Large Beast Trap

After returning to the castle for breakfast and resting for two hours, Abel went back to his private workshop in the blacksmith shop.

In his previous life, when Abel was a fitness coach, he often went hiking with friends and had extensive hunting experience.

This time, drawing on his memories from his previous life, Abel wanted to craft large beast traps. As Master Bentham had described the wolf riders, they were fast and agile, making them difficult to trap. Wolf riders could attack or retreat as needed without sufficient forces to surround them, making them very hard to eliminate. However, with beast traps, it would be different. If a direwolf's leg was caught in a beast trap, it would at least be injured. Once the speed of the wolf riders' direwolves was neutralized, the wolf riders would no longer pose a threat.

The beasts, and even people, in this world were much stronger than those on Earth in his previous life. Abel estimated that only large beast traps could inflict damage on those wolf riders.

The structure of a large beast trap consisted of a thick compression spring, two toothed clamp plates, a trigger, a frame for activating the clamp plates, and a chain.

Once the compression spring was forcefully flattened, it was held in place by the trigger, creating immense clamping power. The moment the trigger was activated, the two toothed clamp plates would instantly release and snap shut, trapping the prey. Since the two toothed clamp plates had not fully closed and reset, the more the prey struggled, the tighter the clamp would become.

One could imagine that if a wolf rider's direwolf were caught in such a large beast trap, given the wolf rider's speed, the injured direwolf's leg and the restraint of the chain would cause the werewolf riding it to be thrown off...

This world did not have such large beast traps. Placing beast traps would not attract the attention of orcs, and with some concealment methods, they would not be discovered by them at all.

The process of making the beast traps was simple, but the compression spring was rather troublesome. According to Abel's memory, the steel used for the spring required a high carbon content to maintain its elasticity.

Abel experimented with the Hundred Refinements Blank. After multiple carburization operations, he created many small samples with different carburization ratios. After testing, he identified the most effective sample and finalized the production process.

Next, Abel proceeded with mass production, creating ten compression springs. Seeing that he had plenty of materials left, he also made several thick spiral springs for future use as shock absorbers for upgrading the carriage.

As for the other components of the large beast traps, Abel did not make them himself; it would take too much time. With the most demanding compression springs ready, the other parts only needed to be made of ordinary iron. This task was delegated to the other blacksmiths in the shop.

Abel called his senior apprentice, Gaden, and asked him to personally oversee the production of the required parts according to Abel's drawings and dimensions, to be completed within two days. Gaden readily agreed to Abel's request and promised to have several of the most skilled blacksmiths work overtime to finish the job.

The next morning, when Abel arrived at the blacksmith shop, Gaden, with his eyes red from lack of sleep, told him, "Master Abel, all the parts have been made according to your specifications and are in your workshop."

Abel was somewhat surprised. He had expected it to take at least two days, but they were all finished in just one night. Looking at Gaden's tired eyes, he couldn't help but say, "Why didn't you rest last night? These parts didn't need to be finished so urgently."

"The blacksmiths heard it was your request and didn't want to delay, so they finished them overnight," Gaden replied, not mentioning his own efforts but rather attributing the speed to the other blacksmiths in front of Abel.

"You should rest. Next time I forge a Hundred Refinements Greatsword, you and the other blacksmiths can observe," Abel said with a smile.

"Thank you, Master Abel. I'll let them know right away," Gaden said gratefully and ran off.

Abel walked into the workshop and saw a pile of parts laid out on the floor, already divided into ten sets. This level of detail showed Gaden's meticulousness.

Assembling these large beast traps required some strength, which Abel never lacked. In just half an hour, ten large beast traps were assembled.

He led two draft horses, placing five large beast traps on each horse. After securing them firmly, Abel shook them to confirm they were stable.

Behind Hari Castle lay a forest. Abel had been busy since arriving at the castle and had not ventured deep into it. He had heard that large beasts appeared in this forest, and he decided to test the large beast traps there today.

Although the castle was now on alert, no guards questioned Abel as he led the two draft horses out. Abel's status was no longer the same as when he first arrived. Everyone had heard that Abel had become a blacksmith master. In this world, a master title in any profession represented the very top echelon of that field. Such masters were respected everywhere on the Holy Continent.

It was the best part of the afternoon, with sunlight filtering through the leaves, casting dappled light on the leaf-strewn ground. Abel's footsteps made muffled rustling sounds, and the two draft horses seemed uneasy in the forest environment, occasionally snorting.

After walking for about half an hour, Abel felt he had entered the depths of the forest. He hadn't encountered any large beasts along the way, but the frequent large piles of animal droppings indicated that large beasts had been present. There was no sign of human habitation here; he hadn't seen any traces of human activity for the past ten minutes. This was the place to set up the large beast traps, as their hidden nature and damage meant they couldn't be placed in populated areas.

Abel crouched down, searching the ground for animal trails. Beasts always tended to use the same paths back and forth, and the ground repeatedly trodden by them formed a subtle path. Experienced hunters would set traps along these animal trails.

Although Abel's experience was limited, he had received training in this area. After careful observation, he found an animal trail. He took two large beast traps from the draft horses, forcefully opened their jaws, and set the triggers. Placing the two large beast traps was a delicate matter; on an animal trail, one had to calculate the size of the beast's stride to ensure that even if it evaded the first trap, it would be caught by the second.

After setting them, Abel made a mark on a tree. This mark served two purposes: it would alert him when he passed by again, reminding him of the trap, and it would also be convenient for him to retrieve the large beast trap later. Furthermore, Abel's marks included arrows pointing back in the direction he came from, allowing him to easily find his way back to the castle from the forest.

Continuing forward, every ten minutes or so, Abel would find an animal trail and install a large beast trap. After walking for another hour, all the large beast traps had been set.

By then, the sky was gradually darkening. Abel was preparing to pack up and return to the castle. There were only two hours left until nightfall, and he could still see the ground clearly if he left now.

Just then, a howl echoed from the distance, a cry filled with both pain and anger.

A beast had fallen into a trap, Abel immediately realized. In this forest, only his large beast traps could elicit such a sound from a beast.

He tied the two draft horses to a tree and quickly ran towards the source of the sound, observing his surroundings as he ran, looking for the marks he had made, so he wouldn't get caught in his own traps – that would be a huge joke.

After running for about ten minutes, Abel spotted his mark ahead. He slowed his pace and cautiously approached the trap.

Although the two toothed clamp plates of the large beast trap had closed, there was no prey. Abel crouched down and felt the iron teeth of the clamp plates with his hand; there was blood.

This couldn't be a wild beast. Although Abel didn't know what had triggered the mechanism, with the intelligence and abilities of wild beasts, it would be very difficult to escape the trap without the help of hands. If it were a powerful beast, it would have destroyed the large beast trap instead of just forcing the clamp plates open like this.

Could it be a human? Abel shook his head. The sound that had come earlier was clearly not human, of that he was certain.