Chapter 421 - Rope Incident A smile appeared on his face as he squatted and brought out a small laser knife while reaching out for the rope. He looked around him carefully and noticed that the few cadets present here didn’t even notice him. He held onto the rope with his left hand and took a swipe at it with the laser knife in his right. Sliisshh! The rope only had a small cut even when he used a lot of force. ’As expected of the MBO, the ropes are strong enough, but I bet they never expected that anyone would try to cut it,’ The person said internally before taking another swing at it. Sliisshh! Sliisshh! Sliisshh! The person had to swing about ten more times before the rope finally gave way. It cut off from the small pole it was holding onto in the next instant. After the deed was done, he quickly hid the laser knife afterwards and stood to his feet. The other cadets only noticed his presence when they saw the rope falling. Gasp! -"Why did that rope suddenly cut?" -"My goodness, what’s gonna happen to the person on it?" -"This... Wasn’t the rope tied properly before?" Everyone in the vicinity was surprised about this sudden incident. Although there were other ropes to climb and pass-through this region, they were still worried about the person or people that might have been climbing at that moment. The person who did the deed moved over to the side and started climbing on the next rope. A few moments earlier before the incident, as Gustav walked the line, he would occasionally glance towards Elevora’s corner on the left. He could barely see her figure because of the visibility, but he could see the silhouette within the fog that proved that she had gone further than he had. Gustav suddenly felt a small tug on the rope he was climbing. "Hmm?" The first thought that came to his mind was the fact that someone must have been climbing on the same rope. He waited to feel another tug, so he would balance himself, but in the next moment, the straight line was removed from under his leg and started falling. "Huh?" Gustav exclaimed as he fell through the fog, wind and rain. He didn’t wait to question what was going on. He quickly reached out to grab the rope that was quickly moving forward due to still being latched to the other side. Gustav missed the rope in his first attempt to catch it with his left hand, but luckily he was able to grab onto it with his right. The heavy winds blew his hair and uniform as his body still descended along with the rope while also carrying him forward with speed. Swwwhiiiii! Gustav held on tightly with both hands as his body swung forward. He was only about seventy more feet away from reaching the next mountain, so he kept swinging along with the rope for the next few seconds. This would have taken him at least fifteen to twenty more minutes, but with the swinging of the rope, it only took about twenty seconds. Gustav saw the side of the mountain getting closer to him and quickly pushed both his legs forward. Bam! Krryyhh! 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 A small crack rang out as Gustav’s feet slammed into the side of the mountain with force, causing him to groan in pain. He subconsciously released the rope, a little sliding down for a few feet before he held tightly to it again. He felt pain in his calves and thighs due to what happened a moment ago, but he was glad he performed this action. Had his body slammed into the side of the mountain, he was sure the amount of pain he would have felt would make him release the rope totally. After holding onto the rope for a few more seconds, the pain slowly subsided. His palms were starting to feel weird, like he couldn’t grab hold of the rope properly. This was because of the rain that was still pouring down. Gustav’s palms were wet, so his grip on the rope wasn’t as tight as he would like it to be. Gustav looked up to stare at the ledge of the mountain, which was well over seventy feet away. He couldn’t see the top because the visibility limit was around fifty feet, but he could tell that it wasn’t too far. Gustav shook his body repeatedly, causing the rope to dangle while still holding onto him. He pushed his legs forward again and placed his feet on the side of the mountain. Gustav began to pull himself upwards while also using his feet on the side of the mountain for support. He was literally running across a steep slope as he moved upwards. Gustav noticed that it wasn’t as tedious as he thought it would be because he was using both arms and legs for support. In a few minutes, he was closing in on the top of the mountain. He realized that this method was even faster than it would have been if he was walking on the rope. "Ugh!" Gustav groaned as he finally reached the top and grabbed onto the ledge of the mountain for support. He pulled himself up and rolled to the side before laying on his back. "Huff! Huff! Huff!" Gustav breathed in and out heavily as he turned his head to look at the side to stare at the other connecting points of the rope. No other cadet had arrived on the other side beside him. He could see Elevora’s rope vibrating softly from time to time, but he couldn’t see her figure yet. However, it was obvious that she was close. Gustav rested himself for a few more seconds before standing to his feet and running forward. At this point, this particular mountain was a sloppy one that led downwards, so running here was way faster than the previous locations. Gustav ran for about two minutes until he finally arrived at the next ledge that was close to the bottom of the mountain.. However, it was still about thirty feet higher.