Chapter 363

“That insolent bastard,” Ruslan says as he walks behind his father to the trapping room.

“Don’t worry, Ruslan. Haven’t I taught you to be above the thoughts of common peasants? They clearly come from some backwater city. They’re not weak for their age, but trust me, they’re nothing special. We’ll get the girl on the team, and then it will be all in your hands. Do not disappoint me. If I don’t get a grandchild by the end of this year, I will disown you.”

Ruslan laughs, thinking his father is joking. But seeing the very serious expression on Elder Ognev’s face, he suddenly goes quiet.

“Of course, Father. I won’t disappoint you.”

“You better.”

They enter the trapping room and watch the servants arrange the traps, together with the help of some adventurers. One of the adventurers in charge of assembling the Mithril trap says, “Elder Ognev, are you sure about this? One set of these traps is extremely complicated and dangerous. If the guy doesn’t know what he’s doing, he might die.”

“It’s fine.” Elder Ognev waves a hand. “I’m here. Nothing will happen. And if it does, well, then it’s not on me. He says he wants to take the Mithril Rank test. You know that people have died before during these certifications.”

“True,” the adventurer says, scratching his head. “I wouldn’t want, though, for some guy to just, you know, die. Maybe we can take out some easier Mithril traps? Look at these other ones. They are too easy. It’s like they… These are two different Ranks. In fact—”

But Elder Ognev raises a hand.

“If you still want your job, do not finish that sentence.”

Ruslan has to cover his mouth as he snickers at the gullible adventurer, who just shrugs and says, “Whatever.”

Everybody knows that there’s always some corruption in every guild, and if some poor guy attracted Elder Ognev’s rage, then there’s not much he can do.

As soon as they are finished, John Cabbage and Talia Carrot walk through the door and look at the traps. There’s not one ounce of doubt, hesitation, fear — not any emotion other than curiosity — as they glance at the traps.

But that, to Elder Ognev, is a giveaway. It means that neither really has much knowledge when it comes to traps. In fact, their behavior is telling Elder Ognev that they probably aren’t even Adamantite Rank trappers. With traps so different from one another, even in their inactive form, it would be obvious to just about anybody at Adamantite Rank that they are worlds apart in terms of difficulty.

This worries Elder Ognev a little, because perhaps Talia could be hurt by the traps. But he’s in there, and if need be, he will just force the certification through — or just assign her an Adamantite certification, in order for her to join the team together with Ruslan for the Stone Golem Dungeon excursion.

But Talia just steps forward and says, “Um, can I start?”

“Of course. That is your lane,” Elder Ognev says, pointing at the three easy Mithril Rank traps. “Please go ahead.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“I’ll activate the first. You have to step inside of it and solve it.”

“Oh, okay.”

Elder Ognev activates the trap once Talia is in the middle of it. But he’s nervous. He’s ready to lunge at her and rescue her from the trap in case anything goes wrong.

Yet Talia just avoids all the invisible triggers that would have the Mithril Rank trap rain acid on her, and just punches the ground out of nowhere, taking out the main artifact that was powering the trap.

“Oh, incredible. Congratulations. You’re done with the first. You can go on and move inside the second one. I’ll activate—”

“Wait a second,” Talia says, and she punches the stone of the trapping room of the Adventurers’ Guild and takes out all the artifacts that were powering the trap, and pockets them.

What is she doing? Elder Ognev frowns.

“Those are Adventurers’ Guild property,” Elder Ognev says slowly.

“Oh, but they’re kinda broken. I’ll just take them. It’s fine.”

Talia smiles, and Elder Ognev thinks that he can just have them replaced. In theory, if they had been destroyed in the attempt, it would be the same. So he can just say they were broken because of the test.

But soon, Talia is doing the same as he activates the second Mithril Rank trap. She’s just punching the ground, or pulling out of thin air, all the artifacts powering the trap, and pocketing them.

Elder Ognev’s eyes start twitching.

Is this girl trying to put a hole in our balance sheet?

Elder Ognev grits his teeth.

“Miss, can you stop taking all the artifacts? It’s fine if you just turn off one of them. I’ll consider the test concluded as soon as the trap stops working. So please stop stealing Adventurers’ Guild property.”

“Oh.” Talia looks sad. “Okay.”

She says these are very simple traps that rely on one main artifact to power them. And as such, as soon as that one artifact has been taken care of, all the others stop working.

But next, as he activates the third, he sees Talia just… start from the auxiliary artifacts and steal them one by one, then deactivate the main one and take that one as well.

“Well, that was the last one. So, this is allowed, right?”

Elder Ognev looks like he’s about to blow a coronary. But his son Ruslan puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “Father, let her be. She’s gonna be part of the family soon. All the money that she will make from selling those, it’s gonna be ours anyway.”

Elder Ognev nods at the surprisingly sound logic of his son.

