Follower

I stop the car and turn on the high beams to get the attention of the woman. She turns around towards us, smiles, and a glowing green horizontal line appears on her forehead like a tattoo.

Three tentacle-like lines then extend from the line to her face and right arm, to empower her.

The glowing tattoo disappears shortly after, but her face and right arm starts to deform into grotesque and indescribable forms.

The only thing that tells that she has a face are the glowing green eyes on it.

This is a sign that she is a follower of Cthulhu, but luckily not a high-ranking one because only a bit of her body has changed. The high-ranking ones have basically their complete bodies morphed...

"Bobby, stay inside the car, and whatever you do, don't look her in the eyes," I say to Bobby and open the door while Bobby nods, but still takes out his shotgun to take action if necessary.

In the same time I come out of the car, Leo opens the door too and freezes when he sees the grotesque woman in front of him.

But without even turning around, she swipes with her tentacle-like right arm at him and sends Leo flying back into the room, before saying in a monstrous voice, ⁣

{Rasiel... you are like a cockroach that doesn't want to die...}

Then she walks forward and sends her tentacle arm towards me by stretching it unnaturally, but I grab it midair, turn around, and throw it around my shoulder.

This sent the follower flying and crashing to the ground a few feet in front of me.

"Yep, it's me, and I must say the vessels here really bring out your ugly tentacle face to fruition," I say and walk to the trunk and open it.

In the meantime, the follower jumps up and looks at me while tilting her 'head' from right to left and says,

{Pretty bold words for something like you... do you think only because you got stronger since the last time, I won't rip you apart?}

"You never could rip me apart even when I was not that strong," I say calmly as I take a machete out of Bobby's bag.

{You really want the events to repeat? What is the point of that? I still win in the end, and you, even if you survive, will be alone in the nothingness.}

I unsheathe the machete and point it and the follower in front of me and say, "Can you even repeat the event? I'm pretty sure the wound Cthylla gave you last time still didn't heal, did it?"

{Do you want to find it out? Let's see how you fare all alone against me.} says the monster, and blade-like spikes appear on its tentacle arm.

*Bang! Bang!*

"Who says he is alone, you ugly squid worshiper?" says Bobby as he shoots the follower, after coming out of the car.

The shots blow holes in the follower's head and arm, but she only stumbles back for a second until the holes start to close again.

"This won't work. The only way to kill them is decapitation!" I shout towards Bobby, but when I look at him, he starts to shake uncontrollably while white foam starts to come out of his mouth after he looked into the eyes of the thing.

---

{This weak human is your backup? Let me relieve you of this burden.}

She enlarges her tentacle, making it and the spikes bigger, then swipes the tentacle down towards Bobby, who had fallen to the ground a second ago.

However, I rush in front of him and redirect it to the side by blocking it with my machete. Then stab the machete into the tentacle and pin it to the ground.

{Watch out for your friend!}

In the next moment, two smaller tentacles with spikes spring out of the larger one, aiming at Bobby. But I manage to grab one with my left hand while blocking the other with my foot.

However, this action comes with consequences. As both tentacles are covered in countless spikes, my hand and foot get pierced, and now I'm stuck too...

{Hah, an immortal who cares for human lives. You will never change, how pathetic.}

Once again, smaller tentacles emerge from the larger one, but this time, she aims at me. So I grab the machete and cut them off, but this allows the larger one to move again.

So it springs up and wraps around me, piercing my upper body completely in the process. Then, she swings her arm to the side, catapulting me directly into Leo and Cassidy's room.

Well, I need to separate her from Bobby anyway and as long as she comes after me and not him, this method is as good as any other...

Unfortunately I landed in the room, not through the door, but through the wall... and my world momentarily turned dark.

{Another failure... daughter, you and your diversions. When will you learn that you can't escape your purpose?}

I come to my senses after a while and see that the follower is standing next to the sleeping Cassidy. It seems that somehow, Cthylla managed to lay a false trail for them to follow. Clever girl...

Looking down, I realize that I'm still bound by the large tentacle, and my machete is pressed against my body. Sadly the spikes that are piercing my body make it impossible to move even an inch.

I check on my last hope, Leo, who seems to be taking longer to wake up compared to the other witch in the warehouse... but he should hopefully wake up at any moment now.

{Are you awake again? That was pretty fast. I thought that would be enough to keep you out for hours.} says the follower, wiggling towards me.

Well, there is no rest for the wicked... I try to say, but with my heart and lungs pierced I can't, so I simply spit blood in her formless face.

She uses her normal hand to wipe it away, then says, {I will enjoy crushing your head and dropping you into some bottomless pit where you will never escape from. Goodbye.} and raises her foot to crush my face.

"Vis naturae per me influat ut inimicos meos punire possim!"

(May the force of nature flow through me, that I may punish my enemies.)

"Vis naturae per me influat ut inimicos meos punire possim!"

*Bzzzzt!*

I smile a bloody smile as lightning strikes the follower and throws her into the broken wall from which I probably came through.

---

The tentacle loosens a bit, and I can move. Luckily, Leo wanted to punish his enemies with lightning, and not everyone... or I would be grilled too.

"Vis naturae per me influat ut inimicos meos punire possim!"

*Bzzzzt!*

I turn my gaze towards Leo, who stands beside Cassidy's bed, unleashing lightning from his fingertips in full force. However, I could sense that he couldn't keep this up for much longer.

So I try to free myself by pushing myself out of the grip of the tentacle, while letting the spikes rip my flesh.

Leo sees this and stops his lightning, chanting, "Ventis lamina!" and then drops to his knees, breathing heavily.

The ugly follower can move again and screeches, {You insect, you dare to use your filthy magic on m---}

*Wussh!*

"Actually, the last spell was for me," I say after throwing the machete into the follower's head, causing her to stumble back.

With his last spell, Leo casted a wind blade that cut the tentacle open, allowing me to escape.

I turn to Leo, who seems to be out of energy, and say, "Thanks, even though I wish you could have done it earlier..." then turn towards the follower, who tries to remove the machete from her head.

Leo says annoyed, "... She killed me with that previous hit, so... be grateful that I got back up at all."

Fair enough... I wave at him with my backhand, then dash towards the follower, and help her remove the machete from her head. Afterwards slice off her regenerating tentacle and kick her out of the room.

{Agh! You'll wish you were mortal after this because I'll torture you for eternity!} she screams, standing up and pointing her stump at me. Spikes begin to emerge from it and shoot towards me.

I focus on my perception and walk calmly towards her, slashing some projectiles with the machete that nearly hit my head while evading the others by shifting my body to the sides.

Once I'm in front of her again, I use the machete to cut off her stump completely, then hit her in the wrong looking face with my fist and slice off her normal arm too.

Afterwards I break her knee with my foot to make her kneel, and drive the machete into her head once again.

This damage won't last long, but I need to vent my anger at someone...

I grab her neck and look into her glowing eyes, saying, "I will find Cthylla, and then I will come for you. So be ready."

{No, you should be ready to face your end!} screeches the thing in front of me, but I simply let it fall and swing the machete down, separating her formless head from her body.

Her body starts to morph back, and I place my hand on her head.

Cthulhu and his followers have no soul names since they have no souls... but they have a connection to Cthylla.

Concentrating on this connection, I find several other auras that feel like Cthylla's before the connection is cut off and the last spark of what was left in the head disappears.

But that was all I needed, as I sensed a powerful presence calling out to me amidst the others.

I have finally found her...