The black sun hangs high

Chapter 128 Necrosis and Growth

The moment he heard Alexandra's reply, Hugh shut his mouth.

No matter how you look at it, this is simply unacceptable.

Jacob, perched on the back of the running rat, remained silent.

In the current situation, remaining silent is certainly a valid response.

The scurrying rat cautiously retreated to Hugh's side, and Jacob Ernst also silently returned to Hugh's mental world. His mood was obviously a bit bad, but overall he was still relatively stable.

"Let's do it."

Jacob's words carried little weight, reminding Hughes of the sound of withered leaves falling.

He said, "Those trapped here have lost their will to live."

Hugh knew Jacob was lying, but he didn't expose him. Just as he had previously discovered, the souls and wills remaining in this enormous, deformed body had probably already been assimilated by the power of the Earth Mother.

Even if they did have something left, it was only a profound despair that remained from endless pain and torment.

Perhaps there is still that last shred of desire for complete death.

Hugh looked at the enormous figure that was searching aimlessly in the darkness. It was still repeating the same low growl as before. Although there was no longer the "translator" of the running rat, Hugh knew that the remnant soul of Jacob Ernst's wife, Imini, was still yearning for liberation.

Hughes sighed silently, then began to observe and examine the terrifying-looking monster up close.

Although it looked very weak, its size was truly astonishing, and the vitality and strength it possessed based on that size were also extremely abnormal.

Considering that it was the terrifying "life force" from the Earth Mother that created the monster's enormous body, Hugh was unsure whether he could kill it directly in a short time. He even suspected that such a creature could still remain active to some extent even if its body was severed and its head was shattered.

"The Hound's Fang should be enough to cause fatal damage, and Calron's Touch might be able to sever its limbs and head, but who knows what the consequences of such physical contact would be... As for the lethal tricks I have, forget about them, they're not even enough to tickle it."

As Hugh pondered, he took out the magic book pages that Verin had given him from his pocket.

When Hugh saw the magic runes on the pages and the notes written in the corners, he felt a deep gratitude toward his teacher—all of these pages contained standard Valley-level magic.

Verin was well aware of her identity as a magic scholar, so when she copied and imprinted magic, she specifically selected some valley-level magic that was more widely applicable and more directly lethal. The ones she selected and handed over to Hugh were typical examples of this.

Perhaps because Verine had anticipated that these spells might be given to "certain people" to use, she specifically included brief descriptions of the possible effects of these spells and the scenarios in which they were applicable in the notes in the corner of the book.

There are four pages in total, three of which are engraved with valley-level magic, and one is Verin's own signature magic, "Frosty Pool".

Hugh carefully put away the pages of "The Pool of Coldness." He had seen Verine cast this spell several times, and even though he hadn't used it himself, he roughly knew what it was all about.

As for the other three valley-level spells, Hugh needs to familiarize himself with them thoroughly.

The first page features a standard oval etched with numerous magical runes. In the center of the oval, a face shrieks and moans in pain, drawn with lines. This spell, called "Resonance Dance," can quickly create a wide-ranging, high-intensity mental impact, essentially an enhanced version of "Brain Spikes." In the corner of this page, Virin has copied a sentence with heavy strokes, marked with two circles as a reminder.

"Regardless of friend or foe, be careful to take cover!"

Clearly, this is a mental interference spell that includes the caster themselves.

Recalling the mental shock he suffered the first time due to a break in his magic, Hugh couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. That feeling was truly unpleasant, and if it happened during a battle, it could indeed have a significant impact on the outcome.

The second page's runes contained many dark red magic crystal powders, making them appear like a blazing, bright fire.

"Merlinler and the Wall of Flames... well, you can tell what's going on here at a glance!"

Hughes grinned, somewhat amused.

This spell, named directly after the headquarters of the Legal Committee, is a classic. In his previous world, gamers generally called it the Fire Wall. As for what kind of fire wall it was, that didn't matter, since everyone knew what kind of effect this type of spell could produce.

And Vilin's note here is also very concise.

"Far away; ten meters wide, two meters thick, and bendable."

Hugh estimated the potential size of the fire wall, but couldn't help shaking his head. None of the three spells seemed capable of causing any particularly effective direct damage, since the monster not far away could move and wouldn't just stand still and be burned by the fire.

So Hughes could only pin his hopes on the last page of the book.

The magic runes on the pages did not disappoint him. This time, Hugh saw a large number of pitch-black lines—these cold magic runes were connected end to end, outlining a huge black bow and arrow on the thick paper. The bowstring was being drawn, and a sharp arrow made of the same black magic runes was nocked on it. Even though the pages had not yet been triggered, Hugh could feel the aura of death and decay contained within them.

"Breath of Death?" Hughes murmured the name of the spell, the name alone indicating the school of magic it belonged to.

This is necromancy through and through.

In the common understanding, this is a terrifying existence second only to evil magic.

According to Verin's notes, Hugh understood that this was actually a special magic with the same principle as "magical arrows". Although it could not directly kill the target, it could create five special magical bullets or arrows, which were used to assassinate important targets or to target giant magical creatures that were large in size and had strong vitality.

"Deprive someone of life? That sounds somewhat similar to the characteristic of 'instant death'..."

Hugh put the page into his right pocket with satisfaction. Although he didn't know much about necromancy, "Breath of Death," as a special spell of the Valley level, was obviously very suitable for the current situation. Hugh could even fire it quickly with his revolver.

After confirming the procedure, Hugh immediately took action. He quickly went to the front of the behemoth, summoned the Mage's Hand, and took the pages of the "Frosty Pool" and "Resonance Dance" spellbooks that could restrict the enemy's movement forward. After confirming that the revolver was working properly, he held the page of "Breath of Death" with the black bow and arrow pattern in his hand.

