Chapter 283: Sneaky Beaky
The alchemist shook his head. "A visitor token links two mana signatures for a few minutes. It doesn’t create a bond."
"It doesn’t have to create one. The token only has to show us which signals the game accepts. Feed a player enough of those responses, and we force the system to recognize maximum bond early. Once the event opens, they make the same choice every Beastslayer made."
The alchemist’s gaze drifted to Ashjaw’s pale eye. "And when the player reaches that choice, what happens to the beast?"
Raze’s fingers went still on the measuring table. Gold flickered once along Deadmaw, then died.
"Your guild wants a formula no one else can make, and you want your name on it," he said. "That’s why you’re still standing here."
The alchemist did not reach for the vial.
Raze leaned closer. "You knew where the blood came from. You had your chance to stop before CC-L17 went upstairs."
The alchemist gripped the edge of the table.
Raze would deny every word once she escaped, so Rias needed the formula and the laboratory on the same recording.
Rias eased the lower door inward without a sound. When the exhaust system hissed again, she slipped through and entered the shadow behind a tall formula cabinet. The fumes were thicker there, carrying the smell of burnt herbs and copper through her mask.
Narrow mana lines ran from the public-response display into the cauldrons, then split toward the paired player chairs and the empty beast platforms. Every line passed through the same carrier marker.
[CC-L17]
The alchemist finally picked up the vial, though he kept it away from the cauldron. "Even if we reproduce the response, it will collapse. The carrier breaks down before the two signatures stabilize."
"Then use the damn stabilizer you wrote down."
Raze turned a nearby slate toward him, exposing several lines Rias had been unable to read from the doorway.
[Linked Inheritance Carrier: Formula Fragment 17]
[Primary failure: bridge destabilization between incompatible signatures]
[Required stabilizer: high-density blue mana crystal]
[Suitable supply: unconfirmed]
Rias angled the recording crystal toward the slate until it captured every visible line, then copied them into her notes.
The remaining crystal stayed sealed inside the inspection pouch in her inventory. Nothing on the slate connected the project to Night Espresso’s supply, and Rias had no intention of making that connection for them.
Another slate rested beneath the formula fragment. Most of its funding and authorization lines had been collapsed, but the original sponsor remained visible at the top.
[Original Project Sponsor: Victoria]
Rias aimed the recording crystal at the sponsor entry until she had a clear image, then copied it into her notes beneath the formula fragment.
Victoria was Just Die’s guild leader. With her name on the sponsor line, Raze could no longer pass the project off as private work. The slate still gave no reason for hiding the research beneath another guild’s stores.
Rias had enough to put the hidden project in front of Cassandra, provided she got the recording upstairs. She began retracing her path along the cabinets before the room had more time to close around her.
The exhaust system changed cycles, snapping the floor vents shut while the ceiling shafts pulled the heavy mixture of alcohol, herbs, metal, and monster blood out of the chamber. Cooler air spilled through the crooked door behind Rias, and Raze stopped speaking.
Ashjaw’s cracked jaw brightened. Raze drew one slow breath and turned straight toward the cabinet hiding her. "Ashy always had a good nose."
Rias sent the message before Raze finished turning.
[Flash Fang: Raze Dawg found me. Bonded-beast blood confirmed. I have proof. Follow my token through the staff wall. Now.]
She attached the route she had recorded from the public quarter to the lower laboratory, checked that the recording crystal at her belt was still active, then closed every open window.
Raze stepped away from the cauldron. "Come out, Flash Fang. I already know which cabinet you’re behind."
Rias moved instead of answering.
The shadow beneath the formula cabinet connected with the darkness cast by the measuring table. Shadow Step carried her across the gap just as Raze rounded the cabinet, leaving him with an empty patch of floor and the last trace of her movement.
The Crucible Concord alchemist set the blood vial beside the cauldron and stumbled back. The attendant reached for the black case, but Raze pointed toward the upper door.
"Seal the public route. If she gets upstairs, every honest idiot in Crucible Concord becomes a problem."
Two players wearing Just Die’s crest moved toward the door. Rias stayed low beneath the measuring table and watched their boots pass. Raze did not follow them. He stood still among the fumes and tested the air again.
Rias slipped out from the other side of the table and kept it between them. A rack of neutralizing rinse stood beside the nearest cauldron, its bottles filled with a sharp mixture meant to strip lingering alchemical effects from skin and equipment.
She drew Gloamneedle and sliced through the rack’s lower hose.
Cold liquid sprayed across the floor. Rias dragged one boot through it, kicked the stream toward a second aisle, then crossed into a cloud of steam rising from an open vent. Mint, bitter alcohol, hot metal, and old monster residue flooded the room together.
Raze turned toward the false trail first, giving Rias enough time to reach the next shadow before he corrected.
"She crossed through the rinse," one of the Just Die guards called.
"Leave the trail to me and close the exits," Raze said.
The contaminated air bought Rias several seconds. Raze followed the rinse-slick trail to the steam vent, then trusted his own experience over Ashy’s nose and checked the corridor beyond it. Rias was already moving through that corridor.
The nearest guard stepped into her path with a short axe raised. His attention stayed on the shadows along the floor, waiting for Shadow Step.
Rias planted one foot against a cauldron housing and jumped. She caught a cloud drifting past her shoulder, and Cloudhook fixed the anchor in place while she swung over the guard’s head. Both feet struck the side of a copper coil. She pushed off, caught the edge of a narrow service gantry, and hauled herself above the cauldrons before he could look up.
"Above you," Raze said.
The guard turned too late. Rias released Cloudhook and dropped into his shadow, lining up Gloamneedle with the gap beside his shoulder plate. Shadow Edge strengthened the thrust and drove the blade through without striking bone.
The force drove the guard to one knee. Rias tore the blade free, planted a palm between his shoulders, and rolled over his back before continuing toward the service stair.
The other guard had already reached the controls.