Chapter 186: The Hunter Returns

Chapter 186: 186: The Hunter Returns

The forest did not feel the same as before. When he had entered the Deep Maw Forest, he had been running, hiding, and borrowing danger from stronger beasts. Now he moved more slowly, not because he was safe, but because his blood had recovered enough for him to choose his steps instead of being dragged by them.

The rain washed away scent and sound, but it could not wash away blood from Lucard’s senses. Every living thing around him carried a pulse. Some were weak and scattered. Some were heavy and slow. Some hid under roots, while others climbed above branches. Lucard avoided the very large ones. Pride did not mean stupidity. He needed blood, not a glorious death.

A shadow moved to his right.

Lucard stopped.

A beast shaped like a thin panther stepped out from behind a tree. Its body was long, its ribs showed under wet black skin, and two extra front legs bent from its chest. It stared at Lucard with pale eyes and opened its mouth without sound.

Then two more came from the trees behind him.

They were hunters, and they had chosen him.

Lucard raised his hand. The Blood Claw trembled above his fingers, smaller now because he had drawn it back to save blood. Five red claws curved forward. Rain passed through them and turned into steam where Bloodfire burned inside the shape.

The first beast jumped.

Lucard stepped aside and slashed. The Blood Claw cut across its side, but the beast twisted in the air and avoided death. Blood sprayed from the wound. Lucard pulled that blood into the claw before it touched the ground, and the claw grew longer at once.

The second beast attacked from behind.

Lucard turned his wrist without turning his body. The Blood Claw stretched backward like a giant red hand and struck the beast across the face. Its skull broke against a tree.

The third beast hesitated.

Lucard moved toward it.

The beast turned to run, but Lucard opened his fingers, and the Blood Claw opened too. Five long red marks crossed the rain. The beast’s body split before it reached the next tree.

The wounded first beast tried to crawl away. Lucard looked at it, and a blood thread entered its wound and stopped its heart.

He gathered the blood from all three bodies. He did not absorb everything. That would be wasteful and dangerous. Some went into his body. Some became floating blood spheres around his hand. Some was burned clean with Bloodfire and kept for later.

The Fourth Blood Circle made this easier. Before, large amounts of beast blood felt rough and heavy. Now his blood could press it down, refine it, and turn it useful faster. It was still not clean like noble blood or mage blood, but it was enough to keep him moving.

Lucard looked at the Blood Claw again.

The shape had become steadier. When he used only his own blood, it became sharp and fast. When he used beast blood, it became large and heavy. If he mixed both in the correct amount, the claw could cut and crush at the same time.

A useful art.

A brutal art.

Good.

Then the blood mark at the cave entrance trembled inside his mind.

Something had touched the protective spell.

Lucard turned at once and moved back through the trees. The rain swallowed his figure.

Inside the cave, Elowen woke to a red flash at the entrance.

For a moment, she did not understand where she was. Her mind came back slowly. The cave. The dead bear. The rain. Cedric against the wall. Puff near him. Lucard gone.

Then something scratched outside.

Elowen pushed herself up with difficulty. The red claw marks Lucard had placed at the entrance appeared for one breath, then vanished again. A low hiss came from outside. Something had touched the barrier and been cut.

Cedric opened his eyes. His voice was rough. "What is it?"

"I do not know."

He reached for his wand. His hand shook, but he found it.

Puff lifted its head and crawled closer to Cedric’s side. Its ears pointed at the entrance. Another scratch came. Then a wet snout pushed through the fern.

Elowen grabbed her knife.

Cedric whispered, "Do not go close."

"I was not planning to."

A small beast forced its way into the entrance. It looked like a fox, but its mouth was too wide, and its teeth grew in two rows. One side of its face had already been cut by Lucard’s protective spell, yet hunger still pulled it forward.

Cedric lifted his wand. A weak crystal needle formed, flickered, and shot forward. It struck the beast’s shoulder. The beast screamed and jumped back, but it did not leave. Two more shapes moved outside the cave. They had smelled the bear’s body. They had smelled blood. Hunger made them brave.

Elowen’s fingers tightened around the knife. "Can you make a wall?"

