The black sun hangs high

Chapter 123 The Gods' "Garden"

Veraine is forcing herself to adapt to Hugh's unusual ways of thinking and habits as quickly as possible. Of course, she is also trying to adapt to the many possibilities brought about by those lost and strange spells.

After witnessing firsthand a series of phenomena that violated the common sense of Varian spellcasters, she made up her mind to adjust her thoughts and mentality before her understanding of the rules of magic collapsed. Otherwise, even without the arrival of any "black sun," her pursuit of magic would be completely destroyed by her "student."

As she stepped into the dimly lit passage and onto the heavy metal door that lay collapsed on the ground, Vera's expression grew increasingly confused.

She couldn't understand why, even though Hugh was using "magical methods" to deal with these problems, his methods were somehow not magical at all.

Something must be wrong.

Either there's something wrong with your own thinking.

However, Veraine had no idea what Hugh was thinking.

After personally verifying the "wonderful use" of the Hound's Fang, Hugh's mind was filled with many unrealistic ideas: "It's a pity that there are too few Hound's Fang bullets, and the charging time is too long... Otherwise, I should be able to use it to dig through the entire underground, right?"

"After I get out, I should probably conduct a large-scale protective ritual to further test its effectiveness. If the power of the Hound's Fang is enough to destroy the best and most stable protective rituals in Vaan, then it means that the magical protective methods currently used by humans are simply ineffective against the 'Dark Abyss' system?"

Thinking of this, Hughes couldn't help but recall some speculations and details about Prince Havid's death that he had heard from the young officer Alfred on his way to Borden.

"According to Alfred, the secret device loaded on Prince Harvid's carriage should be the best and most secure type of protective device in the entire Walter and even the entire Vaan, but in the end, he was assassinated despite this level of protection."

Hugh touched the wolf fang tattoo on his wrist: "In other words, the methods or weapons used by assassins can, to some extent, directly counter and destroy existing magical protective rituals."

"Theseus called the thing that the Black Sun Society summoned in the city of Seren the Spawn of the Dark Abyss. This means that even if that thing is a defective product among the ancient gods' kin, its power and existence must be related to the so-called Dark Abyss Court."

Thinking of this, Hughes, in his mental world, posed a question to the Mirror Messenger, who was sitting "idly" behind his desk, and to the hound resting on the ground after finishing eating dirt: "It seems that your so-called Dark Abyss Court isn't very friendly to Vaan's existing magic system. So, can you provide any clues or leads?"

The hound was fine; it couldn't communicate with Hugh anyway, so it didn't even lift its head and continued to rest quietly.

As for the Mirror Messenger, it was as annoying as ever. After hearing the question, it shrank behind the recessed desk and shrugged, adopting a classic "I don't know" attitude, which made Hugh want to punch it hard.

At that moment, a commotion arose from Sniggy's rat hole, followed by the voices of Alexandra, Bernhardt, and other family spirits directed towards Hugh.

"This is the path! We came here during that period of loss of control and resistance!"

The spirits of these families said, "Although that memory is very blurry for us, we still remember the scene when we were walking here!"

What lies at the end of the passage?

"A garden, a huge underground garden!"

Alexandra's voice stood out, her tone remarkably certain: "Back then, we couldn't see anything, we could only rely on our senses of smell, hearing, and perception... I clearly remember that at the end of this passage, there were many plants, and a very strong... um, the scent of flowers."

"Plants? Flowers?"

Hugh was somewhat confused: "In a place like this?"

"There's no mistake. Many of our members smelled it and did indeed touch the leaves and roots of many plants. However, at that time, everyone was focused on the enemy and the movements of that secret ritual, so they didn't pay much attention to the environment."

As Hugh listened to Alexandra's description, he cautiously observed his surroundings.

He had already summoned the swarm of rats. Sniggy led the rats he had "recruited" as the vanguard and had already reached the end of the gently descending passage. Before Hugh could give the next command, two sudden attacks hit the advancing rats directly, and the shock even traveled along the passage.

That was the guardian of the "garden," and also the figure that Hugh and Vera had glimpsed through the window of room 203.

They were once spellcasters belonging to the Black Sun Society, assigned to guard and maintain the Earth Mother's mystical rituals, but now they have all been completely transformed under the power of the rituals. These guardians of the rituals obviously knew what was happening in the fifth underground level, so they immediately launched an attack the moment the rat swarm appeared.

Two fireballs, shimmering with a dark green light, exploded like alchemical bombs in the densest part of the rat swarm. The scene resembled someone throwing a huge rock high into a dark lake, the black water splashing everywhere, but before it hit the ground, it vanished in the eerie dark green fire.

Sniggy once again caught the scent of that incredibly tempting blessing. It immediately let out a piercing screech, and all the blind rats it had recruited surged out of the narrow passage and into the wider space before it. Although its intelligence was limited and it could not comprehend complex tactics, it knew that gathering together at this moment would only subject it to the unrestricted bombardment of the enemy's magic.

"be careful!"

Alexandra whispered a reminder to Hugh: "When we were evacuating, many family members were forcibly kept behind by their magic and the power of their rituals... but we haven't seen these members since. I'm worried that the Society used them for some... I'm sorry, I really don't know how to describe it." "No need, I think I understand."

Hugh responded in his mind, then he pulled back Vera, who had already taken out her spellbook and was ready for battle, and said, "A considerable number of family members who have been modified by the Mystic Ritual are under the control of the Society. The Society may use them for some experiments or use the Mystic Ritual to make further modifications. In short, be careful."

