The black sun hangs high

Chapter 180
The moment Theseus’s voice rang out, Herbert, the mastermind of the ritual, suddenly felt an extremely tyrannical and violent flow of magic, as if the water of an entire ocean had been forcibly poured into a small lake. The usually solid and stable ritual of the society immediately suffered an unbearable impact.

He couldn't bother stopping Hugh's malicious speech and hurriedly looked up to check on the Black Sun Ritual.

Herbert then saw that the black sun, which was suspended under the crystal lamps of the banquet hall, was trembling and spinning violently under the impact of this unreasonable magic. The terrifying forces that had previously surged into the ritual also became agitated and restless, and no matter how Herbert tried to calm them down, he could not make them quiet.

"It's over!"

As an experienced spellcaster, Herbert immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, so he decisively relinquished control of the society's ritual. Several magic runes were quickly constructed, forming a solid magical barrier around him.

At the same instant, the shadowy light of the black sun began to spread outwards. With a crisp sound of magic cracking, the dark shadow that served as the spiritual totem of the Black Sun Society members exploded. An astonishing surge of magic swept through the entire banquet hall in an instant. All the lights in the hall, from the huge crystal chandelier at the top to the magical wall lamps installed on the walls, were destroyed at this moment.

The terrifying shockwave from the magical explosion, carrying fragments of the magic crystal and sharp shards of glass, swept out in all directions, making everyone in the banquet hall a target of the attack.

Hugh was naturally within the blast radius, but he was already prepared the moment he received the warning from the metal disc and the reminder from Theseus.

The instant the Black Sun Ritual exploded, the Mirror Messenger's mist had already enveloped Hugh's body. As a result, the falling chandelier and flying debris all passed through his misty body. As for the sweeping magical impact, under Theseus's "manipulation," it successfully avoided Hugh's location and had no effect on him whatsoever.

As the lights were destroyed and the light faded, the entire banquet hall descended into chaos. Although most of the Black Sun Society members present were spellcasters of the Stream level or above, they had previously participated in the operation and maintenance of the Black Sun Ritual.

Very few people are as capable as Herbert in immediately severing the magical connection with the Black Sun Rift the moment it malfunctions.

Most of them were still immersed in Hugh's malicious speech. At the moment of the explosion, the members of the Dark Abyss History Society were even angrily accusing and questioning Hugh, after all, the Black Sun Ritual had never made any mistakes in the history of the Society.

Moreover, Hugh's previous answers made it unbelievable to them that this "new member" who had successfully obtained the Black Sun Scepter had never stood on their side from beginning to end.

They prefer to believe that these remarks stem from "misconceptions" accumulated from Hugh's past.

Therefore, at the moment the magic explosion occurred, the spellcasters closest to Hugh suffered the most direct impact. These elite mages only had time to barely construct a layer of ordinary protection before being blown away by the shockwave from the explosion.

The "lecturer" who brought Hughes here was also among them.

However, this arrogant figure who had been so haughty in front of the Fifth Hunter Regiment was forcibly "scooped" back by something the instant he was thrown away by the shockwave. Then, in the chaotic light of the banquet hall, he saw a young face gradually recovering from the mist.

He saw that Hugh Ernst was smiling at him.

However, amidst the flickering magical light and shadow, this young man, who played an important role in the Society's past prophecies, now laughed like a terrifying ghost in the legends of Vaan, relentlessly pursuing the lives of the living.

"The Dark Abyss History Society, is that right?"

Hughes uttered a soft verse, and then the Karron Touches binding the lecturer's body suddenly tightened, the exaggerated force directly applied to the lecturer's frail body, completely crushing the magical protection covering his body. The lecturer was powerless to do anything about it; after experiencing the mental shock from the Black Sun Ritual explosion, he no longer had the ability to build up any effective protection.

Amidst the chaos, and in the struggles and gasps of this Black Sun Society member, a dark purple glow symbolizing the power of the Dark Abyss Hounds appeared in Hugh's hand. With Hugh's movement, the strangely shaped revolver spun lightly.

"Since you like Dark Abyss so much, why don't you go and greet Dark Abyss in person?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Hound Fang let out a roar from the Dark Abyss.

With a deafening roar, the figure that had been tightly bound in mid-air by Karron's Touch instantly stopped struggling. Under the bombardment of the Hound's Fang bullets, the head and chest of this member of the Dark Abyss History Society vanished on the spot. And from the flesh and blood fragments that had turned into fine magical dust, an amorphous figure with a blurry outline leaped out.

Without any prompting from Hughes, the court hound, which had long yearned for the hunt, vanished from its spot. The next instant, its figure emerged from the right angle between the banquet hall wall and the floor, its mouth, filled with sharp fangs and terrifying tentacles, viciously biting at its locked target.

Faced with this "important target" filling the banquet hall, Hugh unleashed his power without reservation.

Having received the blessing of the Earth Mother and undergone a complete transformation, the raging rat Sniggy appeared in the darkness. Its green eyes instantly turned bloodthirsty crimson, accompanied by a sharp screech. An uncountable swarm of rats appeared around it. Moreover, all the rats living in the hills of the Black Forest Fortress felt the call of their superior at this moment, and the restless sounds of rats echoed from every inch of soil and every rock on the hill. As the raging rat led its swarm through the darkness, the pitch-black mist began to peel away from Hugh's body, revealing two figures with identical appearances and builds standing together. Countless black tentacles emerged from the sides of Hugh and the Mirror Messenger. These terrifying tentacles, completely covered in black keratin, churned wildly in the chaos, attacking any target they could reach.

