CH 43

【The monster's tall body laid on the altar like a small mountain.

People in black robes prayed on the ground, not caring about the beast’s pained expression and weak breaths.

Blood flowed freely and it sunk into an illusion.

There was the sight of it escaping from the circus — it helped a woman pick up a fallen fruit, but only received a scream of horror and attacks from the men via sickles and hoes in return.

It fled in embarrassment and hid by an abandoned corpse in a slum, avoiding people's pursuit.

At that time, the rotten smell of the corpse still lingered around and the monster twitched, his eyes completely losing focus.

In the distance, a huge vortex formed on the surface of the sea. The clouds coalesced and a huge tentacle protruded out of the deep, setting off a huge tsunami.

At this moment, the world became discolored and the entire continent was covered by a shadow. The high-ranking casters stepped out of the gorgeous palace, but found that the magic elements in the air had disappeared.

The airship sailing above was shot down by lightning and the entire sky became a restricted area.

The sole deity from time immemorial had awoken, everything would return to the embrace of the great dominator and no one could violate the dignity of the god. 】

——From 《Cthulhu’s Wrath》

Cthulhu had been asleep for too long. His mighty name was absent from the history books and there were only a few tens of thousands of believers remaining compared to the past when the number of believers once covered the continent.

These believers were affected by the divine power emanating from his sleep and devoted their faith. One by one, they went insane, which led to word of mouth naming him an evil god.

He had no qualms about being unconscious for the rest of eternity, so he directly slept in the deepest part of the world - the Laleille Abyss. Before falling asleep, he was satisfied with the place, thinking that it was quiet and comfortable, which was very suitable for him.

But now, this dark place had become an obstacle for his waking.

His body had become stiff from years of unuse, it was a little difficult to move the tentacles, not to mention rising from the bottom of the sea.

Although it wasn’t a big issue in general, if he wanted to have full mobility again, he’d need to stir up half of the ocean, and even then it would take a long time. Several weeks, at least.

This annoyed Cthulhu because he couldn't wait to hold his beloved human in his arms.

Last time he saw the beloved human with the body of a soul fragment that had split out in his sleep, but he was actually very unhappy. He didn't like his human being touched by others, even his own soul fragment.

Therefore, he later brought in the spirit of his beloved and thoroughly marked him.

Although that cute human looked very angry …..

Cthulhu moved his tentacles in confusion and distress, and the disruptions caused more harsh waves on the stormy sea.

He must go out! When his lovely human knew who he was and what he looked like, his human would definitely fall in love with him then! The reason the human was angry previously must have been because of the ugly body his soul fragment occupied!

Cthulhu thought that way, the tentacles moving again. He looked at his strong and powerful tentacles, smooth skin, bright colors, and imagined the amazed expression on the beloved human’s face after seeing his true body. His heart warmed up and he got excited.

But the current problem was how to get out quickly.

Cthulhu now regretted digging a pit for himself, but soon he thought of a good method.

If he could recover that soul fragment, the return of it would speed up his re-emergence, and he could see the beloved human faster!

The fragment of his soul that separated during his slumber had attached to it one tenth of the Cthulhu’s power. Therefore, Cthulhu thought that even though he could only retrieve a bit of power, a tenth is also power. He could be freed a lot earlier.

The statue of Cthulhu on Laleille Island - which laid just above the Laleille Abyss- began to transmit orders to his followers.

The believers knelt on the ground fanatically and immediately set off for the Torian Empire, making sure to offer sacrifices to their god.

***

Zhou Yu picked up a successfully refined gu and put it into an alchemy pill as a disguise. He had to say, the family's collection really was priceless. Many of the hard-to-find alchemy materials that people would kill for were here. 

Therefore, it was easy to find the materials for refining a gu.

While he didn’t know the reason behind it, the magical power in his body was overflowing. When making the gu, he directly omitted many steps necessary in the last world through the usage of magic.

But even so, in this different world where witchcraft had never appeared, Zhou Yu spent a lot of time comparing the differences and commonalities of various materials. By the time the refining of a gu was successful, it was already dark outside.

Zhou Yu walked out of the laboratory with a gu that was encased in a pill.

When the old man outside stood up immediately and looked at the pill in his hand, he still had some doubts in his eyes.

"Eat it." Zhou Yu passed the pill to the old man, ignoring his hesitant expression, and walked towards the library on the other side of the corridor.

"Come to the library after you finish, I’ll be taking a look at your collection." Zhou Yu couldn't wait to see those magic books.

Due to the lack of texts on basic magic application that only apprentice casters would have, he didn't know his current level and couldn't go any further, which was undoubtedly the biggest obstacle for the current him who wanted to get stronger as quickly as possible.

In this world, the strong preyed upon the weak, and only by desperately getting stronger could he find Feng Xing and stay with him.

There weren't just a few dangerous things appearing in those visions of the plot. Through those pictures, he knew that he was still too weak now, far from being powerful enough.

Going to the bookshelf where the magic books were stored, Zhou Yu quickly scanned the titles, picked out the most important ones, and started to put them into the bag he carried with him.

The books were very thick and heavy, and Zhou Yu had a lot of gold coins in his bag, so he couldn't fit it all. He felt helpless and wondered if he was still being a little too reckless.

Anyway, the books wouldn’t grow legs on their own and run away. He didn’t need to urgently empty the bookshelf. Going back with a bag full of books would only be inconvenient.

Zhou Yu thought over it for a moment, took down an introductory book to magic and carried it with him, putting the other grimoires back on the bookshelf.

He opened the introductory textbook, which was said to be a must for a caster, and quickly read through the preface and the table of contents.

