CHAPTER 182: A LIGHT BEATING

In the middle of the night, several figures moved in the shadows. They were waiting just outside the premises of the Royal Academy.

The moonlight barely reached them, swallowed by the mist that hung low across the academy walls.

Even the chirping of insects seemed to quiet, as though the night itself feared to make a sound.

They came here to try and kidnap Eisen Terre. They waited for him to leave the school grounds since none of them wanted to enter the school premises, seeing as it was protected by an aura user at the fifth mantle.

Yet no matter how long they waited, Eisen did not leave the school premises. They understood that they could return to their employer without even trying, but if they entered the school, the chances of meeting with Principal Aldren would be extremely high.

The very second the Principal finds them in the school grounds with the intent of kidnapping a student, in that moment, death would be a kind mercy.

"Should we just go?"

"If we enter the premises, that only means either death or something worse."

"We can’t just-"

They suddenly became silent as they heard a sudden rustling in a nearby tree. The leader of the group signalled the others.

One of the men then approached where the noise was coming from. The others positioned themselves in a way that they could react if there was something.

When the person who went to the area saw nothing, he gave a signal to the others. That was when they noticed that one of them was gone. The men froze in place as they looked around.

That brief instant of looking away was all it took, and when they looked at each other again, another one was gone.

Yet this time, they saw who their assailant was. It was a large, muscular man, and a rather famous one at that. One of the strongest knights in Norvaegard, the one everyone considers the right-hand man of the Iron Duke, Sir Thalos Stonemaul.

The moment he stepped out of the shadows, the air shifted. No aura flared, yet the night seemed to bow around him.

His armor caught what little moonlight there was, gleaming not with shine but with weight, the kind that came from years of battle, of service, of unbending honor.

Stories said Sir Thalos Stonemaul once broke a wyvern’s jaw with a single punch and walked for three days through a blizzard to simply find a single blade of wintersbane to cure an old lady whom he had just met.

Seeing him now, those stories suddenly felt far too modest. He was the one who most agreed, embodied the very essence of being a knight.

"Sorry about beating up two of you in such a sneaky way. I just wanted to try something. So now I will face you guys head-on. Also, don’t bother running cause I will chase you down."

There was a heavy pressure that descended on the group; it was a suffocating pressure. It was neither bloodlust, killing intent, nor even a release of one’s aura. This was simply the pressure from Thalos’s presence.

"... Sir Thalos, why did you attack us?"

"Isn’t that obvious? To prey on a child with a bright future. I don’t know how much you have been paid, but I hope that it was enough to bet your lives on."

The men instinctively stepped back, their hands trembling on their weapons. One of them swallowed hard.

"Is there any way you can let us go? We haven’t done anything yet."

The leader spoke out. Knowing Sir Thalos’s reputation as the very embodiment of the ideals of a knight who follows the code of chivalry, he was hoping that Sir Thalos would show mercy.

"That is true." Sir Thalos tilted his head ever so slightly while touching his chin. "Seeing as you guys only have an idea of doing and haven’t done anything yet. Hm, I guess a light beating for each of you is good enough."

Sir Thalos cracked his knuckles. Thalos’s knuckles cracked like a small thunderclap. The hired men flinched as if the sound had struck them.

"Yes, just a light beating," he repeated, voice dry. "You asked for mercy, I’ll give you the luxury of not dying tonight. Consider this the punishment of your poor judgment."

He moved without hurry. The first man who tried to bolt never made it more than two steps. Thalos caught him by the collar and swung him like a rag doll, slamming him into a tree. The man’s weapon clattered away, and his breath left him in a shaky gust.

Thalos didn’t linger. With a single, practiced motion, he drove the heel of his gauntlet into another man’s ribs; that one crumpled, doubled over, and gagging on the bite of the night air.

There was no flourish, no show of cruelty, only efficient, unromantic violence. Bones snapped where they needed to, tendons were stretched and then slackened.

"Retreat!"

The leader commanded. It took a few seconds, but the remaining men finally broke from their paralysis and scattered into the night, boots thudding against the dirt.

But Thalos didn’t move immediately. He simply rolled his shoulders once, exhaling like a man limbering up before training.

"Good," he muttered. "I needed a little bit of night training." Then he was gone.

***

The several men who had escaped from Thalos’s grasp had run in different directions. One of them was heading to the nearby forest. When he turned his head, his blood ran cold. He saw Thalos was right behind him.

