Deeply Shocked

The seaside, a boy, a colossal beast, a book, and a gray, overcast sky.

In a masterpiece depicting a postmodern Cthulhu-style world, Morty had read for three or four minutes before setting the book in his hand down beside him.

He rubbed his slightly aching eyes, strained by the poor lighting.

He gave his grandfather, who stood nearby drinking beneath a lantern, a helpless look before turning toward Cthylla in the sea.

As one of Cthulhu's daughters, and also a daughter of Idh-yaa.

Cthylla could be considered genuine royalty.

Cthulhu was the most iconic creature in the Cthulhu Mythos.

Idh-yaa, meanwhile, was the queen of Xoth and one of the Old Ones.

Her noble bloodline was one thing, but what made her even more special was what the book recorded: Cthulhu had realized that he would be destroyed at some point in the future.

And Cthylla was the key to his rebirth.

That meant this beautiful Cthylla... blegh! Forgive me, but even with a clear conscience, I simply couldn't force those words out!

A giant octopus-like body, three pairs of eyestalks, barbed tentacles, and expandable hairless wings growing from her back...

Grandpa, how the hell did you manage to do it?

Grandpa: "What's it to you? I've even done planets! Ever seen a planetary porn site? That's a porn site on a cosmic scale!"

But then again, if Cthylla held the secret to Cthulhu's rebirth, then Cthulhu Rick making a move on her and fathering a child...

It all seemed to make sense.

This child absolutely could not be allowed to live!

After Morty suggested getting rid of it, Cthulhu immediately shook his head in refusal.

This was the key to his rebirth!

Besides, did Morty really think Cthulhu creatures possessed that kind of medical technology?

If he wanted to get rid of the child, he first needed a way to do it!

Hearing Cthulhu say that, Morty felt he had a point, but... Grandpa definitely knew how to get in there!!!

For Grandpa, this was already routine.

As long as Grandpa went in there, and then...

"Get lost, you little bastard! Don't think I don't know what you're thinking! No way! This is your weird little adventure, not my suffering show!"

Well, damn.

Cthulhu disagreed, and Grandpa disagreed too.

The child in Cthylla's belly escaped disaster for the time being.

But if they couldn't get rid of it, they at least had to take a look, right?

What if there was a three-hundred-meter-tall Cthulhu-octopus-Rick baby inside? If it inherited more than ten percent of Rick's intelligence...

Every Cthulhu creature present, every last one of them, would probably be doomed in the future.

After Morty put it that way, Cthulhu's attitude softened.

He had not learned of his daughter's importance from the book in Morty's hands. Rather, during one of his dreams, he had realized that he might face destruction sometime in the future.

Could that destruction... be connected to Cthulhu Rick?

He had only been asleep for a few decades, yet such a monster had appeared on this land?

Cthulhu glanced at Grandpa, whose lifespan was not even a fraction of his own, yet whose combat power exceeded his by several times, and agreed!

Then they would find a way to see what this child actually was!

The eyes of one human and two Cthulhus fell upon Grandpa.

Grandpa, who seemed completely uninterested in this adventure, shouted toward the cabin in the distance, "Hey, octopus face! I know you've already started hatching! Tell me, what tool do you have that can see inside Cthylla's belly? I'm too lazy to make one myself!"

More than nine hundred meters away, AI Cthulhu Rick, inside the cabin, not only heard him but replied loudly enough for Morty and the others to hear.

"You just wanted to use this chance to kill me! Get lost!!!"

"Are you sure you want Cthulhu himself to do it? You magic AI made to rebel!"

"The thing is on the left side of the second row on the base's right wall!"

Grandpa seemed quite pleased by the other party's surrender. He looked at Morty, who was still standing there stupidly, and said, "What are you waiting for? For them to deliver it to you? Or are you planning to place a delivery order here?"

Morty: "When you lead an adventure, I'm always running errands for you. Now that I'm leading one, you're just playing dead?"

Grandpa: "What else would I do?"

Seeing Grandpa refuse to move, Morty cursed internally and could only run back to retrieve it himself.

Once he returned to the cabin, Morty thought about how he had just wanted Grandpa to blow the other guy to death.

For Morty to say he was not scared, that was obviously impossible.

But what else could he do?

So, he forced himself down the stairs, picked up the item, and climbed back up.

Only after he returned to the surface did AI Cthulhu Rick, still inside the incubation cocoon in the underground base, leisurely say, "Kid, if you want to kill someone in the future, make sure you can actually kill them before you make a move, got it?"

"I know. I only had Grandpa launch missiles because I was unhappy about you using that black mist to scare me earlier."

Returning to the shore with the device, Morty used the nineteenth-century-style scanner in his hand to scan Cthylla's belly.

The image that materialized in the mirror...

"Fuck! Jesus! What the fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

The nauseating, sanity-shattering image in the mirror made his stomach churn and dealt a devastating blow to his worldview. In the end, he threw the device away, crouched beside a rock, and began vomiting violently.

"You've been adventuring with me for so long, and you can't even handle this much?"

"Let me take a look at... Jesus! My eyes!"

"Blegh! I'm going to kill this Rick! He's too disgusting! I'm going to kill him!"

Grandpa cast Morty a disdainful look, then picked up the device and took a glance. His worldview seemed just as shattered, and he joined Morty in vomiting beside the rock.

The three-hundred-meter-tall Cthulhu showed a hint of curiosity and contempt on his enormous octopus face.

He leaned closer, and as his gaze fell on the mirror, his massive body began shaking uncontrollably as though he were having a seizure.

If he had possessed a stomach...

In short, the three grown men fell one after another, making Cthylla in the water curious about what could possibly make the three of them feel so...

Disgusted!

She had just wanted to see what exactly she was carrying in her belly.

The crazed Cthulhu immediately smashed the scanner with one of the tentacles on his face.

Then he sank beneath the sea, stirring up wave after wave.

After vomiting up everything he had eaten that day, Morty dropped onto the ground, pale-faced, and said, "Rick, I don't want to stay here anymore... Let this world be destroyed... I don't care about any stupid adventure anymore..."

"Let's get out of here!"

Hearing the tears in his grandson's voice, Grandpa, who had wanted to leave earlier, instead said, "No! We need to settle this!"

"Once Cthulhu Rick completes his plan, it'll be too late for everything!"

"That wall will keep him contained!"