Anna calmly approached the old man's feet. She did not think that she would need to use full force to displace his leg, since how much force could such an old man even resist?
Hence she bent over and gently gripped the old man's leg from under his knees and above his ankle as she gently pulled it up hoping to shake the old man off.
Although she was doing it gently, the force behind it was that of a tier4 warrior and was probably enough to flip a car on it's head had they been on Earth, yet, the old man's leg did not seem to budge at all.
Anna frowned, as she increased the force a bit, while it was fine for Jake to fail at this game since he was a small kid, it would be absolutely humiliating for her to fail this job.
Little by little she kept increasing the force of the pull as soon her veins started to bulge and everyone could see that she was putting her entire back behind it.
For 20 seconds Anna pulled with all her might, yet the old man's leg was as solid as a mountain, not moving a single centimetre.
" The old man's cheating, I cannot move his leg even slightly… " Anna said with a slight frown on her face as she concluded that the old man must've been cheating.
Sebastian began laughing out loud and even Severus seemed to be controlling his chuckle as he made a funny face.
Nobody seemed to believe that the old man was cheating as he casually lifted his leg, moved it around and planted it back down once more.
" Anna Anna Anna, after all that archery training, you can't even lift the feet of an old man…. Tch, tch, tch " Sebastian said as he tried to rub in some salt over her open wounds.
" Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian, after all that stretching you do daily you haven't even grown an inch….. tch, tch, tch " Anna snapped right back as she hit Sebastian at the one spot where it hurt.
" Tha- , how? Why? When did you see me stretch? " Sebastian asked, fumbling for words as his face became pale.
Severus, who couldn't hold it anymore bursted out laughing as he walked towards the old man and gave him another gold coin.
Taking a moment to stop his laughing and focus, Severus looked towards the squabbling Anna and Sebastian and said " It's all about the technique, this is not about power "
Severus seemed to be convinced that this was a case of having the proper technique, as instead of trying to lift a leg up one should focus on pulling the leg horizontally, making the old man lose his balance.
" Old man, I'm ready when you are " Severus said as he slapped his own chest with his palm and seemed to be ready to show some of that elite sweeper lower back strength to displace Rudra's leg.
Rudra smiled as he planted his foot firmly once more and looked at Severus as he said " Come "
" Go go go Mr. Severus " Ruby cheered Severus on as the entire group watched in anticipation.
What was supposed to be an easy task had now been converted into an interesting game ever since Anna failed to move the old man's leg.
There was pin-drop silence as Severus mustered his strength and seemed to focus on pulling the old man's leg horizontally in one fell swoop with a sudden jerk.
He waited and waited till he felt confident and then pulled with everything that he had, only to be shocked when he could not even make the old man's leg budge an inch.
Sitting flat on the floor, Severus pulled the old man's leg towards his chest as if performing a cable row, yet although he exerted every last muscle in his upper torso to its limit he was not able to budge the man's feet even the slightest.
Sweat began dripping from his forehead as after 3 minutes of relentless efforts he finally gave up after throwing the old man a reverent gaze as if he was a monster.
" Too strong, the old man's too strong for me to handle " he said admitting defeat as he walked back towards the group in shame.
Rudra stood there smiling, casually moving his feet from side to side as he made eye contact with Max.
Now that everyone else had failed, it was time for Max to give it a shot, as he looked at his younger brother and said " Will you perhaps like to give it a shot? "
Expectant gazes turned towards Max, as everyone believed that if it were him then victory was gauranteed.
" Please Uncle Max, win that panda for me… " Amy said ever so sweetly as Max could not say no to her.
Folding the sleeves of his robe he walked towards the old man as Ruby, Naomi and Asiva cheered him on.
Although he had no idea as to what tricks the old man was using, he was confident in his own strength to get the job done.
He had lifted boulders the size of a medium hill in his earth training.
Not only could he lift the old man, he could probably lift the entire ground where the carnival was being hosted if he wanted to.
" Whenever you are ready " Rudra said as he planted his right foot softly on the ground and waited for Max to take position.
Max stretched his shoulders a bit before bending over and trying to lift Rudra's right foot as he instantly applied a force that was 100 times stronger than what Severus could muster.
For the first time, Rudra actually felt a pull on his leg as he had to apply some downward force to keep it firmly planted as his eyes shined with excitement.
' Come show big brother just how much you have improved ' Rudra thought as he enjoyed the feeling of wrestling with his own brother.
Max who thought his initial pull was sure to do the trick was surprised when he could not budge the old man's feet as he began to progressively increase the power.
The earth began to crack under his feet as Max realised that the force he was using was enough to lift a ten storey building from its foundation up, yet he did not even feel the old man struggling to keep his grip.
Stopping abruptly, Max took a step back as he stared at the old man in horror.
He inspected the old man again, and then again trying to find out as to why he was so unreasonably strong, but in the end he could find out nothing from the stat pannel.
" Who are you? " Max asked with panic evident in his voice as he asked for the old man's true identity.
Rudra who had intended to achieve this effect from the start chuckled as he said " Let's make a small bet, shall we commander Max? "
The expressions of everyone stiffened when the old man called Max by his designation as they realised that things were not as simple as they seemed to be, yet the smile on Rudra's face never faded away.
Everything was going as per the plan of the greatest mastermind of all time.
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