Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 17B3 - Restored

Even though David barely had the energy to move, the Void inside Zachariah had to be removed. His arm was already beyond salvation, and it wouldn’t be long before the infection spread to the rest of his shoulder. Close to half of it was already ravaged, leaving them with only one option.

“Can you do it? I’d do it myself, but it’s a bit difficult to cut off my own shoulder,” Zachariah asked calmly, beads of sweat trickling down his temples. “Carve out as much as you have to. Be generous rather than stingy!”

Being too careful could kill the Regressor, but removing too much might do the same. He needed to strike a perfect balance: carve out every trace of the Void while leaving enough to preserve life using two Blood droplets.

David wasn’t confident—especially not with a mind-splitting headache interrupting his thoughts—but he stepped closer with a nod.

“I can see the Void well enough,” he commented, prompting Zachariah to raise an eyebrow.

It looked like he had something to say, but a blade of Rend whipped out from David’s left hand before he could speak. Maja shrieked as blood, tainted with a gray-black substance, spurted from the Regressor’s arm stump. The rest of his arm landed on the ground with a resounding thud a moment later.

“The condensed source of their power had been removed from your body. That should slow the process,” David explained, ignoring the stunned eyes locked on him.

“That is insane,” Maja muttered, slumping to the ground.

David proceeded, materializing the Obsidian Blade in his left hand. He pressed his lips together as Zachariah tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck and shoulder. Yet, even as he lowered his guard, his eyes never left David’s.

There was no hesitation as David slashed down, cutting deep into Zachariah’s shoulder and drawing both blood and a pained groan. Yet, as painful as it must have been, David was more surprised to find he couldn’t cut any deeper.

“Your body is a fucking menace,” he cursed, dematerializing the Obsidian Blade once the natural resistance of Zachariah’s flesh became too much.

Sure, he could have applied Rend to the Obsidian Blade—used Words of Power to shape the Intent into a saw—but that would’ve inflicted unnecessary pain. Worse, it could have killed him. Blood was already pooling beneath the Regressor like there was no tomorrow. Wasting too much time would bleed him out.

“One more hit should do, though. Their power is helping me,” David grimaced, sensing the repercussions of harboring Void traces through [Healing Link] and Bloodthrone Dominion.

He applied [Herald’s Blessing] to the Obsidian Blade as he conjured it again, analyzing Zachariah’s condition to ensure everything aligned. Although trickier than expected, he moved quickly, spitting out Words of Power as he infused the blade with Rend.

He cleaved down, showing no hesitation even as the blade tore through bone, severing a large portion of Zachariah’s shoulder. The chunk slid down and landed beside the Void-infected arm. A fountain of crimson-gold followed shortly after.

“Fuck. That shit hurts more than expected,” Zachariah growled, his face paler than before.

“Isn’t that obvious? Worse, consuming so many potions resulted in severe repercussions. Your body is revolting—which is rather… problematic,” David said, his connection to Zachariah revealing the weakening effects of the potions.

All of the potions Zachariah had consumed were wearing off, including the strength-augmenting drugs. Their backlash was bound to worsen the situation.

David cast [Weave of Life] using the energy of an entire droplet, hoping it would be enough to preserve the Regressor’s life temporarily. Then, he cast [Greater Restoration] using half a droplet in an attempt to stop the bleeding. However, the Skill needed more power to fix the chaos within Zachariah’s body.

What else can I do? Should he consume more potions? That might stop the bleeding, but whether his body would survive the strain was uncertain.

He cast [Healing Sphere] as often as he could with the energy remaining in his Source, ignoring the problems of his own missing limb now that it had stopped bleeding.

The network of lifelines on the ground should be enough to keep Zachariah alive for a few minutes. His condition would probably worsen, but he wouldn’t—shouldn’t—die right away.

With so little time left, David retrieved a few corpses from his defective storage. Most of the monster corpses he’d stored still contained enough lifeforce to let him recuperate some energy.

