This was not the first time this human had risked his own life to summon him.
If someone asked him how infuriating it was, Cthulhu would say a lot. The guy probably knew that summoning him all on his own would take too much magic power. Forcing Cthulhu to come out on his own by risking his life must have saved a lot of his power. It was a shortcut that came at the cost of pain.
That was why Raydel had sacrificed his own organ to him and let that woman attack him to summon Cthulhu.
The fact that Raydel thought Cthulhu would step in if he got hurt was a source of irritation.
…
Right, it irritated him so much.
Cthulhu awoke within Raydel's body and let out a sigh. He saw the woman had been fighting with him standing there, frozen. Her thoughts streamed into his head. He's changed. What happened? He did not want to hear any of that. He flicked his hand without thinking and threw her against the wall so hard that she coughed up blood.
Christa was watching Raydel, who stood looking at the ground with an unusually frigid expression. He seemed like a totally different person. He clenched his fist and some invisible power threw her on the ground.
Whoosh.
Cthulhu looked at his hand, noticing wisps of smoke was coming off of it. This human's body was so much weaker than his real body which meant it could store only a fragment of his power. If he forced to use too much power, the body would start complaining like it just did. If he kept going, some of the organs might start falling off right there.
He had only a few minutes to be in this body.
Weak, Cthulhu thought, how can he be this weak?
He did not deserve his power at all. This boy was so weak that it annoyed him.
Cthulhu held his wrist, surprised by how slim it was. He cautioned himself not to use too much power; the last thing he wanted to see was this boy's body being torn into pieces.
However, when he realized he was thinking that, he felt annoyed and thought, why should I care if he dies?
If he dies, I can just go back to sleep. Nothing serious.
"..."
Something bothered him so much.
Cthulhu looked up and turned toward the enemy he had just threw against the wall, but she had disappeared, leaving a hole in the wall. He saw her back as she was running away through the crack.
Running outside? Cthulhu thought.
As the boss of an S-ranked dungeon, Cthulhu possessed a passive skill that can transform any dungeon he occupied into something similar to his own dungeon. And when it was finished, he becomes so powerful as if it was his own dungeon. The interior of the building started to look strange. Water flooded the floor, and the lights flickered.
The man walked up to the hole and inspected it. From there, he could see that he was high up in the sky. The woman had already reached the ground floor and was running toward the main street, leaving behind a trail of her blood.
Cthulhu walked through the opening.
His expression stayed the same as he leaped from the several-story building. As soon as he reached the ground, he felt the bones in his legs shattered. Cthulhu got even more annoyed at how fragile this body was. He kept walking as his power gradually healed his legs.
Cthulhu raised his right hand and touched the bruised ring finger. It began to heal as well.
Why do I have to heal his body? he thought.
"Ah!"
The woman screamed as tentacles suddenly burst forth from the ground, seizing her ankle and causing her to fell face-first. Cthulhu, the one responsible for this, walked slowly toward her. He knew that she would not be able to escape in this state.
Christa saw him getting closer and tried to crawl away. She swung her dragger at the tentacles wildly, but it was all in vain. Cthulhu was about to slam her body onto the ground when he sensed some low-level monsters charging directly at him. Two nameless hunters stood between him and the woman.
Cthulhu raised his brows.
"What?" he asked.
Christa gritted her teeth and ordered the monsters.
"Kill it! Kill it…!"
She had not finished speaking yet when Cthulhu started walking again. As he closed in on her, the monsters that were supposed to stand between the two collapsed. Their bodies were cut into pieces, which swiftly disintegrated.
Christa was shocked and let out a scream when he grabbed her collar, lifting her up.
Cthulhu gazed at her face.
"Nyar," he said, "why did you allow your human to touch mine?"
Christa wondered to whom he was talking. Nyar? She trembled in fear, feeling like she was about to learn something she should not learn. She twisted, causing the tentacles to break her angles. A sharp pain burst forth, forcing both a scream and tears from her.
"Nyar," Cthulhu repeated the name. Not a sound could be heard. "Nyarlathotep."
Suddenly, a message box appeared in the sky.
[It's not my fault. He kept showing up and messing up my prophecies.]
Cthulhu stared at the box.
"Don't call them prophecies. You damn know well what they are."
[They're prophecies. These people believe they are the future.]
"...!" Christa frowned.
Cthulhu squeezed her throat, causing her to throw her head back in an attempt to grasp for air. Her vision started to blur, and the only thing she could see was the cruelty of this man.
"If your human hurt mine in any way…" Cthulhu dragged his words, "you know what will happen."
[What? You have just met him. Why do you care so much?]
Cthulhu ignored the question, and looked at the pale face of the woman who was about to be suffocated to death.
"I won't kill her now because she's yours. But if she messes with my human again," he tightened his grip, "I won't care about our promise anymore."
Who's he talking to? Christa thought and hit the hands around her neck with her last drop of strength.
[Good. Don't kill her just yet. I still need her for other things.]
[But you can punish her however you like. Consider it compensation for messing with your human.]
[Cut out her tongue, arms, or legs. Just keep her alive; that is enough for me.]
[We're at the final stage now, so I'm not worried anymore.]
Christa could not look up in a way that would allow her to see the message box, so she remained unaware that she was just a pawn of high-level bosses. Her face grew redder by the minute as she began to stutter. However, this had no impact on Cthulhu. If it had any impact, it only intensified his desire to crush her neck even more. Yet he knew he had a promise to keep with Nyarlathotep. He would not kill her as long as she did not hurt Raydel.
Nevertheless, even though he could not end her life, he was still furious over the fact that she had hurt Raydel.
"...!"
