The Ultimate Art of Combat

Crack!

When the third crisp sound of a branch snapping rang out,

the three youths all realized the severity of the situation.

"Let's stop for now."

The young man who had always been the leader spoke softly.

There was no loud commotion.

He merely spoke slowly and deliberately:

"We've already seen the second trap."

"We can predict that the third trap will probably be the same. And there may very well be a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, and many, many more ahead."

"We have to admit it."

"Tactically speaking, we've been deceived."

"This is a cunning enemy. He used our vigilance to lure us deeper into the forest step by step, guiding us into destroying the light that posed the greatest threat to him—the campfire we had lit earlier."

"So, we can currently confirm three things..."

"First, this cunning enemy is very confident in night combat. Or perhaps the spirit art he cultivates is related to assassination and darkness attributes."

"Second, we've already lost the initiative. We simply can't go back and relight the campfire. Even if we did go back and light it, the flash of fire at that moment would definitely expose our position. We would inevitably have to devote some of our attention to the campfire, and that would be his best opportunity to strike. We can't guard against this, because it's an obvious open conspiracy."

"Third, if we continue forward, we'll very likely fall into this enemy's trap. Judging from the branch traps at every location, there is most likely more than one enemy, because a single person could not possibly complete such complicated work while timing it so precisely."

The slightly immature girl nodded.

Her hand had remained clenched into a fist from beginning to end.

Her fingers pressed against her cuff.

From the