Chapter 73
Ian went down to the cruise ship's lower decks to find Seo-ah. An evil spirit he met along the way figured out what he wanted and volunteered to guide him, so finding her was quick.
“Ah, Ian.”
Seo-ah was in the first-floor casino. Judging by the blood smeared around her nose, she'd apparently kept fighting while pushing herself.
Fortunately, there were no enemies nearby now, so conversation wasn't much of a problem.
“Are you okay?”
Ian approached Seo-ah and asked. She sat in a nearby chair, let out a long breath, and nodded.
“I wasn't badly hurt. I got cut a little, but... this much is nothing.”
She said that, then frowned at Ian's torn cheek.
“You're hurt.”
“I'll get it treated once we get out. There's nothing we can do about it here.”
“You'll be left with a scar... If you don't want stitches, try the ointment from the Cartel. It's expensive, but it works well.”
“I will.”
Ian gave an offhand reply and roughly wiped away the blood running down his cheek. As the already-dried scab crumbled into powder and fell away, he swallowed the stinging pain and tightened his grip on the grimoire.
“If you're okay, let's move. The parasitic creatures are all dealt with, so we just need to watch out for the pirates.”
“Yeah? That's good. Don't worry about the pirates. They're the ones I ended up summoning with my magic anyway, so if the evil spirits are let loose, they'll clash with them and their power should weaken on its own.”
“Good news, then.”
Ian and Seo-ah looted the casino vault together, then slipped outside and climbed onto the cruise ship's deck.
An open expanse. Through the dense sea fog, they could see the pirate ship pressed right up against the cruise liner, and beneath it, something writhing came dimly into view.
No silhouette was visible. Still, instinctively, they could tell something was there. And that it wasn't very friendly to humans.
“It's probably a Watcher.”
Seo-ah said.
“It's an anchor that lets the foreign god influence the surface world. It's a fairly powerful monstrosity, so even the Bureau usually sends only division chiefs to handle it.”
“......an anchor.”
Ian leaned his upper body over the railing and gave the grimoire a little shake.
“You know that this space has already been seized by mystery, right? This is a place that is reality and yet not reality. It was eroded by mystery and changed into something like a game.”
“Explain that in detail.”
So he did.
After hearing everything that had happened between Ian and the captain, and the conversation they'd had, she let out a low groan and wrapped a bandage around her arm.
“Looks like a path opened up. That thing crawled in through the game's passageway.”
“Mm.”
“Even though the captain's dead, the situation hasn't ended because that enormous 'anchor' is blocking the passage.”
Tug.
After tying the bandage knot, she turned to Ian and scattered bone dust onto the floor. The ghost that had crawled out pushed back the pirates who had just climbed onto the deck.
“Eventually, time will force the passage closed and that thing will disappear too. Then we can return to reality.”
“Do you know how long that'll take?”
“No idea. If we're lucky, a few days. If we're unlucky, we may have to think in terms of years.”
“Then we'll have to kill it.”
Ian answered immediately.
Just being here for a few days was enough to make him shudder. Could he really have to endure this for years?
Absolutely not. He didn't want to stay another second in this place reeking of fish.
No matter how nice the suite was, it was trash compared to the rough bed in his one-room apartment. And what about the stench of corpses everywhere? Was there any reason to stay here, worrying about the safety of the trapped civilians while wasting time?
There wasn't. If there was no way to kill that damned thing, there'd be nothing he could do, but fortunately Ian had a spell specialized in dealing with aberrations.
“I'm going to use magic. Step back.”
Shrrk.
His grimoire, which had been in his hand, unfolded on its own, revealing the list of summoned beings. Seo-ah stepped back as he instructed, tilting her head with interest.
“The second grimoire you mentioned in the gallery?”
Ian nodded instead of answering, then took blood from his bag and drew a magic circle on the deck. Seo-ah assisted him.
He tossed a few pieces of the aberration's flesh onto the blood-drawn magic circle. He splashed blood over it once more, and Ian stretched out his empty hand, locking in the creature he would summon.
He couldn't summon a weak one. At the very least, he needed a creature on par with the Watcher or even stronger to fight that thing in the sea on equal terms. Although beings from the Outer Sea might be stronger in the water than on land, there was no need to take a gamble before he'd even tested it.
He needed certainty. So he carefully chose and selected one.
Its name was [Producer].
It was a creature one tier above the Watcher, with intelligence similar to a human's. It could communicate and, according to the grimoire, didn't require all that much food.
