Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 46B1 - Hunt or Be Hunted II

David barely noticed being thrown to the side. He was hurled through the air, landing on something soft—a large corpse, or maybe just the ground. He couldn't tell.

The pain he should have felt was gone, and it grew increasingly difficult to move or stay conscious.

But he could still issue simple mental commands. He overclocked [Cure Wounds] with crimson motes and felt his senses return slowly. First, the internal wounds were tended to. [Cure Wounds] spread through his body, closed the hole in his stomach, and moved onward to mend his other wounds.

The crimson motes in his Holy Sea decreased rapidly, but the overclocked Skill Rune worked wonders. He felt slightly better, even if he was still too weak to move. He channeled bits of transformed Aether through his pathways to cast [Cure Wounds] again, using his reserves to guide [Holy Touch] through his body, converting Aether into holy power.

A few seconds may have passed, though to David, it felt like hours before he regained control of his body. He pressed his hands against the soft ground and pushed his upper body upright.

His gaze trailed the Herculean Darkai’s carcass underneath. It must have softened his fall. David patted the disgusting carcass lightly and turned to the Obsidian Blade. It was still stuck in the Mini-Boss’ corpse and absorbing its blood. He willed it back to his mind space and jumped to his feet.

After one more use of [Cure Wounds], David felt much better. His Holy Sea had recovered and was now half full, though its pristine appearance was gone. All David could see at this point was a glistening, crimson lake. It looked like ‘fancy’ blood.

That’s not enough. The Mini-Bosses are too strong.

The Horde’s momentum had yet to die while the defenders struggled to keep up. Either the minds or the bodies of the remaining defenders had been crushed, leaving little to be desired for a fair fight.

Relying on holy power isn’t an option—not with the traces of Demonic Essence polluting it. And crimson motes… using too many at once could kill me. It’s too draining.

Were they fated to die here? Is that the path the cogs of fate had picked?

David gritted his teeth, materialized the Obsidian Blade in his right hand, and retrieved the only item he could think of using to change their fate.

It was a small crimson crystal. The Fragment of Blood.

“I am not going to die here,” David said, his voice eerily calm. His heartbeat slowed while his mind was cleansed.

Everything was going to be alright. All it took was enough effort.

He popped the Fragment of Power in his mouth and swallowed it whole.

To survive, you need power. Power is all it takes. It is everything you need to shatter all odds. To go above and beyond…

David didn’t notice any changes right away. The Fragment of Blood didn’t seem to work instantaneously as had been the case with Felix. Maybe he should have crushed the Fragment of Blood before swallowing its shards, but David felt like he was using the Fragment of Blood like it was supposed to be used.

A pulse throbbed through his entire body, jolting him to full awareness. At first, there was only a single pulse, but a second and third followed shortly after, each wave stronger than the last. With every beat, raw power surged through him. The power reached every part of his body and fueled him. It filled him to the brim and beyond.

His vision shifted; a faint crimson hue now overlaying everything he saw. David’s skin burst open, but no blood flowed. Instead, a bloody red mist seeped from his torn skin, wrapping around him like a second layer.

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A shiver ran down his spine, and goosebumps prickled all over his skin. Every inch of his body hurt, but not from wounds. He was in pain from the power surging through him. It was blissful pain.

His attention drifted across the battlefield, and he soon sensed something even more exhilarating nearby.

David’s lips twisted into a devious smile as he sensed more crimson motes in the air and within himself. He reached out with his mist-shrouded hand and grabbed one of the crimson motes. The mote entered his body without resistance.

The crimson mote did not even resist his attempts at pulling it into his Holy Sea, which was exactly what David did. He reached out to more crimson motes and repeated the process. There weren’t many crimson motes left near the Herculean Darkai’s corpse, but the surroundings were overflowing with fresh corpses. To David, the battlefield felt like a farm full of them, ripe for harvesting.

He took a deep breath, which was far more painful than David expected, and approached the closest enemy. The ordinary Darkai had ignored him until now. They must have considered him as good as dead already, an unworthy prey to play with. That changed now that he was back on his feet.

A dozen Darkai rushed at him, their faces filled with glee, eager to tear him to shreds.

If they were strong enough to do so.

David cast overclocked [Bless] on himself before conjuring three crimson shields to cover his left side as half a dozen Darkai pounced on him. The demons clawed the shields, but they didn’t budge. They rippled a little and lost some of their bright luster, but they were far from empty.

David kicked off the ground, beheading one Darkai with a swift slash and ramming his blade into the next target's chest without hesitation. He weaved left and right, evading the incoming attacks with ease, and threw the Obsidian Blade at one Darkai when it gathered dark flames in its hideous mouth. David’s soulbound weapon pierced through the Darkai’s fireball and exited the back of its mouth before he summoned it back to his mind space.

His Holy Sea retaliated a little, the strain of pulling the soulbound weapon back from an extended range hitting hard, but David didn’t care.

He felt faster, stronger, and sharper than ever. His mind raced, processing everything with blinding speed, letting him spot every threat and react instantly. Another [Shield of Faith] protected David from a demon pair’s simultaneous assault, but instead of changing his targets, David dispersed the [Shield of Faith] when the demons made a detour around it.

His left hand smashed hard into one of their faces. That did little damage, but he never intended to kill the demon like that. A burst of [Holy Touch] rushed to his knuckles when the punch impacted. It pushed forward and entered the demon’s head, where it did…something.

David’s right hand whipped to the side, ramming his blade through a Demon’s ear. A kill notification rang out, but he didn’t even look at the victim.

He transformed into a whirlwind of slashes, thrusts, and punches while continuously consuming more crimson motes. The pain sweeping through his body intensified, but he knew he needed the crimson motes fueling him to the brim.

Soon enough, he would face the Herculean Darkai. But first, David had to deal with a few more ordinary Darkai. They charged mindlessly at him. It almost appeared like the demons thought their numbers would change anything. Maybe that would work with others. It might even have worked if it had been a minute or two earlier. But not anymore. He was stronger, fiercer, deadlier than before.

The crimson hue over his vision deepened, washing out all other colors until only shades of bloody red remained. David was keenly aware he was still not at his peak. He was still accelerating, still improving his attack patterns.

He hardly recognized how many demons he’d slain or how many notifications had popped up. He felt his Skill Runes growing stronger, their potency rising even as his Rank progressed. But he couldn’t tell how many Runes had leveled up or how close he was to the next Rank.

Perhaps he was already a Bronze Rank and hadn’t even realized! No, that shouldn’t be possible. It wouldn’t make any sense.

But what made sense was the attention David attracted. He noticed the gazes of powerful beings lingering on him and turned out to be one of them. One of the Herculean Darkai stared at him through its void-like eyes. It was still engaged in a fierce battle, yet it watched him instead of focusing on the others.

Even though several Bronze Ranks fought the Mini-Boss, it watched David. Its eyes were glued onto him as if he was more dangerous than the Bronze Ranks.

But maybe that was the case. Maybe he was more dangerous at this moment.

David licked his lips, his eyes glowing in fierce determination.

Let the hunt begin.