Chapter 42: The Level 34 Elite Learned Our Weakness. I Found His.

The Blackmaw didn’t roar.

That would’ve been more comfortable.

It simply ran.

The difference in speed was absurd.

A body weighing several tons crossed the terrace with an acceleration Raven hadn’t expected from something that large.

"Spread out!"

This time, nobody questioned the order.

Roland dragged the injured guard to the left. The workers ran toward the upper ramp. The Orbrecht men did the same without worrying too much about dignity.

Valeria went right.

Raven went left.

The Blackmaw chose Valeria.

Of course.

She extended both hands.

The blood spilled by Cassian, the Mirehorn, and the guards rose all at once.

A lot of it.

Raven had seen Valeria create eight spears.

This time, she made more than thirty.

The air filled with red.

"Didn’t think you had that much control."

Valeria didn’t look at him.

"I usually try not to show off too early."

"That’s a lie."

"Shut up."

The spears launched.

Not all toward the same point.

Valeria spread the impacts across the face, legs, and joints.

The first projectiles struck the plates.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

Hardened blood shattered.

Three spears slipped between sections of armor.

The Blackmaw stumbled.

Raven saw the depth.

Two inches.

Maybe four.

Not enough.

Valeria closed her hand.

The embedded spears exploded outward.

Black blood burst from the wounds.

The Blackmaw stopped.

Valeria smiled.

"See?"

The lines between its plates lit up.

The red blood from her projectiles began to disappear.

Absorbed.

The wounds closed.

Her smile vanished.

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"I see."

"Don’t say anything."

"I wasn’t going to."

"You were thinking it."

"Definitely."

The Blackmaw attacked.

Valeria raised a wall of blood.

Not thin.

A dense mass, almost solid.

The creature hit it.

BOOM.

The barrier exploded.

Valeria went flying.

Raven used Kinetic Acceleration.

He reached her before she hit the wall, caught one arm, and partially redirected her trajectory.

They both rolled across the stone.

Raven’s ribs protested.

Valeria ended up on top of him for half a second.

"This is starting to become a habit."

"Terrible timing."

"Agreed."

Predator’s Instinct reacted.

Raven shoved her away.

A black claw struck the spot they’d occupied.

The stone split.

Not cracked across the surface.

Split.

Raven used Burst Step.

Ten feet.

Valeria didn’t need help.

A red circle appeared beneath her feet, and spilled blood pulled her body sideways like a cable.

Both reappeared outside its reach.

The Blackmaw turned.

Raven took one breath.

The creature was much stronger than him.

That didn’t require advanced analysis.

One direct hit could kill him even with Stonehide.

He could use Burst Step only a few more times before draining his mana.

Kinetic Acceleration helped, but nothing he carried could reliably penetrate those plates.

Valeria could hurt it.

But every attack using her blood gave it fuel.

They couldn’t trade blows.

The Blackmaw could.

They couldn’t.

"Any spells that don’t use blood?" Raven asked as they backed away.

Valeria formed two red blades.

"I’m a Blood Mage."

"Sounds like a diversification failure."

"Do you want to discuss my education right now?"

"Preferably when we aren’t dying."

"Then stop criticizing it."

The Blackmaw charged again.

Valeria didn’t fire.

She waited.

When the creature got close, she moved the blood across the ground.

Not toward it.

Under it.

The surface became slick.

One paw lost traction.

The Blackmaw twisted partially.

Raven saw it.

Mass.

Speed.

Poor directional correction.

Similar to the Gloom Stalker.

Except roughly ten times heavier and considerably less fragile.

Raven used Kinetic Acceleration to throw a stone at one of its side eyes.

The creature closed a black membrane.

CRACK.

The stone pulverized.

"Eye protection."

"Any more brilliant observations?" Valeria asked.

"The mouth looks fairly dangerous."

She laughed despite the situation.

"Thank you. I hadn’t noticed."

Raven smiled faintly.

Good.

She was still thinking.

The Blackmaw recovered its balance.

It didn’t attack immediately.

That was new.

All six eyes moved.

Three toward Raven.

Three toward Valeria.

Evaluating.

"Intelligent," Raven said.

"How intelligent?"

"Enough to stop charging straight at us after two attempts."

"That puts it above several nobles I know."

"Cassian, for example."

Valeria glanced at the corpse in the distance.

"Too soon."

"He doesn’t seem bothered."

The Blackmaw began moving sideways.

Not toward either of them.

Looking for an angle.

Predator.

Not a rabid monster.

Raven knew that.

A strong creature could rely on strength.

A creature that had survived long enough learned when to use it.

Predator against predator.

The difference was Raven had the worse body.

He needed to compensate.

---

The Blackmaw chose Roland.

That surprised everyone.

The guard was helping the injured man toward the upper terrace when the creature suddenly changed direction.

Valeria saw it first.

"Roland!"

Raven understood half a second later.

It didn’t want the guard.

It wanted to force Valeria to react.

It had learned.

Valeria launched six needles.

The Blackmaw turned its head and took four in the neck.

Raven cursed.

"It’s using you."

"I know."

The red lines appeared again.

Blood Furnace.

Regeneration.

The creature kept advancing.

Roland left the injured man behind a rock and raised his sword.

He couldn’t stop that.

Raven looked up.

Mining structure.

An old loading platform hung over the next terrace.

Thick chains.

Pulleys.

A partially rotten wooden frame.

And a metal beam nearly thirteen feet long suspended above a channel where they must once have moved stone.

Not enough time.

Raven used Burst Step.

