Damned Healer

"So? Gonna fight or get the hell out of here?" After Darian's taunt, everyone from the four clans swallowed hard.

Without hesitation, the High Elders clenched their fists and ordered a retreat.

Darian scoffed, then pointed at the Demoness and the other man on the ground; he had only stolen the power from their cores, not killed them. The High Elders quickly dragged them away.

After that, Darian looked seriously at that Heavenly Elemental Spirit woman.

She stared back at him with a pained, thoughtful look. She wasn't very smart, but she wasn't dumb either. She finally realized she'd been used to make Darian accept the fight.

Anyone, even a High Elder, would've been in serious danger in that battle. She, who had genuinely wanted to avoid deaths, had almost ended up helping cause an unfair one.

"Listen up," Darian suddenly said, locking eyes with her. "You and all the Heavenly Elemental Spirits, no matter where you come from — if you want a safe place where no one will use you, come to my sect."

"Don't talk nonsense! Nobody will accept betrayal — anyone who tries will be hunted down and killed." A High Elder roared the moment he heard that.

Darian turned to him coldly. "Yeah? I'm standing right here in front of you. Why don't you just kill me then?"

"Your time will come..." the High Elder muttered.

"Fuck you and your sect," Darian said dryly, turning back to the woman. "Look at my allies behind me. All these little ones were just born and I brought them out of the desert. Just look into their eyes and see if I'm lying or not. I'll repeat myself: I'll protect every one of your kind in my sect. Just use all your power to escape and get to the Wilding Kin Sect."

The woman looked at the youths beside the Wilding Kin Sect. They all radiated a kind of youth and power that should've been impossible for their race. Beyond luck, it took them ages on their own to grow stronger and leave the desert. For them to already be here... there was no doubt someone had looked after them.

She nodded silently and turned back, returning with her sect. Darian said nothing. He didn't have high hopes, but at least he had to try to help those of her race trapped in other sects.

Within minutes, all four sects had rushed away from the area. Only the Wilding Kin Sect remained, and even the oldest members could barely believe what had just happened.

In such a short time, their sect that had barely survived before... now had the strength to humiliate and drive off the others.

"Stick to the plan, split up the area properly, and get ready for the eruption." Darian said calmly, and everyone ran off excited.

Darian stayed completely focused, alert to the surroundings. But even after hours, there was no sign of the other sects. They really had accepted defeat...

*Buzz*

The final alert sounded, and then the whole region shook. Cracks split open all across the land, and soon an immense amount of primordial power burst out.

The 20,000 disciples absorbed until they were completely full. But the eruption had enough energy to fill three times that number. Without hesitation, Darian activated the ring's control and started moving all the excess into his inventory.

Everyone watched as the primordial power flowed in and disappeared, like it was being swallowed by a black hole. In just a few minutes, it was over.

Darian turned to everyone and ordered, "We're heading back."

...

Inside the sect, Darian told everyone to rest. Then he absorbed his share too.

Unlike the first cycle, which he did alone, this time he grouped up with Tir, Eleri, and Awel, and included Zaen to make it five. That way, everyone got a 50% bonus on points.

The next day, the confirmation came.

[Current Status: Devil Realm]

[Primordial Points for next realm: 125/5000]

Each cycle, the system counted +50 points. He had finished the second cycle, but got 25 extra points. Without delay, he gathered the 20,000 disciples and gave them the second portion of primordial power. Then he absorbed again.

The next day:

[Primordial Points for next realm: 200/5000]

As soon as the points were counted, Darian felt the void around him twist. The next instant, a huge amount of primordial power flowed straight into his primordial core.

The system kept its word. Darian had filled his core three times, but because of the group skill bonus, he got 50 extra points — basically the equivalent of another full cycle. So the system gave him primordial power for free, making sure he really had four cycles and wouldn't fall behind compared to others.

Finally, he used the last portion of power with everyone. The next day, he had 275 points, finishing the first five cycles. With the next one, he'd gain another extra cycle.

