The advantage of traps is that they can be accumulated and set up in advance, and the disadvantage is that they cannot move. The reason traps are not preferred despite having such effective and efficient killing power is that they cannot choose the battlefield. The power achieved through traps does not have the initiative.
However, right now, I have the initiative.
Colly is waiting for night. The strength of vampires is immortality. Engaging in a war of attrition based on that is their winning formula. However, no matter how furry they are as beastmen, they are still vampires. During the day, their power weakens and their regeneration drops. Since they've realized I'm not an easy target, they will try to settle the score at night, which is advantageous for them.
The timing of their attack is night. They need to disrupt my rest and sleep as a human. The moment the sun sets, they will find and attack me.
The beastman vampires invading in the dark night. Possessing both the characteristics of foolish beastmen and dull vampires except for their night vision, they are the best audience for my stage. If I make ten traps, they will fall for them eleven times.
Before night fell, I made traps out of kudzu vines in the clearing. A knot trap that snatches the ankle the moment it touches, a classic pit trap where a wrong step leads to falling onto stakes, a trap where a sharply whittled log flies in, a trap where a deeply bent tree branch whips, and so on.
"Phew. I finished one for now."
The vampires might not fall for ordinary traps, but the vines and branches aren't ordinary either. Improved with the power of the Demon God and the Tree of Origin, the kudzu vines were very tough and sturdy. Not to mention Yeirling, even Ain would have a hard time getting out if they touched it wrongly.
"Heave. Heave."
"Woof-ho! Woof-ho!"
"Azi. Stop bothering me and go. You don't even know how to tie a knot."
Azi, who saw me tying the vines, seemed to want to copy me, grabbing an innocent vine in its mouth and pulling it. Even though it wasn't using its full strength, I heard the sound of the kudzu vine I had 'improved' snapping.
"Your strength is disgustingly immense. Even Ain wouldn't be this bad, right?"
If the vine snaps just from pulling it, there's no point in making a trap. Tch. The core of this strategy is ultimately how long I can tie down Colly.
It would be nice if Azi could dismember Colly into five pieces and throw a limb on each peak, but Azi has no intention of doing that. If I run away, it will leave Colly behind and follow me, and Colly will quickly escape and rescue Yeirling.
Is there any brilliant way? As I was pondering that.
"Woof-ho! Woof-ho! Woof... woof?"
What I feared happened. As the vine that couldn't hold on snapped, Azi, who was putting force into it, also tumbled backward. Then it got caught in the knot trap and was yanked up, and as it scraped the ground with its claws trying to resist, it triggered the stake trap as well. The stakes flew in aiming for Azi. Azi easily struck away the stakes even with its ankle tied, but the broken stakes spun around and wrapped tightly around Azi.
Azi, which had triggered seven triggers in that short time, ended up dangling in the air with two stakes.
...Of course, my traps were also rendered unusable.
"That's a talent too, you dog! What are you doing touching all the traps I worked hard to make!"
"Woof! Fun!"
"Don't say it's fun! You caused an accident!"
"Again!"
"Are you asking to do it again from that snout?! That's it. I just need to roast and eat this useless thing! Set, Li! Fahrenheit!"
As I approached with a branch on fire in my extreme anger, Azi widened its eyes.
"Woof? Cooking the hound after the hunt?"
"That hunting dog at least caught a rabbit! You only destroyed all the rabbit traps! More importantly, how do you, a dog, know the idiom about cooking the hound after the hunt!"
If I consider it a sort of test, it's not too bad... No, it's bad. It only destroyed the traps without helping! Untangling the intricately tangled traps is the first problem. I closed my eyes tightly and threw the ball.
"Fetch."
"Woof!"
Crash. Snap. Smash. After a brief moment of noisy sounds, when I opened my eyes, Azi was sitting in front of me, wagging its tail with the ball in its mouth. Behind it, snapped vines and broken tree branches were strewn about in a disastrous state.
It's practically a disaster. Haa. I sighed and retrieved the ball.
"Thanks. Thanks to you, I got a good inspiration. Instead of ending it with a single trap, I need to link several traps together to bind them. There's the problem that with many variables, I have to orchestrate it, but to tie down Ain, it seems I have to do at least this much."
"Woof? You're thankful? Then, let me return the favor!"
"I just said it out of politeness, you idiot. Stop causing accidents and stay still!"
After scolding Azi, I decided to make a more precise and powerful trap than before. If caught, it would drag them away, pulling their limbs and driving stakes into them. Even I thought it was a bit excessive. But well, the opponent is an immortal vampire.
"Woof? Is this it?"
"Don't touch it. If you touch it this time, you're immediately dead meat."
Making linked traps was difficult even with the body that became stronger after gaining the Demon God. On top of that, I don't know how much time it took, but the sun is already setting. It's about time for Colly to come.
"I need to lure them this way, but it shouldn't be too obvious that it's a trap. Let's hide underground, Azi."
"Woof..."
"I told you it's not playground equipment."
I dragged Azi and headed to the hideout prepared in the bushes. It looks like an ordinary hill on the outside, but it's my sanctuary decorated with Earth Magic and Druidism. Even if it's not unnatural, it's the kind of place that anyone tracking me would naturally suspect and approach, and I hid there and looked outside.
