24 The Power of Law

"Kill them all!!"

Perhaps, at that moment, my orders were unnecessary.

The one leading the frontlines was without doubt, the one known as Guardian of Steel, Xueti. As the Head of the Hall of Enforcement, the Town Security army could be considered his direct subordinates. They were the ones he came into contact with the most often and he was even able to name each and every individual in the 800 women strong Town Security. Now that they were getting injured in front of his eyes, how could he not be enraged! How could he not feel hatred towards the enemy!

Xueti's eyes rolled back to the extent of showing only white and the final bit of sanity in his head turned into bloodlust. After he decided to enter into a frenzy, the role model of a good man completely disappeared. The one charging now wasn't the one who wouldn't retaliate under the pursuit of the Town Security but a mad bull driven by vengeance.

"Heroic Charge!"

This was one of the simplest skill of a warrior. It simply rocketed its user forward like a fodder, but in the hands of the Guardian of Steel, it became a charge of death that destroyed everything in his path.

Tanking it upfront? He simply charged over you mercilessly.

Using spears to stab him? Even the sharpest enchanted spears were unable to penetrate his steel body.

The strong Blackwater army was as weak as a bunch of chickens in the face of the Legend-rank old bull. As though finding the usage of weapon unable to appease his anger, he grabbed a Pig Tribe Beastman with each of his hands and crushes them together to form two piles of meat soil. Afterwards, he moved on to the next target…

"Sorcery Frog Hex!"

An old Shaman whose head was filled with chicken feathers used its most vicious sorcery on the old bull but with just a fierce glare by the Guardian of Steel, the sorcery was reflected back to the Shaman.

"Ribbit ribbit", a frog that jumped around randomly appeared on the ground. Then, he was stepped to death by the mad bull.

Iron Bloodline, Copper Body, Silver Dignity, Golden Will, Respected Legend. Upon reaching the stage of a Legend, one could forge their own Soul Imprint and use their imprint as their core and power source, allowing them to significantly strengthen a component of their abilities.

'Steel Heart' was the name of Xueti's Soul Imprint. He believed that his body was like metal, his soul forged by steel, indestructible and flawless.

Fine, its side effect was that one would be overconfident of their perfect physique and would think that not stripping to show off their entire body would be the regret of the world. Thus, he formed the bad habit of exhibitionism…

Cough, we were at the battlefield now, so let's be a bit more serious. Let's speak less of the gossips and get back to the main topic.

A Gold-rank expert could already use their will to affect their physique and the world. With this pure enhancement type of Soul Imprint, Xueti only had to gather his own will, coupled with the basic abilities as a Legend-rank Justice Knight, and he would turn into an infallible steel fortress.

Therefore destroying a few inferior weapons and reflecting a few low-level sorceries was just a piece of cake!

Against the formation of the Blackwater army, he was like an unblockable meat grinder. The slow but determined march, charge, assault and suppress then what was left behind him was a floor of broken weapons and lumps of scattered meat.

"Accept the judgement of law! Criminal! Incantation of Law: Judgement!"

Compared to Xueti who was rushing in a frenzy, at least Kelvin remembered to use the 1-circle spell that all Justice Knights learned first.

This incantation was modelled after the Holy Knight's 'Divine Art; Detect Evil', but there was a great difference in its effects. The 'Divine Art; Detect Evil' seemed like a skill to differentiate the good from the bad, but if good and bad could be differentiated so easily, then why would there still be a need for police and law enforcers? We could just send Holy Knights to check everyone and throw all evil people into jail. Then, we would have everlasting peace.

What 'Divine Art; Detect Evil' truly detected was the energy within one's body and their bloodline. If it was sided towards Chaos, then naturally, the red light representing evil would appear. Otherwise, if it was sided towards Order, then a white light representing justice would appear…

It might be unreliable but in certain situations, it was quite effective. At least, for Liches which were filled with the Power of Death or Dark Elves, who had a bloodline sided towards Chaos, it would definitely shine bright red and admittedly, they were normally up to no good.

As for my Incantation of Law: Judgement, it looked into the mind of the one who had the spell cast on them and judged them by the Codex of Law based on their actions within the last hour. If guilty, the spell would shine red. Otherwise, if he was innocent, the spell would shine white.

Of course, I would be extremely pleased if I could further the time the Incantation of Law could probe into. This way, our legal system could save a lot of hassle. However, it was a power derived from the laws of Order and I am unable to change it as an individual.

In front of him, as the divine light of Judgement fell, all of the Beastmen naturally shone bright red. This would increase the might of the Incantation of Laws cast on them afterwards by several folds.

