The black sun hangs high

Chapter 263: Hoarse
"Venerable Justina, you seem to be in a good mood?"

The soldier in charge of managing the warehouse was already very familiar with this respectable one-armed female scholar. He nodded to Justina and then asked, "Are you here to get experimental materials? Or magic crystals?"

"Yes, we need some."

The soldier looked around and said, "Then you should bring some people to help... Oh, sorry, I forgot, magic is enough to help."

Justina smiled, and then she listed the items she needed. The soldier made a note of it, and after confirming that everything was correct, he handed it over to two apprentices who were helping in the warehouse, so that they could help select and organize them.

Justina looked around.

The sun had only just risen, but there were already many people busy at the base. The large-scale relocation in batches required a lot of manpower to support it, so no one at the base could stand aside.

She noticed that the soldiers here had mostly been equipped with the new Wotel weapons provided by the Emergency Committee. Compared to the somewhat cumbersome Crystal Gun, these new steam guns, made primarily of metal and wood, were significantly lighter. On a nearby watchtower, Justina also saw a Kalvan heavy machine gun and a light Crystal Cannon already set up.

"If we had had these weapons sooner, so many people wouldn't have died, right?"

She sighed softly, which immediately drew agreement from the soldier beside her: "You're absolutely right. Although I'm a Delan and don't have a good impression of the Voltel, I have to admit, these guys are really talented at tinkering with weapons..."

Have you tried it?

“Of course, I participated in the evacuation escort team yesterday, of course, the first half... There were still some 'mud' left on the streets, so we got the chance.”

The soldier said excitedly, "Don't be fooled by the small amount of magical materials used in these weapons; they have plenty of ammunition, and their rate of fire and accuracy are astonishing. They can clear away a considerable amount of 'mud' in just a few shots. Now I understand why our country's army has been retreating!"

The mage Justina is outstanding in both appearance and temperament. Although she is now missing an arm, she is still a striking presence whenever she stands there.

The soldier wasn't stupid; he knew very well that he would never have the chance to have any romantic story with a beautiful and powerful mage in his life. But out of his affection and pity for Justina's disabled body, the soldier still acted extremely talkative.

"If you ask me, even mages today should probably be equipped with one of these weapons... I've heard that every mage in the Voltel army has been trained to be a master marksman. With the help of magic, they're incredibly accurate, and their bullets travel much farther than the magic itself!"

"Hearing you say that, perhaps I should also prepare a weapon for myself?"

Justina smiled. "What were they called again? Revolver...guns?"

"If that's what you mean..."

The soldier patted the weapon tucked into his waistband and explained, "They call this a steam revolver, but it's pretty much the same thing... Mage Justina, do you need it?"

Justina examined the seemingly very nimble revolver carefully, then smiled and nodded: "It certainly looks useful. Can I apply for one?"

"of course can."

The soldier nodded eagerly: "The Hermit Genet has already given instructions that this is our most important moment, and everyone should be ready... Please wait a moment."

After saying that, the soldier turned and walked towards the armory on the other side. He did not ask the other survivors for help, but went into the armory himself.

Not long after, he returned with two cloth bags. Justina noticed that the two bags were pinned with the emblem of the Legal Committee, indicating that they had been prepared in advance.

The soldier placed the cloth bag on the table in front of him and then carefully explained, "According to the allocation set by the Gent Hermit, a mage like you should originally have two guns, one long and one short... but considering your current physical condition, you can only use this one. The bullets have also been prepared."

Justina nodded, raised her right hand, and untied the cloth bag, revealing a brand-new and exquisite revolver. Like other new firearms from Walther, this revolver was refined and stable. Compared to the traditional old-fashioned crystal gun, it was much lighter and the magic crystals embedded in it were smaller.

Justina quickly fiddled with the weapon based on her knowledge of traditional crystal guns, and with the help of the soldiers beside her, she soon understood how to use this new type of firearm.

It must be said that this lightweight weapon is indeed very suitable for her to use after losing an arm. It's just that loading bullets is a bit troublesome, but she can make up for it with the Mage's Hand and the magic-crafted bow and arrow trick.

"How does it feel?"

The soldier thoughtfully asked, "Mage Justina, if you need, you can go over there and test fire it. After all, it's a new type of firearm, and it's definitely different from those cumbersome crystal guns."

"No need."

Justina gently shook her head: "For me, it's just a backup weapon for when necessary."

"You're right."

The soldier smiled somewhat awkwardly.

Meanwhile, the apprentices who had been responsible for counting the experimental materials and supplies had completed their task. Now, all the supplies that Justina needed had been mobilized, and several soldiers and apprentices were carefully carrying these things toward the laboratory.

Justina heard someone call her name from afar. She turned around and saw her friend hurrying towards her.

"The Hermit Genet tells me the experiment must continue? Are you serious?"

"Of course continue."

Justina's expression didn't change much. She looked at her friend and asked seriously, "We all know that the experiment itself wasn't a complete failure. On the contrary, it brought an important opportunity for a breakthrough... Only by seizing this opportunity can we truly solve the problems caused by those monsters."

"I trust your judgment, but this doesn't align with the planned schedule."

The female mage frowned and questioned, but ultimately trusted her friend's judgment in this matter. So she sighed, "It's strange. How could the hermit Gent agree to such a proposal that goes beyond the scope of the plan? But since the proposal has been approved, let's hurry up."

