Damned Healer

Inside the inner area of the swamp, where the mid-level demons who didn't have the guts to go to the central region were hanging around, suddenly... everyone noticed a massive commotion.

They instantly turned toward the passage leading to the central arena, and then they saw hundreds of top-level demons coming out, all with pale faces.

Without hesitation, the ones in that area ran for their lives. They weren't crazy enough to stay, because they knew damn well about that colossal hybrid beast. Not too long ago, that crocodile had been a very important weapon; and now, it was their sect's biggest trump card.

Among those escaping, an Elder ran and roared at a mediocre demon:

"This is an order! Get out of the swamp and warn the sect! Something went wrong! The puppet's gone crazy and started attacking everyone!"

The demon's eyes went wide, and he immediately turned and bolted as fast as he could. The eruption was only a few hours away, and the sect leader had to check what was going on, or no one would be able to enter that place again.

Inside, at the heart of the swamp.

"Fuck!" Darian roared while trying to tame that rampaging beast in the middle of absolute chaos.

Of course, that thing wasn't a real beast, and he wasn't gonna make it submit through brute force alone. While the shadow dashed around trying to shake him off, Darian used his ring and power to invade the creature's body.

Slowly... Darian started analyzing inside the primordial core and the control rune that had been placed within it.

From the moment he first encountered this world's shadows, he'd always felt that, at some level, they had something in common with necromancer power. Later, when he got a primordial core, he studied the matter quite a lot.

That core was connected to the body, rooting itself and feeding it with the primordial power it absorbed from the environment, along with the chaos power generated inside it. That nourishment was what strengthened people as they leveled up and advanced in realm.

When someone died, the only difference was that their soul left the body. But this world's system kept the core active, moving the body like a zombie — exactly like necromancy.

That's where Darian stopped. The effects were similar, but the method was completely different, and he didn't understand it. Maybe, with many years of study, he could figure it out, but he wasn't about to waste that time. However...

Someone had clearly already done that work. Most likely, some demon who knew necromancy dedicated themselves to studying the shadows and developed a method to control them.

Now, Darian focused all his attention on sensing and studying that mark inside the core.

*ROAR!*

The beast kept rampaging, but Darian didn't care anymore.

Three hours later...

"Stop!"

Suddenly, the colossal shadow froze in place.

Darian let go of the chains, unable to believe it. Then he checked again...

"I really pulled it off?" he muttered, taking a deep breath. Then he gave an order: "Devour that one over there!"

He pointed at a powerful shadow off in the distance. Despite the prolonged chaos, plenty had still survived.

*BOOM!*

The crocodile thundered forward, snapped its jaws open, and tore the chosen shadow apart. It was an insanely fast and precise move.

Darian swallowed hard. He had actually done it.

It took a lot of time, but he realized something crucial: the mark inside the core could only work if it was created using a bit of chaos power, since they were of the same nature. His ring let him control that power in a raw way, so he pushed what he had into the mark, invading it and replacing its energy with his own control.

That's how the demonic crocodile suddenly obeyed him.

Darian jumped down from the creature and landed on the ground. When he turned, he saw the crocodile staring straight at him, motionless, like a puppet waiting for any command.

"Hmm..." Darian reflected on the endless possibilities opening up in front of him.

Then he walked up to the freshly torn-apart shadow and grabbed its leg. That shadow had been a pure demon, and he extracted a bit of its bloodline.

Darian then focused on the mark inside the crocodile... and manipulated the demonic bloodline, mixing it with a bit of chaos power.

In just a few minutes, he managed to create something close to a replica of the mark. Then he looked around.

"There! Grab that shadow, but don't destroy its body..." Darian cut the order midway. The creature didn't have the intelligence to understand such specific instructions. "Crush it with your body, don't break it. Just pin it down so it can't move."

Immediately, the crocodile turned and charged.

On the other side, far away, a human-sized shadow was standing still. Suddenly, everything around it went dark as the crocodile leapt and slammed its whole body on top of it.

The crocodile had a certain level of control over its power, so it just dropped its weight onto the target without using extra force. That made the smaller body get pinned down, but the shadow was tough enough physically not to burst apart.

