The black sun hangs high

Chapter 131 The Earth Is Dancing

"Is it an illusion?"

The experienced valley-level mage frowned.

He glanced at the surrounding terrain, then at the noble youths who were engaged in heated discussions and exchanges, and then made his judgment with the utmost caution.

"Everyone, get out of there immediately and follow me!"

He shouted, his heart pounding slightly. At the same time, he tore a page from his magic book and quickly poured magic into it. A bright, dazzling red light shot into the sky, making a series of crisp sounds. Then, the red light transformed into a sphere and hovered in the air…

This is a common public warning signal. In the military, it is generally used to mark dangerous areas and warn nearby personnel and those who come after them to avoid or evade them.

However, this is an important campsite that has only recently been built.

The camp even had a special secret device set up, which was an important tool for monitoring the city of Seren and its surroundings. Therefore, the people who saw the bright red light did not react immediately until they heard the mage's roar.

"Stay away from buildings! Stay away from cliffs!"

The young nobles who came here to visit were actually the most obedient group. Before setting off, they had all received instructions from their family's military elders—that they must obey the orders of the commander and leader at all times, and especially trust the mages' judgments at critical moments.

Therefore, upon hearing the order, they immediately dropped what they were holding and quickly evacuated along the route they had come from. The whole process was orderly, with no one falling behind and no other accidents occurring due to panic.

The birds in the woods near the cliff seemed to be startled and left their nests at the same time.

The highland ibex resting on the nearby giant rocks let out terrified screams, and they hurriedly leaped up and down the rock face, trying their best to move to a safer place.

Hill snakes, which had been hiding in the crevices of the rocks, emerged one after another. They gathered together and swam along the wide road into the distance, seemingly unconcerned about the rolling wheels that were so close at hand.

The valley-level mage, who served as both camp manager and leader, was already drenched in sweat.

He didn't quite understand why he was having such a bad reaction, but his intuition told him that everyone in the camp had to evacuate as quickly as possible. Even if they couldn't leave the Overlook Cliff, they had to get as far away from the surrounding mountains and boulders as possible, and ideally reach the flat woodland behind the cliff!

In this situation, even the work logs that are supposed to be taken away in principle seem incredibly conspicuous.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The mage urged them on while using his magical hand to help the two military clerks load the heavy files and thick magical records onto a transport vehicle. He then climbed into a vehicle himself and began to quickly evacuate along the road...

However, after walking only a short distance, the extremely terrifying premonition in the monk's heart reached its peak.

Almost instinctively, he cast several protective spells on the vehicle he was in, each with a different effect. Before he could even figure out why he was doing this, the violent shaking had already begun.

At first, only the sand and dirt on the road were constantly moving, but soon, larger rocks joined in this bizarre revelry. Trees began to sway, bushes danced, and obvious waves appeared on the clear lake at the end of the road. The magical creatures that lived in the lake and were most sensitive to environmental changes had gone almost mad. These fish, which contained magical power, kept leaping out of the water as if they had gone crazy, and even jumped towards the shore...

The earth was trembling.

The vehicles could still move with difficulty, but the members who were evacuating on foot could no longer keep their footing. They even fell to the ground in the violent shaking and were unable to get up for a long time.

Dark cracks began to appear on the ground, spreading at an alarming rate through the earth and rocks like plant roots that had received ample nutrients. The sounds they made during this process were terrifying.

At such a moment, it is difficult for both newly recruited noble soldiers and experienced veterans with calm minds to remain absolutely calm.

The only one still capable of giving normal commands was the valley-level mage who had cast several magical rituals on himself in time to forcibly calm him down.

At that moment, he demonstrated the qualities that a soldier and an excellent spellcaster should possess.

The protective ritual instruments carried by the young nobles began to receive a large influx of magic, which put the instruments into a state of near overload. However, the effect was equally obvious. The protective ritual, which could only cover dozens of people, was completely expanded, and all members of the evacuation team were protected, allowing them to continue forward and to some extent avoid damage caused by the collapse of rocks and trees.

The terrifying tremors lasted for quite a while before gradually subsiding. However, the Valley Mage, who was in charge, did not relax. His expression became even more grim. While ordering the team to continue to avoid danger, he released a new magical signal into the sky.

This time, the bright red magic orbs that shot into the sky became three. Their colors were extremely conspicuous, and their flight height was even more astonishing, making the warning they contained self-evident.

Almost simultaneously, the young nobles saw more red magical warning signals drifting into the sky, eventually forming a continuous line across the sky until it reached the horizon.

Some people turned around and saw that in the very distant sky, large and small magical warning signals were also rising.

Unlike the bright red orbs used by the Kingdom of Walter, the magical warning lights used by the Kingdom of Delan are purple, and they are equally conspicuous when they float high in the sky.

"Don't stop! Keep moving forward and prepare for the second round..."

The monk shouted loudly, but before his voice had even faded, the second wave of tremors had already begun.

This time, the earth no longer trembled up and down as before, but began to shake violently from side to side.

At this moment, the whole world seemed to become a flowerpot in the hands of a mischievous child. When he jumped up and down with joy in his arms, the soil and plants in the pot shook violently.

In the distance, among countless floating magical orbs of light, the observation balloons bearing the emblem of the Plateau Giant Eagle stood out in stark loneliness. Those were all observation balloons belonging to the Fourth Artillery Regiment.

However, the observers and recorders who rode in them are now in a daze.

