It took a long while before Sean managed to calm his restless emotions. His mana was almost completely drained, and he crouched on the ground, feeling nauseous...
Looking up, he glanced around—was this his own small bedroom? So he’d come back again. Earlier, he thought he’d heard a sound in the room, so he walked in and opened the door, only to see that planet-sized eye. He couldn’t call it the Eye of Chaos anymore, because he’d now seen its full form.
By the way, he wondered what time it was. Sean quickly opened the door and stepped out. The sky had already brightened! No one had come to wake him? That was a bit strange.
When Sean walked out of the room, he found the entire corridor eerily silent—empty, so much so that he could hear the echo of his own door opening. Where was everyone? he wondered.
Freya had decided to attack Tacoma City today. Had it already happened? How could there be no one around? At the very least, there should be people guarding the camp, right? Otherwise, if something went wrong, wouldn’t it be easy for someone to raid their base?
Even Sean, who didn’t know much about military tactics, understood the necessity of securing the rear. The Black Feather Knights, as a national正规军, were completely ignoring their rear lines—were they charging in with a death wish?
Since Sean was housed separately in the same quarters as the wizards, unlike the ordinary mercenaries, he went straight to check the mercenary squad’s area. There was no one there either.
All gone? Impossible.
Even if the mercenaries had a sense of patriotism, there had to be exceptions. And last night, someone had clearly made an appointment to meet him...
He walked around, but neither Jonathan nor Alphonse and the others were there. From what Sean knew of them, they weren’t the kind of selfless do-gooders who fought for the nation; most of them just wanted to survive. So they wouldn’t have joined the main force in attacking Tacoma City.
Yet, despite that, they were still missing.
In the empty military fortress, it seemed he was the only one left...
Sean walked outside the fortress and gazed into the distance at the city emerging from the mist. It was too far to see what was happening there, but something felt off in his gut. How could a force of three to four thousand people leave no trace at all?
Just then, a prompt appeared in his vision: [Danger approaching...]
“You actually came out on your own.”
Sean’s words made the other party stop abruptly. Turning around, he saw that the one approaching was none other than the Deep One who had been locked in the dungeon below.
Emerging from the dark dungeon into the sunlight, the creature looked even more grotesque. Its slick body was covered in protruding fleshy tendrils, like fins but oddly shaped. Its face was bloated and bulging, with eyes that jutted out like a fish’s.
A harsh guttural sound kept coming from its throat. When it saw Sean, it instinctively spread the fins under its neck, adopting a combat-ready stance.
“How did you get out? Where’s your guard?”
Sean watched as the Deep One circled about ten meters away, observing him as if preparing to attack.
“How strange. Why are you still lucid under the Great Father’s call? Who... are you?” the Deep One asked warily.
Call? What call? Sean looked around and listened carefully—there was no sound at all.
But the Deep One in front of him didn’t give him a chance to ask. It kept circling, ready to pounce at any moment. He had to keep his eyes on it...
“Who are you?”
“What do you think?” Sean said with a smile.
This opponent was advantageous to him.
“Could you be a follower of some ancient god? Impossible—you don’t look like one at all.”
Ancient god? Sean finally caught a clue from the creature’s words. So they were summoning some ancient deity. But why use the power of the Star of Destruction? Based on the whispers he’d later heard, that planet-like eye called itself the Star of Destruction, drawn to this world by a summons.
The Deep One took a step closer, and Sean pulled out his flintlock. Seeing it, the creature immediately stepped back... Its deformed mouth continued.
“Oh, I see. Summoning the great Star of Judgment will align the stars and awaken many ancient gods. You’re one of them, aren’t you? No wonder you know about us Deep Ones... For centuries, no one outside the Great Father’s followers has known of our existence, and we’ve lived carefully in the deep sea and swamp abysses, undetected.” It smiled, making its face even more twisted.
“But even you couldn’t pull off such a grand spectacle. The only one truly capable of becoming the master is...”
Before it could finish, it charged at Sean’s position.
Bang!
It was fast—Sean had to fire and dodge. The creature seemed unfamiliar with industrial firearms, pausing for a moment when the gunshot rang out.
The shot hit the Deep One’s arm, and it instinctively clutched the wound... Then its body leaped up like a frog, so fast that Sean could barely react.
He sidestepped, but still felt the creature behind him.
“Whoever you are, you’ll become a sacrifice for the Great Father’s return, just like those foolish mortals.” The fins on its arm now looked like sharp blades, but as it swung down, it was suddenly yanked back by an unseen force.
Startled, the Deep One turned to see shadowy tentacles emerging from thin air.
“This... this is!!!”
“You summoned the Star of Destruction to awaken your so-called ancient god. Did you ever think that the Star of Destruction, the Star of Judgment, or the Eye of Chaos might be angry about such an unwelcome summons?” Sean slowly turned, smiling at it.
At that moment, behind him, above his head, a massive eye tore through the fabric of space, fixing its gaze on the creature.
“You... you are...” the Deep One stammered.
The moment the giant eye opened, space itself seemed to become a massive hand, grabbing the creature. Countless shadowy tentacles stretched out from the void, binding the Deep One and dragging it into the unknown abyss...
“No! No.”
“Who are you?! Who are you!”
Sean just smiled, saying nothing.
There was a strange satisfaction in letting someone disappear without explanation.
“Merciful Great Father, great Old One... I... apapapap...￥cthulhufhatgn!...”
In the end, its words were barely audible. After dealing with the Deep One, Sean looked up at the sky. The ten stars that had been about to align had suddenly stopped moving.