However, as it turned out, the energy was nowhere near enough.

He needed more lifeforce, as he could not tap into his own reserves. His body was already a mess, leaving him barely anything to draw from—at least not without risking ending up like Zachariah.

David looked at Maja for a moment but discarded the idea shortly after. While she hadn’t been injured, her lifeforce wasn’t strong enough to make a difference—not if she was supposed to survive as well.

In that case, he thought, his eyes drifting to the Void Fragment’s corpses.

Zachariah would most definitely not like this; however, the Regressor was in no position to complain. Words of Power rolled from his lips as he drew from the fraction of a Blood droplet that had formed in his Source. He circulated it through his body, infused it into the Sacred Beast Core to drain a portion of the Blood it hoarded, and emerged with the strength of two droplets. Strong enough to change something, David ignored the Beast Will as it lashed out at him.

He squashed the remnants’ resistance and released the Blood from his body, all while more Words of Power escaped his mouth. Bending down before the Void Fragment’s corpse, David inserted Blood.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” A weak curse rang out behind.

“Stay the fuck in the lifeline network!” David snapped back when he felt Zachariah rouse. “I am not going to absorb the Void swirl, or whatever they call this shit, so calm down and focus on recuperating!”

He could still feel Zachariah’s displeasure through [Healing Link]’s connection, but his emotional well-being had never been David’s concern. His physical condition, on the other hand, was another matter entirely.

David closed his eyes, Words of Power resounding once more as he drained the corpses’ fleeting lifeforce. He stayed far away from the Void swirl, even if that was where most of the Void creature’s lifeforce had gathered, and activated [Aether Breath] once more.

The Words of Power he spoke shifted slightly, stimulating the Source, forcing it to work in overdrive. Blood droplets came to be in great quantities as the minutes passed.

“I think he’s dying!” Maja said in a hushed tone, her voice laced with anxiety, but David didn’t respond.

A hand landed on his shoulder and shook him urgently, forcing David out of trance.

He kept tendrils of Blood inside the Void Fragment, continuously draining the remaining lifeforce to produce more Blood, and got back up.

“Don’t interrupt me!” He stared daggers at Maja. She stepped back, eyes wide, and mumbled something incomprehensible.

David felt a pang of guilt as he looked at Maja, unable to control her shaking limbs. She looked uncertain—even afraid.

“I know you mean well, but I can sense his condition thanks to a Skill of mine. Stopping me while I gather the energy needed to fix him—to ensure he will not die—is not exactly a good thing.”

He knew he was being unfair here, but it was impossible to babysit and console Maja, adjust to her emotional state, and reassure her while maintaining [Weave of Life], [Healing Link], [Healing Spheres], and [Aether Breath], just to listen to Maja and take care of her when he should be focusing on Zachariah’s condition, avoiding the Void traces in the Fragment from which he needed lifeforce to create Blood, and stimulating his Source to produce more Blood using Words of Power.

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David had to do everything at once, all while the mind-splitting headache tormented him.

Now that he was ready, David deactivated [Weave of Life] and [Healing Sphere]. He also lowered the energy used to supply [Healing Link] and diverted his focus from using [Aether Breath] actively. The Words of Power ceased, and [Greater Restoration], overclocked with five Blood droplets, triggered.

He had never used the Skill with that much energy, as it was wasteful under normal circumstances. Not this time!

[Greater Restoration] jumped into effect, and healing power flooded Zachariah. His complexion didn’t improve instantaneously, but David could sense the shifts within Zachariah’s body. The backlash of Zachariah’s severe usage of highly potent potions and drugs was the first to be taken care of. A portion of [Greater Restoration]’s energy was all it took to fix these issues, leaving more than half to stop the severe bleeding.

David redoubled his effort, his head feeling like it would burst apart, as he cast [Greater Restoration] again. And again, until he was certain Zachariah would survive.

