Chapter 126: Suppressing Bandits (Part 1)

  At the mansion's entrance, a female knight clad in silver armor, with a long sword at her waist and a knight's lance in hand, sat astride a tall, snow-white horse. Looking down at two servants, she asked, "Is this Axsis's residence?"

  The two gatekeepers were elderly men, both over fifty. The two old men glanced at the sacred cross pattern on the knight's armor and quickly lowered their heads, answering, "Yes."

  The knight's gaze swept over the two old men. She gave a slight nod and rode directly into the mansion.

  "My lord, you..." The two old men remembered that their master had strictly forbidden outsiders from entering, and today they had even hired extra people to guard the mansion's surroundings, but they dared not step forward to stop her. The sacred cross pattern on the knight's armor indicated her status was at least that of a bishop level, and the natural authority in her every movement and expression made people instinctively keep their distance.

  "If you don't want to die, you'd better go home now," the knight said without turning back, leaving behind a single sentence.

  In the garden, the guards gathered around, but seeing the fully armed Temple Knight, none dared to step forward to stop her. In Erathia, perhaps the authorities entering such a private mansion would need to issue a notice, but a Temple Knight absolutely did not. Let alone trespassing, even if she were to kill someone here, no one would dare to stop or question her. Most of the guards nearby were temporarily hired. The clever ones who sensed the situation was unfavorable had already turned and fled. Several other guards had simply caught a distant glimpse of the female knight and immediately turned to escape the mansion.

  The Temple Knight paid them no mind, riding her horse directly toward the main gate. The gate was tightly closed. The knight drew her sword and slashed through the crack in the door. The iron bolt behind it was instantly split in two. She pulled the reins, and the white horse let out a long whinny, rearing up on its hind legs. Its front hooves kicked the gate open.

  Hearing the commotion, the butler immediately ran out. When he saw the female knight who had just ridden into the hall, his face changed color, and his whole body trembled.

  The knight's blade-like gaze immediately locked onto the butler. The butler immediately forced an extremely awkward smile onto his face, bowed, and said, "My lord, I didn't know you were gracing us with your presence. What can I do for you?"

  "Where is Axsis?" the knight asked coldly.

  "So you're looking for my master. Please wait a moment. I'll go announce you, and my master will come out to see you immediately." The butler turned and walked back the way he came.

  "Stop." The knight shouted coldly. But not only did the butler not stop, he ran even faster, taking several large strides to reach a corner.

  A flash of white light. The headless body of the butler continued running for a few steps, even turning half a corner before collapsing to the ground, blood spraying from his neck. The knight's lance left only a short handle embedded in the wall at the corner, with fragments of the butler's head scattered all over the wall and ground.

  Seeing this scene, the other servants all screamed and ran outside like madmen. The knight glanced indifferently at this group. She could be certain these servants didn't understand what was happening. She pulled the lance from the wall and walked toward the inner hall.

  The commotion on the ground floor did not reach below. In the largest room of the basement, Sylka and Axsis stood with seven experts before over a hundred subordinates.

  "Do you want money? Glittering gold coins?" Sylka's roar echoed in the basement. Every note vibrated with inner desire and savagery, more like the howl of a beast than a human voice. "Answer me!"

  "Yes!" The bandits responded in unison.

  "Then follow me to get it. I tell you pieces of trash, after this is done, each of you will get over a hundred gold coins. You can do as many women as you want, enjoy yourselves, kill people and be respected." Sylka's voice paused, then concluded with the loudest, most thunderous roar. "Because you will have money."

  The bandit subordinates followed with an impassioned roar. Especially the veteran members of The Shamushi Thieves' Guild, whose eyes were red with excitement, panting like bulls in heat. Although leader Sylka was more brutal than anyone, following him also brought more benefits than anyone else. Every such gathering to issue orders was inevitably followed by a major operation like robbing an official treasury, after which large amounts of gold coins would be distributed. Having followed leader Sylka for a long time, they seemed to feel that savagery and desire for gold boiling in their blood at all times.

