The next morning Caspian, Balin, and Edward left for Oshle Tirion’s ruins to settle the Bloodmaws problem, once and for all. They entered the now familiar Vipin Forest running at a moderate but steady pace. As Balin mentioned the day before, the number of Bloodmaws was dwindling. There were still Bloodmaws around, but with the regular culling expeditions and with the area covered by the forest, their density had decreased greatly, and so had the chance to encounter one of them.

They managed to advance fast thanks to this reason, only encountering their first Bloodmaw after an hour of running. Edward was the first to engage, teleporting on it and draining it of its power. Before the monster could defend itself in any significant way, Caspian and Balin joined Edward in his assault. With a few attacks, the Bloodmaw was already dead, it barely had the time to roar.

Since the aim wasn’t to bring back the corpse to the village, Edward finished absorbing the power that was still dwelling inside the body. By joining the classical way of absorbing power through one’s aura, and the absorption capacity of his dagger, his draining couldn’t be underestimated. In a few minutes, he had sapped the monster dry.

He was still experimenting with the slow down time effect anytime he was absorbing a Bloodmaw’s power through the dagger, but he noticed that this effect was decreasing the further he did it. It was as if his body was getting used to it and the effect was diminished because of it. I wonder why this happens. I may find the explanation in the ruins. After all, those monsters were stored in what looked like pods. I doubt those are natural monsters, the Damkinans must have altered them in one way or the other.

The group resumed their journey. Now that the first Bloodmaw had managed to roar, alerting the other monsters in the surrounding, the group had to confront more of those monsters. Luckily, they weren’t coming in big groups, but rather only two or three at a time. With how experienced they were at fighting Bloodmaws, they were able to take care of them quickly enough so as not to get surrounded. It was basically a one-on-one fight situation if you looked at the numbers, but the group wouldn’t separate to each fight a monster individually. They would lose their synergy if they did so.

Instead, they were all focusing on the forefront Bloodmaw and either gravely wounding it, or directly killing it before the others could assist it. This way, they were able to kill the monsters and continue to advance on their way to the ruins before another group of monsters could find them. However, Edward didn’t have the time to drain the Bloodmaws of their power anymore, he could only absorb the power he was draining while fighting. It was a bit of a waste, but they weren’t there to improve their strength but rather to stop the Bloodmaws from getting out of the ruins.

A difficult situation occurred when they got in close proximity to the ruins. The closer they got, the more the Bloodmaw’s density increased. The ruins were the epicenter of their spreading. Moreover, the culling expedition didn’t go that far into the forest. This time they were still fighting a group of initially four Bloodmaws, but with now only two of them standing, when a second group of three more monsters managed to find them.

Caspian and Balin regrouped together to be able to cover for each other blind’s spot. They stood back-to-back while being surrounded by Bloodmaws. As for him, Edward was juggling between Bloodmaws, using both his teleportation and his athletic prowess to avoid their attacks while staying on the offensive. His fighting style was relying on movement, standing his ground with Caspian and Balin would only impair him. He wasn’t able to deal with decisive injuries, but the wounds he afflicted were building up.

More importantly, each time he was stabbing them he was also draining them of their power. Bloodmaws were vigorous if anything else, they were able to sustain a lot of injuries before going out of commission. It was different for the draining however, it wasn’t as lethal as for a Teleportcrow, but it wasn’t something they could sustain for a long time.

Edward’s never-ending attacks helped the group to sustain the Bloodmaws offensive. Edward was like an annoying insect to the monster, not inflicting decisive damage in any attack, but always avoiding their hits and bothering them. The monsters weren’t able to focus completely on Caspian and Balin. Caspian was fully capable of taking a Bloodmaw frontally and he didn’t have any problem enduring the monsters’ attack.

It was harder for Balin, he mostly relied on a clever maneuver to avoid the monster’s blow while striking back. However, with Caspian at his back, he couldn’t really get out of the way to avoid an attack. So, he was gritting his teeth while defending as best as he could.

Thankfully for him, the situation was slowly turning for the better. The Bloodmaws were getting consistently weaker and one of them revealed an opening that Caspian didn’t waste. The monster in front of him had just been attacked by Edward and had turned away to chase the latter, letting his flank without defenses. Caspian immediately clutched his sword with both hands before cleaving the monster as hard as he could.

