The black sun hangs high

Chapter 447 Purification

After a long silence, Hugh finally stood up. He turned around and carefully examined the abandoned vehicle he had just been leaning against before returning to the front of the gate.

After his previous reflections, Hugh had recovered considerably, and his turbulent mental state had finally calmed down. However, beneath the seemingly calm surface, there were still turbulent undercurrents.

Those ominous signs, the numerous clues that subtly corroborate each other, and the fragmented remnants of the past that Hugh glimpsed all pointed to a terrifying and helpless truth.

This place, this unique building that resembles a mountain peak, and everything inside it... no matter how you look at it, they all seem to have an inextricable connection to the "ordinary world" that Hugh is most familiar with and misses the most.

Hughes was naturally very familiar with his hometown.

He knew very well that in that world, there were very few things that could truly enable people who used different languages, held different ideas, and belonged to different ethnic groups and countries to cooperate closely.

In this respect, it shares a great deal in common with Vaan.

"Humans are incapable of understanding each other."

This phrase always appears in one form or another in Hugh's hometown, and whenever it is mentioned, a slightly helpless and playful expression involuntarily appears on Hugh's face.

However, now, with the change of context and circumstances, the true weight hidden behind this statement has begun to increase further.

From the individual to the collective, from the collective to society, and from this foundation, more complex concepts that are difficult to articulate are extended... The contradictions and deviations that exist within this framework, the pursuit of different goals and ideals, and the decisions made based on different ideas and concepts.

Such elements form towering walls, both invisible and tangible, that isolate living beings coexisting in the same space from one another.

In such circumstances, maintaining restraint and avoiding resorting to force is already extremely difficult; the obstacles to achieving indiscriminate and in-depth cooperation on this basis are even more considerable.
It is precisely because of this understanding that Hughes was shocked and pained by the scenes that appeared in the ancient illusion.

Aziv, who had been diligently studying the gate before him, ended his perception of it. As with countless times before, his magical perception did not yield any new discoveries. Apart from vaguely sensing the magical power inside the gate that operated strictly according to specific rules, Aziv could not penetrate any further. No matter how much he compressed his magical power, he could not avoid that invisible barrier.

It's either because the door was made of some extremely special material, or it's because of the magic circuit itself.

In short, Azivona's attempt to overcome this obstacle using existing magical knowledge has once again failed.

However, Aziv himself had long since adapted to and become accustomed to this kind of failure, so he did not show any disappointment. He calmly looked at Hugh, who had come to his side, and said, "It seems that you have figured out something? How about it, is it something you can share?"

"Um……"

Hugh nodded slightly, then pointed to the top of the gate: "Those marks on the gate are actually remnants of writing. I recognize some of them... In that text, they called this place 'the last line of defense'."

"Oh?"

A look of surprise appeared in Azivna's beady eyes. He quickly turned around, his hunched body seemingly straightening slightly: "The last line of defense? That's hardly a good name... Places given such a title often end up exactly as the namer intended..."

"Based on the current situation, that is indeed the case."

As he spoke, Hugh stretched out his hand, his fingers lightly brushing over the horrific marks left by the ancient battle.

The actual damage caused to the gate itself by the Dark Abyss creatures was negligible, yet even now, Hugh can still feel a chilling aura emanating from within the dents and scratches.

In this world, the shadow of the Dark Abyss Palace, like the ruins themselves, is an almost eternal presence. Even though the Hounds and other minions of the Dark Abyss Palace never visited this place again afterward, the marks they left behind are like slogans filled with terror, warning and threatening any potential successors.

However, Hughes would never back down because of such a threat.

To Aziv's utter astonishment, a jet-black carapace rapidly emerged from Hugh's palm. Then, he casually extended his palm forward and pressed it into the surging black mist.

The same action would be extremely dangerous for any other creature, but for Hugh, this dense abyssal mist had long been a kind of food source. Therefore, at Hugh's instruction, the Karron armor attached to his palm immediately began to absorb and devour these dark auras.

In just a few seconds, the colors that had been clinging to the cracks were completely swept away, and the metallic luster of the door itself was revealed again.

"what?"

As a sufficiently experienced magic scholar, Aziv was very perceptive to changes in magic power. He almost immediately noticed the change brought about by Hugh's actions—as the mists of the dark abyss dissipated, the magical fluctuations emanating from inside the metal gate seemed to become much clearer.

Hughes breathed a sigh of relief. He withdrew his hand and looked up at the damage and dents all over the gate. He said, “It seems that these traces of power left by the attackers were not just to erase the written records or slogans in this ruin… They also knew that they could not break through this gate, so they hoped to use this method to prevent later people from entering.”

"Brutal but effective."

Aziv nodded in agreement, "That's just how the magic in the Dark Abyss is—chaotic, volatile, and difficult to control. It seems that the attackers had a very clear plan; they wanted to use the traces they left behind to cover up the clues hidden behind the gate as much as possible..." "Have you tried to clean up these traces before?"

"Of course I've tried, but it's not that easy."

Azifu grinned, a hint of helplessness appearing on the ratman's face: "In the entire tribe, there are only a few priests capable of cleaning up these traces, and the concentration of magic in these traces is too high, so using normal methods can easily cause unnecessary damage."

