My Grandfather Is Rick - 11 - 15 (Patreon)

Chapter 011: The Cthulhu Dimension

The revolting, lightless flesh cocoons...

The sight was so graphic that every website on the internet would have banned it in a second. Every moment Morty looked at them tested the limits of what he could stomach.

But he didn’t retreat or go back to ask Rick for help.

Instead, he forced his body forward, suppressing his fear of the unknown and pressing on without hesitation.

He had already decided to use the intelligence boost from the Mega Fruit to upgrade the Meeseeks Box and eventually break free from Rick.

How could he back down now just because of a few disgusting sights?

Of course, Morty wasn’t reckless enough to charge in completely unprepared.

After he was cursed during their last trip to the Cthulhu Dimension, Rick had implanted an Omnidirectional Defense Device beneath his skin. It did not protect him from Cthulhu.

The instant Morty encountered danger, Nanobots would surge from his body and form a protective wall in the air.

Then they would send Rick a distress signal.

With that in mind, Morty gathered his courage and stepped closer.

What he found was completely unexpected.

The flesh cocoon was empty.

No...

All five of them were empty.

Then where had the people who were supposed to be inside gone?

Morty didn’t believe their flesh-cocoon plan had failed.

On the contrary, the smooth inner walls showed that whatever had been gestating inside had successfully emerged.

Which meant...

[Maybe Cthulhu Rick and the others already left. Or maybe they’re still somewhere in this world...]

[Or maybe they’ve been right in front of us this whole time.]

[The Cthulhu family of four?]

The possibility made Morty restless.

During the three days he had spent bedridden, he had gritted his teeth and studied the Cthulhu Mythos all over again.

Cthulhu was the most iconic figure in the Cthulhu Dimension.

With the female Great Old One Idh-Yaa alone, he had fathered three sons and one daughter.

He also had several other children with other Great Old Ones.

Cthulhu was practically the leading advocate of population growth in this world. How could he possibly have only two children?

Could it be...

Morty only wanted to get away from Rick. He had never intended to get him killed.

He immediately hurried out of the house and ran back the way he had come.

Rick was leaning against the shoreline with Cthulhu himself. Each of them had a bottle of beer in hand as they gazed up at the bright moon.

Or rather, up at Azathoth.

The two looked so friendly that all they were missing was a barbecue.

Seeing that things seemed to be going well, Morty slowed down and tried not to look too anxious.

[This is the first time I’ve ever seen Rick make friends. I never would’ve guessed that someone who makes enemies everywhere would be so good at getting along with his father-in-law...]

The thought that Cthulhu might actually become Rick’s father-in-law made Morty deeply uncomfortable.

Then he considered what it would mean if the pregnant one was Cthulhu Summer, or...

[What the fuck...]

[If I ever got another chance at life, I’d rather go to the Warhammer Universe and fight Greenskins bare-chested than end up in a world like Rick and Morty again...]

[This place is way too violent and horny!]

Morty shook those increasingly Rick-like thoughts out of his head and quickened his pace.

When he reached Rick, he gestured for them to step aside and talk privately.

Rick was clearly drunk. He swept one hand through the air with drunken bravado.

“What could you possibly have to say that you can’t say in front of my bro Cthulhu? Don’t treat the guy like an outsider!”

“But he is an outsider...” Morty muttered.

He looked up at the three-hundred-meter-tall Cthulhu beside Rick, who was holding a fifty-meter-tall barrel of alcohol.

His octopus face and curious stare made Morty decide that once this was over, he should burn his copy of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Even the author who wrote it probably never imagined a scene like this.

Rick and Cthulhu drinking together like old friends...

Since Rick was obviously too drunk to cooperate, Morty lowered his head, leaned close to his ear, and quickly whispered what he had discovered.

Rick’s eyes went wide the instant he heard it.

He looked like he had never even considered the possibility that this world might have its own Rick.

Rick normally wore the same blank, indifferent expression no matter what disaster he faced. Seeing that expression suddenly change made Morty’s heart lurch.

Had he guessed correctly?

The next second, Rick set down his beer, made up an excuse, and scraped some skin from Cthulhu’s body.

He placed it inside the analyzer he carried with him to examine the creature’s true composition.

Morty could only give Rick a silent thumbs-up.

A three-hundred-meter-tall Cthulhu was standing right beside them, watching.

And Rick was analyzing his tissue right in front of him?

