With the effect of the Mythical-grade Earring, Simyon had a level 1 metal body. Nearly all of the students, although Pagna warriors, they were a stage 1 Pagna warrior. With Qi infused through them, they wouldn’t be able to harm Simyon’s body.
The others wouldn’t know this, so it was time for them to use him as a human shield. “Simyon, block all the hits and head forward!” Raze shouted.
Having caught the gist of what Raze was planning, he listened and did as asked.
“You don’t have to tell me twice, as I said, I’ll do as you say!”
Like a bull, Simyon charged forward, and Safa and Raze followed behind in almost a straight line.
Seeing another student coming directly toward them, the other students, of course, had decided to target him. Throwing the rocks, they bounced off his body even if infused with Qi, doing next to no damage at all and not slowing him down.
When they were close enough to the centre line, Raze and Safa rolled to the side and picked up a rock. Nearly at the exact same time, they threw their rocks at two of the students closest. It was infused with Qi and hit the student on the knee. It jolted his leg forward, and he fell to the floor.
It was the same for the person that Safa had hit as well.
“And now it’s my turn!” Simyon said, picking up a rock. Rather than throwing it at another student, Simyon decided to play it safe and threw a stone at the person who was already on the ground, hitting him as he was coming back up.
“Alright, retreat!” Simyon stated.
The three only had to hit a student, which meant they had now passed, as long as they could survive until the assessment was over.
“That damn kid, he wasn’t the only one that was special,” Gunther smiled. “How are these no-names surprising me more and more? The other two, they didn’t have any demonic Qi inside them. Yet it’s clear they know each other. The teamwork and trust they put into each other, it’s like those that have been through life and death with each other.”
Moving back, it was time for the three to get out of there and just hide behind the other students. As they were retreating though, a stone came out faster and more powerful than the others.
Simyon was happy to block it with his body, but when it hit him in his stomach, it had hit deep, causing his eyes to bulge out slightly, the air from his stomach to pop out. He couldn’t breathe and knelt over, nearly causing the other two to trip.
“Oh, you’re still standing, now that hurt my pride a little,” Ricktor said with another stone in his hand.
Originally, the main disciples were too busy dealing with the others, taking out as many as they could, but the act of the three with no-name had managed to catch their eye.
“Unfortunately for you guys. You are not allowed to reach our place!”
Standing next to Ricktor were the other five Clan disciples. Ricktor, Mada, Cherry, Lisa, and Ossep. They had stayed close to each other, having a competition of sorts, seeing how many they could take out. But after seeing Simyon’s act, a suggestion had come up.
“Hey, why don’t we go ahead and see who can take out the three no-names first?” Ossep suggested. “The one who takes out the most wins.”
“I guess that will make this boring game a little more interesting,” Cherry claimed, her slender fingers on her hip.
Simyon had recovered, but the situation wasn’t looking good for them. The students that were close to them until this point had stepped away. Everyone could tell that they had become their targets.
All five of them hurled the rocks at the same time, all of them powered with Qi. They flew swiftly in the air, and immediately Simyon lifted his arms up and his body, blocking them from the other two.
“ARGHH!” Simyon screamed as the rocks hit him all over. His metal body was too weak for the amount of power they were using.
“What are you doing, idiot, protect yourself!” Raze shouted at him.
“Hey, don’t you remember what I said?” Simyon placed his hands on his legs and got up again. “I owe you my life, I owe everything to you, it’s because of you that I’m even here in the first place. So shut up, and let me do what I want!”
A rock went whizzing past Simyon’s face and arms and produced a large cut, drawing blood. The tactic of the disciples had changed a bit; if they couldn’t take them down, then they just had to injure them to the point where they could give up.
A large rock hit Safa in the stomach again, and as she knelt down, several of the rocks went past. They were now throwing more than one at a time. Safa tried to move out of the way but was hit on the shoulder, and heard a loud crack in her arm.
“Ahs.” She tried to scream, but no noise was coming out.
“What the hell!” Cherry pointed. “That girl, she didn’t scream. Can she not scream, is she a mute?”
It wasn’t just Safa though, Raze had struggled as well. He went to move and avoided one stone but another had hit his forearm. It hadn’t broken it, but it was now throbbing with pain.
“It would be easier if you all just decided to give up; otherwise, this is going to be very painful for you.” Mada threw another rock, and the rest followed.
They had continued to go through the air, with the three of them avoiding them, trying their best, but they got hit, the pain increasing and spreading throughout their body in more areas.
Not all of them hit their bodies, as many had narrowly passed them, causing large cuts on their body. Blood was dripping from all three of them, but each of them refused to yield.
“Hey!” Gunther called out. “Don’t you think you should end the assessment? The others aren’t even throwing stones at each other anymore and are just watching this spectacle. Haven’t they proven enough?”
“Since when did you become so soft?” Pincer replied. “You know if those three pass and get through, they will be treated much worse than this. If they can’t get through this much, then it’s best that they stop here.”
Another round of stones was thrown, and it had hit the three, as it did, it sent them to the floor, but they had nearly been too hurt to even scream in pain anymore, too tired. Yet still, slowly each one of them got off the ground. Safa had even slipped back down, falling onto the floor.
She pushed herself up and looked ahead, looking at her brother’s back.
“What’s with your eyes!” Mada shouted. “What the heck do you think you’re staring at! You are no-names. You are at the bottom, and your duty is to serve us, so why are you looking at us with those eyes!”
Raze had his head held slightly down, yet his eyes were looking straight ahead at the five of them.
‘I can’t help but chuckle, this scene, this whole thing, it feels incredibly familiar to me. Ah, now I know, these five, they remind me of the Grand Magus.’
Thinking this, a burning energy was running through Raze’s body, and he lifted his hand, pointing at the three. 𝒩𝑂𝒱ℯ𝓛xt.𝑪𝑂𝑀
“The image of every single one of you is burned into my mind!” Raze said. “I won’t forget what you guys did to us today, singling us out, and hey.” Raze said, as he raised his weak hand, covered in cuts, blood dripping down his forearm. He then lifted his middle finger right up toward them.
“We have a name, you dumb f*cks! We are the Cromwells!”
The other students on both sides looked at each other. The Cromwells? Was it a name they had heard before? They hadn’t heard of such a clan, a merchant, or anyone that went by that name. It sounded strange and unusual by their standards as well.
A no-name giving themselves a name,” Mada said, turning to look at Gunther for a few moments before he turned to look back at the three. “How pathetic!”
The single rock was hurled at the group. With how many times they had been hit, it was too painful for them to move. For the last few, they had just been taking the hits right on, but before the rock had even reached them, Safa stumbled again, barely ablea to stand.
Out of all of them, she had been most affected by the hits and looked the weakest, and Mada had sensed this. If he was just to get rid of one of them, then wouldn’t they all fall.
The path of the rock was clear, and it was heading right for Safa’s chest. There were only rules against hitting the head.
Raze lifted his hand, but it was short of being able to block the rock.
“Wind, guide it to me.” Raze whispered.
The rock, as if being pulled by an invisible force, changed direction in the air. It curved around and landed straight in Raze’s hand, catching the Qi-powered rock with no problem at all.
“You went too far.”