CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 724: Tripwire [Castle Bonus - ]

Asher vanished from his position, his form blurring into the dense forest in a transition so smooth it was nearly imperceptible. Though the speed felt 'slow' to him, it remained astonishingly rapid by any ordinary measure.

The forest's deep darkness and profound silence enveloped him completely as he maintained a steady, disciplined gait. His gaze remained intensely fixed forward, his hearing hyper-vigilant, attuned to any potential threat that might impede his journey. He consciously refrained from employing his Omni Perception; the express purpose of this training was to hone his instincts, developing them without the crutch of overwhelming advantages.

Before Asher had even advanced twenty meters into the woods, the very ground beneath him abruptly dissolved as if he had stumbled into a masterfully hidden snare. His body plunged downward instantly, the dark chasm opening wide to swallow him whole. His eyes snapped towards the abyss, catching a glimpse of spearheads pointed skyward, shimmering faintly even in the muted light, poised to impale him without mercy.

Asher's composure held firm, his mind and vision unclouded, utterly unfazed by the sudden peril. He immediately initiated an evasive maneuver. While the rule explicitly forbade the use of abilities or Astra energy, it remained silent on basic-level Techniques, or Techniques in general, leaving a sliver of ambiguity.

However, Asher had no intention of resorting to any Technique unless absolute necessity dictated it. While still suspended in mid-air, he expertly shifted his body sideways with meticulous control. The soles of his feet found purchase against the pit's earthen walls, which he utilized as fleeting platforms. With controlled force, he propelled himself upward, his body erupting from the dark hole in a fluid, economical motion that wasted zero energy.

A quiet thoughtfulness settled upon Asher's mind. As an individual on the cusp of the Firmstar Life Rank, certain types of weaponry had become trivial, incapable of inflicting significant harm. Yet, the spearheads he had just narrowly avoided were far from insignificant; they possessed the terrifying capacity to rend his flesh with unsettling ease, betraying a deliberate calibration of threat.

Asher couldn't help but ponder the design philosophy behind Instructor Sane's methods, or perhaps the trap mechanisms themselves. How did they discern between students of lesser and greater strength? Given that participants had dispersed in all directions, implementing tailored adjustments seemed extraordinarily complex.

After a fleeting moment of contemplation, Asher reached a reasonable hypothesis: Instructor Sane must have strategically seeded the forest with a variety of weapons, encompassing both low-tier and high-tier threats, thereby guaranteeing that each participant would encounter a balanced spectrum of dangers, irrespective of their chosen path.

Landing with feather-light grace, the instant his feet touched the ground, Asher pushed off again without a second's hesitation, continuing his forward momentum without any discernible deceleration. As he covered more territory, a violent tearing sound split the air from above, suggestive of something colossal descending from the heavens. His head snapped upward instantly, and the sight that greeted him confirmed the imminent danger: scores of thick wooden poles plummeted mercilessly, each imbued with sufficient momentum to pulverize a student into oblivion upon impact.

A faint glint flickered in Asher's eyes as his mind momentarily drifted to the film *Final Destination*. The specific scenario involving falling wooden logs had left an indelible mark on an entire generation that had witnessed its chilling depiction.

He shook his head almost instantly; indulging such musings was a luxury he could not afford. A typical individual would have sought to evade, increase their velocity, or escape the peril zone entirely. Asher, however, opted for the opposite. His mind, operating with razor-sharp acuity, formulated a singular, calculated resolution. Without missing a beat, he leaped upward, directly towards the descending wooden poles.

He neither punched, kicked, nor engaged them with any conventional form of assault. Instead, he landed upon their vertical surfaces and commenced running along their exteriors, even as they continued their relentless descent under gravity's unyielding pull. Asher immediately registered the strain – the unnatural skewing of his center of gravity, the restrictive drag of the bracelet cinched around his waist, his arms swinging with reduced fluidity, his legs feeling leaden, as though wading through viscous mire.

But did Asher falter? Not in the slightest. The paramount concern here was not brute speed, but rather efficiency, precision, and flawless execution of calculation.

He vaulted from one falling pole to the next with agile grace, much like an avian hunter pirouetting through the sky, defying both gravity and the fundamental laws of physics without recourse to Astra energy. His temporal judgment was flawless, his movements sharp and purposeful, conveying the impression that he himself had devised this very training regimen and was merely enacting it precisely as intended.

Then came the impact.

With a thunderous, savage din, the immense wooden beams crashed onto the earth, excavating large portions of soil and flinging dirt and debris in all directions. Trees were obliterated into fragments upon impact, their colossal forms reduced to splinters as shockwaves radiated outwards. Storms of dust and sand erupted with violent intensity, surging forward with unstoppable speed and destructive power, turning the entire vicinity into a scene of utter chaos and devastation. After all, wooden beams of such magnitude, capable of felling trees that dwarfed skyscrapers, were far from insignificant dangers.

Everything was engulfed in the destructive fury; the air grew thick with swirling dust and churning sand, reducing visibility to near zero.

This was precisely the catastrophic outcome Asher had strived to avert. This devastating aftermath was the very reason he opted to confront the descending poles directly instead of attempting complete evasion. It wasn't akin to dodging a simple arrow, where one might simply veer aside and be finished with it. In this scenario, even evasion carried repercussions; the resulting impact would still reach him, and without a robust means of defense, the aftermath alone could inflict severe injuries.

Propelling himself off the final descending pole, Asher's body soared above the wreckage below. His feet made contact with a nearby tree branch with considerable force, yet the branch barely registered the impact, remaining steadfast beneath him.

Maintaining his velocity, Asher stayed within the dense foliage, vaulting from one branch to another with effortless fluidity. His movements mimicked those of an exceptionally agile primate navigating its natural habitat. Despite the restrictive encumbrances of the bracelets, designed to impede his mobility and effectiveness, such limitations proved virtually inconsequential against an individual of Asher's caliber, who possessed near-perfect mastery over his physical form at this level.

As he continued his swift passage, his instincts suddenly screamed of impending danger. Without a moment's hesitation, he propelled himself backward in a sudden surge of speed, his form arcing towards a branch he had vacated mere moments prior. The instant he initiated his movement, a colossal net, resembling a reinforced fishing net, sliced through the very space he had occupied.

The very moment the net made contact with the surrounding arboreal structures—the branches, trunks, and canopy—it provoked a violent reaction. Everything it ensnared disintegrated into fragments, instantaneously reduced to splinters and scattered debris.

Asher did not even attempt to deflect the shards of wood that hurtled towards him at high velocities. Instead, he endured them directly, allowing his physique to absorb the impact and the accompanying shockwave. He lingered not in this position for long; sensing another threat originating from above, he immediately plunged downwards, his body cutting through the air as he descended rapidly towards the forest floor.

Asher touched down with practiced grace, his stance balanced and composed. However, the very instant his feet met the ground, a subtle frown creased his brow… he had landed directly upon a tripwire, slender yet undeniably present beneath his feet, its faint tension betraying the imminent activation of another trap, potentially far more perilous.

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