"Incantation of Law: Silence!"

The gavel struck from midair, followed by silver ripples spreading outwards. The light of silence dispersed and all of the Shamans found themselves unable to chant magic. Immediately after, all of the Berserkers realized that they were unable to release their warcry!

This Incantation of Law was a 2-circle magic that was used to keep silence in a court. Naturally, it could shut the mouth of the sinners!

"Incantation of Law: Proof of Crime Lock On, Equipment Strip!"

This Incantation of Law was famous for being the most shameless spell of Justice Knights. If the opponent was a criminal that was currently breaking the law, the Justice Knights were able to pinpoint an equipment as evidence of the crime, preventing the opponent from using it. (5-circle magic, spends quite a huge amount of magic. The prerequisite for the spell was that the person had been judged guilty)

The duration of the spell might be short and it was single-target, but just think about it, if your weapon and armour suddenly left you in the middle of a battle…

"Sin-Splitting Strike!"

It was impossible for the experienced Justice Knight Kelvin to miss the opportunity provided when the enemy lost his weapon.

Kelvin struck down with his longsword, bringing along a silver light on the sword from the buff of Incantation of Law originating from the Origin of Codex's Power of Order. A criminal who was hit by this blow would suffer damage several folds higher.

Under the ordinary longsword, the Pig Tribesman's prided thick skin was as easily cut through as paper.

With another strike from his sword, the silver light shot out in the form of a spinning chakram. Aiming at more valuable targets, he killrf numerous prestigious military officers in one go.

The classical combination of something resembling the Holy Knight's Divine Arts and physical attacks. The most commonly seen battle style of Justice Knights as a law enforcer were physical attacks and lower-circle magics that were exceptionally effective on those who broke the law.

As for the mad bull Xueti, he was an exception. Ignoring the fact that he didn't use spells or weapons, he actually found his clothes to only be in his way and started stripping down his own protective gears…

Cough, it was good that a warrior had passion for battle. As long as one was tougher than their armor, then you're free to decide on whether you want to use weapons and protective gear or not. There was nothing stopping you from going nude on the battlefield.

Actually, as a rarely seen Legend-rank Warrior whose abilities were purely focused on physical enhancements, the durability of his body might be close to Adam's, these normal weapons weren't really necessary to him. Anyway, getting ripped apart or sliced apart wasn't much of a difference for his victims.

Perhaps, the reason why Xueti's true identity as the Battlefield Exhibitionist hadn't been revealed yet was only because those who had seen him in his mad bull state had been reduced to meat lumps by him…

"What a splendid fodder."

Looking at how the two-man fodder team charged ahead, had captured the attention of most of the opponents, I couldn't resist sighing.

The other two Mages, Kale and Elisa flashed smiles of agreement.

In the Eich Continent, there was a common saying that roughly meant that Mages looked down upon others not of their own silk. In their eyes, there were only two main distinctions of all jobs. Mage and non-Mage fodder…

This was another argument for the supremacy of magic but I'd have to admit, my opinion may be biased.

"In this old man's eyes, it should be obvious that there are in fact 3 categories. Mage, useless fodder and useful fodder and Kelvin and Metal Lump (Xueti's nickname) inevitably belongs to the category of the most useful, classical and limited-edition fodder that should be well-cherished! Look, due to their charges, those dumb pigs actually forgot about our existence, forgot about the Mages who are at the core of the battle."

As a Mage who pursued the truth, Kale Diya's comment was satisfactory as always.

"Actually, I categorize them by their power ranking. Xueti is a Legend-rank fodder and if we look at his Soul Imprint, his value could be upped one notch, putting him at the level of classical collection worth stashing away. Kelvin's slightly inferior… Alright, Elisa, don't glare at me like that, I know we're working on serious matters. Cough, since our fodder has attracted the liveliness of our enemies and fulfilled their purpose, then let's destroy them in one go."

"Alright, let this old man go first. Incantation of Magic: Stripping of Freedom."

This was a single-target 4-circle magic. Normally, it restricted the movement of a criminal within an area. But, in the hands of a Saint-rank Mage, it had evolved into a powerful AOE magic that restricted the movement of a group. In an instant, all of the Blackwater soldiers who were marked with a red light within sight became unable to move.

"Hng! What's going on!! Hng hng!"

"Hng hng! Let me go!"

An individual Mage was often treated like a cannon but in reality, it was only when Mages formed groups and worked together when they were able to show off their true prowess.

The Saint-rank Kale Diya spent large amount of his mana to restrict the enemy's freedom. In fact, to sustain the spell, he was unable to move himself. This was all so that Elisa and I could cast our magic on the frozen enemies as we pleased.