Morty glanced up, but Cthulhu didn’t appear particularly bothered.

The analyzer processed the sample almost instantly and confirmed that the creature before them really was Cthulhu himself.

Morty had barely begun to relax when Rick smacked him squarely on top of the head.

“Don’t scare me with shit like that again! I almost dropped dead from high blood pressure!” Rick snapped.

“How is that my fault...?”

Morty immediately defended himself.

“The last time we came here, we were in the deep sea, cutting... cutting...”

He felt Cthulhu’s eyes lock onto him and immediately abandoned that line of thought.

“The point is, we never saw that cabin last time. I was just wandering around, found the place, then saw the family portrait. How was I not supposed to freak out?”

More importantly, whatever had been inside those flesh cocoons might already have hatched.

“What? You’re only telling me something that important now?”

Rick bolted toward the cabin.

Morty followed close behind, and Cthulhu came running with them.

As Morty ran, he glanced at the three-hundred-meter-tall giant and complained silently.

[Why the hell are you tagging along?]

He soon found out why Cthulhu had joined them after accidentally overhearing their conversation.

“This cabin!”

“Rick Sanchez!”

“It was him! There’s no mistake!”

Cthulhu was clearly agitated.

Morty leaned toward Rick and whispered, “What the hell did you two talk about while I was gone?”

“What did we talk about? Our alibis, obviously!”

“I’ve been through more women than you can count, never used protection, and I still only ended up with one daughter. Morty, if you used even half your goddamn brain, you’d realize it’s already extremely difficult for me to have any more children!”

“And after talking to him, I found out that ‘I’ went to see Cthylla twice that day.”

...

Chapter 012: Hatching the Cocoon

Well, shit...

While Rick and Cthulhu continued discussing the details off to one side, Morty crouched beside the wooden cabin and stared speechlessly at the gray sky, looking completely lost.

It was now confirmed that Rick had gone to see Cthylla.

It was also confirmed that Cthulhu Rick had gone to see Cthylla.

That made the entire sequence of events seem pretty clear.

Last time Morty and Rick came to the Cthulhu Dimension to slice off some Cthulhu squid strips and grill them, Rick had disappeared for a while.

He had actually gone after Cthylla.

After Rick left, this world’s Cthulhu Rick approached Cthylla while disguised as a normal Rick and took a second turn.

As a result, Cthylla had dragged the entire Cthulhu Dimension down from the lofty realm of the Unnameable into a story about an enraged father chasing a deadbeat across universes.

And now Rick refused to let that stand.

Someone had used the name of The Rickest Rick to pull some sneaky underhanded bullshit?

Rick had screwed his way across countless universes, but he had always openly admitted to everything he had done.

This had to be dealt with.

Even if Azathoth woke up, Old Rick would blast that bastard apart, then help his bro Cthulhu claim the number one spot on the Cthulhu Power Rankings!

“I never said that! Quit making shit up!” Cthulhu protested. “My loyalty to the Supreme God Azathoth is absolute! Heaven and earth are my witnesses!”

Morty said, “...”

Their conversation had somehow gone from finding Cthulhu Rick to helping a guy Rick had just met kill his boss and become the top dog in the universe.

Morty couldn’t take it anymore.

Every extra second they spent in the Cthulhu Dimension made the situation more dangerous.

Couldn’t they just find Cthulhu Rick as fast as possible, figure out what the hell was going on, then decide whether to kill him or let him live?

Why did Rick have to drag Cthulhu into all this?

Just listen to the shit he was saying. Cthulhu kept insisting he didn’t want any part of it, but the giant wings on his back were flapping like crazy with excitement.

At this rate, the ever-loyal Cthulhu might take Rick straight to Azathoth in the next second.

But Rick was clearly having too much fun talking.

Morty decided to search the cabin again.

If he remembered correctly, nearly every Rick in every universe liked building a secret base beneath the garage.

Earlier, Morty had been worried that Cthulhu Rick might suddenly jump him, so he hadn’t searched the area carefully.

Now that Rick was right outside the cabin, it should be safe to take a look underground.

Morty returned to the cabin and headed toward the garage. He pulled a small metal cylinder from his pocket and pressed its button, causing a red laser blade to extend from the tip.

Rick had built the little Star Wars knockoff out of boredom. It had mysteriously disappeared two months ago because Morty had secretly taken it.

Morty had stashed plenty of Rick’s little inventions under his bed and buried several more in the backyard.

