The black sun hangs high

Chapter 284 The Sun...as Usual?
It was exactly 5:00 AM.

The terrifying bombing that had reverberated throughout Seren finally ceased completely. Under the relentless blanket of "Mehr Fire," this lonely city, which had endured a cruel winter, stepped into the most vibrant colors.

The "Jiaocheng Strategy" has been implemented to the fullest extent, with not a single alchemical bomb was wasted.

Apart from the survivors' camp next to the south gate, every corner and every crevice in the city has now been licked by the high temperature.

After the last survivor evacuates from Seren, this last bit of space will be filled with the utmost precision.

The order to exterminate the Dark Abyss offspring was agreed upon by everyone. Neither those inside nor outside the city wanted these terrifying monsters to grow in Vaan, and they were utterly terrified of their unlimited growth.

"It's time to evacuate, Mage Ernst."

Although Verine was actually much younger than him, the mage Valery couldn't help but use honorifics when addressing her, and he didn't even dare to call her by her name.

During these extremely long few days, he had witnessed the amazing ability of this young female scholar in dealing with a series of problems. Her handling of all the problems was like calculating one magical configuration after another, precise, rigorous, and always able to anticipate and prepare for any possible oversights.

Although she bore the Ernst family name, she did not leave with the earlier evacuation team, but stayed until the very end.

Valery vaguely guessed that Verine had persisted to this extent for some other reason, but after looking at the open city gate and the hands of his pocket watch, he finally gave her a serious piece of advice.

Violet stood in the empty camp, watching the wounded who had been withdrawn from the defensive line and were receiving treatment and examinations, her eyes flickering.

She was certain that she did not see that familiar face here.

The towering flames in the distance and the scorching heat waves constantly reminded her that the person she was waiting for had most likely vanished completely into the deepest part of the flames.

Vera's reason and common sense told her that even a deep-sea level mage probably wouldn't be able to escape safely from this situation.

For the first time, she resisted and hated her own reason and mind.

Because rigorous calculations and knowledge can inadvertently extinguish the last vestiges of hope in one's heart.

She pressed her chapped lips together, her fingers gripping the spellbook at her waist. Her gaze lingered between the dark, blood-red sky and the flames several times before she finally spoke slowly, her voice slightly hoarse: "Inform Felix that the last evacuation convoy must depart precisely in twenty minutes. Do not delay... Inform our friends at Dawn Society that the evacuation mission has been successfully completed and that they should prepare for refuge."

Valery nodded, but then he noticed that Verine hadn't moved after giving the order, so he hesitated for a moment and asked, "And what about you?"

"I want to stay a little longer... Don't worry about me."

Vera glanced at Valery, and at that moment, she suddenly revealed a rather bright smile: "If possible, please leave me a carriage outside the city gate, preferably an old model made of crystal... I might not be able to drive those new steam carriages."

……

Time, time.

Although he had no chance to take out his pocket watch to check the time at that moment, he could still clearly feel the passage of time.

Every step he took in this infernal city was a battle against time.

The cold, dark mists of the abyss drifted around, and the Touch of Calron continued to form with the support of magic. The mad rat had exhausted its strength several times in a row, but as Hugh's mount, it would still insist on showing itself whenever Hugh called, enduring the pain of being scorched by the flames and carrying its master forward.

"Run, run, run... fucking run!"

This was the only remaining thought in Hugh's mind.

This was the warning given to him by the rapidly spinning metal disc, the call from all the guests inside the metal disc, the sense of crisis generated by the will of the Ernst family at this moment, and also the fear and panic constantly conveyed by "Justina" who was put into the kettle.

The big one is coming.

But exactly how big it is, Hugh doesn't know.

All he knew was that amidst the scorching streets and raging flames, he could always occasionally see the Dark Abyss Spawns, barely managing to gather together and flee in panic—they had survived the previous bombing, but the disturbed magic and the violent magic explosions had completely torn apart and severed their connection with their own main consciousness.

However, now they no longer care about their instincts for hunting and growth.

Their consciousness is filled only with the desire to escape, to escape by any means necessary.

Hugh showed no mercy to these surviving "lucky ones." He and Justina desperately needed to replenish their power, so any Dark Abyss offspring that appeared near him were immediately captured and drained of all their power.

It was these timely "supplies" that provided valuable assistance to Hugh's difficult escape.

However, maintaining the Dark Abyss Mist for so long still put a great burden on his magical state. Hugh could now always hear his own heart pounding, and this heartbeat seemed to resonate with the rapidly spinning disc. The dark green crystal that had become the heart of the Walking Forest was still sending new magical power to all parts of Hugh's body. Its color was still bright, but many cracks had appeared on its surface.

After enduring that long night, it finally reached its limit in the early hours of the morning.

Hugh looked at the "heart" that seemed ready to shatter at any moment with immense worry, but there was nothing he could do. If he stopped supplying magic now, death would be the only thing waiting for him.

"We're not far from the gate, we still have a chance, let's hold on a little longer..."

He didn't know who he was saying these words to.

It could be for the frantically running rat struggling forward, or it could be for the extremely weak Justina.

Of course, it's also possible that it's just for their own psychological comfort.

Hugh looked up and saw a magical signal indicating evacuation suddenly rise in the southern sky. Due to the disturbance of magical energy, it did not last long in the air, but soon, a similar signal rose high from the same location.

In the firelight, the signal's colors were so striking—it looked like an ice spike flying towards the sky, cold and pure.

This means that the gates of Seren are still open.

There are still people there waiting for potential evacuees from the city.

