281: Chapter 281 The Snow Elves of the Snowfield Kingdom! The Power of Legendary Laws!

Three days later.

The Northern Territory, Ice Peak Fortress.

This place was once the most important main pass on the Empire's Northern Great Wall, but it has now changed owners.

At the crenellations of the city wall, several hulking Frost Giants were leaning against the stone wall, dozing off.

The white breath they exhaled condensed into a thin mist in the air, their giant axes resting casually at their feet.

Below the city wall, several Frost Dwarves were clanging away as they repaired some equipment.

The dwarves only came up to the Frost Giants' knees, but their voices were certainly not small.

"You idiot! Where are you swinging that hammer!"

A dwarf with ice crystals caked in his beard roared, his iron hammer smashing against a metal component, sending sparks flying.

Another dwarf retorted without showing any weakness, his voice gravelly.

Despite the cursing, they didn't stop their work; the clanging sounds echoed over the fortress, mixed with the sound of the wind, creating a strange sense of rhythm.

Inside the fortress, the original commander's residence was already unrecognizable.

Most of the doors and windows had been dismantled, and the cold wind, carrying swirls of fine snow, poured in without obstruction, spinning around in the great hall.

But for the Snow Elves, who were accustomed to the bitter cold of the Snow Plains, this temperature was still a torment.

Several Snow Elves sat gathered together.

Each of them had skin as fair as snow, hair that was silver-white or pale blue, eyes that were light blue or pale purple, long pointed ears, and slender, elegant figures.

But because the temperature inside the fortress was too high, several of them had already taken off their shawls and draped them over the backs of their chairs, yet they still felt uncomfortably hot.

Kailala was the youngest one; her short, silver-white hair was messy and sticking up, and her long, pointed ears were flushed a faint pink from the stifling heat.

While fanning herself haphazardly with her hand, she frowned and complained:

"Stara, it's so hot here! I feel like I'm about to melt... really..."

"When can we go back to the Snow Plains? I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place anymore!"

She tugged at the collar of her leather armor, revealing a stretch of pale, slender collarbone covered in a thin layer of sweat.

The female Snow Elf she called Stara was sitting by the window, wiping her short bow with a piece of velvet cloth.

She looked a bit older than the others, with a delicate and calm face, her long silver-white hair braided into a loose plait that hung over her shoulder.

She answered without even looking up:

"It should be soon. I heard from my brother that once those big guys have finished eating most of the underground magic crystal veins, we'll be heading back."

Upon hearing this, Kailala's eyes immediately lit up:

"Really? That's great!"

She clapped her hands, her face brightening:

"Those big guys were starving before, shouting every day about wanting to charge into the city walls to grab food, and we couldn't stop them."

"This time, they can finally eat their fill. Once they've eaten the ore veins clean, we can go home!"

The other Snow Elves also showed expressions of relief, discussing it all at once.

"I heard the main force found another new, large ore vein in a place called Will Province. The main force is heading over there now; that should be enough to keep those big guys fed for quite a while."

"Doesn't that mean we have to wait a long time?" Another Snow Elf tugged at her collar with a mournful face. "I really don't want to spend spring here..."

"Just bear with it. Uh, okay, it really is a bit too hot here..."

The Snow Elves complained all at once, their voices rising and falling like a flock of noisy snow sparrows.

Stara never joined in the conversation.

She just sat there quietly, her fingertips stroking the bowstring over and over, her gaze falling on the vast, snowy plains outside the window.

In the distance, between heaven and earth, nothing remained but a vast expanse of white.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched the corners of her mouth.

Soon.

She thought silently to herself.

Ever since the Holy Court's High Priest suddenly descended from the Great Snow Mountain the day before yesterday, passing through Ice Peak Fortress on the way to the front lines, she knew it would be soon.

Although she didn't know what had happened, the only reason the High Priest, a legendary powerhouse, would be mobilized was because the humans of the Northern Territory had birthed another legendary-level powerhouse.

And now that the humans had a legendary powerhouse, if the big guys kept eating, it might just trigger a great war between legendary powerhouses.

That was unnecessary.

They had eaten enough anyway; there was no need to force the last bite.

