Future

The giant eyeball went limp after its core was attacked.

However, contrary to the previous soldiers’ testimonies, the eyeball did not collapse as its cluster came undone.

“…It’s different from the incubator.”

Mr. Orc looked at the limp giant eyeball and gave his assessment.

“Probably because that thing already looks complete.”

The incubator had ultimately been a colony that failed to become one. Once its core was destroyed, it split apart into many.

But unlike the incubator, this thing was already an individual whose unification was complete.

It could no longer be called a cluster. That was why I had kept calling it a giant eyeball rather than an eyeball colony.

Though it was made up of countless eyeballs, in the end, it was a single entity.

Then a question suddenly occurred to me.

‘What happens if I turn it back into humans in this state?’

That had been my worry with the incubator.

If it was in a state of perfect unification like the giant eyeball, restoring it seemed far from easy.

But now that I had ascended and even gained two pairs of wings, I somehow felt like I could do it.

Like I could peel that colony apart one by one and turn them back into humans.

Then maybe… I could try, couldn’t I?

The moment I had that thought—

Throb—!

“…Ugh!”

A sudden pain surged from my eye.

I clutched my eye and sank to the ground. With this frail body, enduring pain was not easy.

“What’s wrong? Did that eyeball do something……?”

“…No, no.”

It was not a phenomenon related to the giant eyeball. That thing had already been neutralized.

Then this pain in my eye was……

‘A revelation-type sacred art?’

Most of the sacred arts I had received from the demon leaned heavily toward the revelation type.

The revelation-type sacred arts I knew were mostly passive skills, but there were quite a few of them.

Thanks to that, I had been able to grasp the tendencies of revelation-type sacred arts, at least a little.

‘Passivity and eyes.’

Most revelation-type sacred arts could not be activated when I wanted.

There were unusual cases like the Eye of Truth, but even those could only activate if the other party did something first.

‘And eyes are…….’

Actually, this wasn’t anything grand.

It simply meant that most revelation-type authorities activated through the eyes.

“You really are all right, aren’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

The pain coming from my eye was severe, but it wasn’t a problem.

This was probably one of the revelation-type sacred arts.

Then the question was, which sacred art was it…….

Flash—!

In that instant, my eyes opened.

My vision was dyed entirely in light, and I felt as if I were being sucked somewhere.

I ended up closing my eyes, and when I opened them again……

‘…Huh?’

I was standing.

I had definitely just collapsed because I couldn’t withstand the pain in my eye. So why?

“Then, I’ll try purifying it.”

Those words came out of my mouth on their own.

I had not said them, yet it was unmistakably my voice.

On top of that, even my body began moving on its own, and soon strode toward the corpse of the giant eyeball.

A body I could not control. And all the while, the pain in my eye continued.

Only then did I realize what was happening.

‘Don’t tell me this is……!’

A secret art of the revelation type.

Its name was concise as well: the Foresight Eye (豫知眼).

‘Am I seeing the future?’

The effect of the Foresight Eye was seeing the future. More precisely, it was closer to experiencing it.

I could do nothing, but at the same time, it could have no effect on the real me.

Then there was nothing I could do as I pleased here and now.

All I could do was watch.

“Then……”

My body had already approached the giant eyeball.

“I will restore you.”

The moment my body raised its hand on its own, an enormous amount of holy power drained out of me.

Purifying the giant eyeball must have taken far more effort, because compared to the incubator, the amount was absurd.

But—it seemed like it would be enough.

Compared to back then, I had become able to handle even more power.

At this rate, it seemed like I would be able to purify it smoothly……

Thud.

My body suddenly pitched forward.

…Or so I thought.

‘…Huh?’

My body wouldn’t move. It didn’t seem to be breathing either.

Not even a single hair on my body moved; only my eyeballs were still fine.

‘What is this? What just happened?’

Just as I was rolling only my eyes at the sudden change in the situation—

Rumble!

With a sudden tremor, something surged up from the Han River at the edge of my vision.

It whispered something to me.

But I could not hear it. My ears had long since stopped functioning.

It seemed to decide that further conversation was meaningless. It stopped its pointless whispering.

Then it opened its maw wide……

Boom!

And swallowed Hannam Bridge whole.

*

“Sis? Sis! Are you all right?”

“…Y-Yeah. I’m fine.”

I touched my neck.

Now my body moved according to my will. My voice was the same.

The pain I had felt in my eyeball had subsided as if it had been a lie.

“Nothing happened to you, did it…?”

Min Aji asked cautiously. The other team members also looked plainly worried.

Well, if I disappeared, the risk would be no joke.

I roughly waved my hand, making a gesture to show I was fine.

“It was just… nothing.”

It was nothing… though calling it that felt a little wrong, considering I had seen something rather shocking.

Still, nothing had actually happened, so I reassured them roughly.

Of course, reassuring the team members was one thing, but inside, I was burning up.

‘…So what on earth was that?’