It's fine if they come. They'll fall into the trap. It's fine if they don't come. Then I can pass the night. I surveyed my surroundings without letting go of the tension.
After a while. As expected, a presence approached us. I felt the light yet powerful footsteps of a master.
"...Huh."
The only problem was that it wasn't the presence I expected.
"Is it here? Azi. Are you there?"
Now some weirdo is coming to step on the traps. What? The Regressor? The Regressor is coming to find me first?
The Regressor's appearance after a long time was truly... unchanged. It seemed like they had been through quite a lot while I was away, but their appearance and attire were exactly the same as when they were in Tartarus. Releasing a single bee tied to a thread, they were approaching while looking around.
It's somewhat welcoming, but not enough to run out barefoot to greet them. The encounter is so unexpected that I don't know how to act.
It feels wrong to pretend not to know, especially in an emergency like this. There are also traps, so should I reveal myself or not...
"No! Trap! There's a trap there!"
They're stepping right into the trap I made to catch Colly! As I jumped up and shouted, the Regressor naturally grasped Cheon-ang in their hand and took a stance. Before swinging the sword instinctively, they recognized me and tilted their head.
"Hughes?"
"Not that! Your foot!"
There's a trap where you stretched your foot! The moment I shouted at the top of my lungs, it was already too late. Click, the trigger the Regressor touched released, and the kudzu vine knot snatched the Regressor's ankle.
Cheonban-gyeong, Jigon-ryu. Ground Severance.
The moment the vine touched the ankle, the Jizan held in the left hand swung. Even before touching the ground, a cracking fissure formed in the direction the tip of the Jizan pointed. At the same time, the kudzu vine half-buried in the ground crumbled and snapped.
They completely severed the vine altogether. The response came out faster than expected, destroying the trap before the ankle even moved.
"What is this?"
It was a response made with the cheat-like ki technique called Cheonban-gyeong, but my linked trap doesn't end there. Immediately after, sharp stakes flew in. Wooden stakes fired from a disposable ballista made by pulling a sturdy tree trunk with Azi's strength. It was a weapon designed to pierce a vampire's body, but the Regressor destroyed it with a slight swing of Cheon-ang.
However, the stakes were a decoy. Taking advantage of the moment their gaze was focused there, slings flew in from all directions. An unexpected strike delivered after making the opponent consume all their cards, to restrict their actions even for a brief moment.
Cheonban-gyeong, Cheongeom-gi. Butterfly Cut.
But even that was completely sliced away. Cheon-ang split faintly, simultaneously slashing the center of the slings. The Regressor calmly performed the feat of executing five slashes in a single sword stroke.
Having dealt with it so calmly that even I, the creator, felt deflated, the Regressor took a step back. It was an instinctive action, but the place they stepped also had a trap I made. The moment the Regressor's weight was placed on the ground, the ground entirely caved in. Sharp stakes driven beneath the trap created with Earth Magic aimed at their prey like beast's fangs.
However, the prey never fell. The Regressor reflexively responded the moment the ground beneath their feet collapsed, the moment weight was not placed on their foot.
Cheongeom-gi, Cloud Stairs.
They stand up immediately by stepping on the compressed space. A technique possible because they are the Regressor who possesses Cheon-ang. Even if the ground collapses, even if something snatches their ankle, even if ropes fly in. The Regressor responds without any hesitation. Thanks to the bizarre ki technique called Cheonban-gyeong, which engraves responses tailored to every situation they have experienced even once.
As if my existence bothered them more than the traps I had worked so hard to make, the Regressor frowned and pointed at me as they spoke.
"What are you doing?"
What am I doing? That's what I should be saying. I immediately flared up in anger.
"What am I doing? What are you doing? These are traps I made to block the vampire pursuers! You destroyed them all, so what are you going to do about it!"
"Vampire pursuers? Ah, them? They won't be able to come. I met them before they came and took care of them."
Ah, they took care of them? Ain? Well, if it's the Regressor, they can beat someone like Ain. They're doing something helpful for once. If that's the case, one worry is off my shoulders...
Wait? Is that really a relief? Didn't a bigger worry than Ain just arrive?
"More importantly."
Flash.
As soon as the lightning flashed, the Regressor's figure instantly closed the distance. The two eyes staring at me, having even opened the Seven-Colored Eyes, were declaring that they wouldn't miss my movements.
I didn't have the intention to fight back in the first place, but the Regressor approached without giving me any room to do so and drove Cheon-ang right above my shoulder. Amidst the startled Azi barking 'Woof?', the Regressor didn't care at all and looked down at me coldly.
"Wh-what. What is it. Do you want to collect my right arm again?"
"I have one thing to ask you. King of Humans. Answer honestly. Otherwise... even I don't know what judgment I'll make."
Power? It goes without saying that it's overwhelming.
Technique? With the cheat technique called Cheonban-gyeong, they preemptively block both ambushes and traps.
Tools? Unlike me who only possesses the Idol of the Demon God, they are an existence who directly wields the relics of the Demon God.
Mind-reading only works half the time, an existence that is my natural enemy. The Regressor put force into Cheon-ang as if about to strike me down at any moment and asked.
"Do you want to destroy the world?"