SSS-Ranked Surgeon In Another World: The Healer Is Actually OP! - Chapter 343: Betrayal...

Chapter 343: Betrayal…

Rael barely managed to twist away in time.

The blade passed within inches of his throat.

He leapt backward immediately, boots skidding across loose stone as he reset his stance.

Four fighters clashed instantly.

The clearing erupted into chaos.

Steel rang sharply as blades collided again and again.

Boots tore through dirt and shattered branches as the combatants moved across the battlefield with explosive speed. Mana flared and twisted through the air in violent bursts as techniques were unleashed without hesitation.

Meanwhile.

Claire Redwyn and Ivan Blackthorn stood near the edge of the clearing.

Unlike the others, neither of them rushed forward.

Claire’s crimson hair flowed lightly behind her as she drew her twin daggers with calm, elegant movements. Her posture remained relaxed, almost casual, as though the violent clash unfolding before her was little more than background noise.

But there was something unsettling about the faint shimmer gathering around her fingers.

Thin threads of crimson mana coiled invisibly through the air around her hands like unseen strings waiting for their master to pull them.

Beside her, Ivan Blackthorn rolled her shoulders lazily as if warming up before a routine exercise.

The chaos ahead barely seemed to interest her.

Then she lifted her palms.

Metal erupted.

Sharp spikes burst outward from her hands with terrifying speed.

Metal thorns.

They fired like bullets.

The sharp whistling sound cut through the battlefield as the projectiles tore through the air.

One nearby recruit who had attempted to rush toward them barely had time to react before a metal thorn punched clean through his shoulder. The impact lifted him off his feet and hurled him backward into a tree trunk with a sickening crack.

Gasps rippled through the theater.

The sound design made the moment brutally clear.

The man slid down the bark, leaving a dark smear behind him.

Another recruit attempted to circle around the two women, clearly hoping to catch them off guard while their attention was on the larger battle.

Claire stepped forward smoothly.

Her hand lifted slightly.

The blood pouring from the wounded recruit suddenly stopped falling.

It rose.

The audience watched in stunned silence as the crimson liquid twisted upward through the air like ribbons dancing in slow motion.

Then the blood snapped forward.

It wrapped around the recruit’s throat.

Claire flicked her fingers gently.

The invisible pressure tightened.

The man’s body jerked violently as his hands clawed at the invisible force crushing his neck.

Seconds later.

He collapsed.

The blood that had bound him fell lifelessly back to the ground.

A low murmur swept through the theater.

“Blood manipulation…”

“That’s terrifying…”

But the battlefield was already spiraling deeper into chaos.

Kai Stormblade unleashed a violent surge of lightning that blasted Raven backward through a cluster of shattered stone. The electrical discharge tore splinters from nearby trees as it exploded across the ground.

Luke Drot roared as he swung his massive weapon in a brutal arc that cracked the earth beneath Rael’s feet. The shockwave forced Rael to leap away as dust and shattered rock erupted into the air.

Luna Graymantle finally stepped forward.

She lifted both hands slowly.

Swirling gray mana gathered around her palms like the center of a forming storm.

The air itself seemed to compress.

Then she pushed outward.

A wave of invisible force erupted across the battlefield.

Several fighters were slammed violently apart as the shockwave tore through the clearing. Trees snapped like brittle twigs under the pressure as bodies were thrown through the air like rag dolls.

Steel clashed.

Mana exploded.

Blood splashed across the broken ground.

The battle raged for several brutal minutes.

One by one the weaker recruits fell.

Some collapsed beneath overwhelming power.

Others hesitated for only a fraction of a second and paid for it with their lives.

The chaotic battlefield slowly began to thin.

Seven became five.

Five became four.

Then three.

And finally.

Only two figures remained standing.

Claire Redwyn.

Ivan Blackthorn.

The forest grew quiet once more.

Broken branches littered the ground. Weapons lay scattered across blood soaked earth. The metallic scent of battle hung heavy in the air as the two women stood facing each other across the ruined clearing.

For a moment neither of them moved.

They simply watched each other.

Claire slowly wiped a thin streak of blood from one of her daggers with the edge of her glove.

Her expression remained calm.

Almost amused.

Across from her, Ivan exhaled slowly as she rolled her neck once, metal thorns retracting back into her palms with a faint scraping sound that echoed faintly through the ruined clearing.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

A sharp glint crossed Claire’s crimson eyes as she glanced across the battlefield littered with broken bodies and shattered weapons.

“Well,” Claire said casually, spinning one dagger loosely between her fingers as if they had just finished a light sparring session rather than a brutal fight for survival. Her gaze swept across the silent clearing, taking in the carnage with cool detachment. “That went smoothly.”

Ivan chuckled beside her.

“Not bad.”

For the past several minutes they had fought together through the chaos like a perfectly synchronized pair. Back to back. Covering each other’s blind spots. Cutting down anyone foolish enough to approach them from either direction.

Allies. Friends.

At least until the battlefield had been cleared.

The forest around them had grown eerily quiet. The sounds of battle that had filled the clearing moments ago were gone now, replaced only by the faint rustle of wind moving through broken branches.

Claire’s dagger stopped spinning.

Then.

She moved.

There was no warning.

No hesitation.

Her fingers snapped forward in a sharp, deliberate motion.

The blood splattered across Ivan’s armor suddenly twisted.

Ivan’s body jerked violently.

Gasps erupted throughout the theater.

The blood manipulation surged to life.

Invisible force gripped Ivan’s body like crushing chains as Claire seized control of the blood flowing through her veins. The crimson mana threads that had been quietly woven across the battlefield earlier suddenly tightened, pulling at Ivan from every direction.

Ivan’s limbs bent unnaturally as the pressure intensified.

Bones creaked.

Flesh strained.

Her body began contorting grotesquely under Claire’s control as if she were being crushed by invisible hands that cared nothing for the limits of human anatomy.