The entire banquet hall is now in complete chaos.

Swarms of rats, tentacles, and hounds scurried through the darkness, and the twenty-odd elite members of the society inside the banquet hall suffered extremely heavy losses the instant the attack occurred.

Murnabi, a prophet, was not skilled in spellcasting. Unfortunately, he was chosen by the hounds. After the magical protection on his body broke, he was brutally devoured and sucked. By the time the hounds were satisfied and began to look for their next target, Murnabi's body had been reduced to two pieces of pure, desiccated corpse.

Under Hugh's malicious instigation, the Touch of Karron found its target in the chaos, and the unfortunate one was the male mage who worshipped the Lord of the Ocean. His eyes, filled with intense greed, were truly impressive and disgusted Hugh. As a result, he became the third victim in this melee.

With the hard keratin covering its surface, the Kalron's Touch forcefully dispersed the mage's destructive magic. Then, using its sharp limbs, it tore apart the magical barrier he had erected and, in front of the other two followers of the Lord of the Ocean, dismembered the mage into eight pieces.

As for the running rat, Hugh didn't give it any specific target. As long as this guy ran at full speed, it was enough to become the most oppressive presence in the banquet hall. Anyone who was hit by it would either die or be seriously injured, even under the protection of the magical ritual.

Within a few dozen seconds, six mages from the Black Sun Society had been killed by Hughes in the aftermath of the magical explosion. As for the other members who were also attending the gathering but did not have the status of spellcasters, they were favored by the rat swarm. These ferocious rats, who were being commanded by the will of the Ernst family, wished they could gnaw everyone here down to the bone!
As the biggest rebel since the establishment of the Black Sun Society, Hugh did not feel complacent about the amazing results of his preemptive attack.

He was well aware of the true strength of the Black Sun Society members. Those he had killed were the weakest among the attendees. The remaining members were even able to withstand the mental shock from the explosion of the secret ritual, and as the intensity of the mental shock weakened, their counterattack had already begun.

Among these people, Herbert and Kerzlov were the first to act. They were both veterans in the society and knew very well how to deal with emergencies. Therefore, when Theseus detonated the cryptex, the two of them decisively chose to protect themselves. Although they also suffered from the impact of the cryptex explosion, the impact was much smaller than that of the others.

"Shug Ernst!"

Herbert roared in anger. As several magical runes were constructed, blinding magical flames spread outwards from his body, instantly incinerating any rats that tried to approach him. Then, as he mobilized his magic, the intense flames rapidly spread towards Hugh, and the original ring of flames was transformed into a valley-level "wall of flames" under Herbert's control.

Faced with the surging flames, Hugh quickly unfolded the spellbook that Virin had given him. A page of the spellbook, which he was already very familiar with, floated down under the influence of magic. "Pullhole of Cold" was applied directly in front of Hugh. The low-temperature field formed by white frost continued to spread outward, colliding with the wall of flames sweeping towards him. The two completely different colors created an extremely shocking scene in the dim banquet hall.

Herbert was furious upon seeing the magic Hugh released. Although he did not recognize the cold pool created by Verin herself, he could tell from its effects that it was a genuine lake-level or valley-level magic, which proved that Hugh Ernst had indeed come prepared.

From the very beginning, he never intended to join the society, let alone make any contribution to its cause!

"You damned traitor..."

Herbert opened his magic book, but just as the page was torn off, a terrifying muffled sound suddenly came from the misty fog formed by flames and frost.

As a seasoned spellcaster, Herbert reacted extremely quickly. The pages of the spellbook in his hand burst into flames the instant the sound appeared, and the flames surrounding him immediately formed a solid barrier. This fire barrier withstood an extremely violent impact the moment it was completed.

To Herbert's astonishment, a strange, enormous gap suddenly appeared in the flames. Before he could react, a bizarre figure emerged from the gap, its sharp claws reaching out to grab Herbert's face.

The rules of the court hound's movements were far beyond Herbert's imagination. Just as the sharp claws were about to slash his face open, a sharp spear made of bright green lightning pierced from the side, accurately hitting the court hound's body and pinning it to the ground on the spot.

Even so, the claws still grazed Herbert's right cheek, with the sharpest one slicing right through his eye socket, causing blood to gush out immediately. Amid Herbert's painful groan, Hugh's cold, mocking voice drifted over at just the right moment.

"A bunch of traitors, how dare they speak so loudly?"

Those present had never heard of such a bizarre term as "traitor," but they didn't need to understand it to feel the insult and aggression it carried. Before Herbert could recover from the excruciating pain, Krzlov had already begun casting a spell. He was also a mage of the Valley level or higher. Under his magical manipulation, the ground beneath Hugh's feet was suddenly covered in bright green lightning. Then, before Hugh could dodge, the lightning suddenly erupted.

Green lightning instantly illuminated the entire hall. It rose rapidly from beneath Hugh's feet, and after destroying the white frost of the "Cold Pool," it closed like the jaws of a giant crocodile, swallowing Hugh's figure whole.

However, Krzlov's face did not show the slightest joy, because the moment the magic took effect, he saw "Shug's" figure turn into a wisp of black mist. At the same time, the banquet hall door was smashed open by something, and something was already rushing out of the darkness.

(End of this chapter)