WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 470: Don't Panic, This Is a Trap

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The advantage of traps is that you can keep stockpiling them. Their disadvantage is that they cannot move. Despite how effective and efficient they are at killing, traps are not favored because they cannot choose the battlefield. The power gained through traps cannot seize the initiative.

But right now, I have the initiative.

Collie is waiting for nightfall. A vampire's strength lies in immortality. Their formula for victory is to wage a war of attrition on that basis. Yet even furry beastkin are still vampires. Their strength and regenerative power weaken during the day. Now that they know I am no easy opponent, they will try to settle this at night, when they have the advantage.

They will attack at night. They need to disrupt my rest and sleep as a human. The moment the sun sets, they will come looking for me.

The beastkin vampires who will come charging in through the dark night possess all the traits of foolish beastkin, as well as those of vampires, who are dull in every way except their night vision. They will make the finest audience for my stage. If I make ten traps, they will fall for them eleven times.

Before nightfall, I made traps from kudzu vines in a clearing. Snare traps that caught ankles the moment they were touched, classic pit traps that sent anyone who stepped wrong plunging onto stakes, traps that launched sharpened logs, traps where bent tree trunks lashed out, and more.

"Phew. That's one done."

Vampires would not fall for ordinary traps, but these vines and branches were not ordinary either. The kudzu vines I had "improved" with the Demon God's power and the Tree of Origin were incredibly tough and strong. Even an Ain, let alone a Yeiling, would have difficulty getting free if they handled them wrong.

"Heave-ho. Heave-ho."

"Woof-ho! Woof-ho!"

"Azzy. Stop getting in the way and go somewhere else. You don't even know how to tie knots."

Perhaps because she had seen me tying vines, Azzy wanted to imitate me. She grabbed an innocent vine in her mouth and pulled. Though she was not even using her full strength, I heard the kudzu vine I had "improved" snap.

"You're ridiculously strong. Even an Ain isn't this strong, right?"

There was no point in traps if she could break the vines just by pulling on them. Tch. The key to this plan was how long I could keep Collie restrained.

It would have been nice if Azzy would tear Collie into five pieces and toss her limbs onto separate peaks, but Azzy had no intention of doing that. If I ran, she would leave Collie behind and follow me, while Collie would quickly escape and rescue the Yeilings.

Was there no clever solution? Just as I was thinking that...

"Woof-ho! Woof-ho! Woo... woof?"

The thing I had worried about happened. The vine finally gave way, and Azzy, who had been pulling on it, tumbled backward. She got caught in a snare trap and was yanked into the air. While clawing at the ground to hold on, she triggered a stake trap too.

Stakes flew toward Azzy. Even with her ankles tied, she easily knocked them aside, but the broken stakes spun through the air and wrapped around her.

After setting off seven triggers in that brief moment, Azzy ended up dangling in midair alongside two stakes.

...Of course, my traps were ruined too.

"That's a talent in itself, you dog! How could you trigger every trap I worked so hard to make?"

"Woof! It's fun!"

"Don't have fun! You made a mess!"

"Again!"

"How can you even ask for more after that?! That's it. I'm grilling this useless thing and eating her! Set, Ri! Fahrenheit!"

I was so angry that I lit a branch on fire and approached her. Azzy's eyes widened.

"Woof? Are you discarding the hunting dog after the hunt?"

"That hunting dog at least caught rabbits! You only caught every trap meant to catch rabbits! More importantly, how do you even know that saying just because you're a dog?"

It was not entirely bad if I thought of it as a test... No, it was bad. She did not help at all. She only destroyed my traps! First, I had to untangle that complicated mess. I squeezed my eyes shut and threw a ball.

"Fetch."

"Woof!"

Crack. Snap. Crunch.

There was a brief burst of noisy destruction. When I opened my eyes, Azzy was sitting before me with the ball in her mouth, wagging her tail. Behind her lay a miserable mess of severed vines and broken tree trunks.

She was practically a disaster. Sighing, I retrieved the ball.

"Thanks. You gave me a good idea. I shouldn't stop at a single trap. I need to link several together. There are too many variables, so I'll have to coordinate them myself, but I think this much is necessary if I want to restrain an Ain."

"Woof? Thanks? Then reward me!"

"I was just being polite, you little brat. Stay still and don't cause trouble!"

After scolding Azzy, I decided to make a trap more precise and powerful than before. Once it caught someone, it would drag them along, pull at their limbs, and drive stakes into them. Even I thought it was a little excessive.

Then again, my opponents were vampires who would not die.

"Woof? This one?"

"Don't touch it. If you trigger it again, I'll turn you into soybean paste."

Making the linked trap was difficult even with my body strengthened after obtaining the Demon God. It also took so long that the sun was already setting. It was about time for Collie to arrive.

"I need to lure her this way, but it can't look too obviously like a trap. Let's hide underground, Azzy."

"Woof..."

"I told you, it's not a ride."

I took Azzy to the shelter I had prepared in the brush. It looked like an ordinary hill from the outside, but it was my resting place, crafted with earth arts and druidism. It was not unnatural, but it was suspicious enough that anyone tracking me would naturally approach it. I hid there and watched outside.

