Dealing with these creatures didn't take very long at all.
Strictly speaking, as long as Mary was facing enemies that weren't humanoid in form, she generally didn't suffer from any hesitation or weakness in her hands or legs. She charged straight in and hit the creature with a barrage of Glintblades, followed directly by a Carian Greatsword combo, and carved the metallic monster to pieces without much fuss.
Which just went to show that the special training in the hero graves hadn't been a waste of time — the only problem was that she still hesitated when facing things that looked human. That was a real issue.
As for the two old men...…honestly, what kind of trouble could two zombie-like things that couldn't appear in daylight possibly cause Duanmu Huai?
To put it simply — the moment Glaaki's avatar came ashore, Duanmu Huai gave the order, and Mary was the first one out to engage Glaaki. Though her posture suggested she was going for a "standing before the monster to save the victims" kind of heroic impression, from Duanmu Huai's perspective she was simply running away. After all, if she was going to take on the [boss] herself, there was no way Duanmu Huai was going to let her deal with the two old men.
Actually, he had genuinely wanted to have Mary go after those two old men.
In reality, a great deal of what the Inquisition faced wasn't the kind of grotesque, monstrous creatures that would be a miracle to blend into a crowd — it was the pitiful-looking little girl, the kindly-seeming old grandfather, the seemingly righteous knight or gentle young woman. That was precisely where the danger lay. Duanmu Huai actually thought that seeing through those two old men as something other than human shouldn't have been particularly difficult for Mary — it was just that she was genuinely unwilling to look at things from that angle.
But that was something that could only change gradually.
Since Mary was handling Glaaki's avatar, the two old men naturally fell to Lorena — and as a shrine maiden of exorcism, Lorena was never one to fall short in that department. In fact, the moment the one called William turned around and tried to raise his shotgun, Lorena's scripture had already come down squarely on the back of his head, returning him to a proper corpse.
The other old man and his two servants were quickly purified as well.
After all, these were nothing more than zombie-grade creatures — for Lorena, this was a lower difficulty than dealing with goblins.
As for the two unfortunate sacrificial victims, they were of course rescued — well, they had fainted from sheer terror, which was actually fine. At least there was no need to worry about their [sanity] bottoming out and causing a mental breakdown.
As for Glaaki's avatar — there wasn't much to say. Its only abilities were manipulating people's dreams and converting them into zombies. Beyond that, it was a useless creature slower than a tortoise. Mary could have kited it to death from a distance just by standing back and throwing Glintblades at it. There was really nothing worth saying about a creature at that level.
"So this is our target."
Walking along the lakeshore, looking at the corpse on the ground — one of the two bodies that had been under William's control — based on Jacob's situation, one of them was likely his friend Abraham. The other corpse looked wretched, but comparing the blond hair and unremarkably ordinary face against the photograph...…yes, that was the target they had been looking for: the young man called James.
Sure enough, being a Miskatonic University student was a [debuff]. Even just dying outright would count as a decent outcome — being converted into a monster was the truly miserable fate...…well, from a certain perspective, this was also a foreseeable ending.
"Um...…Mr. Duanmu, is it over now?"
At this point, Mary, having finished off Glaaki's avatar, came over with tentative steps, looking at Duanmu Huai with the uneasy expression of someone who had cheated their way through an exam — well, it was clear she herself was aware she had been skipping out on something.
"Heh. We'll deal with you later."
Duanmu Huai gave Mary a glance and chuckled softly. Seeing his expression, Mary immediately shuddered like a child caught cheating in an exam hall, then lowered her head.
"For now, let's call the Foundation first."
The Foundation's speed was as reliable as ever. Before long, helicopters and an ambulance had arrived and quickly took away the two unfortunate bound victims, along with the still-unconscious Jacob — they would wake up in some hospital, be told an official story, and be encouraged to move on as quickly as possible. Their memories would also be adjusted, though that was outside Duanmu Huai's area of concern.
This time, however, Duanmu Huai didn't do as he had with the Mi-Go — hand everything over to the Foundation and leave.
The reason was simple.
What Mary had destroyed was only "Glaaki's avatar" — essentially a projection or split form. The main body was still sitting at the bottom of the lake.
Which meant this Great Old One was not yet dead.
How could he possibly leave?
He explained this to the Foundation's representative as well.
"You're saying...…the creature is still at the bottom of the lake?"
"That's right."
"...…"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's words, the representative was silent for a moment.
"My apologies — would you allow us to verify that?"
"If you want to get yourselves killed, I have no objection."
The Foundation naturally wasn't about to simply take Duanmu Huai's word for it, and before long a team of divers had been dispatched, entering the lake...…
And then of course there was no "and then" — what made them think ordinary human beings could confront a Great Old One and survive?
"...Do you have a way to deal with it?"
After three or four divers had disappeared in succession, the Foundation's representative had apparently confirmed the reality of the situation and had no choice but to appeal to Duanmu Huai.
