Chapter 41 Shadow Lynx
Having found traces of his target, Lucas followed the trail for a few minutes before he stopped and crouched down.
Examining the traces they left behind, Lucas determined that the Shadow Lynxes had passed by the area not too long ago.
Realizing that, Lucas did not proceed further and instead took out some items from his bag and prepared to set up some elaborate traps.
The Shadow Lynxes were swift and elusive beasts. According to what he read before, the lynxes used the natural advantage of the Giant Dark Forest being dark to ambush their prey.
Using their skill, they could blend into the shadows, becoming almost invisible to the naked eye, and strike their prey in surprise.
They were master ambush predators, even more so than the Clip Claw Spider.
However, Lucas had never started a battle that he could not win.
Just like how he thoroughly studied the Clip Claw Spider, he had also studied the Shadow Lynxes behavior and characteristics—a lot.
Taking out a transparent wire from his backpack, Lucas searched for a suitable place and began to set up the trap, or more precisely, the trips.
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The transparent wire was actually made by the beast of his father's coworker. According to his father, it came from a spider beast whose only ability was to weave such wires or webs that they could use as ties in the construction sites.
Since the wire had many uses, Lucas' father, Lumbert, had asked for some to fix minor issues around their home. The piece in Lucas' hand was the leftover spare from those repairs, and after planning his attack on the Shadow Lynxes, he requested more from his father, who readily agreed.
Normally, the thickness of the webs was thinner than a needle. Although they were pretty durable, Lucas also knew that they would not be able to trip the Shadow Lynxes, much less stop them. Knowing that, Lucas had already woven the webs together to make them even stronger and more resilient.
Now slightly thicker than a needle, the web was more resilient than ever. Carefully searching for a spot, Lucas tied the web from one tree to another, setting it a foot above the ground. After building about seven trip traps and using almost half of his web supply, Lucas thought that it was already enough.
It did not take him more than ten minutes to set them up. He then tidied up the place, making it seem like it was untouched. The semi-transparent webs became even more elusive with his elaborate cover-up.
Lucas took one last glance at the trap he made and moved forward to continue his pursuit of the Shadow Lynxes. Now that he had set up the trap, it was now time to lure the lynxes over and reap the rewards of his labor.
Around fifteen minutes later, Lucas marked his own trails and finally found the source of the trails of the Shadow Lynxes that he was following.
Dozens of meters away from him, Lucas saw four lynxes resting beneath the shadow of a giant dark oak tree leisurely.
Standing over one meter tall at the shoulder and two meters long from nose to tail, the dark gray—almost black—fur, paired with faintly glowing black markings that provide natural camouflage in low light, made it impossible for anyone to spot them from afar with one glance.
If Lucas had not known enough and had not paid special attention ahead of him due to the trails they left behind, even he himself might just think that the four lynxes ahead were just parts of the dark tree's shadow that they were resting on.
Not that Lucas found his target, he finally began to move and initiate the next phase of his plan.
Summoning the Gentle Dog, Spot, Lucas ordered it to gather the attention of the lynxes so that they could lure them into his trap.
With the Gentle Dog's strength, it was truly possible that they would be able to beat the lynxes without using the traps. However, the last time Spot fought multiple Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 beasts at the same time, he was severely wounded and had to rest for some time before he was able to recover in full state.
Although a summoner's beast could treat their injuries inside the grimoire, Lucas still did not want to subject his beast to such if they could avoid it with careful preparation.
The Shadow Lynxes were swift and elusive beasts that blended well with the surrounding shadows. If they fought them head-on, Lucas worried that Spot might get wounded, much like in the previous battle when he fought multiple enemies at the same time.
The trap he made might not provide direct offensive power, but it would surely help them to restrict the elusiveness of the Shadow Lynxes a lot.
After summoning Spot, Lucas immediately told it to use Hellhound Manifestation.
The winds rustled and twigs broke one after the other as the small dog turned into a behemoth.
The commotion was brief and sudden, but the Shadow Lynxes were quite alert and managed to capture the unnatural noise in the air.
The four Shadow Lynxes abruptly stood up and turned their heads toward their location.
Without even a few seconds before they do so, the Shadow Lynxes' eyes lit up one after the other as all of them hopped forward.
Lucas, on the other hand, did not linger on the same spot any longer. He ran as fast as he could, tracing back the markings that he had marked earlier. He had already given Spot the order, and what was left was to properly execute it.
Remaining on the same spot, the Gentle Dog, Spot, glared menacingly at the four lynxes that hopped from shadows to shadows.
They were nimble and quite fast. Only a moment had passed, and they were already half-way through the initial distance between them.
The moment they did so, Spot also made his move.
Instead of moving forward to fight, he instead took a step back and ran the opposite direction, following behind Lucas' trail.
The order Spot received was pretty simple. Wait for the Shadow Lynxes to come closer before following behind him.
The plan was to retreat and then ultimately lure them toward the location of the trap, which Lucas was now tracing.
Spot executed the order perfectly. Dozens of meters away from him was Lucas, while behind him were the Shadow Lynxes out for their blood.
With the Dark Giant Forest being their natural habitat, the Shadow Lynxes maneuvered from one tree shadow to the other, gaining momentum and speed with each quick leap that they made.
Two minutes later, one of the Shadow Lynxes finally caught up right behind Spot.
Using one of its skills, that particular Shadow Lynx dove into the shadows.
The next moment, that same Shadow Lynx appeared behind a tree right in front of Spot. Its bloody paw with sharp claws swiped toward Spot's face without warning.
Fortunately, Spot leaped to the side at the last second, evading the lynx's attack by a hair's breadth.
Without stopping, Spot continued to run forward while the four lynxes followed behind him, each of them delving into the shadows from time to time and attacking Spot the moment they appeared.
As they only attacked one by one, Spot was not overwhelmed and easily out maneuvered each of them with ease.
From time to time, Spot would also counterattack. Unfortunately, the elusive and swift Shadow Lynxes could also evade his attack at the last moment by blending into the shadows.
Out of the four of them, he only managed to land a hit on one, and the wound was very superficial.
"Alright, take them over to that area!"