The Overlord Of Mysteries Chapter 10 10. The High Priest Of R'lyeh

If you notice any errors, please feel free to give me constructive feedback. English is not my first language, so if you notice any mistakes, please mention them in the comment section at the end of the chapter.

Characters and the setting used in this Fanfic does not belong to me and they belong to their respective owners.

Let's begin the story!

Word Count: 7950 Approx

This is the biggest chapter so far in this fic. So I hope you enjoy it as i will be not uploading a chapter next week due to my exams.

Also at the end I have asked for a question and I hope you guys could help me with it.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Mc Pov

It has been six days since we conquered this place. It was a hassle to get to this place though. In these six days, I have played for 16 hours a day and slept for six hours while managing the rest of the work and my body's necessities during the rest. With this, I finally was able to progress and unlock the next Avatar. I've chosen Demon as my next choice.

This marks my 6th Avatar.

They weren't keen on giving us or me this place but since we all, I mean my whole future guild members used [Wish Upon A Star], they had to give us their time. I am sure, else they would have just brushed us away. After all, I am still hiding my identity.

But with a little persuasion, they had to listen to me. After all the amount of money spent by me and the bots created by World here is more than the money they could ever earn in their whole lives.

I was put on hold, as they had to check in with their colleagues and superiors. But I had World there, who persuaded them, discreetly to not ruin the current state and cause a butterfly effect.

They agreed, but instead of this base, they will create a similar dungeon with similar surroundings a bit distance from this Castle.

They will let us have the Dungeon, in the ready stage for us to turn it into a Guild. I for one, asked them to create a dungeon with monsters in it and provide me with the key to the dungeon. It would be fun, and because of all my demands, the person on the other end was getting a headache.

Well, I intended to trouble him, to have him pass the call to World.

'I don't understand, why I am using the roundabout way to reach my objective but it's fun this way. Moreover, I am trying to lay under cover, or better say to not cause big disturbances. Though I am doing things that contradict my statements who cares?'

For my demands, World readily agreed and convinced or fooled them. The demands I made on call were less than what I made offline. To not raise suspicion, she asked for two weeks to fulfil my request.

It's almost been two years since the release of the game. There were and are many events happening in the game. One such event was taking place now. The Tales of Cthulhu.

I am currently with the bots created by World and we are in R'lyeh now, the sunken city of Cthulhu.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Omni Pov

Bruce together with his teammates moved through R'lyeh. From the moment they entered the sunken city, they faced enemies of all races. Cultists of different races roamed the ancient city, waiting for their Master, their God, the High Priest of the Old Ones to awaken and grace them with his presence.

They weren't the only ones to inhabit the city, there were shadowy creatures and dark creatures with grotesque forms.

The inhabitants weren't very pleased with Bruce's and his teammate's intrusion into their sacred city.

Bruce made his through the roads of the city fighting all those who tried to oppose and eliminate him.

Finally after clearing their way, they arrived at the largest building located at the centre of this magnificent city, a building with a history that dates back to ancient times. The architecture speaks of the days old, older than the castle of the All-Knowing Father, The King of God's Odin.

The moment they stepped into the temple, shadowy tentacle monsters ganged up on them. To eliminate them and by looking at his surroundings, Bruce was sure of it. They were being treated as sacrifices to the Great High Priest of The Outer Gods. It didn't help him that those monsters were soon followed by races of Yggdrasil in priest attire.

'So they must be priests of this temple, am I involved in some ritual'

It didn't help them when they received a notification stating the same.

'So if we were to die here, not only will we lose 50% of experience but also any one class, be it racial or job. It didn't matter if they were rare or any ordinary class. I am sure it was this sadistic nature of Devs that got this game into trouble'

Finally at last they dispatched the last of the monster without suffering any casualties. After the fight, they began to heal themselves and restore their HP, MP and stamina. While the fight wasn't tough for them, Bruce alone was fighting differently. As for the rest they fought as one, bringing the fight to a swift end.

Bruce moved along the temple, exploring it. It was beautiful, as the temple was situated at a higher altitude, and the view of the city was also mesmerizing.

As he stood there admiring the view. Just when he was wondering about the main event, the whole of the sunken city experienced an earthquake.

The cracks began to form in the world. The temple experienced a high amount of damage to its foundation. Web-shaped cracks started forming on the temple, followed by the city. Its upper layer crumbled every second due to the vibrations of the earthquake. Bigger cracks started forming, dividing the city into several parts.

