Chapter 176: Chapter 171

The moth monster was quickly shrinking as it flew upwards. Sentinels were sent to intercept it, but the not-legs of the creature flailed to swat them out of the skies. The long hairs on them set off actinic sparks when they contacted the robot’s shields, though the wardings had been sufficient that the bots only suffered structural damage from the whacking and nothing more.

 

A stream of glowing blue crystals heralded the arrival of two squadrons of Prisms fighters. The Tiberium shards pelted at the misnamed Veggie Man, doing little visible damage but causing it to audibly shriek for the first time. The soundwave staggered our fliers a bit, but on the ground the shockwave was potent enough that it set off 1st Company’s shields. I watched the Prisms let off a volley of Tiberium lensed lasers, and this time the deformed moth got blasted back from the blue-tinged beams. A few shots clipped through the wings, almost tearing off the upper left one.

 

The thing began falling, obviously.

 

“Ah shit. 1st Company, clear out ASAP!”

 

Fortunately, the troopers’ jump packs helped to add considerable distance from the impending crash site.

 

As for myself, I backtracked just out of range, keeping an eye on the falling monster to make sure it didn’t pull any surprises in its descent.

 

The shrieking stopped when it slammed into the ground with a wet crack. The excavated mine crumbled even more under the creature’s weight, and I definitely heard the mountainside crack and rumble.

 

Veggie Moth’s malformed limbs flailed like any helpless insect flipped on its back. The tentacles on its head writhed in a pattern similar to grotesque petals on a sunflower. Only its flailing butt-legs were a real threat right now. They lashed out in all directions with surprising flexibility, the hairs on them cutting through dirt and rock like hot wire through styrofoam blocks.

 

I was about to cautiously close in when the thing heaved and seemed to push itself up by its wings. Swearing, I quickly dove in with a spawned Tiberium blade and got under its back as it was about to make another attempt to rise again. A few swings had the massive wings severed, and I easily skipped out of the collapsing behemoth’s (geddit, behemoth?) way.

 

It let out a long, baleful shriek and for a moment, I thought I had the thing secure. But with its wings no longer getting in the way, the eldritch moth started to roll over. I tried to cut its limbs off, but ended up just barely dodging the overlong false legs. De-winged, its featureless head turned to me. Unlike the Faceless, I did not feel any sort of hidden gaze from the creature. 

 

What I did notice, though, was a weird thrumming in my head. It was definitely not a conventional attack, and it wasn’t doing anything to my stats. Puzzled, dug through the Veggie Moth’s stats for a clue, and then found a likely suspect. 

 

‘Speak.Lang(Outer)=True’

 

I copied the line over to myself without hesitation, and suddenly the thrumming made sense.

 

“-spassss…”

 

“Come again?” I said, quickly shrugging off the disorienting mode of communication as my brain throbbed to form the aetheric words. Its tangled crown of tentacles stopped writhing so violently.

 

“Apologiesss, kindred… Did not know… Thisss ground was yoursss…”

 

I quirked an eyebrow up. “Kindred?”

 

“Apologiesss, no inssult intended… We live on followersss, sso…we are kindred.”

 

Wait a fucking second. I’m feeding on my followers? What?

 

“I’m definitely not leeching off them.”

 

There was some sort of surprise in its reply. “But… They cling to you? They await…consssumption.”

 

Oh-kay… That… That might be something concerning to look into after this. “What makes you think I’m feeding on them?” I half-bluffed. I really did not want to end up in a vampiric relationship with those around me. “I could just be enjoying their company.”

 

My brain most definitely rippled as I’m pretty sure the moth monster laughed. “You do not know…how to feed,” it declared. “But…sssuch is usually the cassse for newborn…without guidanceee…”

 

At least it got the ‘newborn’ part right.

 

The behemoth (ha ha) “Ssspare me then, and…I will teach you…”

 

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“Teach me what?”

