The middle-aged man's face was deathly pale. Looking at the monsters soaking in formalin, he snatched the camera from Clancy's hands.
"Do you have shit for brains?! This is a secret military site! Not one of those haunted houses you usually go exploring!"
"Even if you capture some world-shaking scoop, do you really think you'd dare to release it?"
Andre unleashed a torrent of spit-flecked rage at Clancy.
He turned his head toward Sephirot: "Shouldn't we head back? We've filmed more than enough footage. We have no business being in a place like this. If we keep going and get caught by the authorities, we'll all die here!"
Seeing that nothing had happened, Sephirot turned back and continued flipping through the logbook:
"I'm not stopping you. You can choose to stay here, or you can walk back up the stairs by yourself."
"However, if your luck is bad and you run into some stray monster along the way, I can't say what might happen."
He paused, then added, "I see in these experimental records that there's a type of insect that likes to crawl onto people's heads and eventually take control of the human nervous system."
Hearing this, Andre pictured the scene in his mind and shuddered violently, promptly shutting his mouth.
Once the group finished searching the hall and found nothing else of value, Sephirot shut down the terminal and continued deeper into the facility.
He pushed open the fire door leading to basement level 3; it seemed this was the lowest level of the base.
What met their eyes was a dim corridor with flickering lights.
The walls on both sides were splattered with blood, and several corpses in blood-stained coats lay on the floor.
To the horror of Andre and the others, a fleshy worm was perched atop each of their heads.
"WTF! What the hell were they doing down here?"
The old lady carefully poked a corpse with the barrel of her gun. After confirming they were dead, she let out a sigh of relief and cursed angrily.
Nevertheless, they cautiously skirted around the bodies and followed behind Sephirot.
As they pushed open the heavy gate, the sight before them made them gasp once more.
This was a subterranean space so massive it seemed to stretch on forever; it appeared the military had completely hollowed out the entire underground.
The corpses of various alien monsters were piled densely together, forming a literal carpet of flesh and blood.
Just then, a strange spatial ripple surged toward them like a tide.
These ripples left Andre and the others feeling suddenly stifled, as if a heavy stone were pressing down on their chests, making it impossible to breathe.
"Damn it!"
Andre clutched his chest, his face contorted in pain as he couldn't help but swear.
A moment later, the ripples dissipated, leaving them gasping for air.
Sephirot felt nothing at all.
He looked up toward the ceiling.
Countless thick cables hung in a chaotic mess in the air.
The cables were like veins, converging from all directions to finally connect to a machine in the distance. The back of the machine was a maze of complex mechanisms and coils, while its front glowed with a blindingly intense light.
It was focused directly at the wall, continuously firing pulses of energy.
On the wall opposite the machine, there was a crack several meters long.
As the pulses hit, the crack seemed to be forced open, slowly spreading outward.
Sephirot's eyes narrowed slightly.
This had to be the device that person mentioned. As long as he destroyed it, this disaster would come to an end.
"Sephirot! There looks to be a console over there!"
Amanda's voice called out as she pointed toward a high platform on the right where several computer terminals were located.
Before Sephirot could respond, his expression shifted. He tightened his right hand into a phantom grip, and Alastor appeared in his palm, flickering with lightning light.
"Get out! Now!"
Even as the words left his lips, a massive shadow plummeted from the ceiling like a falling meteor.
Squelch!
With a sickening, pressurized thud, the shadow crushed the pile of corpses on the ground until they burst.
Blood, severed limbs, and jagged bits of flesh sprayed everywhere.
As the rain of blood settled, the horrific monster finally revealed its full form to everyone.
It was a deformed creature, as tall as a three or four-story building.
Its lower body featured several articulated legs like those of a giant spider, and green venom dripped constantly from its underbelly.
The upper body was that of a lobster clad in slate-gray armor, with two massive claws hanging in front of its chest.
Skree!
The Lobstrosity let out a piercing shriek, its giant claws snapping open and shut as it slammed them down toward Sephirot and the others!
"Every man for himself!"
Sephirot barked. Instead of retreating, he lunged forward, his legs pushing off with explosive force as he turned into a blur.
Boom!
The giant claw slammed into the spot where he had just been standing, cracking the floorboards.
Sephirot seized the opening. With a light tap of his foot, he ran straight up the Lobstrosity's segmented legs.
Reaching the creature's midsection, he kicked off with a burst of strength. Gripping Alastor with both hands, he prepared to sever one of the giant claws during the window between its attacks.
However, despite its massive size, the monster's reactions were anything but slow.
The other intact claw swept in from the side, bringing with it a gust of foul-smelling wind.
Seeing his path blocked, Sephirot kicked the air. Magic ripples shimmered outward as he leaped again, pulling back to create distance.
But before he could land, the monster made it clear it had no intention of letting him escape.
Its mouthparts snapped open, emitting a gurgling sound.
"You've got to be kidding me... please tell me you don't spit ink too!"
Watching the creature wind up, the fear of being dominated by a certain "Old From" in his past life instantly flashed through Sephirot's mind.
Sure enough, a jet of water smelling of pungent chemicals erupted from the Lobstrosity's mouth like a high-pressure hose.
With nowhere to dodge in mid-air, Sephirot could only brace himself in a defensive stance as the ink lunged toward him.
Hum...
A magic shield materialized in front of him.
The moment the ink slammed into the shield, it was deflected back with even greater force.
"REEEEEE!!!"
Struck by its own venom, the monster let out a pained scream.
The black liquid, capable of corroding even alloys, instantly burned large, pitted wounds into its carapace.
The agonizing pain caused it to recoil. The ink still spewing from its mouth tilted wildly upward, spraying out of control.
Zzzzt!
Several cables connected to the core device were hit and instantly severed.
Sparks flew, and the light emanating from the device in the distance dimmed slightly.
"Go shut that device down!"
Sephirot landed and shouted back at Andre and the others hiding behind cover.
He raised his sword and charged again, engaging the disoriented monster in a frantic struggle.
In the corner, Clancy's legs were shaking as he held the camera, though he was incredibly exhilarated by the battle unfolding before him; it looked like a Hollywood blockbuster.
Meanwhile, the white-haired old lady remained perfectly calm.
Crouched behind cover, she raised the scavenged assault rifle, squinting through the sights as she tried to provide covering fire to take some of the pressure off Sephirot.
Sephirot didn't choose to trade blows head-on. Instead, he used his superior speed to weave nimbly between the monster's eight spider legs.
Every time he passed a leg, he severed it.
Alastor carved streaks of lightning light through the gloomy space.
Soon, Sephirot had systematically cut away all eight spider legs from the Lobstrosity's lower body.
Furthermore, the creature seemed to lack resistance to lightning-element attacks; every time it was struck, it fell into a brief state of paralysis and stagger.
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE
Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below provide the context needed to understand them without leaving the page.
CONCEPTS
"Old From" — Affectionate nickname used by Chinese gamers for FromSoftware (老From), the Japanese studio behind notoriously punishing games (Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Bloodborne). Sephirot's fear that the Lobstrosity might spit ink is a meta-reference to his "past life" as a gamer being tormented by similar enemies in one of those titles.
CREATURES
Headcrab Zombie — The result of a successful Headcrab infestation. When a Headcrab latches onto a human host, it takes control of the nervous system, transforming the body into a shambling husk. The scientists in the corridor, each with a "fleshy worm perched atop their head," are Headcrab Zombies. In Half-Life, these are among the most disturbing enemies in the facility: the parasite fuses with the head, leaving the host technically still alive but fully under its control. This is the first visible confirmation in the chapter of what the creatures logged as X-89 in the previous chapter actually do to people.