The black sun hangs high

Chapter 171 Silver Alert
The corpses in the lake were obviously deliberately arranged in this way.

Hugh even felt that the person who did this was deliberately showing something to those who came after, because although the arrangement of these corpses seemed chaotic, they actually maintained a general symmetry, especially the central part composed of the members of the Hunter Corps observation station. Not only were these soldiers themselves "placed" very neatly, but even the other corpses around them were arranged in a posture of guarding the central area.

It was as if someone was loudly reminding the later witnesses—the people and things you are looking for are right here!
If this distorted scene can be considered alternative "art," then the intensity of this art is already approaching hell.

Especially the council mage in charge of operating the monitoring device—not only was his mouth forcibly torn apart by some force, but his limbs were also abnormally twisted, and Hugh could even see white bone fragments protruding from his joints.

What is most disgusting and disturbing is that, regardless of the posture of these deceased, their faces are extremely calm.

Even while smiling.

It looked as if they had ended their lives in a beautiful dream and illusion, drowning in the pursuit of the most beautiful things, including the mage who died a gruesome death, and the soldiers who were suspended upright in the lake.

Their eyes and brows exuded tranquility, as if they were simply asleep.

Out of caution, Hugh did not touch the corpses. He withdrew his consciousness from his mirror image, only to see Verin looking at him with an inquiring gaze. As a lake-level mage, she could easily see Hugh's state just now and knew that he had been manipulating magical summons.

"It's terrible, isn't it?"

"Not only was it tragic, but it was also very bizarre..."

Hughes sighed heavily and then said, "This lake must have been used very frequently in the past. If there were any foreign objects in the lake, there's no reason why they could have been hidden for so long... Moreover, the bodies are all very 'fresh,' indicating that they were put in recently."

The squad officer next to him looked rather grim.

He initially thought that the perpetrators might be remnants of the Black Forest Infantry Regiment operating in the area, but according to Hugh and the mage's description, among the dead were Delan soldiers and civilians!

In other words, this whole matter has deviated from ordinary military logic and entered a realm that only mages can discuss.

Facing the gaze that Weilin cast at him, Hugh lowered his voice and said, "Our previous guesses about the identity of the infiltrators were probably wrong. This is obviously not something that a Delan or a member of the Legal Committee infiltrators could do. Even the most perverted sword-wielding hermits would never go to such lengths to create such a tragic event of inexplicable significance."

The meaning of "Shug" is already quite clear.

Since the deceased included soldiers, civilians, and mages from both sides, it means that the person who did this had a conflict of interest with both sides in terms of their position and identity, and that the other side did not seem to intend to completely hide their tracks.

The entire tragedy itself carried a strong sense of demonstration and ostentation, not to mention that the scene in the lake resembled some kind of bizarre sacrificial ritual.

Everything points to an "old friend" that Hugh is already very familiar with—the Black Sun Society.

"These guys are really persistent... but what are they planning to do this time?"

After giving his assessment, Hugh began to speculate in his mind: "Is it some kind of ritual with specific significance, like in Seren City? Or is it that the Fifth Regiment's operation in the Black Forest region has exceeded their expectations, so the Black Sun Society has decided to find a way to interfere?"

"Or... are they just going crazy and planning to do some inhuman performance art here?"

After careful consideration, Hugh felt that all of these conjectures might be true. After all, for the Black Sun Society, getting the human nations in Vaan into a quagmire of war should be their most important goal at present. They would probably get involved in anything that could bring about a breakthrough or completely change the course of the war.

The current situation is not easy to handle—the Black Sun Society has made its presence clear, and the Fifth Regiment has no way of predicting their next move, nor can it be determined whether these guys will exert any further influence on the battle that is very likely to take place during the day tomorrow.

After a brief moment of thought, Vilin calmly offered her assessment: "It's no longer possible to notify the Hunter Regiment to abandon their position and relocate. Multiple reinforcements and logistics teams are heading towards the Black Forest area. If the Hunter Regiment suddenly changes its strategy and withdraws, it will undoubtedly put other armies in a predicament."

"It's probably too late to notify the council now, isn't it?"

Hugh asked, "The position is currently under magical silence. Activating the arcane ritual would reveal the position and attract artillery fire. Even so, we may not be able to get Borden's reply."

As the team's top decision-maker, Violet asked earnestly, "So what's your suggestion?"

“Send out a warning signal and leave the problem here to our main force. We should trust that Major Alfred and Mr. Klaus will make the right judgment and choice... Moreover, sending out a warning here, even if it leaves magical traces, will not reveal the location of the position.”

After listening to Hugh's advice, Vera fell silent. She thought about it seriously for a while, then nodded.

"I agree, let's send the signal..."

Vilin said to one of the accompanying mages, "Use the silver signal, send three consecutive shots, repeat five times."

Upon hearing this, those nearby all looked surprised, including Hugh.

The "Silver Signal" emerged at the end of that war two hundred years ago. The concept was first proposed by Merlinle and subsequently received unanimous approval from the various kingdoms of Van and almost all the deep-sea mage towers and societies.

This is one of the few concrete proposals put forward by Mellinger and the Legal Committee that embodies the concept of "neutrality".

For this reason, the silver signal has become the most unique of the magical warning signals used by various countries. As a signal that is "not limited to any particular target" and simply issues a serious warning, almost no country would use it lightly.

Silver signals are typically used to indiscriminately warn everyone in the surrounding area of ​​potential magical disasters. In the past, once such a signal was sent, the Legal Committee would immediately intervene neutrally and coordinate the response. But now… the Legal Committee itself is already at war.

