Chapter 176: Gravenhart

Chapter 176: 176: Gravenhart

Elowen stepped forward despite the pain in her shoulder. "What if you cannot?"

Lucard looked at her. "Then keep following him until you become useful enough not to die."

Her eyes filled with anger again. "You always say things like that."

"Yes."

Cedric looked between them and decided not to ask.

Puff poked its head out from Cedric’s coat and made a small unhappy sound. Its ears twitched toward the deeper forest. The rabbit could feel danger too. That was good. Fear would keep it quiet.

Lucard moved first.

He did not run directly toward the loudest sound. Loud beasts were not always strongest. Some powerful beasts moved silently. Some weak beasts shouted because shouting was all they had. Lucard followed blood scent, pressure in the earth, and the strange way smaller creatures had gone silent ahead.

Soon, he found the beast.

It stood in a clearing where the trees had been broken and pushed aside. At first glance, it looked like a boar, but only in the same way a hill looked like a stone. Its body was larger than a carriage. Black plates covered its back. Two curved tusks jutted from its mouth, each one longer than a man’s arm. Red moss grew between the plates on its shoulders, and steam came from its nose with every breath.

Cedric stopped far behind Lucard.

His voice dropped into a whisper. "Maw Ironback."

Elowen clutched his sleeve. "Is it strong?"

"Strong enough that hunters pretend they did not see it."

The beast lowered its head and sniffed the ground. It had not noticed them yet, or perhaps it had noticed and did not care. Several bones lay near its feet. Some were animal bones. Some were not.

Lucard studied it.

The blood inside the beast was heavy, hot, and violent. Not refined. Not magical in a clean way. But the body strength was enormous. The plates on its back might withstand normal Fourth Circle spells. Its charge could crush stone.

Good enough.

Cedric whispered, "What exactly is your plan?"

Lucard cut his palm.

Cedric’s face tightened. "I hate that I already know part of it."

Lucard shaped the blood into a small dart. Bloodfire burned at the tip, dark and quiet. He did not need to wound the beast deeply. He only needed pain and insult. Beasts like this did not tolerate either.

Elowen whispered, "Be careful."

Lucard glanced at her.

She looked away quickly, as if she regretted saying it.

Lucard threw the blood dart.

It struck the Maw Ironback under the ear, where the armor plates did not cover fully. The wound was small, but Bloodfire entered the flesh and burned hot for one breath.

The beast froze.

Then the clearing shook with its roar.

Birds exploded from distant branches. Smaller beasts ran through the undergrowth. Elowen covered her ears. Cedric cursed under his breath and grabbed her around the waist.

Lucard smiled faintly. "Run."

Cedric lifted Elowen onto his shoulder before she could protest properly. "Sorry."

"This is humiliating," she hissed.

"Being trampled is worse."

Puff vanished fully into Cedric’s coat.

Cedric ran.

His feet touched the ground with flashes of blue crystal light. Each step carried him farther than a normal man could jump. Elowen held onto his coat with her good hand, her face red from anger and fear.

Lucard moved in another direction.

The Maw Ironback saw him.

Its small red eyes locked onto the source of the pain. Then it charged.

The ground trembled.

Lucard ran toward the forest edge, not away from it. Behind him, the beast tore through bushes and roots. Trees cracked as its armored shoulders hit them. It was faster than its size suggested. Each step threw dirt and broken wood into the air.

Lucard kept just enough distance.

Too far, and the beast might stop.

Too close, and even he would become paste under its charge.

Ahead, the forest edge opened toward the place where Alan Gravenhart waited.

Lucard could feel the old man’s presence before he saw him. Calm. Heavy. Patient. The kind of stillness that made the ground itself seem loyal.

Alan stood between two black trees with one hand behind his back. The silver tracking spell floated in front of him, broken into several weak threads as it tried to find Puff through the forest’s interference. He turned his head when he heard the roar.

Then he saw Lucard.

Then he saw what followed him.

Alan’s eyebrow lifted slightly. "Impudent."

Lucard passed him at an angle, fast enough to avoid the old man’s first reach.