What the Foresight Eye had shown me was nothing short of shocking.

I had attempted to purify the giant eyeball, and I had probably died. Then the being beneath the Han River that Old Man Owlbear had talked about… probably swallowed us.

‘If we’re talking about the culprit… it has to be the creator of the giant eyeball and the incubator. Definitely that bastard.’

But that raised a question.

Why had it let the incubator go, yet interfered with the giant eyeball?

The giant eyeball had not been that strong an enemy. Aside from having completed its unification, it was an entity I could easily neutralize on my own.

‘…Could the fact that it completed unification be the problem?’

I scratched my head hard. No answer would come from agonizing over it here.

All I had was the future I had seen through the Foresight Eye.

‘The moment I attempt to purify the giant eyeball, I die.’

Yes, for now, that was all I needed to know.

If a problem occurred when purifying that thing, then I simply wouldn’t do it.

“Phew……”

With a sigh, I shook off the shocking future I had seen through the Foresight Eye.

Good. That was enough.

“All right, then. Since we’ve secured the gate for now, I suppose we’ve accomplished our top priority.”

Trying to empty my mind, I pointed at the half-wrecked Lamborghini.

Strangely enough, only the door of the luxury foreign car remained intact, without a single bit of damage.

That was probably the gate.

Since we had secured a path we could escape through at any time, we could now run wild to our hearts’ content.

“Then shall we try hunting the Predator?”

I had just said that with a grin.

“…It jumped!”

Old Man Owlbear, having heard the Predator’s roar, fluffed up his fur.

“Its landing point is… probably this way!”

Ha. Speak of the tiger, and it comes right to you.

It had conveniently saved us the trouble of going to find it.

We were afraid of the hundreds of mimetic beasts that might be suppressed behind it, not you. Though, of course, that strength of yours was a little frightening—but still within expectations.

‘…In the first place, considering it messed with the gatekeeper near the exit but left the giant eyeball alone, I guess the eyeball was stronger.’

It might be called a Predator, but that was only a term that applied among mimetic beasts.

It meant it did not possess strength beyond that of a gatekeeper.

“First, back! Let’s get as far as we can from its landing point!”

We put distance between ourselves and the approximate landing point Old Man Owlbear had told us.

Our strength was ranged attacks, so there was no need to go out of our way to close the distance.

We moved away from the giant eyeball’s corpse, which was expected to be the impact point.

Naturally, that also meant we had moved away from the gate… but it shouldn’t be a problem.

Each of us raised our weapons and waited.

The plan was to pour firepower into it the moment it landed.

“It’s falling—!”

Old Man Owlbear shouted.

At the same time—

Thud!

The Predator landed with a thunderous crash.

At the same moment, dust surged up, so we could not know its exact position, but we could grasp it roughly.

That position was right beside the giant eyeball.

The nearby cars that might have served as cover had already been crushed by the eyeball, making it a perfect environment for shooting.

“Open fire!”

At my command, the muzzles spat flame. With a thump, the grenade launcher was fired as well.

And I, too……

Whoosh—!

With the sound of wind being split apart, my Angel Death Beam flew.

All of it was fired at the Predator.

Boom!

The grenade exploded, clearing some of the dust.

And thus its body was revealed.

‘…It’s black.’

Its overall shape was close to human. At the same time, however, every surface of its body was black.

It looked somewhat like the culprit from a certain detective manga.

‘…Well, it doesn’t matter.’

Its appearance was strange, but that was all.

It was staggering from the sudden blows.

It looked like it could withstand the bullets and grenades to some degree, but my Angel Death Beam lodged in its forehead seemed to have had a major effect.

“Keep shooting!”

Of course, even without me saying it, the firing was continuing.

The rifles and machine guns had never stopped spitting fire, and Kim Jihu belatedly fired a second grenade as well.

And just as I was about to fire my second Angel Death Beam……

[----!]

The thing let out a bizarre scream and turned its back.

Was it trying to run?

Of course, even if it did, it was no use. It couldn’t escape……

‘…Huh?’

It did not run away. Instead, it lowered its body and plunged its arm deep into the giant eyeball.

‘You fucking—!’

It was easy to infer what that action was.

It was probably the absorption it had performed on the other mimetic beasts. That must be how it happened.

It was likely trying to absorb the eyeball for one last struggle.

Of course, that much was not a problem. We could still win.

However, there was one phenomenon that would occur from touching the giant eyeball.

The thing I had seen in the foresight.

Of course, that thing did not have the same purification ability as me, but the main point was similar.

Purification would turn it back into people, while that thing would take it for itself and make it nourishment.

They were similar in the sense that it would no longer remain a giant eyeball whose colony had unified, but become something else.

“We have to stop that—!”

Glug, glug.

The Predator’s arm pulsed as if it were sucking in the eyeball—

“…But.”

Then, thud.

The Predator’s body collapsed to the ground.

As if it were dead.

Rumble!

At the same time, Hannam Bridge began to tremble.