Metamorphosis

The tumors swelling all over Hodgson's body squeezed the breath out of him. He felt his whole body constricting, his bones nearly crushed. His face twisted in agony.

"Am I going to die?"

Despair rose in Hodgson's heart, but then he began to struggle. "No, I don't want to die! Pope, save me... Please, save me!"

He struggled to turn his gaze toward Saint John XII, the only person there who wielded supernatural power, hoping for help.

Instead, his eyes happened to fall on Florence.

Thick lips had grown on Florence's face. Her fair skin had turned pale yellow, and her brilliant golden hair had somehow become disheveled. Her ears stretched outward like those of some strange beast.

And her transformation seemed to be continuing. Her lower body swelled rapidly. Arms the size of an adult's thrust out of it, followed by dozens of limbs resembling giant spider legs.

"Child of the Evil God."

The sight of Florence immediately reminded Kyosuke Kitajima of the description of the Child of the Evil God in the Cthulhu Mythos story "The Dunwich Horror."

But wasn't the Child of the Evil God born from the union of Yog-Sothoth and a human woman? Why had Florence transformed directly into one?

The question rose instinctively in Kyosuke Kitajima's mind, only to be drowned out by excruciating pain.

Florence gazed impassively at the people in the control room, all trapped in hallucinations.

She hadn't lied. She really had made contact with Yog-Sothoth and asked it a question.

But she hadn't asked it for an antigravity formula. Half joking, she had asked how she could become a god.

The moment she asked, a vast amount of arcane knowledge flooded her mind.

Then Kyosuke Kitajima's words made her realize that the knowledge in her head was real. With it,