He poked one of the flesh cocoons with the lightsaber. After confirming that the lifeless object no longer had much defensive strength, Morty followed his memory and cleared a path to the underground base’s entrance.

He didn’t bother with anything elaborate.

The moment he found the right section of wooden floor, he drove the lightsaber straight through it.

Black mist erupted from below.

Protected by the defense system Rick had personally built for him, Morty didn’t panic. He calmly took a step back.

The black mist slowly took shape before his eyes.

Eventually, it formed a Cthulhu Rick.

This Cthulhu version of Rick differed from the normal Rick in only two ways. He had octopus tentacles covering his face and a pair of hairless wings on his back.

He was clearly the magical equivalent of AI Rick.

The moment he appeared and saw a Morty without facial tentacles, he froze for several seconds.

After thinking it over, he asked, “Morty from another world, have you come here because you crave power?”

The line sounded strangely familiar.

Morty answered without thinking. “And what will it cost me, Gul... Ahem. Rick?”

This world had no World of Warcraft, so AI Cthulhu Rick naturally missed the Gul’dan reference. Instead, he got straight to the point.

“If you crave power, I will grant you power.”

“But you must release me and give me a physical body!”

Morty fell silent for a second, then readily agreed.

No problem.

And if he was lying, then may a Morty drop dead.

“In that case, I will show you the power this world’s Rick sealed beneath the ground!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the wooden floorboards in front of Morty silently shifted aside.

A wooden staircase leading underground appeared.

It was pitch-black down there. If Morty fell, he could forget about ever climbing back out.

Suspecting a trap, Morty said, “Uh, could you light the place up?”

“Don’t you have night vision?” AI Cthulhu Rick asked.

“If I had night vision, why the hell would I ask you for a light?”

“Fine.”

AI Cthulhu Rick produced an oil lamp from nowhere and lit it.

A song lyric suddenly flashed through Morty’s mind.

[The ape lights the lamp... illuminating my home...]

With the oil lamp burning, Morty stood at the entrance to the underground base and caught a glimpse of Cthulhu Rick’s collection.

It was both thrilling and terrifying.

Once he decided there probably wasn’t any immediate danger below, Morty descended the stairs.

Weapon after weapon, tool after tool, along with all kinds of potions and specimens, appeared before him. Nearly everything followed the same twisted fantasy Cthulhu aesthetic.

Morty was immediately disappointed.

“Don’t you have anything that doesn’t look horrifying?”

“Look at that sword. If I pulled that thing out while trying to save somebody, the dying victim would probably grab the killer’s gun and shoot me instead!”

“And don’t you people have guns? Forget the bows and crossbows for a second. They’ve got strings made out of flesh that could trigger trypophobia just by looking at them. Unless those things can fire magic arrows, what the hell would I even do with them?”

After Morty spent several minutes trashing everything in sight, AI Cthulhu Rick finally lost his temper.

You entitled little shit!

He hadn’t even introduced any of these items yet, and Morty was already picking them apart, acting like some rich kid visiting a miserable backwater.

Fine.

Morty thought this stuff was beneath him?

Then AI Cthulhu Rick would bring out the good shit.

He swept his right hand through the air, and the stone wall beside him began shifting under the control of some unseen energy.

The section covered in grotesque weapons slowly rotated.

Then a long sword blazing with golden light appeared before Morty.

“The Godslayer Sword! What do you think? Badass enough for you?”

“If you stab that giant octopus outside with this sword, it is one hundred percent guaranteed to die!”

...

Chapter 013: Sword of Silence

“The blade can grow longer or shorter according to the wielder’s will, and its sharpness can be adjusted as well...”

“But no matter how sharp a weapon is, it still needs something special to be useful in this world. Even if it can pierce any defense, the monsters here are often several meters, dozens of meters, or even hundreds of meters tall. What good does merely breaking their skin do?”

“That’s why Cthulhu Rick created this weapon.”

“And what truly makes it effective is, of course, its Silence effect!”

As AI Cthulhu Rick explained everything at length, Morty stood beside him with stars in his eyes and a look of pure admiration.

That adoration gave AI Cthulhu Rick a taste of the praise normally reserved for a real Rick.

It was a feeling only a Morty could provide.

Caught up in it, he gradually revealed details he had originally intended to keep hidden.

As for Morty...

He kept wearing the same worshipful expression, but inwardly, he carefully memorized everything AI Cthulhu Rick said while mocking him at the same time.

