Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 724: Tripwire [Castle Bonus - ]

Asher vanished from where he stood, his body flickering into the forest with a seamless, almost imperceptible transition. Although his speed was ’slow’ to him, it was still undeniably fast by any normal standard.

The darkness and silence of the forest embraced him wholly as he ran at a steady, controlled pace, his eyes focused sharply ahead, his ears keen and alert for anything and everything that might threaten his progress. He didn’t use his Omni Perception; as stated earlier, he was here to maximize this training, to refine his instincts without reliance on overwhelming advantages.

Before Asher could even cross twenty meters into the forest, the ground he was standing on abruptly gave way as though he had stepped into a perfectly concealed trap. His body immediately plummeted downward as the dark hole beneath him yawned open to swallow him whole. His eyes snapped downward in an instant, catching sight of pointed spearheads positioned toward the sky, gleaming faintly even in the dim light, ready to tear through his body without hesitation.

Asher remained calm, his mind and eyes clear, unshaken by the sudden danger as he immediately transitioned into an evasive maneuver. Although it had been stated that no abilities or Astra energy were to be used, nothing had been mentioned about basic-level Techniques, or even Techniques in general, leaving room for interpretation.

But Asher wasn’t going to use any form of Technique unless absolutely necessary. While still midair, he immediately shifted his body to the side with precise control, the soles of his feet meeting the walls of the pit. Using them as a temporary foothold, he pushed himself upward with controlled force, his body shooting out of the dark hole with a fluid and graceful motion that wasted no movement.

Asher’s mind flickered with quiet contemplation. As someone who was on the verge of stepping into the Firmstar Life Rank, certain weapons had become meaningless against him, meaning he could tank them without suffering any real harm. However, those spearheads he had just avoided were not among such trivial threats; they were weapons capable of tearing through his skin with disturbing ease, indicating a deliberate calibration of danger.

Asher couldn’t help but wonder how Instructor Sane, or rather, the trap mechanisms themselves, were designed to differentiate between weaker students and stronger ones. After all, everyone had scattered in different directions, making individualized adjustments seemingly difficult to execute.

After a brief moment of thought, Asher arrived at a logical conclusion: Instructor Sane must have distributed both low-level and high-level weapons throughout the forest, ensuring that every participant encountered a balanced mixture of threats regardless of their path.

Asher landed lightly on his feet, the moment his soles made contact with the ground, he pushed off again without hesitation, continuing forward without slowing down for even a fraction of a second. As he covered more distance, he suddenly heard the air split violently from above, as though something massive was descending from the sky itself. His head snapped upward instantly, and what he saw confirmed the danger, tens of thick wooden poles dropping mercilessly, each one carrying enough force to crush a student into nothingness upon impact.

Asher’s eyes flashed faintly as his mind drifted to the movie Final Destination, as this particular scenario involving falling wooden logs had left a lasting impression on an entire generation who had seen it.

He shook his head almost immediately; he didn’t have the luxury of indulging in such thoughts. A normal person would have dodged, increased their speed, or attempted to escape the danger zone entirely, but Asher did the opposite. His mind, operating with sharp precision, arrived at a unique and calculated solution. Without missing a beat, he jumped upward, directly toward the descending thick wooden poles.

He didn’t punch them, nor did he kick or attack them in any conventional manner. Instead, he landed on their vertical surfaces and began running along their frames even as they continued their downward descent under the pull of gravity. Asher could feel the strain immediately, the unnatural pull on his center of gravity, the bracelet around his waist restricting his movements, his arms swinging slower than usual, his legs feeling heavy as though he were running through thick mud.

But did Asher care? Not in the slightest. What mattered here was not raw speed, but efficiency, precision, and flawless calculation.

He leaped from one descending pole to another with fluid agility, like a winged predator dancing through the air, defying gravity and the very laws of physics without relying on Astra energy. His timing was impeccable, his movements sharp and deliberate, as though he himself had designed this training exercise and was simply executing it as intended.

Then came the impact.

With a deafening, brutal cacophony, the wooden beams slammed into the ground below, tearing apart chunks of earth and sending soil and debris flying in every direction. Trees were shattered into fragments upon impact, their massive forms reduced to splinters as shockwaves rippled outward. Dust and sandstorms erupted violently, surging forward with overwhelming speed and destructive force, transforming the entire area into a chaotic, apocalyptic scene. After all, wooden beams powerful enough to fell trees taller than skyscrapers were far from trivial hazards.

Everything was swallowed in destruction, the air thick with swirling dust and churning sand, visibility reduced to almost nothing.

This was precisely the catastrophe Asher had intended to avoid. This devastating aftermath was the reason he chose to confront the falling poles directly rather than evade them entirely. It wasn’t like dodging a simple arrow, where one could just dodge to the side and be done with it. Here, even evasion came with consequences, the resulting impact would still reach him, and without a reliable means of defense, the aftermath alone could inflict serious injuries.

Asher pushed off from the final descending pole, his body soaring above the destruction below. His feet met the branch of a nearby tree with considerable force, yet the branch didn’t even seem to acknowledge the impact, remaining steady beneath him.

Maintaining his momentum, Asher stayed within the canopy, leaping from one branch to another with seamless fluidity, his movements resembling that of a highly agile primate navigating its natural domain. Despite the restrictive effects of the bracelets designed to hinder his movement and efficiency, such limitations proved almost meaningless against someone of Asher’s caliber who possessed almost perfect control over his body at this level.

As he continued moving, his instincts suddenly flared with danger. Without hesitation, he propelled himself backward in a sudden burst of speed, his body arcing toward a branch he had just vacated moments earlier. The instant he moved, a massive net, resembling a reinforced fishing net, sliced through the space he had occupied.

The moment the net made contact with the surrounding trees, the branches, trunks, and canopy, it triggered a violent reaction. Everything it touched exploded into fragments, reduced to splinters and debris in an instant.

Asher didn’t even attempt to block the incoming shards of wood that shot toward him at high velocity. Instead, he tanked them directly, allowing his body to absorb the impact along with the accompanying shockwave. He didn’t remain suspended in place for long, and sensing yet another threat from above, he immediately dove downward, his body cutting through the air as he descended rapidly toward the forest floor.

Asher landed with controlled grace, his posture stable and composed. However, the moment his feet touched the ground, a faint frown appeared on his face... he had landed directly on a tripwire, thin yet unmistakably present beneath his feet, its subtle tension hinting at another imminent and potentially far more dangerous trap waiting to be unleashed.

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