BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The moment the spear made contact with the soft ground; the kinetic energy packed into the throw was unleased. Like multiple kilograms of TNT going off, the ground shook violently like an earthquake was happening.
The mushroom cloud the explosion generated rose several hundred metres into the sky, plunging the area into a dust storm. The shockwave from the explosion uprooted all trees in the vicinity, splintering them into sharp projectiles that travelled several metres away like shrapnel, penetrating anything in their path.
The shattered ground and the rocks carried the residual kinetic energy and power of the explosion, violently passing it around, and creating more craters and dust clouds.
The loud explosion drew everyone's attention within several kilometres of the site, some curious as to what could cause such a level of destruction. The really curious and brave ones attempted to travel to the site of the explosion, wanting to satisfy their curiosity.
Hight above the mushroom cloud, Alex was shocked at the level of destruction he caused with just a spear throw. He had expected a definite boom, but not to this degree. As he descended to the ground, the pieces of wood and rocks clashed into the ward of hard light construct he made as a barrier around himself.
"Dear god… This is madness!" He had the urge to exclaim. It was always somehow difficult to fight at full strength, so this much power was never displayed as one had to pay attention to various details of force application, footwork and speed. But in this scenario where he only focused on absolute strength and gave his all, this was the result.
Alex eventually reached the deep crater that his spear throw had created. The dust cloud had not settled yet, so he went unnoticed. Besides, he doubted if anyone was in the vicinity at this time. The mess was yet to settle.
He heard a ping and looked at his badge and noticed his eliminations had changed from 0 to 54. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "There were that many people around?" He muttered and looked around. He did not know how deep or wide the crater was as the dust had yet to settle, but that was not important.
"There are bound to be others on their way here." He then approached his spear which was embedded in the ground. An impact like that should completely destroy his weapon, but from what he could see, it was still fine. This made him beam a small smile. He was loving the staff more and more.
The stadium where the control buttons were located was above ground and Alex went ahead and disabled the spear mode, abruptly making the staff change configuration into a short staff. This made it easy for him to retrieve his spear.
Choosing a random direction, Alex exited the crater and made a run for it. He had to regain high ground and watch for another opportunity.
Twenty minutes later, the dust had settled, and the crater became visible for everyone to see. The students who were brave enough to approach the site were shocked at what they were seeing.
"My goodness…Did a student really do this?" One commented, not believing what was before his eyes. The crater was several metres deep, almost reaching the 50-metre mark! The diameter was even more mind-boggling; the crater had a massive diameter of 467 metres! The sheer size of the crater showed how much power that small spear held.
The students that appeared around the edges of the crater were careful not to get too close to their competitors. However, that was unnecessary as everyone's mind was on who could possibly cause such destruction.
"It couldn't be right?" One of the surrounding students in a group with three others muttered. Her words caught their attention. "Do you know who did this?" one of the others asked and the rest focused on said person.
"The only one I can think of who could cause such level of destruction is… Alexander Gray." She finished and her allies became silent. They turned their attention back to the crater and began to see how feasible that was. In fact, it could have only been him.
Despite what they said about his low level, it was a known fact that he was physically stronger than everyone here. They gulped in nervousness and began looking around to see if that person was still around.
"Let's get out of here." Another suggested, receiving nods of agreement. They quickly made their way out of the crater site. And they weren't the only ones thinking that. The place might become another war zone in no time.
In the past twenty minutes, Alex had made his way out of the large forest and appeared in a different region of the continent. During that time, he had come across multiple students, some alone, others in groups. He made quick work of those students using his superior speed to crush their badges before they knew what hit them.
This brought his elimination count to 72, putting him in the lead, at least by his estimates.
Alex stood at the edge of a small cliff with trees in the surroundings overlooking a valley. A river snaked its way through the heart of the valley and on either side were fields of wildflowers that now lay in ruin, a consequence of the fights among the students. Even now, there were students down there duking it out.
"Hmm…" He hummed, thinking of his next course of action, but suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something fast approaching from the corner of his left eye. Without time to think, he bent backwards and saw the projectile zoom past his face. The thing was aiming for his head!
"What the hell?!" He exclaimed in surprise and turned to look at the object. Embedded in the ground was an arrow, however, unlike other arrows he had seen, this arrow had a bulky cylindrical section close to the tip of the arrow, blinking a red light. He instantly knew what it was, but it was already too late…