Chapter 592

After a rather exhilarating off-road race, the SHIELD team finally made it onto the aircraft.

Melinda took the pilot’s seat and lifted off immediately. By the time the pursuing rebels reached the airfield, all they could do was watch the aircraft disappear into the sky.

"Give them a moment."

Commander Camilla spotted the SHIELD agents gathered together in a tight circle and stopped one of her subordinates from approaching.

She assumed they were mourning the brave agent who had stayed behind to cover their retreat—and who had almost certainly died buying them time.

Less than a minute later, however, Coulson and Fitz were already discussing the threat level of the 084 artifact they’d recovered.

Camilla stared at them.

Incredible.

So this was SHIELD.

They could apparently tear themselves away from the grief of losing a comrade in seconds and immediately throw themselves back into their work.

What kind of discipline did these people have?

The truth was considerably less noble.

Coulson and the others weren’t thinking about Evenson because they were mourning him.

They were thinking about him because they were irritated.

If that lunatic hadn’t stubbornly insisted on staying inside the pyramid, they wouldn’t have been forced to flee like they were being chased by the entire Peruvian army.

Meanwhile, back inside the pyramid—

Finally. They’re all gone.

Evenson stood alone amid the sudden silence.

Now he could finally concentrate.

He had SHIELD’s heroic sacrifice to thank for that, of course. His comrades had nobly volunteered themselves as bait, drawing away the rebel forces so that he could continue his research in peace.

Evenson turned his attention back to the wall.

"Still... time really is cruel."

After spending so long studying the inscriptions, he’d finally managed to separate the actual magical runes from the meaningless markings surrounding them.

Unfortunately, age had not been kind to the inscriptions.

Some portions had been worn away entirely.

Even if he successfully deciphered what remained, the original message would inevitably be incomplete.

Still, incomplete was better than nothing.

With enough educated guesses and a little improvisation, he might be able to reconstruct the general meaning.

"They... outsiders... from..."

Evenson slowly worked through the damaged text.

"Born from a place where nothing exists..."

His expression gradually changed.

"No mortal may look directly upon their forms. Their names cannot be spoken..."

Another section was missing.

"Impossible to describe... the primordial progenitor..."

Evenson stopped.

That sounded familiar.

Very familiar.

He continued.

"Faceless... the Faceless One... crawling upon the earth... the mixture..."

He frowned at another damaged section.

"One who dwells within flame... K... wind... the Yellow King... Hast..."

The runes were fragmentary, and so was the information they conveyed.

But by the time Evenson reached the end, the humor had completely drained from his face.

Tiny beads of sweat had appeared along his forehead.

He stared at the wall.

Were the inscriptions incomplete because the passage of time had eroded them?

Or had the person who carved them deliberately stopped before writing everything down?

Evenson covered his eyes and paced the cramped chamber several times.

The descriptions weren’t complete.

They didn’t need to be.

He knew enough to recognize the beings being described.

And that was precisely the problem.

If those are who I think they are...

There should have been one more.

His eyes narrowed.

"That’s probably it."

He walked over to the mural.

The final section of the runes had been carved there.

He began translating.

"The one and only who dwells within our... our master. The life of our world comes from the water. Water is the proof of my lord..."

"Ela... ela..."

That section was nothing more than a phonetic expression, with no meaningful translation.

Evenson continued.

"When the stars align correctly, it shall reveal itself... the primordial city..."

He stopped.

A portion of the runes had been destroyed when the 084 artifact was embedded into the wall.

Only a short phonetic fragment remained afterward.

"Futang? No... probably R’lyeh."

Evenson stared at the inscription.

Then he laughed weakly.

"Heh."

So... is it too late to run away?

For all his outward confidence, Evenson had never been nearly as optimistic about Earth’s situation as he appeared.

He simply knew more than most people did.

From the beginning, he’d understood that Earth existed within a dangerous cosmic vortex.

But this discovery had forced him to reconsider just how dangerous that vortex really was.

Suddenly, the Eredar twins he’d accidentally summoned in the past seemed downright harmless.

They were practically adorable little bunnies.

Adorable, extremely dangerous bunny-girls he could still hug if he felt particularly suicidal.

But what came next?

What kind of monsters were waiting beyond them?

This world had the Light.

It had the naaru.

Apparently, they’d even dragged God himself off to war.

Fine.

Evenson wished them the best of luck.

May they reach the front lines safely.

And may they never come back.

But then he’d discovered that one of the Seven Lords of Hell, Lucifer, was actually a naaru who had fallen into darkness—and had been sitting in Hell for more than two thousand years.

