Chapter 165: Blood Pit (4)

Chapter 165: 165: Blood Pit (4)

Lucard turned at the last moment. The spear pierced his left shoulder instead of his heart and burned through cloth and flesh.

Pain flashed across his body.

Lucard stepped forward instead of back.

Maera’s face changed.

He grabbed the flame spear while it was still inside his shoulder. Bloodfire covered his palm. He crushed Maera’s spell from the inside, then pulled the remaining flame into his blood.

[Velkhur Flame Trace absorbed.

Bloodfire Lv2 strengthened slightly.]

Maera’s calm finally cracked. "What are you?"

Lucard smiled faintly. "You people keep asking that."

The mage panicked and pointed his wand again, but Lucard’s blood thread reached him first. It pierced the man’s wrist, wrapped around the bone, and pulled. The wand fell. The mage screamed and tried to retreat.

Maera moved to protect him, but Lucard did not chase the mage.

Because Elowen had been found.

The dead swordsman had not been alone. One of the guards Lucard thought had fallen fully had not died fast enough. The hook-spear guard, with blood still spilling from his throat, used his last strength to crawl behind the stone. Elowen stepped back too late. His hand caught her ankle.

She fell hard.

The mage saw it.

Desperation gave him speed. He ran toward her, grabbed her by the cloak, and pulled her up before Lucard could reach them. The mage pressed a small ash knife against her neck with his shaking hand.

"Stop!" he shouted. "Stop or I’ll cut her!"

Elowen froze.

The knife touched her skin and drew a thin red line. Not deep, but enough for blood to appear.

Lucard stopped walking.

Maera also stopped.

Her visible eye moved from Elowen’s face to Lucard’s.

Recognition appeared there.

"So," Maera said softly. "There is a weakness after all."

Elowen’s face became white. "No..."

The mage shouted again, "Drop your blood magic! Let us leave!"

Lucard looked at the blood on Elowen’s neck.

Then at the mage.

Then at Maera.

His expression did not soften.

Elowen saw his eyes and understood something terrible at once.

He was not going to surrender.

The mage pressed the knife harder. "I said stop!"

Lucard answered, "Cut her if you want."

The mage froze.

Elowen’s eyes widened.

Maera’s smile faded slightly.

Lucard continued, "Her value drops if she dies, but your value is already low. If you kill her, I lose a tool. If I let you control my hand with her, I become the tool. I dislike that more."

Elowen’s breath shook. The words hurt more than the knife, but they also did something strange. They made the mage afraid. A hostage only worked if the hostage mattered enough.

Lucard took one step forward.

The mage panicked and sliced.

The cut opened along Elowen’s shoulder instead of her throat because Lucard’s blood thread moved at the same instant. It entered the mage’s arm through the wound on his wrist and twisted the muscles. His hand jerked away from her neck.

Elowen cried out as blood stained her cloak.

Lucard’s second blood thread pierced the mage’s open mouth.

It came out through the back of his skull.

The mage died standing.

Elowen fell to the ground, clutching her shoulder. The cut was shallow, but it bled enough to frighten her.

Maera attacked Lucard from behind.

She had waited for that exact moment.

A dark red flame blade formed around her hand and stabbed toward the wound in Lucard’s shoulder. She was fast. Faster than Aldren. Faster than most mages who depended only on distance. Velkhur training had not made her soft.

Lucard turned.

The flame blade entered his wounded shoulder again.

Maera’s visible eye flashed with victory.

Then Lucard grabbed her wrist.

His blood closed around the flame inside his flesh, trapping it there before it could spread. Bloodfire Lv2 rose from his hand and crawled up Maera’s arm. She tried to pull away, but his grip was no longer Rank Three strength. The Blood Pit had pushed him to Level 35. His body had become far stronger than she expected.

Maera’s calm broke fully.

"Release me."

"No."

She tried to burn her own sleeve and slip free, but Lucard’s blood thread wrapped around her elbow, shoulder, and throat. She opened her mouth to chant another spell.

Lucard’s forehead struck hers.

The chant broke.

He pulled her closer and placed two fingers against the side of her neck.

Blood Absorption began.

Maera’s eyes widened.

Her body fought hard. Velkhur’s blood did not surrender easily. Ember Core trace rose inside her, burning her own blood to resist him. For a moment, a red flame burst around both of them.

Lucard smiled.

"Better than the guards."

He pushed harder.

His bloodfire entered through her burning veins and ate the flame from within. Maera screamed, but the sound did not last. Her skin paled. Her strength drained. The half-mask fell from her face, revealing an old burn scar over her left cheek and eye.

Lucard saw it once.

Then her blood entered him.

[Fourth Rank Velkhur Mage Blood absorbed.

Blood Quality: Medium-High.

Ember Core Trace Detected.

Dark Flame Technique Fragment Detected.

