H16 Trap of the Tyrant

Book Cover

**Trap of the Tyrant**, the 16th book of The Golden Age of Adventures series, was published in September 2017. It is the English language edition of the original Chinese comic, **暴君的陷阱** which was published in March 2017.

## Synopsis

AIMING FOR THE TOP! FOILING THE POISONING OF A CITY!

An earthquake in Italy reveals the entrance to an ancient underground site. Alerted by Goken, Alex, Lulu and Ming Kong go over to investigate the booby-trapped site. There, together with other adventurers, they discover a device containing enough poisonous gas to kill the people above ground. Can they rid the area of this menacing threat?

## Cast

* Alex
* Lulu
* Sally
* Gianluca
* Gianluigi
* "Scorpion" Richard
* Mysterious enemies

## Plot

***Spoiler warning!** Plot and/or ending details follow.*

### Chapter 1: Master of Machines

The Soul Transfer Machine is fixed, and it is used to put Alex and Lulu's souls back into their bodies. They and Ming Kong run away. The repair workers say the machine has one use left. Fenrir let's Marie use it, since he hates his accursed body.

In Fly High, a message is transmitted by Goken: there is an earthquake in Italy. Alex and co. are denied to go to where Goken said, but Gianluca allows. Gianluca explains, while driving to the base, an earthquake revealed an underground entrance in Anzio yesterday. The Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB) believed there are artifacts within.

They arrive at the base: the Colosseum. Richard is there, and someone holding boxes bumps into him. It is "Machine Ace" Sally (No. 9), the world's greatest mechanic. She built the World Adventure Union's helicopter, the prototype the Nazis based their AT-6 on and Hank's mothership.

All the adventurers - Alex, Lulu, Ming Kong, Goken, Richard, Sally and Rocky - are here. Gianluigi, head of the WAU Italy headquarters, and Gianluca, director of Italy's CAB, begin their presentation. The Italian government sent a team to see if the underground site contained any relics. They encountered booby traps, and couldn't proceed. It is a piece of cake for adventurers, but the place is unstable. Aftershocks can happen at any time.

Meanwhile in the sea, a Neo-Nazi submarine enters a cave.

### Chapter 2: Ranking Rundown

In Anzio, he team of adventurers descend into the earthquake and enter the cave. Goken sees the booby traps. Rocky throws a pillar piece. It triggers more booby traps. Alex looks for a switch for an entrance, because the man who built the traps would definitely make a secret passage for him. Ming Kong finds a man-made rock. He turns it and the secret passage opens.

Along the path, Goken spots a coin and gives it to Alex. It is from Emperor Nero's reign. He was the fifth emperor of Rome and a tyrant. During his reign, Rome caught a fire. Rumours said Nero had men set fire so that he can build his grand palace. Dissatisfaction led to rebellions and Nero's death.

The team enters a theatre. They find a treasure box. Sally opens it, revealing six rectangular bronze plates. Ming Kong found a wall with six holes the plates can fit in. It bears a mural: three men arguing with two holes each. The plates show numbers 1 to 6. All those numbers add up to 21. 21/3 = 7. the three combinations are 1 and 6, 2 and 5 and 3 and 4. The theatre descends. Sally and Alex hear cogwheels turning.

### Chapter 3: Nero's Evil Plan

On the surface, pipes shoot of the ground, spewing toxic gas.

The team discover traps that activate behind them. Alex suspects it is to prevent escaping. Twenty minutes later, they enter a room after Sally cuts down its iron door. There are many human skeletons and a beast skeleton. The comm device starts beeping. Gianluigi asks the team if they activated the pipes. Alex says he heard cogwheels, leading Gianluca to believe they caused it. Richard found a Latin message written on the ground: "Stop the tyrant's toxic underground gas."

Nero had this as his machination to threaten his subjects, but he died before he could use it. Alex can't believe Nero's evil plan is hurting people of the modern times.

### Chapter 4: Treacherous Traps!

The team walk down a downward staircase, entering a room with giant faces. The team's weight causes the faces to slam into each other. "Iron Shield" Rocky (No. 50) uses his iron shield to stop them for a bit. They jump above the faces and cross. They land on a floor that bends lower, showing a pit. Alex and Sally try to grapple to the floor, but it has already closed. They slide down instead. Spike balls appear, and are destroyed by machine guns.

