General Bernhardt's ideas were also of great interest.

In particular, the idea of using the rat colony to build an additional "dungeon" under the enemy city was a perfect fit for some of the outrageous ideas hidden in his mind.

Of course, it's just for the sake of thinking.

Although there are now far more of these magical rats derived from the will of the Ernst family than in the past, they are not individuals who can move freely and have independent wills like the Running Rats, but the embodiment of a large amount of abyssal magic.

In fact, few of Vane's normal mages are able to control and command a large number of magical summons with precision at the same time, and in general, such behavior would be considered dangerous and impractical.

For the caster and the summons, the stability of the mana connection is very important, the summons need a stable enough mana connection to ensure their survival, and the caster needs to actively maintain and improve the stability of the connection to ensure that the summons do not get out of control and cause permanent mental damage to themselves.

As early as the beginning, when she realized that the magic mastered by Shuge was closely related to the act of summoning, Wei Lin, as a teacher, emphasized it three times and twice, and at that time, she had always been worried that she, a halfway student, would be shocked by the magic to become a fool or a madman because of these problems.

Of course, she had since given up on this concern entirely, as Verin had discovered that Shug was in every way unrelated to the concept of a "normal mage", and that he was so special that the theorems that had been repeatedly tested in Van En were useless to him.

However, in the face of this situation, Xiuge did not feel complacent.

He knew very well that all the powers he possessed were tied to Theseus, the Dream Shelter, and the huge metal disc of unknown origin in his body, and that without the support of these powers, he could turn into a helpless broken soul at any time, and be crushed into useless residues on the spot.

At this time, the growth of the magic rat colony had gradually slowed down, and the power that had been "stolen" from the Black Sun Secret Ritual had been basically exhausted, so Xiuge decisively interrupted the expansion of the rat colony, and began to convey his orders to the will of the Ernst family, who was responsible for commanding and controlling these rats.

He gave a slight warning to General Bernhardt and the other family wills who wanted the rat pack to expand further, and ordered them to stabilize the current front and carry out covert infiltration and reconnaissance operations against the surrounding strongholds, while the more attentive female family wills were arranged by Xiuge in and around the Rock Lake Mine to monitor and observe the members of the mine.

Overseers, soldiers, the few remaining members of the Black Sun Society, and the miners were all included.

After completing these arrangements, Xiuge finally had time to care about the Running Mouse, until now, it was still lying on its side on its own territory, its three slender tails were very casually attached to the ground, the hair on its body seemed to be a little scattered, and its eyes were flashing with a faint green light as always, but its expression was not quite right, no matter how it looked like it was simply "eating support", it looked like it was demented.

So Xiug tentatively stimulated Snicky with his magic power, but the feedback he received was minimal, and although the magical connection between himself and it was very stable, Xiug had little way to get its current thoughts from the Running Mouse.

In other words, the Running Rat is now empty, with neither thoughts nor emotions, and naturally it is impossible to respond to the temptation of Xiuge.

"Something is wrong......"

Xiuge frowned, he sank his consciousness into the spirit world, and went directly to the side of the Running Rat.

However, before he could take a closer look, he sensed a strange agitation aura, the concentration of which was very limited, but it was very real in the inner space of the metal disc, and when Xiug tried to use his magic to make contact with the aftermath of the power emanating from Snicky's body, he immediately recognized the composition of this strange aura.

That's the trace of Mother Earth.

This surprised Shugg a little, in fact, after escaping from the vast underground world of the Ernst family estate, he had never encountered any other creations and traces directly related to Mother Earth, and compared to the Abyss Court hidden behind the Black Sun and the sea community that had begun to show signs of recovery, this land god who had been able to stand up to the sea god Caljon did not react to the rise of the Black Sun.

It was as if He, like most of the gods of that lost age, had completely vanished.

But now, once again, Shuge is aware of its presence.

And on the body of his own summon.

Shugg thought back to all the experiences of the past few days as quickly as he could, and then focused his attention on the ritual of the loss of the god of the "Colossous Hill", which had only recently ended, and for now, it seemed that it was the ritual he had stolen from the memory of Baron Fiorlando that had caused the current situation.

"In other words, the so-called 'behemoth hill' does have something in common with the Mother Earth goddess who is followed by the Running Rat...... Could it be that the Mother Earth goddess is also like Theseus, and has a lot of messy titles on her body? Is 'Mammoth Hill' also another name or some kind of incarnation? ”

Hug thought for a while, although he had a rough guess of the direction, but there was no way to verify more, and he couldn't even successfully touch the free will of the running rat.

But fortunately, now Xiuge does not need the Running Rat to help him perform any tasks, and the will of the Ernst family, which also belongs to the power of Mother Earth God, has not been affected, the old guys are still very sober and reliable, and fundamentally speaking, their strength has also been greatly enhanced, which is definitely good news for the current situation.

"I hope you don't make any mistakes, it's really weird, you are on the list of every binge eating."

Shug reluctantly patted the Rat on the head, and then pulled his consciousness out of the way - Countess Alexandra, who was in charge of observing the movements of the miners, had made some new discoveries, and she was eagerly informing Shug and hoping to share her perceptions.

However, the departed Xiuge missed some details of the changes on the Running Rat.

