Chapter 395 - 394: Magic Trap
Inside the cavern were two pitch-black vertical shafts. A water bucket sat next to one, while the other was surrounded by a pile of trash, such as smashed pottery and torn books.
This was likely the Kobolds’ well and garbage dump.
The group left the cavern again and walked toward the last cave entrance.
Beyond the entrance lay a long, narrow tunnel.
Colin immediately spotted a dark green Magic Radiance drifting inside the corridor. He instantly said in his mind, ’Stop. There’s a magic trap ahead.’
’What kind?’ Dorn asked.
Colin took another careful look.
The Magic Radiance drifted and surged within a small section of the corridor. This indicated that the spell was a direct damage spell from the Evocation System, not a Necromancy spell.
Colin said to Dorn in his mind, ’It’s an Evocation magic. See if you can figure out the trigger mechanism.’
Dorn nodded and moved forward to take a closer look.
Then, he got down on the ground and carefully cleared away the dirt on the floor.
After a good while, Dorn waved to those behind him and said, ’I can’t make sense of this trap. The runes on it are very strange. Can you disarm it?’
Colin leaned in for a look. Sure enough, beneath that patch of dirt was a string of runes drawn in some indecipherable script. The runes formed a line that extended all the way to the walls on either side.
Compared to an ordinary trap, a magic trap was certainly far more intimidating.
After all, if you didn’t understand magic, you would have no idea what consequences the trap might trigger, let alone what conditions would set it off.
The unknown is what is most terrifying.
They certainly couldn’t just pretend they hadn’t seen it and go around; they had to deal with it.
’If I could read what’s written on it, I could probably handle it, but as it is...’
Just then, Ale came forward.
She looked down and carefully examined the runes on the ground.
’The Elf Princess says she can read it. Should I have her translate it for you?’
’Can she handle it?’
’Are you kidding me? Who knows better how to disarm a magic trap than a genuine Mage? Right now, you’re the only one who can do this.’
’Relax, I was just asking if anyone could help.’
Colin took a deep breath. ’Let’s begin.’
Then, Ale translated the runes on the ground into the Common Language, and Dorn slowly relayed the translated meaning into Colin’s mind via Mind Communication.
He then began to analyze the function of the magic trap based on these translations.
After his recent period of intense study, Colin was no longer a complete amateur when it came to magic.
To make an analogy, he was like someone who had never studied auto repair but had managed to fix a dozen cars on the road through trial and error, along with some guidance from others.
Developing a better vehicle himself was definitely beyond him, but he could still manage some minor repairs and identify different car models.
Analyzing the principles of this magic trap and disarming it was a similar affair.
However, without a spell like Dispel Magic, disarming a magic trap would certainly take a considerable amount of time.
Time ticked by, second by second.
The cave remained pitch-dark, and aside from a few faint, miscellaneous noises, it was almost completely silent.
Colin could clearly feel the cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
Unable to take off his helmet, he could only endure the slight, tingling itch as he stared at the Magic Runes on the ground, bit by bit.
Generally speaking, the triggering of a magic trap is similar to casting.
Simply put, once the trigger conditions are met, a spell is cast, achieving a predetermined effect.
The trigger conditions for casting are the spell, actions, and materials, whereas with a magic trap, the magic is prepared in advance, and then a trigger is set to activate it.
So, how does one disarm a magic trap?
The simplest method is to use Dispel Magic to directly nullify the spell.
Colin was currently using a more troublesome method: analyzing the spell’s model and the connection point of the trigger, bit by bit, and then destroying the array at that point. This would perfectly disarm the magic trap.
This approach was different from simply destroying the array.
A normal magic trap is like an active array, with the energy of the Magic Net The Weave constantly flowing within it.
If one were to rashly try to destroy the trap itself, the result would likely be no different from triggering it directly.
By analogy, it was probably like disarming a bomb in a movie, where you have to cut the right colored wire, and cutting the wrong one causes it to explode immediately.
Time ticked by, and in the blink of an eye, about ten minutes had passed.
Colin drew the dagger from his waist.
He raised his hand and extended the dagger over one of the runes in the magic trap. The trembling tip of the dagger pierced the dirt, then slid downward bit by bit, severing the rune that had been drawn in the soil.
The moment the rune was severed, a green light flashed before Colin’s eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, he could no longer see the Magic Radiance.
Colin let out a sigh of relief and said in his mind, ’Success.’
’Then let’s keep moving,’ Dorn said, taking the lead and heading forward.
The group passed through the tunnel and arrived in another cavern.
This cavern was filled with beds made of hay and fur. Kobolds were asleep on most of them, and the soft, rising and falling snores indicated that they were sleeping soundly.
’Wait, there’s another trap at the entrance.’
Dorn spoke again just as Colin was about to enter.
He then looked down and began to carefully deal with a nearly invisible tripwire.
Colin asked, ’These guys are all asleep. Can you take them out silently?’
’It’s a bit difficult. All I can say is you guys...’
Dorn trailed off into silence. Then, he and Colin said in unison via Mind Communication, ’The Roper’s tentacles!’
As if to explain to the others, Dorn added in his mind, ’The poison on those tentacles can make people lose their strength. While the effect isn’t particularly strong, it should be usable in this situation. Besides, Kobolds are covered in scales, so their sense of touch is much duller. We can definitely cover them with the tentacles without them noticing.’
The group immediately turned back to the Roper’s corpse. Wrapping their hands in bandages, they collected a few of the severed tentacles and carried them toward the cavern.
Colin then asked, ’Come to think of it, didn’t this monster have fewer tentacles at first?’
’This thing has six tentacles at most, but when one is severed, a new one grows back within seconds. There are even people in the Underdark who deliberately raise these monsters to harvest their tentacles,’ Dorn replied.
Then, he and the more nimble Kase went forward with the tentacles, placing them on the sleeping Kobolds.
The creatures were covered in scales, making their sense of touch much duller than a human’s. As a result, not a single Kobold woke up, even after all the tentacles had been used.