Even as I was sent flying, despite the shattering agony coursing through my body, I opened my mouth.
“Now!”
At my signal, Ravenwood hurled the Poison Mist Flask she had prepared at the emerging creature. It struck the creature squarely in the head.
The flask shattered, releasing a cloud of violet mist. Ravenwood immediately poured the dark liquid from the glass bottle over the torch before throwing it at the creature’s head.
WHOOSH―!
The moment the liquid-soaked torch approached its head, an enormous blaze suddenly erupted in midair.
Before my eyes, the goat-headed giant’s body went up in flames.
Had these been ordinary objects from the real world, that alone would never have been enough to set it ablaze.
‘However.’
The Poison Mist Flask possessed the property of gradually adhering to whatever it struck and continuously inflicting pain.
In other words, the poisonous mist ‘did not disperse’ and tormented its target ‘for a fixed period of time’.
……Even so, that alone was nowhere near enough to ignite a fire. Adding a flammable liquid from a Dark Glass Bottle would not have made realistic sense either.
‘Strictly speaking, however, this is a world governed by those kinds of rules. Had I not known it would work, I would never have attempted it.’
I did not know much about the liquid inside the Dark Glass Bottle. Had I known its composition, I would have made it myself.
The torch had already been soaked in flammable oil.
What I had done was combine a few simple truths.
The creature’s body was covered in thick, highly combustible fur, and that fur had caught fire.
My airborne body barely managed to land before I rolled across the ground and muttered inwardly.
‘In the game, this method was enough to accumulate the Ignition status effect……!’
By real-world standards, it was as though a fuel existed that burst into flames merely by coming into contact with a cloud of gas.
Ravenwood appeared visibly bewildered behind her mask.
“Ha! From now on, I shall call you a madman, you sly young man. You personally carried out an act considered too dangerous even at the University?”
“Thank you for the compliment, but…… you should move farther away too, old woman!!”
That was right.
The Toller of Execution’s entire body was engulfed in flames.
The poison would cause it pain with every breath, while the burns would send agony coursing through its entire body.
Moreover, one thing had yet to occur.
It was the phenomenon produced when poison and fire were combined.
《Mweeeeeaaaaaargh―!!!》
Perhaps driven mad by the excessive pain, the goat-headed giant released an ear-splitting shriek and began thrashing about, recklessly slamming its body into the nearby houses and walls.
Our immediate task was simply to flee from it and leave the area as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, none of my ribs appeared to have broken. The pain was bearable as long as I forced myself to endure it.
As I ran to escape the area, I silently counted down.
3, 2, 1…….
“Bang.”
The moment the word left my mouth and I turned the corner, a deafening explosion shook heaven and earth.
Using a Poison Mist Flask and a Dark Glass Bottle together created a synergistic explosion.
Poison, burns, and a powerful impact.
Against early-to-mid-game bosses, it had been established as an item combination capable of removing approximately one-third of the target’s current health with a single use.
‘The problem is…….’
What came next.
Realistically, no creature with ordinary durability could have survived flames and an explosion of that magnitude.
‘However, what kind of boss would die from a single attack like that?’
It would never die so easily.
That had been true in the game, and reality would undoubtedly be even crueler.
《Hot, it burns―!! Gwaaaaaagh!!》
The goat-headed giant, the Toller, screamed in mortal agony as the alchemically produced flames consumed it.
However, that was all.
The explosion had scorched its entire body black, but its overwhelming presence had not diminished in the slightest.
No matter how I considered it, the same trick would not work a second or third time.
“Urgh! Listen, you insane little schemer! Do something about that thing! You have another reliable method besides this one, don’t you?!”
Ravenwood lost her balance in the explosion and rolled once across the ground before grumbling.
I cautiously peered around the corner toward the creature.
Its entire body was heavily scorched, and the repulsive ornaments made from pieces of the Guilty had long since burned away.
‘Even so, I still cannot finish it.’
The conditions had not been fulfilled.
I had expected that attack to force it into action, but apparently it had not been enough.
That meant the only way I could defeat it myself was to fulfill the activation requirements for Objection.
“Throw a Sticky Bottle… No, throw the Golden Glass Bottle at it!”
A movement-restriction debuff would not last long against that creature.
In that case, there was another item that would prove more effective.
This was Plan B, intended to provoke it.
“Young man, are you perhaps an alchemist? You seem to know more about alchemy than I do.”
“There’s no time for sarcasm!”
“Tsk! You should be grateful that I already prepared one!”
Ravenwood clicked her tongue and immediately prepared to throw the glass bottle.
