Spire of Ascension, Floor 47.
[He teleported us far away from him… Seems like your combined attacks worked on him quite well…]
"Yeah…"
Lia couldn't help but nod her head at Kai's words.
She could sense that Alverto was greatly threatened by Riya's healing magic to the point that his soul was starting to take massive damage from the sheer potency of that healing magic.
Lia glanced at Riya, who was healing Link's arm, and a complicated look appeared on her face.
'To think that same weak and timid girl from two years ago… whose life was nearly ended by a mere A-ranker would become this strong…'
'She's grown to the point that even I am not sure whether I can deal with her…'
'Her healing magic is just too potent… she's reaching closer and closer to the level of an SS-rank healer in terms of pure healing capability…'
While Lia was contemplating all this, Riya finished healing Link's arm, and he got up immediately.
"I am feeling an oddly familiar mana fluctuation nearby…"
"It can't be…"
A look of confusion appeared on Link's face as he started to glance around.
Seeing his anxious movements, Riya asked in doubt.
"What's wrong? I can't feel Alverto's life force; he's not around. you don't need to be on guard-"
Before Riya could finish her words, the floor above collapsed, and a figure fell down along with all the rubble.
Seeing that person, a look of sheer shock appeared on all of their faces.
"Father!?"
Link immediately rushed towards Ashtel's unconscious body, and a look of horror appeared on his face as he brought Ashtel's body out of the rubble.
"T-this… this can't be… How is this even possible!?"
The left half of the upper torso of Ashtel's body was completely destroyed; he was missing an arm, and his entire body had massive wounds.
Seeing his father in such a state, Link stiffened on the spot, and his mind went blank.
Never in his entire life had he ever thought that he would one day need to worry about his father's safety.
His father is one of the strongest people in the entire world; he's sure that there's nothing in this world that can threaten his father's life.
If you ask any random human in the human empire about whether it's possible to even inflict a wound on Ashtel Rex, they will all say that it's near impossible unless all the SS-rankers in the world work together to attack him.
Seeing Ashtel in such a state, Link just couldn't believe his eyes.
If it were anyone else, they would have already died ten times after suffering such a fatal wound.
"Don't move him too much… Calm down, Link, he's not dead!! You have to be strong in such a situation!!"
Seeing that Link was in a state of shock, Riya immediately took the responsibility into her own hands.
She took a deep breath and immediately placed both hands on Ashtel's damaged body to stabilize his vitality.
'It's simply unbelievable!! His heart has been completely destroyed all his internal organs are destroyed and yet… he's still alive!?'
'This is unbelievable!! His brain is still functioning properly!! I guess he's unconsciously using his mana that's stored in his brain to keep himself alive…'
'Even an SS-ranker would have difficulty mobilizing their mana after being damaged this fatally, but he's doing it without any help from artifacts or anything at all!!!'
'He's unbelievably strong!'
Actually, the real reason why Ashtel didn't die was because it was his own attack that did the real damage.
Yes!!
This huge amount of damage to his body was done by his own final attack, which he used to completely destroy Neo and the 50 upper floors of the Spire of Ascension permanently.
'Absolute Singularity' is an attack that doesn't distinguish between enemy and friends; this is also one of the main reasons why Ashtel never used it before.
This attack not only harms his enemy but also harms himself.
Truthfully speaking, Neo simply wasn't strong enough to actually kill Ashtel even after all that, but Ashtel didn't want to let Neo go; he needed to make sure that Neo died.
That's why he used an attack that would do such a massive amount of damage.
If not for the Elven King to come and suppress the attack from spreading after it was weakened by the Spire of Ascension's destruction, this attack would have wiped out the entire solar system in a matter of milliseconds.
Ashtel could already feel that the Elf King was nearby and many other SS-rankers were there; that's why he took this gamble and used a smaller version of the attack to leave a way out for himself.
Otherwise, if he had used it at full capacity, then he would have also become flying dust like Neo, and even the Elf king and others wouldn't have been able to suppress it.