Suddenly the earthquake stopped, and Bruce moved back. Slowly and calmly he backed out. His instincts were screaming at him, danger bells were ringing loudly in his mind. His instincts and experience were whispering to him about the arrival. For he had experienced it many times, though not personally but as a viewer or a reader. Again and again, he had seen the protagonist fall, and die for his useless bravado. For he had made up his mind to complete the game without dying. He was scared, it was a first since he started playing, but what he was afraid of wasn't the Eldritch horror being released or the graphics but the possibility of death.

His wish to not die, while he could have quit this quest to maintain his status he still didn't wish to give up on this fight. It didn't help him to remember that quitting the game in the middle of a battle was the same as dying in Yggdrasil. The thrill, fun and his expectations for the fight kept increasing. He was confused about his next step. Whether to fight and come out as a victor or die trying. There was always an additional option, that is to escape, which he couldn't.

"World?"

'We'll see'

He was looking forward to fighting against the boss monster now. Well, a God to be precise, An Outer God at that.

Just as Bruce was getting ready to buff himself, the temple subjected to an earthquake broke down. Debris falling everywhere.

He saw it, and after making up his mind to fight he moved a lot closer to the temple to get a better view of the approaching enemy. There he saw it, in the depths of the temple, The Dreamer, Cthulhu.

For he had awakened.

He knew it was fake, but it still managed to give him a jump scare, maybe it was because of the details and perfection achieved through art. He looked far more terrifying than any image of him he had seen till now.

Then he heard it. The chorus singing of worshipers, the prayer sung in an unknown language, not known to mankind.

He was so busy or had been distracted by what was in front of him, that he had ignored his back. Before he knew it he was surrounded by all sides. As the races wearing black attire had surrounded the temple, praying.

He didn't know of the language used by them or the meaning of the passage being recited by them but he knew this. They were praying, offering their prayers to The Great Old Ones. Here in this sunken city of R'lyeh, in the Grand Temple of The Great Old Ones, lies Cthulhu, the Great Old One of the Mythos, sleeping for many aeons until he was disturbed by the intruders, in his sacred sanctuary.

Hearing their prayers, The Sleeping God opened its eyes.

The Yggdrasil screeched, being subjected to its vision. Reality was rewritten as Cthulhu made his way from the fallen temple. As The Great Dreamer rose to the sky from the deepest depths of the sunken city, the whole world despaired.

{Madness-I}

{Madness-II}

{Madness-III}

{Madness-IV}

{Madness-V}

{Aura of Despair-l}

{Aura of Despair-II}

{Aura of Despair-III}

{Aura of Despair-IV}

{Aura of Despair-V}

{Negative Burst}

{Insanity I}

{Insanity II}

{Insanity III}

{Insanity IV}

{Insanity V}

{Aura of Death V}

...

Many debuffs were applied against the trespassers, it was he, whose very visage would drive anyone who laid their eyes or those he saw to madness. Driving them to insanity. Losing their minds the cultists sacrificed themselves, inflicting more harm upon themselves with each passing second. Ignoring the cries of others and the rude intruders standing before the now-broken temple.

For Bruce and the Yggdrasil saw it, The Great Old One had awakened. It rose to the sky, breaking off its old forgotten shackles.

The Great Old One, Cthulhu had awakened, its movements a voracious maelstrom, indiscriminately devouring the essence of both the deceased and the living who dared to wander within its malevolent grasp.

The very essence of His existence was a blight upon the cosmos, a perverse anomaly that twisted the fabric of reality into grotesque parodies of their original design.

Upon Cthulhu's arrival at the shore, the continuum of time began to decay, as ancient and modern prophecies unravelled and evolved into terrifying actuality. The deranged ramblings of lunatics and seers once dismissed as the ravings of the insane, now echoed with a chilling accuracy.

The Umbra Mortalis, the very Shadow of Death itself, surged forth like a sinister tide of obsidian flames, scorching through the world's crust as Cthulhu's presence seeped into the world's foundation, akin to a malignant ink corrupting the integrity of a fragile edifice. In that dreadful instant, the temple of the sunken city of R'lyeh disintegrated into oblivion, swallowed by the abyssal chasm of the Midgard Ocean's deepest trench, within a realm of darkness where reality and the uncharted abyss converged.

