Lumian woke up in the light gray mist.
He immediately got out of bed, ran to the window and looked outside.
The mountain made of reddish brown stones and reddish brown soil stood quietly in the wilderness as usual.
Although it is only twenty or thirty meters high, it gives people a feeling of being inserted into the clouds and connected to the sky, so much so that Lumian subconsciously used the word "mountain" to describe it.
At its feet, collapsed buildings in various states formed a circle in the wilderness, extending outward layer by layer.
"The monster with the shotgun on its back must be good at running and jumping, judging from its body structure. It also has a certain intelligence and can use a relatively complex weapon like a shotgun...
“It has very strong tracking capabilities…
“Not sure if it has some supernatural powers like Aurore…
"… "
Various details about the target emerged in Lumian's mind.
He initially judged that if he really had to face off against the monster with a shotgun, the probability of him being killed would be as high as 90%. If he tried to use his special ability, he would die even faster, because once he entered into meditation, he could put himself in a near-death state, and the opponent would only need a simple blow to kill him.
In addition to being unable to engage in direct confrontation, Lumian also did not consider sneak attacks or assassinations - firstly, based on the opponent's tracking ability, he would probably not be able to truly hide his body, and thus would not be able to launch a sneak attack; secondly, he had no long-range weapons, so even if he was only given a revolver, he would not be in such a difficult situation now.
In the past two days, Lumian has repeatedly thought about how to deal with the monster, and finally he can only think of one way:
Use the traps!
He once went into the mountains with the village hunters and learned how to set some simple traps, and later became proficient in the skills through a few pranks.
Lumian originally wanted to use the oil at home. For example, he could put it in a large uncovered barrel, place it in a hidden high place, and tie it with a rope. When the target came over, he would immediately pull the rope to make the barrel tip over, splashing the opponent with oil, and then take the opportunity to throw a lit torch over.
But after careful consideration, he gave up the idea.
Given that the monster showed strong tracking ability, its sense of smell must be greatly overestimated!
The smell of oil is quite obvious.
If he used another strong smell to cover it up, Lumian was not sure whether the other party would change their strategy or be able to detect even the slightest error like a wild dog.
In the end, he chose to dig a deep pit and bury the sharp piles.
This also presents certain problems: with the tracking ability demonstrated by the monster, there is a high probability that it will discover abnormalities in advance and see through the trap.
Lumian's response was to find a way to lower its guard and take advantage of its misconceptions.
Simply put, he could only hope to suppress his opponent with his intelligence, and when his weapons were inferior to the target, he could make good use of his greatest advantage as a human being.
“At least from what I saw last time, it has a certain level of intelligence but it’s not too high…” Lumian comforted himself in his heart.
Of course, he would not underestimate the monster because of this. He planned to put the other party's IQ at the level of a normal person.
The benchmark is Pons Bene.
“No, that guy is too stupid. If he didn’t have so many thugs, I would have made him kneel down and call me daddy.” Lumian thought for a moment and cautiously raised his expectations of the monster. “Well, treat him like an illiterate parish priest.”
He looked out the window again, his eyes resting on the wilderness between his home and the ruins.
This place is closer to the "safe zone" and is the safest for him, but there is a lack of cover and everything is in sight, so it is not suitable for an "ambush".
"It's fine to dig a trap, but if you use yourself as bait, the enemy will be able to see you from a distance and shoot you directly, and won't come over at all..." Lumian muttered a few words and decided to take the risk of entering the ruins and finding a suitable place to set a trap there.
The plan, which already had a draft, quickly took shape in his mind, with only one final point left to confirm:
It takes a lot of time to dig a deep pit and bury the sharp stakes. Lumian couldn't order the other party to wait until he was done.
After thinking for a moment, Lumian opened his arms, made a "hugging the sun" gesture, and prayed more devoutly than ever before:
"My God, my father, please help me to defeat that monster.
"Praise the sun!"
Most things in the world cannot be 100% certain. Lumian no longer hesitated, carrying the steel fork and axe, he left the bedroom and entered the study.
Taking into account the target's weapon, he decided to change "protective gear".
Lumian took off his cotton coat and tied the hard-cover books to his chest and back with ropes.
This is homemade "paper armor"!
He vaguely remembered his sister once saying that he might suffer internal injuries, but he couldn't care less now.
Lumian stretched his body to make sure the current number of books would not affect his battle too much.