Ashtel left a way out for himself; moreover, it was his own attack with his own mana in it, so he had more resistance to it, thus making it more feasible for him to live.
Yet, he still ended up receiving such a fatal wound.
In a sense, it can be said that only Ashtel himself could have done such a massive amount of damage to his own body. (As I already said before, Ashtel is built different…)
…
[Stay on guard, he's doing fine… He will live. He may seem weak due to wounds all over his body…]
[Honestly speaking, I think all three of you combined can't leave a scratch on him even in his current state…]
Lia also nodded her head. She glanced at Link, who seemed unconscious due to the sheer shock, and shook her head.
"Let me lend you my mana too… that will help a lot… With Kai's help I have a massive amount of mana…"
Riya had just fought Alverto and had also had to heal Jin before, so she was already short of mana and life force.
Lia placed her hand on Riya's back and started to channel her mana into Riya's body to help her replenish mana.
"Use it to heal him… Humanity can't afford to lose him… He's the pillar of support that holds the sky above the human empire from collapsing…"
"Without him, the human empire will not be able to function…"
Ashtel's existence is just too important to humanity; unless there's someone who can replace him, it's impossible to let him die.
Riya nodded her head and increased her output.
[Blessing of The Law of Healing!]
This blessing forcefully brings the gaze of the 'Law' of 'Healing' to the wounded to heal them at an 'Existential' level.
[Blessing of The Protection of the Healing Sage!]
This blessing makes the user have the insight of the Healing Sage 'Astra' for a brief moment and increases their healing effectiveness by 200 times.
[Blessing of the Aura of Vitality!]
This blessing forces the 'aura' of 'vitality' in the material world to flow towards the wounded and assist in rapid healing.
[Blessing of The Cosmic Mana Flow!]
This blessing smoothens the flow of mana for the healer by 100 times, increasing the effectiveness of converting pure mana into healing magic tremendously.
[Advanced Healing Magic: Maximum Output: Overload!]
Although Riya's healing magic hasn't reached the level of SS-rankers, due to the existence of the 'Heart of Eternal Nirvana,' she can grant herself or the wounded various blessings.
Thus, increasing the effectiveness of her healing magic to the level of an early SS-rank healer.
She's beyond ordinary healers already; it's no exaggeration to say that she's reaching the top at an extremely fast speed.
"It's very difficult… healing a peak SS-ranker is no joke… it's the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life…"
"Just regenerating a single cell of a peak SS-ranker's body takes tremendous amount of mana and concentration…"
"If not for the 'Heart of Eternal Nirvana,' I couldn't even regenerate a single cell of his body…"
Even with all these blessings, it's near impossible for the current Riya to fully heal Ashtel in a short time.
The stronger a person is, the more difficult it is to heal them, as every single cell of their body is extremely strong and contains tremendous amounts of mana.
Sweat appeared on Riya forehead but she became even more determined.
'I won't let him die… As long as I am healing them, I won't let anyone die… I won't let that tragedy happen again at any cost!'
For a healer, the death of their patient while they are healing them is the biggest shame of their life.
Zack's death was enough of a blow to her mentality. Riya can never let anyone else die in her hands; she just can't accept defeat in this situation. This is her pride as a healer, after all!
"I will guard you two; concentrate on healing him…"
Seeing Riya and Lia both work so hard, Link finally came back to his senses and got up from the ground; he immediately took his stance and stood guard for them.
'Father has saved my life many times; I owe him my everything... I must not let any harm come his way…'
Although most of the demons and monsters in the Spire of Ascension are already dead, Link doesn't want to leave it all to chance.
'Rio, you have to deal with that demon prince alone… forgive me for not being able to come to your support… I-I just can't leave my father behind in such a state…'
Link knew that after they caused Alverto to lose his ability to control the monsters, Rio must have gone to fight Alverto.
But he can't go to support because he has more important responsibilities on his shoulders right now.
'Be safe… don't end up dying, you god d*mn stone faced b*stard!!!'