The last High Priest of the First City, Cthulhu, relinquished its ancient sanctuary beneath the waves, ascending to claim dominion over the terrestrial sphere as the Preeminent Star God. As the final vestige of its kind across all existences, Cthulhu emerged as the lone victor of a cataclysmic conflict so ancient, that its origins were lost to time itself.

The sinister, tar-black conflagration unfurled like venomous tendrils in the clearest of waters, engulfing all of existence in its inexorable advance. Those hapless beings ensnared within its path were erased from the annals of reality, as the Great Entropy sought to revert creation back to the primordial void, erasing every trace of the cosmos' inception.

As the shadowy web of destruction expanded across the world, countless lives were extinguished in mere moments, the shadow's advance as indifferent and inescapable as the eventual demise of the stars themselves.

As the world succumbed to the eldritch terror of Cthulhu's rise, the skies themselves began to weep tears of black ichor, a vile substance that blotted out the sun and transformed the day into a perpetual twilight of despair. The very air turned thick and oppressive, a miasma of otherworldly corruption that choked the breath of all living things.

The seas, once teeming with life, now lay still and stagnant, their depths a mirror to the void above, reflecting a universe devoid of hope. Monstrous shapes lurked beneath the surface, their forms too terrible for the human mind to comprehend without succumbing to madness.

The Yggdrasil trembled with the weight of His malevolence, fissures spreading like a plague, swallowing worlds whole, and reshaping them in a grotesque mockery of their former selves. Mountains crumbled, their once-majestic peaks now mere rubble at the feet of the cosmic interloper.

Races, caught in the throes of this cataclysm, found their sanity fraying at the edges. The fabric of society was destroyed as individuals turned on one another, driven to violence by the whispers that echoed in the corners of their minds—whispers that promised oblivion as the only respite from the horror that had befallen their world.

And amidst the chaos, the cultists who had long foretold His coming rejoiced, their chants rising above the din of destruction. They welcomed the end with open arms, believing themselves to be chosen to ascend beyond the mortal coil, to bask in the dark glory of their God. Sacrificing themselves to their God.

But there was no salvation to be found in the embrace of Cthulhu. Only darkness, only the end of all things. For in His wake, there was nothing left but the silence of the void, the eternal night that would consume the stars themselves, leaving behind only the echoes of a universe that once was.

Cthulhu had made its way to the sky, now gazing down at the mortals, who disturbed his sleep.

'I can't even count the number of debuffs we got just from his arrival. He didn't even chant or cast spells, those are debuff caused just by his presence. This is getting fun.'

Bruce was in his demon avatar, to fight against this monstrosity. For he was levelling up as he defeated those cultists and the monsters found on this island.

"Let the Battle Begin"

'I don't think Sol Nirvana can defeat him. It has the power to destroy small worlds but I am sure this guy has more HP and defence stats in both physical and magical ways beyond what is acceptable.

'Isn't that cheating'

'Fine, I do agree on that part. Though I may hate or get bored fighting those ridiculous beings, but the sense of accomplishment I get after winning, makes up for all my suffering'

'Let's start with a bang'

Bruce retrieved an item from his inventory and activated it.

The item was a miniature statue of a goat-headed demon, with 6 pair of hands.

'Well, I got the idea from Overlord itself for this item. This item was given to Demiurge by Ainz during their attack on the capital of the Re-Estize in the second season of the anime.

It's in a way similar to the original item but better. It summons hordes of demons to attack. 1 Demon King(Lvl-95) a demon equivalent of Seraphim, 3 level-80 demons, 7 level-75 demons, 9 level-65 demons, 21 level-40 demons, 25 level-35 demons, 65 level-15 demons and 100 level-10 demons.

It does look like a very strong line-up but I alone can take on all of them at once. But it will depend on which avatar I am using.

I can defeat them mostly because of the strong classes I possess. The amount of effort I had to put into creating this artefact makes me cry tears of blood. Well, I will have to just trust these bots to get me the material next time. Since I can't buy them with cash directly, well I can offer cash in exchange for materials but I don't wish to buy materials with significant value to the story. Ahh! This really is quite a peculiar situation that I have found myself in.

With the artefact activated, the horde of demons was summoned to the battlefield.

Bruce moved back, and let the demons fight him to check his strength.

