Chapter 177: Light Behind Blood

Chapter 177: 177: Light Behind Blood

Alan Gravenhart’s voice reached them through the trees.

"Children, you run well."

Cedric stopped first.

Not because he wanted to fight, but because running blindly would only push them deeper into the Deep Maw Forest. The mist ahead was thicker than before. The trees there were older, and the ground under them looked too soft. Even without knowing the place well, anyone could feel that the forest beyond that point was not meant for people like them.

Elowen leaned against a tree and tried to breathe quietly. Her injured shoulder hurt again, and her legs shook from running. Puff hid inside Cedric’s coat without making a sound. Even the rabbit understood that the old man behind them was worse than the beasts ahead.

Lucard looked around once.

A narrow hollow lay between three large roots and a fallen black tree. The ground was damp. Thin mist moved low over the soil. A small stream ran nearby, barely wider than a hand, but the water was cold and carried enough mana to disturb weak sensing. Above them, hanging vines covered parts of the branches. It was not a perfect place.

But it was enough.

Lucard said, "We fight here."

Cedric looked at him. "That is a terrible sentence."

"It is better than dying while running."

"Only slightly."

Lucard did not waste time answering. He cut his palm and let blood drip onto the roots. The blood did not fall randomly. It spread in thin lines, sinking under wet moss and old bark. Blood Spell Formation moved silently. One circle formed under the fallen tree. Another spread under the streambed. A third sank into the soft soil near Elowen’s feet.

Cedric noticed the first two.

He did not notice the third.

Lucard wanted it that way.

Cedric raised his wand. "Tell me what you need."

"Crystal walls in three short bursts. Not one strong wall. Three broken ones."

Cedric frowned. "Broken walls?"

"Alan is too experienced. A perfect defense gives him one clear target. Broken defenses make him choose."

Cedric’s eyes moved once. "And attack?"

"When I burn the roots, you send crystal needles through the smoke. Do not aim for his body first."

"Then where?"

"His shadow."

Cedric stared at him. "His shadow?"

"He uses earth and water. He will feel direct attacks before they arrive. The shadow under him will react slower if the mist blocks light."

Cedric looked at the low mist, then at the tree cover. His expression changed. "That is not bad."

"It is not meant to be."

Cedric almost smiled, but the sound of stone cracking behind them stopped it.

Alan was close.

Lucard turned to Elowen.

She straightened at once, as if expecting him to tell her to hide.

Instead, Lucard stepped closer and spoke in a voice so low that Cedric could not hear. "You have light magic."

Elowen froze.

Her eyes widened with fear and surprise. "How did you..."

"I saw it when the unicorn appeared. Your mana reacted to the flowers before you understood it yourself. First Circle. Weak, but pure."

Her lips trembled. "I was told never to use it."

"Then use it now."

"I cannot fight him."

"You are not fighting him. You are blinding him for one breath."

Her face became even paler. "Against a Sixth Circle mage?"

"Not his body. His eyes."

Elowen looked toward Cedric, then back at Lucard. "Does Cedric know?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because surprise loses value when shared too widely."

She swallowed. "What do I do?"

Lucard touched the tree beside her and left a tiny blood mark on the bark. "When I say ’now,’ place your hand here and release all the light you can. Do not aim. Do not shape it beautifully. Do not think about control. Just force it outward."

"That may hurt everyone."

"Yes."

"Even you?"

"Yes."

She stared at him, shaken by the answer.

Lucard’s expression did not change. "One breath of pain is better than death."

Elowen nodded slowly, but her eyes searched his face. For a moment, she looked as if she wanted to believe he trusted her. Or maybe she wanted to believe he had chosen her because she mattered.

Lucard let her think that.

That was useful.

Inside his mind, his thoughts were colder.

Cedric was useful because he had the rabbit, the pact, and strong crystal magic. Elowen was useful because she had the map, Stoneford blood, and hidden light magic. Their use had brought him pure Deepwell water and helped him survive until now. If one of them died here, he would lose a tool, not a limb. If both of them distracted Alan long enough for Lucard to escape, their deaths would still buy value.

