Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint-Chapter 475: Stay Calm, This is a Trap

The advantage of traps was that they could be stacked indefinitely. The downside? They couldn’t move.

Despite their deadly efficiency, traps were rarely favored in combat because they couldn’t dictate the battlefield. Any power gained through traps came at the cost of control.

But right now, I had control.

Collie was waiting for nightfall. A vampire’s greatest strength was their immortality, which meant their ideal strategy was attrition warfare. However, even for a beastman covered in fur, a vampire was still a vampire. Under the sun, their strength and regeneration weakened.

Now that they knew I wasn’t an easy opponent, they would wait for nightfall, when the odds were in their favor.

Their attack would come at dusk, the moment the sun set—timed to disrupt my rest and sleep.

A pack of vampire beastmen, charging in the dead of night. They had the stupidity of beastmen and the dulled instincts of vampires—perfect spectators for my stage.

If I laid ten traps, they’d fall into eleven.

Before sunset, I set up my traps in a clearing using vines. A variety of mechanisms:

A snare trap that would tighten around the ankle upon contact.A classic pitfall lined with stakes for an instant impalement.A swinging log, sharpened to a lethal edge.A tensioned tree branch designed to whip back with devastating force.“Phew. One set down.”

A vampire wouldn’t fall for normal traps.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

But these weren’t normal vines or logs. Infused with the power of the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Demon Tree, the vines I had ‘refined’ were exceptionally tough and durable. Even a Yeiling—no, even an Ain—would struggle to break free if they got caught.

“Heave-ho. Heave-ho.”

“Woof-ho! Woof-ho!”

“Azzy, stop messing around. You don’t even know how to tie knots.”

Azzy, watching me tie vines, had apparently decided to imitate me. She grabbed a vine in her mouth and tugged at it.

Snap!

Even without trying, she had already broken one of my ‘reinforced’ vines.

“...Damn, you’re ridiculously strong. Not even an Ain could do that, right?”

If the vines snapped that easily, they were useless as traps. Tch. My entire strategy hinged on how long I could restrain Collie.

If only Azzy could tear Collie apart and scatter his limbs across the mountaintops.

But no. If I ran, Azzy would abandon Collie and follow me. And Collie, freed, would immediately return to rescue his Yeiling.

There had to be another way...

“Woof-ho! Woof-ho! Woof... woof?”

Then disaster struck.

The vine Azzy had been pulling on finally snapped, sending her tumbling backward.

She rolled straight into a snare trap, which wrapped around her, hoisting her into the air.

As she struggled, she triggered a pitfall trap, setting off the sharpened stakes within.

Even while bound, Azzy managed to bat the stakes away, but one of the broken stakes rebounded—wrapping around her in another tangled mess.

In mere seconds, she had activated seven different triggers and ended up dangling from a tree with two stakes wrapped around her body.

...And, of course, she had completely wrecked my traps.

“That’s a talent in itself, you stupid mutt! How the hell do you manage to trigger every single trap?!”

“Woof! Fun!”

“It’s not fun! You just ruined everything!”

“Again!”

“...Did you seriously just ask me to do it again?! That’s it, I’m done. Time to roast you. Set, Lit—Fahrenheit!”

Fuming, I grabbed a branch and set it on fire.

Azzy’s eyes widened.

“Woof? You’re abandoning me?!”

“At least hunting dogs actually catch something! You only managed to ruin my traps! And how the hell do you know the proverb ‘Tosa Gupeng’?!”

If I looked at this as a test run, it wasn’t a total loss...

No, who was I kidding? It was a complete disaster. She hadn’t helped in the slightest and only made things worse.

Now I had to untangle this mess.

Closing my eyes, I tossed the ball.

“Fetch.”

“Woof!”

Snap. Crack. Splinter.

A brief commotion ensued.

When I opened my eyes again, Azzy was sitting obediently in front of me, wagging her tail—ball in her mouth.

Behind her lay a massacre of broken vines and shattered tree branches.

A walking catastrophe. Sigh.

I exhaled deeply and retrieved the ball.

“...Thanks. That gave me an idea. I shouldn’t just rely on one trap—I need to link multiple traps together. Too many variables. I’ll have to adjust them manually, but if I want to restrain an Ain, this is the level I need.”

“Woof? You’re thanking me? Then give me a reward!”

“It was just a figure of speech, dumb dog. Just sit still and don’t touch anything!”

After scolding Azzy, I set to work again—this time, making my traps even more intricate and powerful.

Once caught, they would be dragged, limbs wrenched in opposite directions, and impaled into the ground.

Was it overkill?

Maybe.

But my enemies were immortal vampires.

So, who cared?

“Woof? This one?”

“Don’t. Touch. That.”

“If you set it off again, I swear I’ll turn you into jerky.”

Traps had to be carefully linked together. Even with the power of the Demon Tree and my reinforced body, setting them up had been exhausting.

And worse—somehow, time had flown.

The sun was already setting.

Collie would be here soon.

“I need to lure them this way, but it can’t look like a trap. Azzy, we’re going underground.”

“Woof...”

“I told you, this isn’t a playground ride.”