His memory was very good, reading it once basically meant that it became ingrained in his consciousness. It could also be called photographic memory. He quickly understood the knowledge in the books.

After a short while, Zhou Yu finished flipping through the introduction to magic. He closed the book and thoughtfully stretched out his hand after a moment of meditation. Then, he proceeded to chant the incantation according to the magic book.

"Spirit of the wind, obey my call——" Before the words were finished, a huge tornado appeared in front of Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu's body was sent askew and almost blown away.

The bookshelf in front of him was even more unlucky, the books were blown to the ground, dust flying.

"Stop —— cough cough cough!" Zhou Yu signaled for it to stop, his head and face covered with dust. He coughed due to the dust and had to stop the spell.

How could this be?

Zhou Yu frowned, puzzled.

According to the grimoire, beginners should only be able to summon a small cyclone in the palm of their hands! How could such a fierce one appear after he casted the spell, and so effortlessly as well!

Zhou Yu flipped through the book again to find out if he’d missed something.

He didn't even finish the spell, so how was the tornado successfully conjured? Could the abundance of magical energy in his body be the reason?

At the door, a middle-aged man who had been stricken by ecstasy froze, eyes wide open like a copper bell, his wide-open mouth trembling, speechless.

"A caster! You turned out to be a caster!" The middle-aged man's face - that could still be considered handsome - was distorted, the emotions in his eyes were complicated, respect and surprise intertwined, and ecstasy and fear were mixed.

Turning his head, Zhou Yu saw the middle-aged man stiffen at the door, closed the book, shrugged, and said, "I'm sorry, I accidentally messed up your house. I’ll compensate you."

"Dear Sir Caster, please forgive my earlier suspicion! Thank you for your generosity! Thank you for helping me regain my youth!" The middle-aged man knelt down, his head touching and tears dripping onto the floor.

He really didn’t expect that he could return to his heyday, he returned to his forties! Became the one who he was in his prime, with a flexible mind and a deft hand!

Just now he was wondering if this young man was the incarnation of the devil, and deliberately seduced him to believe in a cult, but the scene just now made him anxious to kill the rotten old man who was doubtful of Sir Caster!

Such a young, advanced caster, able to conjure instantaneous spells, and even a small spell could become such a powerful force, how could there be time to set him up, a wretched old man with nothing!

Although his family had a member as a caster before, it was, after all, many years ago. He started to boast only to entice Zhou Yu into becoming his apprentice.

Although he’d lived in the Imperial capital for such a long time, he’d never seen a high-ranking caster this young. How could he not be awed by such an existence?

Zhou Yu calmly picked up all the grimoires off the ground and put them back on the bookshelf, saying: "These books will stay here at first. I’ll come back to pick them up in a few days. The trade will end after I’ve moved all of them."

The middle-aged man was still kneeling on the ground, and shaking his head like a rattle, he said earnestly: "No, sir, I’d already planned on leaving this place to go back for the Imperial Capital, to realize my dream. I can give this house directly to you, sir! In order to repay you for your kindness! "

Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow, glanced at the middle-aged man with slight surprise, and then pretended to evade and agree to his request.

Looking at the man's ecstatic expression, Zhou Yu sighed in his heart, wondering whether the ancestors of this family knew that there was such an ungrateful offspring who would casually give away his ancestral house so that he could step away from his deathbed.

The sun had completely sunk. Zhou Yu was addicted to this library and couldn't extricate himself. It was not until the middle-aged man came in and lit the candles that he realized that the time to leave had passed long ago.

This is bad!

Zhou Yu put down the book with a headache, then hurriedly packed and left the house.

He’d promised Franken to go back as soon as possible. This time wasn’t good. That upright guy had probably stayed at home and starved for the whole day.

Zhou Yu, while secretly hating himself for failing to live up to expectations and forgetting the time, applied a whirlwind magic on his body, using the force from the wind to speed himself up.

If this way of casting became known to the people outside, it would definitely cause a wave of amazement.

It should be known, in this world, only a very small number of high-level casters could flexibly apply spells, and they were often limited by the amount of magic stored in their bodies. They couldn’t hover in the air nor increase their speed. Everyone knew that casters had weak bodies, so could only hide behind a large number of soldiers to fight at long range.

But Zhou Yu was different. He could calmly analyze the nature of each spell in detail, improve it, and apply it to various aspects, which couldn’t  be regarded as not powerful.

It was enough to say that he was a peerless genius that would only emerge every thousands of years on this continent.

However, Zhou Yu didn’t have a clear understanding of his own strength. He just felt that his strength had improved after learning these spells, but it was still far from his goal.

For example —— being able to fight against that evil god.

Thinking of what the evil god had done a few days ago, Zhou Yu still felt so much hate that his teeth itched, but he was utterly helpless.

The night deepened and the stars above cast a hazy light on the dark street.

Zhou Yu stopped, his pupils shrunk, and he couldn't speak as he stared at the broken door in front of him.

Franken? Franken!

Zhou Yu stepped on the fragments of the door and walked into the originally bright house, and at a glance he saw a huge, blood-coloured mark on the wall of the living room.

He’d seen that mark before in the previous visions from Plot Perception.

The back of the hand was slightly hot, Zhou Yu's breath was a little unstable, and the feeling in his eyes boiled.

He raised his hand and saw the faintly glowing mark on the back of his hand, exactly like the blood-colored mark on the wall.

"Villain...... evil god......"

Zhou Yu whispered that name and clenched his fists.

Who is that evil god?

Is the magic in me related to him?

Or, could he be ... Feng Xing?