The next morning Caspian, Balin, and Edward left for Oshle Tirion 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 had mentioned the day before, the number of Bloodmaws was dwindling. There were still Bloodmaws around, but with the regular culling expeditions and with the large size of Vipin Forest, their density had decreased greatly, and so had the chance to encounter one of them.

　　They managed to advance at a fast pace 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 once.

　　Since the aim wasn`t to bring back the corpse to Agripin, 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. Edward`s absorption speed was much faster than what Balin and Caspian were able to, so they let him absorb the power from the slaughtered monster in order not to lose too much time.

　　Edward was still experimenting with the slow down time effect anytime he was absorbing a Bloodmaw`s power through his daggers, but he had noticed that this effect was decreasing the further it happened. 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 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.

　　If you simply looked at the numbers it appeared as a difficult fight, with a Bloodmaw for each member of their small group, in what looked like a one-on-one fight situation. However, Caspian, Balin and Edward didn`t separate to fight each monster individually. Instead, in a display of synergy they all focused on the forefront Bloodmaw either gravely wounding it, or directly killing it before the others could assist it. This way, rather than having a one versus one fight, it was almost the three of them against a single Bloodmaw, with this operation repeated three times.

　　Fighting this way, the Bloodmaws were easy to handle and the group was able to kill the monsters and continue to advance on their way before another group of Bloodmaws could find them. However, with the group of Bloodmaws becoming closer and closer to each other, Edward didn`t have the time to drain the felled monsters of their power anymore. He could only absorb the blood essence he was draining during each fight. 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 reached close proximity of the ruins. The closer they got, the more the Bloodmaws` density increased. The ruins were the epicenter of their spreading. Moreover, the culling expedition hadn`t gone that far into the forest.

　　This time they were in the process of fighting a group of initially four Bloodmaws, having already killed two of them, 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 yet to deal decisive injuries, unless he took a lot of risk and targeted their head, but the wounds he afflicted were building up. Edward had adjusted his fighting style so that even while being outnumbered he would still be the one winning in the end, it would just take more time.

　　More importantly, each time he was stabbing the Bloodmaws he was also draining them of their power. If one could say one thing about Bloodmaws it was that they were tough, they were able to sustain a lot of injuries before going out of commission. However, it was different for the draining of their blood essence, 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 impeding them. Worse, he couldn`t be ignored either since the damage he inflicted accumulated quickly. 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, usually he mostly relied on clever maneuvers to avoid the monsters blows 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.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

　　Thankfully for him, the situation was slowly turning for the better. The Bloodmaws were getting consistently weaker thanks to Edward and one of them faltered for a moment, revealing an opening that Caspian didn`t waste. The Bloodmaw 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 accumulating damage from Edward`s stabs and draining achieved it. It was now back to four Bloodmaws 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 after the other.

　　When the last monster collapsed, Edward leaned against a tree to regain his breathing. He was able to absorb the power from the monsters which replenish him even in the middle of the fight. It wasn`t that he was feeling weak, but his body needed some time to recuperate. Even if he had plenty of energy left, his muscles were sore, his heart was beating wildly and he was out of breath. For the first time in a while, he was reaching the limit of his endurance.

　　Edward panted as he tried to stabilize his breathing. The stalemate had lasted for several minutes and he had to be constantly on the move for 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 are already spent when we arrive."

　　"I can`t believe we are finally about to do it. The whole village has been on the break of destruction for weeks, and even now that the situation is somewhat secured, Agripin won`t last long without being to go outside to resupply. And here we are about to fix this problem once and for all." 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 engraving the runes, I will need someone to secure my position. With this token, you will be able to go safely through the barrier I will install. I want you to ensure my safety from the front so that the Bloodmaws comint out 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 Bloodmaws coming from the forest."

　　Balin and Caspian both gave their assent then the group departed for the ruins which were almost within reach. They didn`t encounter more trouble along the way, having already slaughtered all the Bloodmaws in the vicinity, and they were able to safely reach Oshle Tirion`s entrance.

　　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. For Balin and Caspian 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.

　　Edward took out his dagger and applied his aura so that he could cut through the walls 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 with the other to carve the runes.

　　Now I understand why Marc wasn`t able to fully destroy the walls and simply left shallow marks on them. It means that I will need more time than expected to carve 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 engraving the identifying rune and was still in the process of carving the Block runes when the first Bloodmaw arrived from the forest.

　　Balin didn`t let it 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, in the end, he decided to stand his ground. Balin would be able to deal with a single Bloodmaw, and Caspian 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 inside the ruins. Vipin Forest was large so the Bloodmaws had been allowed to spread and their density had decreased as a result. It wouldn`t be the case inside the ruins 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.