The black sun hangs high

Chapter 113 The Position
Standing in this long corridor, looking at the waiters who had become victims in the struggle, Vera finally understood the predicament faced by Alexandra and the other members of the Ernst family.

As far as she knew, in the history of the Ernst family, the number of mages who became the heads of the family was very small. In fact, most nobles in Vain had similar arrangements. A family member who possessed magical power would often receive the family's full support in the field of magical research. The purpose of this was to prevent a member who possessed magical power from using special means to interfere with the family's decision-making and continuation.

To ensure that such extreme situations do not occur, nobles can even apply for oversight and arbitration within the Legal Council. Merlinle is also happy to provide full support for such matters, believing that this symbolizes the mages' reluctance to dabble in "secular power" and the Legal Council's adherence to the principle of neutrality.

Of course, now that Vera thinks about it, she thinks it's all nonsense.

Although such an idea is quite crude, current signs indicate that it is indeed true.

The souls trapped here are extremely crude in their use of power. They can only rely on instinct, which is the instinct bestowed upon them by the "Mother Earth" Mystic. Although the Mystic has been damaged to some extent, this crude and simple confrontation of power is extremely inefficient. In the long process of attrition, the will of the Ernst family members will be worn away sooner or later.

However, to Violet's surprise, they had indeed fought to this day.

She found it hard to imagine how a human soul could endure such prolonged torment... Perhaps, the reality was just like Alexandra's room 508, where the magical lamps and the lights of human society had become their only source of strength and faith.

As the last pale blue magic thread was embedded in the wall, the temporary magic array, constructed using nearly sixty pages of magic books and a dozen basic protective rituals, was fully completed. With the embedded magic thread, Virin could call upon these pre-set spells from a safe distance.

In this situation, even if the intense interference targeting her mind and magic reappears, she can cope with it or delay the inevitable by simply inputting magic.

Verine returned to the middle of the corridor. At this moment, the waiters controlled by Alexandra had retreated to the side near the spiral staircase. They would become the first line of defense should an impact occur. At the same time, Verine also saw many rats running around in a hurry. It seemed that these should be "several" members of the Ernst family. They did not join the operation in Room 508, but stayed in the corridor to defend against potential threats.

She constructed a magical chair, then sat down at the door of room 508, closed her eyes, and began to slowly recover her magic.

Time passed little by little.

In Verine's magical perception, the power that was originally hidden in the walls and ground of the five underground layers began to quietly decline. This meant that a considerable number of Ernst family members who supported the power here had now shifted their power elsewhere, which also symbolized that the defensive power here was beginning to weaken.

"It's almost time to get started."

Vera opened her eyes and muttered something to herself.

Almost simultaneously, the strange power that had previously appeared in the spiral staircase, capable of interfering with the caster's mind and thoughts, began to slowly manifest.

Based on Alexandra's previous statement, Verin judged that this should be a sign that the "Mother Earth" ritual was beginning to take effect. So she breathed a sigh of relief, then raised her hand and quickly tidied her hair, tightening the hair tie that had been a little loose. She then took off her glasses and wiped the already very clean lenses.

With a crisp snap of the fingers, several mental and magical protective rituals that had been set up nearby quickly took effect, transforming into a barrier to block interference.

The Ernst family members responsible for defending the fifth underground level also began their operation.

After a dull creaking sound, several large doors slowly opened, and then the rat swarm that Vilin and Hugh had previously avoided reappeared. However, this time, under the restraint of human will, the rats did not cause any disturbance or make any sound. They remained silent, lined up, and began to advance.

The operation of the "Mother Earth" secret ritual began to accelerate.

The terrifying disruptive force began to emerge from all directions, causing violent fluctuations in the protective rituals that Vilin had set up in advance. The outermost layer of protective rituals even suffered some damage under the first wave of impact. Therefore, Vilin quickly adjusted the operation of several rituals to distribute the pressure more evenly and quickly repaired the damaged parts.

She started to hear sounds.

The entire underground floor was enveloped in those subtle sounds. Even without looking, Vilin knew that the area beyond the fifth underground floor had probably become a world of rats.

The summoning medium that had been prepared beforehand was thrown out by Vilin, and the black cat that she had summoned countless times appeared in the corridor. It rubbed against Vilin's legs once, and then quickly moved forward with the silent swarm of rats, arriving near the entrance to the fifth underground floor.

Because the ritual in the five underground corridors was destroyed, the rats that served the ritual and the will of the ancient gods could no longer travel through the magical passages in the walls, and had to "go through the main entrance".

"Boom...boom..."

The assault on the metal door began.

A magical thread was activated by the movement of Vilin's magic, and the "fortification reinforcement" spell that had been set up beforehand immediately took effect.

This magic has very few applicable scenarios. As its name suggests, it is a magic specifically used for building special defensive fortifications on the battlefield. Virin would not normally print such magic in her books. However, since it is currently a time of war, the magic books issued by the council already contain some magic commonly used on the battlefield.

This actually helped Weilin a lot.

Under the blessing of the "fortification" magic, the heavy metal door became extremely sturdy.

Dull thuds echoed one after another; it was clearly not the rats charging, but something else entirely… Finally, after dozens of continuous impacts, the magic attached to the metal door completely failed. At the same time, the severely deformed door detached from its frame and slammed heavily into the corridor. A figure whose body had been severely mutated strode in with heavy steps.

