Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 497 My Lord, Please Save Me
Before entering the city gate, Hunter glanced fearfully at the armored giants standing on both sides of the gate.

He had seen these tall guards before at Blood Harbor, but he still couldn't tell whether they were empty suits of armor or actually people inside.

It's so tall, it definitely can't be human, right? Maybe it's some kind of twisted monster.

Hunter turned to look at the Guardians of the Church; perhaps these church members knew more and were also afraid of these monsters.
He happened to see the Guardians wave at the steel giant.

"Hey Nini, got punished to stand guard again?"

"."

"This time we brought a scholar from the North, who studied mechanical engineering. He might end up working under you in the future."

The heavily armored steel giant slowly turned its head and looked at him.

Hunter was horrified. This giant was actually alive?
Wait, what does it mean to be assigned to work under this giant? What kind of terrifying work requires such a towering giant to do it? Is this some kind of code, a sacrifice to be made?

The steel giant's gaze lingered on the Guardians for a moment, then it stared directly at Hunter.

Hunter took a few steps back, his legs starting to tremble again.

He just felt a strange anger in that gaze.
"So it was your army that was wiped out in three minutes?" The giant's voice was surprisingly pleasant, but Hunter felt as if he had fallen into a deep winter. The voice was filled with undisguised malice and anger.

"No, no, the commander of the allied forces is Viscount Frey; I am merely a scholar."

"I just took some extra ammunition, which made me a few minutes late. When I got to your position, there wasn't a single person left standing!"

"Uh"

"Do you know what? I waited a whole six months for a battle, but all I could do was stand there with a gun and write reports!"

Do you know how much pain I'm in?!

The steel giant's voice trembled with rage, and six hands slowly emerged from behind him. Not only did Hunter retreat, but the two guards also looked around nervously, as if something terrible had happened.

Nini was clearly so angry that she lost her temper. The succubus next to her grabbed her in a panic: "You guys go inside quickly and stay away from Nini!"

The three of them no longer cared about being guarded or not, and rushed into the city gate with their heads in their hands.

After running through several city gates, the magnificent cathedral came into view, and Nini's distant roar could be faintly heard.

Hunter was still somewhat shaken: "What was that?"

"The banshee, Nini, she can be a bit impulsive sometimes, but she's a good person. You two might end up, well, colleagues."

Hunter's face twitched. "Lord Hughes, don't you care? This is Castel."

"Of course he cares. All the banshees are loyal to Lord Hughes, and he has always kept them in check. In fact, Lady Nini has helped us a lot."

“I see. It’s not surprising that he’s loyal to Lord Hughes.” Hen nodded, subconsciously accepting the existence of the Banshee.

He should have been afraid of such a powerful alien race, but with Lord Hughes there, there would be no problem.

He saw so many amazing things along the way that any church that took them out could boast about them as miracles.

It's reasonable that the lord who rules this place must possess extraordinary abilities that are unimaginable to ordinary people.

The friars led Hunter to the central courtyard, and then up the stairs.

"Here, this is the Stellar Furnace. Since you've already guessed its nature, there shouldn't be any major problems. However, I still suggest you stay away from the stair railing. It's a bit deep here, and looking down can make you dizzy."

Hunter smiled reservedly, but didn't seem to care much, glancing downwards.

This should be Castel's greatest hidden secret, something related to the Church of the Sea God, perhaps even a statue.
The upward climb suddenly came to a halt.

He quickly averted his gaze, as if the heat below had burned his eyes.

Just a moment ago, his heart was pounding as if he were about to die, and his reason was screaming frantically, desperately trying to warn him.

What did he see?
The memory is somewhat hazy, as if unwilling to recall that fleeting glimpse.

He vaguely remembered seeing a huge furnace, with crimson flames and some things leaping inside.

what?
"what happened?"

"Is there something wrong with this...stellar furnace?"

"Huh? Is there a problem?" The guard peeked in. "No problem, everything's normal."

Hunter forced a smile, maintaining his composure.

It seems he must have been out of his mind just now. He saw nothing wrong, so he'll definitely be fine too. He shouldn't scare himself.

Hunter took a deep breath, ignoring his frantic screaming, and cautiously looked down.

He saw an eye?

Inside the furnace, an eye was pressed against the glass of the observation hole, silently staring back at him.

Eye?

A stoker walked past the observation hole, tapped the glass with a wrench, and the eye disappeared.

Only then did Hunter notice that the observation hole was actually larger than the stoker's entire body.

If we convert it proportionally, since an eye is more than the size of a person, then in the boiler...
What's inside the boiler?
Hunter suddenly felt that the surroundings had become empty.

The scorching furnace continuously emitted crimson heat, while the ventilation fan slowly rotated, shattering the sunlight.

He was all alone, standing atop the furnace.

The screeching of the pressure relief valve gradually grew louder.

The sounds of gears turning, flywheels spinning, and pistons clanging back and forth echoed louder and louder in the empty room.

The furnace, the furnace in the courtyard, Hunter seemed to be spiraling downwards down the stairs.

The staircase was spinning, the world was spinning, but the enormous eye before him was fixed on him.

Eyes
My heartbeat quickened with each mechanical clanging sound.

Hunter looked at the furnace in front of him, and the huge pipes leading in all directions looked more and more familiar.

The city walls, with their furnace pipes planted with giant rye, lead all the way to the city walls in the sea.
Suddenly, the soul gained some insight, but the body remained lost in the same place.

The sound of the ocean waves surged in my ears as the steam valves opened and closed.

The downward fall stopped.

His consciousness paused for a moment, and then the spinning world seemed to be wound up, slowly turning in another direction.

He stopped falling and instead began to rise rapidly up the stairs.

The clicking sounds grew faster and faster.

He burst out of the cathedral courtyard, over the ceiling, over the clouds, over the sky, and arrived above the world.

He looked down.

Countless twisted tentacles struggled and wriggled within the stellar furnace, then extended outwards, stretching in all directions, spreading from the island all the way into the sea.

From Castel, across the eye of the storm, across the corridor of despair, covering the entire Storm Ocean, the bottom of the sea is covered with dense tentacles, like a fungal carpet, twisting and turning, filling the entire ocean.

Hunter instantly understood everything.

This is not a statue of the sea god, nor a petty act by the sea god's church, nor any existence that a lowly mortal like him could even imagine.

Hunter suddenly looked away and slowly turned his head.

Behind them was an enormous eye, silently watching everything.

It was as if thousands of bells were ringing in unison, as if countless living beings were singing in unison. Reason and soul were being torn apart together, and pain and pleasure were quietly playing around.

Hunter only had time to use his last bit of willpower to recite the mantra in his heart with utmost devotion.

"Please save me."

“My Lord, Hughes.”

(End of this chapter)