A laid-back place like a shopping mall should have been a comfortable spot to relax, but for soone with Carn's heightened senses, it was a sensory battlefield.
The overwhelming mix of stimuli, such as perfu, body odor, the clashing scents of different foods, and even the bacteria-riddled breath of passing shoppers assaulted his senses, turning what seed mundane to others into utter chaos in his perception.
Despite the discomfort, Carn smirked. This wasn't his first ti navigating through such disorienting conditions. He had faced far worse in his forr world, particularly when dealing with hero parties who were drenched in the thick black haze of Aether.
Closing his eyes, Carn shut out the visual and focused on the sounds.
The mall's speakers droned on with generic pop songs and advertisents. But beneath that, he picked up on sothing subtler.
A constant hum like an underlying frequency vibrated through the air. Using this sound, Carn stepped forward, letting the soft hum wash over him. The sound waves collided with the objects around him, bouncing off walls, displays, and even people, creating faint echoes that returned to his sensitive ears.
Slowly, the echoes painted a ntal 3D map of the mall in his mind, giving him a clear sense of the layout despite the crimson haze clouding his vision.
It was an echolocation technique, the way bats navigate in the dark. Carn had learned this skill through years of hunting in the dungeon back in his old world, where darkness and thick mists could easily disorient even the best warriors. Here, it ca in handy once more, turning the chaos into sothing he could control.
"Minus one, for now. Minus five will knock out cold. Minus six... that'll push past my limits."
Carn ntally noted that he was keeping track of the minor spells he had used so far.
In this new body, which was severely lacking in Aether, he estimated that his limit might be fewer than ten minor spells before he would fall into a coma. He had already used one at the military base earlier, and now he needed to be cautious not to cast anything too demanding.
Fortunately, the echolocation technique didn't require Aether at all. He'd managed to use it without tapping into his dwindling reserves, giving him a small but critical advantage in this unfamiliar world.
Carn fetched a pair of sunglasses and put it on. With his eyes still closed, he moved through the mall like a predator stalking its prey. He "saw" the pillars, the clusters of shoppers, and even the food court off to his left.
As Carn casually strolled toward an escalator, he stepped on it and focused on the subtle noises around him. He sensed the presence of a mother and her young child a few steps ahead, riding the sa escalator. He couldn't see the boy's face, but judging from his height, the kid couldn't be more than three years old.
"Mom, he's wearing black glasses," the boy asked his mother in a curious, innocent voice.
The mother quickly turned around, noticing Carn's closed eyes and sunglasses. With an embarrassed smile, she gently swatted the boy's hand and hushed him.
"Shh!"
She mistook Carn for a blind man.
Carn smirked to himself, finding the exchange amusing. The boy's comnt sparked an idea.
He could easily pretend to be blind in public, using his echolocation to navigate. However, he would need a white cane to make it believable.
'I'll order one online later,' he took a new ntal note.
When he reached the second floor, Carn found himself in the fashion section of the mall. The surrounding stores displayed racks of clothes, accessories, shoes, and a few beauty salons. As it was currently a weekday, the shoppers here were sparse, and it was easier to navigate.
As Carn moved, the crimson haze thickened. Its invisible heat prickled against his skin like tiny sparks. His instincts told him that the source of the Aether disturbance was close, either on this floor or perhaps above. The anticipation made his pulse quicken.
Ignoring the colorful storefronts, Carn focused on scanning the people around him. Unfortunately, none of the shoppers on this level carried the cursed mark he was searching for.
Deciding to check the food court and theater area on the third floor, he prepared to move up once more.
But just as he shifted his attention upward, sothing caught his notice. The echolocation waves bounced off a figure and sent back a sound unlike any other.
It was a spectral whisper.
'Help us…'
Carn's eyes snapped open, cutting through the haze with sharp intent. Though the crimson fog still clouded his vision, he could now sense the general location of his prey.
A massive man, easily weighing over 350 pounds, was descending the escalator toward the second floor. He lugged an oversized suitcase, clearly out of place in a shopping mall.
That was not all. Carn's heightened senses picked up sothing else.
