Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

The Eye of the Storm, the Bottomless Abyss of the Sea, was the center of the Storm Ocean.  

A massive void stretched across the seabed, swallowing any ships that approached.  

No living being that entered the Eye of the Storm had ever returned.  

It was also the heart of all storms, where tempests formed before spreading across the ocean, growing stronger and sweeping through the entire sea.  

Thus, the Storm Ocean was named.  

Jeremiah and Kenn exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.  

The sea was drying up day by day, revealing the once-hidden seabed.  

Could this be connected to the Eye of the Storm?  

The islands had been excavated, leaving behind gaping holes.  

The sea was gradually drying up.  The two of them swallowed nervously, a ridiculous thought surfacing in their minds.  

Could it be... that the seawater was “leaking” into that void?  

If it was truly leaking, where was it going?  

Fries: 『…Lady Scepter, the current situation is indeed similar to what you described. But why is this not the same anomaly from back then, and instead, Castel has traveled back in time?』  

Scepter fell silent for a moment before finally speaking.  

Her voice carried a rare trace of hesitation: 『This is actually what the Church of the Sea God believes. Of course, they are now a group of heretics and cannot be trusted. But…』  

Scepter: 『They seem to be trying to resurrect the Sea God. But an evil god cannot be resurrected. So instead, they plan to gather power and return to the past, to aid the Sea God before its death.』  

Hughes, sitting at the bottom of the sea, shuddered.  

Had he traveled through time once again?  

Fries: 『It’s possible to go back to the past?!』  

Scepter: 『Of course not. Time is even more stable than reality itself. No supernatural power can touch its might. Everyone considers the idea laughable. Even the less insane cultists wouldn’t come up with such nonsense.』  

Kenn and Jeremiah were too shocked to speak.  

Suddenly, they felt that whether the secret teachings were tainted or not no longer mattered.  

The sheer weight of these revelations made them feel as if they were going mad.  

Hughes, on the other hand, regained his composure.  

He possessed the power of Descent and knew more than the others in the link.  

If he was not mistaken, he was likely the only being capable of traversing both worlds.  

From his observations, time flowed at the same rate in both.  

His ability to descend across space was already absurd enough.  

If he could also travel through time, then everything would descend into chaos.  

He was more inclined to believe that the cultists of the Church of the Sea God had failed in their attempts.  

Instead, they had unintentionally dragged the entire Martha Archipelago into another dimension.  

Castel, being too close, was caught in the anomaly.  

The threads linking everyone’s minds began to show signs of instability.  

Hughes sensed this and knew he was reaching the limits of his ability.  

Though this vessel had become much stronger since entering the sea, today proved that it still had its limits.  

Without hesitation, Hughes severed the link and chose to return.  

He had too many things to verify.  

As he departed, the vessel of Worker Hughes gradually turned into a lifeless puppet, collapsing onto the seabed.  

Some time later, a dark shadow suddenly emerged from the depths, curiously approaching the abandoned vessel.  

Hughes snapped his eyes open from his chair and immediately sprang to his feet.  

Without wasting a moment, he rushed out of the house, heading straight for the Eastern Test Site.  

『Nini, are you there?』  

『I’m here! What’s wrong?』  

『Has Chloe gone exploring in the sky again recently?』  

『Eek! I don’t know… If she sneaks off, there’s nothing I can do about it!』  

『I’m not blaming you—Are you free right now? I need to take off immediately for an aerial survey!』  

『…Did something happen?』  

Nini’s tone turned serious.  

She immediately put down what she was working on and rushed toward the flight test site.  

『Yes, I just remembered something important. I need to check the islands along the coast right away!』  

『Didn’t Chloe already do that?』  

Hughes took a deep breath, trying to suppress the unease in his heart.  

『Not the islands. This time, I need to observe the coastline. I need to know if the sea level has risen!』  

『!!!』  

The newly built airship was not yet complete, but the previous one hadn’t been broken by Chloe’s reckless antics.  

Engineers had been installing machine gun mounts based on Hughes’ designs.  

But there was no time to wait.  

Chloe and Nini quickly took off together.  

Nini was essential.  

She could communicate directly with Hughes via the Mind Link.  

She also needed to control the Clamorer in the sky.  

Chloe, as an Extraordinary, couldn’t get too close to pollution.  

Even with protective containment, she was still at risk.  

In this regard, ordinary people had an advantage—at least they could handle entity pollution with proper precautions.  

Chloe was surprised by Hughes’ request, but she wasted no time and immediately boarded the airship.  

Hughes had wanted to go as well, but everyone unanimously opposed the idea.  

It made sense.  

He was just an ordinary human.  

If the airship crashed, Chloe and Nini might survive.  

Hughes, however, would be dead without a doubt.  

There was no need to take that risk.  

The airship quickly ascended.  

Chloe activated her supernatural ability, carefully scanning the ground from a third-person perspective.  

After a while, Nini’s trembling voice came through the Mind Link.  

『The sea level… is indeed rising.』  

『The original docks are completely submerged. The water has reached the residential areas!』  

At that moment, every Banshee on the island stopped what they were doing.  

The Mind Link fell into complete silence.  

Hughes’ heart sank.  

When Jeremiah and Kenn spoke of the “drying sea,” he already had a bad feeling.  

Beatrice’s mention of the Eye of the Storm only made his premonition worse.  

Yes.  

Not only had Jeremiah and Kenn thought of it—Hughes had too.  

And he was on the island.  

Thinking about the increasing number and intelligence of the monsters, he had come to a terrifying conclusion:  

The dried-up seawater had drained through the Bottomless Abyss of the Eye of the Storm…  

And flowed here.  

It had flowed to Castel!  

As an island, Castel was not a flat landmass.  

With its southern volcano as the highest peak, the center of the island was elevated while the surrounding areas were lower.  

The northern dock district was the lowest point on the island.  

That was why Hughes had sent Nini and Chloe to check it first.  

And sure enough, he had guessed correctly.  

Hughes’ pupils trembled.  

The rising sea level meant that Castel was doomed to sink.  

He had planned to advance technology step by step, gradually building up production before launching an all-out assault on the sea’s monsters.  

But now, he realized that had been nothing but a pipe dream.  

The sea was rising far faster than his technological progress.  

He had little time left.  

He had to solve everything before Castel was swallowed by the ocean!  

Time was not on his side!