Chapter 308: Fifty Paladins Walk Into Their Own Demise

Half of the paladins on their horses were laughing at Jax’s remarks.

One turned to the paladin holding the child with a grin splitting his face. "Did you hear that, Chief? This boy is threatening us."

All eyes were on Jax. He simply unsheathed his sword and let the blade catch the light filtering through the canopy.

"You guys don’t understand, do you? But let me paint what the future looks like from here."

His voice dropped. "Soon this ground will be a bloodbath. Soon there will be corpses lying where you’re standing. And the regret of not accepting my words will be the last thought running through your heads."

He scanned them slowly. "You will regret your decision when your souls look down and see the pain going through your families. Your children. Your parents. Your wives. When they see your dead body being carried home."

He let the silence do its work. "So choose wisely from here. And back off."

Some of them twitched. The image he had planted in their heads was doing exactly what he intended. Fear was crawling up their spines one vertebra at a time.

But one paladin burst into laughter. "Pff... hahaha... please... stop it... I will for sure die from this—"

His words died in his mouth because a sword had entered it. From the front. And exited through the back of his skull.

Jax had crossed the distance before anyone registered the movement. He couldn’t hold himself anymore and charged at the loudmouth just to shut him up permanently.

Fear settled into some eyes. Rage ignited in others. The horse carrying the now-dead master panicked and bolted, dumping the corpse onto the grass.

And seeing that, most of the other horses started behaving the same way. Rearing high. Hooves thrashing wildly as if they had sensed a predator that their riders were too stupid to notice.

The paladins had no choice but to jump from their mounts.

Now Jax stood surrounded by more than fifty armored men on foot. Each pair of eyes carrying vengeance for their fallen comrade.

Jax pulled his sword from the loudmouth’s mouth with a wet crunch. "I warned you. I offered you a way out."

He scanned the circle of vengeful faces. "But looking at the anger in your eyes, I see people who are absolutely desperate to make their wives widows."

A demonic, hollow smile stretched across his face as he finally raised his head. "Who am I to deny your dying wish? So prepare yourselves. The time for decision is over. And now, the time for death begins."

The slaughter started after those words. The four girls watched from the side.

Lavinia spoke first, twirling her dagger between her fingers. "Don’t you girls think we should join in too?"

Delphine didn’t bother looking away from her nails. "Why bother?"

Lavinia tilted her head. "Isn’t it our exam?"

Evangeline finally opened her mouth for the first time in what felt like hours. "It was our task to begin with. But it seems the professor is too desperate to get back home and wants to clear this dungeon himself by killing that little witch. So why should we interfere?"

Lavinia dropped her voice low. "But it’s dangerous for him to fight alone."

Evangeline’s eyes stayed fixed on the massacre. "Dangerous? For whom? Look over there and tell me who is actually in danger."

Back in the killing ground, Jax stood with his bloody sword and his anger. Alone.

Beside him lay heads and bodies that had been cleanly separated by his blade. He was outnumbered yet the fear existed entirely on the opposite end. Some paladins looked at the man standing in their comrades’ blood and their legs simply refused to respond. Others still gripped their ego alongside their swords.

One hissed through clenched teeth. "You have made an enemy of not just our empire but the whole world! And for what?" She pointed to the girl dangling in the chief’s grip. "A monster. You made a great mistake and now you will pay for every life you took."

Jax didn’t say a word. In a blink the distance between them vanished. Before the paladin could raise his shield, Jax’s hand shot forward. His fingers forced their way through the narrow gap of the helmet and dug directly into the man’s face. Gripping his skull. Holding his head completely paralyzed.

With his other hand, Jax slowly dragged the edge of his sword to the man’s exposed throat. Making sure every remaining paladin was watching.

He spoke with a voice that had no room for negotiation. "Didn’t I say that the time for talks is over?"

