‘Huk- hueeuk……!’
Without realizing it, Natsuko let out a hot breath.
In fact, even though she was submerged in the sea, Natsuko hadn’t let go of her last sliver of hope.
After all, there was no guarantee that she would lose to Parang.
This was a thought Natsuko could have only because she had only superficially encountered Parang’s abilities.
Her calculation was that if Parang’s ability was limited to mental attacks through the Kraken, she might be able to catch her off guard and win.
However.
‘That, what on earth is that……’
The premise that <if Parang’s ability was limited to mental attacks, Natsuko would have a chance> was a mistaken thought from the start.
Even if Parang’s ability was limited to mental attacks, Natsuko had no chance.
Even though she could only see a faint form obscured by the distant sea mist, Natsuko’s mental strength had reached its limit.
That was, no matter how you looked at it, not something a mere human could summon.
That level of power should not be given to a lower species like humans.
That’s how Natsuko felt.
Natsuko was afraid.
Even though Parang hadn’t done anything yet, it felt as if tentacles were rushing towards her.
It was as if they were burrowing into her head, forcibly pouring in the emotion of fear.
If she ran right now, knelt down and begged, would she be able to live?
No, she didn’t even want to live. Living while being hostile to such an existence was something beyond human mental capacity.
She wanted to die and escape from this world.
Natsuko had always been quick to make decisions.
She immediately aimed the hand that was preparing to attack at her own neck.
If she stabbed her neck like this, she could escape.
But Natsuko couldn’t do it.
“Don’t do that.”
Because Parang told her not to.
Natsuko’s body froze in place as if it had been frozen solid.
She didn’t know how or why.
It was just that the person in front of her had commanded it, so she had to obey.
Even the slightest will to refuse that order had already disappeared from her.
Natsuko had over a thousand skills, about fifty hidden cards, and two ways to come back to life even after dying.
But right now, she couldn’t dare to show even one of them.
She thought it would be disrespectful.
Things like techniques, strategies, and psychological warfare only work when both sides are beings of the same caliber.
She was not in a position to fight right now.
She was in a position to be punished.
Natsuko politely clasped her hands together.
According to Natsuko’s memories and experiences, she should be having her mind violated right now.
Like a parasite entering her brain, she should be losing her free will completely and degenerating into something far lower than human.
But she didn’t particularly care about that fact.
After all, in front of this being, everyone was equal, mere insects.
In front of a being standing at the very top of an endless staircase, being a step ahead or behind didn’t matter.
She saw ecstasy slowly approaching before her eyes.
Something invisible crawled into her ear canal, playing ecstatic and beautiful music.
Natsuko quietly strangled herself while appreciating that music.
Her body was now entirely a sacrifice thrown for Parang.
The sacred melody scooped out a spoonful of Natsuko’s frontal lobe, giggling as it returned, and her blood vessels burst through her skin, busy embracing and dancing.
Even amidst all this, the tentacles did not stop slowly approaching Natsuko.
Natsuko’s body and mind had now become one.
They were broken down to the smallest unit that makes up the world, then mixed and kneaded together.
At that ecstatic sensation, she shuddered and trembled.
In front of Natsuko’s eyes, a single tentacle that had come particularly close appeared.
Without realizing it, she stretched out her right index finger towards the tentacle.
At this moment, she was Adam, and also Eve.
She was Cain who killed Abel, and also Abel who was killed by Cain.
She was all the humans in this world, and also none of them.
Finally, her finger.
Touched.
The tentacle.
“Serva nos a malo……”
Peo-beong, peo-beo-beong!!
At that moment, the moment she touched the divine.
Fireworks burst from all over her body.
The fireworks were in the shape of tentacles.
From her calves, shoulders, waist, insteps, wing bones.
Tentacles of various colors burst out, then burrowed back into her body.
Natsuko enjoyed the grand and splendid festival to her heart’s content.
Having finally held a joyous concert by offering her own body, what a glorious assimilation this was.
Even God was also enjoying the festival through her body.
While feeling immense joy, Natsuko’s heart was in her throat, wondering what would happen if her dirty soul wasn’t enough.
