The black sun hangs high

Chapter 187 Determination
Although Theseus described the Dark Abyss Offspring as nothing more than low-grade, defective products, based on what Shug had witnessed along the way, this ancient magical creation, whose power originated from the "Dark Abyss Court," actually possessed its own unique characteristics.

Fundamentally, the Dark Abyss Spawns are indeed magical creatures that serve their own survival instincts.

It seeks out prey, envelops, devours, digests, and completes its learning.

This is what they really need to do.

It is simple, straightforward, and does not involve overly complicated processes.

The richer the experiences and the more complex the memories and past of the prey, the heavier the "digestion burden" will be for the offspring of the Dark Abyss.

Conversely, children with simple minds and limited life experiences are more easily understood and "accepted" by them.

Now, these real-life "case studies" have come to Hugh.

Newsboys, who once earned a living by selling newspapers from the Peace Newspaper with the help of the Seren Mutual Aid Association, still hawk their wares day after day on the streets of this dilapidated city, and even their routes seem to be no different from before.

Hughes scrutinized the familiar figures. Perhaps because so much time had passed, these Dark Abyss offspring, who had devoured the children, had essentially acquired human features. However, perhaps due to innate defects, or perhaps because they could never truly understand the existence of human life, they had not been able to simulate real skin and flesh.

In short, in Hugh's eyes, what was approaching him were still these monsters with childlike outlines, but whose bodies remained in a black, gelatinous state.

"Newspaper! Newspaper!"

They repeatedly spoke human language in imitations of children's voices, their arms waving aimlessly in mid-air.

Of course, now that the Peace Newspaper has disappeared, there are no newspapers in their hands made of dark, murky gelatin. These child-shaped figures are simply following the routines of life from those memories, repeating these meaningless actions over and over again.

Hugh stood there, quietly waiting for them to approach.

As the distance between them shortened, the voices that originally had strong childlike characteristics began to change. They became hoarse and strange. Even though they were just repeating some very simple words from beginning to end, they gradually became unable to pronounce even these words clearly.

These clumsy imitations of human behavior are gradually distorted and faded away because of the awakening of the hunting instinct.

They sensed the presence of "food" ahead.

Unlike the other prey in this sealed city, the target standing not far in front of them seemed to possess an extremely strong allure. This power almost instantly revived the greedy desires within these Dark Abyss offspring, so they quickened their pace, and the original childlike outlines instantly transformed into flowing "sludge".

Hugh quietly observed the changes exhibited by these Dark Abyss offspring. With the help of his magical vision, he could even see the outline of a very familiar and frail girl gradually disintegrating as she ran, and completely merging with her kind.

Within seconds, the dark mud swarmed up in front of Hugh, and from within it, countless mouths that once belonged to children grew out, as if they had found customers willing to buy newspapers in the past, and they shouted happily.

"Newspaper! Sir writer, would you like to buy a newspaper?"

A heavy sigh escaped Hugh's lips. He stood silently, watching helplessly as the mass of mud unfurled before him, forming a vast curtain...

"Let's just forget about it today."

He responded softly.

Then, the sharp, segmented tentacles of Karron surged out from behind him, tearing through the deadly black curtain in an instant. The mucus, which could easily digest the flesh of living beings, clung to Hugh's black tentacles, but it was utterly unable to penetrate the hard keratin.

At this moment, the offspring of the Dark Abyss finally took a crucial step in learning from humanity—they finally understood the "despair" and "panic" that these humans experienced in their final moments.

The human figures that were considered a delicious meal just a moment ago have now transformed into predators even more ferocious than themselves.

Some soft, black debris fell to the ground. Hugh instinctively looked down and saw that the still quite vital slime was wriggling around his feet. The organs used to make sounds were still functioning, but now the sounds they made had turned into screams and cries filled with fear.

"It's not so bad to be able to learn to be afraid at the last moment."

Hugh said softly, then kicked a piece of gelatinous material aside. Immediately, the Touch of Karljun burst forth, piercing and corroding it on the spot.

The constant noises were so annoying that Hugh summoned his magic and his Mirror Messenger Stand, who was already prepared to "eat".

Enjoy as much as you like, there's plenty to go.

After obtaining Hugh's consent, the humanoid stand-in standing to the side immediately exploded on the spot, turning into a hazy mist, and rushed towards the scattered debris. As a result, a large number of fragmented Dark Abyss offspring powers and memories were immediately collected and gathered together.

So Hugh stepped back two paces, closed his eyes, and began to quickly organize and read the messages that had been relayed back by the messenger in the mirror.

This "meal time" was not too long. A few minutes later, the Touch of Karron and the Messenger in the Mirror finished their work one after another, and Hugh learned more about the current situation in Seren City.

It was only then that Hugh learned that the children who used to sell newspapers on this street had actually been killed on the day of the upheaval in Seren City—their usual residence and hiding place was too close to the entrance to Seren City's sewers, so they became the first hunting targets of the Dark Abyss' offspring after nightfall.

This is why these poor children did not experience the despair that the other survivors in Seren later encountered.

From a certain perspective, this can be considered a kind of luck.

However, Hugh could not find any solace in this. Such thoughts were nothing short of self-deception. The memories of the victims plundered from the Dark Abyss Spawns only made Hugh feel more hatred and disgust for these ancient creations and the Black Sun Society that brought all of this to the fore.

...A new morning dawned in Seren.