He had shown care when needed.

A pulled arm. A sealed wound. A slower pace. A practical warning.

Mortals often mistook useful maintenance for affection.

Nobody knew what he truly weighed in his heart.

Nobody needed to know.

Alan stepped through the mist.

He did not rush. He came with one hand behind his back and the other holding the fading silver trace spell. His gray robe was torn slightly near the lower edge, and there was a thin line of blood across one sleeve. The Maw Ironback had wounded him after all, though not deeply.

That small wound made Cedric’s eyes brighten.

Alan saw it and smiled. "Do not grow excited, boy. A beast scratched cloth and skin. It did not touch bone."

Cedric answered, "Still better than nothing."

"Confidence is healthy in young people. It makes the lesson sharper."

Alan’s gaze moved to Lucard. "And you. You like borrowing danger. That is a habit that often kills young men."

Lucard said, "Old men die too."

"Of course," Alan said. "But usually after making many younger men die first."

The ground under Alan’s feet hardened.

Not visibly.

Lucard felt it through his blood-sense. The old man had already begun shaping the battlefield. Slow. Quiet. Cunning. He was not giving them a chance because of arrogance. He was studying their reactions while preparing his own killing ground.

Lucard’s eyes became calm.

"Now," he said.

Cedric moved first.

Three crystal walls rose from the ground at different angles. None stood directly in front of Alan. One rose to his left, one behind him, and one low near his feet. Alan’s eyes narrowed slightly because the defense did not defend.

Lucard burned the roots.

Bloodfire ran under the moss and burst upward in thin red lines. The fire did not try to swallow Alan. It burned the mist and filled the hollow with red steam. At the same moment, Cedric’s crystal needles shot through the broken walls, scattered by each surface and bent into strange angles.

Alan lifted one finger.

Stone petals rose around him.

The crystal needles struck them and shattered. The bloodfire steam wrapped around the petals, trying to seep through, but Alan’s earth mana pressed outward and crushed most of it.

Lucard moved while Alan defended.

A blood thread slipped through the stream and touched the trap circle under the water. The tiny stream suddenly flashed red. Bloodfire entered the water as hidden heat, turning the surface into boiling mist. Alan’s visible eye moved down for less than a breath.

That was all Lucard needed.

"Now," Lucard said again.

Elowen placed her hand on the blood mark.

Light exploded from the tree.

It was not graceful. It was not trained. It was raw First Circle light magic forced through fear, pain, and desperation. The white flash tore through the red steam and struck the hollow from the side where Alan had not expected a real attack.

Cedric cursed and covered his eyes.

Puff squeaked inside his coat.

Lucard closed one eye and let blood cover the other before the flash fully hit.

Alan turned his head too late.

For one breath, his sight broke.

Lucard stepped into that breath.

Blood Spell Formation opened under Alan’s shadow. Cedric, half-blind but still sharp, followed the plan and sent crystal needles downward. They struck the shadow, not the body. Lucard’s bloodfire entered through the cracks made by the needles and burned upward toward Alan’s feet.

The ground under Alan cracked.

For the first time, the old man moved back.

Only one step.

But one step was not nothing.

Lucard’s blood thread followed, aiming for the wound on Alan’s sleeve. If he could touch the old man’s blood even once, he could learn something. A trace. A fragment. A taste of Gravenhart blood.

Alan smiled with his eyes still half-blinded.

"Good."

The word was quiet.

Then the entire hollow folded.

Not upward like Aldren’s stone spikes. Not like a wall. The earth twisted sideways. The fallen tree rolled. The roots pulled inward. The stream jumped from its bed and became a rope of clear water. Alan had pretended to be pushed back, but he had only moved into the center of his own prepared formation.

Cedric’s crystal needles were crushed.

Lucard’s bloodfire was buried under stone.

Elowen screamed as the root beside her snapped and threw her to the ground.