Chapter 1177 - Shub-Niggurath

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We passed through the ruins, and we learned the truth about the Ormurant Demon Civilization that had lived in here in the past, or well, they still live here, they had been living here all the time, in fact.

The Ormurant were a race of demons that wandered the limbo in a big tribe, they were starving as they reached more desertic areas, and had nowhere to go.

Until one day, they came across an odd-looking tree. It was just small back then, but it was pitch black, and it bear a strange fruit.

They ate the fruit and felt better. Until one of the people that ate it suddenly heard the whispers of the tree.

"If you want more fruit, bring me sacrifices."

Desperate to get more food to sustain themselves, the Ormurant did what the tree said, inhumanely as it sounded, they were demons and not humans, their natures were more animalistic and monstrous than normal people back on Earth or even Genesis.

Desperate for more sustenance, they sacrificed people, as the tree began to devour them alive one by one. Gaining their flesh as nourishment, the tree grew larger each day, while bearing more and more fruit.

The Ormurant started to thrive for many months and years, making a whole village around the tree, which they fed with people every weekend. They reproduced quickly like rats and were able to easily make more population than they lost.

They survived mostly out of this fruit, and became addicted to it, they were too dependent on it to the point of insanity. They had to continue eating more and more or they wouldn't be able to get enough sustenance.

Because of this, they only grew more fanatic with the monstrous fruit, and sacrificed more people to it, brining more fruit from the tree… the cycle continued even for many generations, until the people that had eaten the fruits felt sickly, fever took over their bodies as they had nightmares as well.

Strange nightmares of the tree embracing them on its tentacles, the crimson-red eyes glaring down at them as they continued to be embraced…

Ultimately, they slowly began to mutate, their flesh turned black like charcoal, and their skin gained a hard outer layer like bark. They began to grow strangely calm, and some even began to root themselves, growing into monstrous and grotesque trees.

Everyone slowly began to turn into this too, planting themselves around the large tree, and forming a forest of dark trees, all of them people turned into these grotesque trees by eating the fruit.

All these people… they were the trees themselves, the trees whose tentacles we sliced apart, burned, and destroyed because they were way too annoying.

This felt grotesquely bizarre to be honest, but it was fine, I've seen worse shit, nonetheless, this was interesting and intriguing, I felt as if I had suddenly landed in some kind of Lovecraft's books stories, and now we were just about to meet the perpetuator behind it all.

Of course, because there was one, the Mother of a Thousand Young, Shub-Niggurath…

I don't know who this being is exactly, but I know it is some sort of… Outer God thingy. I haven't heard enough to make enough assumptions, but this entity is part of Azathoth's faction, he is the third and most mysterious of the Primordial Deities, and the one I have yet to speak with… mostly because it sleeps all the time.

Shub-Niggurath, for some reason, had manifested in this area of hell as a tree, which was nourished by the Ormurant, and later on they all became her children as they ate her sustenance. It was said in the scribbles that it was said that her fruit brought immortality, and in a bizarre way, it did, they were all immortal now, but as grotesque trees.

When we walked outside the ruins, all of us were shocked by what we saw, the gigantic death tree that had brought down this entire civilization of demons surged before our very eyes, erecting into the skies with its many tentacle-branches, crimson-red eyes, jaws extending across its black bark, which also emanated an oozy and miasma-composed sap.

It emanated a strong presence, domineering, and incredibly overwhelming.

Have people that gone through this passage seen this thing before? How can they even ignore this monster?

I left my family and allies behind me, stopping them from marching any more, as I looked at the giant tree. It obviously noticed us already, its eyes glaring down at me.

I don't know how exactly strong it is, but as the Manifestation of an Outer God such as the Millenary Shub-Niggurath, it had to be powerful.

But I was also a Supreme Goddess of Chaos, I could take on its chaotic pressure without being overwhelmed by the mental damage, and I was pretty much immune to its fear and insanity-inducing aura.

"You're a peculiar visitor."

The voice of a woman spoke into my mind, the tree spoke right away, there was no time to stay still and glare at one another.

"You're really Shub-Niggurath?" I asked.

"…A manifestation. I emerge where they need me the most. I've helped my children here, and they all prosper now, finally, all unified into the collective forest. You're an outsider. Do you want to join us and live for eternity in harmony?" she asked.

"No thanks, we are in a hurry, so can you let us pass through without any conflict if possible? I don't even care about your history, I am already concerned enough." I said.

"Oh? One without curiosity? Do you believe that Ignorance is a bliss?" it asked.

"No, not that, I just want to get out of here." I said.

"Fufufu… No point in running away, I am going to let you pass without any problems. But why don't you stay to talk to me? Even with my children, I feel lonely." She said.

"You're probably in several places at the same time…." I sighed.

"Why yes, but even then, why don't we talk? I find that you're very interesting, Child of Chaos." She said.

"So you guessed…" I sighed.

"Naturally," she giggled.

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