Day 6
It was Team A's shift.
One hour. That was how long they had been fighting. Kaelen led the vanguard, and everything followed their normal, repetitive battle strategy.
Then the pattern broke.
The Miasma Titan unleashed an unpredictable attack it had never used during the previous days.
Korinn was falling back toward the ground after stabbing the petrified bark, so the Titan suddenly shot a thick cluster of vines covered in poisonous thorns into the empty air.
The attack trapped the Thief mid-flight. Korinn assumed the monster would freeze after taking damage from the Mages, but it did not stop right away. Instead, it launched more vines to crush him.
He had to make a brutal choice to survive. He violently tore himself free, sacrificing his left arm and right leg just to escape the trap. His limbs were completely ripped to pieces.
Vance carried him to the backline, where three Healers immediately rushed to his side.
"I'll take care of him," Nia told the two veteran Healers. "Focus on the battle."
Her words carried authority, so the two older Level 6 Healers simply nodded and faced the frontline again.
Korinn laid on the wet ground while looking up at the gray sky. Loud explosions echoed across the battlefield. He felt the raw, burning pain of his severed left arm and right leg.
Nia pushed her Mana outward. A green Aura floated at the tip of her wooden staff, and she pointed it directly at Korinn's bleeding body. The green light enveloped his ruined shoulder and thigh. In 3.4 seconds, the bleeding and the pain stopped completely.
Then she cast a Flush spell. The magic forcefully expelled the poison caused by the vine thorns. Korinn's face relaxed as the extreme agony finally washed away, but a glaring problem remained. The wounds were sealed, but he still lacked two limbs. He could not fight or even walk in this state.
Nia inhaled deeply, then let out a slow exhale. It was a clear sign she was preparing an exhausting spell. The green Aura floated back to her staff. She closed her eyes.
Here I go, she said to herself in her mind. She opened her eyes and began the chant.
"My name is the Progenitor of the Lost Form.
The river flows, but the spring remains untainted.
The seasons turn, yet the root holds the shape of the tree.
Through the fog of a thousand days, I summon the child's blueprint.
Before the blade. Before the fire. Before the silence.
I reject the record of the wound. I deny the logic of the scar.
Weave the red thread into the empty air.
Anchor the soul's shadow into the world of man.
By my Decree, let the Mirror be Mended.
Awaken, O Flesh of the Beginning—
Arkhaios-Carnis!"
The green light flared, shining blindingly bright.
Slowly, the empty space below Korinn's shoulder and hip began to expand. Red threads of raw muscle fiber materialized out of thin air, weaving together like a tight net. White bone violently pushed forward from the stumps, snapping into a perfect skeletal shape before thick layers of new skin aggressively wrapped around the raw tissue to seal the creation. It was slowly generating his missing arm and leg.
Normal Healing Magic does not require a chant. But this specific spell demands formal words.
The public generally considers Healers the weakest among Adventurer job classes, but the label is highly misleading. A Healer is far stronger than an ordinary civilian. If a fragile-looking Healer arm-wrestles a muscular man with zero Mana, the Healer wins easily.
The reason is the Mana Core. Humans born with active Mana naturally possess denser bones and stronger muscles than those without it. A few rare exceptions exist where a genetically gifted civilian might beat a low-level Healer in an arm wrestling contest, but those are extreme anomalies. Normally, a Healer easily overpowers an average person.
If a Level 6 Healer fights a Level 2 Swordsman, the Healer usually wins. Their high Mana capacity easily overwhelms the Swordsman's weak reserves. However, if a Level 3 Swordsman with average Mana capacity fights a Healer with high Mana capacity, the outcome becomes unpredictable. According to the Adventurer's Association statistical records, a Level 3 Swordsman wins six out of ten times against a Level 6 Healer. This means the Level 6 Healer only wins four out of ten matches.
The Swordsman wins the majority because Healers are not combat types. When people hear about a Level 6 Tanker, a Level 6 Swordsman, a Level 6 Thief, or a Level 6 Mage, everyone instantly assumes the person is a monster in battle. Certification Levels for combat jobs directly measure lethal strength.
However, Healers operate on an entirely different scale. When people hear about a Level 6 Healer, they do not assume the Healer is a strong fighter. The public knows a Healer's rank does not mirror their combat ability. The Association promotes Healers based on their quest completion rate, but the most significant boost to their Certification Level comes strictly from the tier of their healing ability.
