Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 535: Blind Guards

With that plan in mind, Asher continued to walk forward. The moment he stepped out into the open, he expected the so-called guards to pick up his presence, but they didn’t. He was literally standing right in front of them, yet they seemed as though they were looking in another direction, or perhaps they merely possessed eyesight without true perception.

Normally, Asher’s steps were completely silent due to his passive perfect walking technique, but now he deliberately chose to make them produce an audible sound. With another step, a dry stick snapped sharply under his foot, and the faint yet distinct sound of grass being crushed beneath his boots echoed gently in the still air.

Immediately, the two Faintstar Life Rankers turned their gazes in his direction and spoke in a cold tone simultaneously, "Who’s there? Show yourself!" they shouted as they pointed the tips of their swords straight ahead with rigid precision.

Asher’s lips couldn’t help but twitch. ’I’m literally in front of you, or are you both blind?’ he thought to himself with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. For a brief second, he even doubted himself, wondering if he had somehow turned invisible without consciously remembering doing so.

"I’m literally in front of you," Asher finally spoke out loud as he continued walking forward with calm and measured steps, though his footsteps had gone silent again now that he had already captured the seemingly blind guards’ attention.

"Stop where you are. Do not approach, or we might have to use force," one of the guards shouted as he unleashed his Faintstar Life Rank presence, allowing his aura to flare outward in warning.

Asher simply smiled, thoroughly amused by the entire situation. He wanted to burst out laughing, but he restrained himself, forcing his expression to remain composed. A Faintstar Life Ranker telling him to stop was simply too amusing to ignore. Although, under normal circumstances, he would have halted and calmly explained his presence and his reason for being here, Asher instead wanted to see what these two villagers were truly capable of.

"This is your last warning, intruder," the second guard stated firmly, yet Asher still did not stop.

Seeing Asher completely ignore them, both guards rushed forward without hesitation, their speed faster than anything ordinary people in Crymora could ever hope to achieve.

’They are both at the Flare sub-Life Rank,’ Asher observed internally. The first guard closed in from the side and stabbed toward Asher’s chest with clear killing intent, but his attack appeared clumsy and overly telegraphed in Asher’s eyes. With smooth and effortless steps, Asher sidestepped, the blade missing him entirely. However, he did not merely dodge; he decided to play with the man slightly. He grabbed the guard’s outstretched wrist with one hand and fluidly flipped him over, intending to slam him against the ground.

But Asher deliberately used minimal force, as he had no desire to injure them. At most, he intended to cause a slight jolt of pain, something that would fade within seconds due to their enhanced physiques.

As the guard’s back was about to crash violently into the earth, his legs bent abruptly, and his feet slammed into the ground with a heavy thud, anchoring himself in place. His body halted mid-motion, his back parallel to the ground, his black eyes locking onto Asher’s single purple one.

’Hoo!!! That was cool and unexpected. It seems they have a bit of experience,’ Asher thought, slightly surprised that his maneuver had not succeeded as planned. Still, it did not bother him in the slightest; he was merely entertaining himself at this point.

The guard’s free hand suddenly shot forward and clamped down tightly on Asher’s wrist. With his body still in the same suspended position, he forcefully pulled Asher forward. Asher felt his body instinctively resist the weak pull, as the force was far too insignificant to actually drag him forward, but he chose to play along. The guard lifted himself upward using the momentum and unleashed a bicycle kick aimed directly at Asher’s head as he was being drawn in.

At the exact same moment, the second guard had already closed the distance, his own sword slashing horizontally toward Asher’s waist. Their coordination was nearly seamless; they moved like a well-practiced combination attack.

But once again, to Asher, their efforts were clumsy and resembled little more than child’s play.

He dodged the sword strike without exerting any visible effort or wasting unnecessary movement, as everything around him seemed to move in slow motion within his heightened perception. He caught the incoming leg of the first guard mid-air, gripping it firmly, then casually threw the guard toward the second guard using only a small amount of force.

The first guard’s back slammed directly into the chest of the second guard, and both of them were sent flying backward, tumbling across the ground before finally rolling to a stop several meters away.

’They are quite good for villagers,’ Asher admitted to himself. ’It seems as though everyone in Crymora possesses some degree of battle IQ once they awaken, no matter how minor it may be,’ he reflected thoughtfully. ’Well, aside from that guy, Ryan Silvershade,’ Asher mused inwardly, recalling how that particular individual had displayed absolutely no combat capability whatsoever.

What Asher failed to realize, however, was that he had ended his confrontation with Ryan far too quickly for the boy to demonstrate even the slightest fraction of his small potential.

The two guards rose to their feet almost immediately, their eyes now filled with caution rather than arrogance. They were neither foolish nor naive. They had initially rushed forward under the assumption that Asher was someone they could easily subdue and defeat. But after that brief exchange, they understood that this battle would not be as simple as they had anticipated.

Even so, they did not hesitate or falter. This was not their first difficult confrontation, and they were prepared to fight with everything they had, unconcerned about sustaining injuries. After all, someone within the village possessed a healing ability capable of restoring them. They remained confident that victory was still within reach, even if it required enduring some pain.

In the next moment, their Astra energy began to stir vigorously within their bodies, swirling and intensifying as they prepared to activate their awakened abilities and further augment their physical capabilities.

Asher, sensing that the two intended to escalate the confrontation, simply sighed. To him, it made no difference whatsoever. Their awakened abilities, their Astra energy, their augmented strength, none of it posed even the slightest threat. He had already grown tired of this brief amusement. It was time to return to the reason he had come here in the first place.

With that thought in mind, he calmly reached into his space ring and retrieved the mission permit scroll, holding it between his fingers as he prepared to speak.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Golden Gachapon? Golden tickets? Dragon? Muahahaha. Thanks for reading.