[Sure enough, every Rick in every universe falls for the same trick...]

[Without someone validating you and making you feel like your existence matters, you either kill yourselves or sink even deeper into nihilism...]

Watching the show had been one thing. After spending six months with Rick in person, Morty had figured out a few ways to manipulate him.

One of them was simple.

Rick was a pitiful man trapped in a cold universe. Unless he joined the other Ricks at the Citadel for warmth, the only comfort he could find came from his family.

He needed validation.

That was right. Rick was incredibly vulnerable to it.

The old man’s need for control was overwhelming. Losing the people he loved had caused him so much pain that he now despised seeing anything slip beyond his control.

And once something did escape his control, Rick would eliminate the threat without mercy before it had the chance to become dangerous.

Even if that threat was Morty himself.

That was why Morty had spent the past six months acting almost entirely as Rick’s perfect tool.

Getting away from Rick was never going to be easy.

By the time AI Cthulhu Rick finished his explanation, Morty finally understood how the golden Godslayer Sword could kill the Elder Gods.

Put simply, the Cthulhu Dimension had three major factions: the Great Old Ones, the Elder Gods, and the Outer Gods.

Within this dimension, they were practically invincible.

Under the laws of this world, they were extremely difficult to kill.

Most of them did not even possess a true physical form.

To create a single weapon capable of dealing with all three factions, this world’s Cthulhu Rick had attacked the problem at its source.

The result was the Sword of Silence.

Against lifeforms from outside the Cthulhu Dimension, it would do little more than inflict ordinary sword wounds.

But most monsters in the Cthulhu Dimension were incapable of shutting up. Even while asleep, they constantly babbled inside their minds and affected the creatures around them.

That uncontrollable, maddening speech contained enormous amounts of energy.

If the voices were silenced, the energy would continue accumulating inside them until they eventually exploded.

“So how long do I have to leave this thing stuck inside them?”

Now that Morty understood how it worked, he also noticed that Cthulhu Rick had not taken the sword with him.

The weapon suddenly seemed a lot less useful.

“A day? A year? Or maybe...”

“Forget it! You’re not getting a physical body!”

Morty turned around and walked away.

He felt as though AI Cthulhu Rick had just wasted a huge chunk of his time.

Sure, the sword sounded impressive.

But Cthulhu Rick had not even taken it with him, and AI Cthulhu Rick could not estimate how long it needed to work.

Wasn’t that just screwing people over?

When AI Cthulhu Rick saw Morty leaving, his expression darkened.

Being looked down on by anyone was bad enough.

Being looked down on by a little punk like Morty was something else entirely.

You little bastard!

You dare look down on your grandpa’s magical AI?

Morty had only taken a few steps when the staircase ahead of him began to shrink. The opening above it narrowed along with it.

The light vanished.

Darkness swallowed the entire space.

First came the whisper of a single man.

Then countless mouths began whispering at once.

Those voices could have driven a sane person mad within seconds, but they had no effect on Morty whatsoever.

He had already fallen into that trap once. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

Besides, this thing was not Cthulhu Rick.

It was only his magical AI, yet it still had the nerve to act this cocky.

It was getting way too full of itself.

Unable to see even a trace of light, Morty casually tapped the skin of his left arm several times.

The protective device implanted beneath it began transmitting a signal to Rick.

Outside, Rick was still bullshitting with Cthulhu when he sensed the message. He turned toward the cabin’s storage area.

After hesitating for several seconds, he stayed where he was and replied through the communication channel.

“Morty, you know how many defensive systems I installed in our house, right?”

“Yeah...”

Morty answered with obvious resignation.

As expected, Rick continued, “This is another version of my base. If I charge in without thinking, it’ll inevitably cause even more unpredictable consequences!”

“So figure out how to get out by yourself!”

“‘Unpredictable consequences.’ You’re sounding so damn Cthulhu right now that I’m starting to wonder if the giant octopus out there really has become your brother...”

Rick refused to make any reckless moves outside the cabin.

That meant Morty would have to escape on his own.

But Morty had no interest in fighting AI Cthulhu Rick while it held the home-field advantage.

So he immediately backed down.

After all, every Rick enjoyed the feeling of crushing a Morty.

Sure enough, the moment Morty apologized, the black mist surrounding him vanished.

“Hah! Morty!”

AI Cthulhu Rick took physical form again.

Morty, who had only just surrendered, immediately stated his terms.

