Chapter 163: Empty Pit
He would return to study it later if he lived.
For now, the coffin moved.
Velkhur carried it.
Lord Garrick wanted it hidden.
Lady Mirena might want it if she learned.
Aldren’s dead daughter walked behind the ridge with a man Velkhur already had reasons to hate.
Lucard smiled faintly. The situation was becoming better.
He turned to Elowen. "Stay here."
Her face changed at once. "What?"
Lucard looked down at the Blood Pit. The coffin was gone, but the red liquid still moved inside the hollow. It rose and fell slowly, as if something under the surface was breathing.
"I am going down," he said.
Elowen stared at him. "That pit killed a man through his boot."
"Yes."
"It drank blood from prisoners like they were nothing."
"Yes."
"And you still want to go near it?"
Lucard looked at her. "That is why I want to go near it."
Elowen had no answer.
Lucard stepped down the slope before she could stop him again. The basin was quiet now. The Velkhur group had left dead beasts, drained bodies, broken tools, and the ugly red hollow behind them. They had taken the coffin, but they had left the source that had fed it for years.
That was their mistake.
Lucard reached the edge of the pit.
The red liquid reacted at once. It rose toward him in a thick wave, slow but greedy. It wanted his blood. It wanted to climb into his body, drain him, and add him to whatever old hunger lived below.
Lucard did not step back.
He cut his palm and let a drop of his own blood fall into the pit.
The moment it touched the surface, the entire pit shook.
A red spell circle spread across the liquid. It was thin at first, then it grew wider, covering the surface like a web. Blood Absorption opened through the circle, but Lucard did not pull everything into himself. The Blood Pit was old, filthy, and filled with mixed deaths. Taking it directly would be stupid.
So he filtered it.
Poison, dead will, rotten mana, and useless mud were pushed aside. The true blood essence was separated and pulled upward.
Inside his heart, the unnamed mother blood bug woke with violent hunger.
Lucard allowed it to move, but only under his command.
"Eat," he ordered inwardly. "But obey."
The connection between them opened.
Most of the purified essence flowed into the blood chamber around his heart. The mother bug curled inside it and drank greedily. Its body trembled. Its shell cracked. Dark red lines spread across it like living veins. A thin cocoon formed around its body, then tightened with every pulse of Lucard’s heart.
The three parasite eggs he still carried also responded.
Their marks deepened. Their hiding ability became stronger. Their control connection became cleaner. The eggs no longer felt like simple hidden weapons. They felt like obedient extensions of a growing nest.
A system message appeared inside Lucard’s mind.
[Blood Pit Essence absorbed.
Essence Distribution: 80% transferred to Unnamed Mutated Mother Blood Bug.
Essence Distribution: 20% retained by host.
The Unnamed Mutated Mother Blood Bug has entered mutation.
Mutation Type: Blood Nest Strengthening.]
[Egg concealment strengthened.]
[Egg survival strengthened.]
[Egg control strengthened.]
[Host control through parasite eggs strengthened.
Future egg quality increased.]
Lucard read the messages calmly.
The pit tried to pull away after realizing it was being emptied.
Lucard stepped into it.
The red liquid climbed his boots and hissed around his legs, but it could not enter him. Bloodfire Lv2 burned the harmful parts before they reached his flesh. Blood Spell Formation held the surface down. Blood Absorption drew out the useful essence and left the dead waste behind.
The pit sank.
Not quickly.
But surely.
Lucard’s own share of the essence entered his body in a much smaller stream. It was only twenty percent, but the Blood Pit had stored too much over the years. Even that small share was enough to push his blood circles forward.
[Level 31 reached.]
[Level 32 reached.]
[Level 33 reached.]
[Level 34 reached.]
[Level 35 reached.]
Lucard breathed out slowly.
Power settled into him without noise. His Blood Mage Vessel became steadier. His bloodfire grew denser. His blood spell circles felt smoother, easier to form, and easier to control. The underground blood-sense from the cave stalkers also sharpened, letting him feel movement through stone more clearly than before.
The system continued.
[Host Level: 35.
[Rank: Third Blood Circle, Blood Mage Vessel.
Blood capacity increased.
Blood magic stability increased.
Bloodfire Lv2 strengthened.
Blood Spell Formation Lv1 strengthened.
Blind Blood-Sense Trace strengthened.
Blood impurity level increased slightly due to mixed essence.
Bloodfire purification in progress.]
Lucard accepted the warning.
The Blood Pit was not a clean treasure. It was a dirty one. But dirty power was still power if it could be controlled, burned, and refined.
Inside his heart chamber, the cocoon around the mother bug pulsed once.
Lucard gave another command.
"Do not damage the chamber."
The cocoon answered with a small obedient beat.
The pit was almost empty now. Only a shallow layer of red mud remained at the bottom. Bones, broken hooks, rusted metal, and black stones lay exposed under it. Lucard did not drain the last weak traces. Leaving some behind would make the change less obvious from a distance.
He stepped out.
The red mud on his boots dried and cracked away.
Elowen stared at him from the slope with a pale face. "You drank it."
Lucard looked at her. "Not all of it."
"That does not make it better."
"It makes it accurate."
She looked into the lowered pit and quickly looked away. "Are you still human?"
Lucard’s eyes remained calm. "That question will not help you."
"No," she whispered. "I suppose it will not."
Lucard turned toward the northern path where Maera and the Velkhur group had gone. The coffin was still the greater prize, but now he would follow it with more strength than before.
Then he stopped.
A faint vibration moved through the stone.
One person was returning from the northern path.
Elowen noticed his stillness. "What is wrong?"
Lucard pulled her behind a broken rock near the edge of the basin. "Someone is coming back."
A moment later, a Velkhur guard stepped between the black stones with a lantern in one hand and a short blade in the other. He looked irritated, as if he had been sent back for a forgotten tool.
Then he saw the Blood Pit.
The almost empty Blood Pit.
The guard froze.
His lantern rose slowly.
"What...?"
Lucard held Elowen still in the shadow behind the rock as the guard took one cautious step closer.