Unlike the "waiters" that Vilin and her companion had encountered before, the one who appeared here was a spellcaster from the Black Sun Society.

Or perhaps he was once a spellcaster.

His mutation had been going on for a very long time, so his body had swelled up severely, his clothes on his upper body were almost completely torn, his skin was covered with gray-black rodent fur, and his face had deviated from the human category—under the influence of the secret ritual, this member of the Black Sun Society's face had begun to change completely in the direction of rodents, he grew sharp incisors, his mouth began to protrude severely, his ears were severely elongated during the mutation, and his pupils had turned completely into a ghostly green.

"Roar!"

With a terrifying roar from the guild member, the black swarm of rats finally surged into the area they hadn't set foot in for a long time. Just as they were preparing to launch their first attack, a page of magic silently emerged from the wall, pulled by magical threads. Then, a pale blue magical rune appeared, covering the corridor floor, ceiling, and walls. The Stream-level "Ice Blast" spell exploded like an alchemical bomb in the densest part of the rat swarm. Countless shards of ice clung to the rats' bodies and tore them apart on the spot. The shockwave from this magical explosion sent rats that had just entered the corridor flying backward.

Through the summoned creature's vision, Verine clearly saw that the Society member responsible for clearing the way had numerous wounds on his body after the ice explosion. However, this close-range magical explosion was obviously not enough to cause him fatal damage.

Under the blessing of the "Mother Earth," his monstrous body, which had been severely mutated, began to heal at an astonishing speed, and even the hair that had been damaged by magic "grew" back.

"What a huge rat..."

Vera frowned and complained, and immediately another spell was triggered. With the pages of the book burning, a sharp arrow made of blazing flames shot out from the air, propelled by a magical bowstring. In the blink of an eye, this explosive arrow, specially designed to snipe important targets, accurately hit its target.

The terrifying flames not only contained a horrific impact force, but also possessed a terrifyingly high temperature capable of burning through flesh. So, the moment the arrow struck, the two claws that the society member had been using to block the head were instantly incinerated. Then, the blazing magical arrow pierced the severely mutated head, creating a terrifying explosion from the inside out.

Even though he had been transformed by the power of Mother Earth, and even though his vitality was incredibly strong, he was unable to continue forward with his head completely burned away!

However, Verine, who successfully killed her important target using two ordinary spells, was not able to be happy.

Through the black cat's eyes, she saw that within seconds, a large number of rats rushed in, layer upon layer, like water being poured in!

In this long corridor with its limited space, the two waves quickly collided. The rats, which were very similar in shape and appearance but were controlled by different powers and wills, savagely crashed together, creating a battle line filled with magical mist in just a few seconds.

……

Almost at the same moment.

Hugh, trapped in that ancient and absurd dream, rode his incredibly ferocious three-tailed giant rat into the enemy's territory. With the beast's astonishing speed, his "spear," made directly from some kind of plant root, easily pierced the chest of a sea beast. Like the other rat knights, he screamed, and with the blessing of Mother Earth, he thrust his weapon forward and flung it aside, leaving the pierced sea beast behind.

A three-tailed giant rat that followed closely behind caught the heavily wounded prey precisely. Its tail nimbly wrapped around the sea beast's body, dragging it roughly to its front. Its sharp incisors gnawed forcefully, tearing the sea beast's body in two along the wound created by Hugh.

Similar scenes were unfolding across the battlefield.

These sea beasts, having already fought several rounds of battles, were exhausted. Although they continued to try to advance under the will of the gods, they were powerless against the three-tailed giant rats charging down from the mountains. In an instant, a huge gap was torn in the thick line of defense.

Unlike the human cavalry in Hugh's memory, these giant rats were still extremely terrifying even after losing their impact. Their weight was enough to crush these burly sea beasts, and their claws and teeth could easily pierce through their scales. The swarms of rats summoned by the three-tailed giant rats constantly moved through the battlefield. Although they could not break through the sea beasts' defenses, they were able to create great chaos and trouble. Under this efficient cooperation, these kin who came out of the ocean immediately suffered huge casualties.

However, the power of the tides is endless.

As the first wave of sea monsters was slaughtered, the second wave of enemies successfully landed with the tide. Compared to the advance troops, these terrifying creatures had thicker scales and more bizarre shapes; some resembled fish, while others were entirely black soft-bodied creatures...

A new round of fighting has begun.

Faced with these more powerful sea beasts, even the ferocious three-tailed giant rats could not easily match them. Thus, following the orders of the rat soldiers' leaders, the cavalry who had been caught up in the battle began to quickly retreat from both sides of the battlefield. Immediately afterwards, the second batch of troops waiting on the hillside launched another charge. This time, those riding the three-tailed giant rats were no longer just rat knights wielding long spears, but also many priests wearing pale white bone helmets and wrapped in robes.

They were beings within the Familia capable of communicating with the Earth Mother. As Hugh retreated from the front lines with his "comrades," he witnessed the divine blessings flowing forth as the priests emitted shrill cries or slashed their own flesh with black stone knives. The three-tailed giant rats' bodies began to swell, the knights' muscles became more developed, and some infantrymen who followed the cavalry in their charge even swelled into terrifying giants under the influence of this blessing...

The war continues.

...

While on the plane, there might not be time to correct any typos; they'll be dealt with after landing. (sigh)

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(End of this chapter)