14 Books Found

Based on your description:

"I’ve been searching for a book I read in the late 1970s or early 1980s. It was a beat-up paperback, maybe from the 1950s or 1960s — science fiction, horror, or dark fantasy. - An ancient alien creature comes from underground or under the ocean. - Its kind once ruled the world, controlling humans through pain transmitted directly to the mind. - The more people resisted, the more pain they felt; obedience brought relief. - The alien is intelligent, cruel, and commands total submission. - There might be more than one creature, but one is dominant and contemptuous of the others. - Eventually it orders humans to build a spacecraft — maybe from scrap or junkyard parts. The ship explodes after takeoff, apparently sabotaged. - Near the end, the alien is carried by a crowd of people. When they reach a deep ravine, it orders a human spokesman to build a bridge. The man says they have no materials, and the creature replies: “With your bodies.” That line has stayed with me for decades."