Ch.262262 – Reasons for Stepping into a Trap

<262 – Reasons to Step into Traps>

Insane.

This is insanity.

Zhang calculated the difficulty level of this special training.

Master Ryung.

Zhang’s teacher.

This difficulty corresponded to level 8 in the assassination training he had directly received from his master.

A level where one’s life is at stake.

If you make a mistake, you’ll be grabbed by the tremendously strong hands of the mimic moving at an unmanageable speed and dragged into the stair blocks or thrown.

From an incredibly high staircase with a hundred steps.

And between stairs where stepping on them causes something terrible to happen.

Even if you’re thrown normally, failing to break your fall could result in broken bones or, in the worst case, a broken neck and instant death—and these stairs have unknown traps too.

You’ll certainly suffer terribly.

Just looking at the treasure chest, there were several doors in Professor Bronze’s secret basement that openly looked like treasure vaults.

I don’t even want to know what vicious traps might be hiding in the stairs leading to the world’s greatest noble thief’s treasure vault.

“Oh, right.”

Professor Bronze threw a throwing knife at one of the stairs.

—Whoosh!

Immediately after, a large hammer descended from the ceiling, passed through body height, and retracted back into the ceiling.

“If you step on any stair other than the ones you stepped on while coming here, traps like that will activate. Of course, this is just one example, and I’ll keep the types of traps secret for the joy of discovery.”

“Professor, that’s mean. No matter what, Titosoga got hurt too badly.”

When Oknodie expressed his dissatisfaction in a slightly lowered voice, Professor Bronze laughed lightly with a “hmph.”

“There’s no treasure without risk. Always be suspicious. That’s the seventh rule of the Thief’s Ten Commandments, so remember it.”

It’s only natural that corresponding dangers exist if you open a box and benefit from it.

Though Oknodie didn’t hide his dissatisfaction with Professor Bronze’s principle, he reluctantly accepted it with a nod.

“May I check on Titosoga’s condition before we start?”

“When to start is up to you. But you’ll only be able to leave once the assignment is complete.”

Professor Bronze showed off the basement key, twirling it around his finger.

“As always, the rules are the same. Either complete the assignment and leave proudly, escape stealthily like a proper thief, or become my top disciple and gain formal access.”

Oknodie approached Zhang and asked.

“How’s Tito’s condition?”

“Mild concussion. Impaired judgment due to mental and physical weakness. Some bruising on his limbs, the wrist bones that were directly grabbed are being healed with potions, and he probably has a newly developed fear of mimics.”

“Tito. Are you okay? Can you recognize me?”

“Hic… sniff sniff… Oknodie…”

“I’m sorry, Tito. I shouldn’t have brought you here. Were you scared?”

“I wanna leave… don’t wanna observe… wanna leave…”

Professor Bronze took a savory puff of his magic cigarette, ignoring the gazes of Oknodie and Zhang.

“Can we stop observing the special training?”

“If the first-years’ enthusiasm only goes this far, then it can’t be helped. It’s a shame. You may go back.”

“Thank you.”

After thanking him and about to leave, Zhang quickly recalled an awkward fact.

“…How do we get out?”

“That way.”

The professor pointed to the stairs.

Zhang asked.

“Tito. Do you remember which stairs were safe on the way here?”

“Not at all…”

“Oknodie.”

“I know the way, but it won’t work.”

“Why?”

“The professor showed us the key, remember? The door is locked.”

Zhang realized.

They were properly trapped in the noble thief’s trap.

When the professor gave permission to leave, he wasn’t offering to carry them out beyond the stairs himself.

“Is there no safe path?”

“You are not students observing my special training. In other words, you’re first-years who have illegally entered an unauthorized area. I’d appreciate if you recognized that sparing you from punishment is already a humanitarian consideration toward first-years.”

Titosoga sobbed at the professor’s cold words, but Zhang stroked his head to comfort him.

“Stop crying. The professor is right. It was disrespectful of us to request to observe the successor training of a rare class that’s passed down to only one person. Even the pain you suffered is a warning not to harbor curiosity with half-hearted determination. We should be grateful to leave alive.”

“Hic… I understand…”

“Just rest a little longer. We’ll have to go back using those stairs anyway. When Oknodie finishes the training, we’ll go back together using the stairs. Oknodie will know which stairs are safe.”

At Zhang’s gaze, Oknodie nodded.

As if saying to leave it to him.

And so began Oknodie’s training assignment: <Find the mimic disguised as a basement stair and trap it in a box>.

* * *

The traps were truly going off one after another.

Just when you think it might be safe, arrows fly from the wall with a clatter.

