Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 728: Human Silhouette

Asher’s figure was a blur. Despite the weight on his body coming from the bracelets and the training jumpsuit he was wearing, his speed was still astonishingly fast. His purple eyes were fixed on a particularly large hill, and without a shred of hesitation, he shot towards it with his weapon, a pole, firmly in hand. Reaching the foot of the hill, he immediately began to climb without halting, his senses peaking as he prepared himself for any form of danger while never slowing down his pace.

The moment he climbed further upward, he heard something cut sharply through the air. Asher’s eyes immediately snapped towards it. It was a tongue, tearing outward from one of the bushes concealing whatever hid within. Asher instantly stepped to the side as he dodged, his left hand shooting outward as he caught the tongue, his palm instantly feeling the disgusting wet saliva coating it, but he didn’t react. He simply pulled it forward with force.

The moment he pulled, a huge toad burst out from the bushes violently. The instant it became airborne, its eyes locked onto Asher, its throat enlarging grotesquely, and without missing a beat, it spat a blob of unknown substance directly towards him.

Asher didn’t dare take whatever was spat at him head-on. He immediately released the tongue and blurred forward. The moment the blob splattered across the ground, the earth hissed loudly and began to melt rapidly, but Asher paid it no attention, he had already closed the distance between himself and the monster.

His hand streaked upward as he swung his pole towards the head of the toad with calm finesse, not using more strength than necessary. And like an overripe watermelon, the monster’s head burst apart violently. Asher vanished from where he stood, not allowing the gore and blood to stain him, the monster’s carcass collapsing against the ground with a heavy thud moments later.

Asher didn’t spare it another glance. He simply continued moving forward. His goal here was the peak of the hill, everything else was merely a distraction meant to slow him down. But before he could move much farther, another projectile tore through the air. This time, instead of coming from the side like before, it descended from the sky itself.

Asher’s eyes tore upward instantly. There, he saw a rain of iron feathers tearing towards him with frightening speed.

Asher’s hand rose immediately, his pole spinning with dexterous ease as he formed a spinning shield that deflected every single feather to the side effortlessly. His knees immediately dipped forward, the earth sinking beneath his feet, and with a booming sound, he shot towards the sky like a missile as he raced directly towards the huge bird.

SCCCCREEEECHHH!!!

The bird screeched sharply as it saw him approaching. Without missing a beat, it flapped its wings powerfully and dodged to the side, evading Asher’s pole strike with precision. After all, the sky was its natural domain. While dodging, the bird unleashed another barrage of feather attacks upon the airborne Asher, who simply blocked again using the same method as before.

But Asher didn’t have his Astra Energy this time. He couldn’t defy gravity like he usually did, limiting the number of ways he could deal with his current enemy. The moment he reached the peak of his ascent, gravity reclaimed control and began dragging him downward.

But Asher wasn’t bothered.

His hand simply snapped backward, muscles tightening as veins bulged visibly across his arm, and with even greater force, he hurled his pole forward as though it had been launched from an artillery weapon.

The huge bird was caught off guard, and like a cannon blast, the pole tore through its thick body hide with brutal force as though it were nothing but fragile paper. The pole smashed into the earth with a booming sound, blasting dust and debris outward violently.

Asher descended under the pull of gravity, his feet landing atop the pole with gentle and controlled motion. With a flick of his dexterous feet, the pole left the earth and spun back into his hand seamlessly as he continued his race towards the peak.

Asher encountered various types of monsters and beasts along the way, but he simply dispatched every single one of them with one or two attacks depending on the situation. He aimed for nowhere except vital points.

Every strike was clean, every movement was calculated.

Every attack carried the least amount of wasted motion possible.

He had already spent over an hour ascending the hill, yet the monsters seemed endless. The more he moved upward, the more he encountered.

’It seems the real combat will be at the peak,’ Asher thought calmly as he continued moving, because the monsters and beasts he was meeting here were simply too weak to truly challenge him.

Originally, he had thought he would encounter a group of instructors who would fight him as he ascended towards the top of the hill, but he had been wrong.

’These monsters and beasts are here to deplete our stamina and strength before we even arrive at the top,’ Asher concluded internally, his pace and breathing remaining perfectly steady. There had been no time limit given, so there was no reason to push his speed to its utmost limit and waste unnecessary energy.

As Asher was deep in thought, a whip suddenly lashed outward towards him. Without missing a beat, he ducked instantly, dodging the attack in one seamless motion. The moment he dodged, his eyes locked onto the whip... but it wasn’t a whip at all. It was a long vine-like tentacle elongating from one of the trees nearby.

Asher immediately zipped forward, his pole smashing into the tree monster before it could even react properly, its bark and entire body exploding outward violently.

But the moment Asher killed one, more appeared, tens of vines flashed towards him simultaneously from different directions. Asher immediately stepped backward, his body zigzagging through the attacks as he read every single movement calmly and precisely.

Each vine slammed into the earth with tremendous force, tearing chunks of land apart effortlessly and displaying the sheer power each strike possessed.

Asher continued to dodge smoothly, his purple eyes dancing within their sockets as he tracked every incoming attack. Anytime he attempted to move forward, a new vine was already there blocking the path ahead and preventing his advance.

Asher understood that he couldn’t dodge forever, and since advancing through the ground wasn’t working, he simply chose another method entirely.

He immediately leaped upward, his feet lightly kissing the surfaces of the attacking vines. Without missing a beat, he ran across them effortlessly, leaping from one vine to another with seamless precision and balance.

The moment he closed the distance, his pole tore outward with wicked force, his body becoming a blur as he smashed every single tree monster directly across their bark-covered bodies, their forms exploded outward into countless splinters and fragments.

Asher exhaled calmly afterward, not even slightly winded. His eyes shifted toward the peak once more.

He was almost there.

From his current distance, he could already make out what seemed to be a human silhouette waiting silently at the summit.

Without wasting any more time, Asher shot forward towards his target.