Blood Ash Suppression Knowledge Fragment Detected.

Progress toward Level 36: Complete.]

[Level 36 reached.

Bloodfire Lv2 strengthened.

Fire Resistance increased.

Velkhur Internal Information Fragment acquired.]

Lucard felt Maera’s blood settle into him like dark fire sinking into a deep well. It was not enough to break into a new rank, but it pushed his Blood Mage Vessel forward. His bloodfire became thicker and quieter. The dark flame fragment from Maera did not burn like Dorian’s wild power. It moved like a hidden blade under ash, waiting to cut from inside the wound. Lucard liked that better.

Maera’s dried body fell beside the dead mage.

The basin became quiet again.

Elowen sat against the rock, one hand pressed to her bleeding shoulder. Her face was pale, but she was alive. Her eyes were fixed on Lucard, and the fear inside them had changed. It was not simple fear of monsters anymore. It was fear of someone who could look at a knife against her throat and still walk forward.

Lucard went to her and crouched.

She flinched.

He ignored that and pulled her hand away from the wound. The cut had missed anything important. Blood ran down her arm, but it was shallow enough.

"You will live," he said.

Elowen’s voice shook. "You told him to cut me."

"I told him his threat failed."

"He could have killed me."

"He did not."

"That is not comfort."

"It is what it is."

Her eyes became wet with anger. "Do I truly mean so little?"

Lucard looked at the wound, then pressed two blood-warmed fingers near it. Blood Control tightened the bleeding and closed the cut enough to stop the flow. He did not use his blood inside her. He only guided her own blood at the surface.

"You are useful," he said. "But if you want to travel near people like Velkhur, you must understand something."

"What?"

"If an enemy can stop me by holding you, then you become a chain around my neck. I will not wear chains."

Elowen stared at him as if he had slapped her.

For a moment, she looked very young again. Not like the city lord’s daughter who stole a family map and ran into the Maw Range. Not like the girl who argued with her father inside Moonwater Hollow. She looked like a fifteen-year-old girl who had only wanted to see a unicorn before her life was taken away from her. Her lips trembled, and her eyes were full of hurt, anger, and confusion.

"I am not a chain," she said.

"You became one when you were caught."

"That was not my choice."

"Most chains do not choose to become chains."

Her face flushed. "You are cruel."

"Yes."

"I know you are cruel. I saw it. I know you drink blood. I know you kill people without shaking. But I thought..." She stopped and bit her lip hard. Her good hand tightened into a fist against her dress. "I thought after everything, you would at least care if I died."

Lucard looked at her without softness. "You are alive."

"That is not the same thing."

"It is the most important part."

"No, it is not!" Her voice rose before she remembered where they were. She lowered it quickly, but the anger stayed. "I was scared. I had a knife on my throat. I thought I was going to die. I thought you would do something, and you did. But you also made me feel like I was nothing."

"You are not nothing. You are useful."

"That is worse!"

"It is better than nothing."

Elowen opened her mouth, then closed it because she could not find words sharp enough. Tears slipped down her cheeks again, but this time she did not look only sad. She looked angry enough to hate him and innocent enough to still want him to be better than he was.

Lucard wrapped the wound with cloth from the dead mage’s clean inner sleeve. "Next time, hide better."

Her laugh came out broken and bitter. "That is your lesson?"

"Yes."

She looked at the dead bodies around them. "I hate your lessons."

"You remember them."

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked away. "I hate that too."

Lucard stood and searched Maera’s body. He found a sealed letter case, a Velkhur token, two ash packets, and a small map marked with the northern carrier path. The coffin was already moving ahead. Two people had taken it first, just as he had sensed. Maera had returned with only a small killing group.

That meant the main prize was still within reach.

Lucard opened the letter case but did not read it yet. He placed everything useful inside his storage pouch.

Elowen slowly stood, still holding her injured shoulder. Her face was still wet, and anger had not fully left her eyes. "Will more come?"

"Yes."

"Soon?"

"Maybe."

Lucard looked toward the northern path.

The blood coffin was gone, but its trail remained. The carriers were heavy, slow, and probably frightened after hearing the flare. If they were smart, they would hurry. If they were loyal, they would continue to the meeting point. Either way, they left marks.

Lucard’s shoulder wound still smoked faintly from Maera’s flame, but his bloodfire was already eating the foreign fire. Pain remained. It did not matter.

He looked at Elowen. "Can you walk?"

She swallowed and nodded. "Yes."

"That answer was too fast again."

She wiped her face with her good hand. This time, she looked angry while doing it. "I can walk. I am not useless."

Lucard looked at her for one breath, then accepted it.

They left the drained Blood Pit behind, along with Maera and the dead Velkhur men.

Ahead, the red coffin was being carried deeper into the Maw Range.

Lucard followed its blood scent with colder interest than before.