They reach a wall with a puzzle: "Before you can proceed, a campanion this dam needs. You must use the steel wire, but it may not be cut." Sally pushes the belly down, making it two horses (pregnant). They quickly enter the pathway to escape from the large spike ball rolling towards them.

They fall into a room where cogwheels are visible. A Neo-Nazi soldier aims his sniper at them.

### Chapter 5: Unwelcomed Guests

Lulu detects a bullet coming and pushes Alex away from it. Rocky, Sally and Ming Kong go contact the surface, while the rest follow Richard to see if these intruders came in from another entrance. Lulu detects a soldier by the stairs. Goken uses his tusk thrust move, but the soldier resists it with his palm. He also resists Lulu's punches. Richard pushes the soldier who shot the bullet off the edge. The two soldiers escape through an entrance, then it closed.

The contactors couldn't contact the surface, probably because they are too deep underground. The puzzle on the door shows three big circles with the symbols of an apple, bananas and grapes. There smaller circles showing leaves. The leaves are matched to its fruit. As the team walks through the path, the walls look more modern. They enter a pool of gold and treasure with a gas chamber in the center. They are caught by the soldiers. Atop the gas chamber, Lieutenant Red Snake greets them.

### Chapter 6: The Sly Scorpion

Alex spots the Neo-Nazi swastika armband on one of the soldiers. He asks them if they created the machine. The machine is Nero's, they fixed it so it could work. This is a punishment to the Italians for betraying their new empire. A soldier releases toxic gas. Rocky charges towards Red Snake. She whips him. Only Richard is left standing. Red Snake gives him a chance to join for his poisoning skills.

Richard injects the team. The team are back to attacking. They were injected by an antidote. As Richard comes for Red Snake, Experiment No. 7, a pangolin, enlarges itself and protects its comrades. Red Snake releases a smoke screen, and she and the soldiers escape through a hidden path. It seems she had destroyed the switch and some components of the gas chamber. It won't blow, but it is out of control.

### Chapter 7: Successive Struggles

Sally has studied the gas chamber is actually a large engine. The gas chamber is unreachable. To fix the switch, Sally gets Alex and the others to carve out pieces to build a gear. On the surface, the gas is released again. The gear is put and Rocky turns the switch. Sally hears the gas is blocked. They managed to stop the release.

Richard sees Ming Dynasty coins and a Thai goblet. Nero came to power in 54 AD, but the Ming Dynasty began in 1368. The Neo-Nazis must've brought them here. An explosion can be heard from where the Neo-Nazis escaped. Through it, they see a pillar. The Neo-Nazis damaged its base. Lulu sees them escaping in their submarine. The pillar's base was blasted because it supports the land above, and there might be a city. Sally finds a way by using the surrounding topography.

### Chapter 8: Never Give Up

By using huge legde near, it can stabilise the pillar when it falls. Everyone gets there by Alex's rope. Sally finds a suitable spot to put her bag for it to explode. Now the ledge has a crack. Everyone attacks it. The crack has deepened, but the ledge is not budging. Alex attempts to push it himself. Lulu, in her adult form, helps him. Akhazane's cells are activated. In Ming's lab, a Star Seed cracks the tube it is in. They manage to push it fully.

The next day, investigations have confirmed the treasures Richard found are not from Nero's time, and they were brought by the Neo-Nazis. Alex is certain it is them. During World War II, Italy was in an alliance with Nazist Germany. That is probably the reason why foreign treasures were put here.

Gianluca wants the adventurers to go after them. Gianluigi denies, since adventurers are neutral and don't take part in politics and military activities. That is why adventurers can enter countries freely. Gianluigi does want to report to the Global Alliance for Humanity. For preventing a tragedy, the adventurers gain new rankings. "Masked African" Goken is No. 99, Ming Kong is No. 92, Richard is No. 28, Team Star Guardian is No. 65 and Sally and Rocky remain unchanged.

Amon is impressed by Alex's ranking. Wolf Skull remarks he is rising quite fast for a newbie. It is faster than Jones. Samara fills up her adventurer registration form.