Chapter 45: The Elite Learned My Trap. So I Became the Bait.

Raven slept for three hours.

Not because he needed less.

Because every time he closed his eyes, he ended up reconstructing the inside of the Blackmaw Tyrant.

Three vascular conduits beneath the chest plates.

An opening lasting between one and two seconds whenever Blood Furnace reached a certain level of activity.

The main organ positioned behind the lower sternum, too deep for a knife and too protected for Valeria’s normal projectiles.

The right trajectory existed.

That was enough to keep him awake.

By the time the sky began to brighten over Blackthorn, Raven had already disassembled and rebuilt the tool he intended to use to kill a Level 34 creature three times.

It wasn’t an especially elegant weapon.

A steel mining bar nearly five feet long.

He had cut one end into an uneven point, then spent almost an hour sharpening it with a whetstone. Roland had found two iron clamps, which Raven used to reinforce the section he would grip.

Finally, he wrapped the rear end in leather to keep it from slipping when Kinetic Acceleration activated.

It looked like a spear made by someone who hated spears.

Valeria emerged from her small tent while Raven checked the point for the fourth time.

"Tell me you don’t intend to fight an Elite with that."

Raven lifted the bar.

"Technically, I intend to put this inside an Elite."

"That doesn’t improve the situation much."

Valeria’s hair was still partially loose from sleep.

Even like that, she looked more presentable than Raven did after a bath.

He had concluded that this had to be some secret racial ability possessed by nobility.

"How much mana did you recover?" he asked.

"Good morning to you too."

"Good morning. How much mana?"

Valeria sighed.

"Almost all of it. About eighty-seven percent. I could reach full if we waited another hour."

"We don’t have another hour."

"I know."

They both looked toward the quarry.

They had heard the Blackmaw several times during the night.

Bones breaking.

Stone scraping.

One brief roar near midnight.

Then silence.

Raven didn’t trust silence.

The Blackmaw had spent several hours finishing its meal from the Crimson Mirehorn. That meant it had probably recovered from the previous day’s injuries and accumulated additional energy.

It also meant the carcass Raven intended to use as part of the bait was becoming less useful by the minute.

Valeria approached the improvised table.

"Roland checked the eastern approach. It’s still on the fifth terrace."

"Eating?"

"Sleeping."

Raven looked up.

"Sure?"

"Two guards watched it from above for twenty minutes."

"Then it knows we’re still here."

"Probably."

Raven put away the whetstone.

That complicated things.

A predator that had already been attacked by them, seen a trap, and then woken with humans still nearby wasn’t going to assume the problem had disappeared.

Valeria picked up a small cup.

"I also found this."

She placed something on the table.

A broken Crimson Mirehorn plate.

Fresh reddish flesh still clung beneath it.

Raven examined it.

Predation reacted.

«"Crimson Mirehorn biological material detected."

Integrity: 64%

Potential Traits detected.

Primary desired Trait: "Coagulation Control"

Required source not present.»

Raven closed the window.

"Useless."

"To you."

Valeria picked up the plate.

"To an alchemist, that’s forty crowns."

Raven looked at it again.

"Then it’s useful."

"Your moral flexibility continues to impress me."

"That wasn’t morality. It was accounting."

Valeria smiled.

Roland appeared behind her carrying a small box.

"Everything’s ready."

He opened it.

Six vials rested inside.

Mirehorn blood.

Not enough to attract half the quarry like Cassian had, but enough to start a trail.

There were also two smaller vials filled with much brighter blood.

Valeria’s.

Raven looked at them.

"How much?"

"Less than it looks."

"That didn’t answer the question."

"You don’t need to know exactly how much."

"I need to know how many attempts we have before you start passing out."

Valeria looked at him.

"I’m not going to pass out."

"That also didn’t answer the question."

Roland intervened with the calm of someone accustomed to translating between difficult people.

"She can use both vials without serious risk, as long as she doesn’t need to draw more from herself during the fight."

Raven nodded.

"Two charges."

Valeria raised an eyebrow.

