The black sun hangs high

Chapter 278 The Curtain
As sporadic gunshots rang out in the city of Seren, a new round of battle for Hughes officially began.

He had arrived near the headquarters of the Legal Committee. Although the personnel inside the headquarters had been evacuated, the protective magic rituals of the headquarters itself were still in operation.

Before leaving, the members of the Legal Committee left behind enough magical crystals to sustain the protective ritual for two days. It will continue to operate until the magic of these crystals is completely exhausted or the ritual itself is breached.

This is also part of the plan.

In order to alleviate the pressure on the front line as much as possible and disperse the offensive forces of the Dark Abyss Spawns, the mages have turned their current encampment into a huge trap. To the magical creatures, this massive protective ritual site will be an extremely conspicuous presence. The mages hope to use this abandoned encampment to lure a significant number of the Dark Abyss Spawns there.

Before leaving, they had already altered the ritual site so that if it were attacked head-on and destroyed, the war magic set up inside the camp would take effect, and the entire camp and surrounding area would be scorched by magical flames.

If the offspring continue in the same state, the trap is very likely to succeed. But Hugh knows that these ancient creatures, who have learned to be cautious and vigilant and have begun to try various strategies, will probably abandon the base and attack the defenses themselves once they realize the anomaly.

"You still have to rely on me..."

Hugh sighed softly and casually tossed aside a can of fruit in his hand. It was a "luxury" he had found in the abandoned shop where he was hiding. The taste wasn't great, but for Hugh, who had been traveling and working hard for many days and had only been able to eat dry bread and drink magically made water, it was a rare treat.

Under the blood-red sky, Hugh took a deep breath, and then walked toward the Legal Committee's headquarters, accompanied by the distant sound of gunfire.

At this moment, he had removed the concealment of his own existence, and as he moved forward, the semi-transparent roots of fate began to "grow" nearby. As soon as these strange-looking beings appeared, the surrounding scene and picture would immediately begin to distort and rapidly change and take shape according to Hugh's will.

Soon, the once lifeless headquarters of the Legal Committee was transformed into something else entirely under Hugh's control.

The stationed soldiers and mages vigilantly looked around, the crystal cannons were on high alert, and under the cover of the protective ritual, there were even people operating several metal guns that were completely different in style from the Karvan heavy machine guns. Since there was no one else around, Hugh was too lazy to examine the details of each gun, so he simply picked some familiar gun styles from the depths of his memory and placed them in these illusions.

"This really is a Gatling gun that shoots blue flames... Unfortunately, an illusion is just an illusion. If it could be realized, I would really have to ask the Black Sun Society how many divisions they have."

Looking at the scene before him, composed of elements from different times and spaces, Hugh shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Master. This is all we can do with our abilities."

Faced with Hugh's slightly teasing words, the Fate Roots were rather apprehensive. Although they possessed astonishing wisdom, they still could not fully understand some of the strange jokes that Hugh occasionally made.

"Oh, this looks interesting, like something we soldiers would like."

Only General Bernhardt saw through the true nature of these illusions and expressed strong admiration for the steel objects that Hugh had "fabricated."

As someone who had truly been on the battlefield, or rather, as someone with a soul, Bernhardt, through his intuition, captured the unique beauty of these "iron lumps".

Of course, his agreement with Hugh was more to alleviate the psychological burden on this young junior. As a consciousness that shared Hugh's magic and emotions, Bernhardt could now clearly feel the enormous pressure that Hugh was under.

The closer to the final evacuation time, the less room for error Hughes has.

After skillfully inspecting the war magic rituals buried beneath the camp, Hughes raised his head and looked at the vast illusion that had been fully formed and perfectly connected in one place. He suddenly sighed.

The veteran general, with his rich battlefield experience, couldn't help but offer a word of advice: "Hey, sighing before a battle is not a good habit."

"I was just thinking about the last time I fled Seren."

As he responded, Hugh climbed the watchtower within the encampment. He passed directly through the fabricated soldier illusions and reached the highest point, where a dark mist gradually filled his eyes.

With the help of his magical vision, he successfully glimpsed a dark cloud of magic in the distance, formed by the gathering of the Dark Abyss Spawns. They had sensed Hugh's exact location and were beginning to converge in his direction.

Hugh took the spellbook and the crystal revolver from his waist and placed them side by side at the edge of the watchtower. He quickly tore off several pages of the spellbook, which were personally engraved by Virin, that were of the lake and valley classes. Then he took out the special crystal bullets that Gerald had given him and loaded them into the revolver magazine of the crystal revolver.

Such pre-battle preparations always allow Hugh to enter his calmest state.

"The last time I escaped from this city, I was also being pursued by these monsters... At that time, my abilities and circumstances only allowed me to try my best to protect myself, and even taking Sally and Schubert with me was an extremely luxurious choice."

Hughes silently spoke these words to himself, which were both a response to Bernhardt and an answer to himself.

"For a while after arriving in Borden, I was obsessed with looking for news about Seren in the newspapers. I kept hoping that one day the city and the people in it would get out of their predicament and be truly saved, but such a thing was more bizarre and distant than a fairy tale. It did not happen."

"After the war started, I thought I had forgotten all about Seren, just like everyone else, but one day, those refugees appeared before my eyes again..."

The magazine was full, so Hugh placed his thumb on its side, and with a slight push of his finger, the magazine was successfully reset.

The dark clouds of magic in the distance began to roll, which meant that a considerable number of offspring were approaching the headquarters of the Legal Committee.

