Chapter 43: I Overfed the Level 34 Elite Until Its Armor Opened

Valeria walked over to the platform and examined the beam.

The amusement had disappeared from her expression.

Now she looked like the Blood Mage who had survived enough battles to leave forty-three bandits dead with almost no blood around them.

"There’s another problem. To trigger the Furnace repeatedly, I need to injure it. My projectiles can penetrate the joints, but if I pull the blood back before it absorbs it, it may not get enough energy to overload."

"Don’t pull all of it back."

"Then it regenerates."

"Let it."

Valeria looked at him.

"You want it to heal?"

"I want it to consume."

Raven pointed toward its chest.

"Its advantage is also the mechanism that opens the only soft area we’ve seen. If we try to stop it from using Blood Furnace, we have to penetrate Elite-grade armor. If we deliberately feed it, it opens the door for us."

Valeria’s expression changed.

Now she saw the entire pattern.

"We overfeed it."

"Exactly."

"Blood with an excessive mana density."

"Yours."

"You’re still far too enthusiastic about that part."

"It’s the available resource."

"I’m also a person."

Raven looked at her.

"Both can be true."

Valeria tried to look offended.

It didn’t quite work.

"Sometimes I understand why people want to hit you."

"They usually end up trying."

Roland pointed toward the Blackmaw.

"We have about thirty seconds before it tries again."

The creature was already moving.

Not attacking.

Circling the camp.

All six eyes tracked the group.

It had learned that Valeria could hurt it.

It had learned that Raven moved quickly.

Now it wanted to understand what they were doing.

Raven recognized that look.

It was the same one he used.

"It won’t give us much time."

Valeria drew a small knife.

She made a shallow cut across her palm.

Raven watched.

"That was quick."

"If you’re going to use me as bait, at least let me keep some dignity."

The blood appeared.

Far brighter than normal human blood.

Deep red with almost black glints running through it.

Enough mana that Raven felt Ember Spark react inside his body.

Valeria formed a small sphere.

"This is worth more than your entire Gloom Stalker reward."

"I’ll try not to spill it."

She looked at him.

Raven pointed toward the ground.

"Except there. Spill it there."

"You really know how to ruin a sentence."

---

They worked quickly.

Raven didn’t need to explain every movement.

That was another reason Valeria was useful.

She understood intent.

So did Roland.

The three remaining guards secured chains in different positions. One climbed onto the upper mechanism to prepare the support. Another moved the workers farther away.

Raven cut away damaged sections of rope and checked the pulley.

He didn’t trust it.

Which meant using it in a way that didn’t require trust.

The beam didn’t need to remain suspended.

It only needed to fall when they wanted it to.

Valeria laid the trail.

First Mirehorn blood from the corpse to the loading channel.

Then a minimal amount of her own mixed into specific points.

The effect on the Blackmaw was immediate.

The creature stopped walking.

All six eyes fixed on the first droplet.

Its black tongue emerged.

Tasted the air.

Raven watched.

"It detected it."

Valeria finished the final section.

"That was the idea."

"No. Your blood specifically."

The Blackmaw’s eyes were no longer watching the Mirehorn.

They were watching Valeria.

She noticed.

"I’m starting to take this personally."

"It probably considers you high-quality food."

"How charming."

Raven looked at her figure.

"Could be worse."

Valeria slowly turned toward him.

"Was there a second meaning to that?"

"Focus."

A smile appeared.

"Coward."

Raven walked toward the channel.

"You can interrogate me later if we survive."

"I’ll remember that."

That could become a problem.

Future problem.

The Blackmaw advanced.

One step.

Then another.

It wasn’t following the blood directly.

It was looking for traps.

Raven felt a small, unpleasant satisfaction.

Intelligent predator.

Good.

That made beating it more valuable.

The creature stopped before entering the channel.

Raven was hidden behind a section of rock, holding the metal bar in both hands.

Valeria stood in plain view several yards beyond it.

The Blackmaw watched her.

She raised her wounded hand.

A droplet fell.

The black tongue emerged again.

The creature took one step.

Then stopped.

Looked up.

At the structure.