Then he pressed the cold steel in deep and pulled with agonizing slowness. Slaughtering the paladin like a sacrificial lamb. Letting his blood pour out and soak the earth beneath them.

The chaos erupted again. And in the middle of it Jax brought down paladin after paladin with a fury that was getting worse with each kill. Each slash more brutal than the last. He didn’t stop until only a handful of them remained standing.

He moved toward the chief paladin. The one still holding the girl.

The chief instantly brought his sword to the child’s neck, hand trembling. "Stay exactly where you are! One more step, you monster! Take one more step and I swear to the heavens I will sever her throat!"

Jax didn’t listen. He kept walking.

The chief ground his teeth and was about to drag the blade across the girl’s neck when someone grabbed both his arms from behind and delivered a devastating knee to his spine. Launching him forward directly toward Jax.

It was Bruise Lee who was summoned moments ago while no one was paying attention.

As the chief stumbled toward Jax from the momentum of the kick, two clean slashes separated his left hand from his body. Then his right. And Jax walked past the screaming, handless man on the ground without a second glance.

He looked at the girl. The one the quest had assigned him to kill. She was still in shock. Sobbing midway through a breath she couldn’t finish.

Jax went for her. Picked her up gently and held her against his chest. "It’s all right now."

Then his gaze turned to the remaining thirteen paladins. His face shifted. Warmth gone. Voice hollow again.

"I’m leaving you alive out of pity. Plus I need witnesses. People who will tell the world what happens when anyone dares to go after this child."

He kicked an armored head like a football and sent it rolling toward them.

"They will all meet the same fate as long as I am standing by her side. Now leave. Before I change my decision."

Fear drove them away. But one among them stopped. Trembling. He walked toward the handless chief on the ground and froze, as if silently asking whether he was allowed to take him.

Jax didn’t care. He turned and started walking away.

The girl in his arms was shocked into silence and doesn’t know what to say. And Jax himself didn’t know what to say or what to do next either.

Lavinia was the first to catch up, followed by the rest of the girls.

She matched his pace and said cheerfully. "Hey Professor, you were a bit too cruel back there. Did you forget this is a real world somewhere? You just committed mass murder."

Jax kept walking with the child still in his arms. "I warned them first. But they were still fixated on this child. A child who hasn’t even seen the world yet. So I vanished them from the world instead." He paused. "But I wasn’t cruel. I’ve changed a lot, you know. I even gave them mercy."

Evangeline raised an eyebrow. "Mercy?"

Jax glanced sideways at her. "When I made them imagine their families, I was reading their faces. I memorized every single one who trembled at the thought of their children and wives crying over their bodies. And I left those thirteen alive."

His voice went flat. "The ones I killed were the ones who didn’t flinch. The real monsters."

The girls processed that in silence. But only Athanasia was seeing a different version of him than the rest. She knew Jax was choosing a path that would lead them all to doom. She knew he didn’t save this child just to kill her with his own hands. And if her suspicion was right, then he would stand in their way. Which meant they would all be trapped in this world until he either came to his senses or fell.

She spoke with measured calm. "Professor, what will you do now? With this child? I can confirm she is the witch the dungeon mentioned. She possesses power far beyond anything I have seen. But she doesn’t know how to control it."

Jax didn’t have an answer. He just looked down at the child’s eyes in his arms.

Then Delphine cut in with a shrug. "Is that even a question? Kill the child. Obviously. That’s what we are here for. It’s already been long enough so we should hurry up and get this over with."

The child in Jax’s arms heard every word. Her eyes found his face. And what filled them wasn’t fear anymore. It was betrayal.

Her tiny hands slapped against his chest. She pushed herself away from him. Pushed and pushed until he let her go and she dropped to the ground.

-x-X-x-

[A/N: Shoutout to eric_rowse, tony_adams_4787, Ordici_T, Allen_Beavers and Leo_Muhammad for the golden tickets ❤️🔥

(👍🏻ᴗ _ᴗ)👍🏻]