He wanted the sword and the truth about what had happened here.

In exchange, he would have Rick outside find a way to give AI Cthulhu Rick a physical body.

“Kid, I’m not stupid. The guy outside won’t come in because he’s afraid I’ll attack him. And I refuse to appear in front of him because I’m afraid he’ll kill me!”

“So here’s the plan!”

“First, I’ll teach you how to build an Incubation Cocoon. Then I’ll enter the cocoon, and once that’s done, we can talk business!”

Morty stared seriously at AI Cthulhu Rick for several seconds, suppressing the urge to laugh, then agreed.

But Morty was far too stupid to figure this out on his own.

AI Cthulhu Rick would have to explain every detail of constructing the Incubation Cocoon without leaving out a single thing.

“Don’t worry! I don’t want anything going wrong with my own incubation either! I’ll tell you everything you need to know!”

“Okay!”

With a faint smile, Morty followed AI Cthulhu Rick’s instructions and began gathering materials from around the underground base.

He started preparing to build the Incubation Cocoon.

[Rick’s version of Cthulhu knowledge, plus the technology for building an Incubation Cocoon. I’ve hit the jackpot this time!]

...

Chapter 014: From Apprentice to Master, the Crash Course

“First, you know we’re in the Cthulhu Dimension, right?”

“The most terrifying thing in this world is getting closer to the truth. The closer you get, the more incomprehensible things you discover, until your entire understanding of reality collapses and drives you insane.”

“Hey! I’m teaching you here. Why’d your hands stop? Hurry up! That potion has to reach five hundred degrees before you pour it in!”

Beside a brown wooden table, Morty was taking the Incubation Cocoon: From Apprentice to Master, One-Hour Crash Course, holding several potion bottles in his bare hands.

He frantically processed the ingredients while listening to AI Cthulhu Rick show off everything he knew.

Morty had no idea whether Cthulhu Rick had the same personality as this AI.

But at least he knew his own Rick wasn’t the type to ramble. Rick hated explaining why he did anything.

Just trust him. That was all anyone needed to know.

So meeting such a talkative AI Rick for the first time was both a blessing and a curse.

After all, Morty had to build the Incubation Cocoon while memorizing everything the AI taught him.

He had barely finished the first preparation step, gathering all the ingredients for the potion, when Rick began urging him to come outside.

“Morty, when the hell are you coming out?”

“Is that magical AI Rick in there licking your balls or something? Is that why you can’t tear yourself away?”

“Jesus! I’ve completely failed as a grandpa! I forgot you’re already going through puberty. Looks like I’ll have to figure out how to help you land Jessica!”

“Come on, hurry up and get out here. Stop hanging around with that dumbass trying to rebel!”

Morty said, “...”

AI Cthulhu Rick said, “...”

“Is the Rick you travel with always this much of an asshole?”

“What Rick isn’t an asshole...?”

After that brief exchange, Morty raised his voice and shouted, “Rick! I’m building him an Incubation Cocoon in exchange for information about what happened during the hatching! Either come down here and help, or shut the hell up out there!”

Outside, Rick rolled his eyes.

He had already used his X-Ray Goggles to see everything happening underground and had listened in on their entire conversation.

But Morty...

If the kid had bothered talking to Cthulhu for a few minutes, he would have learned that some universes imposed restrictions on certain laws and forms of energy.

A simple example would be this.

Universe A allowed both magical energy and technological energy.

But if someone traveled to Universe B, where technological energy was restricted, an energy gun might stop working. However, if they found a way to extract magical energy and modified the gun, they could still fire it using ammunition infused with magic.

In other words, Morty was learning Cthulhu technology from Cthulhu Rick, but once they returned to their own universe, more than half of it would be practically useless.

Trying to pull some Unnameable bullshit in their world would only get him vaporized the next second by Galactic Federation batteries firing a billion energy blasts per second.

Still...

Morty had already stepped into the trap.

Rick grinned mysteriously, then quickly wiped the smile from his face and went back to discussing that little cross-universe problem with Cthulhu.

Underground, Morty waited several seconds, but the hot-tempered Rick never stormed in and dragged him away.

Something was clearly wrong.

Morty knew Rick well.

That controlling old bastard hated having anyone defy him, but he also loved watching people suffer the consequences after ignoring his advice.

Those two contradictory impulses somehow coexisted perfectly.

Anyone who went against Rick usually faced one of two outcomes.

