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Apocalypse Healer - B1 Chapter 44
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 11:00:08 +0000 UTCDavid couldn’t help but notice the Warriors around him growing stronger and more agile. Even their reflexes appeared to be improving at an astonishing rate. Their attacks hit harder, their defenses held firmer, and he realized they must have been ranking up mid-battle, just as the Hunters were.
Even the Hunters who had run out of arrows seemed to grow quickly since they did not necessarily require a strong Mind, let alone a well-nourished Soul stat. The Body property was the most crucial for both Hunters and Warriors.
The Hunters around David moved with agility, outpacing him. Some, as he realized only now, carried close-combat Skill Runes, adding a deadly edge to their speed.
He used [Oasis of Harmony] on the Hunters—they were poorly armed compared to the Warriors and needed its protection more than the Warriors did—while defenders like Torb bore the brunt of the demons’ relentless attacks.
David saw the carnage all around him – death and destruction at every turn. Even as the defenders grew stronger, ranking up faster than possible wasn’t enough to shift the battle to their advantage. Bloodied claws and gnashing fangs tore into flesh, reaping lives before his eyes.
The Hunters and Warriors at a lower Rank leveled up quickly. David could imagine their vigor shooting through the roof. That was what it looked like as more than 100 defenders charged into the masses of Darkai. Their excitement was overflowing, which was similar to how David had been in the past. However, they followed their instincts at the wrong moment. Their timing was off.
Even if their combat efficiency increased, they were still on the merciless battlefield with hundreds of Darkai. Some demons were already at the Bronze Rank, and they had yet to face the Mini Bosses and the Rift Boss. It was foolish to charge ahead, acting like the Horde was made up of weak foes.
David’s heart was drumming wildly. It commanded him to charge ahead like the others, but he suppressed his instincts to study the battlefield again. His vision flooded with a cascade of holographic screens.
[Proficiency of Oasis of Harmony reached 100%.]
[Tier-0 III] → [Tier-0 IV]
[Proficiency of Shield of Faith reached 100%.]
[Tier-0 IV] → [Tier-0 V]
[Shield of Faith reached the first minor threshold.
Control increased significantly. Multi-casting and Natural Overclock have been unlocked.]
[Proficiency of Holy Touch reached 100%.]
[Tier-0 VI] → [Tier-0 VII]
He barely had time to process the updates, but the improvements gave him a spark of hope. David needed every bit of strength to survive this fight.
His eyes drifted across the battlefield, and he responded quickly when half a dozen black fireballs lobbed through the air in a beautiful arc. They headed toward several Mages, who didn’t seem to have noticed the imminent danger. Holy Sea appeared to be screeching when conjured the semi-translucent shield before the mages, blocking the fireballs. They exploded near-simultaneously and destroyed the shield without inflicting any damage.
The reserves are empty. Fuck. Where did all the holy power go?
David had just used the last bits of holy power reserves. Even his energy pathways were utterly drained. He reached for the ambient Aether, but it recoiled, shying away from the faint tendrils of holy power leaking from his body.
What’s going on here?
No message popped up to explain the situation, and David couldn’t see anyone else struggling like he did. The Mages were exhausted but continued fighting. Their energy reserves had yet to dry up. Even if they did, David didn’t think the natural Aether around them would reject them. But why did he think like that? What urged him to believe that the ambient Aether disobeyed only him?
No. It wasn’t just him. His eyes fell on a young in blood-soaked white robes. She darted between the wounded, her hands glowing faintly with dim light as she attempted to heal an elderly Hunter. But something was wrong; her Skill didn’t work fast enough. The man’s wounds barely closed while her frantic movements grew even more desperate.
“It’s not working!” David heard her desperate scream. His eyes narrowed, and his attention flicked to the other Clerics. One of them fainted, his lips as pale as his skin, while two other Clerics were cursing, trying to release holy power outside their bodies. It worked, but the effect was lackluster. Even David did better when [Cure Wounds] was Rank I.
Something happened. The ambient Aether is resisting…holy power.
