The Price of Absolute Senses
Yeonhee tilted her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. “I guess I should start by making something that can wrap around Ilwol’s neck, right?”
The rest of his body was already protected by that sturdy bone armor, so protecting his most vulnerable spot seemed like the logical first step.
“Ilwol’s neck… mm… the scent is different from when he’s in his summon form…”
It was the first time she had ever smelled a man’s scent up close. As she thought about Ilwol’s armor, her mind had naturally drifted to Yoon Han-gyeol’s neck. Yeonhee shook her head violently.
‘Huk…! No! Get a grip. Please!’
Her legs kept kicking at the blanket, and the palms she pressed to her burning cheeks only grew hotter, offering no relief whatsoever.
Then curiosity struck her again. What form would Ilwol take tomorrow?
“Uung… Still, turning into me is probably the easiest to deal with.”
And the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she had been teased. A desire to get even welled up inside her. When Ilwol took her form, he somehow felt less intimidating, so she could scold him as much as she wanted.
Come to think of it, his personality had seemed a little different yesterday and today when he transformed. Did he copy the personality of whoever he mimicked? Surely it wasn’t that extreme.
“Yeoni―”
Ilwol’s voice kept echoing in her head, urging her to continue what they had been doing earlier.
“Ah… Well, if Ilwol really wants to transform into that form, I guess I can’t stop him. Ahem—”
She spent a long time lost in wild fantasies. The time limit on his Mimicry skill must have already expired by now. What was Ilwol doing right now?
“I should go out…”
Yeonhee finally mustered the courage to leave her room. Creeeak— She cracked the door open and cautiously peeked outside, or at least that was what she told herself.
Through the narrow gap, she saw a wooden stick whipping through the air at incredible speed.
Ilwol was in the middle of sword training.
Watching him, Yeonhee felt both relieved and strangely disappointed.
‘I’m the only one here panicking like an idiot…’
What did Ilwol really think of her? It wasn’t like he had chosen to become her summoned beast… But he was the one who had kissed her forehead. Was it just some instinctive affection that came with being bound to her? Did the others feel the same way?
In truth, even having these worries felt ridiculous. He wasn’t even a real living person… She even started wondering if she was losing her mind.
Anyway, she really wished Ilwol could speak soon. If he could talk, this suffocating feeling would probably ease up a lot.
For now, steadily investing in her domination power to fully analyze Ilwol’s status window was the priority. Who knows? Maybe raising it would unlock some additional effects.
‘Maybe I’ll be able to share his field of vision… or even read his thoughts…’
Lost in thought, she had stopped moving. She shook herself and started walking again.
Creeeak— As she slowly opened the door and stepped out, Ilwol paused mid-swing and stared straight at her.
“W-water! I’m thirsty!”
Clack clack clack!
Creak— squeak— Her footsteps toward the refrigerator were strangely synchronized with the swing of her arms. But Yeonhee didn’t even realize how ridiculous she looked.
And as Ilwol watched her, he was desperately screaming at himself to stay calm inside his own head.
While Ilwol and Yeonhee were awkwardly sharing the same air, a dimension-shaking wave of power was exploding without pause on Fregate Island in the Seychelles, off the eastern coast of Africa.
Each collision of energy was powerful enough to erase two or three soccer stadiums in an instant. The intervals between the deafening explosions grew shorter and shorter. The aerial battle unfolding above the sea left nothing but shattered waves in its wake.
In the severed space where the aftershocks of the explosions faded unnaturally fast, the first to reveal himself was Jo Giman, the Avatar of the Seven-Headed Dragon.
He had just finished a real fight for the first time in a while. His opponent was Shayna Laine, an early-generation awakener from Australia.
She was currently known as the awakener with the highest sensory stat in the world. Ten years ago, she had been the one to prophesy that a great disaster would soon strike China.
Jo Giman spoke to her in surprisingly fluent English.
“Haha— So even you ended up affected by the Singularity? In the previous loops, it never took more than a minute.”
When Jo Giman cheerfully spouted what sounded like nonsense, Shayna exploded with rage.
“Goddamn it! I’ve met plenty of psychopaths in my time, but you’re the first real lunatic I’ve ever seen!”
A stranger from the East who suddenly appeared in her personal domain, picked a fight, and spoke as if he knew her. What irritated her even more was the fact that he was far stronger than she was.
She wasn’t a combat specialist, so she was among the weakest of the first-generation awakeners. Even so, she was one of the absolute powerhouses who had survived the First Wave. Most S-rank combat hunters wouldn’t dare challenge her lightly.
And this was her own personal domain. He had barged in without any preparation, so his power should have been greatly weakened.
Yet Shayna hadn’t managed to land a single meaningful blow on him.
‘He’s too fast. Just how high are his stats to move like that?’
Her back was already drenched in cold sweat. He was an impossible monster. If one of the Great Calamities took human form, would it feel like this?
“Shayna… You’re an important resource, but not an absolute key. So I’m afraid you’ll have to die today. But don’t worry. Becoming my nourishment is actually quite an exciting way to live.”
