The black sun hangs high

Chapter 105 The Rat Servant and the Corridor
Before arriving here, Hugh had no idea that the rats would appear in this way.

After the initial "eruption," countless deformed rats began to scramble out of the statue's mouth. During this process, Hughes saw that the humanoid statue's mouth seemed to open even wider. The rats that kept crawling out seemed to be dissatisfied with such a small exit. Under their "squeezing," Ludwig Ernst's statue opened its mouth to its limit, almost to the point that its chin was about to completely detach from its face.

At this moment, Hugh had no time to think about what was going on, because these newborn rats were fundamentally different from the ones he had encountered before in terms of behavior. They did not assemble into human form to attack him and Virin as Hugh had expected. Instead, they maintained the most primitive and ferocious predatory posture, rolling towards the two of them like a tidal wave.

The "Needles of Rain and Snow" summoned by Virin had already danced into a huge blue ribbon around her. Wherever the blue light covered, cold white frost began to appear, and the black rats that tried to cross the boundaries of this white frost were severely slowed down.

However, the cold and stiffness could not stop these rats from moving forward. They did not mind using their own kind as stepping stones. The fleshy tendrils that made up their hind legs swayed constantly, allowing them to step on their own kind and move forward quickly.

We have to get out!

Hughes frowned as he looked at the large swarm of rats that blended seamlessly into the dark room. He made a judgment, and the sharp, segmented tentacles of Karron emerged from his side and the palm of his left hand. They swept through the swarm with extreme ferocity, easily creating a large gap in the black rat tide.

Vera reacted quickly, summoning the second "Rain and Snow Needle." The gleaming and sharp ice crystal needle, under her control, pierced directly into the empty space. Large patches of white frost bloomed in the room, pushing away, freezing, and shattering countless rats that tried to fill the space.

The two rushed out of room 203 through the temporary passage. Just as they were about to leave the room, Hugh quickly waved his hand, and a Kael's Tentacle immediately hooked onto the heavy metal door and slammed it shut.

"Oh!"

With a dull thud, the swarm of rats that had emerged from the stone statue was shut out by the heavy metal door. They seemed unwilling to let their prey go, so they continued to gnaw and rub against the metal door with their teeth and claws.

After about ten seconds, probably realizing that their actions were pointless, the swarm of rats behind the door finally dispersed slowly, and the annoying rubbing sounds finally stopped.

The magical ribbon that had already cleared away countless rats for Virin was wrapped around her hand again, but compared to the original, this "Rain and Snow Needle" magic was obviously much dimmer, and now it really looked like just an ordinary ribbon.

"call……"

Villin let out a long sigh of relief, but the paleness on her face did not fade: "Mr. Hugh, it seems that your description of these magical creatures is quite inaccurate... However, it seems that the preparations you made were correct. Large-scale fire magic is indeed the best way to deal with these rat swarms."

"The changes just now are indeed quite different from my previous estimates, but... they do match another situation."

"what?"

“Miss Veraine, do you remember the girl I mentioned to you before, the one who lived in room 519?”

Vera raised an eyebrow: "Of course, you said you rescued her from the bathtub, right?"

There was nothing wrong with the statement itself, but Hugh felt for some reason that Vera's focus on this matter was somewhat subtle.

But at this moment, it was clearly not appropriate to bring up those things, so Hugh said directly: "From beginning to end, no real 'murder' has occurred in the entire manor hotel. All the damage to the hotel members has been kept to a barely acceptable level. Although the scene caused by those rat-like humanoids was indeed very horrifying, the actual damage it caused was not even as great as the three 'Instant Ignition' pages that you threw out, Miss Verin."

"continue."

"But the lady in room 519 was gnawed by rats and was seriously injured. This was the first time those magical creatures had revealed their rat-like nature!"

Seeing that Veraine no longer showed any strange expression and was listening attentively to his statement, Hugh continued, "I stand by my initial judgment: there is a consciousness behind these rats that can control them, and that consciousness's behavior and way of thinking are similar to humans. But the problem is that this consciousness's control over the rat population is not stable, or perhaps not all rats are under its control!"

"I understand what you mean."

Vera nodded: "Mr. Hugh, if you haven't lied about what happened before, then your statements and deductions should be largely correct, otherwise I wouldn't have come here with you so rashly..."

She glanced at room 203 next door and said, "Meticulous deduction and bold speculation are certainly necessary, but don't forget that we are dealing with magical creations and rituals, so we also need to consider these aspects."

"If your speculation about the Ernst family's ancestors is correct, then the trouble we face here is likely to be much greater than we anticipated!"

Vera gestured toward room 203: “Assuming that each of these closed rooms contains a human statue, and each statue is imbued with some kind of evil magic and ritual that we cannot understand, used to summon rats, then the potential number of rats in these underground floors would far exceed our imagination. Not to mention, you have already encountered some enemies outside of the rats here.”

As if in response to Virin's words, the moment her voice fell, the scurrying rats on the other side of the corridor suddenly gave a warning—someone was approaching their location from the other side of the corridor.

In the sight of the running rat, a male and a female waiter were walking along the corridor. Both of them wore black masks. Although they walked very fast, they made almost no sound, like two ghosts floating through the corridor.

Having received Hugh's command, Sniggy quickly scrambled up the wall and nimbly jumped onto the lamp stand of an old magic lamp, peering down the entire corridor.