……

Alexandra's description is indeed accurate.

This underground space, which could be called a "plaza," is indeed a huge garden, but none of the plants planted here are normal.

As the attacking swarm of rats entered the area, Hugh first saw a large number of intertwined, fused, and wildly growing roots and vines.

The line between animals and plants becomes somewhat blurred here.

In Hughes's past understanding of the concept of "Earth Mother Goddess" or "Earth Goddess", deities with such names mostly embodied people's blessings and desires for life, reproduction, sowing, and reincarnation.

It is ubiquitous.

It is also an important deity that every race and tribe that can be called a civilization will begin to worship in its earliest stages.

However, here, Hugh felt that the blessings of this Mother Earth Goddess, Vaan, seemed somewhat...confused.

Or rather, the power He represents and embodies is actually a vigorous life force that does not care about any boundaries or limits.

Vera's face began to turn pale. The magical disturbance that had interfered with her before reappeared, but this time, she was well prepared. The terrible interference did not stop her from casting the spell. However, with the flash of magical light, the chaotic and wonderful scene in the Earth Mother Goddess Garden crashed into her vision one after another.

It was clearly a tree, yet its bark had the texture of animal fur, with patterns resembling either deer or sheep. The branches, which should have been spreading out, grew as sharp and defined as animal claws, their claw-like tips capable of slicing through the flesh of living creatures. The so-called leaves, however, were as supple and powerful as tongues; Vilin even saw them trying to grab some blind mice that approached her…

Even the most eccentric writers and poets in Vain could not vividly describe the bizarre scene that Vera was witnessing. For a moment, she even felt that the vines with sharp barbs would coil around her, tear open her flesh, and suck her blood.

The chaotic light and shadow and terrifying images assaulted Vilin's mind one after another. She had to stop casting offensive magic and instead tore off two pages from a magic book that could stabilize her thoughts and mind, forcibly pulling her mind, which was about to spiral out of control, back on track.

There were quite a few Black Sun Society members left here. Those who had attacked the fifth underground level with the rat horde were only a small minority. The moment Hugh stepped into this place, he knew that this was destined to be an extremely difficult and fierce battle!

He saw that at the other end of the garden square, there was a huge cave that looked somewhat similar to the "mobilization cave" he had stayed in during the rats' dream. There seemed to be some kind of huge statues standing on both sides of the cave, and now, rats that had not yet been controlled or transformed by Sniggy were pouring out of it. Among them were figures holding different weapons.

The clash between the rat hordes created unprecedented chaos. Hugh decisively blocked his sensory connection with Sniggy at the mental level because he now had too many rats to control and win over, to the point that his thinking had become extremely disordered. If there were a concept of sanity and madness among the rat population, then Sniggy would definitely be the most insane one. Hugh, who could clearly sense Sniggy's thoughts before, could no longer understand the many fragmented pieces of information transmitted by his summoned creature.

Those former Black Sun Society mages have now been transformed into priests by the power of the Earth Mother Goddess. These hunched figures are hiding in the shadows of plants and buildings, constantly casting spells that have mutated due to the power of the gods, or trying to wrest control of the rat swarm from the rampaging rats.

Hughes reacted extremely quickly. With the help of the magical vision provided by the Messenger in the Mirror, he accurately located these hidden and vulnerable priests. Before they could use magic to protect themselves, "Magic Arrows" was immediately activated, and a total of nine high-powered magical bullets that had mutated due to magic appeared in Hughes's hand.

Empty the cylinders, reload, and attach sound-canceling magic...

Hughes was already extremely skilled at this entire set of movements.

He immediately began firing. With fluid movements, these corrosive magical bullets, powerful enough to shatter flesh upon impact, began to fire with soft thuds. As magical steam dissipated, the priests hiding in concealed positions were quickly located. Although their bodies had been modified by the power of the Earth Mother, their heads were still vulnerable. When the bullets pierced their deformed and twisted skulls through their eye sockets, the resulting explosive force successfully blew their heads open.

The priests didn't notice Hugh's actions for a moment; their attention was drawn to Virin, who was casting spells—she had deliberately chosen some spells that she didn't use often, but which could create amazing noise and light, and threw them directly at the enemies closest to the front line.

The silent cooperation between the two produced a very good effect. When the fourth ratman priest fell to the ground and died under Hugh's covert shooting, they finally reacted. Hugh had successfully set up a protective ritual on his fifth target, but then three magical bullets flew in quickly. The first two successfully broke through the temporary protection, and the third hit the target's chest, knocking him to the ground.

But that's about it.

Because Hughes saw that from the “cave” behind, a considerable number of burly figures rushed out in a line. These guards, who had clearly taken large amounts of potions and undergone magical modifications in the past, immediately formed a solid defensive line. They raised their Demon-Slaying Silver Shields and stood in front of their kind, and then began to advance steadily.

"Tsk..."

Hugh regretfully put down the revolver in his hand. He took the weapon off his body and placed it aside. He began to mobilize the magic power within his body. Tentacles of the sea gods that had fought fiercely with the Earth Mother Goddess's followers in the distant past emerged one after another. The clawing tentacles of Karron swayed incessantly in the dim light of the magic lamp, making Hugh look like a sea monster standing in the shadows, ready to launch an attack on the Earth Mother Goddess's followers.

(End of this chapter)