“I used to really hate the concepts of fate and destiny, but in the past few days, I’ve thought it through… Whether my return here is purely coincidental or so-called fate, I accept it with equanimity.”

"At least it gave me a chance to make up for my regrets, a chance to cleanse my conscience of guilt." "This time, at least I won't be the first one to escape."

Upon hearing Hugh's words, Bernhardt and the rest of the Ernst family fell silent. After a long while, the knowledgeable old general suddenly let out a strange laugh: "Well, child, now I know why you became friends with that eccentric Professor Mayer. You two are indeed like-minded."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Hughes smiled, a rare occurrence. He glanced at the blood-red night sky, then at the plumes of smoke rising from the city of Seren, before raising his revolving crystal gun and aiming at the empty street ahead.

Only a few seconds after he made this move, strange, dark shadows emerged from the end of the street. These were twisted, ferocious beasts that had differentiated themselves from the offspring of the Dark Abyss. They were small in size, numerous, and responsible for reconnaissance for their own kind.

The moment he saw these figures, magic from the Forest of Walkers burst forth from Hugh's body. A stable, invisible force enveloped Hugh's body, putting him into the optimal state for casting spells. Then, this magic extended from his palm, encompassing the crystal gun as well.

The trigger was pulled, and with a loud bang, the specially made crystal bullet, guided and aided by magic, flew forward and accurately hit the twisted shape at the front.

The crystal bullet did not explode immediately; with the help of magic, it successfully tore the beast's figure in two.

The Dark Abyss Mist hidden within the magic appeared at the opportune moment. Like maggots clinging to bones, it quickly entangled the fragments of the Dark Abyss Offspring, instantly extinguishing the life force contained within them. Then, the bullet pierced straight through a cluster of individual Offspring behind it, and finally exploded with a bang near two other targets.

"With this level of skill, Gerald might be able to find himself a master craftsman position after leaving Seren City..."

As Hugh exclaimed, a suffocating black shadow finally appeared.

That was the "Slime Hill" that had appeared in the northern part of the city and caused Hugh a lot of trouble.

Just like last time, this massive entity, which was two or three stories high and composed of a large amount of dark abyssal slime and twisted limbs, had merged with the dismantled old-fashioned crystal cannon. It was essentially a terrifying mobile firing point.

Compared to before, this "hill" is now significantly more menacing and deadly.

With his magical vision, Hugh saw that the slimy humanoids growing from within them had also been given a detailed division of labor—some of them were clearly holding weapons like crystal guns, while the rest were shrouded in dark abyssal magic. Apparently, they could provide magical support to the massive vessel connected to them, just like the “spellcaster offspring.”

"Such remarkable wisdom and speed of growth..."

Hugh's expression turned serious. The moment he saw the enormous shadow, a page from a magic book he had prepared beforehand floated from his hand. As magic was injected, the neat, beautiful, and delicate patterns and lines on the paper came to life in an instant.

Although the pages of the magic book turned to dust during the operation of magic, the patterns remained in the air.

Since the emergence of the Crystal Cannon, a weapon of war with astonishing power, more and more war magic specifically designed to counter artillery fire and magical explosions has also begun to appear. As times have changed, most weapons and magic have undergone countless replacements, but some war magic is still widely used by people after traversing a long period of time.

The "Tidal Wall" is one of them.

As a typical magic born from large-scale artillery battles, it has serious drawbacks such as high magic power consumption, easy interference with other rituals, short duration, and the ability to obscure one's own vision without being able to eliminate it in time. However, its function is also very clear and obvious: it can offset artillery fire and the resulting magical explosion to the greatest extent possible, thereby providing maximum protection for the target.

As Hugh's magic power continued to be depleted, this massive war spell, which required the support of at least two to three lake-level or valley-level mages, began to take shape rapidly. The complex magic patterns did not interfere with Hugh's thinking in the slightest. Facing the huge shadow that was constantly approaching from the distance, he accurately guided every bit of magic power to where it was needed and finally completed the construction of this war spell.

With everything ready, Hugh snapped his fingers, ending the construction of the magic.

Intricate blue lines spread horizontally, etching a magnificent blue scroll under the night sky. Then, like melting ice blocks, the lines turned into blue water droplets that slid downwards, eventually forming a perfect tidal curtain.

At that very moment, a chilling, muffled roar emanated from within that "mucus hill."

They are calling out Hugh's name.

It was as if countless blood relatives and soulmates were desperately calling for him to return to the embrace of his people.

"It's noisy."

Hugh frowned and complained, then raised his hand again. A flash of dark purple light appeared and disappeared, and the wolf fang tattoo around his wrist instantly transformed into the cold and mysterious Hound's Fang pistol.

Amidst the continuous spinning of the metal disc, the ferocious wolfhounds from the Dark Abyss Palace let out low growls at those beings in the distance who shared a similar origin but also exhibited distinct differences.

The blue curtain, which would severely interfere with the vision of ordinary people, could not block the dark abyss mist that shimmered in Hugh's eye sockets. The outlines of his offspring in the distance were crystal clear, and Hugh could even see the traces of magical flow inside the "slime hill".

He pulled the trigger, and a dark purple light burst forth from behind the curtain.

Sensing an intense threat, the colossal creature made of mucus immediately began to mutate. Its smooth, soft fluid surface rapidly transformed into a hard carapace. However, in the next instant, with the arrival of the dark purple light, this layer of keratin, which was strong enough to withstand magic and crystal bullets, crumbled and disintegrated under the strangulation of the palace hounds' power...

(End of this chapter)