The black sun hangs high

Chapter 44 Where to Go

Everything that Hugh had wanted to know before finally seemed to become clear.

With war imminent and the fact that it was inevitable could not be changed, the ceasefire celebrations that had been held in Seren for over two hundred times were perhaps finally coming to an end.

However, the emergence of the Black Sun Society added a new layer of mystery to it.

"In a pure war, it would be unlikely to completely and quickly wipe out a city... I don't recall that Vaan has already developed the magic Ivan."

Hugh pushed the documents and notes aside, his leg shaking anxiously as he pondered what might happen next.

Vera came to Hugh's side. She had also read some of the documents, the contents of which made her solemn and silent.

On many issues concerning the Legal Committee and magic, Verine had always believed she should be in a leading position, a result of her past experiences and accumulated knowledge. But now, faced with this area she knew nothing about, she felt lost.

The brain, capable of calculating complex magic formulas and memorizing countless magical runes, was overloaded at this moment.

Hugh did not stop Vilin from going through the goblin Marcel's notes. Under the current circumstances, he felt that he needed to have a steadfast and knowledgeable collaborator, and if necessary, he should even try to upgrade the other party to his ally. Otherwise, it would be impossible to avoid the crisis in Seren City by his own strength!
"The Black Sun Society... Their names do exist on the Legal Committee's wanted list, but Merlinle doesn't care about these people. Generally speaking, they regard the Black Sun Society as an illegal organization composed of a group of wild mages, no different from other wild mage groups."

"Miss Weilin, what else do you know about the prophecy of the Black Sun?"

The female mage shook her head: "It's too ancient. We can't find its origin at all. However, some old scholars have suggested that this prophecy is related to ancient evil magic. But the higher-ups of the Law Committee hold the opposite view. They think this claim is absurd and there is no need to investigate it in depth. They even used some reasons to disband the internal research and archaeological teams that were working on these prophecies a few years ago."

"..."

Shug remained silent.

This development is quite reasonable. After all, judging from Marcel's notes, the Black Sun Society's influence has already spread to the Legal Committee. He wouldn't be too surprised if an important figure climbed to a high position in the Legal Committee.

"War will be the precursor to the Black Sun, and the only child of the Abyss will be born from the sacrificial pit..."

Hugh repeated the new prophecy mentioned by the goblin Marcel in a low voice. He was certain that this was not something he had written. However, this was not surprising, since the world-building documents in his team's folder could not possibly support such a specific real world. It was developing on its own, and the filling between each point in time was now an unknown.

"I can understand war, but who is the only child of the Abyss? It can't be me, can it?"

Hugh wanted to curse, but he didn't know where to begin.

Judging from this strange prophecy, if he really is the "only child of the abyss," then his existence is the greatest threat to the city of Seren and its inhabitants!

Hugh stood up and paced around the room twice. In the silence, his chaotic thoughts and volatile emotions were somewhat relieved. Then he turned to Vilin and said, "Miss Vilin, we must leave Seren City by any means necessary. Staying here will only lead to our deaths."

Now, he has completely overturned his previous idea of ​​finding a suitable place in the city to build a strong shelter to avoid potential threats. This approach of "breaking through" and "defending" is no longer viable, because judging from the contents of these documents, the punches that Seren City is about to receive are too big. No matter how hard the tortoise shell is, it will definitely be broken through!
However, the female mage shook her head sadly.

“Impossible, Mr. Hugh... You probably don’t understand these ritual sites that are embedded in the city wall architecture.”

Vera explained with a hint of helplessness, “In Vaan, almost all the fixed magical rituals in the city walls, squares or those fortress castles use a special process... It’s complicated to explain, but you can just think of them as the foundation of a building.”

"Does that mean it's exceptionally sturdy and powerful, but also very rigid?"

"uh-huh."

Weilin nodded: "Although the intensity and rules of the ritual site can be modified and adjusted to some extent by using certain methods, the nature of the ritual is determined from the moment the foundation of the building is laid."

At this point, she hesitated slightly before offering another possibility: "However... there are exceptions."

"what?"

“During my studies, I visited many important cities in Walter and Delan. The magical rituals they buried in the city walls were mostly for the defense of the city, so these rituals were made extremely sturdy. Moreover, in order to prevent the enemy from launching special sneak attacks and assaults from underground and the air during wartime, those magical rituals were greatly extended…”

When Vera started talking about her area of ​​expertise, she immediately got into it. She spoke very quickly: “What I mean is that these magical rituals specifically designed for protection often include both the underground and the sky within their protective range. This means that whether it’s a boulder thrown from the sky or a tunnel dug from underground, it will be completely blocked by the ritual field.”

“But Seren City seems to be a bit different.”

Veraine's gaze was somewhat unfocused as she earnestly recalled and pondered: "When I was heading towards the south gate, I discovered that although the magical rituals solidified in the city walls were equally ancient, their methods of handling them did not seem to be as perfect."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's like when a statue is finished, you realize you forgot to carve the eyes, so you add them on at the last minute. Although the statue still has eyes, it's destined not to be perfect."

Hearing this, Hugh had a general idea of ​​what Verine meant. He nodded and said, "I remember that the reconstruction of this city of Seren has not been going so smoothly. After the ceasefire agreement was completed, the two countries of Wotel and Deland negotiated on this matter for a long time. Many problems also arose when construction began. The intervention of the Legal Committee was also relatively late. At least the walls of Seren are not like what you said earlier, Miss Verine, that magical rituals were buried from the very beginning."

"This means that the restrictions on the ritual site are very likely to be reduced in certain situations, um... underground?"