While deflecting them, if your foot touches the edge of a stair, part of the stair sinks in like a switch with a rumbling sound, followed by a click as steel rods shoot up from the floor.

The more you panic, the easier it is to trigger chain traps, leading to combo traps that can cause serious injuries.

In-game, this would be a special dungeon.

A daily quest dungeon accessible twice a week.

<Bronze Professor’s Underground Treasure Vault Stairs ③>

The difficulty level that the professor had been gradually increasing according to my level seems to have risen about 3 stages.

‘I used to diligently do this event because you could get points and a treasure each time.’

I know what happens when you trigger a trap.

But I can’t pass without triggering them either.

The mimic is disguised as a stair.

To find it, I need to check each stair one by one.

‘Tch. Why did Tito and Zhang have to come?’

I accepted partly thinking it was a likability event, but I was also curious if my companions could earn points too.

It was impossible in the game, but now it feels like I’ve entered a reality modeled after the game.

But Titosoga got seriously hurt.

‘I could take my time and search carefully, but I don’t have that luxury now.’

Some traps release paralyzing gas.

There are tools to collect that gas.

The standard strategy is to step only on safe stairs, spray paralyzing gas on each stair, and then extract the mimic while it’s disoriented and put it in the box.

But for Titosoga to recover without aftereffects, we need to get out of here quickly and send him to a healer at the medical wing.

Zhang’s special ointments and potions are effective, but a concussion is no minor injury.

It could lead to permanent damage.

While <Trauma: Fear of Mimics> might be brushed off as a joke, minor yet critical physical abnormalities like <Sensory Impairment>, <Intermittent Paralysis>, or <Frequent Blinking> could easily develop.

I can’t waste time when there’s a way to heal him.

Above all, Titosoga is my friend.

I can’t ignore a friend who got hurt while coming to watch my special training.

“Fool. You’ll get hurt too.”

“I know that? Be quiet, Second Mad Hatter.”

“I don’t understand why you’re acting like such a good kid and what you’re trying to become.”

That’s right.

In the original daily quest, you’d fail after stepping on 3 traps.

I guess I can’t call myself a veteran player anymore.

* * *

Normal stairs, empty stairs, trap stairs.

If you find the pattern, you can locate the mimic stair.

From the explosions of the traps, Zhang discovered a mathematical pattern.

“Okno…”

“Shh.”

Professor Bronze warned.

“Oknodie must realize it himself. It’s my policy not to forgive interference with teaching, so keep that in mind.”

“…Is it okay if your top disciple gets hurt?”

“Don’t you think a professor would have the healing means that even a first-year like you possesses?”

Zhang was even more dumbfounded.

“Then could you heal Titosoga too?”

“I could.”

“But you won’t because he’s an illegal intruder who refused to observe?”

“You have a good memory.”

Fortunately, Titosoga had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

If he had known how cold-hearted his lecture professor was, he would have gone beyond sniffling and sobbing to wailing loudly from sorrow.

Having heard Titosoga’s three stages of crying before due to the Skeleton Instructor’s intimidation, Zhang didn’t want to hear that sorrowful crying again that planted guilt even in an assassin’s cold heart.

Oknodie surely felt the same way.

She was also taking Professor Sadaco’s lectures.

Perhaps that’s why the trap activation speed kept increasing.

Oknodie was getting injured bit by bit.

Blood flowed from the soles of her feet as she stepped on unavoidable bar traps with her shoe soles.

Her hand swelled red as she smashed opening stairs that flew at her with her fist.

Blood dripped from cuts on her hands after deflecting a barrage of throwing knives with her school cloak.

Still, Oknodie kept climbing.

In the brief moment Zhang looked away, blood was flowing from her head and she was limping on one leg.

“Shouldn’t the test be stopped at this point?”

“Oknodie? Stop the test? Hmph. You may be that child’s friend, but you’re not her teacher. You don’t even understand why she’s getting hurt.”

“…Are you saying she’s not getting hurt because of the test?”

“Oknodie has already identified the location of the mimic stair.”

“So you’re saying she’s deliberately stepping on traps?”

Zhang’s eyes widened.

Why would anyone do such a foolish thing?

It’s not something one would do for their own safety.

It could only be for someone else.

For Titosoga.

‘She’s breaking the traps in advance so that Titosoga won’t fall into them when climbing the stairs together.’

If I hadn’t insisted on observing Oknodie’s special training, Titosoga wouldn’t have been hurt, and Oknodie wouldn’t be getting hurt either.

Zhang’s hand, holding the sleeping Titosoga’s hand, tightened with pressure.