“All right. Well, Miss Talia, you have, uh, earned a spot in the Adventurers’ Guild as a Trap Master. You’ll be certified at Mithril Rank.”

For now, Elder Ognev adds mentally. As soon as she has completed the Stone Golem Dungeon, he will have the certification removed. He doesn’t wanna risk the higher-ups finding out that he’s cheating, and making a girl like this — who’s probably Adamantite Rank in trapping at best — a Mithril Rank certified Trap Master.

“Is it my turn?” John Cabbage asks, looking at Elder Ognev.

“Of course. Would you like to go ahead?”

The young man looks to the first trap — a gigantic array, ten times the size of the first trap that Talia stepped into. In fact, one could say that the area of the Mithril Rank traps Talia destroyed was barely courtyard-sized, whereas the ones that John Cabbage is about to step into are arena-sized.

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Ruslan is barely paying attention to John when Talia suddenly walks by him, gives him a kiss on the cheek, and says, “Good luck, John. Be careful.”

John seems stunned by that. And Ruslan can feel a deep, burning jealousy in his veins.

“Come on, step into the trap and start the damn test,” Ruslan snarls.

“Calm down, dude. Are you here for this certification as well? You don’t look that good at traps. Stay back, or you might die here,” John Cabbage says, looking worried as he stares at Ruslan.

“What did you just say?” Ruslan roars. “I’ll have you know I am an Adamantite Rank Trap Master.”

John Cabbage just looks at Ruslan as if he’s stupid and says, “Yeah, and this is a Mithril Rank trap. Oh wait, right. Your eyes don’t work. Oh man, I’m so sorry. Um, yeah, this is Mithril Rank. Did you hear that? Or are your ears okay?”

Ruslan wants to tear his own hair out.

What does he mean, are my ears okay? he thinks. How does he dare talk to me like this? This son of a bitch.

His father, however, says, “Ruslan, contain yourself.”

Ruslan grits his teeth and says, “Whatever. This guy’s dead anyway.”

“Can you start? I’m a little in a hurry. Kinda have to go to the bathroom,” John Cabbage says.

Elder Ognev shakes his head. This trap would take even a real Mithril Rank Trap Master several hours to destroy — or defuse — and a young man like this one thinks he can neutralize it and go take a leak right after.

He thinks they’re about to witness a horrendous death.

Among the adventurers who came to watch this Trap Master test, most are just shaking their heads after Talia Carrot’s win. That’s because the traps that she destroyed are barely considered Mithril Rank traps — they’re nothing like a Mithril Rank trap that would be found in a Dungeon. In fact, they were so weak that they could be considered more like Intermediate Adamantite Rank traps.

And yet, the adventurers who are observing are now looking at John Cabbage’s traps, and specifically at the one he is about to step into.

There are several Adamantite Rank Trap Masters in their midst, and one of them says, “I wouldn’t be walking inside that trap myself. It has nine concentric layers. You have to disable them one by one in order to turn off the trap.”

Another guy says, “Yeah, and even if you do, the Mana blades that the trap is gonna generate are going to be ruthless. You make one mistake, and you can be shredded apart. Only an Intermediate Mithril Rank warrior would ever be able to survive the kind of damage that that trap is able to deliver.”

When the crowd hears that, they start shaking their heads.

“So that means that that John Cabbage is dead.”

“He’s a hundred percent dead,” another replies. “What do you think? How could he survive such a thing? It takes meticulous work. It’s so hard to destroy a trap like that! And that dear Elder Ognev is up to some other shenanigans.”

Another Adamantite Rank Trap Master shakes his head. “I wouldn’t be entering that trap for a thousand Mithril coins.”

“I bet that you would enter that trap running, if your wife told you,” his friend says.

“Are you still bitter because I didn’t come drinking with you the other day? I told you, I have a family to look after, man. Can’t be wasting my time like that.”

“Silence!” Elder Ognev thunders, and all the adventurers finally shut up. “Mr. John. Please enter the trap, if you are indeed willing to take the test. And let me assure you that if you were to forfeit the test, nobody would judge you.”

Ruslan laughs at his father’s benevolence. In fact, his father is being too nice. After seeing Talia kissing John’s cheek, there is nothing more that Ruslan wants than seeing that bastard dead.

But John Cabbage doesn’t seem bothered in the least by how terrifying the trap in front of him is. In fact, he asks, “So if I defuse this, just like Talia did, can I keep the artifacts? I’m a little short on cash at the moment.”

Elder Ognev actually snorts a laugh, and so does the entire audience.

“Have you heard that? I think he’s gone insane.”

“Defuse the trap? He wants to defuse the trap without destroying it? That would make this entire deal ten times as difficult. That kid is going to die here. Trust me.”

An older Trap Master shakes his head. “What a disgrace this Adventurers’ Guild has become. Poor fool.”

But Elder Ognev just shakes his head and says, “It is all property of the Adventurers’ Guild. But I’ll tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. If you manage to defuse this trap, instead of trying to destroy its artifacts and its structure, I will reimburse the Adventurers’ Guild for the materials myself, and you can keep the artifacts.”