Either Rick intervened immediately and forced everything back on track, or he stood off to the side and enjoyed the disaster before deciding whether the mess was worth cleaning up.

Since Rick hadn’t broken down the door and blown AI Cthulhu Rick’s head off, he had obviously chosen to watch the show.

Realizing that, Morty began working faster.

At the same time, he quietly raised his guard.

Rick might be an asshole, but his judgment was almost always right, and his actions were impossible to predict.

If he had decided to stand back and laugh, then there was definitely something wrong with this Incubation Cocoon.

Morty needed to keep something in reserve.

“Alright, that guy outside has gone back to chatting. Let’s hurry up and finish the Incubation Cocoon.”

AI Cthulhu Rick’s impatient urging sent Morty’s suspicions through the roof.

Eventually, Morty finished mixing the potion and picked up the flask.

All he had to do was smash it against the ground, and an Incubation Cocoon would grow from the floor.

But Morty stopped.

“The potion’s finished. Isn’t it time you gave me the information you promised?”

Desire filled AI Cthulhu Rick’s eyes. He reluctantly looked away from the flask and swept his right hand through the air.

Dark mist gathered and formed a mirror.

The scene within it appeared to show what had happened just before the Incubation Cocoons began hatching.

Cthulhu Rick and his family of five finished mixing the potion, threw it onto the ground, and let the liquid form the Incubation Cocoons by itself.

Then the whole family climbed inside.

When they finally emerged from the Incubation Cocoons...

“What the hell is this? You’re trying to scam me with that?!”

Morty pointed furiously at the image of Rick and his family of five, now without the octopus tentacles on their faces.

He raised the flask, ready to add other ingredients and ruin the potion.

Who could possibly accept this?

After taking an advanced crash course in magical potion-making, the potion he had worked so hard to create was only meant to remove octopus tentacles from someone’s face?

Morty had gone through all that trouble and carefully followed every step, only to learn that they had made a Physical Appearance Reshaping Potion.

In other words, cosmetic surgery in a bottle.

This asshole was taking advantage of him!

“No, wait! It’s true! This potion was always designed to reshape someone’s appearance!”

“I don’t believe you! Not unless you have a book that proves it! Show me evidence! There’s no way a magical AI like you can move faster than my hands!”

Seeing that Morty was genuinely furious, AI Cthulhu Rick closed his eyes.

A second later, a thick book shot out from the weapon-covered wall to the left.

As soon as Morty saw the title, he set the flask on the table and picked up the book from the floor.

“The Book of Eibon?”

“This thing actually exists?”

As Morty picked it up, AI Cthulhu Rick kept urging him to smash the potion against the ground.

“Relax. Let me study this thing first.”

Morty opened the famous book from the Cthulhu Dimension.

On the first page, he found a sentence left behind by Cthulhu Rick.

“When a Rick decides to use his brain on a minor problem, that problem is about to face the greatest disaster of its life.”

...

Chapter 015: The Book of Eibon

“Weird as hell... and full of mystical bullshit...”

“So this is how Ricks from different worlds differ?”

The rest of The Book of Eibon was fascinating. Its five hundred pages contained all kinds of prayers and incantations.

For any clueless rookie transported into the Cthulhu Dimension, it was the ultimate grimoire for worshiping some powerful patron, borrowing their power, and finding other ways to become stronger.

Yet the words this world’s Rick had written on the first page lingered in Morty’s mind like an unshakable thought.

A minor problem...

Rick thinking...

There was definitely more to that sentence.

With The Book of Eibon in hand, Morty finally reached for the potion under AI Cthulhu Rick’s constant urging.

“Enjoy getting your body.”

Under AI Cthulhu Rick’s expectant gaze, Morty smashed the potion into a corner of the underground base.

The potion reacted violently, and a mass of flesh began forming there.

Morty picked up the Sword of Silence and climbed the stairs.

The moment he stepped outside and saw Rick approaching, he asked, “You got any weapons of mass destruction on you?”

Rick had been about to speak, but Morty’s obvious intention to silence the witness made the corner of his mouth twitch. He reached over and patted his precious grandson on the head.

“Jesus, Morty. When the hell did you get this ruthless?”

After mocking Morty for his increasingly dark heart, Rick tapped his arm several times. A missile launcher emerged from his body, which had long since been extensively modified with machinery.

Biu~

Trailing a long plume of exhaust, a missile as thick as a baby’s arm spun through the air three times before flying straight toward the wooden cabin.