 

“How to grow… How to be…one of usss…”

 

I cocked my head to one side, regardless of how it shifted the weirdness under my skull. “And who’s ‘us’?”

 

“Usss…” And then its tentacles all pointed at me, and they began undulating in a really, really creepy pattern. The psychic link that followed was…overwhelming at the very least. I saw flashes of sun-blocking silhouettes of things, some vague humanoid, others barely a coherent mass. The view slowly dropped to their feet (or tendrils, or whatever else held them up), and under their shadow were people.

 

People on pyramids, people under dolmens, people in a large ring… They all prostrated themselves before the giants.

 

Worshippers. They were the shadowed beings’ worshippers.

 

The vision began to zoom in, and from the gaggle of believers I saw faint tendrils of light rising, like gossamer threads, up towards their gods. Some threads of light were thicker, mostly on those worshippers who began to wither away. And as more threads rose towards them, the monsters began to grow, eventually blotting out the sun behind them.

 

Then the scene changed. I saw myself, a giant version of myself, standing on some mountain, looming down much in the same way as the silhouettes earlier. On a white marble plaza, I saw familiar figures singing in exultation. Piper, Cait, Curie… They were all naked and dancing as they sang, the words of which I could not comprehend save for the sprinklings of my name in them. Edward and the others were there too, calling my name as they joined in the dance.

 

A very, very comfortable warmth settled over me at the sight. It was…good…to see everyone so happy. It was so satisfying to hear how much I was loved.

 

Then I saw a black marble altar between two Obelisks of Light, and Nat was lying on it, smiling brightly up at giant-me. I heard her joyously cry my name before the Obelisks lit up and vaporized her, and among the cloud of ash were the same ethereal threads that lazily rose up to my looming figure…

 

That scene shocked me out of the trance, and then I metaphysically blinked my eyes and the horror only grew from there. The mockeries of Piper, Cait and Curie were moth-like now, as were Edward and the others. They juddered in a farce of a dance, their proboscis flitting in the air and their wings fluttering in an ugly manner. I looked up, and the giant version of myself was wrapped in the legs of a giant moth, and its multiple tentacles were happily pulsing away as they punctured the back of my head.

 

I snapped myself out of the link and dodged just in time as the false-legs of the treacherous monster slammed down like a pair of scorpion’s tails on where I stood.

 

“Oh, fuck you.”

 

A pair of Tiberium blades were spawned, and I lunged at the oversized metaphysical parasite. I didn’t hide the grin as I tasted its fear, and felt savage pride at having its impotent shriek wash over me as I buried the blades hilt-deep into its head.

 

“Nooo…”

 

“Fucking yes,” I retorted as I twisted the blades and then jammed a few Tiberium grenades into its wounds.

 

The mess it left when it detonated was utterly satisfying. I wiped away the gore to find the headless corpse slumped over, and more importantly, all its stats were still there. 

 

A quick dig through the stats confirmed it: the fucker was still alive somehow. Its life essence was running several decimal places behind zero, but it was not about to be past tense yet.

 

I looked down at myself, finding my arms trembling. My mental stats were locked down. Was it anger then, since I couldn’t sink down to fear? The image of a happy Nat disappearing under the beams of the Obelisks flashed through my head, and I clenched my fists tightly.

 

Yeah, probably anger.

 

“Cabal, prepare a lab in Tleilax,” I called in, and began walking over to the almost-dead body. 

 

“Keter-1 metanatural security.” I grabbed the moth-thing’s stubby, deformed legs, and began to pull them out one by one. Each wet crunch and pop strummed a happy note in my very core.

 

“Fully sealed, key the teleport beacon to only me.” I sawed off the leg-like limbs on its abdomen, finally leaving the thing a stump. I could’ve just lopped it off, but sawing was slower, felt better.

 

I sighed heavily after taking a step back to admire my work. My arms no longer shook nor felt the need to break something.

 

Yeah, it was most definitely anger there.

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