“What a joke! How is every single word out of your mouth so disgusting?”
Even in this hopeless situation, Shayna Laine refused to let go of her last shred of hope. She pushed her meticulously honed sensory domain to its absolute limit and completed her ultimate technique.
The pinnacle of sensory ability. It reveals the optimal path to survival.
As she activated the skill, her personal domain responded with a powerful wave. For a moment, the clock of this world seemed to slow dramatically, then everything fell into absolute silence as if time itself had stopped.
“Haa— Haa— I can never get used to this damn ability.”
Countless rays of light representing possibilities bloomed outward from her center, drawing innumerable curving lines. Then, among the countless branches of the future, the paths where her survival chance was lowest began disappearing at terrifying speed.
In that fleeting instant, the corner of Jo Giman’s mouth twitched upward.
“So that’s the one? The Absolute Senses you created to scurry away like a rat?”
“—!!”
For the first time, Shayna completely lost control of her expression and showed her shock openly.
It was one thing to overcome the flow of time, but how could he possibly know about her ability?
“Puhuhuhu— That face always cracks me up.”
“H-how…”
She had never once spoken the skill’s name out loud. Just who was this man? A god?
While she fell into confusion, the countless glowing paths that had stretched out infinitely began vanishing rapidly. Normally the skill would present dozens of choices, but now only ten remained.
Nine. Eight. Seven… Three. Two. One…
“……Damn it.”
…Zero.
Shockingly, Absolute Senses had found zero paths to survival. It was unbelievable, but from the moment she encountered this monster, there had never been any way out.
“…I see… So that’s it. You… It’s insane, but if that’s true, then it makes sense.”
Clap clap clap—
Jo Giman clapped as if he had finally understood, speaking to the muttering woman.
“Wow— You’ve never noticed my true identity before. Did your senses get sharper this time? That’s actually pretty scary. Kk kk kk. But you were unlucky. You’ve always been a consolation prize, but this time you’ve become the grand prize. Kk k— Don’t worry, I won’t undervalue you. I know very well how rare a delicacy like you is.”
Watching the man literally lick his lips while staring at her, Shayna felt true fear for the first time in a long while.
‘A snake… No… Is that a dragon?’
Half of the man’s face as he drooled while looking at her was no longer human. She rapidly simulated all the information she had gathered in her head. The conclusion matched the intuition she had felt earlier.
Even as terror gripped her, an unprecedented thrill ran through her body. To think that a single gamble with her life would succeed like this.
“How many times…?”
“Hm?”
Up until the sixth loop, he had always taken Yoon Han-gyeol first and consumed her much later, so he had never met her at this point. It was a new type of question.
How many times? Rarely interested, Jo Giman asked back.
“What are you talking about?”
“How many times did I use it? I’m talking about Absolute Senses.”
“……This is genuinely interesting. I thought the first-generation awakeners had fixed values, but this level of change…”
“…So I was right. You’re an Irregular who has lived through multiple repeated lives. I’ll ask again. How many times did I use it? Four? Five?”
“……You usually said it was within ten times.”
“Hehe… Just as I thought. In a normal route, I would have used it two more times in the future.”
“……Is that all you have to say? Then die now.”
Jo Giman suddenly felt that he shouldn’t hear what Shayna was about to say next. He decided to stop indulging his curiosity.
Swoosh— He raised his hand. A light sideways swipe would be enough. Her neck, far away from him, would lose to gravity and roll to the ground.
At that moment, Shayna suddenly burst into manic laughter as if she had lost her mind.
“Kyahahahahahaha—!! I knew it! I somehow knew it would be like this! I thought it was an impossible whim, but to end up being eaten like this in the end!”
Shayna Laine. One day in January this year, she had suddenly felt an enormous sense of dissonance. It was the same sensation she felt when meeting other sensory ability users—an unpleasant feeling like countless tiny insects crawling endlessly over her body in the dark.
At that time, one thought had come to her.
‘I have to do something. Otherwise I’ll get screwed again.’
She didn’t know what she would get screwed by, but her extraordinary sensory realm had already reached a level close to precognition. She was certain something was going to happen.
Because she understood her own ability better than anyone, she had endured the horrific and painful side effects of Absolute Senses and continued training until now.
And just yesterday, at the perfect time, she had awakened an unbelievable new ability. Feeling good about it, she had come to this island for a vacation.
‘So this was the moment I saw…’
A fierce emotion surged up inside her. She screamed at Jo Giman until her throat felt like it would tear apart.
“The number of times I’ve used Absolute Senses so far is three hundred!! Three hundred times, you son of a bitch! Thanks to you, my lifespan has been completely drained away. I only have a few years left. Do you know what ability I manifested by doing that?”
“Y-you crazy bitch, what the hell are you—! What is that ability?!”
“I’m not telling you! You idiot!”
Shuk—!
Before Jo Giman could do anything, dozens of blades materialized above Shayna’s head and minced her skull into tiny pieces.
It was something beyond the realm of speed—something Jo Giman could never catch up to no matter what he did.