Without much hesitation or preparation, the magic began to flow directly.

Even if the valley-level magic is pre-printed on the pages, it still has strict requirements on the total amount of magic power. So the metal disc began to spin at high speed, and a large amount of magic power poured out from Shog's mental world and flowed towards the black bow and arrow on the paper.

The sudden surge of magical energy naturally attracted the attention of the behemoth. The chains began to rattle, and its massive body slowly rose. The fleshy tendrils, which had also become extremely exaggerated due to the infusion and catalysis of life force, immediately began to move. The relatively thick and powerful limbs growing along the edges of its body also began to work at the same time. This caused the ugly and ferocious figure to move closer to Hugh, but before it had taken two steps, the chains binding it were tightened again.

"Roar!"

This time, it no longer emitted that dull growl; the enormous sound wave even caused the pages of the book in Hugh's hand to tremble violently. And along with the beast's movements, the flow of the Earth Mother Goddess's power within the altar began to subtly change.

"Something's wrong!"

With the magical vision provided by the messenger in the mirror, Hugh clearly saw that the dark yellow divine blessing light was constantly pulsating at the edge of the altar, and it seemed to be moving along the pre-set magical circuit toward the deep pit in the center of the altar!
At that moment, the pages of "Breath of Death" in Hugh's hand had received sufficient magical power, and the magic immediately took effect.

At that moment, it was as if Death himself breathed a chill into Hugh's ear. The bones that filled the pit began to tremble violently under the influence of this deathly force, as if they were about to rise from the ground and reform themselves at any moment.

The pages burned between Hugh's fingers—a black, lifeless necromantic fire.

In less than two breaths, the page that had absorbed most of Hugh's magic was burned to ashes in the necromantic fire. Deep death magic swirled and gathered above Hugh's palm, and then, within that dangerous cloud of mist, five jet-black bullets formed according to Hugh's will fell down and were precisely grasped in his hand.

With the veterans' memories supporting them, the bullet loading speed reached almost its limit. As the cylinder was reset and secured by the metal lever, Hugh immediately began to raise his gun and aim.

At this moment, the power of this massive ancient altar had gathered above. In his magical vision, Hugh could see these dark, earth-like lights rapidly advancing along the magic-patterned iron chains toward the giant beast.

Hugh had a premonition that this time, the strange altar probably didn't intend to continue using the behemoth as its tool and energy source... If the altar could truly communicate with the will of that deity, then now it would probably want the behemoth to fight this outsider to the death.

"Sorry, but the only one who can die is you!"

The trigger was pulled quickly, and this time, because the bullet itself contained an extremely exaggerated magical power, Hugh felt a huge vibration from this revolver that was difficult for him to control for the first time. The moment the bullet was fired, he almost couldn't hold the gun anymore.

The wonder of Calron's Touch was revealed at this moment.

Two supple tentacles with superhuman strength immediately emerged from the void upon Hugh's instinctive reaction. They forcefully wrapped around the barrel of the revolver, becoming two special and flexible supports.

At this moment, Hughes had no time to check the results or marvel at the ingenuity of his instinctive reaction. He quickly adjusted the cylinder and then pulled the trigger again.

A massive amount of magical steam drifted out from the gaps in the chamber, and at that moment, Hugh heard a terrifying howl that could shake the entire underground world.

The first bullet successfully hit the giant beast's head, and the power of death poured directly into the mutated, enormous head. As the opposite of life, the power of death instantly displayed its terrifying power. The flesh began to rot and decay, the blood dried up and deteriorated, and moisture was forcibly drawn from the body, while the hard bones became soft and fragile...

The second bullet pierced the behemoth's body, causing numerous limbs that had grown from its sides to rapidly die. Large chunks of flesh also broke off from its body, crashing onto the bones.

However, what truly brought pain to this behemoth was not just the "Breath of Death" magic bullets; the plunder of death and the resulting physical withering had now violently collided with the life force flowing in along the magic-patterned iron chains.

As if two potent alchemical potions had been massively mixed and stirred, a terrifying scene began to unfold. With the third and fourth bullets hitting the target, the behemoth's body was caught in a continuous process of collapse, necrosis, and reorganization. Hugh even saw that the gaps that had been severely damaged, with bones and deformed internal organs almost visible, were instantly covered by the life force forcibly infused into the altar. As a result, a large amount of new flesh and limbs grew at an astonishing rate and immediately filled the gaps.

However, this rampant growth was destined to be morbid and disorderly. It did not take into account the original form of the behemoth. The necrotic and detached parts of the body were mistakenly filled, and the damaged limbs and the fleshy tendrils used to support the body's movement were directly catalyzed into terrible tumors. Under its influence, everything was changing in a direction of disorder.

With the firing of the last magical bullet, the erosion caused by the "Breath of Death" had reached its peak.

Under the continuous impact of the two forces, the massive body bound by iron chains crashed to the ground, but even so, it continued to struggle.

With the help of his magical vision, Hugh clearly saw that the power from the Earth Mother was flowing and gathering within his body, and the point slightly below the head of this giant beast was the center of this gathering power!
Seeing this, Hugh decisively threw away the revolver rifle that was on the verge of collapse due to continuous firing of Valley-level magic bullets. Hound's Fang appeared in his right hand, and as he pulled the trigger, a stinging pain came from the wolf fang tattoo on Hugh's wrist. The bullet was already carrying the special power of the Dark Abyss Court towards its target.

(End of this chapter)