It would be fine if she came. She would get caught in a trap. It would also be fine if she did not. Then I could simply get through the night. I stayed alert and scanned every direction.

Before long, just as expected, someone's presence drew closer. I could sense the light yet powerful footsteps of a master.

"...Huh."

The problem was that it was not the presence I had expected.

"Is it here? Azzy. Are you here?"

Now something strange was coming to step on my traps. What? The regressor? The regressor had come looking for me first?

It had been a while since I had seen the regressor, but... nothing had changed. She seemed to have been through quite a lot while I was gone, yet her appearance and clothes were exactly the same as they had been in Tantalus. With a bee tied to a string fluttering beside her, she looked around as she approached.

I was somewhat glad to see her, but not enough to rush out and welcome her with open arms. This encounter was so unexpected that I did not know how to react.

I could not pretend not to know her, but this was an emergency. There were traps everywhere, so should I reveal myself or not...?

"That's not it! Trap! There's a trap there!"

She was stepping right into the trap I had made to catch Collie! I sprang to my feet and shouted. The regressor naturally grabbed Skywarbler and took a stance. Before she could instinctively swing her sword, she recognized me and tilted her head.

"Hughes?"

"Not me! Your foot!"

There was a trap where she was about to step! By the time I screamed at the top of my lungs, it was already too late. Click. The trigger she had touched released, and the kudzu-vine snare caught her ankle.

Heaven-Reversing Boundary, Earth Staff Style. Ground Severing.

The instant the vine touched her ankle, Jizan in her left hand trembled. Though it had not even touched the ground, a crack appeared as though the earth had split in the direction its tip pointed. At the same time, the kudzu vine half-buried in the ground crumbled and snapped.

She had cut the entire vine apart. Her response came out faster than I expected, destroying the trap before her ankle could even move.

"What is this?"

She had countered it with the absurd technique called Heaven-Reversing Boundary, but my linked trap did not end there. Sharp stakes came flying next. They were wooden stakes fired from a one-use ballista made by having Azzy pull back sturdy tree trunks. I had designed them to pierce vampire bodies, but the regressor destroyed them with a light swing of Skywarbler.

The stakes were a feint. While her attention was drawn to them, slings flew in from every direction. It was a surprise strike meant to limit her movements, even briefly, after forcing her to exhaust all her options.

Heaven-Reversing Boundary, Heavenly Sword Technique. Butterfly Slash.

Yet she cut through all of those too. Skywarbler split faintly apart, simultaneously cutting through the center of every sling. With one swing, she calmly performed the absurd feat of making five slashes.

The regressor handled it so casually that even I, who had made the traps, felt deflated. She took one step back. It was instinctive, but there was another trap where she stepped. The moment her weight pressed down on the ground, the entire surface collapsed. Sharp stakes embedded beneath the trap I had made with earth arts waited for their prey like a beast's teeth.

But the prey never fell.

The instant the ground beneath her gave way, the instant her foot lost its support, the regressor reacted reflexively.

Heavenly Sword Technique, Cloud Step.

She stepped on compressed space and stood upright. It was a technique possible only for the regressor who possessed Skywarbler. Whether the ground collapsed beneath her, something seized her ankle, or ropes flew at her, she reacted without hesitation. It was thanks to the perverse technique called Heaven-Reversing Boundary, which had engraved tailored responses for every situation she had experienced even once.

More concerned with my presence than the traps I had worked so hard to make, she frowned and pointed at me.

"What are you doing?"

What was I doing? I should be asking that. I immediately got angry.

"What do you mean, what am I doing? What are you doing? I made these traps to stop vampire pursuers! You ruined all of them, so what are you going to do about it?"

"Vampire pursuers? Oh, those guys? They won't be coming. I ran into them before they got here and took care of them."

Oh, she took care of them? The Ain? Well, the regressor could beat an Ain. She had actually done something helpful for once. In that case, one major worry was off my mind...

Wait. Was it really? Hadn't something more worrying than an Ain just arrived?

"More importantly."

Flash.

Lightning flickered, and the regressor closed the distance in an instant. With her Seven-Colored Eyes even activated, she stared at me, her eyes declaring that they would not miss a single movement I made.

I had no intention of resisting in the first place, but she did not give me the chance. The regressor pressed Skywarbler against my shoulder. Azzy barked in surprise.

"Woof?"

The regressor ignored her and looked down at me coldly.

"W-what? What is it? Do you want to collect my right arm again?"

"I have one question for you, King of Humanity. Answer honestly. Otherwise... I don't know what decision I might make."

Strength? She was overwhelmingly powerful without question.

Technique? With the absurd technique called Heaven-Reversing Boundary, she could block ambushes and traps before they even happened.

Tools? Unlike me, who only possessed an idol of the Demon God, she directly held and wielded a relic of the Demon God.

A being who was my natural enemy, one against whom even my mind reading only worked halfway. The regressor tightened her grip as though she might slash down with Skywarbler at any moment, then asked me.

"Do you want to destroy the world?"

Footnotes:

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