Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 574: All Swiftstar Life Rankers

With a thunderous boom and resounding crash, the shattered mountain tore into the battlefield with bone-crushing force, an earthquake ripping violently through the battlefield as dust, stones, and smoke covered everything for a couple of meters in every direction. The ground trembled beneath the overwhelming impact, and fragments of rock scattered wildly across the torn terrain.

As the dust gradually cleared and the thick haze began to settle, Asher could see a solitary figure standing upon the peak of the shattered mountain, his body calm and relaxed, his posture utterly composed. He had already killed Number One, Number Two, and Number Three with unsettling ease.

Although Number Two and Number Three had possessed rather troublesome abilities, it was still nothing he could not handle with his overwhelming skill and mind. Asher stood silently, his purple eyes shifting from one torn section of the forest to another as though he were searching for the three remaining assailants who still lurked somewhere within the devastated battlefield.

The once-dense forest had been ripped apart by the earlier clashes, leaving behind broken trees, splintered trunks, and scattered debris that littered the ground. He had expected the remaining enemies to come out of hiding the moment he killed any of the former three, but they still had not made a move until now.

"Are you three seriously going to hide forever, or what?" Asher asked while standing atop the shattered mountain, his voice calm and low, yet carrying far enough to be heard from wherever they were hiding within the torn battlefield.

But despite his words, none of them made a move, as though they were deliberately stalling for Debro to finish his own battle with the Rank 6 Emovira somewhere else within the forest. Their patience seemed calculated rather than fearful. Asher shook his head slightly when none of them made a response. He did not speak anymore; he was not much of a talker during battle anyway, and meaningless words served little purpose when blades and power decided everything.

With that thought, his Star Energy pulsed outward from his body, spreading like an invisible tide and covering the distance around him as everything within the surrounding area seemed to be laid bare within his mind.

Star Sense

The skill spread silently through the battlefield, brushing past broken trees, shattered rocks, and the lingering clouds of dust. Asher immediately picked up three hidden presences about a kilometre away from his current position. They were carefully suppressing their energy signatures, hiding their presence with great discipline, but that level of concealment was useless against his Star Energy.

He did not speak. He simply vanished from where he stood as he teleported with effortless ease. The moment he blinked back into reality, his rapier sang through the air toward Number Four’s forehead with a lethal thrust, the blade moving with terrifying precision and speed.

Number Four did not panic. Instead, he responded with a chilling calmness that spoke volumes about his battle composure and experience. His spear immediately appeared in his hand as though it had always been there, and he blocked with the shaft in a swift motion. Metallic energy burst outward as metal met metal in a violent shower of sparks, the clash ringing loudly through the forest.

Asher did not immediately attack again. Instead, he vanished once more from where he stood. This time, he teleported toward Number Five, his rapier slashing outward with lethal motion and frightening velocity as he aimed to decapitate the man where he stood.

But Number Five reacted as though he had already expected Asher to come for him, as his surprise attack had completely failed against Number Four moments earlier. Number Five’s scimitar sang upward in a black blur as he parried Asher’s slash with almost playful ease.

Unlike Number Four, however, he retaliated instantly.

The moment he parried the slash, he smoothly transitioned into an attack of his own. His scimitar blurred toward the side with ruthless speed as it tore toward Asher’s waist in a vicious counterattack. But Asher did not panic. His expression remained calm as he simply tapped into his spatial affinity, his body phasing through the slash before launching a single thrust toward Number Five’s heart.

But again, Number Five had already expected something like this. He had watched the battle between Asher and the first three assailants, and obviously he knew that Asher could phase through attacks. The moment Asher phased through the slash and retaliated with a thrust, Number Five had already moved. He dodged to the side with astonishing agility, an elbow strike tearing outward like a war missile toward Asher’s head.

Asher’s eyes flashed with a flicker of surprise. Number Five was simply too cunning. His scimitar remained positioned exactly at Asher’s waist, forcing him to remain within his phasing state. Number Five seemed to have guessed that Asher could not phase two attacks at the same time. Hence, his scimitar remained aimed at Asher’s waist while he attacked Asher’s head simultaneously, as though forcing Asher to choose between protecting his head or his waist.

But who said Asher had to choose?

Number Five’s assumptions had simply been wrong.

Asher could phase his entire body if he wished, he calmly phased through the elbow strike as though it had never existed. At the same time, his knee tore violently into the man’s stomach with titanic impact.

Number Five was sent tearing backward under the overwhelming force of the blow, his body flying through the air. But before he could collapse into any nearby tree, his body twisted like that of an agile cat as he landed with a calm, graceful step upon the ground.

Asher’s eyes narrowed slightly, he could immediately tell that his knee strike had done absolutely zero damage to Number Five. The man had clearly blocked the attack with Astra Energy at the exact point of impact, mitigating the force with complete ease.

In the span of a single second, what had started as a sudden sneak attack had already transformed into a terrifyingly swift and deadly exchange between the two combatants.

Asher did not bother teleporting toward Number Six, who was the woman that had captured him from the inn earlier, because she had already stopped hiding and stepped out into the open.

Asher’s eyes narrowed even further as he observed the situation carefully..Number Five and Number Four were also at the Firmstar Life Rank, just like Number Six. He had initially believed they were at the Swiftstar Life Rank like Number One, Number Two, and Number Three, but he had been wrong.

’So the first three were Swiftstar Life Rankers, while the last three are Firmstar Life Rankers. No wonder they didn’t make a move when the first three died,’ Asher thought to himself as he stared calmly at Number Four, Number Five, and Number Six.

The two sides stared at each other in silence, their weapons firmly in hand. Number Four held a spear, Number Five wielded a scimitar, and Number Six carried a pair of daggers that gleamed faintly beneath the broken light filtering through the ruined forest.

None of them released their presence. None of them made the first move.

They simply stood there with calm ease, as though patiently waiting for even the smallest opening in Asher’s stance. If they saw even the slightest mistake, they would undoubtedly pounce like predators upon wounded prey.

Asher’s senses heightened even further, he did not merely stare at them; he carefully watched for whatever outrageous awakened abilities these three might possess. Although Number Six’s ability seemed to involve the mysterious golden box she had used earlier, it obviously did far more than simply create that structure.