Ch.358358 – The Ghost-Summoning Trap

<358 – Ghost-Summoning Trap>

Weekly events have one distinct characteristic.

If you don’t clear them properly, there’s a certain probability the difficulty will increase!

“Have you heard? The Bull Festival is an event where you enjoy watching bulls with their tails on fire breaking through obstacles!”

“What barbaric animal abuse. Let’s do it right away.”

“Uh… but why are there so many of them? And aren’t they breaking through the safety line and coming this way!?”

The quantity increases, the danger level rises, and new gimmicks are added.

Since this dangerous phenomenon increases the probability of getting screwed over, study bugs often meet their demise in the hallways, screaming as they’re overwhelmed by suddenly enlarged challenges they encounter after only studying.

However, veterans sometimes deliberately neglect unappetizing weekly events to let them grow stronger.

“There’s no reason to take out a copier that gets better when left alone, right?”

“Your way of thinking, not even fearing ghosts, is downright terrifying…”

“Well then, let’s go get an expert.”

“Haven’t I already explained how useless priests are? Even Niche from the senior class who follows the Lightning Heaven God Church or Saint Yufi of the Beheading Golgotha would struggle with that thing.”

“We don’t need a priest though?”

Oknodie tilted her head in confusion.

* * *

“Whaaat!? You want me to catch such a scary ghost?”

Dorothy’s eyes grew twice as large.

“Yes! You’re a forest keeper, right?”

“Just an apprentice!”

“But forests are full of ghosts like hunters who hung themselves after losing their sick mothers, or slash-and-burn farmers who were caught by elves and burned to death while trying to avoid taxes.”

“Our forest isn’t that scary!”

“So you can’t do it?”

After hesitating, Dorothy suddenly realized something important. Oknodie’s preconceptions about forests must have come from someone who instilled such ideas in her.

‘Did Oknodie’s papa take her to a forest of ghosts or something?’

If she showed weakness now to Oknodie, who believes everything based on her experiences, the apprentice forest keeper would be treated as a coward who can’t even walk through a (haunted) forest.

“I’ll do it. Tell me about the ghost. The more I know about my prey, the better!”

Zaku explained everything that had happened, including what he heard from Morb.

“Great, I’ve got a plan!”

Dorothy enthusiastically began her preparations.

Zaku was skeptical.

Even a priest who believed in one of the 24 main gods had been helplessly toyed with before fleeing.

He couldn’t bring himself to believe that this cunning monster would fall for a mere first-year’s trap.

“That ghost, no one noticed it before it appeared, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then it must have basic <Presence Detection> and <Stealth>, and since its physical abilities are extraordinary, it can probably climb walls and ceilings too, and also…”

Muttering the expected specs of the hook ghost while diligently taking notes, Dorothy quickly ran to the location where she would set up the trap.

Zaku was genuinely surprised by her remarkable <Running> speed.

“Why is she so fast?”

“Forest keepers have light bodies!”

It wasn’t just her running that was fast.

She quickly climbed and jumped over various sculptures and trees that students had installed here and there, instantly reaching a clearing that gave off an eerie atmosphere that no one had noticed before.

The ominous atmosphere was so strong that you could believe it was a clearing where several seniors had hung themselves after failing their grades!

“If I set traps like this and cover it like that… Done!”

Dorothy’s traps turned the clearing into a field of traps so intimidating that one would be afraid to step foot in it.

“Why did you set so many traps? Even a fool wouldn’t fall for them when they’re so obvious. We’ll be lucky if we don’t get toyed with like that priest.”

“That remains to be seen. The ghost broke through the holy magic circle, but that’s only because it would have been exorcised if it entered. It had no choice.”

Dorothy had a theory.

“If there’s a way to enter without triggering traps, it will surely come to copy and place cursed items secretly. It’s not just animals that have such <habits>. I think monsters and ghosts are the same.”

The observational skills of a forest keeper who closely studies the characteristics of forest friends and memorizes strategies to deal with them.

Whether her insight would prove correct remained to be seen, but it certainly seemed plausible.

“If everything goes according to plan, the ghost will enter the trap through the only safe path. If we block that path, it will be trapped.”

“Exactly!”

“But there aren’t any traps here deadly enough to be effective against a ghost. Even if it gets caught, nothing will change. We’ll just be the ones getting hurt. Are you okay with that?”

“We have Oknodie.”

“Leave it to me! Just lure it nearby so it can’t escape, and I’ll definitely catch it!”

Oknodie flexed her arms in front of Zaku, showing off her slender physique.

“Now, Oknodie. Let’s test it first!”

“Test?”

“We need to confirm if there’s really only one path left. Try to touch the basket placed in the center of the clearing from outside while avoiding our line of sight. Of course, you can’t trigger any traps!”