The three youths had also reached 200 points and ran up to Darian, confirming they had also gotten an extra cycle.

Darian was fired up. Thanks to the group skill, if he secured all the minor eruptions, then at the great eruption, he could leave the Wild World and even create an army of 20,000 powerful warriors.

Of course, the 20,000 weren't in the group for the bonus, but they could still reach close to 60 or 70 cycles.

In the eight sects, there were about 100 people with over 70 cycles — the strongest in that world. At the great eruption, the eight sects together would have fewer than a thousand at that level. Darian, meanwhile, would have 20,000 at his side, guaranteeing overwhelming advantage.

Clearly, the eight sects were plotting something, and that's why he had to prepare to the max.

So, besides having twenty times more warriors, he'd also take a high-level shadow army as support. Maybe even that wouldn't be enough, so he would gather as many resources as possible for the sect, to activate the full buff of the diagrams on everyone.

Any one of those three options alone would already make facing him terrifying. But he couldn't underestimate enemies who seemed so confident. After all, they hadn't even tried to truly fight him — they had just accepted defeat way too easily...

***

After that mid-level eruption, whenever the sects saw Darian show up, they ran off right away. Later on, when simple and medium eruptions happened anywhere near the Wilding Kin Sect, they didn't even bother showing up.

Because of that, Darian got everything.

Days went by, then months. Now, only ten days were left before the great eruption.

Darian was in his room, deep in thought. He had completed 900 days inside the Wild World — two years and six months. In total, he was close to hitting five years in that world, far from Earth and everyone he loved.

Not a single day went by without him thinking about them. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but he knew he couldn't rush it, or he'd really die. So… all he could do was use that longing he felt as motivation.

"Time flew by... Lucy and Lucius must be full-grown adults by now... Niara... I hope she didn't get herself in trouble on that planet and that she's okay." Darian murmured painfully, lost in thought.

"Brother Darian will see them soon enough, there'll only be one last stage left." A soft voice sounded, and Darian turned to Awel, who was looking at him with a faint smile. "I'm sure they're fine."

Darian nodded and patted the head of that sneaky girl, who had managed to slip into his room without him even noticing.

By then, he had already told her absolutely everything that had happened to him since the moment he awakened as a Spiritual Guardian. Awel even knew things Niara didn't know. Naturally curious, over time she had become pretty sharp, and she did her best to help him with everything.

Eleri, on the other hand, had changed a lot since Darian first met her. Now, it was like she had two completely opposite personalities. When they were safe, she was the energetic girl who messed around and did whatever she wanted all the time.

But whenever they went out and there was even the slightest danger around, it was like someone else took over her body. She'd become cold and watchful, sensing everything and everyone around, always trying to protect everyone as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Tir had learned everything Darian knew about the earth element. After that, Darian had to push his memories to the limit, recalling every single word his master Meru had told him during training. He did everything he could to pass himself off as a real master for him.

In the end, he was happy with the results. That kid was like a sponge, soaking up everything with ease. He quickly became a terrifying Fighter on the battlefield, to the point where Darian didn't have to worry anymore.

Darian himself never stayed idle either. He was always working — getting new shadows, stealing eruptions, or studying the sect's stuff.

After reading through all the information available in the sect, he turned to the techniques they had. He refined his two techniques even more, applying principles from the sect's methods, and also learned to handle the five natural elements way more efficiently, as well as the Laws of the system.

"Another group of Heavenly Elemental Spirits just arrived at the sect," Awel said quickly, "They were born of fire and lightning. They took the oath and joined the sect properly."

Darian nodded. He hadn't had much hope before, but thanks to the blessing of Heaven's Will, every Heavenly Elemental Spirit that saw him felt they had to be by his side. When he promised to accept them formally, before long, many of them started running away from their sects.

Of course, not all of them — maybe not even half. But he did everything he could. As for Mazur and the High Elders, they didn't care one bit about letting Darian do whatever he wanted.

Without delay, he turned back to focus: the final preparations for the great eruption.

Soon, the ten days passed... finally, the time had come.