power of light and purity to modify her powers temporarily, applying [Sacred Aura] to her Holy Knight.
While [Sacred Aura] was a rather simple ability, her Authority allowed the Saintess to transform it into something truly powerful at a small expense. The Skill Rune of [Sacred Aura] turned dim and could not be accessed for a short duration. Depending on the severity of her modification, the cooldown could range between mere minutes up to days. But as inconvenient as it could be, the Saintess was satisfied with the efficiency of her powers. The modified [Sacred Aura] consumed little additional energy.
Holy Knight Silas’ plated armor pulsed with the light of life as those opposed to the living attacked. It repelled the claws and fists of the Undead as they connected with the pulsing light, releasing a small wave of energy that carried more weight than it should.
Silas adjusted his stance and pushed toward the repelled creatures much faster than should have been logically possible wearing such heavy armor, but while his feet pressed deep into the dry soil, his legs carried him far and fast to the destination.
His broadsword, basking in [Sacred Aura]’s power, shone like rays of the sun as it cut cleanly through the enemies before him. The Infected and Undead fell victim to Silas’ blade and Frederick’s Holy Flame. However, no matter how many foul souls they cleansed—freed from the shackles of their tainted being—more emerged from the building ahead.
“Can you sense something, Nadja?” Frederick asked calmly as the battlefield fell silent, corpses strewn before them.
“That’s Saintess Nadja for you.” She shot him a pointed look, which the elderly man ignored. Her lips were parted, but she paused for a moment, her attention lingering on the battle ahead.
A smell worse than before traveled across the battlefield and reached the Saintess. She retched but did not vomit as she cast [Purification] a second time.
“Probably a Nest. But the Nest is of no importance for our mission.”
“It is, if our target is in the building with the Nest,” Frederick retorted, coldly regarding her. “Worse even, if our target is in control of the Nest.”
A soft groan escaped her lips, but she didn’t bother responding to the Vessel of the Holy Flame. As annoying as the old man was, he was usually right when it came to things like that.
“Something bigger is coming!” Silas shouted and pulled back as the entrance of the wide building near them was torn apart, revealing an Undead Giant.
The pressure radiating from the Undead Giant was immense, though it hadn’t yet reached Gold Rank.
“That should be manageable—what are those?” Saintess Nadja slowed and pointed at the Undead Giant.
“Faces,” Frederick said matter-of-factly.
The Saintess didn’t even consider rebuking with a snarky comment. She could also see the distorted faces jutting from all over the Undead Giant’s body. But why were there faces on it?
“Bodies,” Frederick added after a moment, throwing a Holy Flame at the target. The Undead Giant caught the flame but seemed unperturbed even as it erupted and expanded. Its flesh rippled, and several chunks of it fell to the ground, burning to ashes.
Did it just expel the Holy Flames by getting rid of its flesh? The Saintess could not quite believe what she was seeing. However, the situation took a turn for the worse as the Undead Giant turned away from them.
It reached the ground, its face-covered fingers coiling around the corpses of Infected and Undead alike. Rotten flesh, hide, and muscles rippled once more through the Undead Giant’s arm, but nothing was expelled this time.
Instead, the tremors continued even as they reached the corpses, which began to wriggle and writhe in response. In a matter of seconds, the corpses were no longer separate from the Undead Giant. They were one and the same.
“Did it just absorb the corpses?” Silas shouted across the battlefield, his body tense.
“That is not a Giant. Not at its core, at least,” Frederick’s eyes glowed in the pristine white of his Holy Flames until blood trickled from the corners. “This is an Infected who has consumed a Giant’s corpse. And many other corpses.”
Defeating the Infected hiding beneath several layers of corpses should solve their issues, but the Infected was adding layers of protection using the corpses they had left behind as they spoke. Worse even, the Saintess caught a glimpse of something more disturbing.
The frame of another Undead Giant emerged from the building, alongside several other, similarly huge figures. However, the latter looked nothing like Undead Giants.
One was larger and wider than an Undead Giant, another was smaller, countless faces staring deep into the Saintess’ soul, whereas the rest walked on four feet, their bodies a mixture of…everything.
“More of them. Great!” Holy Knight Silas shouted irritably. He retreated further, and the Saintess caught a wince beneath his visor as the Infected began to devour the fallen—both Infected and Undead—they had just killed.
“Are you confident?” Saintess Nadja asked, calling upon her Authority once again. The halo overhead shone brighter than before, golden light swirling around as she prepared her Skill Runes and the Class Skills of her Patron for the fight ahead.
“Confident? These things seem to be at the Peak of the Silver Rank. I can cut through them as long as you give me some support. Frederick’s Holy Flame worked like usual as well. As long as he can burn through a few layers of defense, we can make it work.” Silas nodded, his eyes determined. However, the emotion never reached his features. “It won’t be easy though.”
Frederick groaned, more blood dripping from his eyes, his attention lingering on the broken building entrance.
“Our target,” he barely muttered before his legs buckled.
The old man was still wide awake, but his eyes were glassy, the naturally cold nature of his features no more.
“Frederick?!” the Saintess exclaimed, horror gripping at her heart as she rushed to the old man.
[Fortify Mind] and [Soothing Soul] sprang to life instantaneously, her head flicking to the building entrance as a heavy weight materialized… inside her. It tried to crush the Saintess to smithereens from within, shaking her Holy Ocean and Skill Runes thoroughly. However, she prevailed against the attack on her soul.
And only as she resisted the sudden assault did she see what had forced Frederick to the ground, nearly crushing her as well.
It was a small humanoid creature the size of a goblin that emerged from the building. A creature mantled in darkness, making it impossible to see what lay beyond. But darkness spread outward as well, wilting the weeds and doing something to the nearest corpses. Sickening crunches resounded, transforming them into mere husks of their former, miserable appearance as the Undead.
“Don’t look into its eyes,” the Saintess warned Holy Knight Silas, unsure why she did that, as the creature’s long head snapped in her direction. Sharp, twisted horns jutted from all over its head, glowing faintly as something beneath the darkness mantling the creature erupted.
[Void Sapling’s pressure has descended upon you.
[Fear has been triggered]
[Horror has been induced]
[Fate of a Thousand Deaths reaches out to crush your soul.]
[Void and Chaos seek your demise.]
The Saintess swallowed hard as the myriad of notifications materialized before her, but they did not affect her.
[Unique property, Pure and Unblemished, has activated. All attempts at corrupting the user have been removed.]
Heavenly Mother. I am in dire need of your help. She prayed, her mind a mess as she tried to come up with better prayers to call upon her Patron.
A soft curse threatened to escape her lips, but she cast [Divine Guidance] instead, rewording her plea for help before helping the Vessel of the Holy Flame to her feet.
“We have been chosen to remove the rot in the name of the Heavenly Faction, and we will not falter!” Holy Knight Silas muttered beside the Saintess, emitting more power than ever.
The Void Sapling, whatever it was, might look and feel weak—but it was anything but.
The Saintess was certain: it was worse than anything they had faced before.
