Chapter 152: Moonwater Unicorn

Chapter 152: 152: Moonwater Unicorn

Elowen stopped breathing.

Lucard stood at the mouth of the hidden valley and watched quietly. The creature stepped out from behind a low white tree, and the moonlight seemed to gather around its body. It was smaller than the stories made unicorns sound, but that did not make it weak. Its body was slim and graceful, with white hair that carried a faint silver shine. A single horn rose from its forehead, smooth and pale like moon-carved bone. Its mane moved softly even though there was almost no wind inside the hollow.

The unicorn lowered its head toward the spring and drank.

Elowen’s eyes filled with tears. She did not move. She did not even dare wipe her face. All the fear from the chase, the cave, the monsters, and her father’s men seemed to disappear for one small moment. She looked like a child who had found the only dream she had refused to surrender.

"It is real," she whispered.

Lucard did not answer.

He was not looking at it like a dream.

He was looking at its blood.

The unicorn’s blood felt different from the cave stalkers. It was not cold and rotten. It was clean, bright, and full of life. Even from a distance, Lucard could sense the difference. It carried healing power, purity, and a strange moonlit calm. His blood moved with interest, and the Blood Mage Vessel inside him reacted more strongly than it had to the cave beasts.

A system message appeared inside his mind.

[Pure Beast Blood Detected.

Target: Moonwater Unicorn.

Blood Quality: High.

Possible Traits: Purification, Healing, Moonlight Affinity, Curse Resistance.

Warning: Target is alert to blood hostility.]

Lucard’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The unicorn lifted its head.

It looked straight at him.

Elowen stiffened. "It saw us."

"It sensed us before we entered," Lucard said.

The unicorn did not run. Its dark eyes watched Lucard with clear caution. Then its gaze moved to Elowen. The creature’s ears moved slightly. It seemed calmer when it looked at her, but the moment its eyes returned to Lucard, its body became tense again.

Elowen noticed it. "It is afraid of you."

"Not afraid," Lucard said. "Careful."

"Please do not hurt it."

Lucard glanced at her. "You hired me to bring you here, not to obey your feelings."

Her face went pale. She hugged the old map tighter against her chest. "I said I wanted to see it. I did not ask you to kill it."

"And I did not say I would."

"That is not comforting."

"It is accurate."

Elowen took one tiny step forward.

The unicorn stepped back at once.

Lucard said, "Stop."

She froze.

"If you rush toward it like a fool, it will run or attack."

Elowen swallowed and nodded. "What should I do?"

"Nothing."

"That is difficult."

"Most useful things are."

The unicorn moved around the spring, keeping distance from them. Its hooves barely made sound against the wet grass. The white flowers bent under its steps and slowly rose again after it passed. It looked healthy from far away, but Lucard’s blood sense noticed something else when it turned slightly.

There was a wound near its left side.

Old, but not healed properly.

The cut was thin and dark under the moonlight. Something had struck it days ago, perhaps a claw or a poisoned arrow. The wound was not enough to kill it quickly, but it disturbed the clean flow of blood inside its body. That might be why the cave stalkers had reached this hollow. Injured pure beasts attracted dirty predators.

Lucard looked toward the stone passage behind them.

The air changed.

A scraping sound came from the tunnel.

Elowen heard it too. Her face lost all color. "More?"

"Yes."

The unicorn raised its head sharply. Its ears turned toward the door. It had already sensed the same thing.

Lucard stepped away from Elowen and looked at the passage. "Move to the side. Stay behind that stone. Do not run into the flowers."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

She obeyed quickly this time.

The first eyeless cave stalker crawled out of the passage with its mouth open. Then another came behind it. Then a third shape moved in the dark. Their pale bodies looked uglier under the moonlight, as if the clean light exposed how wrong they were. They smelled the unicorn and became excited. Their long claws scratched deep lines into the stone floor.

The unicorn stamped one hoof.

A soft silver light spread from the hoofprint.