Even after the raid on Black Forest Town, a certain unnamed mage from the Ernst family learned that he had actually killed the head of the Black Forest Fortress Legal Committee branch during the battle, which made his accumulated military achievements even more brilliant.

Therefore, the soldiers of the Waterl present showed a little embarrassment after hearing what Weilin said.

However, Vilin was extremely resolute in her decision, and so, under her repeated orders, the accompanying mage in the team finally issued a silver warning.

In the rules of the Silver Alert, a "triple signal" indicates that there may be a magical disaster caused by a "wild mage guild" in the area, while a five-times signal means that the current situation is approaching the highest level. Whoever sends out this level of signal will be directly held responsible.

But clearly, the moment Vera made the decision, she had already accepted all the possible consequences of this action.

……

After issuing the warning, the team continued towards Black Forest Fortress according to the pre-arranged plan. After all, it was the former stronghold of the Legal Committee branch and was equipped with a magical device for transmitting information. Using it, important information in this area could be transmitted out.

Moreover, the crystal cannons stored in the Black Forest Fortress armory must be successfully transported to the rear of the defensive line before daylight.

With artillery support, the 5th Jaeger Regiment was more likely to survive the arduous defensive battles to come.

However, more and more bad things happened on the way to Black Forest Fortress.

According to the meticulous investigation by the accompanying mages, all the observation posts and outposts set up by the Fifth Hunter Regiment along this road seemed to have been attacked. Similar to the situation at the first observation post, all the personnel at these locations had disappeared. The posts and outposts were very clean, indicating that these well-trained soldiers had not actually engaged in combat with the enemy.

What's even more worrying is that after the silver warning was issued, there was no response signal appearing in the night sky for a long time.

The silence maintained by the Jaeger Regiment's positions was expected, given their excellent concealment. The Delan army still hadn't figured out the specifics of the Jaeger Regiment's positions. However, the silence maintained by other locations, including Black Forest Fortress, was quite telling.

"The Legal Committee and the Delans don't seem to want to get involved here, as for Black Forest Fortress..."

Hughes fixed his gaze on the shadow of the fortress perched atop the hill. Black Forest Fortress was the only place in the area where magical silence was not required, as everyone knew its importance and that the enemy would definitely be making military deployments within it.

Despite this, the garrison inside Black Forest Fortress chose to remain silent.

Unless the officers stationed at Black Forest Fortress have some ulterior motives, this most likely means that something bad has happened inside the fortress.

The team heading to Black Forest Fortress consisted of two regular Wotel infantry companies, all equipped with new revolver rifles. In addition to Hugh and Virin, there were four accompanying mages. In theory, such a team should be able to handle most emergencies, but the unusual situations encountered along the way made everyone in the team feel uneasy.

Sniggy's power has been completely "borrowed" by Hugh, so all the rats in a fairly large area nearby, whether ordinary rats or special beings with magical bloodlines, are now forcibly awakened by the power that Sniggy inherited from Mother Earth.

Called by a force almost etched into their blood and instincts, these tiny animals left their nests one after another. Following Hugh's will, they searched continuously in this vast area. If someone were to use a telescope to observe the distant fields and plains at this moment, they would surely find that black shadows were constantly darting around on the snow.

He was still riding his horse, his fingers deftly spinning a Dragon Tooth card, one of the classic cards from the Love Highlands deck. The card depicted a giant wolf howling under the moonlight, originating from a fable about the mountain spirits of the Waterlands border region.

Mountain elves generally worship the March Goddess, and this giant wolf is regarded by the elves as a magical beast that has gained wisdom through the goddess's favor. Therefore, they carry this dragon tooth pendant as a protective pendant, hoping to seek the protection of the March Goddess.

Unfortunately, this was something that Hugh had casually picked up from a table at a checkpoint he was passing by. Its owner must have been a mountain elf, because the dragon tooth card had a hole in it, a string attached to it, and was coated with wax to protect it.

However, the soldier who had been carrying it had disappeared and was likely in grave danger.

In this war, there are far too many people praying to their gods. Hughes guessed that the gods were probably too busy to extend their mercy and grace to everyone.

At this moment, under Hugh's control, the leading swarm of rats began to approach the hill where Black Forest Fortress was located, but a strange thing happened: these animals, which had originally been completely obedient to Hugh's will, now showed a strong desire to resist.

It was as if Hugh's orders were not to send them up the hill, but to their deaths!

Left with no other choice, Hughes made some adjustments. He sent the ordinary rats back and tried to get the Ernst family rats, who possessed human-like intelligence, to move up the hill along the path.

Having already died once, these family-willed rats were fearless in the face of unknown dangers. Upon receiving Hugh's order, the magical rats immediately began to advance towards the fortress on the hill at an extremely fast speed.

Everything seems normal.

Hugh closely monitored the situation of the magical rat swarm. He could even hear the conversations between these family wills. General Bernhardt was at the forefront, and even though he had become a rat, he still had enough enthusiasm for carrying out military operations.

He even had time to mock Jacob and a group of "young people" for not being able to keep up with him, an old man.

After hearing his words, Hugh shook his head helplessly. But just as he was about to remind these old guys to be careful, a sudden, inexplicable feeling of unease came over him. Then, the words and sounds that had been transmitted back through the magic connection suddenly disappeared.

His connection with the magical rat swarm seemed to have been forcibly severed by something.

(End of this chapter)