The next instant, a third signal flew up, and this time, it drew a standard snowflake pattern in the air. Hugh recognized it.

On the cover of the magic book that he had already used up, there was this mark. He remembered someone saying that it was a mark she had drawn on the cover of the magic book when she was bored. She liked regular and symmetrical patterns like snowflakes.

So Hugh gritted his teeth and stuffed most of the Dark Abyss Essence he had just seized from the Dark Abyss Offspring into the Running Rat. Then he bent down and said to it, "Snich, run faster... We can survive. Someone is waiting for us."

"squeak."

Sniggy gave a short reply, then rallied its spirits, barely managing to conjure up the Dark Abyss Mist to protect itself before continuing its journey forward, stepping on the flames.

5:20.

The last wave of survivors had successfully assembled. They left behind the heavy weapons and crystal bombs that didn't need to be transported and headed towards the world outside Seren. To their surprise, these overjoyed survivors saw a female mage standing alone in the open space beside the city gate.

Because she couldn't help biting her lips, there were bloodstains on them.

Like everyone else, her face was covered in soot, but there were long, narrow marks on her cheeks.

With her left hand raised, Violet released one similar magical signal after another into the air at a steady frequency, without stopping. Not far from her, an old-fashioned crystal car was left behind.

She was almost ready to give up.

In the distance, Felix, Valery, and others were helping the wounded board various vehicles. This would be the last convoy of the Dawn Society. Two magical airships bearing the iris emblem of the Kingdom of Delan were slowly approaching.

After the city of Seren is completely sealed off, the two airships will complete their final bombing run. Then, the entire city will be engulfed in flames under the shroud of the ceremonial site until everything inside is reduced to ashes and charcoal.

Weilin silently calculated the time in her mind, numbly sending out a final, icy blue warning signal into the air.

However, to her surprise, this time, the blue light and shadow did not even manage to reach the high sky.

An astonishing magical disturbance suddenly arrived, and the magical signal was instantly torn into countless magical fragments in mid-air. Not only that, the magical airship in the air also began to shake violently.

"boom!"

A dull thud swept across the horizon, and many people fell to the ground.

Vilin managed to steady herself, and then she saw that the dark blood-red color in the sky was slowly fading, and a faint light appeared in the sky behind the city walls of Seren.

"It's dawn? At this time?"

Vilin was utterly astonished, but then waves of violent tremors and shaking began to strike. People cried out and hurried away from the city walls of Seren and the surrounding buildings and trees. In the chaos, Felix's hoarse voice came through as he ordered the vehicles carrying the wounded to leave immediately.

A strange explosion came from the air.

Vera looked up and saw that one of the magic airships had malfunctioned amidst the continuous magical fluctuations. A blinding flame suddenly erupted from its interior, and then it crashed heavily into the city of Seren. A few seconds later, a loud roar broke out in the former survivor camp.

Needless to say, all the crew members of that airship had perished.

The other airship clearly realized the seriousness of the problem. Under the control of its crew, it wobbled and tried to turn around and leave. However, it had not gone far when it lost control completely in another magical shock and crashed heavily onto the southern city wall of Seren.

However, Veraine was in no mood to pay attention to these things. As a lake-level mage, she suddenly felt extremely nauseous, and her magic power was showing obvious signs of going out of control. She felt her thoughts were being disturbed, her mind was becoming scattered, and she saw many afterimages...

She quickly averted her gaze, no longer looking at the light in the sky. At the same time, she cried out with difficulty, warning everyone not to look up and not to try to peek into the strange phenomenon in the distance.

“Don’t look… don’t look…”

She kept repeating it in her mind and gritted her teeth, using her willpower to dispel the strange images that appeared in her mind—this uncontrollable feeling reminded Vera of her reaction when she first glimpsed those ancient traces in the Ernst family's underground.

She knew that the two were similar.

However, the current situation is obviously many times more dangerous than in the past.

Meanwhile, Hugh, who had successfully reached the edge of the survivor camp, finally revealed the true source of his sense of crisis.

Sniggy had completely lost control. It stopped and began to roar and scream in agony. As a member of the tribe blessed by Mother Earth, it clearly felt the terrible torment that the land of Vaan was suffering—the ground was being mercilessly torn apart, and the mountains, rocks and lakes in the rugged hills were falling bit by bit into the ever-widening crack.

A colossal creature awakens from the abyss.

Then, a beam of light capable of driving people mad shot into the sky, and huge cracks began to spread rapidly in all directions from the rugged hills, leaving behind a horrifying apocalyptic scene wherever they went.

The road beneath their feet was torn open, so Hugh had no choice but to send the incapacitated, running rat back to its disc to rest. He then began to summon the Touch of Calron and used it to constantly avoid collapsing buildings and cracks as he raced desperately south.

What raging fire, what offspring of the Dark Abyss...

Now Hugh doesn't care anymore; he just wants to follow his instincts, get as far away from the source of the calamity behind him as possible, and move towards a safe place.

Finally, he passed the burning wreckage of an airship and saw his destination: the southern gate of Seren, which was already mostly collapsed.

Just then, Hugh turned his head and glanced at the sky behind him.

Then he saw that the strange light that had appeared on the horizon earlier pierced the deepest part of the sky like a blade, creating an enormous wound where the sun should have been hanging in the sky.

Now, the wound is continuing to widen.

A chillingly dark color was slowly seeping out from the crack.

It was a flowing, viscous liquid, a bizarre and terrifying sight that the inhabitants of Vaan could not describe, and a spectacle already etched into Hugh's memory.

Here it comes.

(End of this chapter)