The black sun hangs high

Chapter 233 Signs
With the participation of the Royal Household of Water Augustine and the Highland Mage Council, a second elite exploration team consisting of forty soldiers from the Ymir Legion and twenty spellcasters of the Stream level or above was quickly formed.

In this second batch of teams, although the mage members came from the Council of Mages and the Law Committee, it is interesting that the time they were separated and disconnected was not too long. The magic, tools and even the standard rituals used by both sides belong to the same system. In fact, the elite members of the Highland Mage Council also received their training from the Law Committee. Therefore, the two sides did not need too much of a break-in period.

Some of the monks were even acquaintances who had carried out certain missions together in the past, or classmates who had studied together in the same classroom in Merlinle.

The world is so wonderful.

When these mages, who had belonged to different camps and had different positions and interests, stood together again and prepared to take risks for the same goal, their feelings and expressions became subtle.

As for the forty soldiers of the Imir Legion who served as protectors and enforcers, there is no need to say more.

Unlike the Iris Guard, who serve as royal guards in the Kingdom of Delan, the Ymir Legion, while representing the elite forces of the Kingdom of Wotel, is essentially no different from other elite units. Its only difference and special feature lies in the fact that the Ymir Legion has perfected all the systems and requirements of the Wotel army.

Every member of this special legion, which has a full strength of four thousand men, is drawn from other elite units. At no time will the number of members increase or decrease. If any member is reduced or retired, they will be immediately selected and replaced from other legions.

This special elite legion enjoys abundant high-quality resources within the Votel military system. They often have access to the most advanced weapons, the best combat theories, and even, to some extent, a great deal of important secrets and intelligence that are only known to the royal family. Members of the legion, whether alive or dead, and their families will also receive preferential treatment. If a soldier of the Ymir Legion is killed in battle or on a mission, his children will have the opportunity to study for life at the kingdom's top academy.

But to obtain all of this, a price must be paid.

Any soldier, officer, or mage who agrees to join the Ymir Legion must undergo a series of rigorous screenings. They will be forced to renounce all beliefs except for the two common ones: the Goddess of Magic and the Highland Eagle. They will also swear an oath of lifelong loyalty to the Kingdom of Wotel under the witness of a special magical ceremony.

Under this ritual, their spirit and thoughts will be eternally imprinted with the magical mark of the giant eagle of the plateau.

Therefore, within the Kingdom of Votel, a mage might question an officer, a unit, or an order, but he would never and dare not question the Ymir Legion.

Right now, the forty silent soldiers, dressed in black uniforms and wearing black crystal masks, are uniformly changing their equipment.

To better suit their operations within the Great Rift, they removed their heavy equipment and replaced their standard revolver rifles with a new type of firearm that looked shorter and lighter—they resembled portable crystal pistols, but were also made of metal and lacked the original revolver mechanism.

A monk from the Legal Committee watched with curiosity as the silent soldiers received round "metal tubes" from their comrades, each carrying about three, which appeared to contain bullets for their weapons.

Although they were filled with curiosity about these new firearms from the Kingdom of Votel, no one dared to question the fact that these weapons could function with only a small amount of magic power and magic crystals, given that the advance of the battle lines had already demonstrated their capabilities.

"Mr. Finn, should the soldiers still carry flamethrowers?"

The valley-level mage in charge of the monitoring station looked at the five Ymir soldiers carrying heavy metal containers and couldn't help but ask, "If you believe there is a threat below that we need to counter with fire, why not have our mages carry an extra spellbook?"

"We should certainly bring an extra magic book, but we shouldn't leave these flamethrowers behind either."

The elven steward, loyal to the Walter royal family, spoke softly as he walked toward the abyss separated by a fence.

Finn tilted his head, looking into the bottomless darkness, and then said, "We know nothing about what's down there. Don't forget how the team disappeared... If conditions allowed, I would even suggest filling this rift with alchemical bombs and spellbook pages..."

If someone else had said this, it would have drawn some laughter.

However, the person in charge of the monitoring camp could not laugh at all. He knew very well Finn's expertise and status in the field of magic, and Finn's attitude showed no sign of joking. Clearly, the crack in front of him, and the unknown power hidden in it that had once shaken most of Vaan, made this senior and powerful mage feel wary and fearful.

Finn stared at the abyss for a few seconds, then looked up, a flash of magic in his eyes, and said, "Inform Merlinler of everything that has happened here as soon as possible. I will take charge of the council and the Highland Alliance. After this group departs, we need to develop a second contingency plan as soon as possible... We must be quick."

After saying that, Finn narrowed his eyes slightly. He quietly felt the strange tremor coming from the depths of the earth and couldn't help but shiver.

He always felt that he was facing some kind of "living thing" beyond his comprehension.

……

"Watch your right! Watch your right!"

"It's going to hit me! Burn it!"

"When did it come in...?"

At dusk, the Tricolor Brotherhood's headquarters was suddenly thrown into chaos.

Almost no one could have imagined that the "mud" that roamed Seren would suddenly launch an attack on a large human settlement before dawn.

This time of day is typically when survivors in large settlements distribute and transport the various supplies and goods they've collected during the day. People are busiest and most concentrated at this time, but it is precisely under these circumstances that the monsters suddenly launch an attack from an unexpected angle. Yes, not an attack, but a raid.

