Damned Healer

*BOOM!*

Darian attacked, and an explosion of flames, lightning, and winds wiped out dozens of shadows at once. Even though the ones right behind were eliminated, more kept coming from afar. He had only pushed the danger away for now.

"I need to thin them out. If too many pile up, it'll get dangerous."

Luckily, the shadows had no intelligence whatsoever. Darian chose the plan of moving openly instead of hiding, luring many toward him and grouping them up perfectly, so he could take them all down at once.

He kept moving forward, killing as he reduced the number of enemies.

The place wasn't that big, but suddenly, a powerful surge of Yin struck him, along with an immense pressure.

That wasn't natural. Alarmed, Darian defended himself. But looking around, he didn't see anything. So he began scanning the surroundings with the utmost care.

The only thing that could slip past his senses was a shadow. He had to find it — with that level of power, he couldn't afford to let his guard down.

He moved toward a region where the Yin felt denser. Minutes later, he spotted a very rough stone mountain, covered with strange lines. At the base of the mountain, there was a huge vortex that made it quite visible.

Looking around, he neither saw nor sensed anything.

He thought for a moment, scanning carefully. Sensing nothing wrong, he snorted and decided to climb. As soon as he reached the peak, he suddenly realized the whole mountain was slowly rising.

"The fuck is this?!"

Only then did Darian understand: it wasn't a stone mountain at all, but a gigantic, terrifying demonic shadow.

"?" At that moment, he noticed something seriously wrong.

When it was alive, that thing was a hybrid beast with demonic blood. It looked like a colossal crocodile or alligator, straight out of hell.

It was standing upright, with the lower part of its body submerged in the swamp, and its head and closed jaws raised upward. Its body was covered in rocky scales — and it was the one that had unleashed that power earlier.

Darian immediately recognized the resemblance to the animal from Earth, since not far from where he used to live, in the past, it was known as "The Alligator State".

But… Darian felt it was asleep. The problem was, shadows weren't alive, so they didn't sleep.

First, he analyzed the creature's body. Very quickly, he was shaken by the sheer level of power. He felt an overwhelming instinctive pressure. If that shadow had intelligence to actually wield that power… he would definitely be in mortal danger.

Taking a deep breath, Darian activated his rings and looked inside it…

"!"

His eyes went wide. Inside the shadow's primordial core, there was something he had never seen in any other shadow before. That definitely wasn't natural — someone had created and placed it there.

Looking deeper, he picked up on a faint trace of vital energy. It was… without a doubt, some kind of life rune, just like the necromancer technique he had received in the past.

*ROAR!*

At that moment, the giant crocodile opened its eyes, and the rocky scales covering its body trembled.

A bad premonition struck Darian immediately. The crocodile had definitely noticed him, and now it wanted to hurl him away. If this powerful shadow managed to throw him off, he'd be in serious danger.

Earth runes flew out from his inventory, merging and solidifying instantly.

In the next moment, an explosive force blasted him upward. But Darian transformed the earth runes into extremely solid chains. Those chains locked his body onto the crocodile's head.

Earth was an element known for its terrifying resilience. On top of that, the runes were of extremely high level, and with Darian's precise control, they couldn't be broken easily.

He was pulled back down onto the crocodile's head. Then he drew two daggers and tried stabbing them into the scales. But they didn't even leave a scratch.

Darian's heart sank. Those daggers were made from the bones of a Primordial Dragon, and even they weren't enough. That meant this shadow was an existence he couldn't handle quickly.

The crocodile roared furiously. Countless runes lit up across its rocky skin.

"This isn't good!"

Darian's expression changed. The chains binding him to the head instantly dissolved. He braced himself to be flung into the air again.

*BOOM!*

The crocodile's body shook violently, releasing a shockwave of power that nearly made Darian cough up blood. Luckily, he pushed his stellar physique to the max and clung tightly to the scales.

Then he unleashed all the earth runes he had in his inventory, creating even more chains to help keep himself in place. Staying on top of the shadow's head, the enemy couldn't directly strike at him, since it didn't have much intelligence. So remaining there was the best option.

As the crocodile's rage grew, Darian felt a terrifying force about to shatter the chains again. But with his physique and his focus balancing the earth energy, he slowly managed to stay firm.

The crocodile roared with an even louder voice, making Darian's ears bleed and his head feel like it was about to split open.

Everyone inside that central area was affected; the weaker ones coughed blood instantly and ran away in panic.

But… Darian didn't budge an inch, staying even more firmly on top of the creature.

While the crocodile thrashed around, Darian could see High Elder-level demons fleeing for their lives. Even the shadows seemed to be affected and, for some reason, retreated far away.

*BOOM!*

The crocodile suddenly dove into the black waters, but its colossal body didn't fully fit. Massive waves and debris shot into the air.

Any demon who fell into that water would die instantly. But for Darian, even when he was completely underwater, the pressure just became a little harder to handle. It took all his focus and strength, but it wasn't a huge deal for him.

The crocodile twisted and rolled in the waters, but when it realized it couldn't shake Darian off, it charged forward again.

Its body was enormous, but not clumsy at all. Its legs moved with surprising agility, making it run across the land like a fast ship cutting through waves.

The speed was insane, and it smashed into everything in its path. The swamp fell into unprecedented chaos.

As for Darian… he felt like a true tamer of wild beasts.

"Fuck, let's see who lasts longer!" he roared, a malicious grin on his lips.

Suddenly, Darian wrapped two chains around the crocodile's mouth. The creature went berserk, but couldn't break free. Its claws couldn't even reach its own mouth, driving it even crazier.

"The resemblance to the animal isn't just for show. Crocodiles have insanely powerful bites, but their fatal weakness is the almost nonexistent strength to open their jaws," Darian said, thrilled he had managed to muzzle it so easily.

Like he was riding a horse, he used the earth chains as reins, treating the giant crocodile as his mount.

*ROAR!*

Enraged, the monster thrashed even harder, rolling around like crazy. But Darian had already figured out the trick, and now the creature couldn't hurt him anymore.

Unable to throw him off, the shadow sprinted wildly, carving out a massive trench as the ground shook under its weight. The shadows that didn't escape in time were crushed flat by the impact.

"You think you're a badass? I'm a specialist at dealing with every kind of badass! Submit!"

*ROAR!*