No sound, no warning. The knight’s heavy armor should have made noise, but there was nothing. Only the low hum of the night wind.

The man swung his sword wildly in panic. Thalos caught the sword with his bare hand and, even without any aura, broke the sword. He then quickly punched the man in the gut, making him fly a few feet in the air.

The punch was so powerful that it produced a shockwave. The man tried to defend himself with his aura mantle, but it was useless.

The force still tore through him, driving the air and meal from his lungs. Thalos did this with nothing but his base strength, with no use of his aura mantle.

The man fell to the ground unconscious. Thalos then started running towards the others who had fled.

***

Another who had reached the forest was trying to hide behind a cluster of trees. He was trying his hardest to erase his presence as he held his breath.

Out of nowhere, the tree where he was hiding on top of the branches suddenly shook. Thalos had punched the giant tree.

The tree crashed into the ground with a thunderous crack, scattering leaves and dust into the air. The man hiding among its branches tumbled down with it, hitting the ground hard and gasping in pain.

Before he could even scramble to his feet, a hand the size of a shovel seized him by the back of the neck and lifted him up effortlessly.

Thalos then slammed the man to the ground. He did it in a way that allowed the man to remain conscious. Thalos then lifted the man again and once again slammed him to the ground; this time, the man fainted.

***

Thalos continued his hunt. None of the would-be kidnappers had run far enough to escape him.

A few tried to fight back, but that resulted in nothing much different from the fate of the others. In the end, they were still beaten up.

***

The leader and two men had finally stopped running. Their lungs burned, the taste of iron sharp in their mouths.

The open plains stretched endlessly around them, no trees, no cover, only the pale gleam of the moon above and the cold breath of the wind across the grass.

For a brief moment, they thought they had escaped. Until they heard the steady crunch of footsteps behind them.

When they turned, Thalos was already there. There was no armor clinking, no sign of exhaustion.

The moonlight caught the faint glint of metal at his gauntlets, but his eyes, sharp, calm, unhurried, were the only thing that shone brighter.

"I’m guessing that you are the commander of this group. Knowing that, I’ve decided to beat you a little more than the others."

The trio responded by simply taking fighting stances. In that very second, in but a blink of the eye, Thalos disappeared from his position.

Thalos reappeared in front of them. He quickly punched one of the men in the chin, making the other party weak in the knees and about to kneel.

Thalos then proceeded to do an uppercut to the abdomen, making the men fall to the ground.

Before they could react, Thalos kicked the other man beside the leader. The strength of his kick was strong enough that you could pretty much hear the man’s ribs getting broken.

Only the leader was left standing now. His hands trembled a little as he raised his sword, though his eyes burned with defiance.

Thalos walked toward him slowly, boots crunching against the dry grass. Each step echoed in the still plains.

"I’ll say this, for a b*stard willing to kidnap a child, you are pretty brave. To stand before me without trying to continue to flee."

"... It’s not like you’ll allow me to flee."

Thalos stopped a step away, the moonlight carving hard angles across his face. For the first time that night, the leader’s bravado flickered.

"That is true. This is punishment for thinking about kidnapping a child."

The leader exhaled through gritted teeth, his aura mantle enveloping him as he lunged forward.

His blade flashed under the moonlight. It was a desperate strike, one made by a man who already knew he’d lost.

Thalos didn’t even bother dodging. Unlike before this time, Thalos decided to use his aura, since the person was the leader of the group.

He enveloped his hand with his own aura mantle, raised his left hand, and caught the blade mid-swing.

The steel shrieked against his gauntlet, sparks dancing briefly before dying into the night. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the sword snapped cleanly in half.

"Nice attempt." Thalos spoke before punching the man.

The impact was thunderous. The leader’s body lifted off the ground and skidded across the grass for several meters before coming to a stop. Thalos had used just enough strength to make it hurt, but not make the other person faint.

"That’s just the first punch. You need to receive a few more punches for this punishment. Don’t worry, I promise you as a knight that I will not kill you."

After punching the man a few more times, the other party’s face was swelling so much. Thalos spoke to him.

"Next time, make wiser choices, and don’t do such dishonorable acts like kidnapping."

After he was done speaking, Thalos did a simple finger flick on the leader’s forehead, but that was enough to make the other party finally faint. Thalos then returned to the Royal Academy to continue guarding Eisen Terre.