  Sylka looked with satisfaction at the group of red-eyed beasts below, then let out another leader-of-the-pack roar. He was the biggest, strongest, and wildest beast of all.

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  Desire, violence, fear. These were forever the only principles for controlling people and driving the world. This was the meaning of human existence. The reason The Shamushi Thieves' Guild could develop to its current state and rise even higher was because he had mastered the principles of this world.

  Only the seven people behind him were very quiet, all watching the impassioned bandits with cold, impassive expressions, as if appreciating a group of animals.

  A brief, abnormal sound mixed into the bandits' roars, flashing by like a small wave in the ocean, completely unnoticeable. None of the bandits detected it. But Sylka and the people behind him immediately changed expression.

  Except for Axsis and the old man, Sylka and the other six all focused their gaze on the largest staircase entrance. That was the passage leading directly from above. They were all familiar with that sound—it was the sound of a scream cut off mid-cry when the throat was slit.

  The bandits also sensed something unusual from their leader's expression and all looked toward the passage entrance. The atmosphere that had been impassioned and explosively noisy moments ago suddenly fell silent.

  Thud. A spherical object bumped and rolled down the stairs.

  By the torchlight, those nearby saw clearly what it was. It was clearly a human head, the terrified expression still vividly lifelike, its open mouth seeming to want to release the remaining half of its cry.

  "Quick-knife Jack." Someone who recognized the head cried out. It was the thief on guard at the passage entrance, agile and highly alert, with excellent knife skills. It was said he could once decapitate two people with a single knife without getting a drop of blood on himself, but unexpectedly, someone had now silently sliced off his head.

  Crunch, crunch. In the silent air as everyone held their breath, the sound of footsteps came from the dark passage above. Subtle and steady, unhurried. The newcomer was not panicked, nor deliberately trying to conceal their presence, just walking at a normal pace. But the faint sound of metal friction already indicated this was a person wearing armor.

  The breathing in the basement became noticeably rapid. Some even showed fear on their faces. The footsteps seemed to belong to a demon from hell, stepping on everyone's hearts one by one.

  A faint white light gradually brightened in the passage as the footsteps drew closer. As the newcomer walked down unhurriedly, this person appeared before everyone's eyes from feet to head. First came a pair of feet in bright silver steel boots, then a full set of armor that perfectly accentuated every line of the body, a long sword in one hand and a knight's lance in the other, and finally a stunningly handsome, resolute, and brilliant face, crowned with beautiful golden hair like the radiance of the sun.

  This person was enveloped in a milky white glow that illuminated the dim basement. This radiance, combined with her posture and face, made her not a demon from hell. If not for the blood dripping from her armor and the long sword in her hand, and the excessive killing intent in her eyes, she would have been a battle angel descending to the mortal realm.

  "It's that Temple Knight!" a bandit shouted. Over a hundred bandits immediately erupted in commotion. Several who had just joined turned to flee toward other passage entrances.

  Sylka stepped forward, snatched a two-handed heavy sword from a subordinate's hand, and casually threw it. A fleeing subordinate was instantly impaled and pinned to the wall. The heavy sword had pierced through his abdomen. This person did not die immediately, his limbs still flailing and struggling with cries of agony. The screams immediately calmed everyone down. Others who had been about to flee froze in place, sweating profusely and at a loss.

  Sylka paid no more attention to his subordinates, turning instead to the female knight and growling in a low voice, "I've heard about you for a long time. What, is it our turn now?"

  "Investigating this den of yours cost me considerable effort." The Temple Knight paid no heed to the fact that she faced over a hundred of Erathia's most vicious criminals. Both her voice and expression were as steady as a mountain and cold as ice, as if facing her were merely a flock of lambs or a brood of chicks. She gestured with her right hand, her knight's lance sweeping past all the bandits before pointing directly at Sylka's face. "Everyone here is guilty of countless crimes, with blood on their hands. No trial is needed. In the name of the Lord, I shall execute you all here and now, sending your souls to purgatory to receive punishment for your sins."