"Simple enough. You can't let it get away with this. Just drain the lake."
This was also the reason Duanmu Huai had called the Foundation in the first place. If he were going to handle things the way he had in Antarctica — just going in and destroying everything — he would have done that himself. But the problem was that there was an alien city built on a meteor beneath this lake that he needed to sell, and draining an entire lake was the kind of thankless, labor-intensive task that was best left to a well-resourced organization like the Foundation.
"...…"
And so in the end, the Foundation accepted Duanmu Huai's proposal and began draining the lake.
Emptying an entire lake was naturally no easy task, and the water source had to be cut off first — but as the enormous organization it was, the Foundation spared no expense in this regard. Engineering vehicles were dispatched first to divert the river, then dozens of large industrial pumps began working in concert, furiously draining the lake water and sending it cascading into the surrounding forest.
This would leave the surrounding environment in an absolute mess...…but that would just have to be how it was for now.
As the water level slowly dropped, everything that had been sunk in the lake gradually came to light. First came a series of cars — clearly the vehicles of previous victims, which the two old men had pushed into the lake to dispose of the evidence. Then came the aquatic weeds and an overwhelmingly pungent smell...…
And then the spiral towers, and a vast array of strange alien structures.
And vast quantities of alien remains. And somewhere trapped within all of it, a contorted, hideous figure.
"That's the one. Back in a moment."
Duanmu Huai didn't even give the Foundation's representative time to react. With those words, he leaped straight off the edge.
"BANG!!!"
The enormous man came dropping down like a meteor, smashing straight through the barrier confining the creature and crashing into its lair. Seeing Duanmu Huai, Glaaki was completely stunned.
But Duanmu Huai gave it no time to recover.
"Die, you monster!"
Facing Glaaki before him, Duanmu Huai let out a roar, reached out with both hands, grabbed the metallic spines on Glaaki's body, and tore them clean off. Then he flipped the spines around and drove them hard into Glaaki's eyes!!
"————————!!!"
Unlike the avatar, Glaaki's main body was a Great Old One and naturally possessed tremendous power. The instant its eyes were pierced, a massive psychic storm erupted with Glaaki at its center, making the very air around it crack like firecrackers. Any ordinary human who had simply heard Glaaki's cry of pain would have had their mind instantly shattered — but...…
"Get out!"
In an instant, a pressure of dread far more terrifying than the psychic storm descended from above, smashing through Glaaki's psychic storm like an iron hammer and crashing down upon it with full force. The unfortunate Great Old One was struck by a terror so overwhelming it became completely unable to move.
[Glaaki fails Sanity check!]
[Glaaki takes 1D10 Sanity damage]
[Glaaki is Startled]
[Glaaki enters Panic state!]
[Glaaki loses control of itself!]
...…
What in the world?
How is it that even a Great Old One is having its [sanity] blasted?
What exactly do you all think I am?!
Looking at the system notifications before him, Duanmu Huai was thoroughly speechless. Deep Ones, Void Ghosts, Mi-Go — fine. But you're a Great Old One. You're supposed to be the one reducing others' [sanity], not having your own reduced!
Was this really alright?
Well, regardless...…then just die.
There was no way Duanmu Huai was going to let something like this survive.
In the next instant, Duanmu Huai thrust out his hand, seized Glaaki by the mouth, let out a roar, and flexed the muscles of his arms in a sudden surge — and simply tore Glaaki's mouth apart in two, then ripped its entire body open straight down the middle.
"BOOM—————!!!"
In the next instant, black flames erupted, and Glaaki's remains were completely consumed by the dark fire, along with all the surrounding alien corpses, until everything vanished without a trace.
Well...…that was a precaution. After all, who knew whether those alien bodies contained some kind of extraterrestrial virus or the like — better to clean everything up thoroughly just to be safe.
However, what Duanmu Huai hadn't anticipated was that at that very same moment, something strange was happening not far away.
"Haah...…"
Sitting in the truck, Mary slumped with her head hanging. She knew perfectly well that what she had done wasn't right — but the thought of Duanmu Huai punishing her filled her with dread. She also knew that he took many things very seriously, and now that she had officially joined the Inquisition, she had no idea what form the punishment might take...…eek!
Just as that thought passed through her mind, she suddenly felt a sharp burning sensation in her lower abdomen, as though something had seared her there. The surprise made her leap instinctively to her feet.
"Miss Mary? What's wrong?"
Seeing Mary's strange reaction, Lorena asked curiously.
"N-nothing, I just need to step away for a moment, I'm sorry…"
As she spoke, Mary hurriedly climbed out of the truck, made her way to the washroom, then carefully lifted her clothing and looked down at her abdomen — and then Mary went completely still.
There, on the fair skin of the girl's lower abdomen, was a strange mark — unmistakably a skull and hammer.
With a heart-shaped pattern wrapping around it.
At the sight of this, Mary was utterly stunned.
"What on earth...…is this?"
(End of Chapter)