“Hyaah!”
The bottle left Ravenwood’s hand and once again struck the Toller squarely in the head before shattering.
《Baa……?》
A feeble goat-like bleat escaped it.
Its reaction to what had happened was strangely sluggish.
The creature raised one hand from its axe to cover its nose as a nauseating stench suddenly rose around it. Eventually, its goat-like mouth spewed out a mass of black foreign matter.
Whatever else it might have been, it still possessed the sense of smell found in living creatures.
The bottle containing the brilliantly gleaming golden liquid drew out the sensation of revulsion to its utmost limit, ultimately inflicting Lethargy upon its target.
《K-kill… you. Such humiliation, to inflict such humiliation upon an Executor――!!》
Only after objectively grasping its situation did the Toller move its enormous body with all its strength and stamp the ground.
BOOOOM―!!
The earth convulsed, and a shock wave erupted from the place where its foot had landed.
The Toller no longer regarded us as insects.
We had become criminals who had insulted its authority and therefore had to be executed.
“I did what you told me, so why is it reacting like that?! Isn’t this dangerous, you madman?!”
“Those words wound the heart of this madman. How disappointing!”
“Good heavens!! At this rate, I will never die a natural death!”
Proving herself every bit the old woman she was, Ravenwood muttered in an aggrieved, miserly tone.
The flames covering the Toller’s body were already dying away, and its chilling gaze turned toward us.
《Good… no, bad…… This is a deeply unpleasant sensation. You who have damaged the authority of an Executor will not receive a merciful death. I shall make you experience every agony suffered by the condemned of old……!!》
The teeth inside the goat-headed creature’s jaw clattered together.
《Baa, baaaaa.》
Accompanied by its ominous bleating, the bell hanging from its neck rang three times.
Then—
“What is… this……!!”
Ravenwood suddenly collapsed.
Of course, she was not the only one.
I did the same.
My body felt as heavy as cotton soaked in water. I staggered, barely capable of remaining upright, until I finally lost the ability to support myself.
[The ‘Toller of Execution’ declares the Judgment ‘The Public Gallows’!]
[The surrounding area is being assimilated into the Domain…….]
[All targets within the Domain are fixed as [Condemned Prisoners], inflicted with [Lethargy], and all attributes are reduced by 30%!]
This was fundamentally different from the improvised trial invoked by the Guilty.
No wonder my body felt so heavy. There had been a reason the characters moved more slowly in the game……!
“Damn it, do you have a solution? We are both going to die at this rate! You madman!”
Ravenwood grumbled and began coughing.
The sudden debuff had accelerated the deterioration of her aged body, and I could see the inside of her raven mask turning red with blood.
I did not bother answering her.
Yes.
This was the absolute Domain called a Judgment, a power possessed by a boss.
It was on an entirely different level from the nameless trials of ordinary members of the Guilty.
[Searching for the target of execution…….]
The moment the message appeared, the creature’s gaze was not directed toward me.
“Urgh!?”
The one selected as the execution target was not me, but Ravenwood, who stood beside me.
It appeared to have correctly identified the person responsible for carrying out the attacks I had ordered.
《……Criminal, Tier Ravenwood. You abetted a heretic and insulted the authority of an Executor. Those were unauthorized acts.》
The goat-headed creature spoke in a low voice, its eyes gleaming.
[The execution target has been selected!]
[The execution target cannot move!]
[The execution target cannot speak!]
《Therefore, as an executor of this proud court, I shall condemn you.》
The message logs appeared before my eyes.
“Mmgh, mmph!?”
Bound by the authority of the trial, the elderly alchemist had become the defendant. She had even been rendered mute, incapable of opening her mouth.
‘Finally…….’
The conditions had been fulfilled.
Objection could not be used unilaterally.
It was a counter-type skill that could be activated only when the opposing party deployed a Judgment Domain.
Had I been alone, I would have sought another creature to fight instead. However, this one had appeared of its own accord, and fortunately amid the disaster, I had gained a companion.
Had I been alone, I would have possessed no choice but to offer my neck and tell it to kill me.
“You asked if I had a plan earlier, didn’t you? Of course I do. I was waiting for this. Watch closely, old woman.”
I pointed at the Toller of Execution, the one who had ‘pronounced’ the sentence of execution.
“Every law has a loophole. That is especially true of a unilateral sentence.”
I raised my voice with all my strength and shouted at the creature I was pointing toward.
“Listen, goat-head! You don’t seem to realize that your judgment contains a critical flaw!”