Raven cursed silently.

It had seen it.

Valeria realized the same thing.

Neither could speak without alerting it.

The creature began backing away.

Raven thought.

They couldn’t force it in from there.

They needed something stronger than suspicion.

Pain.

Hunger.

Competition.

Territory.

Or fleeing prey.

Valeria made the decision.

She turned.

Ran.

Not toward the Blackmaw.

Through the channel.

Like prey.

Raven understood immediately.

"What a troublesome woman."

The Blackmaw reacted.

Instinct against intelligence.

The highest-value target had just turned its back.

Two steps.

Three.

Then it charged.

Faster.

Valeria kept running.

The distance closed.

Thirty feet.

Twenty-five.

Twenty.

Raven saw the front paws enter the channel.

Now.

He raised his hand.

The guard above cut the rope.

The beam dropped.

The Blackmaw heard it.

Tried to escape.

Valeria turned.

All the blood on the ground rose.

It didn’t attack.

It wrapped around the creature’s rear legs like ropes.

The Blackmaw lost half a second.

Enough.

BOOOOOOM.

The iron beam crashed across its back and shoulders.

Stone fractured.

The creature roared.

The chains snapped tight.

Roland and two men pulled.

One hook caught a leg.

Another caught the neck.

The Blackmaw partially lifted the beam.

"IT SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO THAT!" one of the guards shouted.

Raven answered from his position.

"Level Thirty-Four. Adjust your expectations."

The chain around its neck tightened.

One of the rings began to deform.

"Raven!" Valeria shouted.

"Now."

She didn’t need anything else.

Every remaining drop of blood became a projectile.

Not thirty.

Fifty.

Dozens of red needles struck joints, belly, mouth, and gaps between plates.

The Blackmaw roared.

Black blood emerged.

Blood Furnace ignited.

The red lines appeared.

Its wounds began closing.

"Again," Raven ordered.

Valeria was already attacking.

More blood.

More mana.

Raven saw her face tighten.

This was costing her.

The Blackmaw absorbed.

Regenerated.

The beam began to rise.

One chain snapped.

"Raven!"

"Not yet."

The chest plates separated.

Half an inch.

Vapor.

Closed again.

"I need more."

"It’s about to break free."

"I know."

Valeria clenched her teeth.

Her own blood began flowing from the cut in her palm.

Not much.

But this time, the projectiles glowed.

Dense spears.

The first entered through the shoulder joint.

The second beneath the jaw.

The third pierced an ocular membrane.

The Blackmaw went berserk.

Blood Furnace absorbed.

The lines beneath its plates shifted from red to orange.

Regeneration accelerated.

Too much.

Heat began radiating from its body.

Raven could feel it from several yards away.

The chest plates opened.

One inch.

Then more.

Red vapor.

The three pulsing structures appeared.

"There."

Raven gripped the bar.

Kinetic Acceleration began wrapping around the metal.

He didn’t throw yet.

He needed the angle.

The Blackmaw pulled.

Second chain broken.

The beam shifted.

Valeria stepped back.

"Raven, now!"

"No."

"It’s open!"

"Not enough."

She looked like she wanted to kill him herself.

"Trust me."

"That sentence is even less reassuring coming from you."

The plates opened farther.

Almost two inches.

Raven saw something.

The three pulses weren’t hearts.

Conduits.

All three converged toward a point behind the sternum.

Blood Furnace.

The actual organ.

Deeper.

A frontal angle wouldn’t work.

The bar would hit bone.

He needed to enter from below.

Raven changed position.

The Blackmaw saw him.

One free eye tracked his movement.

Intelligence.

It understood.

It stopped fighting Valeria.

Twisted violently toward Raven.

The beam rolled aside.

The final chain snapped.

"Shit."

The Blackmaw broke free.

Raven stood six yards away with an iron bar in his hands and a free Elite in front of him.

Valeria went pale.

"Raven!"

Predator’s Instinct exploded.

Attack.

Raven didn’t run.

He watched.

The plates were still open.

Blood Furnace overloaded.

Fifteen feet.

Twelve.

The creature opened its jaws.