After all, this place wasn't suitable for them to live in.

The High Priest's trip was most likely to lead the negotiations.

In other words—

Perhaps, soon, they would be able to go back.

...

Gino City, Golden Flame Castle.

In the past few days, aside from tending to that increasingly lush garden as usual, Rowan had devoted almost all his mental energy to another matter.

That was familiarizing himself with the power of his new golden trait, [Red Moon Proxy].

As the Red Moon continued to recover, he could significantly feel that the connection between him and some higher-level existence was becoming increasingly close.

He began to touch the rhythms that originally belonged only to the underlying foundation of the world.

For example, the Law of Lunar Imbalance.

Under the Red Moon, all things lose balance.

This was an extremely overbearing and bizarre law.

The Agent is constantly surrounded by an invisible Red Moon Imbalance Field, capable of distorting other stable laws and energy operations.

Holy light would dim, elements would become chaotic, battle aura would become sluggish, spell chanting would suffer interruptions, and domain suppression would partially collapse.

The effectiveness of all abilities targeting the Agent would be forcibly attenuated; the more stable and ordered the enemy's power, the more intense the distortion and suppression they would suffer.

At the same time, every instance of injury or bleeding on the battlefield would generate blood energy, which would be automatically absorbed by the field, making him stronger the longer he fought, rendering him almost invincible in prolonged battles.

And on the offensive side, the Red Moon also granted a destructive method: the Law of Lunar Fall.

By borrowing the power of the Red Moon, he could condense a Spear of the Law of Lunar Fall, which could directly erase the target's ordered form of existence.

For beings below the legendary level, being struck by the Spear of the Law of Lunar Fall often meant complete dissolution, with their power systems dismantled and their soul structures shattered.

And for legendary powerhouses of the same rank, this power of law could also contend with the opponent's own power of law, eroding and wearing each other down.

It was precisely through his understanding and exploration of the power of law during this period that Rowan finally understood why one rarely heard news of legendary powerhouses falling.

To kill a legendary powerhouse, one must first extinguish their power of law.

And the power of law, as the power of the world's origin, is extremely difficult to extinguish.

It is not battle aura, not magic power, not any kind of energy that can be consumed, but a deeper existence linked to the world itself.

This also resulted in a distinct characteristic of powerhouses above the legendary level—it is easy to determine victory or defeat, but difficult to determine life or death!

Just like him now, with the Red Moon Law protecting his body, if someone wanted to kill him, they would first have to extinguish the Red Moon Law surrounding him.

That would require consuming an equal or even stronger power of law, engaging in a long-term, high-intensity attrition, for it to be possible.

And this kind of attrition, for any legendary powerhouse, is an extremely counterproductive and losing business.

And in this world, how many people would be willing to do such a thankless job?

Therefore, most legendary powerhouses tacitly chose another method: Sealing!

Instead of butting heads with their own power of law, it is better to seal the opponent, use the Law of Time to wear down the opponent's foundation of law, and wait for the power of law to disintegrate on its own over the long passage of time.

This is the most common way of dealing with things between legendary powerhouses.

Thinking of this, a thoughtful smile appeared on Rowan's lips.

He suddenly understood why, in the stories of wandering bards, there were always various sealed Demon Kings, suppressed Evil Gods, and imprisoned ancient existences...

In those stories, the sealed existences were likely legendary-level existences.

The sealers were unwilling to spend greater origin power of law to completely extinguish the opponent, so they had to settle for the next best thing, choosing a more cost-effective method: sealing them up and leaving them for time to handle.

He slowly raised his right hand and opened his palm.

A faint, almost imperceptible dark red light appeared at his fingertips, like a tiny blood-colored snake weaving and coiling between his fingers.

That was the power of the Red Moon Law, the manifestation of his authority as an Red Moon Proxy.

He could feel the law fluctuations contained within that power, as if it could distort all order.

He could also feel the resonance across space between it and that Red Moon in the netherworld.

He gently clenched his fist, drawing that wisp of red light into his palm, then turned around, walked back to his desk, and sat down.

Perhaps, the rules of engagement between legendary-level powerhouses would be simpler than he had imagined...