As soon as the demons were summoned, Cthulhu looked at them, and so did the demons lay their eyes upon Him. It was the end, lower demons died from his very presence, as for the 3 level-80 demons they were driven mad, with all sorts of debuff. They stood there unable to make a move, petrified as they waited till their HP decreased to zero. Other high-level demons were driven to madness, they inflicted harm upon themselves as they succumbed to Insanity.

Only the Demon King stood still not affected by all the debuffs. The Demon King moved and cast a spell.

{Summon Meteor} (A 10th-tier spell, it summons a giant meteor when cast)

The meteor clashed against Cthulhu, but it did not harm Cthulhu. Cthulhu completely ignored the meteor, as it cast its eyes on the Demon King.

"Interesting, so the only way to cause him harm is to pile up our damage for a long time. But won't it recover before we do our damage"

"So, 10th tier spells are the minimum tier spell for damaging him and we need divine tier at the bare minimum to damage him personally"

"Yes"

Bruce stood there watching Demon King fight, and from the looks of it, he didn't plan to join in anytime soon.

Cthulhu having cast its eye on the Demon King, attacked the Demon King with a tentacle. It was swift, a tentacle penetrated the Demon King. The Demon King fought back, a giant flaming sword appeared in his hands. The flames covering the giant sword have a reddish-black tint.

The Demon King stood 12 feet tall, with a large pair of devilish bat-like wings. The cut was almost as swift as Cthulhu's, the Demon managed to cut off the tentacle that penetrated him.

{Flames of Hell: Raging Inferno} (Skill)

A pillar of fire rose from the ground beneath the Demon King, and the pillar of fire enveloped Cthulhu. After the Fire died down, Cthulhu was still hovering in the air.

'As expected, all these attacks and still his HP hasn't dwindled any more than 0.1%'

The attack was swift, Cthulhu had appeared before the Demon, and he stood before him. The size difference between them was apparent. Size doesn't matter when it comes to strength but this time it was just the opposite, the bigger one dominated the clash.

The Cthulhu in front of him was different than how he was described to be, he did look similar but had many big tentacles protruding from his back.

They clashed, and the Demon was sent flying after receiving a punch to his chest. The fight had taken away from the temple now they were going at it in the city. As Demon stood up to continue the fight but before he could move, a small sphere of light appeared in front of him.

The Demon couldn't move, the sphere of light expanded till it covered the Demon King. The light died down, but the Demon was nowhere to be seen after it. So was the land the Demon standing on.

'What happened?'

'Yes'

Bruce was in his Demon avatar, his appearance was of a young white-haired male. He stepped forward, after seeing his last summons demise. A fire wrapped around Bruce, and through the fire, he emerged as a red-coloured demon. A demon with no eyes on his face but there were many eyes on his body. Having many horns on his head, wearing a simple garb.

Just like Shalltear and Demiurge, his demon avatar had two forms. His human form and his demon form.

'I have decided to name him on the being on whom I have based this form. The Scarlett King. I can't lose now, now can I? It will be an insult to Scarlett King if I lose here without a fight. Also, I was very weak when I fought against Fire Dragon compared to the present. All the rare racial classes and the job classes I have now, plus my current stats are more.'

Just as he finished his inner monologue, many magical circles formed around him, before he broke a small hourglass he took out.

{Super Tier Magic: The Promised Star Fall, Stella}

As soon as the super-tier magic was activated, far in the sky, a White gigantic humanoid being with a pair of golden wings on his back was summoned. As he raised his left arm above, a golden bow materialised.

It the next moment, He aimed and shot a golden arrow through it.

The golden arrow made its way to Cthulhu and exploded.

'Nice one, I was able to take down 3% of his total HP with that attack. It's a good spell of Grand Arcanist class. A hidden class I got to due to World. Similar to The Beast of Apocalypse. Beast of Apocalypse is the class that allows me to have two forms. Plus, this second form is twice as strong as my first form in all stats related to physical strength and triples my Stat of all those related to magic. Three times MP, Magical Defense and Attack. As for my HP, it is six times more. I am as strong as most boss monsters in many low-level dungeons with a difficulty requirement of 6 level-100 players in my first form, that is if I play my cards. In the second form, I can take on three such parties, a total of 18 players. Just 12 short of what the World Enemy from Webnovel took on. Though I have never fought against that many in PvP till now.'

'How is that reality manipulation'