A muffled and continuous rumbling sound came from the distant sky. It was the artillery fire from the plains far from the city of Seren. Judging from the sound source and the traces of magic in the sky, it was easy to tell that this was a round of artillery fire initiated by the Kingdom of Delan and aimed at the positions of the Wotel army.

Compared to the hustle and bustle in the distance, the city of Seren was extremely quiet.

Before dawn, no survivors would venture out onto the streets. At such times, the Dark Abyss Spawns would still frequently forage on the streets. If they encountered a large group of Dark Abyss Spawns, even fully armed soldiers or well-prepared spellcasters could easily become their prey.

In this context, Hughes seems somewhat out of place.

He was like a traveler who had just arrived from out of town and wanted to carefully observe the street scenes of an unfamiliar city, walking alone on the empty streets.

Hugh had already changed his clothes.

Using his memories of the city of Seren, he found a clothing store. After taking over and "devouring" the Dark Abyss offspring that were entrenched there, he found some clean new clothes in the closed warehouse.

So he reverted to his former self when he lived in Seren, only now the calmness on his face and the confidence in his eyes were completely different from before.

Hugh didn't want to get into any kind of conflict with the survivors in Seren City too early. In this case, the Wotel uniform had to be changed. If he wanted to prove his identity, his military and council credentials would be enough. He also carried the official insignia of the Ernst family in his pocket. With these, he could report to any Wotel army at any time and be accepted.

Under Hugh's magical perception, no Dark Abyss offspring hidden among houses and ruins could escape detection. They were either devoured on the spot by the mist of the Mirror Messenger or found out from the nooks and crannies by the Touch of Karron.

As Hughes continued forward, his expression grew increasingly grim.

"The number of Dark Abyss offspring remaining in Seren City is probably far greater than I imagined... During this time, they have not only been constantly trying to break through the ritual site set up by the Law Committee, but they have also been trying to expand their own population. In time, this city will surely be completely occupied by them."

Hugh digested the newly acquired memories of his offspring.

A significant portion of the content came from a survivor of the city of Seren who had recently died. In his memory, Hugh found some terrifying images that even he found chilling.

The survivor, who died two nights earlier while searching for food, had seen "huge shadows" surging through the streets at night more than once.

The scale of the shadows far exceeded Hugh's expectations—they looked like a death torrent formed by deep colors and dim fluorescence, large enough to cover half the street and high enough to submerge the two-story shops on both sides of the street.

The survivors in Seren called this terrifying phenomenon the "Tide of Death".

Its meaning is simple and clear: it refers to this terrifying phenomenon, which is composed of a large number of Dark Abyss offspring and is very likely to kill all the residents hiding in the lower shelters on the spot.

As one of the people in the world who knew the Dark Abyss Spawns best, Hugh almost immediately understood the meaning behind this strange phenomenon—the Dark Abyss Spawns' growth rate had reached an unbelievable level. In comparison, the "scale" they displayed on the day of the Siren City upheaval was simply insignificant, and the number of their offspring who entered the sewers to pursue them was nothing more than "child's play."

How many people did they actually eat?

Hugh squinted at the buildings beside him. He noticed some very obvious marks on the walls of the buildings along the street, which looked like marks left by water flowing on a dam.

Clearly, the "dead tide" mentioned by the survivors of Seren City had been here. Judging from the deliberately damaged windows and the building walls that were brute forcefully penetrated, the "dead tide" that "passed by" here must have been trying to find survivors who might be hiding nearby.

This is really not good news.

As flawed creations, the offspring of the Dark Abyss do indeed possess many weaknesses, the most typical of which is their aversion to high temperatures and bright light. This is also the reason why the members of the Legal Committee in Seren City have been able to hold on until now.

But Hugh knew that the current methods humanity used to fight and evade the Dark Abyss Spawns were actually based on a very weak foundation.

This foundation is the scale and number of Dark Abyss offspring.

Through the Dark Abyss offspring he hunted, Hugh had come to a preliminary conclusion: the continued growth in the size of the population would lead to an increase in the rate at which the Dark Abyss offspring understood human knowledge and memories, and the larger their numbers, the more astonishing the "intelligence" they might display.

With the general improvement of collective intelligence, some individuals who break away and act alone will also exhibit some terrifying characteristics and abilities that surpass those of the past.

The offspring he encountered in Brownhill disguised as refugees, and the individual who traversed the vast battlefield to reach the Black Forest and transformed into a walking spider, are both very convincing examples.

“We absolutely cannot let these guys continue to ‘evolve’ and ‘learn’… They have learned the patterns and methods of humans avoiding them through the memories of their victims. If we give them more time, they will also know how to fight against light and fire, and even understand what magic is all about. At that point, it will be much more difficult to deal with them.”

Hugh has always wanted to be a lazy person.

He didn't think he was particularly noble, nor did he believe he was capable of undertaking any significant responsibility.

But at this moment, looking at the bleak street scene before him and the tattered clothes left behind by the victims' flesh being devoured, he finally couldn't help but set himself a goal that seemed somewhat terrifying and arduous.

"Since fate has brought me back here, shouldn't I at least finish the part of the 'script' that I didn't complete before?"

He snapped his fingers lightly, scattering the swarm of magical rats used for reconnaissance once more, and then turned his gaze to the sky ahead.

Thick smoke was slowly rising from a block not far away.

(End of this chapter)