The woman screamed as the tentacles pierced through her stomach and wrapped around her. Cthulhu released her neck and stepped back, watching the woman drowned in her own blood. Her twisting face because of the extreme pain she felt could diminish some of his anger, yet not all of it. It reminded him of the wound on his own stomach, compelling him to heal it mindlessly.
Why am I this angry? he thought.
In truth, Cthulhu could let Raydel die. He acted as if this guy could fulfill his true desire. He did not need to protect him just because he owned him, yet…
Annoying.
The sentence he had heard came back once again.
'On the 26th of September, you will have your own human body… That day will be the day everything changes. There'll be no more the rules as you know them when you're under 'his' control. After that, it depends on you… if you'll still be soft-hearted for humans.'
Soft-hearted? Him?
'...When you have already lost one, Cthulhu.'
The message box had disappeared, which meant Nyarlathotep had probaby gone. Cthulhu gazed at the jet-black sky. He knew that it was black because there was also a layer of Nyarlathotep's dungeon. Still chasing after that same old plane? Cthulhu thought. In that moment, he heard the woman choking on her own blood. After commanding the tentacles to release her, she fell down.
Now, the woman was covered in blood, a fatal wound on her stomach. She clutched it with her hands, crying in pain. Suddenly, a blinding white light exploded within her mind, replaced by an army of demons. She screamed, pressing her temples. It felt like her intestine was twisting.
She bit her tongue until blood welled out. Christa looked at the man before her in anger. She did not see the conversation between the two bosses; she just knew that he had scared her and tried to kill her. So, she needed to kill him first.
When Cthulhu saw her slicing four of her knuckles, he knew right away that she sacrificed them for the power of an artifact.
A red light suddenly enveloped her body. Her eyes shone. She felt a surge of power that helped her get up and run straight towards Cthulhu. She attacked him. Cthulhu stood unmoving, he just looked at the fresh wounds with a cold expression.
"...!"
He grabbed her face and threw her on the floor!
Whoosh.
Smoke emanated from his hand. Cthulhu narrowed his eyes. As he looked at his hands, he noticed a few burns, signaling that this human body could no longer endure his power. He was already not able to use his full power; now, he reached his limit even faster. Cthulhu thought that he might not have sufficient time to deal with Christa. But, even though he had to let her go due to his promise, he still wanted to get some well-deserved revenge.
He made up his mind.
Cthulhu broke his left ring finger for more time.
For an entity like him, humans were just tiny ants he could crush with his hand. He had no need to care at all about what Raydel would think about being forced to sacrifice. In fact, he could even drag out his lungs and sacrifice them so he could obtain a physical body. Humans were dust for him. They were nothing important at all.
Nothing important, but why am I healing his body?
Cthulhu was healing the finger he had just broken.
Christa got up and tried to attack him again. Cthulhu did not dodge any of her attacks. Even though his body was filled with wounds, he did not care. He walked straight towards her and had the tentacles catch her and slam her onto the ground!
In the meantime, he also healed Raydel's body. Many thoughts occurred in his mind. When he saw the reflection of Raydel in the woman's eyes, the storm in his mind calmed. He finally realized what had been bothering him.
Because if something happened to this kid…
Because if you die, I will be the one to kill you.
Smoke was thick. Something crashed with a loud bang. Christa coughed up some blood. Water started to flood the ground, and the street around them was slowly transforming into a building she had never seen. She trembled in fear and tried to attack the tentacles with her dagger. She suddenly realized that the person before her was not the Raydel Klein she knew. Who was in his body?
Crack.
"...!!"
Christa screamed. The leg with a broken angle was snapped in two by the tentacles, leaving her with just one intact leg. She pushed against the ground, trying to sit up, but was slammed into the ground again!
The tentacles let go, leaving her in a puddle of her own blood.
The power she got from sacrificing her organs kept her alive. Christa struggled to get up, too scared to look at her own leg. She cried out in anger. Even with the new power from the sacrifice, she could not fight him. Who was he?!
Run. She needed to run!
She turned around and stumbled away.
There was a hole in her stomach from the tentacle. One of her legs was broken, and her body was fatally injured from being slammed against the ground. Cthulhu was certain that she would not stay alive for long. She would only survive for a while just to help Nyarlathotep achieve its goal. After that, he did not care.
Now, he only cared about how he could make sure Nyarlathotep see that he was angry.
Nyarlathotep did not control its human at all.
For Cthulhu, he tried to transform this dungeon to express his rage.
Suddenly, the surrounding grew darker, the shade of night in the middle of the sea. The buildings transformed. Cthulhu felt an immense surge of power flowing through him. The smoke coming out of his body was a signal that this body could not hold out much longer. Cthulhu did not care about it. He watched the changes in everything around him.
He sensed someone walking closer from behind.
Cthulhu turned around and saw an outstretched hand in front of his face.
"Wait!"
A woman's voice.
The hand lowered, revealing the owner's face, causing Cthulhu to freeze.
In that moment, Raydel regained consciousness. Cthulhu disappeared from his mind and body. The blurry vision slowly grew clearer. He saw a woman in a suit with long, light hair. She stared back at him, still mouthing, "come back!"
Wait… come back… Raydel knew what it was—a skill that could stop the boss summoning skill.
However,, Cthulhu's thoughts still lingered in his mind for a moment. He saw a vision.
Cthulhu was with this woman, side by side. Cthulhu looked at her as she smiled at him.
A sentence echoed in his head.
'After that, it depends on you… if you'll still be soft-hearted for humans.'
'...When you have already lost one, Cthulhu.'
Lost…?
Something told Raydel… this was the woman Cthulhu had lost.