The black sun hangs high

Chapter 33 Thunder in the Rainy Night
Finally, the raindrops, accompanied by rolling thunder, pounded down on the city of Seren.

Perhaps because it hadn't rained for a long time, this rain was exceptionally heavy. Every drop of rain seemed to carry a heavy resentment, pounding hard on every building in the city.

Within this enormous curtain woven by thunder and rain, everything that is happening is shrouded in a thick veil.

Inside the enclosed room where the Eye of Mel's Ritual is located, a rat with three tails is bathed in the eerie light emitted by the ritual, scurrying back and forth across the scattered paper documents.

It looks just like those house mice that push the books off the bookshelf and then run wild and destroy them.

The sheer number of these documents ultimately exceeded Hugh's expectations. Judging from the numbers on them, these paper documents could only be considered a part of the matters handled by the Legal Committee in the past two weeks. It would take at least a whole night to scan through all of them.

Fortunately, Hugh quickly figured out the trick based on his past work experience. He discovered that the numbers on these paper documents actually included the date and time. So Hugh immediately removed the documents that were out of range and then manipulated the running rat to read the remaining small stack of documents.

Hugh first found a document marked "Ginjour 19th", which was the first day he arrived in this world as Hugh Ernst. This document contained some records from the Law Commission's branch in Seren City in the surrounding area on that day.

"East of Seren City, at the Lone Wolf Ridge Crystal Mine, some miners gathered and expressed their dissatisfaction with the mine's treatment. A fierce conflict ensued with the mine's guards, resulting in one guard being seriously injured and another being killed. The Stream-level mage stationed at the mine dealt with the situation."

"Three people publicly made defamatory and offensive remarks against the Legal Committee and its members at the clock tower square in the center of Seren. They have been handed over to the Seren police station."

"Within the city of Seren, the Silver Trout Tavern in the north reported the whereabouts of a wild mage, which is being handled by Lake-level advisor Verin Ernst and four Stream-level enforcers..."

Upon seeing the familiar name, Hugh nodded slightly: "Judging from this document, up until this point, the Legal Committee should not have been aware of Verin's situation and was still treating her as a regular magic advisor."

After a moment's thought, he divided the small stack of documents into three piles, set aside the documents gathered around the 19th, and began to peruse other records.

This time, luck finally smiled on Hugh's side.

He quickly found a record that might be helpful in understanding the current situation.

"On the 13th of the month, due to the subsequent ceasefire celebration, the Golden Boot Caravan arrived in the city ahead of schedule and has received all the supplies for this month in accordance with the usual procedures and regulations. In addition, due to the ceasefire celebration, ten additional carts of special supplies, including Magic Path Pendulum, new magic books, and high-concentration crystal ore, were received. There are also personnel who arrived with the caravan, including one Lake-level magic advisor, four Stream-level Executors, and ten Raindrop-level mages and apprentices. The personnel list has been handed over to a specialist for registration and processing."

Hugh closed his eyes and silently calculated the time in his mind: "The thirteenth, which is five days before Seren City entered a state of complete lockdown... The timing matches what Verin said before. The 'Golden Boots' mentioned in the record should be the caravan responsible for transporting that batch of adult Phantom Bugs to Seren City. It seems that the spies and secret agents in the Kingdom of Walter have figured out the Law Committee's plans very well... They brought the Phantom Bugs into the city by mixing them into the supply convoys that were replenished every month. No wonder the Law Committee has not discovered it."

"However, judging from the shapeshifter I encountered before, although they have passed their vulnerable juvenile stage, they must still need someone to ensure their living environment and continuously provide them with magic in order to survive the long journey. Since Vilin and the others are unaware of the shapeshifter, the person in charge of this matter must be within the Golden Boot Caravan."

Having figured out the connection, Hugh's spirits immediately lifted. He quickly turned to another stack of documents, and just as he was about to start reading, he saw a faint dark golden magical glow suddenly appear on the heavy metal door that sealed the secret room. Complex and intricate patterns spread outwards from the center of the door, clearly indicating that someone was opening the door!
"Die!"

Hugh cursed inwardly, and the sprinting rat immediately sprang into action at his command. Dark green, highly poisonous light appeared on its three long, narrow tails, which then swept fiercely across the pile of documents. A highly corrosive mist immediately enveloped the documents, wantonly destroying and corroding the magical papers.

The metal door slowly opened, and before Hugh could finish dealing with his work, more than one figure appeared at the door of the Secret Ritual room. Hugh could even see the dark blue robes on the mages' bodies—meaning that they were definitely not ordinary clerks, but genuine enforcers of the Law Committee!
The moment he reached this conclusion, Hugh made his decision.

A cruel and resolute command was successfully delivered to the running rat through magic. This bloodthirsty, murderous, and extremely frenzied magical creature immediately leaped onto the metal platform next to the Eye of Mel's Ritual. Then, the running rat quickly turned its body, and its sharp claws bit directly into its two tails, tearing them off its body alive.

A sharp, intense pain returned to Hugh's mind. Disrupted by this pain, Hugh felt his magic power draining away at an alarming rate. Even the magic disc in his mental world was affected, spinning rapidly as if trying to squeeze out the last bit of magic power remaining in Hugh's body.

A strange change, beyond Hugh's expectations, suddenly occurred at this moment.

"what……"

Just as his mind and consciousness began to falter due to the influence of magic, a short, soft laugh from the void of darkness entered Hugh's mind. The laugh seemed to possess some kind of unfathomable and terrifying power. Under its interference, Hugh fell into a brief daze, and the raging rat that had been under his control broke free of the reins binding it, revealing its original ferocious face.

