Chapter 298 - 1 V 3

After some time, Asher finally reached the special area. When he arrived, he looked around and quickly noticed that there was no one else there.

He was the first person to reach the area. There were still twenty minutes remaining on the timer, which meant he had plenty of time to wait for someone else.

Asher remained inside the barrier while keeping his guard up. He knew that other students would eventually arrive at the area, and he didn’t want to be caught off guard.

And he was right.

After waiting for around five minutes, a girl finally appeared. She came out of the forest and stopped just outside the barrier, looking around carefully.

Her clothes were slightly dirty and stained with dirt and leaves from traveling through the forest. She also had a bow in her hand, which she held tightly.

As soon as she saw Asher standing inside the barrier, the girl’s face immediately went blank. Her expression quickly changed into one of fear.

She instinctively raised one hand toward her face, almost as if she were trying to protect it. The sight of Asher seemed to remind her of something from the past.

She didn’t even wait for a moment.

The girl immediately stepped backward and slowly began moving away from the special area while keeping her eyes fixed on Asher.

She was clearly wary of turning her back toward him, as if she expected Asher to attack the moment she stopped watching him.

Asher watched the girl slowly moving away from the area. He looked genuinely confused by her reaction and then muttered in surprise, "Ohh, I am more ugly than I thought I am."

The girl had only moved a short distance away when two more people suddenly arrived from different directions.

Asher and the girl both turned their attention toward the newcomers. One of the two boys was holding a spear in his hand, while the other had a sword.

For a moment, everyone simply looked at each other.

Asher stood inside the barrier, while the other three remained outside. Nobody immediately moved, as they seemed to be trying to understand the situation.

Asher looked at the three students standing outside and then raised his hand toward his mouth, as if he were about to say something.

However, he suddenly stopped.

He lowered his hand and looked at his empty palm before muttering in slight annoyance, "Tsk, tsk. I really need juice."

The three students stared at Asher in silence.

Their gazes moved from Asher to each other, then back toward Asher again. They seemed to communicate silently without saying a single word.

After looking at each other for another moment, all three slowly nodded.

Asher watched the strange exchange with confusion. He looked from one person to another before finally muttering, "Huh... what is this new nodding game?"

None of them answered, and then all three of them moved inside the barrier at the same time. Their expressions were serious, and none of them looked like they were joking anymore.

The girl immediately raised her bow, and an arrow appeared in her hand. Archers had an unlimited supply of arrows inside the test, so she didn’t need to worry about running out.

The three students positioned themselves around Asher from different directions, trying to surround him. Asher calmly looked at each of them one by one, observing their positions without showing any signs of nervousness.

The girl stretched the string of her bow and carefully positioned the arrow against it. She kept her eyes fixed on Asher while waiting for the right moment to release the arrow.

Meanwhile, the other two students started moving toward Asher from different directions. Asher calmly looked at both of them one by one before finally deciding to move toward the boy holding the sword.

The boy was coming toward Asher while holding his sword with both hands. When he noticed Asher moving directly toward him, his expression became slightly nervous.

However, he quickly regained his calmness and tightened his grip around his sword. He continued moving forward, preparing himself for the moment when their swords finally met.

Asher continued moving toward the boy, completely ignoring the other two students for the moment. His attention remained focused on the swordsman standing directly in front of him.

Then, the girl finally released the arrow.

The arrow immediately shot forward, moving toward the approaching Asher with frightening speed. It cut through the air as it rapidly closed the distance between them.

Asher noticed the incoming arrow through his peripheral vision. He didn’t even turn his head toward it. Instead, he simply stopped for a moment and shifted his body away.

The arrow passed just beside Asher, missing him by a small distance. However, at that exact moment, the boy with the sword was already directly in front of him.

The boy’s sword was already in motion, cutting toward Asher’s throat. Asher immediately raised his sword and deflected the incoming blade with a quick and precise movement.

The force of the clash pushed the boy’s sword away from its original trajectory. Asher used that opening and suddenly jumped upward, leaving the ground beneath him.

Just then, the tip of a spear passed through the exact position where Asher had been standing only a moment earlier. The spear narrowly missed him as he remained in the air.

Asher was still suspended above the ground when the boy with the sword suddenly raised his free hand and fired a mana bullet directly toward him.

Asher immediately reacted and fired his own mana bullet toward the incoming projectile. The two mana bullets collided in midair and struck each other directly.

The two projectiles canceled each other out, disappearing before either could reach its target. The swordsman was visibly surprised by what had happened.

There was barely two meters of distance between him and Asher, yet Asher had still managed to fire his mana bullet along almost the exact same trajectory.

The boy hadn’t expected Asher to react so quickly while he was still in the air. For a brief moment, his expression showed genuine surprise at Asher’s timing.

However, Asher’s trouble wasn’t over yet