Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 260

It resembled a human crouching on a spider's web, yet it possessed the slender limbs of a spider. Even the faint, minuscule noises it made while stepping on the web echoed in human ears like sounds one would only hear in the most terrifying nightmares. These sounds were amplified endlessly in the hearts of the four, until the one with the weakest will let out a scream of shattered sanity.

"Ah! Atlach-Nacha!"

For some unknown reason, a string of obscure syllables spilled from Shizuku's mouth. But at that moment, no one had the composure to question what he was babbling about, because the dim shadow in the distance had already begun rushing toward the group at the cliff's edge, toward Yomi and the others, with unbelievable speed.

As the shadow drew near, they finally saw the impossible scene before them.

It was a massive, glossy black form crawling on the spiderweb. Even in a crouched posture, it was still half a head taller than Yomi.

Upon its black body was a distorted, alien face. And as Yomi and the four behind him stared unblinking at the figure, this strange face slowly descended from above, as if the human-like face was suspended beneath the segmented legs of its body.

It, too, lowered its gaze and stared directly at Yomi standing at the front. The twisted face revealed a bizarre expression, somewhere between confusion and interrogation. Crimson light gleamed from its small, round, cunning eyes surrounded by fine hairs, shining like a light of terror upon Yomi's face. At this distance, meeting its gaze caused fear to spread through Yomi's body like poison in his veins. He felt as if the blood in his body had frozen, solidified from the sheer terror.

The condition of the four behind him was even worse. Those whose minds weren't strong enough regretted it so deeply they almost wished they could claw out their own eyes. Even the fear of being blind for life in total darkness was nothing compared to the instant horror of locking eyes with such a monstrous, demonic entity.

And yet, perhaps it was for the best, this terrifying appearance of the spider, and that grotesque facial expression had frozen the blood in everyone's veins. All of them stood there like rusted machines, joints creaking but unable to move.

The spider only emitted a sharp, thin sound, like a venomous bee piercing into bone, to express its displeasure, before retreating back along the web. It retreated until it reached the edge of the crevice, then vanished without a trace into the darkness, returning to its ceaseless web-weaving.

Only then, after the spider disappeared and Yomi's fear-numbed body began to regain warmth, did he feel life returning to him. He swayed slightly at the edge of the cliff and let out a heavy breath.

As the breath escaped his lips, it turned white in the air, a clear sign that the very environment had plummeted in temperature during the spider's presence. And within Yomi's body, Moryō was so terrified that he couldn't even utter a single word.

If the dark-skinned human they met at the border of the Land of Demons, who guided them to this place, was already an astonishing existence to Moryō, then even so, he could still vaguely comprehend that person as a special kind of being within the realm of humanity. Perhaps a monster or demon cloaked in human skin, just like Moryō's current form.

But that massive, dark shape lurking on the spider web just now, that was something Moryō had not even the courage to speak to. His powers could not perceive or comprehend what kind of being it truly was.

That existence had already surpassed, and even shattered, Moryō's entire understanding of what constituted the pinnacle of power. It brought forth a soul-deep terror.

Back in the other world, long ago, Moryō had never known what fear tasted like.

Even after coming to this so-called ninja world, Moryō always believed himself to be the embodiment of fear, an existence before which all should tremble.

Yomi's goal was to conquer the world, while Moryō's was to cast an overwhelming terror upon it, making up for the fact that he had never known fear himself.

Man and monster, perfectly aligned in purpose.

Even when sealed by the shrine maiden Miroku in the Land of Demons, even when trapped in that barren world of darkness with no hope of escape, that belief had never wavered. But now, Moryō had tasted a fear so chilling that even as a mere soul, he felt like freezing wind slicing through bone. This fear far surpassed that of being sealed or threatened with death.

In that instant, Moryō formed a bold realization: Maybe this world was never lacking in fear to begin with. Beneath its gentle surface lay unimaginable darkness. His own mission to bring terror here may have been utterly pointless.

And so, Moryō made a secret vow in his heart: Once he obtained a new body, he would immediately return to the other world, without lingering even a moment longer.

As for Yomi's ambition to conquer the world? He could take that and shove it.

Moryō no longer wished to be involved in this chaos. He had no desire to experience another encounter with beings like that again.

After all, who could guarantee there weren't other equally terrifying entities hiding in this world besides the one that had lurked on the web?

But of course, all of this would only be possible after obtaining a physical body. Only by anchoring his soul to flesh could he continue to exist in either this world or the other.

Yomi, now recovered from his trembling, had no idea that Moryō had secretly changed his mind and withdrawn support from his world domination plans.

Seeing that the dark creature had burrowed into the rift and hadn't reappeared for some time, Yomi's courage slowly began to return.

"Go now, we can pass," he said weakly, though there was still a trace of command in his tone.

And so, though one of the four was nearly at the brink of losing their sanity, they slowly climbed to their feet and followed the others forward.

The spiderweb structure was wide like a bridge. As Yomi and the others stepped onto it, it trembled slightly beneath their feet, like a trampoline, but other than that, it was stable enough. All of them remained tense, eyes fixed on the dark crevice, watching for any sign that the spider might crawl back out.

But finally, with hearts pounding, they crossed the bridge woven of spider silk, and the spider did not reappear.