Boom!

The small missile produced an enormous explosion on impact.

But when the smoke cleared, the cabin was still standing.

A wall of black mist had blocked the blast.

AI Cthulhu Rick’s voice came from inside. “I knew it! I knew you’d try to kill me, so I activated every defense system!”

Rick sneered. “For an AI, wanting a physical body is pretty damn Rick of you.”

“What’s wrong? If you’ve got the balls, come in here and kill me!”

Rick ignored the provocation.

He knew exactly how much it would cost to break through a base built by another version of himself.

Instead, he turned to Morty. “Let’s go. Everything here’s been dealt with.”

Rick wanted to leave, but Morty had no intention of going anywhere.

He was convinced that some massive conspiracy was hidden within the Cthulhu Dimension.

Leaving without uncovering the truth would be too much of a waste.

Rick, however, didn’t seem to care.

“Morty, do you remember how much shit we’ve been through over the last six months?”

“Think about all the regrets and unfinished business we left behind. Have we ever solved every last problem perfectly before moving on?”

“Everybody needs help, Morty, but we’re not babysitters. We can’t spend our lives looking after everyone.”

Morty understood what Rick meant, but he still refused to give up.

Besides, Rick had always chosen where they went. Morty had never been allowed to decide which world they explored.

That was why he hadn’t acquired a single powerful artifact during the past six months.

The best he could do was swipe a few barely useful gadgets from the things Rick casually invented.

Even during their previous visit to the Cthulhu Dimension, the only thing they had done was slice off Cthulhu’s tentacles and grill them.

This time, Morty had merely wandered around and somehow acquired two artifacts, The Book of Eibon and the Sword of Silence.

The difference between those two trips was impossible for Morty to accept.

He clearly had the opportunity to collect artifact after artifact and use them to increase his own power.

Yet instead, he had to follow this shitty old man around the universe, throwing barbecues everywhere they went?

Cthulhu said, “Hey! What the hell? Show some respect!”

Now that Morty’s greed had been awakened, he shouted, “Rick! Not this time! You always pick the worlds you want to visit, and I’m nothing but your sidekick!”

“We need to change how these adventures work!”

“I’ll go with you to the worlds you want to explore, but you have to respect my ideas too!”

“And if you won’t respect what I want, then leave me here and go!”

Morty regretted that final sentence the moment it left his mouth.

They hadn’t even returned to their own world yet, and he had already threatened to split up with Rick.

What if the old bastard really abandoned him here?

Fortunately, Rick did care about Morty, at least on the surface.

Morty’s defiance clearly pissed him off, but after everything Morty had done during the past six months, Rick didn’t fall back on his usual stream of insults.

Instead, he snapped, “Twenty of my adventures for one of yours?”

Realizing Rick was actually willing to negotiate, Morty went straight for the throat.

“One for one! That’s fair!”

“Build your own portal gun if you think you’re so capable. Otherwise, nineteen for one!”

“Then teach me how to build a portal gun! I’ve got a double-digit IQ, but I’d gladly spend another ten years learning how to make one! Two for one!”

“You little fucking...”

“Ungrateful little shit!”

Rick and Morty cursed and argued for five straight minutes before finally settling on five to one.

After Rick chose five adventures, Morty would get to decide where they went for the sixth.

Since Morty wanted to uncover the truth hidden within the Cthulhu Dimension, he immediately used his first turn.

“Fine, fine. Since this is your adventure, you’re in charge. Let’s see what kind of thrilling adventure this perpetually gray shithole has to offer!”

Rick complained, pulled out his flask, and took a swig.

Then he adopted an attitude that made his intentions perfectly clear.

He wasn’t going to interfere. He was only here to watch the show.

With Rick agreeing to that, Morty relaxed.

He was no longer that anxious, cowardly, clueless Morty who never had a plan.

Once Rick agreed to let him lead, Morty immediately divided the adventure into two main objectives.

First, he had to figure out why Cthulhu Rick had gotten Cthylla pregnant.

Second, he was going to collect every artifact he could find.

After all, no great adventure was complete without loot.

The power hierarchy within the Cthulhu Dimension might not be clearly defined, but there was one Supreme God no one could ignore.

Azathoth.

Coincidentally, the Cthulhu Dimension also had a magical tome named after him.

It’s like nobody giving a damn about The Book of Some Random Schmuck, but slap a name like Einstein on the cover and suddenly everyone wants to read it.