BXBX NOVEL Chapter 132: Trap
Tonight would finally be the moment for him to get rid of Liam and put an end to the trouble of having an ascending youth on his enemy\'s side.
"Be careful. The enemy is quite talented and may react dangerously before they fall," Hannibal said to his companions.
Although four of them were 9-Star Spirit Lords, two were 1-Star Spirit Earth cultivators, and Hannibal was a 2-Star Spirit Earth Spirit Master, Liam might have cards up his sleeve to injure some of them before he fell.
"Don\'t worry, boss, we\'ll take that damned brat down," said one of the two Spirit Earth cultivators, showing Hannibal a clenched fist. "This will be a night of victory, with no casualties!" he added confidently.
Hannibal nodded as they continued to move through the trees of the large surrounding forest, dodging the rocks in their path and ignoring the weak beasts nearby.
With a group as strong as this, there were few places in this forest that they could not pass through as quickly as they were doing now.
The group continued with their plans, a 25 minute journey at their current speed, to the approximate location where Jane and Mary had taken down Abimael\'s group previously.
...
Near the spot where Abimael and his companions had perished, Jane, Electa, and four members of Leopards were already in the area, properly positioned around the trap Electa had prepared.
There was a greenish mist in the air, coming from the extremely green plants there. But while this mist, mixed with water vapor and poisonous pollen, was dangerous and capable of impairing the senses of cultivators up to the peak of the second realm, it was odorless.
If you didn\'t understand it from visual information and knew that you had to prepare to defend yourself against it, it wouldn\'t be difficult to mistake it for an ordinary mist.
In addition to the overdeveloped plants with metabolic activities above normal, wooden stakes strategically placed around the area were ready to be triggered.
Within a bush, concealed arrows lay in wait, while beneath a false floor, there were holes with the presence of pointed wooden stakes, eagerly expecting their unsuspecting victims.
In this dangerous place, the six second realm Spirit Masters, three of them 9-Star, two 8-Star, and one 6-Star, stood silently, waiting in different places around the area, their auras completely hidden.
On a high branch of one tree in this dense part of the forest, Jane crouched beside the trunk, a brown cloak wrapped around her body.
In a bush, Electa stood with one knee bent, her arms resting on her thigh, bent perpendicular to her torso.
Meanwhile, the four leopards\' men stood behind rocks or other trees, ready to summon their Spirits.
In the silence, the tension before the attack made everyone sweat, looking from side to side, sensing that any sound was a sign of the enemy\'s approach.
\'How much longer will it be?\' Electa reflected as she monitored the terrain in front of her, confident the ally keeping an eye on the terrain behind her would alert her if anything came up.
As much as it wasn\'t a good idea to trust people from Demon Gate, on a mission as sensitive as this, the group needed to stick together until the problem was solved, or everyone\'s lives would be put at risk. Electa and her allies didn\'t trust allies, but they trusted the need to defend each other so as not to lose their lives.
\'The enemies should arrive before Disciple Liam and the blonde woman. We\'d better be careful for now. They won\'t be able to escape our traps.\' One of the Leopards\' men thought as he looked at the terrain ahead, 18 meters away from where their traps were, a place that seemed better for traps than the spot Electa had chosen.
Having chosen wisely, knowing the enemy would have to think that this was a trap against Liam and not against them, Electa had chosen the spot where she was sure the enemy wouldn\'t be careful with their \'own\' traps.
Some time passed and Electa\'s fourth hour of waiting ended, the second hour of waiting for the group of five who had come to this place after her. When night had already covered the sky, making the place even more frightening with its mist, leaves crunched, attracting the eyes of these six individuals.
\'They have arrived.\' Electa clutched her hands together, feeling her heart pound as she thought about the Third Class enchanted weapon she had with her.
Everyone there had cultivation concealment techniques. These techniques were basic, and anyone who had been in Demon Gate for at least a year would have them, even if they weren\'t used to hiding their cultivation daily.
But the magical fluctuation of an enchanted weapon was difficult to contain, so Electa would keep the item she received from Liam in her storage item until the decisive moment of battle.
Apart from her, the others noticed the arrival of the group of seven, who, as expected, slowed down when they saw the terrain ahead, which would be the best place to set traps.
Hannibal and his men did not try to contact Abimael and the others. A trap had to be discreet and silent. There was no point in starting a conversation in such a place. After all, they didn\'t know when the enemy might arrive. They had to keep in mind that such a thing could happen at any moment, even when they arrived in the area.
Hannibal looked around and walked more slowly, using the surrounding vegetation to hide his movements. Walking close to the real traps, he felt an itch in his nose and the urge to sneeze.
At first, he simply ignored the sensation, preventing the natural movement of sneezing by scratching his nose with one hand. Soon after, the sound of two people walking attracted the attention of this group of seven, as well as Liam\'s allies.
Liam and Mary appeared where Hannibal and his men expected Abimael\'s traps to be!
In the guinea pig position, Liam imagined himself being watched as he used a fraction of his mana to maintain his airway, just as Mary was doing. Meanwhile, he had what appeared to be an 8-Star Spirit Lord cultivation, unrestricted by the Mana Mask, which he deliberately showed to his enemies.
"I\'m going to get some water. Build our fire in the meantime," Mary said to Liam, giving the signal not only to Hannibal\'s group, but to her own as well.
She disappeared between the side trees as Hannibal and his men approached Liam, waiting for the moment when he would fall into one trap in the area.
Liam knew about the false traps above where he stood. As he moved through the small patch of open forest to build the fire Mary had requested, he was already circulating his mana to summon Thal\'Korr into battle.
Then, as he moved \'carelessly\', activating the trap above where he was standing, he looked up and saw the wooden stake and retreated backwards.
Seeing Liam retreat, Electa activated the single trap in the area where Liam was standing, pretending that Abimael\'s items were operational.
As the wooden stake fall and Liam dodged, Hannibal and his men moved, summoning their Spirits as they approached the enemy, each with a smile on their face.
As they moved, their Spirits flying toward Liam, distinct sounds emanated from their positions. First came a quick click as one of them stepped on a nylon cord and destroyed it with his left heel. Then came the sound of thin branches breaking before one man fell into a camouflaged hole.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
The first scream came concurrently as arrows were fired from one bush, flying towards the person who had first activated the traps in the area.
A tool with three small trunks sharpened into the form of spears, joined in the same structure, descended from one tree and flew in a pendulum motion toward the third of those men.
"Aaaaagh!"
Another scream, shorter this time, came from the area Hannibal\'s party was passing as a human body was thrown, small holes in its abdomen, holes that narrowly missed his armor before he was thrown backward.
At that moment, Hannibal and his uninjured men stopped where they were and looked around in confusion, not understanding what was happening.
But as 7 of the 17 Spirits they had summoned threatened to disappear, becoming more transparent, another 13 Spirits emerged from various points around them, revealing the true situation.
"Fuck! A trap!" Hannibal shouted as he saw Liam looking in his direction, while Thal\'Korr appeared behind the black-haired young man.