"I’m not ammunition."

Raven picked up one of the vials.

"Today you are."

She stared at him.

"One day, I’m going to find an extremely elegant way to take revenge for every sentence like that."

"As long as it’s after we kill the Blackmaw."

"Of course. You’re useful."

Raven almost smiled.

"That starts losing its effect when you repeat it too much."

"I wasn’t trying to annoy you."

"That’s worse."

---

They descended toward the fifth terrace shortly afterward.

They didn’t bring the workers.

The surviving Orbrecht laborers had been sent toward Greyhaven with two guards during the night. Cassian’s men who could still walk had gone with them.

None had tried to reclaim their lord’s corpse after hearing the Blackmaw near the tunnel again.

Raven understood.

Family honor tended to become more flexible when something with a jaw half a yard wide could eat you.

That left Raven, Valeria, Roland, and two Nacht men.

Five people.

Against one Elite creature.

Raven preferred larger numbers.

But too many people added variables.

The Blackmaw appeared before they reached the bottom.

It lay beside the Mirehorn’s corpse.

Or what remained of it.

The rear legs were partially gone.

Most of the abdomen had been opened.

The neck plates had been torn away, and one of the horns lay several yards from the body.

The Crimson Blood Core was still there.

Raven couldn’t see it.

Valeria could feel it.

He knew from the change in her breathing.

"It’s still intact."

"Good."

"Probably because the Blackmaw prefers blood and mana-rich organs."

"The Core sounds fairly mana-rich."

"It’s encapsulated."

Raven looked at the carcass.

"Then maybe we’ll get lucky."

Valeria studied him.

"I didn’t know you believed in luck."

"I believe in misunderstood probabilities."

The Blackmaw opened one eye.

Then another.

Then all six.

Nobody moved.

The creature slowly raised its head.

Its wounds were gone.

Completely.

The plate Valeria had managed to break near the shoulder had closed again.

The eye membrane she’d pierced had regenerated.

Raven felt Predator’s Instinct intensify.

Not fear.

Information.

The creature wasn’t attacking.

Yet.

It was recognizing them.

Remembering.

The Blackmaw tasted the air.

Then looked directly at Valeria.

"It likes you," Raven murmured.

"If you make another joke about my blood, I’m going to use yours."

"That would reduce the quality of the bait."

Valeria slowly turned her head.

Raven kept his eyes on the monster.

"Focus."

"I’m going to kill you."

"Get in line."

The Blackmaw stood.

The ground seemed smaller.

Raven activated analysis.

«Blackmaw Tyrant

Level: 34

Rank: Elite

Condition: Restored

Mana Reserves: Elevated

Recent high-density magical consumption detected.

WARNING: Target combat performance estimated above previous encounter.»

"It’s stronger."

Valeria didn’t ask how he knew.

"How much?"

"Enough to make yesterday’s plan even worse."

"Excellent."

"That’s why we made a new one."

"It’s practically the same plan."

"With modifications."

"Now the suicidal part happens faster."

Raven thought about it.

"That counts as efficiency."

Valeria closed her eyes for a moment.

"I understand why your former teammates tried to kill you."

The sentence came out before she could know what it really meant.

Raven looked at her.

She noticed the change immediately.

"That hit something."

"Yes."

Valeria opened her mouth.

Raven looked back at the Blackmaw.

"Later."

He said nothing else.

Neither did she.

It was one of the few things about Valeria Raven was beginning to appreciate.

She could be unbearably curious.

But she recognized when a question needed to wait.

The Blackmaw started descending the terrace.

The fight had begun.

---

The first step was confirming that it still reacted the same way.

Raven threw one vial of Mirehorn blood to the left.

Glass shattered against stone.

The Blackmaw turned its head.

It didn’t run.

It sniffed.

Then looked back at Raven.

"It learned," Roland said.

"Yes."

The monster already knew blood could lead to a trap.

That had been within expectations.

Raven threw another vial.

This time behind the creature.

The Blackmaw didn’t even look.