Alan did not chase immediately because the Maw Ironback crashed into the space between them.

The beast did not know Alan.

It only saw another body standing in front of its charge.

Alan raised one hand.

The ground rose.

A stone wall formed instantly, thick and layered with earth mana. The Maw Ironback slammed into it with its full weight. The impact shook the trees. Cracks spread across the wall. Dust burst outward like smoke.

The wall held for one breath.

Then the boar broke through.

Alan stepped aside with calm speed. One sleeve moved in the wind, but his face remained unchanged. "A troublesome animal."

Lucard did not stop to admire him.

He sent another bloodfire dart into the Maw Ironback’s wounded ear as he passed behind it.

The beast roared again and twisted in pain. In its rage, it swung its tusks toward the closest powerful mana.

Alan.

The old man’s eyes moved to Lucard.

This time, his smile disappeared.

"You are not bad at borrowing knives."

Lucard answered from behind a tree, "It was standing there."

The Maw Ironback attacked Alan again.

Stone spears rose from the ground and struck the beast’s legs. Several shattered against its armor plates. Two pierced softer flesh near the joints. The beast stumbled but did not fall. Alan’s other hand moved, and the soil under the beast became heavy like wet clay, trying to trap its feet.

The Maw Ironback ripped free by force.

Lucard watched only long enough to confirm the fight had started properly.

Then he ran.

Behind him, stone and beast collided again. The roar shook the forest. Alan would not die easily. Perhaps he would not even be seriously injured. But he could not ignore that beast while Lucard escaped with the water.

That was enough.

Lucard followed the faint blood mark he had left on Cedric’s route.

Cedric was fast while using crystal step, but carrying Elowen slowed him. He had also tried to hide his mana trail, which made his movement uneven. Lucard caught up after several minutes near a cluster of leaning stones.

Cedric looked back when Lucard appeared. "You are alive."

"Yes."

"Did it work?"

Lucard looked toward the distant crashing sounds. "For now."

Elowen slid down from Cedric’s shoulder and almost fell. Lucard caught her arm before she hit the ground. She pulled back quickly, face red. "I could have stood."

"You were falling."

"I was choosing the ground."

Cedric blinked. "Choosing the ground?"

Elowen glared at him. "Do not help him."

Lucard released her arm. "Move."

They ran deeper.

The Deep Maw Forest changed around them. The trees grew larger, and the mist thickened. Strange flowers opened on roots and closed when they passed. Something with many legs moved across a branch above them, but it did not attack. Far away, another beast answered the Maw Ironback’s roar with a cry that sounded almost human.

Cedric’s face became more serious with every step.

"We should not go too deep."

"Alan is behind us," Lucard said.

"So are things worse than Alan."

"Then choose the direction where we die last."

Cedric clicked his tongue. "You are very unpleasant when correct."

Elowen breathed hard. "How long did we gain?"

Lucard listened to the forest.

The sounds of battle were still behind them. Stone breaking. Beast roaring. Earth magic pressing through the ground. Alan was fighting, but he was controlling the battle now. The Maw Ironback’s roars were becoming angrier and more wounded.

"Not long enough," Lucard said.

They kept moving.

Ten minutes passed.

Then twenty.

Cedric stopped using crystal step as often because the mana trail became too obvious. Elowen walked when she could and let Cedric support her when the ground became too rough. Lucard led them through wet roots, over stone ridges, and once through a shallow stream to break scent.

At almost thirty minutes, the distant battle sound stopped.

The forest became quiet.

Too quiet.

Cedric looked back with a grim face. "He killed it."

"Or escaped it," Elowen whispered.

Lucard looked at the ground.

A faint tremble moved through the roots.

Not a beast.

A spell.

Alan was moving again.

The silver thread that had faded before returned in the air for one heartbeat, thin and weak, but pointing toward them.

Cedric cursed softly. "Thirty minutes."

Lucard’s eyes became calm. "Enough for the first plan."

Elowen looked at him. "First plan?"

Before he could answer, the air behind them turned cold.

A calm old voice reached them through the trees.

"Children, you run well."

Alan Gravenhart had caught their trail again.