37 Chapter 37

*Hop* *Hop* *Hop*

The sound of Acht jumping from one tile to another was the only thing that could be heard in this room. He had already made almost 100 meters into the test and he was still fairly fine. It took a toll on his mind to keep being concentrated on every step he had to make. But, with all of that in mind, it was still easy. At least, it was easier than the previous one.

As he continued to move, and when he was almost at the 110 meters mark, he heard a sound coming from ahead of him. It was the sound of something clicking once. The same sound that he heard before a barrage of arrows came after him.

'They can't be serious.' He almost didn't believe his ears but he nevertheless prepared himself for the worst. If he had to also deal with arrows while moving in this deadly maze then the difficulty would spike greatly.

Unfortunately, his ears didn't betray him and he saw almost 15 arrows coming after him. He pulled out his sword and jumped to the next tile while deflecting as many arrows as he could.

Luckily, they weren't as fast as the other ones so he had an easier time deflecting them.

When he landed on the ground, he had to jump again since he was a little bit late in his landing so he lost a big chunk of the time he had to make a move again.

*Znnnn*

The moment his feet left the previous tile, three huge spikes appeared there immediately. If he was late by even a fraction of a second, he could've died or got heavily injured.

Then, a few moments later, the clicking sound came again and he had to fend off arrows again. However, Acht's worry didn't lay in these normal arrows but the ones that could track him. They were the ones that could kill him if he even made a small mishap.

Luckily, no tracking arrows came after him. He felt slightly relieved but that didn't mean he shouldn't anticipate them coming after him.

'I need to find another way to pass this room. but, how?' He thought to himself with a conflicted look. He knew that there was another way to pass and make it easier for him to evade the arrows but he couldn't find it.

Then, in the next round of arrows, what he worried about happened. One of the arrows was a tracking one that followed him. With no other choice, Acht jumped highly in the air and pushed himself against the wall. Then, with his left leg, he made a jump to the next tile and landed safely.

"Tsk…I should've expected it." He clicked his tongue as he looked at his left arm. There was an arrow plunged into his left arm and dug deep into his flesh.

He wasn't bleeding much so he reckoned he should pull out the arrow. With his right hand, he grabbed the arrow and pulled it strongly in one single swipe. The arrow left his arm and splattered his blood on the ground.

,m Acht clenched his teeth in pain and cut a small piece of his clothes before tying it around his arm. It wasn't an optimal solution but it was the best he could come up with in such a situation where he was on the move constantly.

"Wait…" his eyes landed on the wall he jumped on previously and an idea popped in his head. It was quite ridiculous and very reckless but he thought that it was worth the try.

Without any time to waste, he tried it without any hesitation.

With one swift move, he jumped on the wall again but this time, he simultaneously used his gift. Then, when his legs landed on the wall, he applied gravity to himself to stay stuck to the wall.

With that, he was able to stay on the wall without falling. Then, with steady steps, he started moving quickly to the end. It wasn't easy at all to keep himself stuck to the wall since it was almost as though he was making himself float. He had to bear the weight of his body and also the strong gravity of the planet all at the same time.

Yet, with all those difficulties, the idea seemed to work amazingly well. He now had more space to move on which meant an easier time dealing with the arrows.

He kept running and running to the finish line, he had no idea how long it was but he was sure that if he didn't move quickly, he would tire out before he could even see the end.

Approximately 5 minutes later, he saw what he was looking for. The sea of tiles that filled his eyes finally ended and the normal grey stone ground took its place again.

He hastened his steps to reach it faster. But, when he was almost 60 meters away from it. Something weird happened.

The walls that he was running on started moving on their own. They were closing up as if they wanted to trap him.

"What the hell?!" Acht blurted out in surprise and quickened his pace. He still had some distance he needed to cross and his head was now almost touching the other wall.

With no other choice, he put his hands up and tried to hold it for longer so he could pass but that didn't work out well.

'Shit' he cursed as he tried to think of something to do. Then, he quickly rummaged through his spatial ring for anything that could help him.

"Come on!" He muttered as he took a peak above him. The walls now were so close that he had to run while crouching down like a hunchback.

"Where is it?...It should be here."

One of the shortcomings of these rings is that the more you put inside the ring, the harder it is to find the said thing. He had to manually search around the ring for it and find the object so he could get it out.

"Found it!" He felt relieved and pulled it out. It was a 60kg dumbbell that was at least 50cm long. He had bought it for his physical training along with some other training materials so he never thought it would come in handy in a dangerous situation like this.

Then, without any hesitation, he put the dumbbell in between the two walls. Acht was now flat on his belly as he moved so the dumbbell was able to hold off the two walls from crushing him into a meat paste.

But, he knew that it wouldn't be for long so he moved as fast as he could.

*Ziiiiii*

The sound of the dumbbell getting crushed under the sheet pressure of the two walls reached his ears.

*Boom*

Then, with a loud sound, the dumbbell was destroyed and the wall fully closed, crushing everything inside ruthlessly.

Acht looked behind him as he breathed heavily and shook his head slightly.

"It's funny how in the contract, they said 'potential lethal danger'. They are outright trying to kill every contestant." He said with a mocking smile. He was sure that more than half of the contestants would die in these ordeals since he couldn't see some beginner passing them. These types of traps need experience, extremely fast reflexes, good control over the body, and a calm and collected mind that will think properly even when it was taken by surprise.

Acht then sat down on the ground to rest for a moment. He needed to regain his energy before continuing so he took out a stamina potion and drank it slowly. He felt the effect immediately as his body regained its vigor and liveliness.

After resting for 10 minutes, he resumed his journey. He wasn't really sure what was the next thing he had to pass but he was still ready for it.

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At the same time, somewhere else, a mysterious person was watching Acht as he moved inside the corridors and how he dealt with every trap. The person was impressed by his new ways of dealing with these traps. But, what caught this person's attention the most was the power he was using.

"What is that?" The person muttered with a calm tone. He had never seen an element that could have such effects.

That was why his interest in Acht peaked and the person didn't waste any time ordering one of its subordinates. (it's not clear if this person is a man or a woman so I used 'it')

"That kid…Get me all the information you could about him. I want it in my hands in 5…no, 3 minutes." It said without even looking at the person standing behind it.

"Yes, your Majesty." The subordinate said with utmost respect before disappearing into the shadows as if he never existed.

The person kept watching the kid quietly, its eyes were locked on him not even averting them for a moment. It was captivated by his movements.

"What an interesting child." Muttered the voice with a small smile on its face.

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