In this short period of time, that strange and inexplicable crack alone has already caused extremely serious losses to the mages of the Law Committee and the Council.

The cost of training a qualified stream-level mage is often much higher than training a professional soldier, and those valley-level and lake-level mages and scholars who are the backbone of the organization are an important resource among the major organizations.

In the past, under normal circumstances, if a valley or lake-level mage died in an accident in the course of a mission, the legal committee branch in charge of the matter would be under tremendous pressure and even face investigation by sword-wielding hermits.

Now, more than fifty elite mages have disappeared, died, or completely incapacitated for various reasons, which is enough to make the most casual people in the Legislature feel extremely nervous.

You know, even the amazing war that swept half of the van in progress will not cause such exaggerated mage casualties, in today's battlefield, except for those who are unlucky enough to use their skulls to catch cannonballs or individual cases of "beheading" by the enemy, the vast majority of mages who are wounded and captured on the battlefield will still be treated preferentially, and the exchange of mage prisoners of war will be regularly organized and arranged between the Legislative Committee and the Council.

The scholars in the laboratory only felt a chill in their hearts when they looked at the figures suspended in the alchemy liquid, although they maintained their basic humanoid outlines, but their body surfaces, some flesh, and internal organs had been replaced with magic crystals.

After an urgent round of statistics, they came to a terrible conclusion.

That is, the power that is enough to cause physical mutations and twist living flesh into magical crystals seems to be more aimed at those who already have sufficient magical power in their bodies, that is, they are more likely to influence mages.

After repeated confirmation, the scholars confirmed that in the camp set up next to the Great Rift, all the people who showed severe symptoms were spellcasters, and they were all members of the mages above the stream, and those mage apprentices who were responsible for recording and carrying materials were relatively mildly affected, and most of them only fell into a coma for a period of time, or had symptoms such as fever, trance, and visual hallucinations.

The soldiers who were also stationed in the camp were largely unaffected.

When the magic anomaly occurred, only a handful of them said they were in a state of absence, but within a few seconds, they were back to normal, and they were even able to work normally and deal with all the anomalies.

It was a discovery that would strike fear into the hearts of most mages.

The magic that they once regarded as a gift from the goddess Mel now seems to have become some terrible plague, and in the face of an unknown threat, magic and magic not only do not help in any way, but instead cause their bodies to be distorted and diseased, a symptom that has never been seen in the history of Vann, and no one knows how to deal with it.

After preliminary observations, scholars have basically confirmed that this change directly acts on the spiritual and magical level, in other words, the power from the underground has unwittingly completely obstructed the mental state of the victims, distorted their cognition, and based on the magic power in their bodies, began to rapidly transform and affect their physical bodies.

Based on this situation, the Emergency Committee of Celem City has issued a directive - whether it is the Plateau Council or the Law Council, all mage members of the stream level and above who are stranded near the craggy hills must now evacuate as quickly as possible, all ongoing magical affairs must be terminated immediately, those that cannot be terminated are handed over to the mage apprentices for final maintenance and disposal, and all matters related to the rift are taken over by the army.

While this series of measures was to protect the mages themselves, for the mages who had played an important role in all affairs in the past, this was the first time that they had been forced to leave their tasks and work, away from the realm that should have been.

For them, this has become a silent intimidation and deterrence.

In the laboratory of the Emergency Committee's residence, more and more information is being successfully parsed from the humanoid crystals, and these narrators, who still retain a certain consciousness but whose bodies are no longer related to flesh and blood, tell the scholars of the Emergency Committee about the strange scenes they have glimpsed underground.

Learned and mentally resilient scholars are already on the verge of being tortured to madness.

They constantly ask their "colleagues" who have been turned into magical crystals about everything about the cracks in the earth, but they always come up with extremely bizarre and gruesome answers.

A soldier of the Ymir Legion thought that there was no soil or rock beneath the cracks, but another deep, endless underworld, because he saw an incomparably bright, dazzling galaxy underneath.

An officer with half of his body completely crystallized told the scholars that the party had been horribly attacked on their way back, and that they could not see the attackers, only that invisible blades and minions were tearing through their guards, cutting through the flesh of their comrades, and dragging the dead into the abyss.

Several humanoid crystals who had been mages used their lines to repeatedly emphasize to people that they had seen a large, flickering "eye" in the depths of the rift, and they said that this "eye" was constantly watching everything in the rift, and was also peering into the world outside the rift.

This, they say, is the true source of magic and magic, the true source of all the crystalline veins in Vann, the "heart" that connects countless veins.

They say that is the "truth" buried under the grace of Brahman.

……

The kingdom of St. Steele was far, far away from the rugged hills, and even with the help of steam trains and magic rails, it would take them nearly half a month to reach the rugged hills.

And now, both the Legislature and the Senate have cut off intelligence-sharing with the Kingdom of St. Steele.

Eleven hours after the Magical Mutation officially broke out, the Magic Railroad Tracks, supported by the Wattle royal family, the Ernst family, and many royal workshops, began to stop opening to the Kingdom of St. Steele, and some of the Wattel troops who had been transferred to the northern part of the plateau had established new defenses and strongholds in the important towns in the kingdom's border areas to guard against their former northern allies.

After many meetings and heated discussions, the powerful fleet of the Hayne Kingdom has completely ceased operations, and at the same time, several important new capital warships have begun to retreat from the front line, and the Hayne Kingdom believes that it needs more defense forces along its coast.