They were simply following the artillery regiment's routine launch procedure when, shortly after the balloons rose, a large number of red magical warnings covered the surrounding sky, throwing even the camp below into chaos.

At such times, no one can pay attention to the rising balloon. The crew members inside the gondola look down and can only see their comrades moving away from the buildings and barracks at an extremely fast speed. Some conscientious artillerymen endure the shaking while trying to secure the cannons and shells in the artillery regiment's camp. These things cannot withstand shaking and collisions. If an accident occurs, the consequences are unimaginable.

"Look over there, look over there!"

Inside one of the pods, a recorder slapped his colleague on the shoulder and shouted as he pointed into the distance.

The huge crystal telescope mounted on the basket immediately began to rotate, pointing southeast, where the Faraway Cliff camp was located. However, when the observer looked through the eyepiece, he was horrified to find that the secret ritual camp that had been set up on Faraway Cliff was now completely gone.

Or rather, the entire protruding part of the Overlooking Cliff has now disappeared.

That massive cliff, imbued with profound magic and having witnessed countless years of human history, now appears as if it has been forcefully gnawed at. Through the telescope's view, the significant cliff is collapsing and cracking at an alarming rate, with massive amounts of rock and soil crashing down along the enormous fissures. The hard earth now seems like a soft carpet, trembling and shaking with the footsteps of an invisible giant.

At that moment, the observer forgot his faith. He neither marveled at Walter's giant eagle nor prayed to his god. Like a bewildered child, he murmured, "Mama..."

Amidst his exclamation filled with complex emotions, the magical alarm device inside the observation balloon pod suddenly began to flash, indicating that an extremely violent magical disturbance was occurring nearby.

Under normal circumstances, if this situation were to occur, the members of the observation balloon should immediately begin their descent. However, when the two hurriedly began to operate, they discovered that all the pre-set magical rituals and crystallization instruments in the gondola were now paralyzed.

For a moment, only the magic warning device in the gondola was still flashing a red light, symbolizing danger, and emitting a series of buzzing sounds. When they tried to signal other observation balloons nearby, they found that all the balloons in the vicinity were in the same predicament—they were out of control.

"Get out...get out quickly!"

The observer, experienced as he was, pushed his companion aside and retrieved a spare parachute from the bottom of the pod. This device, imbued with slow-fall magic and a protective ritual, would help them return to the ground safely.

However, their reaction was ultimately a bit slow.

Just as the two were about to push open the gondola door and jump down, a storm of magic swept in from the distant sky. The exaggerated magical turbulence destroyed all the magical rituals and equipment that were operating inside the observation balloons in an instant. Then, the observation balloons and their members were immediately swept into the chaotic airflow.

In the final moments, the poor observer was violently thrown out of the pod by the shockwave; his body stretched out in the air, his limbs swaying helplessly.

In the chaos, he managed to deploy his parachute, but the slow-fall magic ritual attached to it was instantly destroyed and annihilated by the turbulent magical currents. The violent air currents, like a giant hand, hurled him haphazardly into the distance.

Time seemed to slow down in the last moments before consciousness faded.

Amidst the uncontrolled spinning and tumbling, the observer saw that all the balloons had transformed into bright flames.

Then he saw that the hills, forests, lakes and rivers were trembling.

This is the earth dancing.

……

The impact of this horrific earthquake extends beyond just the already tense standoff line.

In fact, this was a horrific disaster that affected the Lovi Plateau and the Goddess Plain.

Even the city of Borden, located in the heart of the Love Plateau, was inevitably affected. Although there were no large-scale building collapses in the city, many unexpected incidents still occurred during the impact due to ground tremors and public panic.

The driver's excessive tension and fear caused the vehicle to crash into a store; numerous factories suffered accidents due to the panicked departure of staff; and an important experiment being conducted at the magic academy was also forced to fail due to this sudden impact.

The most severe damage came from the alchemy workshop in the eastern part of Borden.

A fire broke out in a large warehouse filled with alchemical materials and products, including some magical ingredients that could be used to make powerful alchemical bombs. The intense burning of these materials triggered a series of explosions, which destroyed the entire warehouse. A metal train that was parked nearby and was preparing to transfer some of the supplies was also damaged, with two carriages derailing and causing considerable casualties.

At this crucial moment, the Fifth Jaeger Regiment, stationed near Borden, and the Ymir Legion, which is directly subordinate to the royal family, took over a large number of affairs in the city. However, what puzzled ordinary people was that the Ymir Legion was mainly active in the noble-dominated Leland district.

They deliberately entered the manors and residences of some influential families in the Kingdom of Walter, and began a thorough search and inspection with extremely rough manner. Some people said that throughout the day, the sounds of various guns and weapons could be heard from time to time in the Lyran District, but few people knew exactly what had happened.

In the completely closed Ernst Manor, Zeke Ernst, who had begun to receive protection from the Jaeger Corps and had completed the screening and cleanup of all personnel and forces within the manor, arrived in front of the manor hotel, which he knew all too well, in his wheelchair.

He held in his hand a detailed intelligence report compiled by royal spies, densely filled with information about the many important events that had occurred that day, with information about the earthquake taking up the majority of the report.

The old man silently read through the text, then looked up, puzzled, at the manor hotel that was still under martial law.

His keen intuition told him that today's events might be subtly connected to what was happening underground in the manor.

(End of this chapter)