The first cave stalker hissed and pulled back slightly.

Lucard watched with interest.

Moonlight power. Weak, but pure.

The stalkers were not here for him. They wanted the unicorn. The pure blood had pulled them from the lower tunnels like flies to honey. If Lucard had not entered, they would still have come. Elowen had not only found a unicorn. She had found it at the worst possible time.

The first stalker rushed forward.

The unicorn moved faster than Lucard expected. It turned its body and kicked with its hind legs. Silver light flashed around its hooves. The kick struck the stalker’s head and sent it crashing into a white cliff. Bone cracked. The beast fell, but did not die.

The second stalker crawled low through the flowers.

Elowen gasped.

Lucard lifted his hand.

A blood spell circle formed above the grass. This one was clearer than the small light spell from before. Three rings turned inside each other, drawn from his own blood. When the stalker crossed under it, red threads dropped like falling needles and pierced its back.

The beast screamed.

Lucard closed his fist.

The threads tightened and dragged the creature sideways before it could reach the unicorn’s wounded side. Bloodfire ran down the threads and entered the beast’s pale blood. Red light glowed under its skin. The creature twisted, clawed the ground, and died with smoke rising from its mouth.

The unicorn turned its head toward Lucard.

It did not look grateful.

It looked more cautious.

Lucard smiled faintly. "Smart."

More sounds came from the passage.

Not three.

More than three.

The third stalker came out with two smaller ones behind it. Their bodies were thinner, but their movements were faster. One climbed along the wall. Another ran across the ground. The largest one moved toward Lucard, perhaps because it had sensed the bloodfire killing its kin.

Elowen covered her mouth with both hands.

Lucard stepped forward.

His blood moved smoothly now. After becoming a Blood Mage Vessel, controlling several blood patterns at once no longer felt as rough. A thin blood thread wrapped around his left wrist. Another formed near his right hand. A blood spell circle floated behind him, ready to release threads when he willed it.

The largest stalker attacked first.

Lucard met it directly.

Its claws swept toward his chest. He bent back just enough for the claws to pass over him, then placed his palm against its ribs. Blood Shock entered through the thin skin and struck the blood near its heart. The creature’s body froze for a breath. Lucard’s other hand moved, and a blood thread cut across its throat.

Pale blood burst out.

He began absorbing before it fell.

The smaller stalker on the wall leaped toward his back. The blood spell circle behind him opened at once. Four threads shot out and caught the beast midair. It struggled wildly, but Lucard pulled it down and slammed it against the stone floor. Bloodfire entered through its mouth and burned the inside of its throat.

The third stalker tried to reach Elowen.

The unicorn moved first.

It crossed the hollow like white light and blocked the beast’s path. Its horn lowered, and a sharp moonlit glow gathered at the tip. The stalker lunged. The unicorn stabbed its horn through the creature’s shoulder and threw it aside. The beast struck the ground and rolled, but one claw still cut across the unicorn’s wounded side.

The unicorn cried out.

Elowen shouted, "No!"

Lucard’s eyes became colder.

"Quiet."

Elowen bit her own hand to stop herself from crying out again.

The injured unicorn stumbled. The old wound opened wider, and clean blood ran down its white side. The smell struck Lucard like a bell inside his veins.

Pure blood.

High quality.

His blood almost moved by instinct.

The mother blood bug inside his heart stirred wildly. It sensed the pure beast blood and wanted it. The hunger it sent was stronger than before, not because it was disobedient, but because this blood was too valuable for such a young creature to ignore.

Lucard pressed his will inward.

"Wait."

The blood bug trembled, then obeyed.

The remaining stalkers smelled the fresh unicorn blood and became mad.

Three more came from the tunnel at once.

Lucard moved.

He did not allow them to surround the unicorn. A blood spell circle appeared under the first stalker’s feet and pulled its legs together. Lucard stepped past it and struck the second with bloodfire. The third leaped over both and reached for the unicorn’s neck.