Shadow Trap
Every time the hammer rose and fell, the forge seethed with fire.
The steady ring of iron on iron still rolled beyond the smithy today, reverberating all the way up the mountainside.
Lawrence set down the cask of beer he had carried up with him in front of the forge.
“Hm? What’s this? Another human?”
“Must be the same one who came by before. Chase him off. What kind of fool tries to buy our gear with change he can’t even use to pay for ore?”
“A lot of these people don’t even show the bare minimum of respect for craftsmen. Hah. This is why I keep saying we should leave here as soon as possible.”
Once again, there was no dwarf there to greet a customer.
With only their bickering and grumbling filling the air, Lawrence spoke up.
“I brought the beer I promised.”
“What? Beer?”
Thud-thump-thump—
A loud scramble rang out.
In an instant, dwarves came bursting out of the forge.
The dwarves were all similar, not just in their faces but in their clothes and even their builds, and now their eyes gleamed as they stared at the cask of beer.
“So it was you. The fellow from the order who came last time.”
“I’m sorry I was late. I wasn’t in good shape, so I couldn’t keep the date we agreed on.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Things happen. We swear every day that we’ll wash up daily, and still end up managing only once a week.”
“That’s right. If you get focused on something, you lose track of time before you know it.”
The dwarves laughed at one another, their faces almost touching, as if whatever they found so amusing had become a private joke all its own.
“The pouch you asked for is here.”
“Thank you, Mr. Grimbold.”
“Thank me for what? You should’ve seen how many days that took.”
Lawrence accepted the pouch from Grimbold, who was still grumbling under his breath.
It was white, speckled with black, and had a strangely exotic feel to it.
“I used seal hide. Since it’s cold out right now, it ought to be just right. Once the weather warms up, though, it’ll probably get hot as anything... Still, I trust you’ll figure that out yourself by then.”
Overall, it had a neat, tidy appearance.
It was the complete opposite of the pocket watch, which drew the eye with its flamboyant engraving.
“You said you wanted to hide the inscription on the pocket watch, didn’t you? So I didn’t use any unnecessary tricks on it.”
“This is even better than I expected. Thank you.”
He liked it.
It was the perfect size for the watch.
Just as Cam had said, when he pressed the front of the leather case, the pocket watch opened and exposed its face.
“Ha! Now that’s the good stuff!”
“Hey! You didn’t even ask permission—why are you already drinking that?”
“It’s fine. I brought it for you to drink. You don’t need to ask me for permission.”
Unable to restrain themselves any longer, the dwarves had already broken into the cask.
They didn’t even bother with cups, guzzling the beer straight from a large bowl.
And they weren’t sharing it, either.
They emptied the contents into their mouths without once taking the bowl away, then laughed heartily.
“That’s quite a sight. Drinking with such gusto.”
“A human who understands!”
“Exactly! Beer is meant to be drunk like this!”
Hah-hah-hah—the forge burst with boisterous laughter.
It seemed the oversized cask of beer had met with universal approval, which was a relief.
“Oh? You’re still here?”
“Why don’t you sit down and have a drink with us!”
“This one cup after a hard day’s work is everything in life!”
It didn’t seem like he needed to buy anything else.
At the dwarves’ urging that he should hurry along and be on his way, Lawrence bowed his head.
“I’ll make good use of this. Thank you very much.”
“If that’s what you think, bring another cask of beer next time.”
“One cask? I can bring two.”
“Bwahaha! See? A human who understands!”
Drawn in by the lively answer, Lawrence smiled as well.
* * *
Lawrence didn’t head back down right away.
He spent several dozen minutes taking in the surrounding slopes and checking the lay of the land.
Eventually, he found a rather decent clearing.
It seemed likely some unknown mountain beast had once used it as a den.
On one side, there was even a sleeping place made from dry branches.
With the area open on all sides, visibility was good too.
All in all, it reminded him of the clearing in Redantus.
He slowly settled his breathing.
His condition wasn’t bad. It was fair to say he had already paid the full price for having looked upon a mystery beyond his station.
The fuse was easy to light.
“Shadow.”
A shadow rose.
The Shadow that lifted onto his palm took the shape of a small doll.
He moved it back and forth lightly, then picked up a stone that had fallen to the ground.
There was no pain in his chest.
Nor a headache.