The female mage's bewildered eyes finally lit up again. She clapped her hands forcefully and said, "If our deduction is correct, then the magical ritual in Seren City may not be able to cover too deep underground, or the sealing power there may be relatively weak. Even if one forces their way through, it won't cause much damage to the human body." Her speech quickened, and she could no longer suppress her excitement: "The person who tampered with the sealing ritual in Seren City should have been the spellcaster from the Legal Committee and the Delan royal family... I know the Legal Committee's modification methods. The biggest problem now is what modifications the Delan royal family's spellcaster made. Once we figure that out, give me one or two more days, and I'm even confident I can find a way to safely pass through the weak points of the ritual!"

Vera spoke so quickly that Hugh missed several sentences, so he pressed on, "Uh? The changes made by the Delan royal family? So how do you plan to deduce it?"

“Magical items, preferably those related to the existing city wall rituals… as long as they contain traces of spells cast by the royal mages of Delan, we might be able to find some patterns.”

Upon hearing this, Hugh immediately realized what was going on.

Under Vera's puzzled gaze, Hugh took out an iron box from the inside pocket of his trench coat, and then opened it in front of Vera, taking out the magic pass he had stolen from Editor-in-Chief Philip using the Running Rats.

Before leaving Ernst's old house, the fact that the sealing ritual had been tampered with by Verin had made Hugh lose all interest in the magic pass. He never expected that he would ever need it again.

"This is?"

Vera took the pass with a puzzled look. Her gaze swept over the iris symbol on it, and after a brief inspection, the female mage smiled. She looked up and said in a rather sarcastic tone, "Mr. Hugh, I must revise my previously published opinion regarding you 'writers'..."

"what?"

"You guys are not only good at lying, but also good at hiding things."

Verine narrowed her eyes, but this time, she didn't exude her unique sense of oppression. Instead, after a brief complaint, she walked out into the corridor. After setting up a protective ritual to guard against and restrict the shapeshifters, Verine returned to her room: "Although the environment here is also rather ordinary, it's still more suitable for focusing on the problem at hand than my previous residence. Let's use this place as our base from now on."

……

Verin is indeed a scholar-type mage.

She was exceptionally persistent in researching problems and getting to the bottom of things. This pursuit of truth and enjoyment of solving difficult problems surpassed that of any mage in Hugh Ernst's memory, and even the lecturers at the Water Magic Academy might not be able to match her.

Although it is quite frightening to enter into this academic research state without any warning in the current environment, perhaps this is why she was able to officially pass the Legal Committee's rating at such a young age.

The shapeshifters in House 37 were still slowly carrying out their "digestion" process.

Whether it was because these shapeshifters had come to a deep understanding of the danger posed by these two humans, or because Hugh's act of collecting shapeshifter remains had created a great deterrent effect on them, these magical creatures, which had just gained intelligence and shed their pure instincts, were now filled with fear of the room occupied by Hugh and his companion.

Hughes even tentatively came into the hall alone. His appearance frightened old Sergei, whose arms had grown back, so much that he almost hid in the cupboard. His timid and cowardly demeanor, even more so than that of the giant-eared goblin, was quite frustrating.

Verin's protective ritual enveloped several rooms, so Hugh took the several jars of shapeshifter slime and slipped inside. Although at this stage, Hugh felt it necessary to build a deeper trust with Verin, the Dream Sanctuary and the help it provided him were best left to remain a secret forever.

While Verine was studying the magic pass in the secret room, Hugh quickly entered a "sleep" state.

He had already prepared himself to encounter Theseus again in the Dream Sanctuary. Hugh had too many questions about this strange and incomprehensible "god". In his mind, no matter what kind of god it was, it should at least maintain a "high and mighty" attitude, or show a side that was completely different from humans.

But Theseus's characteristics were too abnormal.

Hughes even felt that rather than being a god, he was more like a human with certain divine qualities and extremely strange personality and quirks.

At least Hugh couldn't imagine that a so-called god would drag him into playing fighting games and occasionally utter some nonsensical, exaggerated, and witty remarks.

However, considering that the image of this dream sanctuary is based on his past company, it doesn't seem unreasonable for Theseus to act a little outrageous...

"As long as this guy doesn't wear his employee ID card and disguise himself as a producer or lead planner to talk to me, it's fine."

Looking at the surrounding silence and darkness, Hugh couldn't help but shake his head. After his previous experience, he could now fully imagine the absurd scene, and he always felt that, given Theseus's strange nature, it was entirely possible that he would do such a thing.

After confirming that everything around him was normal, Hugh collected his thoughts.

As before, the bottles of shapeshifter slime he had collected were placed on the desk next to him, so Hugh immediately took action.

Just like when he changed workstations in the past, he placed the bottles on his office chair and then pushed them to the display case that had previously absorbed a bottle of shapeshifter fluid essence. Unlike B last time, perhaps because he had "experienced" it before, this time, the amorphous fog sealed in the case seemed to sense something. It was unusually active as it bumped against the side wall of the case, as if it was making a silent craving.

"Come on, come on... This time there's plenty!"

Having learned from past experience, Hughes put aside his previous caution and tentative approach, picked up the glass bottles of varying sizes one by one, and then piled them directly in front of the cabinet.

The change began in an instant. The black characters sealing the cabinet once again transformed into slender arms, which stretched forward with great force, greedily gathering all the shapeshifting insect slime that Hugh had collected into their arms.

The glass bottle containing the slime shattered and disappeared again, while the two arms transformed into sharp mouthparts, which eagerly pierced into the slime mass suspended in mid-air and began to suck it up frantically.

(End of this chapter)