Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Hughes felt a surge of joy in his heart—it looked like this might actually work!  

Constructing a machine soul using the Sea God’s spirit, and burning the Sea God’s flesh—this had originally been nothing more than a bold idea, riddled with countless uncertainties. And yet, it had unexpectedly proven to be feasible.  

At this thought, Hughes could barely contain his excitement. Castel had really stuffed that monster from the Pirate King’s Court into the furnace. That thing represented the pollution of the entire Storm Ocean!  

When he first devised the Network Path Project, Hughes merely intended to draw up a bit of pollution from the deep sea. As for collecting all the pollution of the Storm Ocean?  

Even in his most unhinged imaginings, he had never included that in the plan.  

And now, it seemed like they might really be able to try it?  

He took several deep breaths, forcibly suppressing the heat in his chest, then began contacting the Banshees of each work group, instructing them to place the Polluted Serpents in the correct positions.  

The main body of the monster wasn’t particularly large, but once the Polluted Serpents were included, its total size became frightening.  

Even the enormous furnace that occupied the entire cathedral district could only just barely contain the monster’s core. The rest of the Polluted Serpents were now lying draped outside.  

Since the monster was immune to damage, Hughes planned to place the Polluted Serpents atop the furnace’s reserved gaps, then simply shut the upper cover and begin the burn.  As for what might happen to the Polluted Serpents once the burning started, Hughes wasn’t sure yet. But if the furnace that used the Sea God’s soul as its machine soul truly succeeded in incinerating the monster, then the Polluted Serpents should also be severed off. When that happened, they could be collected and reloaded into the furnace for another round.  

While the Banshees adjusted the positioning of the Polluted Serpents, the researchers of the Moths Chasing Fire began reinstalling the furnace’s upper cover.  

It just so happened that the *Heavenveil Behemoth* airship was present as well. After returning with fresh counterweights, it immediately joined in the installation of the furnace lid.  

The entire newly built furnace had been placed beneath the main cathedral. During the war, the cathedral had sustained significant damage, and much of it had been torn down and rebuilt.  

As the furnace’s upper cover was gradually restored, it wasn’t just Monica and her team this time—everyone nearby began to hear the humming of the furnace. It was as though the massive structure was slowly coming to life.  

And the moment the top was fully installed, the entire world seemed to fall silent for an instant.  

At that moment, Hughes was still in his office, checking over blueprints. The furnace had originally been scheduled to ignite the next day. But the instant the installation was complete, he knew they couldn’t wait.  

Hughes’s office was located in the cathedral—directly above the furnace. There were still workers bustling in the cathedral atrium, and the installation had gone smoothly enough. They hadn’t even had time to celebrate.  

Yet Hughes suddenly snapped his head up from his chair.  

He had felt it—an intent. It came from below, from beneath multiple layers of concrete walls, beneath countless steam pipes. A will emerging from the furnace forged in steel.  

The machine soul had awakened.  

This time, there was no need for a ritual, no prayers. The moment the Sea God’s soul came into contact with its flesh, that overwhelming will pierced through dozens, maybe hundreds of meters of rock and concrete, crashing into Hughes’s mind. It howled in rhythm with his heartbeat.  

『Nini, inform all teams—the furnace ignition time is moved up. We must ignite it today.』  

『Huh? Why?』  

『I can feel its intense will. If we don’t ignite it today, it will ignite itself. And by then, it may not be just the monster that burns—the will is too strong. It’s about to shatter the wall of reality itself.』  

Nini’s eyes widened in shock. She froze, unable to reply.  

『There’s no time. Go gather everyone. We’re working overtime tonight.』  

As Hughes spoke, he opened up the work group chat.  

The Banshees, already exhausted from a day of labor, were called back into action to prepare for a long night ahead. Yet none of them really objected. In fact, many seemed excited.  

Every machine soul summoned before had been essentially uncommunicative. All the Banshees had tried speaking to them one by one.  

The only exception was Hughes. The machine souls seemed naturally inclined toward him. Honestly, that wasn’t surprising—his mechanical knowledge was far superior to anyone else’s. But still, it was a bit demoralizing.  

Now, however, each of them could feel the presence of the machine soul.  

Almost every Banshee could now communicate with it—and receive responses.  

Though the responses were simple: the machine soul was desperate to ignite.  

This machine soul, summoned with the Sea God’s spirit, was indeed different. The previous Clamorer-type Banshees had seen machine souls babble endlessly, but never really converse.  

The very first machine soul could communicate—but only with Hughes. That might as well have been the same as being silent.  

“Quick, go fetch the engineers. I can feel the heat inside the furnace—if we don’t ignite it soon, it’s going to light itself.”  

Hughes bolted down the stairs. The situation had become unexpectedly urgent. If the furnace ignited on its own without their intervention, it would be a textbook case of cognitive interference—will altering reality.  

When a few craftsmen snuck a bite of soap, it had caused pollution to spill across the whole island. If the Sea God’s spirit began cognitive interference, who knew what would happen?  

Igniting the furnace wasn’t a difficult task. Even for something of this size, the ignition process was simple: feed in fuel—light it up and let it burn.  

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Now they had the fuel. But as for lighting it?  

A typical steam engine only needed a source of flame—after that, it wasn’t picky. Wood or anything else would work. But this furnace—  

A phrase from the Mechanical Sanctum suddenly surfaced in Hughes’s mind:  

”■Steam shall not be defiled by common fire■.”  

Common fire.  

A furnace with the Sea God as its soul, its flesh as fuel—could it really be ignited so easily?  

Hughes suddenly paused in his sprint toward the combustion chamber.  

He was right beside the furnace now. His heart pounded in his chest, and an overwhelming sensation made him turn his head toward the steel structure.  

A moment later, he chose to follow his instincts. He stepped onto the maintenance platform, walked up to the furnace, and, gritting his teeth, placed his hand upon the massive steel creation.  

In the next instant, a surge of intense emotion erupted from within, flooding his mind.  

The machine soul—the soul within this steel body—was roaring. It refused to wait even a second longer. It wanted to incinerate that polluted flesh to ashes.  

Hughes felt that with a single thought, he could activate the furnace.  

No… no, something was still missing. Something vital hadn’t arrived. It wasn’t complete yet.  

With a jolt, Hughes called out through the Mind Link: 『Monica, hurry!』  

At the same time, he swept his eyes over the platform atop the furnace. Many workers who had just finished the installation were still there, looking around in confusion, not knowing what was happening.  

Damn it—he had to evacuate them immediately!