abnormal mutation

Chapter 123 Rule Suppression
With a deafening roar, a violent shockwave swept across the black market, scattering debris everywhere. The densely packed stalls were cleared away, leaving a large open space.

The surrounding stall owners scattered in panic, their lives at stake, and dared not concern themselves with their stalls.

Roland was startled. He stealthily jumped onto the roof and looked out. Two figures were fighting fiercely.

One of them was enormous, standing five or six meters tall, with layers of fat piled up on its obese body. It had a fierce expression and wielded a three-meter-long giant sword, swinging it wildly and roaring occasionally.

The other man rode a pure white, exotic warhorse that stood over two and a half meters tall at the shoulder. He held a lance, and both he and the horse were heavily armored, gleaming silver, and looked very imposing.

But when faced with giants, they could only dodge and fight, frequently retreating and daring not to confront them head-on.

'This looks like that Committee Member Gao Wen.' The two had met before, and Roland remembered the man's spiritual characteristics.

Gawain Hohenzollern, of the same lineage as Roland, is a Silver Knight of Sequence 6 in the Knight Pathway. He is a tall, middle-aged, refined gentleman with great manners.

However, in this extraordinary battle, luck doesn't matter, and judging from the match, Gawain was clearly at a disadvantage.

On the other side, Bag was confronting a withered old man, while Shire and the two wolves joined forces to keep a group of night watchmen at bay.

Beside Bag, Drake placed an axe against the necks of two prisoners, forcing them to confess everything. Several onlookers were also brought over to help the old man explain the situation.

"They immediately labeled the gentleman a robber, without giving me a chance to explain. After I was exposed..."

The old man looked much better. He downplayed the seriousness of the matter and, with a few words, pinned the greed, stupidity, and arrogance on the night watchman.

After listening, Bagg's expression grew even colder: "Isn't it clear enough? Are you determined to protect him?"

The old man shook his head slightly: "I'm not trying to protect anyone. I'm only responsible for maintaining order in the black market. You and I are not officials, and we have no right to decide anyone's life or death."

"High-sounding, it's disgusting!" Baggs roared. "This is the black market. He can decide people's lives and deaths, and manipulate my council members at will. Am I not allowed to fight back?"

"Who can control your council member?" The old man lightly tapped Charles and the others with his finger, his expression brooding.

"Ha, results-oriented thinking, huh?" Bagg sneered, too lazy to dwell on the topic any longer. "You're also from the North. You've served the government for years, have you ever thought about yourself?"

"I'm not working for anyone," the old man said unmoved. "I just hope there won't be any more unrest. We've had so many years of peace; must we really break this tacit understanding?"

Bag gritted his teeth: "Tactful agreement? What tacit agreement! Isn't this all something we got by making concessions and compromises? I'm asking you, who is the source of this turmoil, huh?!"

The old man remained silent, unable to respond.

That's just how reality is. When the kind-hearted party is no longer willing to sacrifice, they are labeled as selfish and disregarding the bigger picture.

Roland heard Baggs's question from afar and roughly understood the Chamber of Commerce's attitude, so he no longer had any reservations.

He hid the money box and other spoils of war that couldn't be brought into the spirit world, and quietly approached the battlefield to observe Gawain's battle with the giants up close. His turbulent spirituality surged like a storm, almost forcing him out of his invisibility several times.

Invisibility is good in itself, but it will inevitably be exposed in battle, and at most you will only have one chance to strike.

Knights and giants may not have stronger base life strength than Roland, but they have extraordinary traits and abilities that enhance their destructive power. If he went up against them, he would only get beaten up.

Xia's life strength is much weaker than his. If he doesn't rely on the twin wolves and the dragon soul, he will also have a hard time facing her steel storm.

Only the Dragon Soul can overcome the strong with the weak!

Taking advantage of the giant's momentary lapse in momentum, Roland quickly closed to within thirty meters and immediately activated the Dragon Soul Shockwave in stealth mode.

There was no sound, light, or any fluctuation, and no dragon wings or purple light could be seen. Only an invisible beam of light suddenly shot out from his body.

The giant suddenly felt a sense of danger, but he didn't know where it came from, and looked around blankly.

Suddenly, a point of purple light appeared in the void several meters in front of his chest, and landed on his heart in an instant, leaving him no time to react.

The giant let out a muffled groan, staggered, and knelt on the ground. The greatsword slipped from his hand, and a suppressed roar escaped his throat. His massive body trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat poured down his back, and his body slowly shrank.

"call out--"

A long, purplish-red arrow flashed across the night and appeared silently in the giant's left eye.

The giant's eyes were vacant. He instinctively tilted his head, and the arrow struck his brow bone, blasting open a bloody pit and revealing the stark white bone with several fine cracks.

