Chapter 208
A red person was walking across the red earth wasteland.
His feet were dirty with dust, and his blood-stained clothes and red hair fluttered in the hot wind.
The person who looked like a specter born from red earth gazed at the path stretching before him.
To be precise, it was a path created by the traces of snake-people who had failed to mind their tails and dragged them along.
He followed that path and shifted his gaze to a distant place.
Where the widely spread land was devoured by fog.
The fog crawled across the ground with an eerie aura, but the person silently advanced toward it.
Before the fog.
As if someone had deliberately drawn a boundary, a single step's boundary divided the fog and wasteland.
The moment he stepped into the humid, cold fog, black, damp mud welcomed his dirty feet. Walking on ground where his feet sank deeply, he soon discovered a pile of corpses.
They were snake-people.
The snake-people in black robes should have been returning after capturing their prey,
But now they were only lying coldly stiffened on the soft earth.
The man examined the snake-people's corpses closely.
Some lacked tails, some lacked heads.
Some had half their bodies completely missing. A thick smell wafted from the ground soaked with the dead snake-people's blood.
While examining the corpses, he suddenly looked around.
"Was there something..."
His tone was matter-of-fact.
The man, who had been rubbing his face as if the blood drying on his skin was bothersome, lost interest in the corpses and turned around.
Then, the man looked down at his feet.
Three scale-covered fingers were gripping his ankle like hooks.
"Were you alive?"
"Take us... to Valusia..."
"Valusia? Ah, your underground kingdom."
The last remaining snake-person had one shoulder severed.
The snake-person didn't have the strength left to stand up on its own. It was already dying and knew it.
However, even if it died now, it wanted to meet an honorable death in its compatriots' glorious kingdom.
So it had grabbed the apostle of the Father's 'competitor' who happened to be passing by, but the man looked down at it and coldly refused.
"I'd like to help if I could, but I don't think that's possible. I just came out of there myself. If I go back with you all, I'll die again then."
"Why are... you..."
"Your 'father' wasn't favorable toward me to begin with. And one more thing. If you all recovered, you'd chase after that child again. So though your situation is pitiful, I must refuse."
He pulled out his foot. His ankle was scratched long by the snake-person's claws, forming droplets of blood.
Just as the person was about to leave that spot, he stopped once more.
A stinging sensation was felt at his dirty heel. A small snake was desperately biting the person's foot.
The magic that had been dismissed as mere child's play was so weakened that the dying snake-person could barely squeeze it out.
The man, looking at the snake that was biting his foot and only writhing its tail continuously, simply removed it.
The baby snake, whose milk teeth had fallen out and new teeth were just growing in, still fought desperately by coiling around his hand, constricting and biting it, showing its snake nature.
A life that seemed like it would die with just a little force.
The man looked at the baby snake struggling with his hand and said quietly.
"I'll take this snake with me. If I leave it here, it'll die soon. You don't want that either."
The snake-person tried to say something upon seeing that. But futilely, death arrived a little earlier than the effort.
The man left the completely dead corpse behind and crossed the black earth with the fierce snake.
The man, who had been feeling around for traces left on the ground while being bitten by the snake, suddenly raised his head and looked around the fog-covered surroundings.
It was quiet.
The snake-people had been attacked as soon as they entered the fog.
But he had been next to a pile of bloody corpses, and even though he had been walking all this time, nothing had happened.
This wasn't luck.
Certainly there was a being other than himself or the snake-people who had entered this domain.
The moment he had that thought, he witnessed a giant shadow quietly approaching from beyond the fog.
A writhing form gliding closer.
A figure approaching relentlessly like a hunting dog that had caught a scent, even in the fog.
The man knew exactly one creature similar to this.
"Shoggoth."
Was it a Shoggoth that had left its territory?
But here, how had it grown to such a size? If it had devoured the things in this domain and grown larger.
And if it was now coming here having smelled the blood scent from him.
His brown eyes suddenly narrowed.
"I know you're there, stop flying around up there and come down!"
With his shout, the crude flapping noise from the air stopped.
A large cylindrical body with tentacle-like eyes stretching in various directions landed quietly beside the man like a bird's graceful landing.
[Yu Yesung. Friendly species of the species this individual belongs to. Emotional expression, joy at reunion.]
"I didn't expect to meet you here either."
[Emotional expression, doubt. Estimated to have unfavorable impression of tool species. However, Yu Yesung, confirmed no intention to flee from this individual.]
"When that thing goes berserk... it charges at tremendous speed like a black train. It doesn't approach leisurely like that. So I thought it was still under hypnosis."
[Emotional expression, doubt. Element that confirmed this individual's presence in vicinity?]
"Only you can control those things. Moreover, you can fly, right? I thought you were definitely observing the overall situation from above."
[Understanding. Emotional expression of gratitude for logical, rational explanation. Additional question. Location of tool species individual gifted to Yu Yesung?]
"...I'm not sure about that either."
[Yu Yesung, confirmed tool species individual left city. Currently searching. Polite request, location of tool species individual?]
The man didn't answer for a moment, gripping his book tightly.
The Shoggoth that soon arrived before him and the Elder Thing had grown tremendously in size, but behaved like a very docile and obedient bull.
The black lustrous surface of the Shoggoth occasionally swelled and subsided irregularly.
He asked as if trying to change the subject.
"This is..."
[Captured hostile life forms in said domain. Scheduled for transport to research facility.]
"To the research facility? Why?"
[Re-research needed. Plan to create new tools after current tool species extermination. Therefore, proceeding with advance capture of life forms that became origin of tool species.]
"Became the origin? What do you mean?"