Justina raised an eyebrow: "You're participating too?"

"Of course, everyone knows that I've worked with you the longest on experiments. Let's go, time is of the essence."

With that, the two headed toward the laboratory, one after the other.

A moment later, an orange magical signal, symbolizing "the plan has changed, but the experiment continues," flew into the sky and drew a thin line beneath the heavens.

Having once again successfully broken through the encirclement of the Dark Abyss's offspring and reached the edge of the northern city wall, Hughes raised his head, squinting at the orange magical line gradually disappearing into the sunlight, lost in thought. ...

As the experiments on the Dark Abyss offspring in Seren City progressed rapidly, Vilin, at the Seren City Emergency Committee's headquarters, also made new progress.

After tireless and focused work, a crucial step was taken in the initial classification and interpretation of those strange symbols.

Perhaps it was Hugh Ernst who brought good fortune.

Or perhaps the great goddess Mel truly bestowed precious blessings and protection upon her mages.

An ordinary mage apprentice, while comparing the strange patterns displayed on the humanoid crystal with the symbol charts provided by Vilin, actually found extremely similar cases. Moreover, these were not rare isolated cases, but several special patterns with strong continuity.

Virin drew great inspiration from this "coincidence" and immediately took action, attempting to imprint these special patterns onto magic paper. As magic was injected, Virin was surprised to find that these patterns could indeed bear magic, which meant that they were not meaningless patterns, but rather a special model that could be recognized and accepted by the framework of magic and magical power.

With this discovery, Verine's status in the resident laboratory was immediately elevated to an unprecedented level. In order to support her subsequent research, more manpower was transferred by Butler Finn. At Verine's request, two Lake-level scholars who had in-depth research on evil magic and had considerable knowledge of lost symbols and scripts were temporarily "kidnapped". They were quite dissatisfied at first, but after seeing the results that Verine showed, they rushed into the laboratory like hungry ghosts.

After nearly ten hours of tireless effort and repeated verification, Vilin and the others finally succeeded in deducing the patterns using a makeshift magic model just as night was about to fall again.

By manipulating magic and recognizing its similarity to the magical text in "The Poem of the Night," some of the patterns on these humanoid crystals were successfully deduced. After piecing together and combining these patterns, Verin successfully obtained a short word.

At the end of the second volume of "Poems of the Night," Verine found the corresponding text.

That was something the mad poet wrote after an absurd journey, something that can be tentatively considered "poetry".

The words that make up the poem are still distorted, similar to the patterns on the human-shaped crystal, revealing the madness unique to those who have lost their minds.

"Those are stars, and they are also the sun."

"It is falling, it is rising."

"It is going from darkness to darkness."

"From the abyss to the abyss."

"It saw me."

“It told me.”

"It smiled at me."

"I'm coming! Run!"

Vera's gaze was fixed on the last line of the poem, the unsettling sentence: "I'm coming, run!"

She had already carefully studied the contents of the second volume of "The Poems of the Night," in which the mad poet Aziv described his story of joining a special "caravan" and traveling in a special "mezzanine."

The so-called mezzanine refers to a special space that Aziv arrived at through the teleportation magic "Disorderly Wandering". It is located between reality and dreams, between the past and the future, and is both incredibly illusory and extremely real.

During that journey, the special caravan he was inadvertently attracted the attention of "Star". It relentlessly pursued the caravan and disturbed the minds of its members. In the end, all the members of the caravan were scattered and died, with only Aziv surviving. In fear, he once again used the extremely unstable "Disorderly Wandering". In a half-asleep, half-awake state, Star "personally" told him these words.

However, the phrase "Run quickly" reveals completely different meanings depending on the context.

For Aziv, who was on the run, this statement was undoubtedly something unimaginable to ordinary people—a ruthless warrant for the arrest of his prey.

But for the Emergency Committee, for Vilin, and for everyone in Vaan, these words sounded like a desperate warning.

"Is this... a conversation with us?"

This strange thought flashed through Vilin's mind, so she urgently summoned the other mages and ordered them to search as quickly as possible for all similar, continuous patterns on the other survivors who had returned from the underground fissure.

With a reference point, the work proceeded very quickly.

In just a few tens of minutes, she got the result she expected.

Almost all the survivors had similar features—some had crystal patterns visible within the crystals on their bodies, while others had horrific wounds on their un-crystallized flesh.

The traces shown in the two different environments are completely identical.

The traces extracted from different individuals and samples also showed absolute convergence.

Having reached this conclusion, Vera silently returned to the laboratory containing the humanoid crystal. She silently poured magic into the magical container, and once again, a large number of strange lines emerged from the humanoid crystal.

After that, Vera pursed her lips, placed her palm on the surface of the alchemical vessel, and then infused her voice into it in the form of magic.

Are you warning us to run?

"If you can understand me, and you can indeed control these patterns, then please give a clear response..."

Before the words were even finished, the patterns in the humanoid crystal inside the container immediately began to shimmer.

The next moment, countless warning lines representing "run fast" covered the entire body of the humanoid crystal. They were arranged neatly and orderly. At the same time, Vilin also saw that the mouth hole of the humanoid crystal began to rapidly draw in the alchemical potion in the container. Although the whole process was completely silent, Vilin clearly felt that the consciousness bound in this cage was shouting at her with all its might.

"You guys run!"

This is what these souls, who retain consciousness but can no longer convey messages through language and sound, want to say.

(End of this chapter)