Silent Sword

"The blade of this sword can lengthen or shorten according to its user's thoughts, and become exceedingly sharp..."

"But no matter how sharp a blade is, in this world, without some special means, even if it can pierce defenses one hundred percent of the time, what use is that? The monsters in this world are casually several meters, dozens of meters, even hundreds of meters large."

"That was why Cthulhu Rick forged this weapon."

"What truly makes it useful is, naturally, its silence effect!"

As AI Cthulhu Rick spoke at length.

Morty stood nearby, his eyes sparkling with admiration. It gave the former the kind of flattered feeling that only a real Rick got to enjoy.

That feeling, which could only be obtained from Morty.

Made him gradually reveal details he had originally intended to conceal.

And Morty...

Still wore an admiring expression, but inwardly, he kept recording AI Cthulhu Rick's words while taking the occasional jab at him in his mind.

Any Rick from any world really falls for this...

If no one affirms you and gives you a sense of meaning in existence, then you either choose suicide or keep on with your nihilism...

Watching the show was one thing, but after truly spending a full half year with him, Morty had actually learned a few ways to manipulate Grandpa.

One of them was...

This poor guy, who in this cold world could only either huddle together with others in Rick City or rely on his family to give him warmth.

Needed other people's affirmation!

That's right! Grandpa was extremely susceptible to this!

When this elderly man with an overwhelming need for control lost the people he loved in life, the immense pain he suffered made him utterly hate anything slipping beyond his control.

And once something got out of control, he would inevitably strike first and eliminate the danger before it arrived.

Even if that danger might be Morty himself!

That was also why, for a full half year, Morty had practically only served as the perfect tool.

Running away from Grandpa was nowhere near that easy!

As AI Cthulhu Rick finished his introduction, Morty also understood the exact principle behind how the golden god-slaying sword before him could kill Old Gods.

Simply put.

The Great Old Ones, Old Gods, and Outer Gods of the Cthulhu world—the three major factions—were nearly invincible within that world.

Because under that world's laws, they were extraordinarily difficult to kill.

After all, most of them had no physical forms at all.

So, in order to create a weapon capable of dealing with all three major factions, the Cthulhu Grandpa of this world created one from the root of the problem.

The Silent Sword!

If this thing injured a life-form outside the Cthulhu world.

At most, it would leave them with sword wounds.

But most monsters in the Cthulhu world were the kind that kept babbling away in other creatures' minds even while asleep.

Those uncontrollable ravings contained enormous amounts of "energy."

If they were sealed away, they would accumulate within their bodies until they burst apart and died.

"So how long do I need to stab them with this thing?"

Having figured out how it worked, Morty looked at it again and realized Cthulhu Rick did not seem to have taken it away. It seemed rather useless.

"A day? A year? Or perhaps..."

"Enough! Your physical form is gone!"

After saying that, Morty turned and left. He felt the other party had completely wasted a huge amount of his time.

You made this lousy sword sound incredibly awesome.

But Cthulhu Rick had not even taken it with him, and you could not even estimate the time yourself. Wasn't that just screwing people over?

Seeing Morty about to leave, AI Cthulhu Rick could no longer keep up appearances.

Being looked down on by others was one thing.

But being looked down on by a little punk like Morty was another matter entirely!!!

Kid!

How dare you look down on your uncle's magic-version AI?

After taking only a few steps, Morty saw the stairs before him begin to shrink, along with the opening at the top of them.

The light vanished.

Darkness filled the entire space.

After a man's whisper came countless mouths whispering.

Those sounds, capable of driving a sane person mad on the spot in a short time, had no effect on Morty whatsoever.

He had been here last time. Why would he fall into the same pit twice?

Besides, you were not even Cthulhu Rick—just his magic-version AI. How could you act so arrogantly?

You were getting a little too carried away.

Unable to see even a trace of light, Morty slowly pressed the skin on his left arm a few times.

The protective device implanted beneath his skin began sending a signal to Grandpa.

Grandpa, who was outside chatting nonsense with Cthulhu, sensed it and turned toward the cabin's storage room.

After hesitating for several seconds, he did not make any rash moves. Instead, he replied through the communication signal.

"Morty, you know how many defensive devices I installed in our house, right?"

"Yeah..."

Morty answered helplessly upon hearing that.

The next second, Grandpa said exactly as expected, "This is another version of my base. If I act rashly, there will definitely be even more unpredictable consequences!"

"So figure out how to get out yourself!"

Morty: "The way you said 'unpredictable' sounds so Cthulhu-like that I really want to know whether that big octopus outside has become my Grandpa's brother..."

Grandpa outside the cabin did not want to act carelessly.

So if Morty wanted to get out of here, he could only rely on himself?

Morty had no interest in fighting an AI Cthulhu Rick that had home-field advantage.

So he promptly admitted defeat.

After all, no matter which Grandpa it was, they all enjoyed the pleasure of crushing Morty.

Sure enough, after he apologized, the black mist surrounding him vanished at once...

"Heh! Morty!"

Looking at AI Cthulhu Rick, who had re-formed a physical body, Morty, who had just admitted defeat, made his terms clear.

Tell him what had happened here before, along with everything about that sword.

Then he would have Grandpa outside figure out a way to give him a physical form.

"Kid, I'm not stupid. The guy outside refuses to come in because he's afraid I'll deal with him, while I'm unwilling to appear before him because I'm afraid he'll destroy me!"

"So here's the plan!"

"I'll first teach you how to make an incubation cocoon! Then I'll enter this incubation cocoon, and we can talk business!"

Morty stared seriously at AI Cthulhu Rick for several seconds, suppressing his laughter as he said there was no problem with that.

But he was too stupid, so AI Cthulhu Rick had to tell him every single detail of how to make the incubation cocoon without leaving anything out!

"Don't worry! I don't want anything to go wrong when I hatch either! I'll tell you everything you want to know!"

"Okay!"

With a faint smile on his face, Morty began taking out all kinds of supplies from the underground base under AI Cthulhu Rick's guidance.

Preparing to make an incubation cocoon.

Rick-version Cthulhu knowledge, plus incubation cocoon manufacturing technology—this time, I've really hit the jackpot!