And at the last moment, as the festival reached its climax.
Parang looked straight at Natsuko and said.
“■■■■■.”
Natsuko didn’t know what she had heard.
But she seemed to know how to answer.
“Yes, please……”
With those words as her last, Natsuko’s consciousness was cut off.
It was death.
#
Meanwhile, Parang.
Although she had initially felt an enormous aversion to killing, she was surprised to find that when the moment actually came, she felt little emotion.
Perhaps it was due to the humiliation she had just experienced, causing her emotions to well up.
Natsuko’s death was disappointingly simple.
Parang summoned the Kraken while facing her.
Instantly, Natsuko froze stiff and stopped moving, and when the Kraken touched her body, she slowly assimilated and then disappeared.
It was such an inhuman end that even Parang felt uneasy.
She worried that Natsuko might have pretended to be caught and escaped, or that she might still be alive somewhere.
But such worries were short-lived.
Before Parang’s eyes, a notification she had never seen before appeared.
[ Absorbed the Awakened ‘Igarashi Natsuko’. ]
[ Acquired 1342 skills possessed by the target. ]
[ 1339 skills conflict with existing skills. ]
[ Acquired skills: ‘Perception Distortion’, ‘Rush’, ‘Mind’s Eye’. ]
‘W-What is this… What?’
Absorb skills? Suddenly?
Of course, since it was the first time she had absorbed another Awakened with the Kraken, she had thought there might be some changes, but.
To absorb the skills of the person she had consumed, this was truly something she had never imagined.
This was so surprising that Parang couldn’t even think to check the skills she had gained.
For a moment, a terrifying thought crossed her mind.
‘If I can absorb others’ skills with the Kraken…’
Suddenly.
She shook her head vigorously.
“Yu Parang, are you crazy?”
That wasn’t it.
That really wasn’t it.
Parang didn’t want to do that.
She felt revulsion even at the fact that she had momentarily had such a thought, and Parang’s whole body broke out in goosebumps.
But still, thirteen hundred skills.
Just how many people had she eaten?
Even if absorbing skills didn’t mean they were fully integrated, it was an unimaginable number of people.
If she were to give in to such base temptations, Parang would probably become a similar being.
She really, really didn’t want that.
‘Let’s think about something else.’
Right, the skills she had just acquired.
Although it was unsettling to have obtained them by killing someone, what was gained was gained.
If it could help in fighting against that eye, she needed to at least know what these were.
‘View skill information.’
[ Perception Distortion (A) ]
[ Designate one target and distort the perception of those who look at it, making them perceive it as something else. The effect is proportional to the power of the user’s strongest mental attack skill. ]
[ The effect of the skill decreases as more people look at the target. ]
[ Rush (C) ]
[ Momentarily accelerate the body to greatly increase movement speed. The effect increases in environments with many movement restrictions. ]
[ If you do not strike another target within 20 seconds of use, you will receive a ‘Fatigue’ debuff for 1 minute. ]
[ Mind’s Eye (S) ]
[ Able to see through the true form of targets whose appearance differs from their essence. ]
[ While active, becomes very vulnerable to mental damage. ]
‘Hmm…’
Perception Distortion and Rush seemed a bit ambiguous, but the skill called ‘Mind’s Eye’ looked somewhat useful.
Given how often she encountered unknown entities in her life.
Besides, the penalty of becoming vulnerable to mental attacks wasn’t much of an issue for Parang underwater.
Deciding to investigate in detail later, Parang closed the status window.
Where Natsuko had disappeared, nothing remained now.
Just the cold water and the bottom.
And…
“…Branch Manager.”
Parang slowly descended to the bottom, heading towards Seo Sunwoo’s body.
There was a large hole in his chest.
Parang felt complex emotions as she looked at it.
Just as Parang was trying to confront that eye, Seo Sunwoo had fought against the monster called Natsuko.
<He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster.>
‘Did you die as a human until the very end?’
Can I do the same?
The answer was unknown.
Parang quietly embraced Seo Sunwoo’s body and headed towards the surface.
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