Korinn's limbs were almost finished growing back. He stared at the green Aura and the incredible magic, completely mesmerized. He was also mesmerized by the young lady's pretty face.
Nia was casting "Arkhaios-Carnis."
It was far superior to basic healing magic. It was Regeneration. Normal healing only closes cuts and mends broken bones, while regeneration creates an entirely new set of flesh and bone from thin air. It ranks as one of the highest-tier spells any Healer could cast. Only a tiny handful of people can use it.
This specific spell was the exact reason Nia commanded immense respect from older veterans. She lacked decades of raid experience, but she outranked the veteran Healers in the team simply because she could cast this miracle. This feat proved her worth and earned her Adventurer's Gold Badge. She was Level 7.
The high-tier spell took roughly 35 seconds to finish. New limbs attached perfectly to Korinn's body.
Nia let out a heavy sigh. She was sweating profusely.
"That was amazing," Korinn said from the ground.
"Of course," Nia replied. "I'm amazing. I can even create a third arm for you if you like."
"Really?" Korinn asked.
"Of course, but it would be pointless," Nia said. "Now get up."
Korinn did not stand up right away. "You're—"
"What?" Nia asked.
"An angel," Korinn said. "Beautiful."
He meant exactly what he said. While the green light shine and his limbs reformed, Nia genuinely looked like an angel to him.
Nia stared at him with completely blank eyes. She raised her right fist.
"What are you going to do?" Korinn asked.
"I'm gonna punch you with this," Nia said.
Korinn laughed. "Your fragile hand can't even hurt me, angel."
In Korinn's mind, a physical punch from a Healer would just bounce off his hardened body. He was a Level 6 Thief. If a muscular civilian threw a punch, he might dodge it to avoid the dull ache, but a Healer's bare knuckles meant nothing to his skin.
Nia kept her blank stare.
Korinn blinked. When he opened his eyes, a strange sight caught his attention. Nia's right fist looked slightly larger.
Am I hallucinating? Korinn thought.
He blinked twice while laying in the mud. He realized it was not a trick of the light. Her right fist grew even larger, and then he noticed Nia's entire right arm swelled massively. It looked like the thick, bulging arm of a giant muscular man.
Korinn's Thief eyes captured the unnatural, violent expansion of her muscle fibers in perfect slow motion, but his brain completely failed to process the impossible biology his eyes had just recorded.
Nia raised the huge fist, gathered her momentum, and threw a heavy punch directly at Korinn's gut.
Korinn possessed a Thief's reflexes, so he easily rolled sideways to dodge it. Nia's massive fist slammed directly into the mud.
BAAAAM-SQUELCH.
The ground cratered under the heavy impact. Wet dirt and black sludge exploded outward, splashing all over Nia, Korinn, and the two nearby Healers.
The loud noise echoed through the backline. Mages and Healers instinctively turned their heads. They saw Nia's giant right arm resting in the mud crater.
"What was that?" Kaelen shouted from the front without looking back.
"It was nothing," a veteran Healer yelled back.
The backline Adventurers did not look surprised by the giant arm itself. They were only shocked that Nia actually punched the wet ground.
Korinn noticed their dismissive reaction. He quickly analyzed the impact crater. The punch hit soft ground, but the raw kinetic force was massive. If that fist actually hit his stomach, it would not break his bones, but he would definitely feel intense pain from the blow.
A loud crack echoed from the crater. The Miasma-Titan swung its arm, sending a huge log falling from the sky.
"Prepare for impact!" Kaelen roared.
The Adventurers instantly locked their focus back onto the towering monster. Only Nia and Korinn remained distracted. Nia sat in the mud, clutching her giant right fist with her left hand as a pained expression crossed her face.
"Are you hurt by hitting the soft ground?" Korinn asked.
Nia glared at him with pure annoyance. "No, of course not. I was not hurt because I hit the wet soil. Making my arm large is the reason why I am hurt."
She quickly cast a self-healing spell. The green light washed over her limb, and the massive muscles rapidly shrank back to their normal, slender size.
"What was that?" Korinn asked.
"You irritate me, so I tried to punch you," Nia snapped. "Is that hard to understand?"
"That's not what I mean," Korinn said. "How come your arm became large?"