It let out a chilling, ear-piercing screech, then violently shook its head, flinging the two blood-stained tails it had torn off with its own hands toward the door of the Secret Room. It then pounced on the young clerk, who had been spared by Hugh and was now lying unconscious on the ground.

"Bang bang!"

With two muffled thuds, a dark green poisonous mist mixed with fragments of flesh and blood exploded near the Eye of Mel's Ritual. The rapidly spreading corrosive light and shadow instantly enveloped a mage from the Law Committee who was near the gate. Amid his heart-wrenching screams of pain, the last long tail of the mad rat swung up and then stabbed down like a sharp sword, accurately striking the unfortunate clerk on the back of the neck.

The raging rat, having successfully caused the carnage, immediately let out a joyful squeak. At that moment, Hugh's consciousness finally managed to clear. He disregarded the strange situation that had suddenly occurred within his body, and he couldn't even express his apologies or condolences to the young clerk who had also worked overtime but died inexplicably. He immediately cut off the supply of magic to the raging rat, forcing it to "dissolve" on the spot.

And so, amidst the magical light surging from outside the secret chamber, the scurrying rat's body rapidly withered away. Under the bombardment of several spells, its form dissolved into an indistinguishable pool of liquid. At the same time, the Legal Committee documents that Hugh had perused, and the magical pages that had originally bound and wrapped around the scurrying rat, were also completely destroyed in the drifting corrosive mist. ...

Another rumble of thunder exploded in the dark clouds above Seren, the loud noise shaking the residents' restless sleep and drowning out some discordant sounds in the city.

"Uh-huh!"

Hugh huddled beside the clothing store shelves, his face contorted in the darkness by the dizziness and pain in his head.

A dim, dark green magical light emanated from his body, and when his palms pressed against the wooden floor and shelves, they left behind one dent after another, leaving corrosive marks.

Just moments ago, the instant that elusive, strange laugh echoed in Hugh's mind, he felt his mental world briefly spiral out of control. The usually precise and stable metal magic disc began to spin wildly, and the dark green crystal embedded in it, which should have been providing Hugh with a continuous supply of magic, began to emit a bright light. The tentacles and rat patterns engraved in the grooves of the disc, like two prisoners in a cage, began to stir restlessly with this change.

The extremely destructive touch of Karron began to manifest itself around Hugh. It twisted and stretched wildly, lashing everything around Hugh with the rumbling thunder in the sky. The once tidy shop was turned into a chaotic mess in a very short time, as if it had been ransacked by bandits.

Hugh gritted his teeth and tried to adjust his breathing and state of mind. This process was extremely painful. He had never learned how to truly control his magic and could only try based on his vague and unclear senses. Perhaps because he hit the right direction, or perhaps because his magic was released to some extent, the uncontrollable frenzy gradually subsided. Although the pain in his head continued, the many magical phenomena that appeared on Hugh finally stopped.

He slowly stood up, supporting himself on the shelf behind him, and then sat on a cabinet that had been overturned by black tentacles, panting heavily.

"What exactly is going on?"

He looked around, still shaken, recalling everything that had just happened. Finally, he focused his suspicions on the short, sharp laugh that had suddenly appeared in his mind: "What on earth happened? Could it be that I've been driven mad by this so-called evil magic? Or perhaps..."

At that moment, Hugh suddenly remembered a figure.

The black figure that appeared in the dream world when I had just died, whose identity and appearance were indistinguishable, and who never spoke a word to me.

He suddenly felt that the laughter sounded somewhat familiar; he seemed to have heard a similar sound when he was kicked through that dark door.

The thought sent shivers down Hugh's spine. The feeling of not being able to fully control his own power and body was extremely unpleasant. He felt as if there was an invisible giant hand hiding behind him, which could influence him anytime, anywhere, as long as it was happy or willing.

"Fortunately, we have obtained the most needed intelligence... The Golden Boot Merchant Guild. As long as we can find their location, we can then find insiders who know more about the plans of the Kingdom of Walter and the Ernst family. With the Kingdom of Delan and the Legal Committee now cooperating, they can only protect themselves by relying on the power of another behemoth."

Hugh wiped the cold sweat from his face. He didn't intend to stay here any longer. When he forcibly severed the magic connection, he also destroyed the pages on the Running Rat that were used to cover up the traces of magic. This meant that his whereabouts were very likely to be exposed. Staying in the same place was definitely not the right choice.

Just as he got up to leave the store, a somewhat discordant sound suddenly came from outside.

Those were heavy footsteps.

Each strike felt like a giant iron hammer crashing down on the stone floor.

Although the sound was not as loud as thunder in the sky, the sense of oppression it brought was far greater.

Hugh felt his heart skip a beat. He quickly held his breath, silently backed away from the shop's glass window, and crouched down as he slowly made his way towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

"Boom...boom..."

The suffocating sound of footsteps approached slowly, and then the thing that terrified Hughes the most happened—the footsteps abruptly stopped on the street in front of the store.

At this moment, even without relying on the warning from the magic disc, Hugh knew that the situation was not good.

The only ones capable of creating such footsteps and tracking him along his magical trail could be the sword-wielding hermits within the Law Council. This conclusion filled Hugh with helplessness and panic. He reached his slightly trembling hand into the pocket of his trench coat and gently pinched two spherical metal objects there. These were the two alchemical bombs he had obtained in the dream world by exchanging the hair of the swamp witch.

In the current situation, these two untested magical bombs seem to be his only hope of escape.

(End of this chapter)