He stood in front of the narrow alleyway, the destroyed buildings bending toward each other like crooked teeth, trapping the Stoneback Gnawler in a jagged concrete mouth.
His sword hand tightened around the handle as he stepped closer.
One step… two steps… three… and the groaning, grinding sound of the monster's armored shell rubbing against the walls made his stomach twist.
The Iron-class beast was huge up close… bigger than he expected, its stone-plated back scraping shards of masonry loose with every breath.
Its legs trembled violently as it tried to force its way out, the muscles rippling like steel cables beneath rock-colored flesh.
'Oi, System… what are the chances of it breaking out of there?'
A calm window flickered into his vision.
「The Stoneback Gnawler currently has a 0.5% chance of breaking out. If given three hours, the 0.5 will turn into a 70% as the constructs holding it in place will be broken. It is advised to set up the trap now… You remember how, right?」
"Yeah yeah…" he muttered.
Even though the System supposedly couldn't influence things directly, after some pushback… and a threat about uninstalling whatever parts of it he could reach, the System finally relented and showed him a clean animation of how to trap the monster.
Not for free, of course.
He now owed 1000 F.P.
Whatever the hell that was.
He took a deep breath and looked around.
The alley was tight… barely wide enough for the Gnawler's bulky form which meant approaching from the side or front without preparation would be pure suicide.
One kick from its front leg would pulp him.
"I have to find something to balance the loop on," he muttered.
His eyes scanned the rubble-strewn ground until he spotted a broken sign, its faded letters reading IZANA07.
"Izana, huh?" he snorted.
One of his old-world haters.
The guy who joined every livestream only to trash-talk him relentlessly. The kind who'd type entire paragraphs of insults just to get noticed.
"I hope that fucker is dead," he muttered with zero shame.
He flicked his storage ring and summoned one of the two Iron Loops he had bought.
It appeared in his hand… it looked cool and metallic and as large as it had been yesterday.
The loop was bigger than the sign, but he placed it anyway, setting the broken plank beneath it like a sled.
Then he walked farther forward, careful not to step into the reach of the monster's legs. The Gnawler's right front leg hung in the air, shaking as it struggled to thrash, leaving a perfect chance.
'If I don't get it just right into the big loop, I'll have to go there and adjust it myself…'
He swallowed.
That would mean instant death.
He took a steadying breath and pushed the sign forward, sliding it across the slimy ground.
The makeshift sled glided right into place… stopping perfectly where the creature's right front foot was going to land.
He didn't breathe until it froze in place.
The Stoneback Gnawler slammed its foot down with a thunderous CRUNCH, crushing the sign underneath.
The loop lay right beneath the foot, perfectly positioned.
"Thank God…" Kōya whispered.
He didn't hesitate.
He grabbed the pull rope attached to the loop and yanked… every muscle in his arms burning. The wire tightened, rising up the leg until it cinched around the joint just above the hoof.
The Gnawler shrieked… an ugly, grinding bellow and tried to turn around, but the narrow alley prevented it.
Kōya sprinted to an exposed rebar rod jutting from a collapsed wall.
The concrete around it was cracked but solid enough. He looped the rope around it three times, tightened it, then tied a knot with shaking hands.
He braced both feet against the ground and pulled, retying and pulling again, using every ounce of strength he had.
After two full minutes, his arms trembling violently, the monster's front right leg was pinned sideways against the wall.
The limb bucked and strained but stayed trapped.
"One down…" he exhaled shakily.
He moved to the opposite side, found another broken sign… this alley must have once belonged to a row of tiny stores and repeated the same process.
The second loop cinched around the left leg, and this time he tied it to a thick support beam embedded in the wall.
Both front legs were secured. The Gnawler was effectively immobilized from the front. At least, as much as a hulking monster could be.
He wiped sweat from his forehead.
'There are still more steps of the trap…'
This next part was the worst… the part where he had to move toward the front of the monster.
If he misstepped, even with the alley blocking its reach, a stray movement from the Gnawler's hind legs could disembowel him.
But he didn't have a choice. If he wasted time, more Twigspire reinforcements could arrive.
"All of this for a damned Iron class…" he muttered bitterly.
He pressed himself against the wall, inching forward one slow step at a time. The Gnawler snarled, its stony jaw scraping the wall above him, sending dust raining down.
'Please don't move… please don't buck the wall…' he begged internally.
He reached the front. Its massive head was lifted awkwardly by the tight alleyway which meant it was suspended upward, its throat exposed but its jaw still able to snap shut if it got free.
He reached into his ring and pulled out the steel trip-line.
'Are you sure I should really attempt it? And is the mechanism the same for this tripwire?'
「Do you not trust your System anymore? You can back out if you want to, hmph」
'You can't say hmph when you're a literal screen,' he shot back internally.
The System ignored him.
He found a protruding stone in the wall… a perfect anchor point. He wrapped one end of the trip-line around it tightly until there was no slack.
Then he stared at the monster's huge gaping mouth.
'Okay… just don't miss. If I miss, I die.'
He took one long, shaking breath and threw the steel trip-line.
It arced through the air glinting straight into the Stoneback Gnawler's open jaw and coming out the other way.
"YES—!" Kōya lunged forward before the monster could reflexively spit or snap shut, grabbing the dangling end on the other side.
The Gnawler bucked violently the moment the wire touched its tongue, screeching and shaking its whole body.
But its pinned legs prevented any real movement.
Kōya sprinted for the anchor point, nearly slipping on slime, and reached the spot where the first line was tied.
'Here goes nothing…'
He crossed the loose end over the tied segment, forming a sharp X.
The mechanism activated instantly.
The entire trip-line snapped tight with a violent WHIP, forcing the Gnawler's jaw downward.
The monster let out a guttural yelp, its jaw unable to close and its head locked downward at a painful angle.
The muzzle was complete.
He let go.
It held.
When he turned around, the Stoneback Gnawler's face was right there… far closer than he wanted. Its eyes, filled with primal fury and confusion, bore straight into his soul.
His legs turned to jelly.
"Uhm… Hi."
[Author's Note: Hehe, Merry Christmas to you all!]