Valeria spoke quietly.

"We aren’t going to fool it with the same thing twice."

"We don’t need to."

Raven picked up a stone.

Kinetic Acceleration.

He threw it directly at the creature’s face.

CRACK.

The membrane over one eye closed.

The stone shattered.

The Blackmaw growled.

"Now we have its attention."

"We already had it."

"Now it’s irritated."

"I don’t think that was missing either."

Raven threw another.

The Blackmaw moved its head.

Third.

Harder.

The projectile struck near its mouth.

The creature opened its jaws.

Didn’t attack.

Raven understood.

It was trying to make him approach.

"Smart bastard."

Valeria smiled.

"Remind you of anyone?"

"I hope not."

Raven backed away.

Then turned.

And ran.

Not like Valeria had the day before.

Slower.

Enough to look like retreat.

The Blackmaw kept watching.

Raven reached the first drop in elevation.

Jumped.

The creature didn’t take the bait.

"It’s not working," Roland said.

Raven kept moving.

"Yet."

Valeria opened one of her smaller vials.

The reaction was immediate.

Even from several yards away, Raven felt the change in the monster.

Its head turned.

All six eyes found the dark red liquid.

The tongue emerged.

Mana Scent.

Valeria’s blood was too rich to ignore.

She let one drop fall.

Only one.

The Blackmaw advanced.

"How offensive," she muttered.

Raven answered from farther ahead.

"Don’t take it personally."

"It’s literally salivating."

"I’ve seen worse reactions."

"Raven."

"Later."

Valeria threw the vial.

Not at the ground.

At Raven.

He caught it.

That changed the Blackmaw.

One moment it was walking.

The next, it charged.

"It worked," Roland said.

Raven looked at the black mass coming toward him.

"That was never in doubt."

"You sound surprised."

"I’m surprised by the speed."

The Blackmaw covered thirty feet far too quickly.

Raven ran.

He didn’t spend Burst Step yet.

The terrain was prepared.

Not with a wooden trap.

With geometry.

During the night, Raven had selected a section of the quarry where two rock walls converged, leaving a corridor wide at the entrance and narrower farther in.

Not enough to stop the Blackmaw.

Enough to limit how it could turn.

Valeria waited on a side terrace.

Roland and the guards were higher up.

Raven reached the center.

Turned.

The Blackmaw entered.

It didn’t make the same mistake.

It stopped.

Its claws scraped across the stone.

It remained outside striking range.

Raven held up the vial.

"Come on."

The Blackmaw watched him.

He opened the container.

The magical scent seemed to strike the creature.

A deep growl came from its chest.

But it didn’t advance.

Raven looked at the vial.

Then at Valeria.

"I need more."

She raised an eyebrow.

"That already contains enough blood to buy a small house."

"I’m not negotiating with it."

"Apparently it has standards."

Raven poured a small amount over the metal bar.

The Blackmaw reacted.

The lines between its plates glowed.

But it remained suspicious.

Raven understood.

Hunger against memory.

Memory was winning.

They needed to change the calculation.

He gripped the bar in both hands.

Then walked toward the creature.

Valeria straightened.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving it a better option."

"That wasn’t the plan."

"The plan assumed it would come."

"Then we make another plan."

"I am."

Raven continued.

Thirty feet.

The Blackmaw lowered its body.

Twenty-five.

Predator’s Instinct began screaming.

Twenty.

Valeria gathered blood around her hands.

"Raven."

"Not yet."

Thirteen feet.

The Blackmaw opened its jaws.

Raven threw the vial.

Not at the creature.

Up.

The glass spun through the air.

All six eyes followed the blood.

Raven used Kinetic Acceleration on a stone he’d already prepared.

Fired.

The projectile struck the vial.

CRASH.

Valeria’s blood exploded across the Blackmaw’s face and chest.

The reaction was immediate.

Blood Furnace ignited.

Not because it had eaten yet.

Because part of the liquid entered its open mouth.

The monster roared.

Raven stepped back.

"Now."

Valeria attacked.