Hugh narrowed his eyes, carefully examining the astonishing number of damages on the door's surface. After calculating for a moment, he said, "I'm going to clean up these marks. This might make some noise, so you'd better stay away."

"You're planning to do it yourself?"

Azifu looked at Hugh with a worried expression: "Although there aren't many priests in the tribe, if we could gather them all, they should be able to help a lot."

However, before he could finish speaking, Hugh had already placed both hands on the door at the same time. Immediately afterward, an incredibly dense magical shadow surged out from around Hugh's body. It rolled like waves, with pure magical light and shadow intertwining with the dark, murky mist, appearing both strange and pure.

"Tsk... Young people are just too impatient."

Azifu complained, but his feet moved incredibly fast. He turned and slipped away a great distance in an instant. Then he called out to the ratman warriors waiting in the distance and handed them a small bone pendant: "Go... notify all the people around here to stay away from here. Also, get the priests here as quickly as possible. Tell them that I and the Mother Goddess's messenger need their help!"

Upon hearing this, the ratman warrior immediately became extremely serious. It took the token handed to it by the prophet with its paws, then mounted one of the giant rats pulling the cart and galloped away along the way it had come.

Meanwhile, Hugh had already begun the "purification" process for the entire door.

Hugh's "purification" strategy is actually very simple. He does not intend to use those troublesome and complicated magical rituals to peel away these dangerous traces one by one. Instead, he plans to use the most direct method to make them disappear completely.

This method is called "swallowing".

Just like when facing the endless hordes of Dark Abyss offspring in the city of Seren, extract their power, crush them, tear them apart, and feed them as sustenance to all the creations residing within the metal disc!
The visual effects resulting from this strategy are naturally extremely stunning, even terrifying.

Standing in the distance, Aziv couldn't help but take two steps back, because he saw many different shadows emerging from the surging mist behind Hugh.

First are the tentacles, countless tentacles.

These translucent tentacles, formed directly from deep mist, spread out from behind Shug in all directions like rapidly growing plant roots. They eagerly climbed the gate and continued to ascend its surface, reaching for the cracks left by the Dark Abyss Hounds. Upon successfully touching their targets within the cracks, the psychedelic roots of fate appeared one after another. Under the cover of the Touch of Calron, they settled themselves in twos and threes near the cracks and began to carefully absorb the nutrients within.

Immediately afterwards, the Runaway Rat, regarded as a sacred symbol by the ratmen, leaped out. The horns on its head emitted an unusual light, and its eyes shone with intense hunger. Beside it, countless magical rats multiplied continuously. With a screech from the Runaway Rat, the swarm immediately surged upwards along the path "built" by the Touch of Karron.

Behind the swarm of rats, two more figures that made Aziv instinctively shrink back and hide gradually came into view.

Appearing to Hugh's left was a humanoid figure made of shadow. Aziv recognized it as a servant from the Dark Abyss Palace. However, this servant seemed somewhat different. It did not stand there blankly, but bowed very politely in Hugh's direction. When it raised its head again, it had a figure and appearance that were exactly the same as Hugh's.

To Hugh's right appeared a palace hound with a rather different appearance. Aziv saw that the hound's back was covered with strange limbs that only the Dark Abyss Spiders had. Now, bathed in rich magic, the hound was stretching its body to its heart's content, and the limbs on its back were swaying and shaking incessantly.

The Mirror Messenger and the Hound behaved somewhat more subduedly. The former did not choose to "eat" but followed its master, placing its hands on the gate to help Hugh accelerate the "purification" process. The latter disappeared into thin air and then reappeared next to the largest crack in the gate, where it began to enjoy the nutrients alone.

This scene made Aziv swallow hard.

He suddenly started to feel scared.

Hugh made a very good and reliable first impression on Aziv, so Aziv hardly ever doubted whether he had a deeper identity.

Ultimately, creations like the Touch of Kalron and the Running Rats originated from the former gods of Vaan. Controlling them only requires studying the corresponding lost magic and rituals. However, the Messenger in the Mirror and the Court Hounds are different. Aziv has never heard of any being other than the Dark Abyss that can control or command these two.

In other words, the only ones with the ability and means to directly control these Dark Abyss court henchmen are the twisted beings within the court itself.

However, the power that Hughes was displaying made Aziv lose the will to stop him. After all, it seemed that each of the monsters Hughes summoned had the ability to tear him apart on the spot. All he could do was stay where he was and continue to watch.

Hugh didn't pay much attention to Aziv's thoughts at the moment. As the "filth" attached to the gate decreased, the magical fluctuations from inside the gate gradually became clearer. When all the mist in the largest crack was swallowed by the palace hounds, the clarity of the magical fluctuations reached its peak.

"Buzz!"

A dull thud suddenly rang out, and the ground shook.

Just as the silt blocking the river was instantly cleared away, a large amount of magic power passed through the magic circuits that had been "dried up" for a long time in an instant. In a flash, this powerful force surged throughout the gate, and under its influence, even Hugh's mental ocean fell into a brief stagnation.

(End of this chapter)