Late at night, the noble estate's recent silence was abruptly shattered.
Countless lights began to shine from the building's windows and corridors, driving away the darkness.
"Quick!"
"Over there!"
"The thief is over there!"
The guards' furious shouts rang out.
A chaotic mass of footsteps thundered like a torrential downpour.
But before the guards could gather, something unusual happened.
"Bang—!"
A wall at one corner of the estate burst apart as though it had been struck with tremendous force, leaving behind a human-shaped crater.
"Wooooah...!"
Aigis's scream rang out alongside the crumbling wall, like the shriek of some nobody trying to stage an accident scam.
Then, the fully armored figure that had been tightly bound in the treasure vault flew out through the human-shaped hole and crashed into the noble estate's garden.
"Ow, ow...! My waist...!"
Despite being a suit of armor, it seemed to genuinely feel pain. It clutched its waist and struggled to rise amid the clattering scrape of metal plates.
However, before Aigis could fully get up, a foot stomped heavily onto its back.
"Boom—!"
With an explosive sound that made hearts clench, the silver-white full plate armor was ruthlessly trampled into the ground. The earth shattered, forming a two-meter-wide crater and kicking up chips of stone and clouds of dust.
Aigis was stomped straight into the ground by that descending foot.
"Ow, ow, ow...! Didn't I say that hurt...!? I'm armor, yet you're hitting me hard enough to hurt! What kind of Monstrous Strength is this!?"
Buried in the dirt, Aigis screamed and flailed all four limbs like a frog being pressed down.
But Fang Li, who had it firmly pinned beneath him, did not spare it a glance. He merely snorted.
"If I could, I'd rather cut you into pieces than merely make you hurt