Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Blood Harbor had an entire squad of Banshees stationed, and every day Banshees traveled back and forth between Castel Island and Blood Harbor.

They were extraordinary beings of the sea, moving with great speed in the water. Their swimming was not merely a matter of physical motion of their limbs, but also involved extraordinary power at work.

For a Banshee to swim at full speed from Blood Harbor back to Castel Island, it took only a little over two hours.

The moment the rebellion broke out in Blood Harbor, the Banshees immediately sent someone back with a message. This urgent news was delivered straight onto Hughes’s desk.

After quickly giving a few orders, Hughes drove everyone out of the room, then sat on the chair and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, atop an iceberg in the sea, Worker Hughes opened his eyes. He swiftly tugged on the threads that connected everyone, pulling them into the Mind Link.

Hughes intended to personally hear the situation from the scene.

The Mind Link connected.

On the tower, Zoe’s eyes suddenly widened. Sitting in the library, Beatrice Joanne quietly shifted her body, letting the pile of books before her block the line of sight from the surveillance.

And in a hidden alley of Blood Harbor, Gwen softly spoke toward the air beside her: “I’m going to the meeting first. Little Gwen, help me control for a while.”

Her body trembled, then quickly calmed. She lowered her head to look at her hands, testing movement, then her expression hardened as she nodded.

“Don’t worry.”

On the other side, Hughes felt the presences coming from the Mind Link and exhaled in relief.

They were all alive, their states still stable. Although he did not yet know what had truly happened in Blood Harbor, it was not too late.

Once Zoe realized what had happened, she immediately turned to ask Beatrice Joanne.

Writer: 『Miss Scepter, may I ask about the information on the Life Mother Church you previously collected?』

That instantly drew everyone’s attention. Needless to say, Gwen was still on the battlefield. As for Jeremiah and Kenn, after their last Mind Link, they had spent considerable effort to indirectly leak some news about the Life Mother Church to Hughes.

Since then, the two had also begun paying attention to Blood Harbor’s situation. Unfortunately, the rebellion of the Life Mother Church this time had been far too sudden, and Hughes had immediately pulled them into the Mind Link, leaving them without any idea of what had happened.

Scepter: 『Of course. I found the information on the Life Mother Church—it is a very infamous heretical cult. Within the Church of Candlelight, there exists a rather complete archive.』

Writer: 『！！』

Gwen: 『！！』

Fries: 『Please tell us quickly, we are all very interested!』

Scepter chuckled softly, not keeping them in suspense, and directly began speaking: 『Where did I leave off last time? I recall it was that the Life Mother Church, which devours the souls of its believers, was at the very beginning actually saving the starving masses of the city, providing them with food so they could survive.』

Scepter: 『But all power comes at a price—the Mother Priestesses of the Life Mother Church required almost no talent to gain extraordinary power. It was the lowest-threshold extraordinary path, and correspondingly, its price was almost the greatest.』

Scepter: 『First of all, themselves. The Mother Priestesses were almost all extremely short-lived. Even if they survived the rebellion, they would quickly weaken and die. This process usually lasted only a few weeks.』

Scepter: 『Not only did their bodies decay, but their souls would also be consumed rapidly. Once a person chose the extraordinary path of the Mother Goddess, their life began its countdown—ironically, cultists who worshiped life could not preserve life.』

Gwen: 『Becoming a Mother Priestess means certain death?』

Scepter: 『It is death that comes quickly. Almost no one lives beyond two months.』

Gwen fell into silence. She truly had not expected the extraordinary path of the Mother Goddess to be so cruel. Then… Mira… was she already someone near death?

She recalled that emaciated woman, with little vitality in her body, yet whose gaze had been warm.

Scepter: 『That is not all. Allowing mortals to so easily touch the extraordinary does not come with only this cost. The extraordinary of the Life Mother Church must also bear another burden.』

As she spoke, her casual tone faded, and her voice became serious.

Scepter: 『Every Mother Priestess must feed “慈母” [慈母 = Compassionate Mother], which is the Heretical God of the Life Mother Church.』

Fries: 『A h-heretical god?!』

Scepter: 『Naturally, a heretical god. Otherwise, why do you think they are called a heretical cult? Of course they have their own heretical god.』

Fries: 『I see…』

Do all cults have their own heretical gods? Hughes rubbed his chin, falling into thought.

He had not encountered many cults. Other than this Life Mother sect, there was also the Moths Chasing Fire.

As for the heretical god of the Moths Chasing Fire…

He remembered it seemed to be called the Lord of Moths, which he had accidentally purified.

Well, strictly speaking, this Inhabited Shell had originally been prepared by the Moths Chasing Fire for the descent of the Lord of Moths. Which meant that theoretically, he himself was currently the heretical god of the Moths Chasing Fire…

Scepter: 『As for how it is fed—I believe you can already guess. By using the souls of the followers.』

Scepter: 『The “Compassionate Mother” does not harm living believers, but once a follower dies, it devours their souls. If its true body descends, it will even consume their corpses.』

Gwen: 『Its true body descends?』

Scepter: 『Ah, Gwen, you are here too. Telling this to children might not be very suitable… never mind. The Mother Priestesses would transform believers, the so-called limb-stitching mentioned before. Those transformed believers could then be sacrificed to the “Compassionate Mother” to allow its descent.』

Scepter: 『The true descent of the Mother Goddess rarely happens. Usually, cultists only attempt it when they are utterly desperate. But almost every descent results in a massive catastrophe.』

Writer: 『Miss Scepter, may I ask what the descended true body of the Mother Goddess looks like?』

Though she already had a vague suspicion in her heart, she still decided to ask.

Scepter: 『They are those twisted humanoid forms stitched together from various limbs. Random human body parts would appear on them, as if crudely and violently kneaded together.』

Zoe sighed inwardly. The monster before her truly was a descended Mother Goddess…

Wait… why were there some similar monsters that were like mountains of flesh, while others were only slightly taller than humans?

Writer: 『Is the descended true body of the Mother Goddess very strong?』

Beatrice Joanne’s voice was grave: 『Not strong. In fact, one could even call it weak. When it has just been born, not to mention extraordinary beings, even a group of peasants with crude weapons could handle it—but that is only at the very beginning.』

Scepter: 『The most terrifying thing about the descent of the Mother Goddess is that it can grow infinitely. Once it grows to a certain degree, it becomes almost invincible.』

Zoe’s heart trembled. She turned her head back, staring at the colossal monster in the distance, towering like a mountain.