I'm Just a Nobody, Why Are You Calling Me a God?!

The Seventh Plateau was a desolate, frozen expanse. Beneath the darkening sky, the Zanlan Group's energy pipelines pulsed with an eerie blue glow, like silent veins threading through the icy wasteland. Scattered across various checkpoints, engineering teams moved cautiously, performing routine inspections.

Bundled in thick protective gear, the engineers navigated the metallic surfaces of the pipelines. The hum of machinery blended with the howling wind, forming an industrial symphony of monotony.

"Same thing every time," a young engineer grumbled, plugging a tool into a pipeline interface. "Couldn't we just automate these checks? Why do we have to be out here?"

"Shut up and focus," the gruff team leader snapped. "You mess up, you paying for it?"

The young engineer pursed his lips but continued working. Suddenly, he stopped, tilting his head slightly as if listening to something.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered, unease creeping into his voice.

"Hear what?" another engineer asked, sounding irritated.

The young engineer didn't respond. His gaze was fixed on the darkness beyond the pipeline, where the shadows seemed thicker—too thick. A primal chill slithered down his spine. His breath turned shallow as he instinctively took a few steps back, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Something's wrong," he muttered. "Something's here…"

Before he could finish his sentence, a shadow flickered past the pipes. It moved with unnatural fluidity, a silent predator slipping through the void.

Even through the thick visor of his helmet, the young engineer felt the weight of something watching him—a gaze as sharp as a needle piercing through his thoughts.

"Captain!" he shouted, pointing at the pipeline. "Something's moving out there!"

The team leader frowned and turned in the direction the engineer indicated. But in the abyss of the night, there was nothing.

"Stop spouting nonsense," the captain growled. "Get back to work. Don't waste time."

"No! I swear, I saw—" The young engineer's voice cut off abruptly.

His pupils dilated, his hands flew to his ears, and he collapsed to the ground, trembling violently.

"Ah—! There's something here! It's screaming—I can hear it!"

"What the hell?!" The captain rushed over, reaching for him—only to freeze.

The air itself was vibrating.

It wasn't the mechanical hum of machinery or the sharp whistle of the wind—it was deeper. A frequency that crawled into the bones, resonating inside their skulls.

"Everyone, evacuate immediately!" the captain bellowed, instincts screaming at him.

But his crew didn't respond.

They stood still, motionless, their eyes empty. Lifeless.

Like puppets without strings.

A thin, elongated figure cloaked in distorted darkness, his very presence an anomaly. His face was wrong—not a face at all, but an amalgamation of open mouths, gaping like black holes, shifting and whispering in grotesque disharmony.

The darkness around him was not just a shadow. It breathed, shifting like a living thing, responding to his presence like a sentient cloak.

He did not speak.

But his voice was everywhere.

"There is… no life here."

The words didn't pass through the air.

They resonated directly inside the captain's skull, like an ancient dirge dredged from the depths of his subconscious.

"R… run…" The captain choked on his words.

His legs refused to move.

Around him, his team members were collapsing, their expressions morphing from vacant emptiness to agony… then to something even worse—ecstasy.

"We should go home," one engineer murmured, a sick, blissful smile curling at his lips as he walked toward the shadow.

"NO! STOP!" The captain struggled against the invisible force paralyzing him, forced to watch as his man stepped into the darkness—

And was swallowed whole.

The creature, known only as Thousand Mouths, lowered his head, his gaze almost… sympathetic.

A long, bony hand reached out—an invitation.

"Do not be afraid."

"You will all find peace."

The captain's mind fractured as an overwhelming sense of wrongness consumed him.

Just as he was about to fall into oblivion—

A blinding light pierced the darkness.

Several tactical drones descended from the sky, illuminating the entire plateau with intense searchlights.

North Star and Red Flame squads arrived in force—enhanced soldiers and mechanized units immediately spreading out, securing the battlefield.

"Target confirmed. Engaging suppression protocol." The North Star commander's voice was clipped and precise. "Activate anti-sonic shielding. Cut off all auditory input."

Within seconds, the cybernetic soldiers engaged their internal sound filters, rendering them immune to Thousand Mouths' psychic resonance.

"We're too late," the Red Flame captain muttered, scanning the twisted bodies of the engineering team. "Eliminate that monster."

The air grew silent.

The hiss of weapons priming for battle was the only sound that remained.

Thousand Mouths turned toward the incoming forces. His form rippled, his countless mouths curling… amused.

"It does not matter how many come."

"You cannot escape the symphony of fate."

His shadow expanded, surging outward like a tidal wave, engulfing half the battlefield.

"FIRE!" The North Star commander's order rang out—a storm of gunfire, energy beams, and explosives rained down.

Fire and shadow clashed.

Explosions illuminated the night as the pipeline structures trembled under the onslaught.

But no matter how many rounds they fired,

No matter how much firepower they unleashed—

The darkness devoured it all.

Thousand Mouths vanished.

Then reappeared, mid-stride, within the squad's formation.

A soldier turned, only to meet a thousand empty, grinning voids.

In a single moment, his mind shattered.

A blank smile froze on his lips as he raised his rifle—and turned it on his own squad.

"They're compromised!" The Red Flame captain shouted. "EMP! Now!"

"But that'll disable our gear!"

"DO IT!"

A high-intensity EMP blast detonated at the battlefield's center, briefly disrupting the energy field surrounding Thousand Mouths.

Several soldiers, previously controlled, collapsed to the ground, twitching before going still.

But the creature remained.

Unfazed.

"Your struggle is meaningless."

Thousand Mouths leapt forward, his fingers grazing the helmet of a cybernetic soldier.

The AI inside the helmet screamed in a burst of data corruption.

The soldier's movements froze—then distorted. His body twitched as his targeting systems overrode themselves.

He turned on his allies.

"He can corrupt machinery too?!" The North Star commander's voice dropped to a grave whisper.

"All units—cut off his path! Deploy heavy artillery!"

Several hover drones maneuvered into position, firing concentrated particle beams straight at Thousand Mouths.

But just like before—the darkness swallowed everything.

"Your machines are as fragile as your minds."

With a flick of his hand, tendrils of shadow lashed out, ripping through the drones like they were made of paper.

The Red Flame captain clenched his jaw. "We can't kill this thing with normal means."

He turned to his comms.

"Lure it into the energy cannon's blast zone! We need Zanlan's anti-existential defenses online—NOW!"

"The cannon needs three more minutes!" The response came, frantic.

"Then we hold the line for three minutes. Or we all die."

Three minutes.

It felt like a lifetime.

As the battle raged, they fought to stall an eldritch nightmare—a being that devoured minds as easily as it consumed light.

"HURRY UP!"

Standing at the center of the battlefield, the Red Flame captain raised his weapon, staring directly into the abyss.

"If I die, I'm dragging you to hell with me."

Thousand Mouths paused.

And then, from his endless maws, came a sound—

A silent, mocking laugh.