After confirming that nothing was wrong, Lawrence dismissed the Shadow.
I can do it.
The mystery wielded by the red-eyed entity in the Shadow Forest was still vivid in his mind.
Lawrence spoke the image he had perfected in his head.
“Shadow Trap.”
Shadows intertwined as though he were weaving thread.
One stitch at a time. Gathered from below, the shadows slowly came together and at last formed a prison.
Compared to the prison the red eyes had created, this one was incredibly small.
Even at best, it was no larger than a person’s head.
The Shadow Trap, about the same size as Shadow Light, was completed there and then.
“…….”
Disappointment came before any joy at having succeeded.
The magic took far too long to complete.
It required concentration, probably because he had to keep holding the shadow in place.
If his focus slipped, the shadows he had painstakingly bound would unravel, and he would have to start rebuilding the prison from scratch.
And merely casting it once already left a dull ache deep in his chest.
The amount of mana it devoured was no joke.
If it kept burning through mana at that rate, three uses would be the limit at best.
The consumption was close to that of an enhanced Holy Shield.
Once it was completed, it no longer needed mana or concentration, just like Shadow Light—but the sacrifices required to reach that point were too great.
Could he really use this in actual combat?
Lawrence shook his head.
In its current state, absolutely not.
A spell that only worked when he could focus and concentrate was far too dangerous in a situation where life and death hung by a thread.
And this wasn’t even a spell that completed itself in the middle of that concentration.
If he were to build it with the same painstaking care as a spider spinning its web, they’d be cutting his neck off dozens of times over before he ever finished.
Sitting down where he was, Lawrence stared at Shadow Trap.
How was he supposed to use this?
The red-eyed entity had used it at something close to the moment of activation.
That was, without question, the ideal way to use Shadow Trap.
If he kept practicing, he would eventually reach that level too.
He had already gotten Shadow Spear to the point where, through relentless effort, he could at least imitate it.
But he had no way of knowing how much time it would take.
Even now, he couldn’t make any serious use of the enhanced Holy Shield.
Shadow Trap demanded even more time than that.
For Lawrence, who wanted a magic he could rely on as a real combat tool right now, it felt brutally unfair.
Still staring at Shadow Trap, Lawrence lifted a hand.
“Shadow.”
At the trigger word, shadows rose again.
Controlling it the same way he had a moment ago, Lawrence dismissed the spell.
Shadow Trap was similar to Shadow Light.
Once he had used it, he could continue with other spells alongside it.
In fact, the red-eyed entity had used Shadow Trap exactly that way.
More precisely, it had set the trap and then struck it with Shadow Spear to trigger an explosion.
“…….”
Lawrence spent time testing Shadow Trap.
For example, how long it would last after being set once.
How much impact it could take before it exploded.
Whether he really needed Shadow Spear to detonate it.
Whether some other spell might produce a similar effect.
How many Shadow Traps he could set at once.
And how many times he could cast Shadow Trap at maximum.
By the time the sun was beginning to set, he had confirmed a fair amount.
The maximum number of Shadow Traps he could maintain was three.
Three was also the limit for casting them continuously without rest.
Anything beyond that and not only would the proverbial insects start gnawing at his mind, but warning bells would also begin to ring in his chest, bringing on a headache as well.
The duration was thirty minutes.
About the same as when he had first handled Shadow Light.
Still, it didn’t feel like the duration would noticeably increase the way Shadow Light’s had.
Was it just a different level of mystery?
Lawrence trusted his instincts.
Once set, it was impossible to change its position.
However, if he interfered with it using Shadow, he could push it just a little.
Depending on how it was used, he had the feeling it could be adapted in a wide range of ways.
When the duration ran out, it simply scattered and vanished as shadow.
But if it took a hit before then, it exploded just as the red-eyed entity had shown him.
One Shadow Trap by itself had about the same destructive power as an enhanced Shadow Spear, but once other magic was added to it, that power changed wildly from case to case.
The void accepted everything.
Just as that saying went, it responded to Fire Tail too.
Shadow Spear as well. Even Bind reacted.
Holy Shield was the exception.
Just as the Shadow Spear he had used on the Guardian of the Key had disappeared, the Shadow Trap that touched Holy Shield vanished without a trace.
In terms of raw force alone, Shadow Spear was the strongest.
