The black sun hangs high

Chapter 170 The Art of Cruelty
The conclusion drawn from the surrounding traces is quite obvious.

Someone has successfully infiltrated the area between the Fifth Regiment's position and Black Forest Fortress, and there must be spellcasters among them.

Based on her experience as a Lake-level scholar, Verin judged that among these infiltrators, there might even be mages of the Stream level or higher, or even individuals similar to the Sword-wielding Hermit or the Iris Guard, because it would be absolutely impossible for an ordinary spellcaster to consume the magic power in such a high-quality magic crystal in a short period of time.

Moreover, this high-quality crystal, which comes from the snowy plains of the north, is found in only one place.

That's Mellinger and...

If the Kingdom of Saint Steel is the "Land of Crystal Mines," then Merlinle, as the origin of spellcasters in the entire Vanne, is the true holy land of spellcasters. During this special period of war, the Legal Council will naturally increase its support for those mage members who are fighting for the interests of Merlinle.

To exaggerate a bit, even if the members of the Legal Committee wanted to kill someone directly with a magic crystal, Merlinle and the higher-ups would wholeheartedly agree.

“Using magic crystals means they have used magic power… In other words, those people have used magic or performed magical rituals.”

One of the accompanying mages whispered, "What are these people trying to do? Are they scouting our positions, or are they planning something else?"

"I don't know."

Vera shook her head, then ordered, "Control the search area of ​​the summoned creatures, don't expand it any further... Make sure the area around the route is safe, and notify us immediately if anything is found."

After saying that, she turned to an officer and said, "Have the messenger take the message back to the position and make sure it gets through."

Soon, all the people who had gathered dispersed again, and the procession continued to move forward.

At this moment, Verin, who had a good understanding of Hugh's abilities, entrusted him with a rather important task: "Search along the road... The Mercenary Corps has set up several observation posts and outposts to ensure the safety of the road on this road leading to Black Forest Fortress. If possible, check these places first to see if there are any problems."

At this point, Hughes naturally had no way to refuse. So, as he directed his thoughts, a significant portion of the rat swarm, controlled by the will of the Ernst family, immediately began searching along the path where everyone was.

A large amount of information was fed back through the magical connection between Hugh and the rat swarm. Fortunately, Hugh's current magical reserves were far greater than before, otherwise, the detailed information from different directions and locations alone would have been enough to make his mind go haywire.

While directing the rat swarm to investigate, the metal disc located in Hugh's mental world also began to rotate under the stimulation of magic. Hugh knew that when it came to detecting and reacting to danger, this disc used to inscribe magic was the most accurate!
The surroundings remained very quiet, and the open fields beside the road were completely visible. With the magical perception of the accompanying mages and the night vision they gained after taking the potion, any person or thing appearing on either side of the road would be immediately detected and found.

And so, the group continued their journey toward Black Forest Fortress.

Soon, the rat swarm responsible for scouting ahead for Hugh and the others arrived near the "observation post" that Verin had mentioned.

Despite being called an "observation post," it was actually a temporary station erected using a few spells and several large waterproof tents. Such stations were typically maintained by a dozen soldiers plus an ordinary raindrop-level mage.

The personnel at the station have a simple job: while acting as an outpost to guard the surroundings, they also need to use their personal magical instruments to monitor the flow of magic in a certain area to prevent the enemy from carrying out large-scale magical rituals that would be detrimental to their side in certain important areas.

But now, the entire observation post was completely silent. After Hugh ordered the rats to explore, he found that there was no one there at all!
"problem occurs!"

Hugh immediately informed Vera of the situation. Meanwhile, other accompanying mages also made discoveries nearby—someone's summoned creatures were found near a large lake close to the road.

It was a pile of equipment arranged neatly—most of it was in perfect condition, from water bottles to bullet pouches, to the standard cloaks and revolvers used by the members of the Fifth Regiment… Hugh quickly counted the items and found that there were twelve revolvers, one revolver, and the number of bullet pouches and other accessories matched one by one.

Beside the revolver, there was a magic book, the very version printed by the council.

Clearly, these are the traces left by the squad that went missing from the observation post.

"What happened? Did someone kill them and then bring all their things here?"

One of the accompanying monks expressed his opinion, but he himself clearly didn't quite believe such a judgment. After all, the situation was rather strange. It didn't seem like someone had deliberately destroyed traces after attacking the site; it seemed more like a demonstration.

Soon, the soldiers who went to check the situation inside the observation post also returned. They found nothing else. Just as Hugh had said, everything inside the observation post was normal except for the absence of people. Everything was in good order. They even saw the Dragon Tooth Token that had not been put away and a cup of herbal tea that had been brewed sometime earlier on the table in the temporary house.

Through these details, Hughes was even able to reconstruct the situation inside the observation post not long ago.

At that time, the soldiers inside the station should have been chatting and resting indoors. Two of them were playing cards, while the rest were probably watching around a table. One of them even brewed a cup of hot tea with his treasured tea leaves...

But these are not problems.

The real problem is that Hugh and the others have no idea what could have driven these twelve soldiers and one mage to leave the station, abandoning their coats, weapons, and other personal equipment in such a place.

Hughes even felt that the word "abandoned" was not quite appropriate, because these things had obviously been carefully sorted and arranged, and even all the abandoned coats had been carefully folded, as if the soldiers had only temporarily left their things here and would come back after a while.

However, this is simply illogical.

