9: Chapter 9 Shocked Everyone

The second round of matchmaking started quickly. Su Ming's opponent this time was even weaker than Xu Jiayin, and the Netherworld Soldiers effortlessly eliminated the opponent, advancing with ease.

In the blink of an eye, only a dozen or so students were left in the simulation pods.

Everyone thought that the next phase would still be competitions between students, but the teachers outside intended to ramp up the difficulty for them.

A teacher had just entered the simulation pod moments ago.

Su Ming hovered in the void, quietly waiting for his opponent, but the system prompt made him raise his brow slightly: [Su Ming VS ???]

"The opponent's name isn't displayed?" Su Ming wondered inwardly. The next second, a pitch-black spatial channel suddenly emerged below, but no figure of the opponent was in sight.

Just then, a tall figure stepped out from the channel. Su Ming's pupils constricted sharply, and he whispered involuntarily: "A Tier 4 Extraordinary kindred?! Already at this stage, someone is able to nurture their kindred to Tier 4 Extraordinary?"

You must know that even with the help of the spirit-refining spring, Su Ming hadn't produced a single Tier 4 Extraordinary kindred among the Netherworld Soldiers.

"The great clans are truly different from a commoner like me." Su Ming took a deep breath, suppressing the slight irritation in his heart.

Su Ming's gaze looked towards the kindred in the distance.

That was a rock giant more than thirty feet tall, its body interwoven with gray-white rocks and ancient vines, its shoulders as wide as mountains and its limbs as thick as pillar-supporting stone columns;

its head lacked delicate facial features, with only rock gullies outlining its face. Its eyes glowed with a dim, gloomy stone light, and its body surface was covered with moss and old vines. With every step it took, the ground vibrated with a humming sound, and the giant wooden club in its hand was five to six meters long and as thick as a water bucket.

In front of this giant, the Netherworld Soldiers were as insignificant as ants.

"Grade E kindred, Mountain Ridge Giant!" Su Ming's expression turned solemn. He recognized the identity of the opponent's kindred, but there was not a trace of fear on his face; instead, his eyes were filled with excitement.

The opponents in the previous few rounds were too weak; the Netherworld Soldiers hadn't even warmed up enough!

What surprised him even more was that the spatial channel did not close. A second, a third... a full five Mountain Ridge Giants stepped out one after another before the channel slowly closed.

The five mountain-like Mountain Ridge Giants locked their dim, gloomy eyes onto the Netherworld Soldiers simultaneously, their momentum towering to the skies.

Below the Mountain Ridge Giants, three hundred Stone Demons condensed from gravel and rock soil stood in formation, each Stone Demon carrying a back basket filled with huge boulders.

These Stone Demons' method of attack was to throw boulders, making up for the defect of the Mountain Ridge Giants' slow speed.

Furthermore, these Stone Demons all possessed Tier 2 Extraordinary combat power!

The excitement in Su Ming's eyes grew even more intense. He could clearly sense that the soul fires within the crimson eyes of the Netherworld Soldiers below were flickering more and more violently.

That was excitement!

It was a longing for a hearty and exhilarating battle!

It was an urgent desire to prove themselves!

At the same time, the exact same number of Mountain Ridge Giants and Stone Demons appeared in the battlefields of the other surviving students.

Quite a few students turned pale, clearly lacking any confidence in their own kindred, yet they still gritted their teeth and ordered their kindred to charge forward.

Su Ming's side wasn't idle either. Under Su Ming's command, the Netherworld Soldiers acted immediately.

Instead of charging directly like the previous few times, they quickly spread out to the left and right flanks, forming an arc-shaped crescent formation, awaiting in full battle array.

When the Stone Demons were still one thousand meters away from the Netherworld Soldiers, the Netherworld Soldiers simultaneously tucked their netherworld bone blades at their waists, and the death aura around their bodies surged wildly. In the blink of an eye, one hundred pitch-black netherworld longspears formed and were held in their hands.

"Throw!"

Following Su Ming's intent, one hundred netherworld longspears were fiercely thrown out, carrying rolling nether qi as they tore through the air, producing a piercing sound of breaking air and connecting into a chilling rain of spears. Like malevolent stars falling from the dark night, they smashed toward the Stone Demons and Mountain Ridge Giants with an overwhelming momentum!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

The thousand-meter distance arrived in a flash, and the longspears crashed overwhelmingly into the enemy formation.

The Mountain Ridge Giants had thick skin and dense flesh, and the longspears only left shallow scratches on their body surfaces, but the Stone Demons could not endure it.

In front of the nether-evil longspears, their hard rock skin shattered like rotten wood. Quite a few Stone Demons were directly pierced through the body by the longspears, their massive bodies staggering and falling to the ground, the rock patterns all over their bodies instantly infected, shattered, and weathered by the nether qi.

With a single round of spear-throwing, the Stone Demon formation was directly torn apart with a huge gap, suffering heavy casualties!

The Stone Demons frantically raised boulders to counterattack, but most of the boulders were blasted apart in mid-air by the dense longspears, sending flying gravel splashing everywhere;

even if a few boulders managed to hit the Netherworld Soldiers by luck, most of the damage was mitigated by the Netherworld Battle Physique and the Chilling Bone Armor. The Netherworld Soldiers merely staggered for a moment before instantly recovering, completely unharmed.

