Chapter 556: Beat Down

Erik POV

He stood there beside April and Landon. The three of them were completely still while they looked at the unmoving form of the young boy.

None of them had expected this outcome. It wasn’t just the fact that Oliver had actually taken the time to spar with a Tier 3 of all people. No, that was a totally separate surprise. If anyone in the Sentinel Guild heard that the Vice Guildmaster had actually sparred with a Tier 3, they would have been astonished and probably would have called the people who told them that liars.

You didn’t just get to spar with a Tier 6 like you would with a random person you found off the street. There were already a limited number of Tier 6s in the Empire. Just meeting one was a privilege.

However, Erik was more shocked by Oliver’s reaction when fighting someone three tiers below him. Oliver was known to be the pillar of the Sentinel Guild; everyone knew that their Guildmaster wasn’t someone who cared about the regular dealings of the guild. They did what they wanted, and nobody complained.

Their power was a pretty good reason for this; furthermore, Oliver handled everything else with exceptional proficiency. On top of this, Oliver rarely showed emotions and was notoriously stoic.

Yet, Erik saw an excited glint in the Tier 6’s eyes when he smiled at the still form of the Tier 3 boy. It wasn’t just a polite smile, either; Erik was able to tell that much. From the way Vice Guildmaster Oliver’s aura pulsed out, it was impossible to miss the genuine joy.

April and Landon must have recognized the same thing because they were similarly looking at their Vice Guildmaster with wide eyes—no doubt surprised by this display.

Erik finally looked over at the unmoving form off in the corner of the room. His opinion of Julius had changed dramatically. He knew that Julius hadn’t taken him seriously during their match, but he didn’t think he had been holding back that much.

It was hard to tell just how strong Julius was when he had been going up against someone of the caliber of Oliver Silvertone, but he saw several powerful skills that Julius hadn’t bothered to reveal during their fight.

He even had a teleportation skill for hell’s sake. One that was apparently of high enough quality to take Oliver by surprise. They had all heard stories about Oliver Silvertone. Erik, more recently, since he had joined not too long ago. However, that only meant the stories were fresher in his mind.

Oliver Silvertone was also known by a different title. The Indomitable Sentinel.

Erik had heard the Indomitable Sentinel had made his name when he had single-handedly dealt with a horde of monsters assaulting a city in the central regions of the Empire. This was when Oliver had recently advanced to Tier 6. This horde had included two powerful Tier 6s, and Oliver was not only able to protect the entire city from the countless monsters attacking it, but even kill one of the Tier 6s, delaying long enough for reinforcements to arrive to defeat the second.

That was twenty years ago. Who knew how strong the Vice Guildmaster had become since then

That was the sort of man who suddenly looked at Julius like a long-lost family member. A family member he had buried in the ground and knocked unconscious, but that was besides the point.

“I see you weren’t exaggerating, old friend. You got quite an interesting disciple here,” Oliver noted, glancing over at the other Tier 6 who was silently watching from the side. Erik had been so distracted by the spar that he had almost forgotten that he was there.

He scoffed to himself. Forgetting about a Tier 6 standing in the same room as him… His father would knock him in the head if he found that out.

Erik didn’t really know who this Tier 6 was, but considering that the Vice Guildmaster was friends with him and the sheer fact that he was Tier 6, Erik automatically placed him high on the list of people he respected and feared.

The Tier 6, named Cain, laughed boisterously and went over to the limp form of his disciple, picking him up like one would a stray kitten. The boy’s injuries were bad, and Erik was tempted to go over and force a healing potion down the boy’s throat. However, the fact that neither Tier 6 seemed bothered had him hold back.

“Yeah, he is certainly an entertaining brat. Has a lot to learn and is quite unrefined in a lot of areas, but I hope to teach him some things.”

Erik almost choked on his spit when he heard that. Unrefined? If that was what the man considered unrefined, then what did he think of Erik? Pigshit?

“In that case, you don’t mind if I offer some help from time to time, either, do you?” Oliver asked casually.

Erik practically popped out of his skull, as did his two fellow guild members. He would have already run out of the training room to tell his friends at the guild if not for the oath of secrecy he had taken before coming here.

Erik was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar.

“Sure, just don’t teach him any bad habits,” Cain added with a pointed look at Oliver.

Their Vice Guildmaster frowned. “Bad habits? What do you mean?”

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“Nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Oliver repeated a little more forcefully, clearly wanting to hear what Cain meant by that statement.

“Absolutely nothing. Oh look, Julius is waking up,” Cain said, clearly trying to change the topic.

Erik and everyone could see that the boy was as unmoving as he had been a minute ago. However, the man was even shameless enough that he was literally slapping his disciple as if that would magically wake him up and save him from answering Oliver.

Erik didn’t know what to think. The person in front of him didn’t represent what he thought Tier 6s should behave like. He started to doubt whether this was actually a Tier 6 powerhouse.

Furthermore, he didn’t think Julius would be awake any time soon. He barely believed that the boy was alive as it was.

“He won’t be waking up for a while, Cain. I hit him pretty hard,” Oliver said with an exasperated sigh.

Cain didn’t listen and kept on shaking his disciple, giving him none too gentle slaps on the head.

“Stop abusing the poor boy. He won’t—”

To all of their shock, they saw the lifeless body twitch by the slightest of hairs and heard a pained groan.

“What’s going on?” The boy mumbled, grabbing his head despite being held up by Cain. The pain was likely from his mentor slapping him repeatedly in the same place.

Cain, on the other hand, held up his disciple as if showing off a rare treasure he was proud of.

“See? I told ya.”

Erik, on the other hand, was astonished for a totally different reason. The wounds that had covered the boy were vanishing before his very eyes.