Once the Regressor’s survival was ensured, David swayed and fell.

“I’ll take care of our arms later, okay?” he said, his vision turning hazy as he caved in to the fatigue he’d accumulated.

***

David was not sure how they reached the Dwarven Sanctuary, but it was safe to assume Maja brought them back.

The next thing he remembered was stirring in the bed, waking up as bright, warm light bathed his face. He groaned and turned to the side, pulling the blanket over his head to hide from the intrusive sunlight. However, as it turned out, using his right arm to move the blanket was rather difficult—especially given the lack of an actual arm.

“Right…” David groaned, pulling the blanket aside with his left arm. His eyes fluttered open, and he pushed himself upright.

“You slept longer than expected,” Zachariah’s voice rang out from the side, and David looked over to catch the Regressor seated at the edge of another bed on the other side of the room.

“How long was I out?” David rubbed the back of his head, yawning.

“Roughly 24 hours. More or less.”

That was a lot longer than expected, but it made sense. His Source was no longer drained, and the lingering strain on it was gone.

“You drained Their lifeforce,” Zachariah said, his tone laced with anger and… was that uncertainty?

“And I am fine,” David reassured his friend grudgingly, not wanting to talk about it any further. Maybe they could talk about it in the future, but not a minute after he woke up.

Zachariah looked conflicted and hesitated for a moment but nodded in the end. “Yes, you are. And I am happy about that. Still… what you did there was really dangerous. One mistake and Their power would have entered your Energy Pathways or, worse even, your Source. From what I can tell, you can see a lot more with your modified eyes than life signals, which is great and all, but you need to be more careful. Don’t do that too often if you can avoid it. They are powerful—much stronger than you may think, even in death.”

Even though he could tell what the Regressor implied, David rolled his eyes. Still, he nodded slightly, trying to be a little more careful in the future. Not that it would matter. Danger lurked everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before they clashed with more Fragments and Saplings.

“Regardless of what I just said… I am happy you did it. If you hadn’t done that, I would probably be dead,” Zachariah said, though he looked like every word he spoke took an enormous amount of effort to roll from his lips. “Thank you. I’m glad you were there to help me. It would have been really problematic to deal with the Fragment and Sapling alone.”

You would be dead, David thought, but left the words unspoken and waved dismissively.

“No problem. Fighting the Sapling had been rather interesting—fun even to a certain extent—and watching you fight the Fragment helps me a lot.”

That being said, David got to work. His Source was filled to the brim, providing him with everything they needed to restore their bodies back to full health.

It was already late evening when all the work was done. The last droplet of Blood left his Source, filling the room with vibrantly shimmering spheres that offered warmth and healing one last time.

David absorbed the ambient Aether through his regrown arm and punched the air, creating a small shockwave that splashed against the nearest wall. The wooden wall creaked and groaned, but he was fortunate enough not to break it.

“Your restoration is near perfect. That’s rare to see,” Zachariah muttered, a silver shimmer flashing across his restored body. “It’s even better than it used to be. Then again, your earlier restorations were also very good. I guess Blood improves the properties of your Skills more drastically than expected. My calculations have been wrong.”

It didn’t really feel like the Regressor was talking to him, but David knew what he was referring to. The information on [Reinforce] had barely changed, indicating that his arm’s recovery didn’t affect the amount of time and effort he had invested into refining his Body and Energy Pathways.

[Reinforce]: [Tier-2 I]

Body: Elite– IX (0.00%)

Energy Pathways: Elite– VIII (65.19%)

Both Body and Energy Pathways’ progress had diminished by only a few percentage points. That was more than acceptable, given that his arm had been restored from scratch. It wouldn’t have surprised David if his regrown arm had been much worse than the rest of his body, forcing him to train and nourish it once more to fully recuperate.