Before the Stone Demons could catch their breath, the death aura in the hands of the Netherworld Soldiers surged once more. A second batch of netherworld longspears formed and were thrown out again.

The Stone Demons fell batch after batch like leeks, completely powerless to fight back.

The Stone Demons had low intelligence; even with heavy casualties, they still frantically threw boulders.

Until they realized their actions were completely useless, they panicked and hid behind the Mountain Ridge Giants, using the giants' bodies to evade the spear rain.

The five Mountain Ridge Giants immediately held their giant clubs horizontally in front of them like five giant shields, blocking their own vulnerable spots.

Countless longspears smashed against the giant clubs, producing loud thudding sounds of "bang, bang, bang," but they were still unable to cause substantive damage.

Su Ming raised his brow slightly and immediately adjusted his command: "Congeal formation, arrow-head formation! Concentrate the longspears on a single point, primarily attacking the joints!"

The Netherworld Soldiers gathered immediately, forming a pointed triangular cone-shaped arrow-head formation. The one hundred longspears were no longer dispersed, all aiming at the right-hand joint of one Mountain Ridge Giant.

"Boom!"

One hundred longspears struck simultaneously, and a tremendous force erupted. The right wrist of the Mountain Ridge Giant was forcibly broken by the longspears, and blood resembling black magma gushed out. The severed giant hand crashed down heavily, directly crushing two Stone Demons who failed to dodge in time.

One round, two rounds, three rounds... After several consecutive rounds of concentrated throwing, one Mountain Ridge Giant was pierced by longspears into a mutilated torso;

the remaining Mountain Ridge Giants were also covered in injuries, their rock skin peeling off, and their aura growing increasingly sluggish.

However, at this point, the Mountain Ridge Giants and Stone Demons had finally rushed to within two hundred meters of the Netherworld Soldiers.

At this distance, it was no longer suitable for throwing longspears.

Su Ming could have ordered the Netherworld Soldiers to retreat and kite-wear down the opponent, but he didn't.

He wanted to see just how much combat power the Netherworld Soldiers had when confronting such behemoths head-on!

"Draw your blades, charge!"

The Netherworld Soldiers immediately drew their netherworld bone blades, ignored the boulders thrown by the Stone Demons, and charged toward the Mountain Ridge Giants together. Within their crimson soul fires was a full determination of defying death.

The Mountain Ridge Giants also sensed the threat. They gripped their giant clubs tightly and swung them high into the air fiercely, smashing them heavily toward the ground accompanied by a muffled wind sound!

"Boom—!"

The earth trembled, and spiderweb-like gullies split open across the surface. Gravel accompanied by rock-soil shockwaves exploded in a ring, the surrounding earth shook violently, and the nearby Netherworld Soldiers all staggered, their footsteps sluggish and making it difficult to stand firm.

"Mountainous Shock!" Su Ming's expression was calm inwardly. This was the core skill of the Mountain Ridge Giants, which could shake enemies so they couldn't stand steadily, and could also imbue themselves with the power of mountains to amplify combat power and defense.

Looking at the earthy-yellow film appearing on the Mountain Ridge Giants, Su Ming's expression was calm and without the slightest ripple.

The Netherworld Soldiers quickly stabilized their footing, swiftly clustered together, and relied on their formation to dilute the impact of the shockwave. The next second, they charged again, their figures as flexible as phantoms. They avoided the giant clubs of the Mountain Ridge Giants and slashed specifically at vulnerable spots such as their joints and eyes.

The attack power of the Mountain Ridge Giants was terrifying, but their attacks were all physical damage. Facing the Netherworld-attributed Netherworld Soldiers, a lot of it was mitigated by the Netherworld Battle Physique. Coupled with the defense of the Chilling Bone Armor, most attacks could only knock the Netherworld Soldiers flying without causing fatal damage.

The Netherworld Soldiers who were knocked flying could climb back up in an instant and rejoin the battle.

As for those Stone Demons, the gap between them and the Netherworld Soldiers was even more like heaven and earth. With a flick of the Netherworld Soldiers' blades, the Stone Demons were smashed into pieces of gravel all over the ground, completely powerless to fight back.

In just a short moment, a Mountain Ridge Giant was dismembered and brought down by the Netherworld Soldiers, and the essence core at its heart was fiercely blasted apart, completely losing its vitality.

There were still a few Mountain Ridge Giants left on the field, but they were already scarred all over, on their last breath, and merely struggling on their deathbeds.

A quarter of an hour later, as the essence core of the very last Mountain Ridge Giant was blasted apart, the five Mountain Ridge Giants and three hundred Stone Demons all reduced to gravel, with none surviving.

The crimson soul fires of the Netherworld Soldiers flickered, and their formation remained neat.

In this battle, the Netherworld Soldiers achieved final victory with a record of twenty casualties, thirty-eight heavily injured, and the rest sustaining minor injuries.

Outside the simulation pod, Teacher Yan Ruyu and several teachers were already dumbfounded, staring fixedly at Su Ming's light screen with shock all over their faces.

"Th-This kindred's combat power is simply too outrageous, right? They were actually able to defeat five Tier 4 Extraordinary Mountain Ridge Giants?"

"How could a commoner special admission student possibly possess such a formidable kindred?"