Darian ran over to them and moved the replica mark onto the pinned shadow. Then he concentrated on invading its primordial core... but within seconds, nothing happened.

"I messed up somewhere. Well..."

Darian pulled out a small golden stone. It had been given to him by the sect leader to indicate when the eruption started and also to time the exact moment they should act and pull him out.

"A little over two hours left before the eruption..." He smiled, determined to make the most of that time. The original rune was inside the crocodile, so all he had to do was observe and try to copy it.

...

Half an hour later, after dozens of attempts, he realized that since he couldn't properly manipulate the demonic bloodline, it was impossible to create a perfect replica. His only chance was to come up with something new, using the same principles.

So, he focused on the knowledge he'd acquired from the Codex of Anchored Life.

Luckily, the demons that had run off didn't come back. They had no idea the chaos in there was already over, and most likely they'd only dare return when the eruption was about to start.

An hour later.

"Success!"

Out of nowhere, a second shadow was completely taken over by him.

With the knowledge from the Codex of Anchored Life, it got way easier to create an alternative rune based on the principles of the demonic mark.

"Hahaha… you two! No time to waste, trap every shadow you find without destroying the bodies!"

Darian roared, pointing out targets for the two. That's how he kicked off the process of creating marks and taking control of the high-level shadows living in that swamp.

The more shadows he controlled, the faster and easier it got to capture new ones. Creating marks barely cost him anything—he could make one per second if he wanted. Plus, it wasn't just the crocodile that had a mark—every three shadows or so, he'd find one that already carried one inside its core, which made the whole process even easier.

And also… it became obvious these shadows were puppets belonging to the one sect that used this swamp.

A chill ran down Darian's spine. If he hadn't figured that out, and at the time of the eruption had tried something… the demons probably would've used the shadows to trap him inside. With so many of them, and in such a closed-off space, escaping would've been nearly impossible.

His whole plan was based on the idea that the demons would try to capture him outside. But in truth, they already had the power to do it in here, leaving him no chance to escape or even die freely.

It was pure chance he stumbled across the crocodile, and crazy enough of him to climb on top of it and poke around its insides. Even Darian himself had no idea why he'd done something that reckless… maybe his instincts were already getting sharp enough to act before his mind even thought about the danger.

In this hostile world, completely on his own, just two years in, Darian already felt he was changing fast and becoming someone else. He was still himself, but had left behind any trace of the immature, hesitant young man who sometimes overthought things.

...

Minutes kept ticking by…

*BUZZZ!!*

Until the whole place started to shake.

That was the first warning sign of the eruption coming closer. At the same time, through the entrance to the central region, hundreds of demons rushed in.

Among them were more than ten demonic High Elders — the strongest of the Bloodnet Sect, summoned to pin down the crocodile and give the weaker ones a chance to absorb the eruption.

The Bloodnet Sect Leader was the one who inherited the shadow-controlling technique — their most secret treasure and weapon. But sadly, it came with tons of limitations.

To create a mark and gain perfect control, the shadow in question needed to have demon blood in its body, but only in very tiny, weak amounts. On top of that, they had to use an insane amount of this swamp's Yin as support.

But the biggest limitation was that every single time someone gave a command to a shadow, the mark weakened. And forging a new one was insanely hard.

That's why the Bloodnet Sect's strategy was to place the mark and just leave the puppet in the swamp, safe and untouched, without giving it any orders. Since sects were always at war, this was their trump card.

In a desperate situation, the leader could send these puppets out. Since they didn't fear death and were insanely powerful, they'd charge straight into enemies, while the sect members only gave support — guaranteeing victory in pretty much any battle.

But… something went wrong, and the crocodile started going wild.

That's why the High Elders had been sent in — to restrain it and drag it back so the leader could check what went wrong.

**ROAR!!**

But the moment the High Elders stepped inside that place, what they saw froze them.

An enormous army of shadows, lined up and still, waiting for them.

At the center stood the mountain-sized crocodile. Back when it was alive, it had been a High Elder of the sect, terrifyingly strong — but unlucky enough to die in there.

When the ten High Elders looked at the crocodile… their eyes went wide.

On top of its head stood a small humanoid figure, red eyes glaring down coldly at everyone below.

He looked like a shadow emperor, mocking the fools who dared invade his domain.