As I hold it in front of me, I use my mana to lock on to the remaining sixty-four enemies. Once I have them all targeted, I release the lightning bolt towards the ground. As it drops from the sky, the lightning bolt splits into sixty-four tiny lightning bolts.

Even as I am watching the lightning bolts rain down, I am already turning towards the second group. Luckily, my intent carried through to the spell and the small lightning bolts each target a different enemy. They rain down from the sky and hit all of the targets that I had locked onto.

Each tiny lightning bolt accurately lands on the head of one of the attackers. However, they don't kill any of them, they just knock them out or paralyze them. It is enough to end the fight, the adventurers and city guards can handle them from here.

I don't care about the humans, I just need to get to the next group before the rod's defense runs out. On my way, I start preparing another lightning bolt and locking onto the enemies. There are more still alive at the second group, the attackers acted smarter.

They managed to separate the adventurers from the elves and are keeping them apart. A small group is keeping the adventurers at bay while the rest are trying to overwhelm the shields on the elves. It isn't working though, they don't have any weapons strong enough to pierce the shields.

As I arrive above the area I have already locked onto the seventy-two remaining enemies. Once again, I release it and seventy-two tiny lightning bolts fall down like rain. Each attacker is hit by one bolt and is either paralyzed or knocked out.

Stillwater and the elves with him are fine, if a little shaken up by the attack. A whole lot of civilians are standing around on the edges of where the attack happened. They are all staring up at me as I hover above the elves, even the adventurers.

Stillwater says "Our people are all alright. What should we do now?"

"We will wait for the city guards to take the attackers into custody, then we will return to the castle. How are the adventurers?"

Stillwater says "Injured, but not life threatening."

"Alright. Sheraf's group was attacked as well, but the elves are fine. I am keeping an eye on them."

Stillwater says "It is a good thing you made those rods. We would have been in serious trouble without them."

"They shouldn't have been necessary. They were just supposed to be a precaution. I want to know who gave these scum the guts to cross me!"

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At my words, the few attackers who have regained consciousness look terrified. Before they can try and run, the city guard arrives and they quickly take control. Before a single attacker can escape, the guards have them restrained and the adventurers are getting treatment.

Once the guards arrive, I escort Stillwater and his group to meet up with Sheraf and hers. Then I escort the two groups back to the castle while keeping an eye on the other groups. Almort is at the castle when we arrive, but he waits patiently while I make two more rods.

Once the rods are done I hand them to Stillwater and Sheraf and have them take their groups back to the ship. I also let them know that we won't be doing a third set of groups today. The elves in their groups will be allowed to go again if they want since their time was interrupted.

"Alright, Almort, tell me what happened."

Almort says "My orders to move against the criminals were blocked by someone in the association. He has been caught and turned over to the council for judgment, but I have some doubts. He had nothing to gain from doing so, I am guessing that he took a bribe."

"You think the criminals bribed him?"

Almort says "No, probably not. The criminals shouldn't be able to get to someone in the association. I am thinking someone else is behind this and is using the criminals as well."

"Then, what's next?"

Almort says "We are going to launch a massive purge of the criminals. It seems that we have ignored them for far too long. Normally they don't cause much trouble, but this time they have gone too far. The council has authorized a full scale move against them."

"Those two that I have you pictures of, if they are caught bring them to me. I will get the truth out of them."

Almort says "Alright. By the way, thank you for showing restraint. No bystanders were hurt by your spells and no property was damaged."

"When we find out who is responsible, don't expect me to keep holding back. Although, I will try to avoid hurting civilians."

Almort says "Alright. I will inform the council of everything. I promise that they will take this seriously."

Almort leaves and I return to the top of the tower to watch the remaining three groups of elves. They manage to complete their time without running into any problems and return to the ship. Now the only ones still out are Lin and the kids, but I'm not as worried about them.

Even so, I keep watch over them as I try to calm down and not do anything rash. I could probably go and capture the criminals on my own, but there would be casualties. Honestly, against an average human, I don't know if I can hold back enough to not kill them.

Not that I would mind killing them since they are criminals, but the council might mind. I will give them a chance to make things right, if they don't, then I will take action. The only reason I am willing to give them this chance is because none of the elves were hurt.

The rods protected them perfectly, so all that the attacks cost me was a little wood. If the elves had been hurt, then that would be a completely different story. As I am watching Lin and the kids I can see that the city guards are moving.

All across the city the guards and groups of adventurers are in motion. They are rounding up people and I see several groups heading underground. It looks like they are taking this seriously, so I will wait and see what results they get.

The fact that they are taking this seriously helps to convince me that the council was not involved. Which is good, because if they were I would be going to war with the entire city. Just as I am thinking that everything is going to work out, I start hearing explosions from the harbor.