None of them had expected this.

The same was true for the student fighting Asher. He did not have enough time to block the attack and could only attempt to move away.

But Asher was faster. Before the elf student could evade, two long scars had already appeared across his back in the shape of a cross.

"Ahhh!"

The opponent let out a cry of pain.

His uniform was torn apart, and blood streamed down his back.

He glared at Asher with eyes filled with rage.

The wounds were neither too deep nor too shallow, but they were enough to cause a steady loss of blood. He quickly used mana to temporarily stop the bleeding.

His teammates rushed to his side. One positioned himself in front of him while the other stood behind, shielding him from further attacks.

Asher glanced at the three of them before turning to his left and casually deflecting an incoming arrow with his mana blade.

He then looked toward the archer and said,

"You are too slow. I am saying this to provoke you, but it is also the truth."

The archer’s expression darkened with anger as he poised an arrow on his bow.

Asher merely sighed.

"This is becoming rather boring. So now, I am going to end it in a way that you will never forget. Every time you remember this battle, you will tremble in fear and think twice before making the foolish decision of attacking someone who simply prefers peace."

The four students immediately became more alert.

They were no longer underestimating him because he was alone. They had already realized that Asher’s speed made it nearly impossible to corner him or launch coordinated attacks against him. As a result, they chose to remain together and focus on defense.

Meanwhile, the archer continued changing his position.

The battlefield was densely surrounded by trees, limiting their use of projectile attacks. Hitting Asher was already difficult, and they also had to avoid striking the surrounding trees.

Asher calmly observed them before gathering mana in one of his palms.

The mana began rotating rapidly, gradually forming a dense sphere.

The archer immediately fired an arrow in an attempt to interrupt him, but Asher effortlessly deflected it with a mana blade manifested in his free hand.

The next moment, Asher vanished from his position and appeared directly in front of the trio, thrusting the mana sphere toward them.

The student at the front instinctively raised his blade to defend.

The sword collided with the mana sphere and managed to hold for a brief moment.

However, it soon began to tremble violently under the immense rotational force generated by the sphere.

He could not afford to let that attack reach his body. It looked far too dangerous.

Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, Asher vanished once again after the sphere made contact with the blade.

The defender’s face twisted into confusion and panic.

Confusion because he could not understand why Asher had retreated.

Panic because he knew something was about to happen.

The other two quickly scanned their surroundings but found no trace of Asher nearby. Moments later, they spotted him standing at a distance, calmly watching them.

Then he spoke in an even tone.

"If I were you, I wouldn’t stay near the person defending against my attack."

Both of them frowned in confusion.

At that moment, the student holding back the mana sphere noticed something horrifying.

The densely compressed sphere had begun expanding at a frightening speed the instant Asher disappeared. It had already engulfed the sword and was rapidly consuming his arms up to the elbows.

Realizing the danger, he immediately leaped away from his position.

But he did so without his sword.

And without the two arms that had already been consumed by the expanding mana sphere.

The other two students, who had been standing behind him, also retreated the moment they understood what had happened to their teammate.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

The only thing that could be heard was the scream of the student who had lost both of his arms.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

He fell to his knees while screaming in pain. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Blood was flowing from both of his shoulders.

His teammates immediately moved toward him.

Their faces were full of shock.

They had seen the mana sphere engulf the sword and the arms of their teammate, but seeing it happen right in front of them still felt unreal.

The archer looked at the place where the mana sphere had expanded.

The sphere had already dissolved into mana, and now only the sword and the blood-soaked ground remained in its place.

Cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

If that attack had hit someone’s body directly, the result would have been much worse.

Meanwhile Asher simply stood calmly.

His expression did not change at all.

It was as if what had just happened was something normal for him.

The injured student quickly used mana to slow down the bleeding while his teammates helped him.

Asher then simply vanished once again and appeared right beside the Archer. In a single motion, he slashed at the Archer’s arm with his mana blade. The Archer could do nothing to defend against the attack; the mana blade easily made contact with his arm and sliced straight through it.

The arm fell to the ground.

It had been cleanly cut, and before the Archer could even scream, Asher dissolved the mana blade and punched the elf in the face until he fainted.

The guy who had lost his arm also fainted due to blood loss and intense pain.

Then both of them were teleported away and eliminated from the test.

A mechanical voice confirmed their elimination.

Then Asher looked at his bracelet. Only 15 minutes were left before the next position reveal.

And due to the sound of the fighting, nearby students must have also been heading here to third-party the battle.

So Asher looked at the remaining two and said, "Let’s finish this quickly now. I don’t have enough time."