Oknodie, exclaiming something about new content for some unknown reason, jumped up and down about 2m in place with excitement before quickly leaving the clearing.

While she left through the path where Dorothy and Zaku could see her, finding a way back in while avoiding their sight would be quite challenging.

‘From the trees around the clearing to the rock in the center is about 50m. In between, Dorothy has planted wooden sticks with bells attached to strings.’

Swish swish.

Ding-a-ling…

The bells would ring softly with even the slightest breeze.

If triggered properly, it would catch their attention in an instant.

“Can I look if I hear a sound?”

“Of course! It would be suspicious to anyone. If we don’t look around when we hear a sound, the ghost might find it strange.”

“This is annoyingly complicated.”

“Animals are even more so. These days, there are many animals that just snatch the meat from traps and run away.”

“Are you sure they’re animals? They sound more like people.”

While conversing, Zaku realized that the bell sounds that had been softly ringing suddenly stopped.

Yet when he lightly blew the grass fragments in his hand, they scattered with the wind.

This was evidence that Oknodie had approached using a barrier that blocked sound.

‘I see. The hook ghost must have used a similar technique when it approached above our heads without anyone noticing.’

After getting past the string traps, there were traps that would raise dust clouds if stepped on.

While one could block sound, visual phenomena from traps couldn’t be concealed.

The only way to avoid them was to step on stakes Dorothy had planted in the ground, using them like stepping stones.

“Didn’t you do something to those stepping stones too?”

“If you step on the wrong one, there’s a fruit hidden inside that gives off a terrible smell.”

“Do you use such traps in the forest too?”

“It’s troublesome if forest friends start gnawing on the wood of people’s homes! So we set traps around houses that release smells animals hate when gnawed on!”

“Hearing that, being a forest keeper sounds like no easy job.”

“Plus, traps with foul smells can drive away even large species. It’s good because you don’t have to experience waking up to find your wall completely broken through or narrowly avoiding being stepped on.”

“…That really is no easy job.”

What kind of forest is she a keeper in?

‘Since there’s no foul smell, Oknodie must have cleared the stake section too. Next is the final section.’

In the final 10m section leading to the basket, primitive traps were set where the ground would collapse, covered with conifer needles to hide them.

Above these deceptively simple traps designed to lower one’s guard, security magic that could only be detected with <Magic Detection> circulated around the surrounding space.

Unless one timed a perfect dash to land on the rock where the basket was placed, a mana alarm would sound throughout the entire area.

‘…If I were a ghost, I’d just throw a stone from outside rather than go through all these troublesome traps.’

But Oknodie was even more cunning than a ghost.

“Dorothy. There’s something that needs fixing!”

“Really? Where?”

“At the end of the stake section, you can use a fishing rod to catch the basket and bypass the security magic!”

“Oh, that’s a problem. I’ll nail it down!”

Dorothy fetched a hammer and nails and firmly nailed the basket to the rock.

As a senior class student, Dorothy’s strength was quite remarkable.

Then again, setting up all those traps would have been impossible without considerable strength and stamina in the first place.

“Wow, my agility increased by 1! Dorothy, you’re amazing!”

“Pfft. What’s that supposed to be.”

“Is this enough help?”

“Yes. Plenty. Now let’s wait!”

Swish swish.

Ding-a-ling…

The sound of the wind started to be heard again, perhaps because Oknodie had removed the barrier she had set up.

Zaku tried to ignore his growing nervousness and emulate Oknodie’s boldness by striking up a conversation with her.

“But aren’t ghosts immune to physical traps? Is there any meaning to all this?”

“Powerful ghosts want to show off that they’re ghosts who can scare people without caring about others’ opinions. It will definitely get caught!”

“How do we know when it’s coming?”

“I put my personal cursed item in the basket, so it will definitely come! Until then, we can just sit here and work on our overdue assignments!”

“…I was wondering why you brought a desk, so you were planning to study while waiting.”

He didn’t want to question the personal cursed item.

Still, the desk proved helpful.

After all, Zaku was also burdened with assignments.

‘Though I can’t concentrate in this situation.’

It would be useful in the sense of making the ghost lower its guard and approach.

Oknodie was writing in her notebook without hesitation, filling pages with assignments, while Dorothy was diligently copying Oknodie’s notes, preparing to sell study notes.

As Zaku was also working on his assignment next to the two diligent senior students…

Ding-a-ling-a-ling.

The bells rang.

So loudly that anyone would immediately say, “That one got caught, didn’t it?”

So loudly that it made Dorothy’s 20-minute trap setup effort seem pitiful.

‘Getting caught in the first stage of a trap that took 20 minutes to set up… I wonder if the ghost is incompetent or if Dorothy made the trap too difficult.’

The dejected look on Dorothy’s face that Zaku glimpsed from the corner of his eye seemed absurdly pitiful.