“Sounds good to me,” John says.

And then Elder Ognev activates the Mithril Rank trap.

This one is called the Thousand Blades Immortal Array. It activates once someone steps at its very center, and before that, it’s nearly undetectable. There are many, many layers — more than ten, as one might usually think. Even Elder Ognev would not be capable of defusing something like this himself. He would have to resort to destroying the array, and he might suffer more than one Mana blade attack while trying to do so.

He’s waiting for John Cabbage to take out some Trap Master tools. When dealing with traps as complex as this one, one needs to analyze carefully each ley line and its potential array, and use many tools for analysis — enchanted brushes, enchanted goggles.

And Elder Ognev sees John Cabbage take out a pickaxe.

“What?” His son Ruslan says, “What the hell is he doing?”

The crowd is looking stunned at that.

“Has he lost his mind?”

A man says, “He’s gonna get himself killed immediately.”

“Someone do something! That kid is a moron. Why is he using a pickaxe? Where does he think he is? The Miners’ Guild? Get him out of there immediately.”

Now, before anyone can do anything, John Cabbage uses Wrath of Blade and slams the pickaxe on the ground. A full layer of the Thousand Blades Immortal Array immediately collapses.

“What?”

His strike perfectly hits the ley line that was holding that part of the trap together. And now it has exposed the second layer.

“This can’t be,” Elder Ognev mutters. “Must have been a stroke of luck.”

But then, with two successful hits that resound like metal hitting metal, John Cabbage extracts two artifacts from the ground, destroying all layers from the second to the fifth with just a couple of strikes.

Elder Ognev feels a knot in his throat. If this young man actually manages to clear this trap, he’ll have to fork out an immense sum of money. And considering that next year he might very well lose his job and be sent to some backwater adventurer branch… It’s terrible news. Without enough money to bribe officials, he might be forever stuck in some hole in the countryside. Especially now that they’re winning the war against Apocalypse. With so many warriors coming back from the front lines, it’s very likely that somebody will take his position and be appointed as permanent guild head of Kamengrad’s Adventurers’ Guild branch.

No, it must have been luck. It must have been nothing but luck.

And yet John Cabbage strikes the trap twice more with his pickaxe, and the entire array collapses.

There’s complete silence, and one could hear a pin drop.

Then Talia Carrot goes and hugs John Cabbage.

“You have been so good. I didn’t even think about that.”

And then she gives him another kiss on the cheek, which makes Ruslan further lose his mind. John Cabbage looks surprised himself, and his face has become red.

At which point, Elder Ognev forgets for a moment about his own money and thinks, Has this guy never touched a girl in his life, at this age? Why is he reacting like a virgin?

But then, remembering all the money left to fork over — especially with so many witnesses in front of him — he grits his teeth as he sees John Cabbage pocketing all the artifacts and smiling at him.

“Elder Ognev, can we start the next, uh, trap? I, I really need to go to the bathroom. Can’t hold it for much longer, and I would like to be done before I do. This place, uh, has stale air. I wanna go take a mouthful of fresh air outside, you know?”

The audience cannot believe the guts on this guy, who’s claiming that he can finish two more Mithril Rank trap arrays before taking a piss.

Elder Ognev grits his teeth and says, “How did you solve that trap array?”

“Oh, this one? I came across, uh, this exact thing at a lower level in a Dungeon, and I know that striking it with a Wrath of Blade is super effective against it. A hidden expert taught me this technique a long time ago.”

“Oh.”

Elder Ognev finds that a surprisingly reasonable explanation, because it means that if this kid has been taught about this very specific array and its unique counter, it provides an explanation as to why he managed to defuse it so fast without destroying the artifacts that make it up. But that also means that the next array — the Ten Thousand Lightning Death Array — is going to take him down.

And so Elder Ognev then says, “All right. How about this, then? Why don’t we do a double or nothing? You can take those artifacts as well if you defuse the array, and I will reimburse the Adventurers’ Guild for them. But you have to defuse it, not destroy it.”

John looks at the array and shrugs. “All right.”

He enters the array, and now people are shaking their heads and saying, “The Ten Thousand Lightning Death Array is too powerful. As soon as you make one wrong movement, you’re dead. Arcs of lightning are going to kill him.”

“It’s not just lightning,” another corrects them. “It’s black lightning. This kid has no chance.”

But John Cabbage hears them and says, “Don’t worry, guys. I have a secret technique.”

They look at him, confused. And suddenly, John Cabbage raises his pickaxe again.

“What secret technique?” one says. “That’s the same damn pickaxe. Has he lost his mind? He’s gonna get electrocuted to death immediately.”

“Well, electrocuted,” another Trap Master at Adamantite Rank says. “He’s gonna get reduced to ashes. Look.”

They can already see lightning forming because of John moving around.