As the red-eyed entity had demonstrated, the Shadow Spear that struck Shadow Trap produced an enormous explosion.
It had enough power to turn roughly five or six trees into wreckage.
A huge crater was left behind, as though siege weaponry had come crashing down there.
This was not a spell meant to kill a single monster.
It wasn’t a spell for duels, either—it was a spell for armies. In one strike, it could probably wipe out nearly a dozen enemies.
Shadow Trap combined with Fire Tail was relatively weaker in direct force.
Instead, the raging blaze kept burning the surrounding area with tenacious persistence.
Because it had a much wider reach, it seemed better suited to handling multiple enemies.
Wouldn’t it be more effective against people than monsters?
Lawrence shook off the thought that sprang to mind for an instant.
Bind didn’t show especially overwhelming power.
As far as the explosion itself went, it was no different from using Shadow Trap by itself.
But strangely enough, the Shadow Trap itself became more distinct.
It extended its black shadow toward nearby animals.
It seized what moved and exploded on its own.
Of the three spells, the Shadow Trap intertwined with Bind seemed the most useful for broad application.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
There was still one more left.
Even with rest mixed in, a sweet metallic taste had risen in his mouth.
He didn’t know whether he could use it properly in this condition.
But he had to confirm it.
A spell he couldn’t even use in training.
Using it in real combat would be absurd.
“Shadow Light.”
A sphere of light rose.
All void magic used beneath Shadow Light was strengthened. Shadow Trap would be no different.
After drawing a breath, Lawrence said, feeling the pain in his chest.
“Shadow Trap.”
Shadows wove together from his fingertips.
But something was wrong.
It wasn’t merely borrowing nearby shadows for use; it was more like they were being pulled out, as if the shadows beneath the trees were being drawn up in an instant….
“Ghk.”
His vision went black.
By the time he came to, he had just vomited something up with a violent heave.
The ground was smeared red.
Both his hands were covered in blood.
There was no need to wonder whose it was.
The crimson blur of his vision.
The thin stream of blood running from his mouth spoke the bitter truth.
“…….”
His heart was pounding like mad.
Before the headache even began, the pain in his chest was already unbearable.
Covering his mouth with one hand, Lawrence first forced his breathing back under control.
The pain made his mind swim.
Apparently, he was breathing far too hard from the shock.
It’s fine.
It’s fine. Nothing’s wrong.
He repeated it again and again, as though trying to calm himself.
At last, Lawrence managed to steady his chest and looked down at his hands.
His trembling hands no longer felt like his own.
They were clearly moving by his will.
And yet there was no sensation at all, as if they belonged to someone else.
The unreal quality of it all turned his stomach.
He swallowed it back down by force.
His throat felt scorched.
Suppressing the churning in his gut, Lawrence closed his eyes.
I can’t use it.
Not yet. He shouldn’t reach for this mystery yet.
Only now did his body, belatedly realizing its limits, cry out in protest.
He had been careless. Overconfident.
The thought that he had made a mistake drifted through his foggy head.
He had been too confident just because he had gained the Five Cognitive Concepts.
This wasn’t like the mysteries he had climbed through step by step until now.
It had been that way from the very first Shadow Spear the red-eyed entity had taught him.
Even back when all he knew were Shadow and Fire, the burden on his body had been excessive.
The red-eyed entity was nothing like the neighbors from the other spirit world, who guided him forward step by step.
It was whimsical.
Yes. Could this not be called whimsy too?
It felt as though it had simply tossed him a great mystery and was watching to see whether he could do it or not.
There is always a price for a miracle beyond one’s station.
No.
Even if the red-eyed entity had meant it that way—
the one who had wanted a greater mystery in the first place was none other than Lawrence himself.
The red-eyed entity had merely answered that wish.
It had answered Lawrence’s pure, unvarnished desire to obtain something greater, even if he had to pay the price for it.
Slowly, his breathing returned.
The pain hadn’t vanished entirely, but the feeling in both hands and feet had come back.
That was enough.
Rising to his feet, Lawrence took a deep breath.
He would seal it away for now.
A Shadow Trap strengthened by Shadow Light was beyond him in his current state.
It didn’t matter if it was a mystery with several steps skipped over.
If he climbed one step at a time, he would get there in the end.
He would not forget today’s failure.
As pain spread with every step he took, Lawrence made his way back down the mountain.