The Elder Thing's wings fluttered as its five eyes spun around in all directions.
It seemed to be monitoring whether there was anything else around.
[Tool species, originated from life forms in currently located domain. During this species' planetary landing, life forms occurred only in current domain. This species proceeded with capture and transport for various research. Created garden and tool species after research.]
The man just stared blankly at the Elder Thing as if frozen.
The Elder Thing sensed the man's abnormality and communicated politely.
[Additional questions?]
"...You said life only occurred here? Even before you came?"
[Affirmative.]
The man slowly turned his head to look up at the Shoggoth.
A black, writhing, formless being.
The black, damp earth on the ground reminded him of something.
Ig had created snake-people from his own flesh and blood. There was a reason the snake-people called him 'father.'
Even the Elder Things couldn't create complete life with just the technology they possessed. So they stole and researched the foundational life forms.
The man held onto the faint clue and continued tracing the primitive planet's history.
Countless gods and alien species had landed on this planet.
The gods needed power befitting the specification of 'god,' but there were no worshippers here.
So the gods began bearing and commanding children and believers as parents and creators on the new land.
Then before the Elder Things landed, before all gods and alien species migrated.
The first to occupy this planet and bear and raise primordial life forms was...
Suddenly, the five eyeballs of the quietly standing Elder Thing shot up sharply.
[Anomaly detected. Anomaly detected.]
"Is the hypnosis broken again-"
[Magic power positioned in said domain, detected rapid change. Detected powerful waves from domain's center. Recommendation, withdrawal. Withdrawal.]
Magic power change.
The man turned pale and grabbed the Elder Thing's tentacle.
"Where's the center? Tell me the direction."
[Recommend withdrawal from current domain. Recommend withdrawal.]
"Which way!"
The Elder Thing brought three eye-tentacles close to his face.
[Predict loss of friendly species will bring great sorrow to this individual. Need explanation of reasonable reason for going to center.]
"Do you really need a reason? Even though you won't understand?"
The man looked at the Elder Thing, the alien species that had flown from distant space, as if he couldn't understand it.
"Because Verde told me to. ...See, you don't understand at all."
*
The young beast hesitantly approached the lake.
Black, sticky stems protruded from the lake, connecting to the mountain and earth.
Unidentifiable black fluid slowly dripped from the stems,
And beneath the beast's feet, things that had just gained life were being crushed and dying again.
The beast sat down trembling on his knees at the squelchy lakeside.
"Yesung...?"
[Closer... More... Show... appearance...]
His head filled with strange fear.
The small face looked down at the surface of the mud lake.
Bubble, bubble, bubble.
On the surface where bubbles burst stickily, even his own reflection wasn't visible.
The beast looking down with fear suddenly thought the shape of the mud bubbles was changing strangely.
It began imitating facial structures similar to Yesung's or his own.
Deeply hollowed eyes, a breathing nose, a gaping mouth.
A bizarre face with no aesthetic sense protruded from the lake.
Black mud connected to the lake rose up, supporting and bobbing the face.
The strange face spoke to the beast who had forgotten how to breathe from surprise.
[Imitate... This... We...]
"W-we."
[We... Together...]
This, is 'us'? This is the same as me?
The beast felt his own face with both hands. His terrified expression didn't easily fade.
Only then did he realize. This wasn't Yesung. Yesung didn't frighten him like this.
"Not, not Yesung. I, I want to go. Want to go back."
[This... We... Together... This way...]
"Want, want to go, go back again..."
The young one didn't know what to do and backed away. No, tried to back away.
But suddenly the mud face lunged at him, making him scream and crouch down.
-Thunk.
The mud face and tentacles struck a place much further behind him.
When he turned his head, he saw the scene of mud piercing through the familiar black lustrous surface and writhing.
It wasn't dancing. It wasn't an expression of joy. The mud was absorbing the Elder Thing's slave.
The Elder Thing's slave, the Shoggoth that had lost vitality, looked like a black shell.
The mud face that had been stirring the shell slowly turned back to the young one.
"Uh, uh..."
[Togeth... er. Togeth... er. This way...]
The beast pushed by the mud that curved around him protectively finally stepped into the lake.
He screamed at the creepy tickling sensation of thousands of bugs crawling up his legs,
But pushed by the force of the mud face against his back, he gradually sank into the lake.
He didn't want to go in but couldn't stop.
There was no place to step, and it felt like the lake was continuously swallowing him.
[Go... Together... Together...]
When he sank up to his chest, the sinking speed only accelerated.
Strength drained from the beast's limbs as he realized struggling was useless.
Perhaps this was better.
The things in the fog were scary, and the black things said to be made like him were even scarier.
From the moment he gained consciousness, nothing wasn't frightening.
Rather, if he sank below this lake now, couldn't he avoid scary things?
At least the mud face laughing outside didn't torment him.
So if he hid below this, it seemed like nothing in the world could find and torment him.
His vision gradually darkened and became covered in black.
Mud flowed in and blocked his breathing, and his body adapted little by little to this darkness, relaxing as his mind became hazy.
He clearly felt the bugs gnawing at his entire body.
It felt better than expected. Like this, he felt like he could be eaten to the bone and sleep well.
Thinking that, just as he was about to fall into deep sleep,
"You!"
Tremendous force pulled him up from beneath the mud.
Completely vivid red, the color of living sunset suddenly covered his brightened vision.
Brown eyes sparkled beneath it.
The young beast simultaneously recalled the half-formed face with mud flowing down.
Sparkling brown eyes and sun-like red hair.
That was the most beautiful color in the world to the beast.