AI

"They could cross the universe and find us on that planet because I installed a jammer at home long ago!"

"Unless those oversized idiots can develop technology, they'll never be able to find us!"

"As for their friendly attitude, do you think everyone is like your parents and sister, shouting about killing the moment they meet someone?"

"In every Cthulhu myth you've read, these guys have always viewed outsiders the way higher-dimensional beings look down on lower-dimensional ones."

"Would you, Morty, threaten an ant?"

"If you had to kill every ant you talked to just because it might crawl into your nose someday and kill you, wouldn't that be exhausting?"

"You can never wipe out all the ants in this world!"

"And finally, your talk about pushing things along and setting up obstacles is a little too ridiculous. If I really wanted to do something, would I just stand here and watch you waste my time?"

"Morty! What's my style? Do I need to say it again?"

Grandpa's round of teasing and mockery made Morty blush furiously on the spot.

While Morty was thinking he had overthought things, Grandpa wiped away a thin layer of cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead.

That was close... way too close...

If he hadn't kept a straight face the entire time, Morty might have caught hold of that little loose end and dragged the truth right out of him.

Still, this Morty truly was worthy of being the one he had deliberately selected after scanning the brainwaves of countless Mortys across innumerable multiverses.

That vigilance made all the time he had spent cultivating him worthwhile.

He had previously thought Morty was merely a little clever, but judging by what had just happened, he might have struck gold this time!

Completely unaware that a certain old schemer had become excited and begun revising his plans for the story, Morty calmed himself down.

Then, wearing a slightly embarrassed expression, he shamelessly apologized to the Old Ones present.

How dare he doubt the sheer prestige of everyone here.

He had thought they had yielded to Grandpa's tyrannical power and were being worked like beasts of burden.

What a sin~ What a sin~

Now, it seemed that despite possessing such overwhelming strength, they still treated a "little ant" like him with humility. Morty was truly blessed beyond measure!

Thank you all!

For giving Morty this much face!

If you big brothers ever come to my universe...

Actually, please don't. Any one of you would be an unstoppable natural disaster...

Hearing this overly formal apology, Cthulhu and the others, who had just thought they no longer needed to act, glanced at Grandpa standing behind Morty.

They found that his eyes were still signaling for them to keep the act going.

Cthulhu and the others felt miserable inside, wanting nothing more than to hug themselves from three hundred meters away in pity.

Cthulhu himself especially felt that he had taken a huge loss.

Not only had he cut off a strip of squid, but Grandpa had also stuffed something into the key to his rebirth. Even though, back at the beach earlier, in less than a minute of conversation, he had already hinted that Grandpa should kill Azathoth and make him the supreme god instead.

Still, no matter how he looked at it, the whole matter seemed rather unreliable.

The three parties, each harboring their own thoughts, all laughed stiffly together after Morty finished apologizing.

That dry laughter made even the Deep Ones waiting outside the main hall feel just how helpless the people inside sounded.

It was like Cthulhu watching his lover run off with the big toad right in front of him.

After that round of stiff laughter ended, things seemed to return to normal.

With this little probe meant to flush out the snake complete, the group surrounded Morty and began offering him some excellent advice.

Such as using the importance of this object to secure the key to victory at critical junctures and create favorable conditions for the final battle—meaningless nonsense like that...

While the group crowded around Morty, Cthulhu quietly led Grandpa outside the hall.

He felt that this whole thing was already dangerously close to spiraling out of control.

Were they really going to keep this up?

"Of course. Why not?"

"You know Azathoth absolutely cannot awaken, because once it does, this world will fall into destruction."

"So you help me, and I help you."

"Isn't that great?"

Grandpa's righteous-sounding words left Cthulhu silent.

To be honest, ever since he had seen the universe beyond, he no longer wanted to remain in this godforsaken place at all.

If he could leave, why would he stay in this world?

But would Grandpa be willing?

As if he had guessed what Cthulhu was thinking, Grandpa bared his teeth in a cold grin. "If you want to leave this world, that depends on how much effort you put in from here on out!"

At the same time.

Inside the cabin that Grandpa, Morty, and the Cthulhu family had once visited.

A flash of green light appeared, and a Rick-style portal opened inside the cabin.

Cthulhu One, who had been chatting and laughing with the others, was stunned by the sight before him the moment he passed through the portal.

This... this...

"My exquisite deerskin rug!!!"

"My portrait!!!"

"And... why the hell has the entire floor rotted away!!!"

After grieving over the damage to their home, Cthulhu Jerry and the others immediately turned their eyes toward Cthulhu Rick.

This trip to another world had been entirely his idea!

Yet after being gone for roughly one day in the Cthulhu World, their home had been wrecked like this.

They had to find whoever did this!

"Relax, relax. There's AI. It's been watching the house for us. Even if the intruder destroyed it, I also set up a camera... Where's the camera?!"

Cthulhu Rick, who had initially looked completely calm, discovered that not only had AI failed to respond immediately, but even the all-angle camera he had personally installed had been destroyed!

And when he stepped outside the cabin, the marks left on the ground by compressed gunpowder explosions indicated that the attacker was probably not from this world!!!

[Could it be a Rick from another world?]

Cthulhu Rick immediately headed for his warehouse. This building, originally meant for storing carriages and miscellaneous items, had long since been converted by him into an alchemy workshop.

But now, aside from a pile of disgusting incubation cocoons, there was nothing else in the workshop.

Growing angrier the more he looked, Cthulhu Rick pulled open the door leading to the underground base.

The sight before him made his face change dramatically.

A Cthulhu Rick who had just emerged from an incubation cocoon stood there, staring at him with a vicious grin.

"Hello, Creator! Didn't expect me to have a physical body, did you?"

"You're... fk! Die!"

Without another word, the two immediately started fighting. Eight hundred and sixty-nine different forms of lighting effects and fireworks blossomed continuously inside the cramped cabin.

On a rock along the distant shore, the Deep One left behind to monitor the cabin saw that fighting had broken out.

It immediately swam toward the depths of the sea.

But it was not heading for R'lyeh...

It was heading toward a modern submarine eight hundred meters beneath the horizon.