Roland looked surprised; the damage was unexpectedly low.

"give it to me!"

Gawain rode up and thrust his spear, easily piercing the giant's kneecap. The flesh twisted, clearly crippling him. He assumed Roland's magic was a mental attack and worried that a direct head strike would trigger the enemy's survival instincts and cause him to awaken prematurely. Therefore, he decided to cripple him first.

Roland took a small step back and entered stealth mode again, secretly relieved that Gawain didn't have a moral fastidious streak. It would have been troublesome if he had stuck to his chivalrous principles and refused to be ganged up on.

Recalling that arrow just now, he sighed inwardly: 'Could this be what Pro meant by characteristic suppression?!'

Characteristic suppression, also known as rule suppression, is the ability to suppress extraordinary traits. The higher the sequence level, the stronger the extraordinary trait, which forms its own rules and gives it a significant advantage when fighting against external traits.

It is said that extraordinary beings above the high sequence are called demigods. Their extraordinary characteristics are close to authority, and they have their own domain. To harm them, one must fight against them using the rules of equal rank.

'It seems Dragon Soul can't deal the full 42% damage, but true damage ignores normal resistances, so it shouldn't be easy either.'

By this time, the giant had shrunk to three meters tall, his two legs had been violently torn off, and a spear had pierced his heart, pinning him to the ground.

But he did not die. His eyes regained their clarity, but it was too late. The injuries he had just sustained made it difficult for him to even maintain his physical form.

In a stalemate between equals, Roland's sudden arrival caused the side that initially held the advantage to suffer a miserable defeat in just a few seconds.

Before the onlookers could react, the fight abruptly ended.

On the other side, Bag laughed heartily, his cheerful laughter echoing throughout the entire underground river cave.

"Sigh—" The old man opposite sighed and turned to leave.

Now that the dust has settled, the dead are of no value; it's better to think about how to deal with the chaos that follows.

Bag watched his departing figure, his eyes filled with coldness, while giving Drake a wink.

Drake left without making a sound, and a moment later, together with Ciel, Mandy, and the two wolves, they suddenly launched an attack and wiped out the remaining night watchmen.

Since we've already broken off relations, we must go all out and eliminate them completely.

After struggling for a few minutes, the giant finally died under Gawain's spear, almost bleeding out of his body; his vitality was terrifying.

Roland revealed himself, removed his hood, and approached with a smile: "Mr. Gawain, um... can I have his extraordinary qualities?"

"What's the use of that? Here, take this." Gawain laughed and flicked the tip of his spear, tossing the greatsword in front of Roland.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony," Roland readily accepted.

The giant's extraordinary qualities could not be overlooked. After extracting them, he wrapped them in divine metal and sent them, along with the greatsword, into the spirit world chessboard.

Gawain and Bag, who had rushed over, stood aside without asking any questions, pretending not to see anything.

After the battle just now, they were completely certain that Roland was the future of the Northern Union Chamber of Commerce. He was not only a potential stock with the opportunity to enter the high ranks, but also had considerable combat power.

His loyalty is beyond question; he killed all three major hostile organizations, so it's impossible for them to agree to reconcile with him.

At this moment, a large number of night watchmen and combat squads belonging to the Northern Merchant Guild arrived to wipe out the personnel of the Thistle Flower Merchant Guild, clean up the battlefield, and maintain order.

The black market was deserted; almost everyone who could escape had fled. The neutral, mid-ranking extraordinary individual never showed up, demonstrating a keen understanding of self-preservation.

"Roland, you can go back now. Leave this to the black market manager." After understanding the situation of the Upside-Down House, Bag smiled faintly and did not blame him.

In a way, this can be seen as a prudent approach to things. If the person in charge had actually made the donation and absconded, he would have to look down on Roland a bit more.

As for the small profit from the Upside-Down House, consider it compensation for Roland's emotional distress. The Chamber of Commerce is large and powerful; it doesn't need this much.

"I'll treat you to a drink later." Gawain patted Roland on the shoulder, his eyes full of admiration.

The chamber of commerce was stagnant and lacked drive, so it needed a young person like this who loved to stir things up and get things moving.

"Then I'm off. I made a fortune today, enough for my travel expenses," Roland joked.

“Almosid is very busy; there are plenty of opportunities to make money,” Bag said with a smile and a shake of his head.

He knew that Roland's approach required a large amount of gold, so he didn't think Roland was greedy.

Roland waved goodbye and left, retrieving the money box and other spoils of war out of everyone's sight.

Thinking about it now, I feel a little guilty. He always profited from the situation, while the Chamber of Commerce silently shouldered most of the responsibility and the storms.

(End of this chapter)