Chapter 3 The Trap and the Prey
Perfect silence.
Logan took a breath in the artificial quiet he had created. The screams and aural shrapnel of the pursuit squad, which had echoed over the intercom, had now completely ceased. The dam's heavy steel gate remained firmly shut, as if nothing had happened. The world beyond it had become a tomb for those buried beneath scrap metal.
He turned to look at the silver-haired woman lying in the darkness. Her ice-gray eyes were staring right at him, filled with disbelief. Wonder, confusion, and an unfamiliar emotion he had never seen before swirled violently within them.
"...Did you take them out?"
Eva asked, her voice hoarse. Even as an S-Class Awakened, she seemed unable to fully comprehend the situation.
Logan shook his head. His expression held no satisfaction, only the same sharp vigilance as before.
"No. That was just a blockade."
"What do you mean?"
"They're hounds."
Logan said, switching off the old intercom. His eyes seemed to pierce the thick steel door, staring at the unseen enemies beyond.
"Hounds don't give up just because the path is blocked, not when their prey is right in front of them. It just makes them more relentless. Especially arrogant hounds like those."
Logan's calculations didn't end there. Defense was just a way to buy time; it didn't guarantee survival. The fall of Fort Jericho had taught him one singular truth. A threat must be pulled out by the roots. This wasn't just about suppression. His plan was to turn the hunters outside that door into his prey.
Logan walked over and crouched in front of Eva. She still couldn't move, but the wariness in her eyes was sharper than ever.
"I need information."
"...Why should I give you anything?"
"Because your swords are currently in my storage,"
Logan replied matter-of-factly.
"And right now, you're a wounded person who doesn't even have the strength to hold them. There's only one way for you to fulfill your contract as this dam's 'Guardian.' Repay your debt with the information in your head instead of your sword. That is the only duty you can perform right now."
Logan's voice was still dry, but his logic was irrefutable. Eva bit her lip. A tense silence stretched between them as her pride warred with this form of cooperation. Logan waited patiently for her answer.
Finally, she let out a short sigh and spoke.
"...What do you want to know?"
"Everything you know about the pursuit squad. The leader's name, combat style, equipment, weaknesses. Nothing is too small."
Eva closed her eyes, as if replaying her past battles.
"The leader is Havek 'Iron Eye.' Former soldier, but now he's a cyborg with over 70% of his body mechanized. His main weapons are a high-output plasma cannon on his right arm and small missiles on his shoulder. He uses a vibrating blade for close combat."
"His most prominent feature?"
"His eye." Eva said flatly.
"His left eye isn't a simple prosthetic. It's a multi-function sensor with thermal imaging, motion tracking, telescopic zoom, and it can even scan for structural weaknesses. Almost nothing in the wasteland can escape that eye. He relies on that visual data almost absolutely in a fight."
Logan's eyes lit up. This was the information he needed.
"Weakness?"
"...Sound."
Eva answered reluctantly, as if she were giving up a secret weapon.
"He must have poured too many resources into his visual sensors, because his auditory sensors are garbage. In an environment with complex background noise, his ability to identify targets drops significantly. I used that to get out of a few tight spots myself."
The moment the word 'sound' left Eva's lips, Logan's [Master Blueprint] reacted explosively. The massive, dormant gears in his mind began to spin wildly.
[Core Weakness: 'Vulnerability to Sonic Environment' Acquired.]
[Scrapping existing defensive plan.]
[Generating optimized 'Hostile Environment Construction and Annihilation Plan'.]
Dozens of blueprints flickered through Logan's mind before consolidating into two final, perfect, and deadly schematics. One was simple but effective; the other was bold and lethal.
First, the 'Sonic Amplification Trap.' Using the dam's old piping and metal fragments, it was a device that would turn an intruder's slightest movement into a deafening roar that would echo throughout the entire structure.
Second, the 'EMP-01.' This device, which he provisionally named 'EMP-01,' was a malicious design meant to stop the enemy's heart using their own. He would reverse-engineer the 'Scrapyard' power core he'd recovered outside the gate to identify the specific resonant frequency that was fatal only to their cybernetic equipment. The principle was to use the dam control room's old capacitors to amplify that frequency explosively. It was a weapon tailor-made just for them. A powerful, one-shot electromagnetic pulse bomb that would fry every electronic device within a 15-meter radius.
'All the materials are in here. And I have enough time.'
Logan stood up. The blueprint for victory was already complete in his eyes.
"Good information. You've fulfilled part of the contract."
He spoke curtly to Eva, then vanished back into the shadows. Leaving her confused gaze behind him, he focused only on his design.
The sound of hammering and welding was replaced by the delicate, quiet sounds of wires being connected and components being assembled.
***
"Report!"
Havek's cybernetic voice echoed in the cramped space under the pile of scrap. His red, mechanical optics flashed with fury.
"Sir! The scrap is tangled too tightly! It'll take too long to melt our way through with the plasma cannon!"
one of his subordinates, 'Spark,' yelled back. His cybernetic arm tried to push the debris, but the tens of tons of metal wouldn't budge.
"Fools! Are you going to let a pile of scrap stop you from catching our prey!"
Havek punched the wall of scrap. CLANG! The steel plate dented, but the situation didn't change. His pride was battered by the unexpected counter-attack from the rat hiding in the dam.
'This isn't just a survivor. She has an accomplice who can design a trap of this scale.'