Cedric breathed out slowly. "A small one."

"Make it."

Cedric forced his mana into the ground. A low crystal ridge rose across the cave entrance, no higher than Elowen’s knee. It was not enough to stop a strong beast, but it narrowed the opening.

The fox-like beast tried to jump over it.

A red claw came from the rain and cut the beast in half before it entered the cave.

Elowen froze.

Cedric lowered his wand.

Lucard stepped through the curtain of rain with blood floating around him in three dark spheres. His clothes were soaked. His face was pale but steady. Above his right hand floated a large Blood Claw, slowly shrinking as the last beast blood returned into his control.

The two beasts outside tried to run.

Lucard did not look back. The Blood Claw stretched through the rain behind him and struck twice. Two bodies fell outside.

Lucard entered the cave and looked at Cedric’s crystal ridge. "Weak."

Cedric leaned back against the wall. "You are welcome."

"I did not thank you."

"I noticed."

Elowen looked at Lucard. She had seen him unable to stand only hours ago. Now he had returned from the forest with blood circling his hand and dead beasts behind him.

"You can walk," she said.

"Yes."

"Are you healed?"

"Enough."

That was the only answer he gave.

Lucard moved to the dead bear’s body and placed the blood spheres above it. He made one circle in the air and pushed the gathered blood through it. The cave filled with a low red glow. Dirty parts separated and fell like black drops. Cleaned blood remained above his palm.

Cedric watched carefully. "You broke through."

Lucard did not answer.

Cedric’s eyes sharpened. "The pressure around your blood changed. It is heavier than before. You reached the Fourth Circle, did you not?"

Lucard looked at him. "You notice too much."

"That is how I stay alive."

"You are barely alive."

Cedric gave a weak smile. "Still counts."

Elowen looked between them. "Fourth Circle?"

Cedric said, "In his strange blood path, yes. He was already dangerous before. Now he is worse."

Lucard walked toward him. "Open your mouth."

Cedric’s smile vanished. "That sentence is never comforting from you."

Lucard raised one finger, and a small drop of refined blood floated near Cedric’s face. "Drink."

Cedric looked at the blood. "Is there poison in it?"

Elowen turned quickly. "Poison... What?"

Lucard’s face did not change.

Cedric stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "Never mind. I am too weak to joke."

He opened his mouth.

Lucard let the drop enter. It was not enough to heal him fully. It only strengthened the body, supported the heart, and gave his own mana something to hold onto. Cedric coughed once, then breathed more easily.

Lucard gave Elowen less.

She looked at the floating drop with fear. "Will it hurt?"

"Yes."

"That was not the answer I wanted."

"It will hurt less than dying."

She hesitated, then drank it.

Her face twisted at once. Monster blood, even refined, was still not pleasant. But warmth spread through her body after a few breaths. The worst shaking in her hands slowly eased.

Lucard turned away before she could thank him.

He walked to the cave entrance and strengthened the protective spell with fresh blood. This time, the red claw marks became deeper before vanishing into the stone. The cave smelled less like an open corpse and more like a beast den that still had an owner.

Cedric watched him in silence.

Elowen did too.

Lucard finally sat near the entrance, not near them. Rainwater dripped from his clothes onto the stone.

Cedric said, "Alan will not stop."

"I know."

"The rain helps, but not forever."

"I know."

"Then what is your plan now?"

Lucard looked out into the storm. Far away, beyond the rain and trees, he could feel something heavy moving in the forest. It might be Alan. It might be a beast. It might be both. The Deep Maw Forest had not finished with them yet.

Lucard raised his right hand slightly, and the Blood Claw formed again, small and sharp above his fingers.

"We heal," he said. "Then we stop running without choosing where to run."

Cedric’s eyes narrowed. "That means you have a destination?"

Lucard looked back at the dark cave, the dead bear, the unconscious fear still clinging to Elowen’s face, and Puff hiding under Cedric’s torn coat. Then he looked toward the deeper forest.

"Not yet," he said. "But the forest will show one."

Outside, something large roared far away.

The protective spell at the entrance flickered once.

Lucard smiled faintly. "Or it will send one to us."