The black sun hangs high

Chapter 249 "Birth"

The idea of ​​fabricating a set of memories and trying to instill them into the offspring of the Dark Abyss may sound crazy, but Hugh knows that, given the characteristics of the offspring, this approach is indeed feasible. Even if "Intelligent Interrogation" cannot completely erase the predatory instincts deeply hidden within the offspring of the Dark Abyss, if its chaotic memories can be thoroughly cleansed and replaced with more reliable and purer ones, then there is indeed a chance to make its cognition and instincts fight against each other.

However, instilling memories into it is completely different from instilling faith into it.

Through Theseus's fragmented words and his understanding of those ancient tribes, Hugh can basically confirm that these tribes actually have extremely deep beliefs about the origin of their power, or rather, the gods behind their power.

In fact, Hugh felt that the word "faith" could not accurately describe the relationship between those clans and their deities.

This term and concept are actually more applicable to the intelligent beings and civilizations of Vaan today. Whether human or elf, their attitude and relationship with the gods are absolutely different from those of their kin.

The relatives do not seem to be that important to the gods.

But for the creatures, the existence of the gods is something directly imprinted in their instincts, something that is absolutely inviolable—even the mad rat would not allow its actual master, Hugh, to verbally humiliate or belittle the Earth Mother Goddess in front of it.

This is a bizarre connection that defies human imagination.

Now, what Justine and the others are doing is tantamount to challenging, or rather provoking, this close relationship between the clan and the gods!

Hugh's reaction was naturally swift enough. The instant the experimental sample emitted a desperate scream, he had already successfully dragged the mage who was performing the ritual aside. Then he walked directly into the center of the ritual field and came to the side of the Dark Abyss offspring that was undergoing rapid mutation.

He was certain that the experimental sample was undergoing some kind of astonishing change that he had never seen before. Through his magical vision, Hugh saw that the constantly flowing magical lines within the Dark Abyss offspring were exhibiting an unprecedentedly volatile trend. This violent change even broke through the chaotic state it had previously entered when it entered the so-called "imitation state," while the magical energy in the surrounding air began to continuously converge into its body.

In the blink of an eye, it has undergone countless self-destructions and reconstructions.

At that moment, heart-wrenching, agonizing screams burst forth from what appeared to be mouths.

"Help me! Help me!"

It was crying out for help in a human male voice.

The faces of the mages present turned pale. As participants in the experiment, they vaguely guessed what was going on—in a sense, the experiment was successful because they had indeed changed the consciousness and spirit of the experimental sample and endowed it with human cognition and will. But it was precisely because of this that when it made this cry out in human instinct and identity, the emotions and state of everyone here were affected to a considerable extent.

Hughes was naturally not included.

The rotating metal disc and the constantly mobilizing magic successfully blocked the impact from all sides, and the seemingly bizarre and tragic scene in front of him had no effect on his current mind.

Now, all he sees are those cold, chaotic, and restless lines.

Hugh closely observed the changes in the Dark Abyss offspring. The pool of black slime was currently undergoing drastic changes. To ensure that it would not affect the other personnel in the laboratory, Hugh directly used his current excellent control over magic to reconstruct the ritual space of the Spirit Interrogation, locking himself and the experimental sample together in a new magical cage.

Whether it's the practice of getting close to the experimental samples or the act of casting spells directly within the complete ritual space, both are taboo for ordinary mages. However, no member of the Magic Committee dares to question Hugh's actions. Faced with this unexpected and terrifying change, they can only trust the judgment of this mysterious and powerful young mage.

"Please... save me..."

The Dark Abyss Spawn was already hoarse from screaming. The black slime had even managed to form the upper body of an adult male and was trying to crawl out of the slime, but such an action was naturally meaningless. The power of this experimental sample was far too limited to support such a degree of change.

Hugh could see that the Dark Abyss Spawn before him was in a very delicate stage. As a fragmented kin directly dominated by consciousness, instinct, and magic, it now desperately wanted to follow the memories it had just been instilled with, to have a definite form, to completely embrace its memories, and to become an existence like everyone else present.

However, apart from its mutilated body, there seems to be another invisible force constantly interfering with and blocking this behavior.

Hugh, who could directly observe the flow of magic, clearly grasped the key point—he noticed that whenever the Dark Abyss Spawn in front of him tried to take on a complete human form and call for help in human language, the magic model within its body would immediately be forcibly disrupted by a strange fluctuation, as if a giant claw was constantly stirring the surface of the water in the basin to prevent it from truly coming to a standstill.

Such perturbations are obviously very dangerous for experimental samples.

Its life force is fading at an alarming rate, and its magic is gradually dissipating with each reorganization and collapse. As the traces of magic artificially instilled and constructed begin to fade, the instincts that originally belonged to the offspring of the Dark Abyss begin to awaken.

Just as it had been summoned, the viscous black fluid began to slowly roll toward Hugh, the nearest prey it could reach. Even now, human voices could still be heard coming from some of the remaining cracks.

However, those words made Hugh change his mind about destroying the sample.

It was saying, "Run! Get away from me!"

"..."

Hugh narrowed his eyes, then quickly turned to Justina and shouted, "Bring me all those damaged embryos I brought earlier!"

He then knelt down on one knee, as if to comfort a wounded animal, and extended his hand above the struggling Dark Abyss Spawn. In the next instant, a large amount of deep magical smoke appeared beside Hugh. This mist, composed of dense magical energy, quickly approached the cage he had built, instantly blocking everyone's vision. Then, in the dim space, Hugh slowly pulled out the black mask of the Messenger in the Mirror and put it on his face.