This is a very important and tense time, and in the military, such behavior is practically tantamount to "defection".

After spending this time together, Hugh had developed a basic trust and understanding of all the members of the Fifth Armored Regiment. He knew that the soldiers of the Fifth Armored Regiment were absolutely loyal to the Kingdom of Walter, and that they would never suddenly choose to defect en masse at this time.

Just then, Vilin, who was very familiar with the equipment of the council's mages, suddenly frowned. Her eyes quickly scanned the guns and clothes twice, and then she said, "No, something is missing here."

Hearing her say that, Hugh's gaze couldn't help but fall on the items again, this time focusing on the belongings of the accompanying mage. It was clear that the mage had taken out everything he carried with him; Hugh even saw an official certificate issued by the council, just like his own, in the latest style.

Hugh quickly realized the problem and exclaimed in surprise, "The ritual instrument is gone?"

"Yes, the secret instruments allocated to each observation station..."

Vera used her mage's hand to search through the folded and piled clothes. After confirming that nothing was missing, she shook her head and said, "That's the most important thing in every observation post. Any mage on duty in such a place will definitely carry it with them."

Veraine's words were not an exaggeration, because when Hugh was in Brownhill Town, he had already seen these portable magical devices that were distributed to observation posts and important outposts. They were often made directly into the form of heavy metal pendants or metal ornaments, and could continue to operate as long as they were supplied with magic or placed with magic crystals.

In addition to reacting to the magic of the surrounding environment, this secret instrument can also record disturbances in magic at specific intervals.

"Since they specifically took the secret instrument, it means that the person who did this doesn't intend for us to learn about what's happening around here through the records in the instrument. As for those soldiers..."

As Hughes spoke, he looked at the lake in front of him.

This lake is connected to the river next to Black Forest Town, and it should be an excellent source of water for the farmers in the area on ordinary days. Hugh saw some man-made canals and a simple magic waterwheel.

However, it is illogical that the lake remains unfrozen while the river has already begun to freeze.

Strangely, Hughes did not sense any trace of magic in the face of this abnormal phenomenon, and the metal disc in his mental world, which was always extremely sensitive to abnormal phenomena and dangerous situations, was just rotating at a stable frequency.

One of the army mages stepped forward. He was never satisfied with his magical summoned creature—it was a water lizard. These magical creatures were too slow on land and could only be agile in water, so he never missed any opportunity to use it.

Under the summoner's command, the water lizard, as long as an adult's forearm, quickly jumped into the lake. During this process, the mage's eyes flashed with magical light, clearly indicating that he was using the magical connection between himself and his summoned creature to observe the underwater situation.

However, after a few minutes of silence, the mage's body suddenly began to tremble violently. He then forcibly severed his connection with the summoned creature, and his face became extremely distorted and pale. He held on for a few seconds, but eventually could not help but bend over and violently retched.

His performance surprised everyone present and also caused some panic—a mage of the Stream level or above should have extremely strong mental fortitude, after all, the horrific specimens in the magic laboratory and the mutilated corpses on the battlefield were commonplace for them.

People cannot imagine what could cause such a violent physiological reaction in a military mage.

While Vilin and the others were asking about the situation, Hugh quietly mobilized his magic. The mist of the Mirror Messenger flashed across his body, and a figure silently formed in the cold lake water.

Upon receiving Hugh's command, the magical substitute immediately summoned numerous tentacles of Calron. With the help of these tentacles, which were originally born in the ocean, the Mirror Messenger began to rapidly advance into the depths of the lake.

Within the Mirror Messenger's innate magical vision, the darkness deep within the lake posed no obstacle whatsoever. It was precisely for this reason that when Hugh manipulated his stamina to reach the very center of the lake and looked into its depths, an astonishing scene that completely exceeded Hugh's expectations immediately entered his field of vision.

"..."

He was momentarily speechless.

Words like terrifying and bizarre are insufficient to describe what he was seeing.

Right in the center of this lake, in the deepest part of its dark waters, a large group of figures were floating there.

Without a doubt, they were all corpses.

These dead bodies look like insects trapped inside a giant piece of amber, each maintaining its own posture. Some are severely contorted, as if performing a difficult dance, while others stretch out their arms, as if embracing an invisible lover...

Most of them must have drowned in their desperate struggle. With the help of the Mirror Messenger's magical vision, Hugh was able to see the appearance and clothing of these dead people. He was then surprised to find that these corpses were actually very "fresh".

It neither rotted or deformed due to prolonged soaking, nor was it eaten by lake creatures.

Rather than corpses, they are more like bizarre sculptures displayed in the cold lake by some perverted "artist".

The number of dead was so great, including men and women, from young children to the elderly. The vast majority of them were ordinary townspeople dressed in Delan civilian clothes, but Hugh also saw the bodies of some Delan soldiers dressed in Black Forest Infantry Regiment uniforms.

At the very center of these corpses, in the place closest to the messenger in the mirror, float thirteen distinctly different figures.

The twelve corpses were arranged in a circle, their heads bowed and their hands at their sides, floating upright in the water as if they were performing some kind of peculiar military salute.

In the center of these soldiers' corpses was a figure dressed in the clothes of a mage accompanying the Fifth Hunter Regiment.

The monk arched his upper body back forcefully, his hands hanging down behind him, and his mouth open to a degree that defied human physiology.

Hughes saw that the missing ritual was actually in the mage's mouth.

It looks like someone forced this thing into his mouth...

(End of this chapter)