Straight ahead, on the other side of the cliff, was the path that led to the final cavern.

The cave ahead lay on the same geological stratum as many of the underground halls they had previously passed through, but it was far deeper. The air suddenly turned damp, and the unnatural light became dimmer, as if foreshadowing the presence of something inconceivable ahead.

Fortunately, the ground here was still solid, providing some psychological comfort to Yomi and the others as they stepped forward.

As they walked through the deep cave, faint sounds echoed from tiny monsters lurking within the cracks of the surrounding rocks.

These blasphemous and grotesque creatures could be simply described as one-legged, hideous toads; worms covered in countless stubby tentacle-like appendages; and lizards with missing limbs.

They squirmed and rolled about in the dark corners, their shifting forms repulsive and ever-changing. Sometimes, they even tumbled near the feet of Yomi and the others, forcing them to lift their feet and kick these disgusting things aside.

Having just stared down the strange spider, the group felt unexpectedly calm in the face of monsters of this level. As they moved further in, the writhing creatures gradually thinned out and eventually disappeared.

The environment grew increasingly hot. From cracks in the cave walls, ominous pale green steam would occasionally burst forth, bringing with it an unimaginably foul stench and floating, murky detritus.

At the deepest part of the smoke-filled cave, Yomi and the others saw a massive pool.

It resembled a natural plaza, or a marsh filled with settled sludge.

The center of the marshy pool was obscured by pale green fog, but at the edges, unclean mud and repulsive innards were entwined in a sickening mess.

Seeing this scene, Shizuku nearly vomited, while the others were dumbstruck, staring wide-eyed at the unbelievable sight.

Even Moryō, who hailed from a bizarre and monstrous otherworld, could not imagine what kind of terrifying life could be born in such an environment.

This place was full of unclean filth, like the origin of all the world's corruption and decay. It was both the beginning and the end of impurity.

Looking forward, the thick fog obscured what lay beyond, making it impossible to tell if the cave went even deeper.

In fact, even the massive pool before them was impassable.

Though ninjas could walk on water, no one dared to use such tricks to step onto this swamp of stinking filth and refuse. Earlier, when they walked across spiderweb bridges over bottomless chasms, it had already taken immense courage. Crossing this pool by walking on its surface would require even greater bravery.

Moreover, there were no spiderwebs here to serve as bridges, meaning that, given the group's current abilities, this was effectively the end of the journey.

"Is this... the end?"

The steam erupting from cracks in the rocks made everything seem illusory and dreamlike, but the stench in their noses and the heat on their skin constantly reminded Yomi that this was no hallucination, it was a real world that held his physical body.

"Where is my body?" Moryō's grim voice came from within Yomi. His tone wasn't calm, but tinged with questioning and fury.

Just as Yomi was about to respond and soothe Moryō's anger, a series of bubbling sounds emerged from the foul pond filled with viscera and filth before them.

Gloop...

Gloop, gloop, gloop...

The bubbling grew more rapid. Yomi and the others immediately turned toward the sound, it came from near the edge of the pool, just short of the center.

There, a gray mass slowly surfaced. It was the ultimate origin of all twisted, malformed, filthy, and unclean things.

Under the gaze of Yomi and the others, the gray mass trembled and swelled, slowly rolling across the surface of the water toward them.

As it rolled, the mass began to fission and reproduce into grotesque, stomach-like creatures. These creatures had no limbs, their surfaces covered in scale-like plates resembling fish scales. At the pointed end of their stomach-like forms was a head-like structure. Upon leaving the pool, the writhing, crawling monstrosities scattered, crawling up to the ceiling of the cave. As they moved away from the pool, they continued to grow.

Staring at the scene before them, Yomi and the Gang of Four could no longer think, their minds were so overwhelmed that even controlling their bodies was impossible. They stood frozen, unable to even feel the fear that should have gripped them.

While they were still in shock, the malformed creatures, born of fission and swelling from the pool, had already slithered toward the distance, bypassing the group and heading toward the exit behind them.

Only then did Moryō react.

"This... is my body! You are all mine!"

Moryō sensed that these endlessly replicating abominations possessed immense power. They could continue fission and swelling indefinitely, and their intelligence was low enough that they simply crawled like abused beasts.

Wasn't this exactly the kind of body he had dreamed of?

"You... are mine!"

With a furious roar, the long wound on Yomi's abdomen split open, and a surge of black matter burst forth from his stomach. The black matter spun in the air for less than a second, then shot straight toward the malformed creatures that had nearly reached the cave's entrance.

Without hesitation, Moryō's soul rushed into the abominations born from the gray mass, quickly taking control of their simple minds with his high intelligence.

"Haha! So this is my new body? Wonderful!"

Moryō's soul rolled and writhed through the fish-scale-covered, stomach-like bodies, freely manipulating their size and shape at will. His new form expanded and contracted at his command, even splitting into various desired shapes.

At this moment, Moryō was completely satisfied with his new body.

Compared to his old one, this new body was astonishingly versatile and flexible. With it, Moryō even felt confident that he could conquer the world without needing the undead army.

As he reveled in his new form, testing its elasticity and transformations, knowledge about this body silently surfaced within Moryō's soul.

Children of Abhoth... That was their name.