Daily Disposable Persona - CH 106

At that very moment, far away in another hemisphere, the South Pacific was in turmoil.

Here, on the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia, a summoning ceremony was in full swing.

Pohnpei was a quadrangular volcanic island surrounded by close-packed coral reefs.

It had the typical climate of a tropical rainforest. Rain fell throughout the year, and lush plants and jungle covered the island like a sea of green as far as the eye could see. Brightly-colored poisonous snakes coiled around the tree branches and flicked their scarlet tongues; toads and leeches lurked in turbid water, lying dormant.

As one of the states of a country, Pohnpei Island wasn’t as uninhabited as outsiders might suppose.

It had an international airport, and cities were built where the population was more concentrated. But in other parts of the island, in places humans didn’t live, the island retained its pristine rainforest environment.

In the eyes of the mundane world, this island could only be regarded as small and out of the way, but to the occult world, it had immense significance.

Over the years, several research teams formed by the Spire Council visited the island to investigate the South Pacific. Of course, the most famous investigation in its history was the research team that lost all its members and retrieved the jade piece of R’lyeh.

After that disaster, investigators rarely ventured deep into the South Pacific Ocean. They performed their research directly on Pohnpei Island.

As a volcanic island, Pohnpei had a long history. Ancient sacrificial relics were preserved in the depths of the rainforest. Even today, some isolated islanders believed in the R’lyeh clan headed by Cthulhu, but they had no idea he was an evil god.

In the past few days, private planes landed at the airport on Pohnpei Island, but they didn’t attract much attention.

There had been other arrivals a few months ago, including cargo planes that brought mysterious things. Locals who watched from a distance said they saw people unloading dusty, cracked stone slabs from the aircraft.

No one knew what these rich foreigners were up to. It wasn’t like human trafficking never happened in Pohnpei. For a while, the people on the island were on edge.

But months went by and nothing occurred. Gradually, the inhabitants stopped paying attention.

Besides, that month on Pohnpei Island other things took place to distract them.

Fishermen noticed there were fewer and fewer fish in nearby waters. Even if they set out early in the morning, it was difficult to catch a fifth of their previous haul by the end of the day. Not only that, animals on the island began to show strange signs of mania, and sources of fresh water flowed in reverse, as if manipulated by an evil force.

Immediately after that, corpses of an unknown alien species washed up on the island. They were said to have a horrific appearance, a fish head with a human body, and several rows of long fangs. A few experienced fishermen simulated the biting power of the teeth and estimated they were comparable to a great white shark, which was shocking in itself.

The incident attracted a crowd of curious islanders.

No one on the island had ever seen such a creature. For a while, people speculated that the extinct volcano beneath Pohnpei Island was about to erupt, which caused these deep-sea creatures to wash up on shore. There were also inhabitants who belonged to older religions that preserved ancient murals from long ago. They swore it was a sign of the apocalypse.

Later, the matter was handed over to the federal government. It was said that a scientific research team took away the bodies of the creatures. For most citizens, the incident was far less important than their daily lives, so they stopped paying attention after a while.

Of course, they had no idea an ancient sect had gathered here in secret, and that it was already making preparations.

The cultists transported monuments from all over the world. Deep in the rainforest they built a tall sacrificial platform, drawing an obscure alchemical magic pattern on the ground with a mixture of liquid mercury and powdered gold. Even from a distance it gave off a strong aura of impurity.

Clad in a black robe and a strange skull mask, a man limped his way through the crowd.

Although he wore a mask, his identity was obvious because of his iconic red hair and the scepter in his hand symbolizing the authority of the high priest.

Indeed, he was none other than Paracelsus, who’d been violently thrashed by Zong Yan in his Yun Zhong Jun persona the day before.

When Paracelsus refused to reveal the whereabouts of the jade piece, Zong Yan took his philosopher’s stone instead of killing him directly. Paracelsus relied on the stone for his immortality and superior alchemical abilities.

It was an effective approach. After all, everything Paracelsus had was given to him by the philosopher’s stone, and losing the stone had serious side effects. Once it was gone, his life force would rapidly drain away. Not to mention that Paracelsus used the philosopher’s stone to practice forbidden alchemical spells.

After Zong Yan took the philosopher’s stone, the side effects immediately appeared on Paracelsus’s body.

And while he didn’t feel pain, he’d been severely pummeled by Yun Zhong Jun and had multiple bone fractures. Without the philosopher’s stone, his self-healing ability decreased sharply. He even began to age.

Paracelsus immediately panicked.

The conditions needed to make another philosopher’s stone were extremely demanding, so much so that even though he knew the formula, in all these years he hadn’t been able to put together the right combination of time, place, and people to create another one.

If he didn’t regain his philosopher’s stone soon enough, he would revert to his rightful appearance—slowly aging until he became a handful of yellow sand.

That was why he took a risk.

According to their original plan, the R’lyeh sect intended to wait until the beginning of May to perform the ceremony that would attempt to summon their god. At that time, the configuration of the sky would be closer to the legendary return of the stars. It would become possible to raise the sunken R’lyeh from the sea.

But Paracelsus couldn’t delay any longer.

Given the current situation of his body and his lack of healing ability, if he waited until early May, he most likely wouldn’t be able to maintain his current youthful appearance. He would revert to a dying old man.