《Heretic, you are next. Wash your neck and wait obediently.》
“No, there will be no next. Your law is broken! Therefore, I—”
I pointed at it once again, recalling what I had done the first time.
“Executor, your judgment is unmistakably wrong! I raise an objection to the sentence imposed upon the defendant, Ravenwood!!”
The moment I raised my objection, the gallows surrounding us began to collapse, and a solemn courtroom gradually emerged in its place.
It was an effect of the Judgment Domain.
Just as it had been recreated in the game, the power I had now invoked through my own will reflected my thoughts and overlaid them upon the surrounding scenery.
‘I think I understand.’
Under the laws of Salus, which had already been distorted by the Outer Gods, the severity of the accused’s crimes did not matter.
Within the altered law, the Executor’s logic took precedence.
However, I possessed the authority to correct the laws wielded by such Executors.
《So you were the defense counsel?》
The goat-headed giant stared at me without the slightest change in expression and muttered to itself.
This was probably the first time it had experienced such a situation.
It certainly felt different from the Guilty, which had attempted to kill me unilaterally.
“Under the august laws of Salus, it is forbidden to impose a crime upon the innocent. Executor! You have committed an unmistakable error!”
I ignored its words.
The truth of the trial was all that mattered.
“I ask the Executor once again. Through the Guilty, you intimidated both this counsel and the defendant Ravenwood, and now you are attempting to commit murder under the pretext of execution! Do you agree?”
The creature silently listened to my defense.
《Foolish! Do you believe such a worthless objection can surpass the Executor’s authority to execute judgment?!》
The Toller roared in refusal and slammed the axe in its hands into the ground.
The gallows rose once more behind it, while black tree roots erupted from the floor and surged toward my ankles.
It intended to crush my objection through brute force and carry out the execution by any means necessary.
CRACKLE―!
Sparks scattered beneath my feet.
The roots it had launched collided with a brilliantly shining golden formation.
The dark crimson authority of execution and the golden law crashed against one another, splitting the Domain in half.
On one side stood the courtroom I had presented.
On the other stood the gallows it had summoned.
《No more words are necessary, heretic!! You are the heretic who interfered in a trial of execution! Within The Public Gallows, my law—the law of the Executor—is absolute!!》
“Yes, precisely. Have you still not realized it, executioner?!”
This was undeniably difficult.
Had the creature responded with silence, our powers would probably have remained evenly balanced.
However, its declaration had given me the opportunity to retaliate.
“Toller of Execution, I ask you again. You invoked the law and convened this trial yourself. In that case, you must act within the boundaries of the law! Anything else would be nothing more than an unjust law!”
A Trial Domain was not merely a contest of physical power.
It was a mirror of conscience that demanded adherence to predetermined logic and rules.
I directly confronted its reasoning and continued.
“Salus Law, Article 1, Clause 4: ‘All trial proceedings must be founded upon impartial evidence and witnesses!’ Executor, you are currently rendering a unilateral judgment without a single witness…… In other words, this is a clear abuse of authority that disregards the law!”
《Baaaa…… Witnesses are unnecessary! Once an execution has been confirmed, I need only carry it out!!》
The creature expelled a violent breath through its nostrils, continuing to insist upon its own law.
However, there was something it did not understand.
“If evidence and witnesses are unimportant, then your very office is invalidated. Therefore, I ask you again. Who sent the Guilty to me?”
My words became an arrow and buried themselves in the Toller’s chest.
“It was you. You have declared this counsel a heretic, but do you believe a heretic would be permitted to continue participating in trial proceedings?”
However, the creature remained standing and refused to retreat before my argument.
It merely responded with shameless defiance from beginning to end.
《Absurd. Do you truly believe I was the one who sent those Guilty―!!》
I had caught it.
A tiny thread of evidence.
“You said ‘those Guilty’… How did you know there was more than one, Toller?”
The precise accusation added weight to the Toller’s conscience.
It faltered in bewilderment, and its posture collapsed for an instant.
“Your law is wrong, Toller! Someone who claims to be an administrator of the court has committed perjury, spread falsehoods, and attempted to execute another person!! That in itself is wrong!!”
The moment I pointed at it and dismantled its statement, the balance of power collapsed.
The Toller could no longer refute me.
It had undeniably violated the law.
A colossal hammer moved through the air as though delivering a sentence. The enormous golden weapon passed judgment upon the creature’s Domain, sweeping across its entire body with crushing force.
The Executor’s trial of execution, ‘The Public Gallows’, slowly twisted along with the surrounding space and began to collapse.