Chapter 68: Arriving at the Scene
"Flee, run fast!" Robert's mind was filled with only this one word. While they were exploring the abandoned alien base, some nameless monster had suddenly begun hunting them. The equipment they carried stood no chance against it, and there were even those who had fallen into madness after merely glancing at the creature.
Robert was one of the few who had managed to keep his wits. When he woke from the terror of the Shoggoth, he also roused himself from that nameless psychic interference. At that moment, it was perfectly clear to him: they must have been under the aliens' control, for how else could they have ignored all the anomalies along the way, heedlessly marching until their very lives were about to be forfeit here?
Once this realization struck, Robert ran recklessly back the way they had come. He had no idea where safety lay, but he knew with certainty that wherever that monster dwelled was danger, so he sprinted outward with abandon. As for William, the other one who had regained his senses, he ran off in a different direction, apparently intending to use the city's terrain to wage guerrilla warfare against the creature.
Robert just kept running. He did not know whether the monster was behind him, nor where he might go from here. His mind contained only a single word: run. At last, he reached the junction and saw the expanse of white snow. Instinctively, he cast his gaze downward—how had a great hole been torn through his waist and abdomen?
A forgotten memory suddenly resurfaced. When he had turned to flee, the monster had already struck him in the belly. And before he had come to that dance, he had been chosen by the sacrifice as an offering to the god, surrendering his own heart. He had long since died.
Realizing this, Robert's eyes dimmed at once, and he collapsed on the ground at the tunnel's mouth. His blood quickly congealed, and the Shoggoth did not pursue him.
As for William, who had fled in the other direction, he had clearly seen the monster strike Robert with no reaction whatsoever from the man—that was precisely why he had bolted away in terror. In his view, Robert must have been a traitor, surely having sold them all out from behind their backs.
William attempted to use the complex terrain to circle around that bizarre monster. Though the creature had no solid form, William looped around a few times and found that its intelligence did not seem especially high, and so he settled into a guerrilla game with it.
...
Steve and the others advanced along the trail of blood left on the ground. It was a very long tunnel, its walls adorned with ancient murals, all of which Natasha recorded with her camera.
To guard against dangers lurking in the darkness, Steve and the party carried blazing searchlights throughout the passage—though given how well stocked they were, running out of power was hardly a concern.
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Emerging from the long corridor, Steve and his team likewise laid eyes on that city of peculiar style, yet imposing grandeur.
"It looks like our scientists stumbled upon something quite remarkable." Barton spoke first, uncharacteristically, drawing a second glance from Steve.
"Now is hardly the time for urban-planning studies. It seems the final secret is already within reach." Natasha looked at the strange buildings nearby, then traced the source of the blood trail. "Captain, this direction is correct."
Steve took a deep breath. "Be ready, everyone. This could be a fierce battle." From the moment they had learned of the spatial rift, they already sensed this incident would not be easy to resolve.
Following the trail of blood, the group reached the edge of the city.
"The blood trail ends here. This must be where it happened." Natasha carefully examined the traces nearby and shook her head. "It's very clean here. There are no signs of any other creature having existed."
Just as everyone was at a loss, Qu Yizhi, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke: "It's a Shoggoth. All the traces here have been devoured by the Shoggoth."
"Shoggoth?" Steve turned to look at Qu Yizhi. "The same Shoggoth?" Natasha froze for a moment, then immediately caught on. Since Odin had delivered a decree to Midgard, although S.H.I.E.L.D. resented Asgard's claim to the title of lord of the Nine Realms, they had still recorded everything documented in that file. As a seasoned agent, committing those records to memory was Natasha's foremost duty.
Qu Yizhi rubbed her temples, saying with a note of uncertainty: "My memories tell me so. After seeing the architecture of this place, I recalled certain things. In my memories, this was a base of the Elder Ones, later taken over by the Shoggoths."
Natasha nodded and pulled up S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records on the Elder Ones and the Shoggoths. "According to Odin's handwritten account, the Elder Ones were a race that worshipped the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, and the Shoggoths were their most perfect creations. In the end, these creations rebelled against their makers." Since speaking a deity's name would be perceived by that deity, Odin had not disclosed the god's name to them.
"If Shoggoths truly exist here, then why would they slaughter those scientists? The ones they rebelled against were the Elder Ones, not humanity." Steve spoke with some puzzlement. In his view, the Shoggoths who fought against the servants of evil gods should have been on their side.
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Natasha shook her head. "Although the records do not state why the Shoggoths resisted the Elder Ones, they do mention that the Shoggoths' birth seemed to involve other evil gods."
At that, Steve said no more. So it was merely a squabble between the servants of two evil deities—not the story of silent endurance, reform, and redemption he had imagined.
"Then, Miss Yizhi, how are we supposed to deal with the Shoggoth, and how do we find it?" Since it was an enemy, Steve abandoned any pretense of goodwill and turned to Qu Yizhi for the means to destroy it.
Qu Yizhi shook her head with an awkward expression. "I'm sorry, I don't know yet."
...
On the other side, William, finding it harder and harder to stay hidden, gasped for breath behind a wall. At first, the monster's intelligence had indeed been very low, and he could easily lose it. But as time went on, William discovered with growing horror that the creature's intelligence was rising. Now it was already extremely difficult to shake it off. All he could do was run and keep running. William knew perfectly well that if this went on, he would surely be caught.
And then, William noticed that the monster that should have been relentlessly pursuing him had not immediately lunged. He turned to look at the monster's shadow and saw it halted in place, seemingly hesitating over something.
Having already gained some understanding of the creature's habits, William realized at once that another living being must have appeared. Earlier, when his teammates had been scattering in every direction, the monster had also behaved this way. But now his squad members had been entirely wiped out, leaving only the captain, whose fate was unknown, and Mike, who had vanished. The least likely possibility was that outsiders had somehow entered.
So the quick-witted William immediately resolved to find whoever had suddenly appeared. Whether it was a former teammate or reinforcements arriving later, there was no way he could hold out much longer on his own.