After passing by the tree.
He heard nothing.
Except…
A faint buzzing.
A thin glimmer flashed through the air.
A thin, severed wire!
And at that very moment, Haiven’s pupils contracted to their absolute limit !
An overwhelming warning of mortal danger struck his mind !
As though time itself had stopped for a few moments…
He did not turn around.
He did not think.
He simply tilted his body and head at full speed…
SHRIIK !
The arrow passed right beside his neck!
Silence…
He had managed to evade it…
Yet he did not feel the pain immediately…
Silence…
A moment…
Then another…
A drop of blood…
Then another…
He placed his hand on his neck.
He looked at it.
It was stained with blood!
His expression tightened as he thought:
“This trap is different…”
“No warning.”
“No indication.”
“Just an arrow aimed at the most blind spot!”
“If I had been a single moment late…”
“Would I have even realized how I died?”
“This trap…”
“It is worse than a hundred visible arrows!”
“It is deadly silence!”
“It is approaching the point of evaluating the warrior’s very instincts!”
“I never expected them to take it this far.”
He stopped for a second…
“Are they really intending to turn this into a massacre?!”
He caught sight of the approaching contestants in the distance.
He hesitated for a moment and thought:
“They’re approaching. Damn it, I don’t have time to warn them.”
“Or…”
“Maybe I shouldn’t do that in the first place…”
The wind blew…
his long black hair fluttered, and a cold expression settled over his face…
He pulled a bandage from his pocket, quickly wrapped it around his neck, and continued running.
…
As he ran, Haiven noticed a sign in the distance bearing the words Fourth Quarter.
Haiven glanced back from the corner of his eye.
There were around ten people, and the closest one was more than twenty meters behind him.
And the moment they noticed the sign, it was as though a virus had infected them.
Some of them grew tense, some began sweating heavily, and some started running like mad, completely disregarding the danger of the traps!
Haiven noticed this and narrowed his eyes slightly, beginning to slow his pace…
Little by little, the first one passed him…
The second passed him…
The third…
The fourth passed beside him and mocked him:
“Loser…”
The fifth passed beside him and mocked him:
“Are you exhausted already?”
Haiven ignored him and continued falling back until he was behind all ten!
He stared at the boy who had taken the lead and thought:
“Thirty meters…”
“Good…”
He shifted his gaze and noticed the expressions of happiness and pride filling their faces, then continued thinking:
“After everything I’ve seen, I’ve become certain of one thing.”
“The most dangerous thing about this test isn’t the difficulty of the traps…”
“But their cunning!”
…
Only a few seconds passed before, just a few meters after they crossed the sign…
One of them heard a faint springing sound.
Then, immediately, within a fraction of a second, a spear shot out of the ground at an angle, less than a meter away!
He noticed it at once, tilted his body to the right, and evaded the first spear.
Then he leaped to the left and skillfully evaded the second spear.
And just when he thought he had finished with this ordinary trap…
His pupils contracted to their absolute limit.
He swiftly pivoted on his heel, tilted his body at a sharp angle, and barely evaded the third spear!
The fourth spear came straight at him.
His balance was already compromised.
In the final moments, he tried to activate his Yurvana, but…
He was far too late…
The spear had already pierced through his chest…
He died, leaving behind only his right hand, barely glowing with Yurvana…
Haiven’s eyes widened as he thought:
“No…”
“This pattern… is different…”
“As if the trap itself has evolved?!”
Someone passed beside a tree and heard a faint buzzing sound.
Haiven noticed a glimmer in the air and immediately realized something…
And before that person could even understand exactly what was happening, a barrage of arrows came from the tops of the enormous trees, heading straight toward him!
He quickly pulled his shield from his back and tried to block the arrows.
But…
Suddenly, his shield fell.
His robe became stained with blood.
He collapsed to the ground, dead, with blood pouring from his neck!
An arrow had struck him in the neck from behind, targeting the blind spot in his vision while he was blocking the arrows coming from the front.
Haiven stammered in shock and muttered:
“Impossible!”
“Even this trap has evolved…”