At the moment when he shifted his gaze, two dark green rays of light flashed on the two huge horns on the head of the Running Rat, which symbolized the favor and blessing of the Earth Mother God, and they flowed quickly back and forth in the horns, and then gradually faded, as if hidden in the deepest part of this pair of horns.

……

In the cramped mining houses, the miners, who had finally eaten with their bellies open, were talking quietly.

"The mage took some of the soldiers away from before, and the checkpoint should not be so strict now."

A young miner said: "There are also a few nearby intersections, I secretly went to see while I was eating, and the soldiers at two intersections have withdrawn, and they are now understaffed to see so many places." ”

"Withdraw? What are you withdrawing for? ”

"Of course it's helping that bullshit baron fix his bullshit fortifications."

The young man's temper is always bigger, and the language is naturally not very exquisite, and the other miners next to him don't care, they are not deaf or blind, what kind of person the new Baron Fiorlando is, they can also see very clearly, although compared to the previous Black Sun Society mage, Baron Fiorlando does not seem to be so cruel, but the contemptuous attitude he showed when dealing with the miners is also very obvious.

"If you want me to say, these two days could really be a good opportunity...... It may even be our last chance in the near future. ”

A miner in his forties whispered, "The overseer with two scars on his face, he threatened me today, he said that in two days, the baron's army would come, and the mine should be converted into a barracks, and he said that he would fill us all in the mine and dispose of ......"

"The brute."

Someone scolded viciously: "Damn, why hasn't this kind of person been crushed by the heavy cavalry of the plains on the front line?" ”

"Wake up, there are no heavy cavalry now, haven't you heard from others, the battlefield is full of those big and heavy metal vehicles, I heard that it rumbles when it walks, and he will be crushed to death by these metal monsters if he wants to die."

"Nonsense, what kind of metal car, if you can get one over, we can rush out of the mine tonight, and maybe we can easily crush all the guys in the way!"

"Stop, don't forget what we're talking about!"

A thin middle-aged man lying on his bed knocked on the edge of his bed: "If it was useful to scold them, we would have already returned to Watch City to meet our families, and we still need to wait here to die?" ”

"If you want to meet your family, it's not like there's no other way......"

"What's the solution, but let's talk about it? I won't join the black ...... like those idiots before Join that association, right? ”

After all, the miners were afraid of the Black Sun and the Black Sun Society, and in the countryside of Saint-Steele, it was often said that "language and writing" had magical powers, so they did not dare to mention the words "Black Sun" in their backs for fear of causing trouble.

"Or else? What other way can you think of it? Is it possible to really fight with them? ”

The miner who objected spread his hands, "Okay, so what are we going to use against their magic and weapons?" Pickaxes? Shovel? Or our fists? ”

"You ......"

"What you, my one, you might as well have some useful advice, we've been here for so long!"

The emotions of both sides of the conversation were slightly excited, so their voices became a little louder, so the tall and thin middle-aged man knocked on the edge of the bed again: "Be quiet, do you want to be reported?" ”

When these words came out, everyone fell silent again, and for a while only a few sighs came from the room, which made the atmosphere in the room more and more heavy.

At that moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Tuk Tuk!"

The voice was so soft that everyone in the room could hear it clearly, but instead of acting on it, they looked at each other.

Two seconds later, there were three more rhythmic knocks on the door.

So the middle-aged man who had been lying on the bed sat up, and he made a silent gesture to the rest of the people, and then asked, "Who?" ”

"Me, it's me!"

A deliberately muffled voice squeezed into the room through the crack in the door: "Open the door, you lazy dogs, do you want me to blow the wind outside?" ”

Hearing this somewhat ugly insult, the miners in the room relaxed a lot, and the middle-aged man also breathed a sigh of relief, he waved his hand at the young miner who had a big temper before, and the latter immediately got up and opened the closed door, so a slightly rickety thin figure immediately appeared in everyone's field of vision.

It was none other than Hadera, the mine director who had previously received orders from Baron Fiorlando.

The emaciated old supervisor was quickly ushered into the room, and interestingly, the miners, who had previously had a great opinion of the mine managers, did not show any hostility towards Director Hadera, but instead pulled a chair after the door closed.

"Uncle Hadra, sit down."

"Huh."

At this time, the old director did not have the same tone as when he scolded outside the door before, he glanced at the surrounding faces through the dim light, and the old face became more and more sad: "I think you should really go, how much can you go...... Anyway, I can't stay here anymore. ”

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the miners in the room changed, and the middle-aged man came to the front of Director Hadra and asked in a low voice, "What happened?" All of a sudden, so urgent? ”

"It's not because of that, it's because of the baron who just came."

Hadra said, carefully scanning the surroundings: "You don't have any rats here, do you?" ”

The middle-aged man nodded: "Don't worry, no...... We've checked it before, but not a single mouse has it, and it doesn't respond to this little object you brought us. ”

As he spoke, he pulled a broken pocket watch out of his pocket, and if the caster examined it carefully, he could easily identify it for what it really was—a small camouflaged ritual that could interfere with nearby magic to a certain extent and avoid magical surveillance.

"Listen to me, the new baron wants to be powerful, and he asked me to compile the list, I'm afraid he wants to pick some of you out to deal with it...... It's even likely to be an execution, and I'm going to give him the list tomorrow morning, so you'll have to find a way to do it! ”

(End of chapter)