Dragging Azzy along, I headed toward the hidden shelter I had prepared in the underbrush.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary hillside. But with a mix of geomancy and druidic magic, I had shaped it into a perfect resting place—one that didn’t look unnatural but would still attract suspicion from any pursuer.

If they came, they’d fall into my traps.

If they didn’t, I’d at least get through the night in peace.

I stayed on high alert, scanning my surroundings.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

And sure enough, after a short wait, I sensed movement approaching.

Light but firm footsteps—those of a skilled fighter.

“...Huh?”

The problem?

It wasn’t who I expected.

“Azzy, are you here?”

Now what? Someone else had wandered into my traps?

What the hell was going on? A regressor?

A regressor had come looking for me first?

It had been a while since I’d last seen them, but they looked exactly the same.

Even after all they must have been through, their appearance and clothing hadn’t changed at all since their time in Tantalus.

And as always, they were holding a single bee on a string, letting it flit about while glancing around.

I wasn’t unhappy to see them, but I wasn’t about to run out and greet them like a long-lost friend either.

This was too unexpected—I didn’t even know how to react.

Ignoring them felt wrong, but this was not the time for casual reunions.

And there were traps everywhere... Should I reveal myself?

“No, wait—THE TRAP! YOU’RE STEPPING ON A TRAP!”

They were about to set off one of my carefully laid snares meant for Collie.

I shot to my feet and shouted.

Immediately, the regressor instinctively grabbed Tianying, dropping into a combat stance.

Just before they could swing, they recognized me and tilted their head.

“Hughes?”

“Forget me! Look at your foot!”

They had already stepped on the trigger.

I shouted at the top of my lungs, but it was too late.

Click.

The moment their foot brushed the tripwire, the vine snare snapped tight around their ankle.

Heavenly Reflection, Earthbound Flow—Severing Earth.

Before the vines could tighten, Jizan trembled in their left hand.

The blade didn’t even need to touch the ground.

A split-second later, cracks spread in the direction Jizan pointed, shattering the vines entirely.

The roots buried underground crumbled and snapped.

They had completely nullified the trap before it could even take effect.

“What the hell is this?”

Even though it was an absurdly overpowered technique, my traps weren’t so easily undone.

The moment the vines broke, a sharpened wooden stake came hurtling toward them.

An improvised ballista, created by binding a log with Azzy’s sheer strength.

It was designed to impale vampires.

The regressor casually flicked Tianying, slicing the stake into pieces midair.

But the stake was a decoy.

While they were distracted, slings fired from all directions.

Not meant to kill—just to force them to react, make them waste their counters before the real attack.

Heavenly Reflection, Heavenly Sword Technique—Butterfly Slash.

Even those were cut apart.

A single flick of Tianying, and five slashes appeared simultaneously, cleaving through the projectiles.

...Damn. Even I was getting demotivated watching this.

The regressor took a step back, instinctively repositioning.

Unfortunately for them, the spot they stepped on held another trap.

The moment their weight pressed into the ground, the entire surface collapsed.

A pitfall lined with sharpened stakes, arranged like a beast’s fangs, waited below.

But the regressor never fell.

The moment the ground gave way, before their body could even register the lack of footing—

Heavenly Sword Technique—Cloud Step.

Compressing the space beneath them, they stood on air as if there had been no pit at all.

A technique only possible with Tianying in hand.

No pitfall could claim them. No snare could bind them. No rope could hold them.

The regressor adapted to everything.

All thanks to Heavenly Reflection, an absurd martial art that allowed them to preemptively counter any situation they had encountered before.

More than my traps, they seemed more bothered by me.

Frowning, they pointed at me.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Me?! That was MY line!

I snapped back immediately.

“What am I doing? What the hell are you doing?! This is a trap I set up to stop vampire trackers! And now you’ve ruined all of it! What do you plan to do about that?!”

“Vampire trackers?”

The regressor blinked.

“Oh, those guys? They won’t be coming. I dealt with them on the way here.”

“...Wait, you what?”

They took out an Ain?

Well... I guess a regressor could handle an Ain.

For once, they’d actually done something helpful.

That meant I didn’t have to worry anymore—

...Wait.

Was that really a good thing?

“More importantly.”

A flash.

Lightning flickered.

Before I could react, the regressor was already in front of me.

Their Seven-Colored Eyes fully opened, locking onto my every movement.

Not that I had any chance of resisting.

Before I could even register what was happening, Tianying was pressed against my shoulder.

Azzy let out a confused, “Woof?”

The regressor ignored her, gazing down at me coldly.

“What... What the hell? You suddenly feel like collecting right arms again?”

“I have one question for you, King of Humans.”

Their voice was steady, but Tianying pressed just a little harder.

“Answer me honestly.”

“If you don’t...”

“I don’t know what decision I’ll have to make.”

Power?

It wasn’t even a competition. I had no chance against them.

Technique?

With Heavenly Reflection, they preemptively countered everything before it even happened.

Equipment?

They wielded a relic of the Demon Gods themselves, while I only had a mere idol of their power.

Even my mind-reading barely worked on them.

This person was my absolute natural enemy.

And now, with Tianying inches from cutting me down, they asked:

“Do you want to destroy the world?”