Azure Annihilation Gaze (Relentless Assault 1/2)

"How long was I out for?"

It had been a full 20 days.

I felt an eerie sense of déjà vu.

Come to think of it, every time I ate a monster's corpse or digested one of their abilities, the blackout period kept getting longer.

'It used to just be a bit of stomach discomfort at first...'

When I digested the Five Death Chain Pill that Geomseong gave me, it was over after a brief bout of nausea. After that, swallowing the rag golem's Fragment of Immortality knocked me out for a whole day. Eating the basilisk heart on the 100th floor had my consciousness fracturing and reforming repeatedly, leaving me unconscious for about three days. Drinking the Wood Sentinel's sap on the 99th floor? A whopping nine days. And now, gulping down the Gate Bound's brain fluid had sidelined me for 20.

'Does digesting stronger abilities just get harder as I gain more power...?'

Or maybe the things I'm consuming are getting progressively more potent, stretching out the digestion time accordingly.

Gulp.

I swallowed instinctively.

Every time my consciousness cut out, I was completely defenseless—if a monster had ambushed me during one of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those blackouts, I'd already be dead.

'My Digestion Ability has incredible scalability, but it comes with a fatal drawback.'

If the unconscious periods kept lengthening with each new ability, next time I might not wake up at all.

I had to be way more careful—

I shook off the thought and checked the Gallery.

The Gallery was peaceful. Seeing my name pop up sporadically meant there were still plenty of people interested.

With all my survival-related chores done, it was time for the final one: reporting in to the Gallery.

Now that my life was no longer on the line, I decided to check out the new ability I'd acquired at the risk of my neck.

After buying the rune crystal from the auction house, I applied it to my body. Glowing runes appeared, soon displaying the ability's info.

The name was partially shadowed, but the moment I read the first line, I knew.

'...This is the Gate Bound's ability.'

I read the rest of the description.

Judgment was instant. I'd absorbed a solid ability.

"Phew..."

I caught my breath and activated it. Focusing consciously, a blue afterimage crept in at the edge of my vision.

Crunch.

A recaller was frozen nearby, perfectly timed. When I turned my gaze on it, the thing shuddered and dropped to its knees.

'As expected... it's a fear-based ability.'

I was convinced watching its reaction. The effect was highly satisfying.

But the user experience? Not great.

"...Hmm."

Even a brief use made my temples throb, my vision tremble faintly. My eyes burned hot from behind, like fingernails scraping the inside of my eyeballs—unpleasant as hell.

Fuck it up, and it'd bite me back hard.

'Great effect, but...'

It felt a lot like my gigantification ability right now.

'Gotta use this one sparingly, just like gigantification.'

I shelved the evaluation and steadied my breathing. With survival tasks cleared, only one chore left.

"Phew..."

Time to report my survival to the Gallery.

"Fuck."

The problem? A whole 20 days had passed.

I brainstormed excuses in my head. Obviously, spilling the honest truth about my abilities and situation was a no-go.

'That'd be a fatal weakness.'

I mulled over heavy excuses, then suddenly wondered why I was overthinking it. The choice was mine anyway.

So I went brazen, light-hearted.

I attached a photo of the Gate Bound's corpse and posted.

The Gallery went dead silent, like time had frozen.

Then the comments flooded in.

A barrage of question marks kicked it off, followed by floaters and regulars pouring in like a storm.

Skimming them, the main questions were: What the hell have you been up to? You crazy bastard. Healing again? What's your deal? How? Did you take down the Gate Bound?

More question marks at my excuse. I doubled down on the shamelessness with details.

As expected, the floaters couldn't care less about my well-being.

Sensible pushback. Break common sense to counter.

As expected, floaters weren't buying my excuses easily. Wondering if I needed more MSG, public opinion started flipping.

Believers in my excuse started appearing.

Now the arrows shifted from my 20-day absence to the Gate Bound kill.

"Phew."

I chuckled at the shifting tide. Felt like those camgirls or vtubers announcing a sick day on Christmas—only diehard fans buy it. Same here; regulars ate up my excuse.

'Shamelessness is the way.'

Soon the heavy vibe lightened. Praise and debates on my talent ensued briefly.

...Am I actually good at combat?

Dunno. Never fought in school.

Mid-scroll, glowing runes appeared.

Whoa, what? Startled, I accepted on reflex.

Floater#32 dropped another massive donation.

How much money—or power—does this guy have?

I replied: Thanks, big shot saved my life, grateful, will keep surviving hard, injury too bad for immediate proof.

Checked the amount via status window deposit. My eyes widened.

"Insane."

My account jumped by a whopping 40 million gold.

"...Ah, too bad. Guess he died after all."

At first, it didn't faze her.

When Kim Hogu vanished from the Gallery, Elisicia stayed composed. As usual, she was handling paperwork in her office, browsed the Gallery, killed time.

There were always new posts, sometimes funny chit-chat that made her laugh.

'...Floaters are entertaining.'

She accepted his absence naturally. F0 newbie beyond 100th floor? Expected.

Mortality stats don't lie.

'Guess I misjudged a bit.'

She carried on her routine: Gallery surfing, work.

But on day three, four, five of his absence, a weird feeling crept in.

Habitually refreshing the Gallery, she suddenly doubted herself.

'Should be working now... why am I doing this?'

Why? Answer hit quick.

The usual void felt huge this time.

'Am I actually caring about some random newbie...?'

No clue. The doubt itself felt alien, absurdly so.

—Maybe 'cause he was such a weirdo newbie.

At one week, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she finally whispered him.

Still whisper-blocked.

But oddly, that felt reassuring.

'Blocked means... alive, right? Or not? It's day seven already.'

A strange relief she couldn't explain.

From then, she obsessively whispered him daily.

Gallery leaned toward his survival too.

"Yeah. No way he's dead. My eyes never lie."

But at ten days, two weeks, opinion shifted.

He's definitely gone, F0 miracle to last this long, know the newbie mortality stats? F0s don't last, etc.

Elisicia commented instantly.

'Could still be alive. Whisper block's there. Don't talk outta your ass.'

She didn't know why she was defending him, but her fingers moved.

Floaters pushed back right away. Elisicia got pissed.

And surprised herself.

'What the hell am I doing?'