"So... this is the protoplasmic lifeform you were talking about?" Gu Shanhai wore a look of absolute shock as he eyed the creature restrained in the middle of the Magic Array not far away.
About half the height of a person, it resembled an amorphous protoplasmic blister, faintly emitting a soft glow.
A multitude of greenish, pus-like eyes kept forming and dissolving on its surface.
This thing went by the nickname Xiu Ji, but its proper name was Shugges.
More importantly, it seemed to be no ordinary Shugges but very likely a Shugges Lord, which was much more troublesome than the common variety.
But to say that Shugges are protoplasmic lifeforms indeed hit the mark; they were not any ordinary life form to start with.
Shugges, it is said, were created using the cells of the Outer God Ubo Sasra, known as the Source of All Sources, and were one of the favorite mythical creatures for Cthulhu Mages to summon. Just toss it into a crowd of enemies and run fast, remember, very fast, or else you'll be the one getting eaten.
Usually, summoning a Shugges Lord wasn't done, because it was just too much trouble.
"You seem familiar?" Te Kelei asked hesitantly.
"Cough, a little familiar. Why don't you hurry and exorcise it?" Gu Shanhai felt numb all over, the appearance of the Shugges was proof enough of the troublesome nature of the adversary.
He had no more expectations for this world and only wanted to leave as soon as possible; with his current strength, it was unwise to deal with these things.
He suspected that the area outside Saint Mary Hospital might have already been overrun.
A Shugges Lord alone might not prove anything, but the strange hue of the sky was enough to confirm that something was seriously off with this world.
"Gurgle~"
Inside the Magic Array, the Shugges Lord made a sort of noise.
"It's greeting you," Te Kelei asked oddly.
"Greeting my family?" Gu Shanhai couldn't help feeling speechless. Why the hell would it insult him? He hadn't done any of this.
"It didn't greet your family, just you. It thinks you're brimming with wisdom," Te Kelei was puzzled. What did this have to do with family?
"Oh, it's really greeting me, huh? Okay, what's your next move?" Gu Shanhai asked.
"I need to perform a ritual. The Array might collapse, and I want you to help stop this protoplasmic lifeform," Te Kelei said immediately.
Gu Shanhai's face darkened as he glanced at the Shugges Lord and then back at himself, "What makes you think I could stop that thing?"
The Shugges Lord's size might have indicated a problem during its arrival—it was smaller than expected—but small didn't imply weakness. Judging by its appearance, it was anything but weak.
Translating to a level, it would likely be at least 30, while he was just level 3. Even if he was fancy with his moves, he wouldn't be able to outdo it.
"You possess..."
"Don't 'you possess' me. Find another way or that's the end of it." Gu Shanhai thought about trying to complete the mission, but certainly didn't want to risk his life.
"That's really too bad," Te Kelei suddenly became a bit manic, his voice taking on a sharp tone, "Then I will have to do it myself."
As soon as he spoke, Te Kelei gulped down a bottle of unknown Magic Potion, and Gu Shanhai watched as his skin ripped, and a vast amount of fungus burst forth, looking as if it had sprouted.
Gu Shanhai took several steps back, distancing himself from the other, having thought he was about to deal with the Shugges Lord, only to find Te Kelei turning around with a vicious glare fixed on him.
"How dare you defy the command of a god, then merge with the god," Te Kelei transformed into a big boss.
"I was just saying, you dare call yourself a god when you haven't even succeeded, isn't that a bit off?" Gu Shanhai deftly dodged the attack.
How to put it, scrub?
His mode of attack was still just to lunge at him for a beatdown, only now he looked a tad more disgusting.
Perhaps that bottle of Magic Potion went straight to his head, dropping his reasoning to rock bottom.
Now he resembled a humanoid fungus colony, that's right—he grew mushrooms.
Mushrooms are fungi, not plants.
He had this feeling that Te Kelei might have been duped by the Shugges Lord.
Because after sprouting mushrooms, his capabilities deteriorated severely. Initially, he could barely keep up with Gu Shanhai, but now he was gasping and staggering every few steps like he was out of breath.
"This is wrong, I've drunk the Magic Potion, this shouldn't be happening..." Te Kelei felt a surge of hallucinations wash over him, and even Gu Shanhai looked like a mess in his eyes.
Physical weakness caused him to stumble and fall to the ground, heavy panting sounding particularly abrupt in the silent room.
Gu Shanhai knew he was dying.
"Damn it, the puzzle instance..." Gu Shanhai cursed under his breath.
A Shugges Lord was simply not a creature current players like him could handle. The only boss that required combat was Te Kelei.
But now, Gu Shanhai had skipped the puzzle-solving process altogether, so he couldn't beat the Shugges Lord either.
There was surely something in the instance to cope with the Shugges Lord; otherwise, it was a total party kill scenario.
"Immortality..." Te Kelei weakly murmured his last obsession before breathing his last, scattering around like a pile of dregs, and the various fungi withered along with him.
The Shugges, trapped in the center of the Magic Array, issued a strange, unintelligible noise; Gu Shanhai couldn't understand it either.
He had the language pack, but it didn't include Shugges' speech, which was more like a mental translation. For one, it took up too much space to bring back, and two, it was too niche. If Shugges were included, then should the Ancient Giant, Moon Beast, and others also be recorded?
He had never expected an emergency like this.
In the end, he could do nothing but rummage through the withered mushrooms for any remaining Magic Potions.
"Ugh, what a stink, how could he have dared to down this stuff?" Gu Shanhai was looking for a solution, and even though he hadn't opened the bottle of the Potion, the foul smell wafting from it hit him hard.
With Te Kelei's death, the whole ritual was collapsing, as he was the core of it.
So the Magic Array maintaining the Shugges was powered by his sanity, and without that energy source, naturally, it was about to suffer.
"Damn it... you die and that's one thing, but you bring the instance down with you." Gu Shanhai was on the verge of tears.
He was unsure if he could still make it to the logistics warehouse now...
He'd thought Te Kelei was a treasure trove, but before he could get his hands on it, it was gone. Such a loss. Just as he was getting up to run away, he spotted it—the Magic Array had vanished in an extraordinary sudden manner. He'd thought he had more time.
The Shugges Lord squirmed its body towards Gu Shanhai who noticed... it was free again.