Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

After wandering around the room, the sense of discord grew heavier and heavier. Isaac looked up, leapt a few times, and landed atop the tallest tree.

Looking down from above, the “trees” in the greenhouse gradually overlapped with some shadow in his memory, forming an absurd conclusion.

“These… aren’t trees. These are…”

Isaac swallowed hard, pointing in disbelief at the crops below.

“Rye, turnips, beets, hawkweed.”

“These… are actually those short plants?”

There was no mistake—Isaac had seen these plants before. They were exactly the same as what stood before him, only magnified countless times.

Take the rye, for instance. Normally, it grew no higher than a man’s waist. Yet here, it had become a forest, and he had to lift his head just to glimpse the top.

Beets were usually squat little things that clung close to the ground, but in this greenhouse, they had grown into a canopy of green like small houses.

Isaac slowly lifted his head to look at the “tree” he stood upon.

It was the tallest among all in the greenhouse.

He raised his eyes toward the enormous conical fruit above him. At first, he thought it was something strange, but upon closer inspection—

“Corn!?”

Isaac gasped sharply, plucking one kernel from the cob.

It was just an ordinary corn kernel—nothing remarkable about it except its size. It was larger than Isaac’s fist.

“Is this… the manor of a god?” Standing among these colossal plants, Isaac suddenly felt as though he had become a tiny man in a fairy tale.

What kind of wondrous place was this?

After a moment’s hesitation, Isaac slipped the corn kernel into his pocket. If he were fortunate enough to return, perhaps he could bring it back.

If he really brought it to Castel, perhaps the lord could plant a whole forest of corn…

That way, many people would no longer have to starve.

Recalling scenes from the Northlands and the Empire, Isaac’s gaze grew firm—he must escape this place alive and return to Castel!

Sliding down the corn stalk, he was about to jump to the ground when his face suddenly changed. His body stiffened midair, falling like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Yet above, on one of the leaves, Isaac’s form reappeared.

The Isaac that had fallen quickly hit the ground, and then the soil began to writhe slowly, swallowing his figure.

—That wasn’t soil. It was writhing Entity Pollution!

The Isaac above looked down in terror, his face pale but filled with relief at having survived.

As an extraordinary being, he was extremely afraid of Entity Pollution. Even a slight touch could lead to corruption. In this regard, ordinary people—those who had never touched the Sea of Unawareness—were actually safer.

“These… these gigantic crops are being fed by pollution?”

Isaac suddenly remembered the pipes leading underground along the corridor and shuddered.

“Could it be… that pollution is being extracted from the body of a Heretical God to nourish these plants—to make them bear fruit…”

He took the corn kernel from his pocket, his hands trembling.

Using a Heretical God as fuel, pollution as sustenance, and growing food from it—what a grotesque and terrifying thing!

Even beings as mighty as Heretical Gods were reduced to consumables just to sustain this place. Could such a place truly exist in the world?

Isaac didn’t even consider the possibility of illusion—he couldn’t have imagined something this bizarre and twisted if he tried.

Forcing down the turmoil in his heart, he gazed at the corn kernel in his hand with reverence, then carefully put it back into his pocket.

There were a few platforms in the upper levels of the greenhouse, likely for observation and record-keeping. Each had doors.

Isaac pushed himself off the wall, leaping upward with light steps. Silently, he unlocked a door and pushed it open.

It was another corridor, and faint light flickered in the distance.

Isaac’s spirit lifted. Where there was light, there was a way out of this church!

The place was so unnerving that he felt he would go insane if he stayed any longer.

He was about to head toward the light when he froze.

A shrill alarm blared, and through his extraordinary senses, he could feel faint tremors running through the ground.

Someone was running—fast!

The master of this church had discovered his escape!

Isaac no longer dared to probe cautiously. His figure flashed forward like lightning, rushing toward the light.

He turned a corner, and the dark corridor was suddenly flooded with brightness. Ignoring the sting in his eyes, Isaac forced them open, though everything appeared blurred.

This seemed to be an open atrium. Below were concentric rings of structures descending downward, leading to a massive metal furnace deep underground.

Twisted metal pipes tangled throughout the space, and faint firelight gleamed through observation windows. The roiling Entity Pollution seemed to carry the unwilling wails of a Heretical God, melted mercilessly into slag by the steel furnace.

Isaac shuddered and quickly looked away, feeling as though he were witnessing a hell forged by human hands.

He looked upward instead. Since this was an atrium and sunlight shone from above, there must be a way out!

Sure enough, he was close to the top. Climbing over the railing, he gathered strength in his legs and leapt upward, floor by floor!

At the very top of the church stood a stone monument—right above the atrium. It looked like a Memorial Stele. Isaac didn’t dare imagine what kind of being such a dreadful church would commemorate, so he merely glanced at it, intending to leave at once.

But that one glance froze him in place.

“C-Chloe?”

Hanging upon the stele was a diary—one Isaac recognized instantly. It was Chloe’s Diary!

As the leader of the Moths Chasing Fire, Chloe could use this diary to communicate with the entity within the 【Chrysalis】, and even with Brother Kaeski. It was an artifact of great mystery and value.

At that moment, familiar fluctuations emanated from the diary!

Chloe’s soul… was within the diary!?

Isaac’s pupils trembled. There was only one explanation—Chloe was dead. Through the 【Chrysalis】, her soul was preserved, allowing her to communicate with the mortal world via this diary.

Chloe was dead!? The leader was already gone!?

Isaac’s mind wavered. Chloe might not have been the strongest fighter among the Moths Chasing Fire, but her knowledge and abilities were unmatched. If even she couldn’t survive…

A cold chill spread through Isaac’s heart. Was Castel still standing? Were the Moths Chasing Fire still alive?

Could it be that his Ashen Alliance was the last ember of the organization?

No—he must escape alive! He must preserve the final legacy of the Moths Chasing Fire!

Ignoring all danger, Isaac rushed toward the Memorial Stele and snatched Chloe’s Diary into his hands!