David clenched his fists. The Skill Runes still worked normally, but their potency had dropped sharply once holy power dripped out of the Clerics’ bodies. This wasn’t just bad…It was catastrophic
Maybe touching the patient would counteract the Skill deteriorating, but would that work in this chaos?
David cursed and stepped back, nearly toppling over a Warrior’s corpse. He caught himself and glanced at the man and his weapons. He’d wielded daggers of similar quality as the warrior longsword when he was still alive.
David squatted down, reached out to the dagger, and entered the mind space for a moment.
The crimson motes were visible again. They didn’t seem to have moved, but David could only see them now that his energy reserves were empty. Was it necessary to be out of energy or in mortal danger to see the motes?
He didn’t know. Maybe both conditions had to be met. But that was no problem for David. Fighting a Horde of Darkai was dangerous. Surviving today was equivalent to a lottery win. Fortunately, David bought enough lottery tickets.
He retrieved another Mental Fortitude Serum, emptied it without hesitation, and began to pull on the crimson motes.
The motes are not holy power. Using them shouldn’t deteriorate my Skill Runes’ potency.
They were something else. Something far more dangerous. But David didn’t have a choice.
He gathered crimson motes in his Holy Sea, kicked the ground hard to return swiftly to the demons and his allies, and clutched the daggers tightly.
He told himself not to use his Skill Runes too often. Every Skill would use up some crimson motes, draining him immensely. Nonetheless, David couldn’t give his all without some Skills. He used [Bless] and [Oasis of Harmony] with as little energy as possible on himself while returning to the front.
David darted through the chaos, the Darkai paying him no heed as they fixated on the frontline fighters. He caught glimpses of deep wounds and brutal kills, but the commotion all over the battlefield—the screams, snarls, and clash of steel—was what stuck with him, fueling his guilt.
Just wait a moment!
David’s body shifted, and he shot around. Since he couldn’t waste too much of his precious energy, he didn’t use [Holy Touch]. He attacked, pierced through a nearby Darkai’s ear, and twisted the blade until a sickening crunch rang out. The blade broke, but only after piercing the demon’s brain. He dismissed the kill notification at once, slit another Darkai’s throat as it turned to him, and summoned the Obsidian Blade to land a finishing blow.
[Oasis of Harmony] was highly effective, but its efficiency dropped when David engaged in battle. However, he cared too little about that to pay it any attention. He threw the Obsidian Blade, cleanly piercing a Darkai’s chest before dispersing at David’s will. His Holy Sea tremored when the soulbound weapon was called back, yet no crimson motes were used up to do so.
He pounced on the Darkai, whose claws missed him by a heartbeat. The soulbound weapon manifested in his empty hand, and David’s blades burst down, piercing the Demon’s void-like eyes and brain in one go.
The Demon collapsed. David hit the ground, rolled, and sprang to his feet, his eyes burning with resolve as the earth began to tremble.
His hair stood up to its end, but he paid no heed to his danger sense. David killed three more demons before joining the other defenders. Their eyes were filled with fear, and their legs trembled violently.
David stopped breathing as he turned. Just meters from where he’d stood a moment before, a massive Darkai loomed. It wasn’t just taller than the others – it dwarfed them. Its leathery wings spread wide, casting a shadow that seemed to swallow the surroundings. Crimson claws dripped in blood, one of them still impaling an unfortunate defender who wreaked weakly as the strength left his body.
A pang of guilt stabbed through David as he watched the man’s desperate, futile struggle. The agonizing groans and the tears trickling down the defender’s eyes told him everything. The defender didn’t want to die. But the Darkai crushed his head as if swatting a fly, sealing his fate at once.
A moment later, the massive Darkai hurled the crushed defender. He crashed heavily into the rows of defenders, destroying the defense line.
It stirred chaos and released a sickening cackle, a sound that rang like mockery in David’s ears.
His chest tightened. Was that the Rift Boss? No. It had to be one of the Mini-Bosses. Not that it mattered. Even one of them was more than they could handle.
Comments
Edward Essary III
Hell yea lol