The imitation of the Black Sun Society mage began rapidly. The magical state within Hugh's body quickly changed. After a sharp pain, an artificial magical circuit capable of generating a limited amount of Dark Abyss magic rapidly formed. Then, a large amount of Dark Abyss magic was created by Hugh, flowing towards the Dark Abyss offspring like a torrent, enveloping its fragmented body. Like a fish struggling on the shore, on the verge of death, returning to the water, the Dark Abyss offspring's previously extremely chaotic magical state, on the verge of complete collapse, miraculously regained its vitality. The magic within its body began to replenish, and the previously disintegrated magical model began to reassemble.

However, as this process continued, the suffering of the Dark Abyss offspring began to intensify.

The human will and memories instilled in it began to crumble under the influence of the cold, dark abyss magic. Its cries began to be severely distorted and twisted. Gradually, the voice that originally belonged to an adult human male began to fade away. Although it continued to shout in human language, the essence of its voice began to tilt towards chaos and turbidity.

The hunting instinct still seemed to dominate this lump of dark mud. Its body gradually extended two long black lines, like the tentacles of a mollusk, which quietly wrapped around Hugh's body.

However, at that moment, the mist of the Mirror Messenger dissipated from Hugh's eyes, and then his mouth opened silently, emitting a deep voice filled with gloomy magic.

Just like a doctor facing a panicked patient, Hughes prolonged the life of the experimental subject while speaking in words it could understand.

"Don't move, be good."

Like grasping at a straw, the fragmented consciousness cried out, "Save me..."

"I'm saving you."

Hugh gently shook his palm, releasing more magic power to accelerate the filling of the magic void caused by the collapse of the Dark Abyss Offspring. At the same time, he said, "I command you to answer my question."

"Yes……"

"Who is your identity?"

The face of a tormented human man resurfaced from the writhing black shadow, struggling to answer, "I am...I am human...a spellcaster, a mage from the North...I don't remember my name."

Hughes nodded slightly, then asked, "What's wrong with you now?"

"I don't... I don't understand... It hurts so much, this is punishment... I don't want this..."

Hugh immediately pressed, "Punishment? What punishment?"

"I don't understand! I don't understand! I don't understand!"

This question clearly touched on a crucial point. At this moment, unprecedented interference began to erupt. Even with Hugh's continuous supply of magic power, the body of this Dark Abyss offspring began to uncontrollably disintegrate completely. Hugh immediately turned his head and shouted towards the outside of the cage, "Did you bring the things?"

Before the words were finished, a mage's hand, seemingly from nowhere, delivered the incomplete embryos that Hugh had brought earlier, modified with drugs from the Black Sun Society, into the ritual arena. Hugh casually took them; black keratin covered his palm, and he easily crushed the containers holding these embryos, holding those Dark Abyss embryos that showed no hostility towards him, and were even quite friendly.

Through the recent contact, Hugh has basically confirmed the key to the mutation of the Dark Abyss offspring. As a product originating from the Dark Abyss Court, no matter how incomplete it is or how much it has been artificially modified, it cannot completely break away from the power of the Dark Abyss. And within this power, there is clearly a powerful restriction imposed on its own offspring by the Dark Abyss Court.

"In other words, I must remove this restriction... just like the Iris Guard who changed after taking the drug, using my own power and consciousness as the absolute subject to strip away the restriction from the Dark Abyss..."

In the instant these thoughts arose, Hughes also recalled Theseus's description of the creatures within the dream sanctuary.

According to Theseus, he successfully separated these kin from the rule of the gods who were the source of their power through some special methods, which means that his current idea is very likely to be correct. All that is needed is to try it boldly!
Hughes breathed a sigh of relief and said to his struggling offspring, "Bear with it, you won't die... but it might hurt a little."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Mirror Messenger Mist began to operate. This time, Hugh did not continue to supply it with magic power. Instead, he used the method he had used when hunting other offspring. He continuously extracted the dark abyss power from the offspring in front of him. At the same time, he injected his own magic power into the damaged embryo in his hand. Once it had enough power, he threw the embryo directly into the severely shrunken sample.

The commotion suddenly stopped at that moment.

Hugh's extremely brutal and illogical approach seemed to have interrupted the invisible hand's "punishment" of the Dark Abyss offspring. The power that had been supporting the collapse had been completely extracted by Hugh, and what was now supporting its activities and reshaping was the embryo that had been "purified" and "reduced" multiple times by the Black Sun Society and Hugh.

The magical mist that had been blocking their view gradually dissipated, and the mages of the Law Committee, who had been extremely tense, were finally able to see the strange scene at the very center of the laboratory again.

They saw a dark shadow writhing slowly before the young man. It was clear from sight that it was extremely weak, but the frenzied fluctuations and changes had completely ceased.

Justina looked at the dark shadow with concern, desperately wanting an explanation from Hugh.

However, she then saw Hugh suddenly reveal a meaningful smile. He slowly raised a hand and carefully extended a finger toward the writhing black shadow.

A moment later, as if in response to Hugh, an arm with a still somewhat indistinct outline slowly emerged from the center of the dark slime.

It also extended one finger.

As if responding to the call of "Father," she gently touched Hugh, and then everything returned to silence.

(End of this chapter)