But he didn't think a creature stronger than the Watcher would be satisfied with such a small amount of food. In the Outer Sea's terms it might not be much, but here it could be hard to supply.
Even so, the reason he would summon it was that it was the only creature of its rank that could communicate, the fact that it didn't require much food, and its close connection to the Master of the Outer Sea.
The Producer's role was to turn the words spoken by the Master of the Outer Sea into prey like plankton or minnows and scatter them throughout the Outer Sea.
‘If the Master of the Outer Sea really cares about me and mentions me often, then he won't just turn hostile because he's hungry.’
When Ian thought that and looked into the grimoire, it gave a tiny tremor, as if it were chuckling.
That was the most reliable trust of all. Ian no longer hesitated and recited the spell with his eyes closed.
“Messenger who conveys the language of the Great One. One who rules both the upper and lower tiers of the ecosystem. I, as His representative, command you: reveal yourself here and bring down my enemy.”
Shaaah……!
As soon as the chant ended, a dense blood mist spread over the magic circle. Seo-ah frowned at the blood stench rushing over her face, and Ian gripped the grimoire tightly, staring at the gigantic mass summoned above the circle.
A black body as large as an ordinary bus slowly turned its head toward Ian.
Its body was generally round. Its skin was covered in sharp black fur, and irregularly set red eyes glared menacingly. In the vertically slit pupils, Ian's face was clearly reflected, and black seawater began pooling in the Producer's open mouth like saliva.
[……Ah.]
Soon, the maw at the center of its body split wide open, and a voice flowed out.
[Nice to meet you, Representative.]
“......”
[I sincerely sympathize with you, the companion chosen by our Mother and born on that fragile planet called Earth, and I also bless you.]
No matter how kindly you put it, the Producer's voice was not pleasant to hear. But it was clear, intelligent, and radiated a palpable intelligence.
“......Holy shit......”
Seo-ah swallowed hard and, without realizing it, cursed under her breath. The Producer turned all its eyes toward her, then looked back at Ian and blinked.
[The Master of the Outer Sea says He has ordered us to obey every request you make. However, suppressing our instincts is only possible for me today, the day of my first summoning. From the next summoning onward, without a proper sacrifice, even I will have no choice but to eat you, Representative.]
“......So you're saying that on this summon, even if you don't get full, you'll finish my orders and then go back?”
[Indeed.]
The Producer dipped its head slightly. So it seemed.
[The Master of the Outer Sea wishes for you, the Representative, to come to His side as soon as possible. The fastest way is for us to eat you. It is an option permitted only to you. He would rather keep you at His side and live with you forever than leave you to fend for yourself in such a harsh environment.]
“......”
[But, respecting your wishes, He restrained His own desires and instructed me and the other beings to obey the Representative's words. Truly, isn't that a merciful act?]
Ian remained silent, thinking over how to reply.
Fortunately, he didn't wait for Ian's answer and, letting a little black seawater spill from his mouth, turned his head.
[The creature I need to kill seems to be beneath the sea here. Is that correct?]
“Yes. It's the anchor of the foreign god.”
[Nyarlathotep. An inferior being. The name of a fool who thinks himself one of the gods of the universe just because he was born from a mere story. Truly an existence that deserves to die.]
The Producer moved its huge body and walked toward the railing of the deck. Black seawater spread beneath its path like a carpet.
[It's truly a shame that it's not the true body, but it can't be helped. I guess this will have to do.]
“Can you beat it?”
[That is the wrong question.]
The eyes that bloomed from the Producer's back fixed directly on Ian.
[Issue the command. You are qualified.]
“......Ha.”
At its words, Ian let out a small laugh and lifted the grimoire in his hand onto his shoulder. Then he said lightly,
“Kill it and eat it.”
[I will obey. As the Representative of that Great One, and our new first parent.]
The Producer's eyes all bent into crescents at once, and it smashed through the railing and plunged into the sea.
KWAANG!
With a sound like a cannon shot, spray burst up. Ian, drenched by the water pouring down, barely poked his head over the railing.
And he was stunned.
“Hah.”
The dim, translucent sea had turned completely black, and blood-red eyes were densely studded across its surface.
It was as if eyes had grown on the sea itself. Just as Ian was inwardly marveling at a trait he'd never seen in any other Outer Sea creature,
[Oooooooh!!!]
something's upper body shot up above the surface with a thunderous roar.