Nightshade duchy. Badlands.
The only urban settlement from the current battleground, which was deep into the Badlands, was the city of Curar.
"Aaaaaaargough!"
A monster howl could be heard from the only patch of open ground surrounded by dense vegetation. This patch was recently created. C-Rank and B-Rank spells being cast one after the other led to the creation of this battleground.
The residual mana signatures of mana spells and monster spells could be felt everywhere. It was an indication that a fight between powerful entities had taken place. Each side had their juniors too, who had battles of their own.
Suffice to say that the adventurers' side had almost won against the monster hordes. It was only the leader of the tribe that was alive and kicking to take care.
The monster that howled was a Gnoll King.
He had hyena-like facial features and a humanoid form. He stood at around 9 feet tall. His body was covered in fur. His tribal armor was barely clinging to his body. And he had wounds all over.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
The four wind shurikens homed in on the monster as he was running away from the ground zero he had helped create. But alas, his pursuers didn't want to let him go this easily after he had killed and eaten countless parties of adventurers dispatched from the city of Curar.
"Aaaaaaargh! Vile adventurers, you'd pay for this."
The monster's words were meant as a threat. But they sounded pitiful because of his shaky voice and his current situation. His right arm was first to be chopped off. Then the left arm. Still, the monster didn't stop his retreat. And yet, the pursuers knew the monster wasn't heading anywhere.
After suffering these injuries, the monster's mana defense finally gave in. His injuries suddenly became much more severe than they should be. There was a dense plume of smoke coming from the injuries and the chopped-off arms that had fallen to the ground.
In the next moment, the monster's body started shrinking as if something was siphoning off his life essence from his body. The chopped-off arms dried and turned to dust as the life essence stored in them was extracted from them using a wind-element array spell.
This was the reverse of healing spells that had been cast on the Gnoll King, who was similar to a ranker in their B-Rank. The wind-element array was located in the sky, following the monster and his pursuers like an umbrella.
The spectral runic symbols on the wind-element array floating over the high-ranking entities' heads shined their brightest as they siphoned almost all of the life essence of the Gnoll king. It was spinning in a clockwise direction the whole time when it was siphoning the life essence. But suddenly it stopped and started spinning in the opposite direction.
The Gnoll King's body had been mummified by this point. He crashed to the ground and he had no energy to even howl and call for backup that even he knew was no more.
"Spare… spare me. I'll not eat humans, elves, or dwarves from now on. No adventurer meal for Jolo. I pro…"
Before he could complete his sentence, the wind shurikens that had zoomed in on the monster's fallen body had done their job. One of the shurikens cut his neck cleanly while the other attacked his remaining limbs. The ranker who cast this spell had dealt with the monster thoroughly so there's no chance for him to make a surprise comeback.
The wind shurikens and the unusual array floating in the sky were cast by the same ranker. She had a healer class. But she had shown that she could take part in fights just fine when the situation called for it.
She was a beautiful woman. In her early 30s. She had slightly tanned skin. She was a tall, slim, yet buxom mademoiselle, with dark gray hair and violet eyes. Her prominent feminine features made her exceptionally striking.
She had been injured in this monster hunt. And so were her squad members who had been following her closely. It was she who told them not to intervene. She wanted to test her limits. And that's exactly what she did by almost defeating a Gnoll King.
A healer class almost soloed a Gnoll King!
This news could create a buzz in the city of Curar. But the beautiful healer wasn't interested in this buzz. As the healing array over her head started spinning anti-clockwise, the refined life essence that was taken from the Gnoll King was given to the healer, mending all her injuries that she had suffered during the monster purge.
The healer prioritized her own safety first. Only when she was completely healed from her injuries did she send the refined life essence to heal her squad members' injuries.
"This… this was really a job well-done kiddo. I could have never imagined the Nirvana array would be mastered to this extent by you. We are really glad to have you on board."
A man who appeared to be in his 70s, in the solid stage of the B-Rank, praised the lady healer who had just managed to deal with the Gnoll King. He was also a healer, one of the elders and old members of Healers' Nirvana.
"That's right, Master Nina. You were so awesome. Hehehe! A healer taking care of a Gnoll King. The whole city would become crazy after hearing this news."
A young girl who looked to be in her teens commented. This Adept ranked young girl focused on swords and had a bunch of healing spells at her disposal. She was also a member of Healers' Nirvana. The other rankers who were with her standing behind the old man also chimed in and praised Nina a lot.
The Healers' Nirvana guild was a healer-centric guild that focused on healer arrays and healing array spells. However, it didn't take healers as guild members exclusively. It had rankers that had other classes too. It was just that they would be equipped with their own set of healing spells and artifacts.
The guild was known for nurturing resilient rankers. From the guild's founding some 200 years ago, there has been almost no casualty. This was a huge achievement because the Badlands that was near the city of Curar was always in a constant state of war with monsters.
Other guilds would often make derogatory comments like the rankers of Healers' Nirvana were like cockroaches, never dying no matter if the mission turned out a failure or success. But the members of the guild took it as a positive sign for their efforts.
AN: The city of Curar was first mentioned in chapter 378.
