Dust-laden air obscured everyone's view.
But both the watching miners and the wary Martial Academy Students covered their faces as they retreated, narrowing their eyes toward where the Variant Beast had stood, trying to see what had happened.
Only when the rising dust began to settle did a figure emerge at the center of the impact.
"It's the senior brother on guard!"
Once he recognized the figure, a nearby Martial Academy Student shouted excitedly.
By then, everyone else had seen him clearly too. Standing at the very center was the new guard who had arrived that day.
Zhao Er held the twin halberds he had previously carried on his back.
Dark red blood dripped from the halberds. The Variant Beast that had stood there was gone, but the chunks of flesh scattered and splattered nearby made its fate plain.
Even more shocking were the two holes beneath Zhao Er's feet. They were small, but his legs had sunk into them from his feet all the way to his calves.
Everyone nearby, even the miners, remembered clearly that the spot where Zhao Er stood had been solid ore. In other words, he had dropped from above and used his body to smash the heavily armored Variant Beast to death.
Not only that, but his flesh and blood had driven straight into the extremely hard ore.
At the sight, everyone could deduce what had just happened, and their eyes filled with astonishment as they looked at Zhao Er.
They knew full well that his body was probably already as hard as weapons made from hundred-forged fine iron.
Among the Martial Academy's younger disciples, quite a few had reached primordial unity, but almost none had tempered their bodies to this extent.
Body-tempering arts were notoriously difficult to practice, and they required mountains of