Because the doors and windows near the street, or the entrances to the passageways, were not attacked by these Dark Abyss offspring. It seemed that they had infiltrated the interior of the settlement in some way long ago and were hiding in the dimly lit warehouse.

As the survivors responsible for transporting supplies were chatting and laughing as they delivered their spoils into the warehouse, they were ambushed by these hidden hunters.

Fortunately, all the bandits in the Tricolor Brotherhood were brave and ruthless. Faced with the monsters' sneak attack, they immediately launched a counterattack. "Shug" and "Berva", who were the actual controllers of the settlement, also arrived at the scene immediately.

At this time, "Shug" was naturally a fake imitating the messenger in the mirror, so the main battle was undertaken by "Berva," who was transformed from Hug.

The number of Dark Abyss offspring who successfully infiltrated the base was very limited. In addition, the Brotherhood members responded very decisively. In no time, Hugh had easily eliminated all potential threats within the base. After that, all entrances to the base were finally successfully closed.

Hugh, or rather "Berva," stopped beside the remains left after the two Dark Abyss Spawns had been burned by magic. He carefully examined the remains before him, feeling the faint magical fluctuations that remained within them, his heart filled with doubt.

He had only recently returned to the camp before the attack, and his magical senses had been active the whole time. The rats used to monitor for threats were also active around the camp, but even under these circumstances, he failed to detect the infiltration of the Dark Abyss Spawns.

This is hardly a good omen.

With that in mind, Hugh immediately took a container and collected some "samples" left behind by the Dark Abyss offspring. Then, amidst the enthusiastic praise of the Tricolor Brotherhood members, he returned indoors.

During this period, as the survivors in the city continued to gather, the direct conflicts and clashes between Hugh and the Dark Abyss offspring have been greatly reduced. Except when hunting "samples" for the scholars in the Legal Committee's residence, he basically does not actively hunt or attack these monsters. After all, when people are relatively concentrated, any large-scale "death wave" may cause unnecessary losses.

The Dark Abyss Clan, hidden beneath the city of Seren, did indeed maintain stability during this period. According to Hugh's observations, the Dark Abyss Clan continued to follow their habits, hunting at night and returning to the ruins or sewers during the day, just like any other day.

But what just happened is clearly not quite normal.

After making sure no one would disturb him, Hugh closed his eyes and began to concentrate his magical perception, while simultaneously manipulating the mist of the messenger in the mirror to completely envelop the collected "residue".

The Mirror Messenger was very resistant to Hugh's order to "eat garbage." To it, the charred remains had little power; in human terms, it was like a rice ball that had been chewed repeatedly and then spat on the ground and stomped on.

However, it ultimately could not defy Hugh's will. After passing on several swear words it had learned from the will of the Bernhardt family to Hugh, it finally carefully scavenged the faint power and memories remaining in the clump of debris, and then "dry-heaved" back to Hugh's mental world.

It wasn't easy to get any useful information out of this. Hugh struggled to search through the remnants of the Dark Abyss's memories in his own mental world. After an unknown amount of time, he finally found a tiny fragment of information that might be useful.

To be precise, it should be a fragmented instinct of unknown origin that has been "implanted" into the offspring of the Dark Abyss.

"Enter the prey's dwelling...attack...when they are unprepared...during the daytime..."

The contents were extremely fragmented, making it even more difficult to translate them into information that humans could understand. However, the information that Hugh managed to extract was already quite astonishing.

If Hugh's previous understanding and judgment of the Dark Abyss's offspring's behavior logic were based on deduction from appearances, then this time, Hugh has finally obtained the most direct evidence.

He was certain that the dangerous, massive race had further completed its assimilation and understanding of knowledge, and now it was making corresponding changes and adjustments based on this new knowledge.

After finishing his investigation of these fragmented messages, Hugh slowly opened his eyes. Although he still maintained the appearance of "Berva," his stern expression was revealed through the ugly face he had imitated.

"Their attack on the Brotherhood of Tricolor's base was just a basic test and probe... This means that they will not stop their actions because of a failed hunt. What happened today is just the beginning."

Hughes slowly rose to his feet. At that moment, he was certain that the brief and false "peace" between the survivors and the Dark Abyss children in this city of Seren was about to end.

He dared not linger any longer at the Tricolor Brotherhood's headquarters. He simply took the "offspring embryos" he had concocted using the Black Sun Society's drugs over the past few days and quietly left the Tricolor Brotherhood's territory before nightfall, heading towards the Legal Committee's headquarters.

Just as Hugh had guessed, the Law Council's headquarters also suffered an attack from the Dark Abyss's offspring. However, because it was always protected by magical rituals, they couldn't even break through the outermost ritual defense line. When Hugh arrived, some soldiers transferred from Iris Street were busy cleaning up the wreckage.

As soon as Hugh stepped into the lobby of the Legal Affairs Commission's headquarters, he heard a heated discussion.

Looking up, she saw a group of scholars, led by the mage Justina, arguing excitedly with the other mages. Justina, with her sharp eyes, spotted Hugh at a glance and immediately waved her one arm, beckoning him over.

“Mr. Ernst, we have made some new discoveries… regarding those ‘samples’ you captured earlier.”

Justina was clearly very excited at this moment. Ignoring etiquette, she reached out and grabbed Hugh's trench coat, saying in a rapid voice, "They seem to have been stimulated by something, becoming more active than ever before, and even trying to break through their containers and constraints!"

(End of this chapter)