Absolute Cheater - Chapter 532
Chapter 532: Ruins End
The explosion shook the entire bay.
Heat.
Smoke.
Metal fragments flying everywhere.
But Asher stayed calm.
He dropped down behind a fallen crate, using it as cover as the shockwave rolled past him. The Knight dove behind the same crate, landing beside him with a rough grunt.
For a few long seconds, neither of them moved.
Only the sound of burning metal and collapsing machinery filled the air.
Finally, Asher let out a slow breath.
“…Well,” he said calmly, “that was loud.”
The Knight coughed once. “Loud? It nearly killed us.”
Asher shrugged lightly. “Yeah, but it didn’t. So I’m counting that as a win.”
The smoke slowly cleared.
Pieces of the Prime Warden were scattered across the bay—chunks of armor, shattered cables, melted plating. A huge crater sat where its torso used to be, still glowing faint blue.
The head lay several meters away, visor flickering weakly.
The Knight leaned forward. “Is it… gone?”
Asher stood up, brushing dust off his shoulders.
“It blew itself up. I don’t think even it can come back from that.”
He walked toward the remains without fear, stepping over debris and broken metal. Even with the floor still steaming, he didn’t rush. He stayed steady and calm, scanning the wreckage.
The visor of the severed head sparked one last time.
“FAILURE… RECORDED…”
Asher quietly tapped the side of the visor with his boot.
“Yeah, yeah. Sleep mode.”
The light inside the visor faded completely.
The Knight finally relaxed, lowering his sword.
“It’s over.”
Asher nodded. “For now.”
A support beam groaned somewhere above them, and dust fell from the ceiling.
Asher looked around the ruined bay, voice still calm.
“This place feels like it wants to fall apart. We should move before something else wakes up… or collapses on us.”
The Knight sheathed his sword. “Agreed.”
They started walking toward the corridor ahead—the only path not blocked by debris.
Asher glanced back once at the destroyed Prime Warden.
“Biggest one so far,” he said quietly. “But at least it stayed down.”
The Knight asked, “You’re not shaken at all?”
Asher gave a small, calm smile.
“If I lose my cool every time something tries to kill me, I’ll never make it to the exit.”
The Knight huffed a tired laugh. “Fair enough.”
Both of them stepped into the dim corridor.
Behind them, the ruined bay crackled with sparks.
Ahead of them… more darkness.
Asher kept walking, steady and composed.
“Alright,” he said, voice calm as ever. “Let’s see what’s next.”
The corridor ahead was no longer filled with alarms or flashing lights. Everything was quiet now. Too quiet.
Asher stepped inside first, calm as always. The Knight followed behind him, still breathing hard from the fight.
The hallway was long and dusty, lined with cracked panels and flickering lamps. It felt old… older than the bay they just came from. Asher looked around slowly, taking in the ruined technology and strange markings on the walls.
“So many fights,” he murmured. “Whoever built this place didn’t want anyone getting through.”
He brushed some dirt off his arm and kept walking, steady and relaxed. But inside, he was thinking.
This place… it wasn’t made for humans. Someone else lived here. Someone who hid something important.
The corridor split into several dark paths. More broken machines, more twisted metal, more dead ends. The whole area looked like a maze designed to trap anyone who entered.
Asher stopped for a moment and looked up at the ceiling.
“…Feels like someone’s watching,” he said quietly.
The Knight turned. “You sense something?”
Asher didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. He could feel it—distant, faint, but full of hatred. A sharp, focused anger locked onto him from somewhere far deeper in the facility.
Not a machine.
Not an Omega unit.
Something alive.
Something from beyond this place.
Something from the Myriad Venos Organization.
The Knight saw Asher’s eyes narrow. “Asher? What is it?”
Asher stayed calm, voice low and steady.
“Someone’s been following my fights. Watching every step.”
“Who?”
“A man from Venos,” Asher said. “He’s the one who planned all these machines. He’s the one who set every trap we just survived.”
The Knight tensed. “Why would he do that?”
Asher kept walking, back straight, expression unmoving.
“Because he hates me,” Asher said simply. “More than anyone else.”
The Knight frowned. “You know him?”
“No,” Asher answered. “But he knows me.”
He walked deeper into the shadows, unshaken.
“The hatred in his eyes… I can feel it from here. He wants to break me. He wants to crush my bones and tear my soul apart. Then drink whatever’s left.”
The Knight’s grip tightened on his sword. “Then we’ll face him.”
Asher nodded calmly.
“We will.”
The corridor ahead opened into another huge chamber—dark, silent, and full of strange machines half-buried in dust.
Asher stepped inside without hesitation.
Somewhere far away, someone watched him through a screen—his eyes filled with pure, burning hatred.
And Asher felt it.
But he stayed calm.
“Come find me,” he whispered. “I’m waiting.”
The Knight waited.
Asher chuckled under his breath. “I’m not the one getting hunted… I’m the one taking all his treasures.”
Before the Knight could reply, a deep rumbling echoed through the chamber.
Thud… thud… thud…
A massive door ahead—ancient, layered with steel and strange glowing runes—began to shift. Dust fell from the ceiling as gears the size of boulders turned for the first time in centuries.
The whole hall vibrated.
Asher stepped forward, eyes sharp.”Finally opened, huh?”
With a last heavy clang, the door split apart.
A bright golden light spilled out—warm, shimmering, almost blinding after all the darkness.
Inside…
A vault.
Pillars of metal.Rows of glowing relics.Stacks of sealed containers humming with power.Fragments of advanced technology scattered like abandoned treasure.
The entire place shined—silver, gold, red, blue—like a hidden kingdom of forgotten wealth.
He walked straight in, completely relaxed, as if danger didn’t exist.
He picked up a crystal piece glowing with swirling energy. It pulsed in his hand like a living star.
Then he grabbed another relic—some kind of weapon core—and tossed it casually into a storage pack.
Piece after piece, device after device, he gathered everything with zero hesitation.
“These machines? These traps?” Asher said while picking up a golden cube. “They weren’t guarding the facility.”
He pocketed the last relic and cracked his neck.
“They were guarding my loot.”
The Knight exhaled in disbelief. “You’re unbelievable.”
Asher grinned.
“I know.”
But just as he finished collecting the final treasure…
The lights in the vault turned blood-red.
A cold voice echoed through the chamber—full of venom, full of hatred.
“Thief.”
Asher looked up slowly, smile fading.
A figure appeared on a high screen—a man with long black hair, pale skin, and eyes filled with pure, burning rage.
The Venos planner. The one who had been watching.
His voice shook with fury.
“You dare take what belongs to ME?”
Asher stared at him… then smirked.
“It belongs to me now.”