Appeared beside Roland.

"Run right."

Roland didn’t argue.

Good quality.

They both moved.

The Blackmaw passed between them.

Raven activated Stonehide over his shoulder as the tail came around.

THUD.

The world spun.

Raven hit the ground.

The left half of his body lost sensation for a second.

Not broken.

Probably.

"I’m starting to hate this thing."

Roland helped him up.

"I thought you enjoyed challenges."

"I enjoy winning them."

Valeria arrived.

"Can you walk?"

Raven tested the leg.

"Yes."

"That didn’t sound convincing."

"You didn’t ask if it was pleasant."

The Blackmaw moved several yards away.

It wasn’t pursuing.

Evaluating again.

Its breathing was faster now.

Raven noticed something.

The black plates around its chest began separating.

Barely.

Maybe an inch.

Bright red tissue showed underneath.

Then dark vapor escaped between them.

The plates closed again.

Raven stopped listening to Valeria.

"Do that again."

She frowned.

"What?"

"Attack it."

"Thirty seconds ago you told me my attacks feed it."

"Now I want to see something."

Valeria studied him.

"If this goes badly, I’ll remind you of that sentence after we die."

"That’ll be a difficult conversation."

She raised one hand.

Not many weapons this time.

One.

An extremely thin blood needle.

She compressed it until the red became almost black.

Raven could feel the mana from where he stood.

Valeria aimed at the front leg joint.

Fired.

The projectile crossed the space with a sound like a suppressed gunshot.

CRACK.

It entered between two plates.

The Blackmaw roared.

First time.

The leg buckled partially.

Black blood emerged.

Blood Furnace reacted.

The red lines beneath the armor ignited.

Valeria’s blood began to disappear.

Absorbed.

The wound closed.

And then...

The chest plates separated.

Farther than before.

Vapor.

Exposed tissue.

Three red pulses beneath the ribs.

Raven smiled.

"There you are."

Valeria followed his gaze.

"What did you see?"

"When it uses Blood Furnace, it generates something."

"Heat."

"Pressure too. Maybe residual mana. The plates open to vent it."

She looked toward the chest.

Already closed.

"For less than two seconds."

"One and a half, maybe."

"And you want to hit through that."

"Yes."

Valeria looked at the Blackmaw’s size.

Then Raven’s knife.

"With that."

Raven looked at the weapon.

"No."

"I’m relieved you still possess some common sense."

Raven looked back toward the mining structure.

Chains.

Pulley.

Metal beam.

Below it was an old loading channel barely ten feet wide.

The Blackmaw would fit.

Barely.

"I want it in there."

Valeria followed his gaze.

"And how exactly do you plan to convince an intelligent Elite to voluntarily enter a narrow passage?"

Raven pointed toward the Mirehorn’s corpse.

"It wants magical blood."

"It also wants mine."

"Better."

Valeria slowly looked at him.

"No."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"I hadn’t finished."

"You’re going to suggest using me as bait."

"Technically, I was going to suggest using your blood."

"That isn’t much better."

"I don’t need much."

"How considerate."

Roland approached.

"What’s the plan?"

Raven pointed toward the channel.

"That frame is holding an iron beam. Maybe half a ton. Possibly more. If we can draw the Blackmaw underneath it and break the supports, it won’t kill it, but it might pin it."

Roland studied the structure.

"The wood is rotten."

"That helps."

"It also means it could fall early."

"That doesn’t."

Valeria looked at the chains.

"I can control the Mirehorn’s blood and create a trail into the channel."

"Exactly."

"But after what it just learned, it may suspect something."

"That’s why it’ll have your blood too."

Valeria looked at him again.

Raven continued before she could object.

"Not much. Mixed in. Your blood carries more mana. That’s the interesting part. The trail ends under the platform."

"And once it’s trapped, we attack."

"No."

"No?"

"If you attack normally, it activates Blood Furnace, absorbs your magic, and regenerates. We need it to do that."

Valeria understood.

"You want it to activate the Furnace while it’s immobilized."

"Several times."

"To force the chest plates open."

"And keep them from closing."

Roland looked at the beam.

"I don’t see how dropping a beam across its back stops the plates on its chest from closing."

Raven pointed toward the chains.

"It’s not for the back."

They both looked at him.

Raven walked toward the old mechanism.

He inspected the pulley.

A chain descended from the upper structure and ended in four hooks once used to lift blocks of ore.

"We secure the neck and one front leg. The beam blocks the torso. The chains keep it oriented."

Valeria slowly shook her head.

"You’re talking about restraining a Level Thirty-Four Elite with abandoned mining equipment."

"Not for long."

"How long?"

"Five seconds would be excellent."

"That’s it?"

"We’ll probably get three."

Valeria exhaled through her nose.

"I’m glad the plan gets more reassuring the more you explain it."

Raven ignored the comment and picked up an abandoned metal bar near the structure.

About five feet long.

Rusted, but thick.

Heavy.

He struck one end against the stone.

Solid.

"This will penetrate the tissue when the plates open."

Valeria looked at the bar.

"Not if you throw it."

Raven raised one hand.

"Kinetic Acceleration."

She understood.

"Ah."

"Your magic forces Blood Furnace. I wait for the opening. Kinetic Acceleration does the rest."

"And if the bar doesn’t penetrate deeply enough?"

Raven thought about the three pulses he’d seen beneath the armor.

"Then we find out how quickly it can kill us after the plan fails."

Roland remained silent.

"I don’t like it."

"That usually means you understood it correctly."