The Bloodmaw collapsed with a splash of blood, this severe injury on top of the growing weakness from Edward’s draining achieved him. It was now a four against three, but the other monsters were already seriously exhausted thanks to Edward. At this point, they weren’t able to fight efficiently anymore, and they collapsed one by one.

When the last monster collapsed, Edward leaned against a tree to regain his breathing. He was able to absorb the power from the monsters, so it wasn’t that he was feeling weak, but his body needed some time to recuperate. For the first time in a while, he was reaching the limit of his endurance. He panted as he tried to stabilize his breathing. The stalemate had lasted for several minutes and he had to be always on the move all this time, with one mistake possibly fatal. On top of that, it wasn’t their first fight, but maybe the fifth or sixth group of monsters they had to confront.

“Well fought, this was a nice battle,” Caspian told them proudly. “Let’s take a few minutes of rest, we have almost reached the ruins, and it won’t help us if we go there already being spent out.”

“I can’t believe we are finally about to do it. The whole village has been on the break of destruction, and even now that the situation is somewhat secured, the village won’t last long without being to go outside to resupply.” Balin told them with relief.

Once Edward regained his breathing, he gave one of the tokens to pass through the barrier to Caspian while keeping the other for himself. “I will be defenseless while settling down the runes, I will need someone to secure my position. With this token, you will be able to go through the barrier safely. I wish for you to ensure my safety from the front so that the Bloodmaws from the ruins can’t reach me. Balin, I will need you to stay on the outside of the ruins to make sure we are not getting ambushed by other monsters from the forest’s side.”

Balin and Caspian both gave their assent then the group departed for the ruins which were almost at reach. They didn’t encounter more trouble along the way and they were able to safely reach the entrance of the building. The origin of all their problem was laying right in front of them. Edward took the lead entering the antechamber with the other behind him. It was actually their first time seeing the ruins by themselves. However, they didn’t slow down and kept the pace, not falling behind.

Edward took out the blueprint he had prepared in advance, he walked a few meters in the corridor to have enough space to engrave all the runes before letting Caspian guard the way in front of him. I need to do things in order. First will be the identifying rune, I need to apply the safety fist before creating the trap. He took out his dagger and applied his aura to be able to cut through the wall safely. However, he was surprised to encounter resistance, he was able to cut the wall deep enough to engrave the runes, but it wasn’t as smooth as usual. He had to actually press a hand against the wall to stabilize himself while he was forcing the other to graze the runes.

Now I understand why Marc wasn’t able to damage the walls more than that. It means that I will need more time than expected to complete the runes. But it isn’t all that bad either, it means the runes will be harder to damage.

At first, everything was going without a hitch, it seems that all the Bloodmaws they had killed had paid off, and the surroundings were a lot safer. Nonetheless, this situation didn’t last. Edward had finished graving the identifying rune and was still in the process of building the block runes when the first Bloodmaw arrived from the forest.

Balin didn’t let him get closer, a fight inside the ruins would be at his disadvantage since he would have less room for maneuver. Moreover, Edward would be put in danger, and there was the possibility of damaging his work before he was finished. That’s why he stood in front of the ruins’ entrance, blocking the way in.

It was a one-on-one fight, Balin was confident he could take the monster. His worry was how much time Edward still needed to finish his work. They were literally at the epicenter of the Bloodmaws infestation, any fight here would be sure to draw more of them.

Sure enough, the monster roared before engaging Balin in a deadly dance. Caspian felt the urge to help him but decided to stand his ground in the end. Balin would be able to deal with a single Bloodmaw, and he couldn’t leave in case, or rather when, other Bloodmaws would attack from the depth of the ruins.

Balin hadn’t finished the fight yet when several roars echoed from further away in the ruins. The forest was large so the monsters had been allowed to spread and their density had decreased as a result. It wouldn’t be the case here as it was literally the source of the monsters. Caspian advanced further inside the corridor to give himself more space to fall back. His situation was different from Balin who needed space to fight. Caspian would be outnumbered by the enemy. To avoid a scenario where he would be surrounded, or where one of them could sneak past him, he had to fight in a tight space. His muscles surged ready to take the full brunt of the monsters rushing toward him.

Meanwhile, Edward was hurrying to finish the runes, he was almost done with the block runes, but he had yet to install the draining rune. The block runes by themselves would be insufficient to stop the monsters, and it would only delay them. He had to finish everything otherwise this plan would be in vain.