There was a faint but unmistakable scent of blood wafting from the man's pants pockets and the suitcase.
"Aha!"
Carn licked his lips. His hunter's instinct flared to life. He was eager to make his move, to strike this predator down.
Keeping his eyes closed to avoid drawing attention, he began walking toward the oblivious man, masking his excitent behind a calm exterior.
…
anwhile, the man lumbered toward another escalator, heading down to the first floor. His bald head glead under the mall's fluorescent lights, revealing a lumpy, misshapen skull that only added to his unsettling appearance.
His stained shirt, barely containing his massive fra, stretched taut across his bulging belly, threatening to tear at any mont. The fabric strained against his greasy skin, clinging to his sweat-soaked body.
A pungent odor wafted around him, thicker and more offensive than soone who didn't bathe regularly. It was a rancid mix of stale sweat, unwashed skin, and sothing sour, like decay.
The stench lingered in the air, making people instinctively step away as he passed, though he seed completely oblivious to the discomfort he caused.
Just as he approached the escalator, a group of five college girls, dressed in designer clothes and clutching bags full of high-end purchases, breezed past him, claiming the escalator first.
The girls were absorbed in their own world, giggling and chatting as they took selfies. Their carefree laughter filled the air.
One of the girls, trailing slightly behind the others, glanced over at the man and locked eyes with him for a brief mont. Sothing about his appearance gave her pause.
His skin looked unnaturally saggy, like soone wearing a mask two sizes too large. The flesh around his jaw hung loose, almost as if it was slipping off his bones.
A flicker of unease crossed her mind, but it quickly evaporated. She dismissed him as just another random, unattractive guy or the type that her friends would jokingly call an "NPC", the term for any unremarkable man over the age of thirty.
Shrugging it off, she turned back to her friends, resuming her laughter and snapping another selfie, erasing the odd man from her thoughts and mory entirely.
What she didn't realize was that her brief glance hadn't gone unnoticed. The man's eyes lingered on her as she turned away. Slowly, he put down the suitcase and paused, adjusting the loose, sagging skin around his face as if it were a mask threatening to slip off. After taking a deep, deliberate breath, a sinister smile crept across his lips.
Without drawing attention, the man tugged lightly at his collar, fixing his appearance, and then stepped onto the sa escalator, now trailing closely behind the group of oblivious girls.
…
Carn watched from a distance. His instincts scread that sothing was off about this man. The unsettling feeling gnawed at him, sharpening his senses as he closed in on the grotesque figure.
The closer Carn got to the man who was wearing what appeared to be a human skin mask, the more disturbing signs he noticed. Hundreds of bloody claw marks began to appear, etched into the ground in faint red trails, as if invisible hands were desperately trying to claw their way out of the suitcase and this man.
As the man approached the escalator to the first floor, his shoes left behind spectral marks, left by the haunted spirits of his victims. Yet, nobody but Carn could see them.
'…Help…'
'Please…sobody…'
Faint and desperate voices echoed around Carn, growing clearer with every step he took toward the man. The crimson haze that clouded Carn's vision began to shift, transforming into ghastly human faces, twisting in silent agony as they floated around the mysterious figure.
If Carn hadn't experienced far worse in the other world, he might have mistaken this scene for sothing straight out of a horror movie. But this wasn't new to him. He had seen the tortured souls of demi-humans, demons, wild beasts, and monsters, who had been slaughtered by the so-called heroes.
As he examined the floating faces, a disturbing pattern erged. Every spirit was marked by a single, grotesque wound—none of them had eyes.
Their empty sockets gaped at him, oozing sorrow and pain, told a sign that these were no ordinary ghosts.
In all his ti dealing with haunted spirits, they usually retained so semblance of their physical form, including their eyes. But these spirits had been mutilated. Secondly, they never asked for help. Instead of screaming in pain, they always lingered around their murders, haunting or cursing them 24/7.
But in this case, there was only one explanation, and the desperate echoing pleas confird it.
The man had devoured his victims… bodies, and souls.
Whatever that thing was, it couldn't be a human!
Carn narrowed his eyes, recalling his father's story. He silently muttered.
"Doppelganger?"
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