The two waiters had a very clear destination. They didn't stop at all while walking, and just kept getting closer to where Hugh and his companion were.

"Someone is coming."

While giving a quiet reminder, Hugh picked up the revolver he had previously put away and quickly conjured four magical bullets, then rapidly loaded them into the magazine.

“There’s nowhere to hide. Let’s try taking one alive.” Verine’s voice came, and before Hugh could respond, the two waiters wearing black masks had already turned around from another corridor. However, they were like magic statues without emotions or thoughts. Even though they were facing the muzzle of a revolver and Verine holding a magic book, they still did not slow down and charged straight at the two of them.

In this situation, Hughes pulled the trigger first.

The gunshot, which should have shaken the entire underground floor, was successfully masked by the soundproofing magic that had been attached to the revolver beforehand. The magical bullet left a clear trail in the dim light, easily traversing the entire corridor and accurately hitting the male waiter in the chest.

Blood splattered as the magical bullet exploded, and Hugh saw a huge, gruesome gash in the male waiter's chest. But he didn't stop moving. Despite his severe injuries, he actually increased his speed, turning from a brisk walk into a jog.

At that very moment, Vera also began casting a spell.

The waitress she was about to face was the one the two had identified as the "capture alive" target during their brief conversation. Therefore, she did not use overly violent magic. Facing these two silent enemies who were constantly approaching, the remaining "Rain and Snow Needle" on Verine's wrist leaped out. This extremely dim magical light, under Verine's control, floated lightly to the ground and quietly exploded. Large patches of cold white frost spread forward along the ground, covering most of the corridor.

At this moment, the male waiter who was the first to be shot by Hugh had already shown his "inhuman" side.

His body, severely wounded by the magical bullets, began to heal and regenerate at an alarming speed. Under the light of the old magic lamp, gray-black fur resembling that of rodents grew on the new skin that had been hidden beneath his uniform. His body began to hunch forward, and sharp claws appeared on the fingers of his hands.

Just like the legendary patients infected by the "wolf plague," this waiter's body is rapidly transforming into that of a beast.

"As expected... these waiters are no longer normal human beings."

Hugh recalled what he had learned from Sniggy the last time he used him to investigate. He remembered that at the end, the waiter had been lurking on the doorframe like a rat, spying on the situation…

Seeing that the enemy had entered the White Frost's range, although Hugh didn't know what kind of magic Verin would use, he couldn't let go of the shooting opportunity. So his experience and skills in using firearms, which were not originally his, were once again displayed.

Although he couldn't hear the sound of the revolver in his hand, he could feel the vibrations from the collision of the precision metal structures.

Pull the lever, the wheel rotates, resets, aims, pull the trigger...

With the high responsiveness provided by magic, Hugh began firing continuously at an astonishing speed.

Perhaps knowing that Hugh's attack could cause fatal damage, the male waiter, whose body was beginning to transform into that of a rodent, began to dodge based on his instincts and reflexes. As a result, the second magical bullet grazed his cheek, and the violent impact left a hideous scratch on the thin, black metal mask.

At this moment, Hugh's mind was in a state of high concentration. He was like an emotionless shooting machine. After missing the second shot, he pulled the metal lever again, rotating the cylinder and aiming once more.

The third and fourth bullets were both original metal bullets.

One shot missed, and the other barely hit the target's shoulder.

White steam carrying heat poured out as the cylinder rotated, and the revolver rifle reset for the fifth time, this time with magically created bullets.

A page of magic was held between Verine's fingers. She pressed the page against the wall beside her. As the page trembled violently, the frost that had covered the corridor turned into large swathes of cold water in the blink of an eye.

She gently opened her mouth, and a mysterious ancient syllable was uttered softly.

As if given life, the water flowing on the corridor floor began to tremble violently. Then, one after another, cold ice spikes formed from the condensed water quickly appeared. They were like sharp blades and daggers piercing out from under the water, penetrating the bodies and limbs of the two waiters from different angles.

The male waiter, whose body had been severely mutated, seemed unconcerned about the extent of the damage. He twisted his body and swung his arms, trying to break off the ice blades that had pierced him. However, at that moment, a shadow leaped out from behind. Caught off guard, the three powerful and agile tails of the running rat wrapped around the waiter's head like a noose, forcefully pulling his head back and exposing his defenseless neck.

"puff!"

This time, the magical bullets finally hit their target accurately.

With a small-scale magical explosion, the male waiter's neck was blown off on the spot. His headless body, which had been leaning towards the rats, struggled haphazardly for a couple of moments before collapsing forward and hanging on the ice blades summoned by Verin.

Beside the headless body, the waitress was in an even worse state.

Although Verine did not intend to kill her target on the spot, she showed no mercy. After witnessing firsthand the inhuman physical characteristics of these waiters, she immediately poured more magic into her magic, and a huge number of ice blades surged out. They were like the cruelest instruments of torture, freezing the waitress's mutated body in the middle of the corridor.

The Mage's Hand appeared before the struggling waitress, and with a gesture from Vilin, it deftly removed her black mask.

Then Hugh saw a face that looked familiar.

If he wasn't mistaken, the waitress whose face was severely distorted, whose eyes glowed green, and whose skin was covered with some grayish-black hair, was the young girl he had met once before.

(End of this chapter)