“You’re probably right. Blood pushed [Greater Restoration]’s potency and means to greater heights, allowing a near-perfect restoration. Then again, I used a lot more Blood to restore our bodies than I would have for others, since I had the time and energy to spare. Usually, I’d use a few droplets to stimulate their bodies, allowing a more ‘natural’ restoration. In that case, the regrown body parts are probably much weaker than the rest of the body, requiring rehabilitation,” David theorized, but Zachariah wasn’t even looking.

The Regressor appeared busy doing something.

“I don’t remember what happened after I managed to save you from bleeding to death.” David flicked a non-lethal [Blood Blast] at Zachariah, hitting him square in the forehead.

Zachariah jerked up, his expression impossible to read. “What?”

“Was the battlefield cleared or not? The Sapling disappeared after I killed it, but the same couldn’t be said about the Fragment. Did you store it away, or is it still out there and rotting?”

Zachariah didn’t answer right away. He closed his eyes for a moment. When they snapped open again, he cast a dome of semi-translucent silver blades around them.

In the meantime, David checked one of the few System notifications he’d missed.

[Proficiency of [Greater Restoration] reached 100%.]

[Tier-2 XVI] → [Tier-2 XVIII]

Seeing his strongest healing Skill rank up not only once but twice was a welcome surprise. And as long as it kept growing this fast, [Greater Restoration] would advance to a Tier-3 Skill in no time.

“We shouldn’t talk too much about Them. It’s probably fine to mention the Saplings and Fragments, since the System does it as well, but I hope we can avoid mentioning anything related to them. Only talk about Them if you deem it essential,” Zachariah said sharply, waiting until David nodded before he continued. “The Sapling was probably still unstable and dispersed, its power returning to the Fissure when you killed it.”

He cocked his head to the side for a moment, hesitated for a quarter of a second, and continued with a shrug. “Removing Their threat will grant you various benefits, which you must have noticed already. The sentience born within the Earthen Union’s planetary core will reward you for protecting its Essence. That said, you will garner the favor of various gods for eliminating Their spawn. However, you will not receive those gains every time. External forces can only spread so much influence on the Earthen Union.”

He took a deep breath, not even giving David the time to digest the information as he continued.

“Meanwhile, the Earthen Union has to spread its attention across the entire planet. That is fairly obvious, I know, but some people need to hear it to grasp what should have been easy to understand. Either way, the Earthen Union is still a newly born sentient and does not possess much natural Aether and Essence to use. Most of its energy is consumed improving the Earthen Union’s lands to adjust to the influence of outside forces, magical creatures, and the ever-increasing amount of Aether coming from the rifts. Adapting the planet requires a lot of energy, leaving barely anything to strengthen the natives protecting their lands.

“Once again, you probably don’t care about the specifics, which is understandable. All you need to know is that you can gain some benefits by killing Saplings, whose power returns to the Fissure, whereas the Fragments have formed and nourished Maelstroms, which generate not only fortified Void Barriers—the darkness protecting them—but also generate properly functioning bodies, which reinforce the power of the Void.”

While everything sounded more or less important, David was caught on the last bit.

So, not only is it unusual for Saplings to drop anything, but the Sapling I killed had already formed a full ‘Maelstrom’, which is why the all-consuming darkness was so durable. Is that it? He summarized in his head.

The Maelstrom in his storage did not create a proper body for the Sapling, nor was it nourished. In all likelihood, the Maelstrom had barely been created when their group encountered the Fragment and the Sapling.

That means I’ve got the weakest existing Maelstrom, David concluded, hiding the joy rising in his chest from Zachariah.

He doubted the Regressor would like it if he were to experiment with anything related to the Void. No matter how fragile the Maelstrom was, it still belonged to the Void and was dangerous. However, David could not agree with Zachariah’s point of view. He considered it crucial to research his enemies and their powers thoroughly, as it would allow them to find ways to bypass the Void Barrier—probably.

Brute force was great and all. David loved to use it. But if he had to get himself killed every time they encountered a Voidling, he’d actually die at some point.

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