At least Evenson had some history with Mephisto.

The last thing Mephisto wanted was for Hell to suddenly light up with holy radiance, so he’d agreed to keep Lucifer under control.

That problem, at least, was manageable.

But what about this?

Anything involving beings on this level was trouble.

It reminded Evenson of something he’d done back when his confidence had gotten a little out of hand.

He’d once thought he’d become ridiculously overpowered after farming his way through the entire Hellfire Citadel progression. Feeling invincible, he’d marched his fully geared character straight into Ulduar and decided to solo Yogg-Saron.

He’d wiped for more than an hour.

That experience suddenly felt relevant.

According to these runes, only the being associated with water was actually dwelling on Earth.

And apparently, it wasn’t even free.

But that had been a very long time ago.

What if some of the others had come to Earth since then?

What if they’d simply decided to take a vacation?

Especially the one associated with earth.

Evenson had heard that particular entity enjoyed wandering around.

For all he knew, it was already somewhere on Earth, lurking beneath everyone’s noses.

And what could he do about something like that?

With his current strength, he probably had enough power to deal with one tentacle.

If he brought out the Three Artifacts, maybe he could handle several more.

But exactly how many tentacles did something like that have?

Probably enough to make a very large bowl of ramen.

No.

Evenson looked back at the runes.

That plan can’t wait any longer.

He would put it into motion the moment he returned.

There was no room for procrastination anymore.

He gave the inscriptions one last look, then turned toward the exit.

Only to stop.

Twenty-odd rebel soldiers were waiting outside.

Every one of them had an AK-47 trained directly on him.

Two pickup trucks had heavy machine guns mounted in their beds, and both weapons swung toward him.

Evenson sighed.

The rebels who had pursued Coulson’s team had eventually realized they weren’t catching the aircraft.

So they’d turned around.

On their way back, they’d encountered another rebel squad moving in as reinforcements.

The two groups had compared notes.

If SHIELD had emerged from this pyramid, then there had to be something important inside.

They’d decided to investigate.

And walked straight into Evenson.

He looked at the soldiers.

"All right."

He summoned his staff and planted its tip against the ground.

Then, speaking lazily in Spanish, he said, "First, you idiots are already surrounded by me."

Several rifles remained pointed at him.

"Second, if this were any other day, this might end differently."

Evenson’s voice remained casual.

"But I’m in a terrible mood."

His expression changed.

The lazy amusement vanished.

His eyes became cold.

"So if you put down your weapons and lie down on the ground..."

He paused.

"...I’ll make sure your deaths aren’t unnecessarily painful."

The rebels stared at him.

Their expressions suggested they were looking at an idiot.

Four of the soldiers even stepped forward, apparently intending to seize him.

Evenson sighed.

"You’re refusing the generous offer?"

He ran one hand casually through his hair.

The expression on his face became colder still.

The ring on his finger—Salora’s Darkest—began radiating a deep violet light.

"Fine."

His finger twitched.

"Corruption."

The four soldiers suddenly stumbled.

Thud.

They felt as though they’d somehow become shorter.

Confused, they looked down.

Their knees hadn’t simply buckled.

Their legs were melting.

Flesh dissolved before their eyes, spreading upward as the corruption consumed them.

Then the pain reached their brains.

It was beyond anything a human nervous system was meant to process.

The soldiers screamed.

The corruption didn’t kill them quickly.

That was the problem.

The process was slow enough to feel endless.

The agony overwhelmed every coherent thought.

Only a few of the more stubborn soldiers managed to remember that they were still carrying rifles.

Shoot myself.

It was the only way to end it.

But before they could raise their weapons, their hands began dissolving as well.

The last escape disappeared with them.

Evenson watched without expression.

When the screaming finally stopped, he turned back toward the pyramid.

He stared at the ancient structure.

"Now..."

His eyes narrowed.

"What should I do with this place?"

His staff rose high above his head.

"Cataclysm!"

The earth answered.

Molten lava erupted from the surrounding ground, roaring outward in waves.

The rebels, their weapons, their pickup trucks, and the pyramid itself vanished beneath the incandescent flood.

Stone cracked.

Metal twisted.

The ancient structure disappeared beneath a sea of fire.

Within moments, the entire area had become an inferno.

Evenson lowered his staff.

He looked around.

His mood had improved slightly.

"Ah..."

He released the spell.

The lava receded, but the tremendous heat remained.

Flames spread rapidly through the surrounding jungle.

Evenson stared at the burning forest.

"Setting the mountains on fire is probably frowned upon."

He turned and started walking.

"Time to leave."