  "Hahahaha..." Sylka's laughter was like that of a maddened lion. He looked at the Temple Knight, his whole body trembling with laughter, every muscle on his face contorting. Even a Behemoth giant beast would not have such a ferocious expression. He said, almost gasping for breath, "Just you alone? Let me tell you, noble Temple Knight. The last woman who dared to speak to me in such a condescending, lecturing tone, I raped for a full day! I tried every hole on her body, and even opened a few with my knife. And you," his hand made a forceful jabbing motion in the air toward the female knight's handsome, beautiful face, as if wanting to open a hole in her too. He roared, "I'll use you for a full week. And I'll let all my subordinates try your sacred..."

  Before he could finish, a thunderous roar drowned out his voice and expression. The knight's lance in the female knight's hand emitted a dazzling white light and was thrown like a thunderclap. The white glow around her body instantly became blindingly bright, her golden hair fluttering without wind—this was a full-power strike in extreme rage.

  The entire basement seemed to shake. Sylka's mountain-like body was actually lifted by the force of this lance and slammed against the stone wall behind him. The lance pierced directly through his blocking arm and into his shoulder. Blood burst forth. The flesh and skin where the lance passed through didn't tear but exploded, with blood immediately spraying out.

  Several bandits fell silently, each left with only half a head. They had the misfortune of standing in the path of this lance, losing their lives before understanding what had happened.

  All the bandits were horrified. Even the seven people with Sylka almost showed expressions of terror. They could all see that they absolutely could not block or dodge such a strike. Everyone knew the Temple Knight's strength was absolutely astonishing, but none had imagined it could be astonishing to this degree.

  The female Temple Knight also looked surprised. This full-power strike could have shattered even an iron statue, yet this bandit leader had only been injured, not killed. Moreover, at the critical moment, with astonishing agility and reflexes, he had dodged slightly, avoiding the fatal heart wound.

  "Kill her!" Sylka let out a bear-like roar, pulling the knight's lance from his body along with a chunk of flesh and blood. Even he understood that capturing such an enemy alive was nearly impossible.

  The surrounding bandits swarmed forward madly at this command. This was a basement, and even the escape passages were only a few narrow ones. The fight of cornered beasts had fully ignited their courage and fighting spirit.

  The long sword in the female knight's hand became a curtain of light. The first bandits to charge were immediately reduced to piles of severed limbs flying away. This wasn't a battle; it was completely one-sided slaughter, easier than chopping melons and slicing vegetables.

  "All of you, back off!" Sylka shouted again. He could now see that the white glow surrounding the Temple Knight was formed by over a dozen astonishing auxiliary magics stacked together and mixed with her own fighting spirit. A warrior whose martial skills were already astonishingly high, further enhanced by so many auxiliary magics, had combat power incomparable to his subordinates. The female knight occupied the passage entrance without worry about attacks from behind. With such an absolute difference in combat power, no matter how many weaklings there were, they would be of no use.

  Hearing the command, the bandits immediately retreated like a tide. Sylka turned to look at the seven people beside him, his voice becoming calm, even his expression turning placid as he said lightly, "You're not planning to let this bitch kill all my subordinates, and then just the few of us go to Tulalion, are you?"

  "Of course not." The old man coughed and took out a strangely shaped magic wand from under his sleeve, which even had a few bird feathers attached to it.

  The other five all stepped forward toward the female knight. They walked very carefully, very cautiously. The surrounding bandits all moved aside, making way for these few.

  The female knight chanted a low incantation. The white glow around her became brighter, and the long sword in her hand even more dazzling. She watched the five approaching opponents coldly, her face like ice, her golden hair fluttering like silk.