How could he possibly bear it?

That was why he contacted the sect’s astrologer to calculate a slightly closer date. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be today, so he didn’t waste any time recovering from his injuries. He immediately traveled from Miskatonic University.

Fortunately, the R’lyeh sect had been planning this event for a very long time. They’d begun transporting materials several months ago. That was why it was possible to attempt a summoning in such a hurry.

“Do you really want to perform the ceremony today, Your Excellency?”

The astrologer of the R’lyeh sect was worried. “Today’s horoscope isn’t very clear. If you risk a summoning, there’s a good chance there may not be a response.”

Anyone who’d taken a beginner’s astrology course at MU would have recognized this man. He was one of the assistant professors who often substituted for the mysterious seventh Monarch in class.

Paracelsus didn’t respond directly. His face was grim as he turned his head to look at another senior believer. “How much of our materials will be left?”

“Replying to the high priest, after this we have enough to perform three more rituals.”

“That’s enough.” The red-haired alchemist waved his hand, and his eyes were full of darkness and ferocity, different from the kindliness he usually pretended.

Paracelsus was skilled at managing his image, but this time he’d left school in a hurry, and it was certain that interested people would have noticed.

The first person on this list was Xu Fu.

For a while Paracelsus wondered if the oldest living immortal, the former state teacher under Qin Shi Huang, suspected something.

However, Xu Fu wasn’t exactly a good person himself. Look at the way he dared to trick Qin Shi Huang and ran to the East Sea to develop his alchemy.

But what Paracelsus was planning was no trivial matter. If they succeeded, the entire human race would suffer. Only a few people of the R’lyeh sect would benefit. Xu Fu might try to stop them if he found out.

Also, the mysterious person who suddenly appeared yesterday looked like an Elder God.

Paracelsus was arrogant enough to believe he had no rivals in the human race. Even if he was up against a Monarch, he could rely on his years of experience to easily defeat them. The mysterious man who’d attacked him was dressed in a crane cloak and had ink-black hair scattered around his shoulders. He had to be an ancient god of the East.

Elder Gods from the East were few and far between in the modern world. Not many ancient gods remained, and most were from various Western myths. But according to legend, the Elder Gods of the East were philanthropic types, and if there was great turmoil in the world, they would awaken from their long slumber and intervene.

If they delayed the summoning any longer, there was no guarantee what might happen.

With that in mind, Paracelsus put aside his worries. He looked at the sect members who were still getting dressed in the distance and shouted, “We’ll continue to follow the plan.”

R’lyeh had been underwater for a very long time. He was confident His Majesty would be happy to awaken sooner. If the ritual didn’t succeed at first, they could try again, Paracelsus told himself. Anyway, they couldn’t delay anymore.

All of his achievements, status, long life… Everything came from the philosopher’s stone.

He couldn’t bear the consequences of losing the stone. The red-haired alchemist clenched his fist with a heart full of turmoil.

“Let’s begin.”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” all the believers answered.

The cultists escorted living animals, including livestock such as cattle and sheep, but they also had humans with dull eyes and collars around their necks, and brought them to the altar.

Living sacrifices were a basic requirement for summoning a god. Almost all the rituals passed down from ancient times were inextricably linked to living sacrifices, even more so for evil gods.

The members of the R’lyeh sect wore long black cloaks and strange pointed hats. Their faces were covered with white bone masks. They stood around the altar in a mysterious pattern, chanting in low voices and dancing strangely.

Golden magic patterns emerged at the tips of Paracelsus’ fingers. One by one, the fires on the altar were lit, and a shrill chant escaped his lips.

“Great god of heaven Kuh-thoo-loo, please hear our call.”

Then the burning flames turned dark green and slowly wavered in the air. The believers were shaking and ecstasy filled their eyes. A few fanatics cried out, fell down to kiss the ground, and praised the glory of their Lord.

Behind the tall tongues of flame, inside the heavy green fog, a black-haired young man appeared on the altar.

Confused, Zong Yan looked around and saw a crowd of people worshipping him. Inwardly he slowly typed out a question mark.

—

The author has something to say:

Zong Yan: This is… What’s going on? (confused cat.jpg)

TL Notes:

Please note, per the posting schedule I’ll take tomorrow off. Going to prep the new arc…. !! ヾ(o✪‿✪o)ｼ

lost all its members – 全军覆没 – The whole army was wiped out; completely annihilated; roll up horse and foot; roll up horse, foot and guns

he dared to trick Qin Shi Huang – 敢于驴秦始皇 – he “donkeyed” Qin Shi Huang – I think this means he treated the emperor like he was stupid; according to the story about Xu Fu, he told the emperor his first voyage failed because fish were blocking his way and he needed more archers to deal with them. The emperor gave him archers, and Xu Fu set sail with three thousand virgins (to perform sacrifices!) and disappeared, supposedly ending up in Japan. Qin Shi Huang was also mentioned in Chapter 13

to develop his alchemy – 去发展阴阳 – to develop “yin and yang” – Manipulating yin and yang seems to be an aspect of Chinese alchemy

philanthropic types – 悬壶济世 – hanging pots to help the world, practice medicine in order to help the people

Kuh-thoo-loo – This was in the raw

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