The situation has changed so strangely, and now, with the exception of the towns and regions of the plains that have been controlled by the alliance of the highland states, everything seems to have returned to the way it was before the outbreak of the war, and the people seem to be more restrained than they were then.

As the consul of the Saint-Stille embassy in Saint-Steele, Müller has always maintained a very well-maintained relationship with the officials and royal family of Saint-Steele, and with his skill and shrewd principles, he has been welcomed by the entire high-level of Saint-Stille society, and in many cases, Saint-Stille has even invited the ambassador of the neighboring country to participate in important ceremonies and events.

The royal family of the North once even praised the ambassador Muller, considering him "a friend of the snowfield".

In fact, Ambassador Müller was not only a consul, but also an important spy and spy in the Kingdom of St. Steele, who was trained by the Ernst family, and in fact, the embassy of the Kingdom of Waters in the north has always been an important base for the Waters to obtain information and secrets in the North.

In his early years, Müller had already cultivated a resilient spirit and a strong ability to withstand pressure, but now, he is on pins and needles.

"These northerners have gone mad, their royal family has gone mad, the army has gone mad, the believers of the God of Life have gone mad, and the miners are going mad!"

Müller paced back and forth in his office, a document that had just been sorted out and reported in his hand had been severely distorted by him, and there were many signs that the kingdom of St. Steele was facing some kind of extreme and drastic change, and the invitation letter that was suddenly delivered to his residence in the morning made Müller's mental pressure reach its peak.

"You are cordially invited to join the 'Fire of Life' ceremony at noon on the eve of the end of winter."

The invitation was sent by the royal family of Saint-Steele, and in the corner of the invitation, there is also the emblem of the royal family and the cedar scholars tower. 、

The so-called "Flame of Life" ritual means that at the end of winter, the royal family of St. Steele and the Cult of the God of Life will select the most devout believers and go to the royal palace square to carry out the continuation ceremony of the eternal fire of life - a cluster of fire of life that is said to have burned since ancient times, will send away the cold winter of St. Steele in the presence of people.

In the past, Müller would have been happy to attend the ceremony, and even his wife had met at the "Fire of Life" ceremony ten years earlier.

But now, there are more and more signs that this vast and historic northern kingdom has been completely manipulated by the Black Sun Society, and with all the twists and turns and changes in recent days, it is hard for Müller to believe the specific intentions of the royal family of Saint-Steele in holding this event.

The clock on the wall made a slight noise, and Mueller glanced up, then stuffed the paper full of intelligence information in his hand into the round metal cylinder next to his desk, and as his fingers touched the red magic crystal on the wall of the cylinder, a simple fire magic instantly formed in the cylinder, incinerating the document to ashes.

Then he picked up the invitation and kept his eyes on the emblem of the "Cedar Scholars Tower" for two seconds.

The deep-sea mage of the Cedar Scholars Tower, Yatwich, has always been the leader of the belief in the god of life among the people, but Muller remembers that in the past, when the "Fire of Life" ceremony was held, Master Yatwicz always used his own snow owl mark, instead of using the emblem symbolizing the entire mage tower, after all, the Cedar Scholars Tower group is a gathering place for believers of Goddess Mel, and will never openly participate in the activities of believers outside of Goddess Mel.

Ambassador Müller's brow furrowed at the news he had heard that Master Yatwicz had been accused and attacked by the angry populace last night, and then he immediately walked to the side of the office and expertly opened a hidden mezzanine that could barely be penetrated.

Afterwards, Müller immediately made his way to a giant eagle sculpture in the mezzanine - a special secret ritual that had been delicately processed by Finn, the steward of the Waterheat royal family, and that the magical messages it transmitted could be sent directly to the Waters royal family or to Zeke Ernst himself, the three-clawed falcon.

After a brief moment of thought, Müller quickly wrote down his suspicions about the Cedar Scholar Tower and Master Yatwich, and then displayed all the other information he had newly gathered, and after mentioning that he was about to participate in the "Ritual of the Fire of Life", Mueller trembled and added a blood-red eagle emblem to the bottom of the words.

The use of this emblem means that the spies and spies are heading for a dead end that is difficult to survive, and its very existence is equivalent to a condensed suicide note.

The information was quickly passed on by the Secret Rite, but in a few moments, the Magical Secret Ritual trembled slightly, and then a "reply" appeared before Mueller's eyes, containing only a few words of thanks to Muller and a seemingly brief address.

"May the eagle soar forever."

Müller whispered a greeting, then he wrote down the address, turned and picked up the metal hammer that had been placed next to the mezzanine wall, and smashed it hard into the base of the giant eagle sculpture, destroying its foundation as a secret ritual.

When he had done this, the ambassador turned and went back to his office, and he called the old butler, who had been with him for ten years, handed him the note, and told him to take his wife and daughter to the place at once, and then he packed his clothes, walked out of the embassy, and got into the steam car that was bound for the royal palace.

The streets of Saint-Steele still bear traces of last night's riots, filled with patrolling royal guards and mages, and from time to time Muller could see civilians being stopped for questioning, or pushed out of shops and residences, and needless to say, they would soon be sent to prison.

At this time, Muller noticed that these northern mages who had followed the royal guards seemed to have changed their outfits again - they should have been wearing the robes of the council president, but now, they were wearing a black trench coat with a long hem, these black heavy trench coats were simple in style, without too many pattern embellishments, but in the center of the back of the trench coat, there was an unusual white ring.

(End of chapter)