Nia glared at him. "Are you an idiot? How come you became a Level 6 Adventurer without knowing this Healer's trick?"
Loud explosions rocked the battlefield as the Mages fired their spells. Getting distracted right now was highly dangerous, but the raid team already memorized the Titan's attack pattern, so they felt slightly confident in holding the line.
Korinn just stood there and looked down at Nia. She sat on the wet ground, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Nia looked up at his curious eyes and sighed heavily.
"Alright, alright," Nia said. "I'm going to tell you. I did increase the mass of my muscle. High-level Healers can do that. Think about it. If I can generate an entirely new arm out of thin air, just adding some extra meat to an existing one isn't impossible, is it?"
Korinn analyzed the logic.
"Sure." Korinn said. "But if it's that easy, why haven't I ever seen it before? I've run with dozens of high-level Healers in the Imperial Capital, and not a single one has ever tried to throw a punch like that."
"It's because it's not practical," Nia explained. "It causes severe negative effects to the Healer. I told you earlier that giving you a third arm was pointless. The human frame simply isn't built for it. If you grow a heavy extra limb without a real joint to hold it, the sheer force of swinging it will crack your ribs and tear it right off your chest."
Nia lowered her gaze to her right arm. Her slender fingers were trembling slightly, a lingering, involuntary aftershock from the brutal spell.
"Enlarging an existing arm is the exact same trap," Her voice dropping a fraction. "You are shoving heavy muscle into a tight space that isn't built for it either. The new meat has nowhere to go, so it just violently crushes your own insides."
When a Healer suddenly hyper-generates additional muscle and bone mass to enlarge an existing limb, they forcefully overwrite their own genetic blueprint. The failure is not an infection, but pure biomechanical physics. The massive, newly created muscle violently over-pressurizes the closed compartments of the arm.
The rapid expansion physically tears the surrounding fascia and forces the skin to stretch past its tearing point. The result is instantaneous, acute compartment syndrome. The expanding muscle brutally crushes the nerves and pinches off the blood vessels against the unyielding connective tissues, causing extreme, paralyzing pain.
"That's why I feel extreme pain when I make my arm larger," Nia continued. "Healers don't do this even if they can, because it hurts them. And the second disadvantage is the Mana cost. It consumes a huge amount of Mana for a simple physical strike. It's not worth it. This trick is only meant for absolutely desperate situations, but based on the Adventurer's Association records, there is no documented incident where this trick actually became useful. It is just a pointless spell for Healers. So no one ever actually casts it."
"Then why did you do it?" Korinn asked.
"Because you made me annoyed!" Nia yelled, her face red with anger.
"You two stop flirting and go back to the battle!" Kaelen yelled from the frontline.
"We're not flirting!" Nia shouted back.
The exact moment those words left her mouth, she collapsed face-first into the mud.
Korinn gasped in shock.
"Boss Kaelen, Nia collapsed!" a veteran Healer yelled.
"Mana Exhaustion," Kaelen stated instantly. "Korinn, bring Nia to the camp and come back right away."
Nia suffered severe Mana exhaustion. Her internal reserves hit rock bottom because she cast "Arkhaios-Carnis." That high-tier regeneration spell consumed huge amounts of energy, instantly draining her tank. The second reason she completely emptied her Mana Core was the Healer's trick.
Enlarging her arm looked like a simple punch, but manipulating anatomy and forcing cells to hyper-generate burned a ridiculous amount of Mana. She had only fought for an hour, but the combined toll broke her limit. It was incredibly taxing.
The trick Nia used was exactly the same mechanic as regeneration magic. It required generating new muscle and bone cells from nothing. High-level Healers feel intense pain when they do this because the sudden, explosive growth violently crushes their own nerves and tears their connective tissues from the inside out.
It remains a completely useless spell for real combat. Or is it?
Korinn carefully picked Nia up from the mud.
The Titan finally stopped moving after taking another heavy magical barrage.
Kaelen turned his head slightly and looked at the Thief. "Korinn."
"Yes?" Korinn answered.
"Do not do anything funny," Kaelen warned flatly.
Korinn's face flushed completely red. "Of course not!"
"Go, and hurry," Kaelen ordered.
Korinn tightened his grip on the unconscious Healer and rushed back through the fog toward the safe camp where Team B was currently resting.