After everyone fell asleep, Alucard took first watch again.
And again, he tried to decipher the sacrificial runes of the Blood Arrow.
Unfortunately for him, the portion involving harvesting blood was far more complex than the part that summoned it. The summoning sequence was crude but functional. The harvesting array, however, required precision—layered intent, controlled flow, and a binding structure delicate enough to prevent dissipation.
He could have shifted his focus to the portion that shaped the blood into an arrow.
But he considered it unnecessary.
He could already shape blood into an arrow manually. Besides, forming a complete arrow consumed far more blood than it was worth.
Al knew that all too well.
Back when he had used blood arrows with crossbows, he'd wasted obscene amounts of blood for shots that barely justified the cost.
Alucard sighed.
"I was such an idiot back then."
He leaned back slightly, staring into the dark ocean beneath while continuing to trace faint lines in the stone.
Three years.
He had grown a lot in the past three years on the Forgotten Shore.
Stronger. Smarter. Slightly less reckless.
…Slightly.
Then a thought struck him.
'Wait. Three years???'
His eyes widened.
Doing the math quickly in his head, he realized he was almost twenty years old.
And if his rough calculation wasn't wrong…
His birthday was in a few weeks.
Alucard went still.
Hopefully nothing important would happen during his birthday.
It was always a dreadful day.
He didn't particularly enjoy reminders of time passing.
Or mortality.
Or expectations.
'Well… as much as I'd love to contemplate my own inevitable decay, I'm running short on time.'
He returned his focus to the sigil.
And after an entire night of experimentation—
He achieved absolutely nothing.
Not even a flicker of success.
So when the others began waking, he was still hunched over the blood covered stone like a sleep-deprived lunatic, muttering to himself while adjusting imaginary sigil sequences.
Eventually, even he had to admit defeat.
For now.
He stood up and went to get breakfast.
That was when he walked in on Sunny and Effie discussing something about starting a Legacy Clan together.
Under normal circumstances, Alucard would have absolutely interfered.
Teased them.
Exaggerated it.
Told everyone else.
Possibly helping them figure out names for their future kids.
Unfortunately, he was far too tired.
So instead, he simply gave Effie a small nod as she prepared to beat Sunny senseless for something he had undoubtedly said.
In the distance—
"YEEOWCHHHHH!"
Alucard ignored it.
He calmly sat down and ate, conversing with Caster, Kai, and Cassie as if nothing had happened.
Soon after breakfast, they resumed their journey.
Thankfully, all the locations had already been planned. They had a week of travel ahead—seven stops, one for each night.
At first, the labyrinth was manageable.
But as the days passed, the creatures grew stronger.
More armored.
More coordinated.
More dangerous.
Al could technically kill most of them with Piercing Blood.
Unfortunately, his aim was atrocious.
Which meant he missed.
A lot.
Which meant he wasted blood.
A lot.
And the blood recovered from slain creatures was minimal compared to what he expended.
At one point, he even resorted to harvesting carcasses of Nightmare Creatures that had been trapped in webs just to break even.
The real issue was clear:
They needed more ranged support.
So, reluctantly, Alucard handed the Blood Arrow to Kai.
Only while traveling.
Kai would return it at night.
If it had been anyone else, Al would have demanded a binding contract.
But he trusted Kai more than he trusted Effie, Caster, or Nephis with something that important.
Because knowing those three, the arrow would have been broken within the hour.
And every night, Al practiced that cursed sigil.
And every night, he made almost no progress.
One day while traveling the labyrinth—
He tried testing a sigil that took him the entire week to make.
He fired Piercing Blood.
The enemy fell.
And then—
All of its blood vanished.
Poof.
Gone.
It didn't teleport into him like it was supposed to.
It didn't teleported anywhere in fact.
It simply disappeared.
Alucard stared at the empty corpse.
"…That's not right."
Far away.
In a dark cell within the Dark City, a tall man with long brown hair and emerald green eyes stared at the blood that had suddenly materialized in front of him.
He didn't hesitate.
He struck it with a movement so fast it was nearly imperceptible.
Where the blood had been—
A burning hole in the ground manifested.
Feltan exhaled sharply, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Okay. That was way too close for comfort."
He looked around cautiously.
Just in case more blood decided to appear.
Meanwhile, Alucard walked through the Crimson Labyrinth, sighing as he emptied his fourth corpse in a row without gaining anything.
Unknowingly.
And having just given Feltan his fourth heart attack of the day.
He continued walking forward—
Until suddenly he was yanked back by the collar of his armor.
"What was that for?" Alucard snapped.
Caster pinched the bridge of his nose and pointed ahead.
"For someone older than me, you really lack awareness."
Al couldn't argue.
So he looked forward.
And froze.
The ground ahead was shattered, forming a titanic canyon. It was so deep and vast that he had to strain his eyes to see the opposite side. Crimson coral clung to its walls, spilling over the edges like frozen torrents of blood.
Once, a graceful white stone bridge had connected the two sides.
Now it lay broken.
Only the base remained.
And standing above the ruins—
Was a colossal stone warrior.
Clad in archaic armor.
A beautiful spear resting on his shoulder.
Facing south, as if greeting travelers approaching the ancient city.
…Of course, his head was missing.
Vast sheets of dull grey spiderweb draped the statue like a burial shroud.
Alucard whistled softly.
"Damn. How the hell did they even build something like this back then?"
No one responded.
He turned slightly and overheard Sunny and Effie discussing the creature responsible for the webs.
"Scary, huh?" Effie muttered.
Sunny nodded.
Clearly hoping they would never encounter it.
Effie sighed.
"I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard stories. The creature that used to nest here was the mother of all these spiders we've been fighting this past week. Huge. As big as a house. Armored like a hover tank. Completely deadly."
Sunny gulped and glanced at Alucard, silently hoping for reassurance.
Al just shrugged.
He was just as clueless about this nightmare creature as sunny was.
"…We're not going to try and kill it, right?"
Effie laughed.
"Relax. It's long dead."
Sunny exhaled in relief.
"How do you know?"
"She was killed by the first ruler of the Bright Castle. Before he died trying to conquer the Crimson Spire. The huntress who trained me used to be part of his cohort. She dealt the finishing blow herself."
Alucard stiffened.
Sara.
He realized immediately.
And he noticed something else—
Despite Effie's casual tone, she was uncomfortable.
She looked at her own spear and forced herself to relax.
"It must have been one hell of a battle," she muttered. "Anyway, that's how she got the Zenith Shard. And I inherited it."
"What are you talking about?" Sunny asked.
Effie tapped her bronze spear.
"My spear. It's a tier-five Awakened Memory. So the spider was an Awakened Tyrant. Imagine that. All these spiders serving a sentient commander. Thank the gods it's dead."
Sunny frowned.
"Why would your mentor give away something like that?"
Effie was silent for a moment.
Then she smiled.
"We were close. And she had no idea how to use a spear. Swordsman, am I right? So she gave it to me."
Alucard knew she was omitting details.
He knew why.
So when Sunny opened his mouth to press further, Al gave him a look that clearly meant:
'Don't.'
Unfortunately, Sunny seemed to interpret it as:
'I will kill you if you ask.'
The result was the same.
Sunny immediately changed the subject.
"Was your spear forged from a shard of a fallen star, by chance?"