But Havek's thoughts stopped there. The only threat that existed in his database was the S-Class Awakened, 'Eva Rostova.' He concluded that this was all part of her cunning escape plan, a trap she had prepared in advance. The existence of an unseen support class was not in his calculations.
"So the Blade Queen has learned some new tricks."
His mechanical eye whirred as it zoomed in. The lens adjusted rapidly, beginning a detailed scan of the dam's concrete exterior.
[Scanning outer wall… Material: High-Strength Reinforced Concrete… Analyzing structural integrity…]
A blue grid overlaid his vision, revealing micro-fractures in the wall and its internal structure. Most of the wall was impenetrable. But his scan was relentless. A structure neglected for decades was bound to have a weak point.
Finally, a faint green line blinked in the corner of his vision.
[Vulnerability Found: Ventilation Shaft 3.]
[Status: External grille heavily corroded. Internal diameter 70cm. Adult male passage possible.]
A sneer twisted his lips. Just as he thought. Every fortress has a mouse hole.
"Spark, Jogg! Gear up! We're infiltrating."
"But sir, that narrow passage..."
"Shut up! That's an order!"
At Havek's roar, his two subordinates geared up without another word. They were his hand-picked, elite infiltration team. Veterans who had toppled countless settlements and 'retrieved' their targets.
"The rest of you, create a diversion! Keep that rat's attention until we open the gate from the inside!"
Havek grabbed the ventilation shaft's old grille and tore it from the wall. SKREEE! With a sickening screech, the rusted metal grate ripped away like paper, revealing a dark, damp hole.
"Eva Rostova... no matter how strong you are, you must be out of mana and supplies. And as for the rat helping you... I'll snap its neck myself."
He sneered and crammed his body into the narrow pipe. In his mind, he could perfectly picture his prey, trembling in the darkness.
But he didn't know. He wasn't entering a mouse hole. He was entering the opening of a spider's web woven just for him.
***
Logan held his breath. He was hidden in the darkness of the machine room, the heart of the dam, where the giant turbines lay silent. Leaning against the wall behind him, wrapped in an old blanket, was Eva, fighting to stay conscious. Logan had moved her here as soon as he finished his work. This was the final stage for the hunt.
His ears caught the faint sounds coming from the pipes within the walls.
Skr... skr... zeeee...
At first, it sounded like the wind, or just the dam's structure settling. But Logan's focus was sharpened to its absolute peak. And the 'Sonic Amplification Trap' he had installed was doing its job perfectly.
He had intentionally placed sharp metal fragments and glass shards at specific bends in the ventilation shaft. It was designed so that as the intruders passed, their combat suits and gear would scrape against the fragments, amplifying the sound. The noise he was hearing now was proof that Havek's team was passing through that exact trapped section.
Just as expected.
Logan was satisfied his prediction was correct. He had already analyzed the dam's complete schematics via [Master Blueprint]. Of the dozens of pipes, there was only one route that led directly from the outside to the main machine room: Ventilation Shaft 3. If the enemy leader had a visual scanner, it was only a matter of time until he found it.
In his hand, he held a homemade detonator. It was a crude thing, just a red button attached to the body of an old flashlight. But it was wired to his trump card, the 'EMP-01,' mounted on the ceiling near the ventilation exit.
He had reverse-engineered the Scrapyard power core from outside to find a unique frequency that resonated only with their energy signature. Then, he modified the dam's old capacitors to amplify and discharge that exact frequency. If they hadn't been wearing Scrapyard-issued gear, it would have been completely ineffective. It was a truly 'customized' trap.
Kreee... THUNK.
Finally, the cover of the ventilation opening on the far wall of the machine room was pushed open from the inside and fell to the floor. From the darkness, a silhouette with flashing red optics emerged silently. Those red eyes. Logan knew instantly who it was.
'Iron Eye' Havek.
"Biological signature of the target is not detected. Search the area."
Havek ordered in a low voice. Their movements were flawless. The darkness was no obstacle for their high-performance visual sensors.
Havek's mechanical eye began to scan the machine room. Logan remained hidden in the deepest shadow, behind a massive turbine generator. His heart was pounding, but his hand was perfectly still.
'A little closer...'
He waited. To maximize the trap's effect, all three of them had to be inside the bomb's effective range.
One of Havek's subordinates was moving slowly in the direction of Eva's hiding spot. The pile of old blankets must have registered on his sensors.
"Sir, over there..."
Just then.
Logan slammed his thumb down on the red button.
VMMMMMMMMM-
A low-frequency sound, inaudible to human ears but powerful enough to feel like space itself was warping, swept through the machine room.
And the next instant.
PZZT-!
The EMP bomb on the ceiling erupted in an ultramarine flash. It wasn't a blinding light. It was the silent light that kills all machines.
"Huh-?!"
"System... error! Visuals cut!"
"All functions... offline! Aaargh!"
Horrific sparks erupted from the bodies of Havek and his men. Their proud red optics flickered wildly before dying with a puff of smoke. The pre-heat indicator on the plasma cannon went dark. Their cybernetic limbs whined and seized.
They were no longer superhuman hunters. They were just blind men in iron masks, trapped in the dark.
The machine room was once again enveloped in perfect darkness and silence.
Logan set down the detonator. From his belt, he drew his only weapon and his only tool: a heavy, steel hammer.
In the darkness, the roles of hunter and prey had been completely reversed.