Chapter 709: The Hardened Warrior

Simyon's body was going through a bigger change than he expected. Due to the special item handed to him by Raze, his training was always harder compared to others.

Not only did he need to focus on increasing his Qi and stage level along with techniques, but he also needed to increase the strength of his body due to the special item, his body was different compared to other Pagna warriors.

Not only would it increase in strength as a person went through the stages, but his body would also be super refined and strengthened like a weapon. Dame told him the secret to making his body stronger was to break it down each time more and more.

Doing this, he would heal stronger than he did before. It was hardly noticeable for Simyon, these small improvements in strength, but he knew it would work because the most noticeable changes were when his body was upgraded to the next rank. Yet each time, it was harder and harder to reach the rank after that.

The ranking strength of the special metal body that Simyon had followed that of the weapons. Before the tournament, his body was at the Elite grade, and now a change was happening to him.

As Safa healed him, she could see the ring lighting up and a strange shine going from Simyon's body from top to bottom. It was a glare that ran down, giving his body a reflective effect like that of a weapon.

When it finally finished going through the whole body, something strange occurred—the same shining effect went again, but in the other direction.

'This is it. Simyon told me about the special item given to him by Raze,' Safa thought. 'He was so badly hurt by Mantis, I was sure as long as his body was able to recover, he would be upgraded to the next grade. So his body now at least has to be at the Unique level. With that, we will have a chance to win this thing.'

Simyon's fingers started to move, and he quickly lifted his body. As he did, he could see the bald-headed man charging ahead, and he also could tell that Safa was feeling a bit faint.

With one hand, he then pushed her away.

"I see, for the second time you have used up all your power to heal me. I'm meant to be your shield, and I need to do my job."

Simyon stood there and lifted his arm up. The fist from the bald-headed man landed across his arm. It was a powerful physical blow, but the man felt something in that moment.

The bones in his knuckles—he could feel them breaking down.

"Your body is harder now?"

The man knew his hand had been broken but acted as if he felt no pain at all. Seeing this, the man was hesitant to attack again, and Simyon took this as an opportunity.

Using the hard-trained martial arts, Simyon made a solid stance, winding his feet and throwing out his fist, twisting it. He didn't punch straight ahead but instead dug his fist straight into the ribs of the bald-headed man. Once again, a cracking noise could be heard, and Simyon could feel the bone shattering with his knuckles.

The bald-headed man continued to smile, though, and threw out his unbroken hand, hitting Simyon right on the head. Once again, as the man's knuckles hit Simyon, he could feel them shattering and breaking down.

"I've never met a body as strong as this. What is happening!" The man then lifted his leg and kicked Simyon in the stomach. Yet, when the heavy blow landed, Simyon didn't move from his position.

Instead, Simyon lunged forward and grabbed onto the man's arm once again, just like before, and the Ice glove started to activate.

"You do this again? You already know it doesn't work!" the man shouted, using his strength to lift Simyon in the air. It was harder than before; Simyon's weight was different, but the man's strength was still abnormal, allowing him to lift Simyon up.

The man then slammed Simyon into the floor and lifted him up once more, slamming him into the floor on the other side. Just like before, the man was constantly slamming Simyon into the floor with only a few seconds in between.

With Simyon holding on, the man's arm was starting to freeze up. It was growing in size more and more.

"So you're holding out more this time!" the man said as he started to pick up more speed, hitting Simyon again and again.

That was until the ice had reached his neck. The man then stopped for a moment to look at Simyon, who was holding onto his arm, and could see his facial expression. It was unfazed; he wasn't showing a fraction of pain and just stared right into his eyes.

"You better hurry up, or your whole body will soon be frozen," Simyon said.

The man knew it was true because the ice had encased the whole of his shoulder, and he had lost feeling in his arm. He could no longer feel Simyon even holding on. For the first time in the fight, the smile dropped from his face because Simyon had let go, and he could see his fist lifting in the air and crashing down on the ice-covered arm.

The outside shattered, with parts of the inside completely breaking off and falling to the ground, mostly in one solid piece but having broken off from the man.

In a fit of anger, seeing what had just happened to him, the man continued to swing his one good arm with his fist, hitting Simyon on every part of his body, concentrating on his head. Yet the attacks looked as if they were just bouncing off him or having no effect at all.

The man was feeling a taste of his own medicine. He was feeling the despair that other warriors felt when they fought against him and found out that their Qi attacks wouldn't work.

Safa, who was watching the whole thing from the side, was surprised at the outcome, at how much Simyon was now dominating the fight compared to before.

'Although this man wasn't a Pagna warrior, he still had the strength of a middle-stage warrior, plus the added fact of Qi not working against him. Just with one grade, the difference shouldn't be this high, especially since Simyon isn't able to use Qi at a high level.'

In her train of thoughts, she had figured out the answer herself. It was because Simyon hadn't just gone up by one grade. He had gone up by two grades.

He had gone from having an Elite Grade Metal body to having a Mythical Grade Metal body, surpassing the Unique stage. The damage from Mantis, combined with that inflicted by the bald-headed man, had accumulated.

When Safa used everything she had to heal Simyon, she had refined him to the point where he had come out as something truly special, and even though he was still an initial-stage warrior, middle stages would find it hard to damage his body.

Which was why, right now, the punches from the man were having no effect on Simyon at all.

Seeing the panic on his face, Simyon charged forward with his fist again, but before it could hit the man, he lifted his foot, kicking the bottom of Simyon's fist. It only moved it slightly but made it so his attack didn't hit cleanly.

'I was worried that this would happen,' Simyon thought. 'Although my body is incredibly strong, increasing the density of my attacks and my weight, there is one thing it hasn't improved, and that's the speed of my attacks or the speed of my techniques.'

'The bald-headed man was careless before, confident in his own body, which was why I was able to hit him and latch onto his body. Now that he's careful, it's going to be a lot harder to hit him and finish him off.'

Simyon threw out his fists, chasing after the man, but they were missing completely. Sparks flew out from his glove, but they were just hitting and bouncing off the floor.

'I can't hit him. What's the point of being the shield if I can't take him out!' Simyon thought.

"Close your eyes!" A loud voice came out, but it was a voice that Simyon was familiar with and trusted completely. He didn't hesitate as he heard the words and closed his eyes.

Simyon didn't see, but a spear had landed in the ground in front of him, and the tip was lit up. Safa had her hands next to her, already placing her Light Magic in the spear.

The bald-headed man was curious about the spear. It hadn't hit him, so he wasn't worried. That was until the end of the spear lit up so bright, a flash of light opened up in front of them.

"Open your eyes, and take him out!" Safa shouted.

Simyon was already charging forward and opened his eyes to find a startled man in front of him. Using all of his pent-up Qi, he moved his fist as fast as he could and hit the man right on the face. The blow was heavy, causing a dent in his forehead and sending him to the floor.

Simyon landed on top of him, then continued to swing his fists at the man's head, blood splattering his knuckles as he continued to swing them again and again, until Safa eventually came up from behind and pulled him away.

"That's enough, Simyon... he's... already dead."

Another fight was over for the group, and Murkel was running out of people on his side, yet for some reason, he was unfazed by all of this.