The whole crowd momentarily fell silent. And in the middle of the fighting circle, Auran dropped the rock in his hand as the other man lay on the floor with a bloody face. Afterwards, Auran lifted the man and pushed him out of the circle—in the direction of the man who had punched him earlier, staring directly at him.
"With a broken face, he's not gonna win anything," Auran said mockingly, looking at Kahla.
"Bastard!" Kahla jumped forward, screaming with rage as he rushed at Auran. On the other side, Auran moved back until he was outside the circle.
None of the prisoners or the woman guiding the battles interfered as they let Kahla charge at Auran. Judging by the way Kahla came at him, if Auran had been caught, he would've likely been beaten badly—or even killed. But Auran stood his ground with fearless eyes.
Once Kahla got close, Henry suddenly stepped in front of Auran. When Auran stepped back and exited the circle, he had intentionally moved closer to Henry, and at that moment, Henry easily stepped between Auran and Kahla.
With skilled precision, Henry deflected Kahla's hand and struck him across the stomach, sending him flying several feet through the air, crashing into the group of friends he came with.
"Thank you," said Auran from behind.
"Don't mention it. Since none of us can use mana to strengthen ourselves, these battles don't just rely on strength—they also depend on skill. And since I've mastered battle arts for some time, it's easier for me to defeat them without much difficulty," said Henry honestly.
"I expect that too, but there are still some exceptions—those who have permanent mana enchantments in their bodies are still far superior to us," said Auran, observing a few in the crowd. Among them was the woman who guided the battle. She had a very muscular body, with curves fitting for a strong, fine woman.
Henry also acknowledged Auran's statement, recalling the iron-like hand Marian had.
"You little fuckers!" Kahla stood up from the group that had fallen with him, and a few among them joined him to confront Henry and Auran, clearly irritated from being injured when Kahla fell on top of them.
"I don't think you can take care of a group of them, can you?" asked Auran as he took a step back.
"Unfortunately, no," said Henry, also taking a step back. But behind them stood more prisoners, blocking them from running away.
"Things sure have gotten interesting," came the voice of the woman as she stepped into the circle.
"And I should suggest that things stop here until we all figure out what's going on," she said, looking at both Henry and Auran, and also at Kahla.
"Figure out what? Let me crush that guy's head!" said Kahla in a persistent voice.
"Now Kahla, you know the boss wouldn't like that kind of attitude, right?" In the woman's words, a hint of threat was mixed in, which made Kahla look away to avoid meeting her eyes directly.
Afterward, she looked at Henry and Auran again.
"Both of you are remarkable, but for the one who used a rock, I think we should hear what our audience says before deciding whether you become a rookie or should be punished for cheating."
"How is using my head to think cheating? It's what proper humans do," muttered Auran from behind Henry, but his words were extremely soft, only heard by Henry and himself.
At that moment, the woman turned to ask the surrounding crowd, and there were a few openings in their opinion. Some suggested Auran should become a rookie because he won, no matter the method. But most screamed that he should be a slave or challenge someone else again, since he used an irregular method to win.
In the midst of these screams and opinions, suddenly there was a loud sound—like something huge hitting the ground—and a commotion arose from the mining site.
This sound instantly attracted the attention of the crowd, and they rushed to investigate the source of the noise.
And they found it.
It was an accident. A devastating accident that had happened at the mining site. Apparently, a cart pulling out a giant rock had gone off balance, causing the rock to fall backward—on top of a few inmates who had been pushing it from behind.
Upon seeing this scene, the prisoners rushed in and quickly grabbed hold of the rock to lift it. Although the rock was huge, with the help of countless getherd hands, it was slowly lifted and pushed away.
In the midst of all this happening, Henry and Auran, who had also come to see what was going on, found their attention drawn not just by the incident—but by the two figures standing close to the fallen rock.
It was Marian and Nimuk.
Among them, Marian pointed at the rock as she looked at Auran, and after a few moments of difficulty thinking, he realized what she meant.
The moment the rock was lifted and pushed aside, the bodies that had been crushed under its weight were revealed. Seeing them, some prisoners instinctively stepped back. Amidst this, Auran stepped past them.
"Move aside, move aside! I'm a mage with medicinal experience—let me look at them!" he said. Upon hearing this, those nearby quickly pushed him forward.
"Hey! This new guy says he's a medic! Let him through, let him through!"
"Really? That explains why he's so tricky!"
Although many of the prisoners were criminals who relied only on brute force, they still had common sense and allowed Auran through to the ones pinned under the rock. Looking at the flattened bodies, Auran knelt down and examined them closely—just as an experienced medicinal mage would.
The crowd surrounded him—among them were Henry, Marian, Nimuk, and also the woman who had announced the battles.
"You're actually a medic?" she asked, but Auran remained silent as he continued to carefully examine the bodies—specifically at the face and neck area, where the necklace that blocked mana had been crushed under the rock's weight, revealing its interior.
Crik!
Suddenly, a cracking sound came from the rock that had been pushed aside, and in the next moment, it crumbled and shattered, sending pieces of stone into the air. Some fragments hit the prisoners, and others fell far away.
"The rock must have absorbed a huge amount of electricity before, and now it's crumbling as a result... But how did none of the prisoners pushing it get electrocuted?" Henry fell into thought after witnessing the scene.