He put on his outer leather jacket again, went all the way down to the bottom floor, and searched for materials that might be needed to set up a trap:
Soon, he had a shovel in his hand and a bundle of ropes around his waist - one was used for climbing, and the other was used to make a rope net instead of branches.
After completing his preparations, Lumian took a deep breath and opened the door with his right hand holding the iron axe.
A light gray mist filled the wilderness, and he walked step by step towards the mountain that seemed to be stained with blood.
In dead silence, Lumian reached the edge of the ruins.
He first walked sideways for a distance, threw the shovel, steel fork, rope and other things into a dark corner of a collapsed building, and then returned to the place where he had entered the ruins before with only the axe.
He began his exploration without any abnormality, and slowly crept into the depths of the ruins just like last time.
When he reached the place where he was scared off by the three-faced monster, he stayed there for nearly a minute before turning back.
Halfway through his walk, he began to take a detour toward the collapsed house where the shovels and steel forks were stored.
As they approached their destination, Lumian began to observe the terrain, looking for a suitable place to set a trap.
"There's a relatively wide but short crack here. It can be a good trap with a little modification, and it can also save me a lot of time. As for the other one, it may take a long time. I can only hope that the monster won't track me down so quickly..."
Lumian took a shovel and other items, returned to the chosen location, and quickly set up the trap.
After initially modifying the crack itself, he used an axe to cut and sharpen pieces of wood and placed them at the bottom of the trap. Then, he weaved a rope net, laid it on top of the trap, and covered it with a layer of loose soil, trying to make it consistent with the surrounding area.
After completing this task, he pretended that he was a monster and was tracking him to the trap.
"If it could detect this trap, it would definitely choose to bypass it, or even jump over it, and would probably end up at this location...
"What I need is for it to be able to see me once it gets here, but it couldn't before. So, I can only hide here..." Lumian measured the distance with his feet, identified the direction with his eyes, and slowly came to a relatively intact wall.
He squatted there and confirmed the line of sight.
Then he started digging the second trap.
This is the layout for "normal humans":
When a person is tracking a target and finds that the other party has set a trap for him, and he easily detects it and finds the enemy lying in ambush nearby, he will most likely be very proud and anxious, ignoring the possibility of a second trap, and rushing towards the prey.
People with average IQ are prone to such misconceptions or blind spots.
Lumian only hoped that the monster did not reach the average intelligence of humans, otherwise he would have no choice but to turn around and run away, and there was a high probability that he would be caught up and die somewhere in the wilderness, and there was a small probability that he would escape back to his home and hide in the "safe zone".
The abnormality in Koldu Village forced him to risk his life.
Time passed by minute by minute, and Lumian finally set up the second trap, but the monster with the shotgun had not appeared yet.
The same goes for other monsters.
He was finally able to feel at ease, and after hiding the shovel and other items, he stood up straight and opened his arms.
"Praise the sun!" This time, he was more sincere.
Lumian then shrank back to the wall, half-crouched on the ground, and stared at the first trap.
He couldn't see this side from where he just came from because there was a completely collapsed building blocking the view.
He waited patiently.
Thump, thump, thump... Lumian could clearly feel his heartbeat quickening.
For him, this was an unprecedented experience.
When he was wandering, he also faced "enemies" who were older and stronger than him, but they did not aim to kill each other, but mainly to steal food, money and a suitable place to sleep. Even if someone really died in the process, it was an accident.
And now, the enemy he is about to face is a monster who will not abide by human laws and morals, and is far stronger than him. He may even possess some extraordinary abilities. Once there is a flaw in his plan, his fate can be imagined.
Plop, plop, plop... Lumian was inevitably highly nervous.
No one doesn't want to live a good life, and he is no exception.
Inhale, exhale... Inhale, exhale...
Lumian took a deep breath to calm his tense spirit.
This doesn't seem to have much effect.
For a moment, he both hoped that the monster would come sooner and was afraid that it would really come.
The former was because it would allow things to end faster, and in this way, no matter whether the result was good or bad, at least Lumian wouldn't have to be as nervous and on the verge of collapse as he is now. The latter was simply out of fear.
Seeing that his condition would get worse and worse if he continued like this, he told himself "this is to avoid dragging Auror down" while trying to meditate.
The red sun was harder to depict than before, but with Lumian's efforts, it finally emerged.
This also calmed Lumian down a lot, but his body was still shaking a little.
Just at this moment, he heard a slight noise.
It was as if there was a pasture out of sight and a shepherd was approaching it tiptoeingly.