Since the conditions were good now, the spell we should use, should naturally make use of the enemy's inability to move to the fullest.

"Ice Carving!"

As a Half-Demon, Elisa was born with a strong Chaos bloodline, which made it difficult and ineffective for her to utilize the Power of Law as it was a subsidiary of the Origin of Order. Thus, I imparted to her my expertise from the time I was still Lord Yongye — Necromancy and Ice elemental magic.

For an Ice Mage, creating a few ice sculptures was a piece of cake but these products of ice did lack offensive power. However, if these ice sculptures appear in the wrong positions…

Fine, I shall get straight to the point. In this instant, beside the feet of all of the Beastmen, icicles were slowly growing and the sharp edges were aimed at the Beastmen's reproductive organs…

Glancing at the corpses of the Town Security who were defiled, I secretly wiped away my cold sweat and made a mental note not to offend women. I knew that this time, Elisa was really furious.

Maybe it was to make those Beastmen regret their actions before their deaths, so the icicles grew at a slow pace. But, looking at the sweat beads on Kale's forehead and hearing the cursing of those Beastmen, I felt the necessity to give them a hand.

"Extreme Magic Soaring Spell!"

Compared to the 2-circle Floating Spell which Mages used to jump from high locations, the 3-circle Soaring Spell was its upgraded version, allowing people to fly slightly higher, around 1 to 2 meters.

In this moment, even after I used the Extreme Magic Technique to convert it into an AOE spell, it only turned into a 6-circle commonly used mystical spell. Very quickly, the entire group of Beastmen were enchanted with the Soaring Spell and due to the restriction of movement from the Incantation of Law, they could only move up or down…

The current me cannot be compared to the SemiGod tier top-class Mage I was then. It might just be a 6-circle mystical spell, but this Lich also doesn't have much mana to waste, so…

"Pataa!" With a snap of a finger, the effects of the Soaring Spell were released and all of the Beastmen dropped down rapidly. Then, they met with the icicles which had been waiting for them for a long time…

"This's too tragic! I can't bear to watch it any longer."

The scene in front of me made me recall the candied apple that were skewered together with a stick. I decided that I would never eat this kind of food again. Then, I realized that I already no longer needed to ingest food, these were all excessive thoughts…

"Hng hng! Demon!! Hng!"

"Quickly run! Hng hng! Run!!"

When half of an army faced the other half of an army which had been converted into 'Pork Candied Apple", even the most elite of soldiers would try to escape in despair.

The panicked dispersion of the Blackwater army before me was within expectations.

"Not chasing them?"

"Don't. Forcing them to retreat from the city is sufficient."

If I went by my style of doing things normally, I'd definitely kill every single last one of them. Even if they managed to escape from the city, I would pursue them to the ends of the world. But, I decided to shelve it aside temporarily because of an the uneasy premonition I felt, a feeling that I was missing out a crucial factor.

Truthfully, when I saw the devastation outside the city gates and the Blackwater army, my first reaction, other than anger, the more dominant one was surprise.

"Why did they send the Blackwater army who serve as the Royal Guards? If it was a bunch of elite thieves sneaking in to cause trouble, he could still argue his way out of it. But, if he sends his Royal Guards, it becomes an obvious act of war. Hng Hng's head must have been dunked in water, or else why would he dare to fall out with Sulfur Mountain City and start an all-out war with us. Just what kind of back-up does he possibly have?"

But soon, when I realized that I was unable to communicate Margaret who was outside the city, I could roughly guess what happened.

"The Underground Alliance and the Underground Autarchs, huh? Looks like Hng Hng has really committed to fall out with Sulfur Mountain City completely. I underestimated our opponents. The attack by half of their army was probably just to stall our internal firepower… Aren't they afraid of Adam getting back at them? To offend 3 independent and free SemiGod experts in one go? If they don't solve the root of the problem, they would just be seeking their own deaths. So, it seems like the Underground Autarch are intending to weed our roots out. The fact that I am unable to communicate with Margaret probably indicates that they are in trouble, deep trouble."

At this point, I made up my mind.

"Let's go back to the court. Let's begin the hearing!"

"Begin the hearing? You intend to use the Origin of Codex? Lilith just reported that the situation in the city is still under control, even so, you intend to use our trump card? Is it worth it?"

"Of course, it's worth it. There are changes in the situation. Elisa, go and prepare the God Equipment and the ritual. We must immediately put a stop to the internal strife. In the worst-case scenario, our great City Lord might currently be waiting for our rescue."