Chapter 121

The interpreter bitterly regretted their past self for having such a carefree thought of “It’s safer than expected, I’ll be fine!”

While munching on snacks brought by the Golden Reaper, they indulged in the feeling of watching a scene from a monster movie!

From that moment on, they should have been pondering essential survival questions like “How can I escape this place?”

The sky was covered with a black sea undulating and wriggling like waves.

The vast land was filled to the brim with dark slime.

The scenery blurred the distinction between sky and earth, making them seem like one continuous space.

But this calm ambiguity was shattered without warning by a violent storm.

The storm summoned by the giant jellyfish defied natural laws, flipping the positions of sky and earth and creating utter chaos.

A powerful gale lifted people into the sky along with the white ground, while the black liquid of heaven and earth twisted violently to form an incomprehensible whirlpool.

To make matters worse, the direction of gravity started flipping wildly, making it impossible to distinguish up from down.

In this turmoil, only two things remained to protect the interpreter’s life.

The Golden Reaper with a serious expression clinging to the interpreter’s shoulder.

And the water droplet shield surrounding the interpreter.

In this terrifying situation where they felt like fainting, the interpreter clung to their senses and continued to scan all directions for a way to survive.

Soaring into the sky with the wind, then being plunged downward.

A horrifying scenario of endless free fall as gravity flipped.

It was as if they were being sucked into the massive drum of a washing machine, endlessly spinning without any sense of direction.

Whichever way they looked, tentacles sprouting from both sky and earth were waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack, while black droplets that could dissolve human flesh and bone scattered everywhere.

At that moment, a luminous white hungry ghost flailed its stubby limbs and flew straight toward the interpreter.

Targeting the interpreter in a straight line.

“No, don’t come here!”

Though lacking teeth, the enormous size of the flying white hungry ghost was terrifying.

If it collided with a massive object capable of rivaling the giant jellyfish, they might die cleanly if lucky.

If unlucky, they’d end up a paralyzed vegetable with full-body fractures.

As the hungry ghost approached, it opened its massive mouth like it was about to swallow the interpreter whole.

“Aaaah! No!”

Flailing their arms in panic, the interpreter passed out the instant they were swallowed.

***

The white hungry ghost successfully swallowed the last person, the interpreter.

Initially, they tried to use the mini reaper garden to send people to the Sehee Research Institute, but it didn’t work well in the jellyfish’s domain.

They managed to penetrate the space gradually, but expanding the scale required too much firewood.

Relying solely on the golden and blue reapers seemed slightly insufficient, so they ordered the white hungry ghost to protect everyone by swallowing them.

They expected persuasion and coordination would be needed with the white hungry ghost like with mini reapers, but it silently followed orders perfectly.

White hungry ghosts are convenient!

And delicious!

The giant jellyfish suddenly went berserk, turning the space into chaos.

Within that chaos, the white hungry ghost flailed its stubby limbs while flying around, and the golden reaper happily laughed as it flew about like it was at an amusement park.

The golden reaper always looks cheerful.

Judging from how it enjoys being thrown around, it would probably enjoy being put in something like a washing machine.

I should try that sometime.

The massive storm in this space where up and down have lost meaning.

[Though unable to speak, destroy the chatty jellyfish and shatter the pearl of night within the eye of the storm.]

This phenomenon of ‘storm’ likely appeared after the ‘chatty jellyfish’ died, I think.

Where is the eye of the storm?

Since it was caused by the giant jellyfish, is the giant jellyfish itself the eye of the storm?

If I just tear this jellyfish apart along with the space, maybe that would count as shattering the pearl of night…?

Thinking of that, I decided to give it a try.

Clutching my small fist tightly, I swung it towards the jellyfish.

Following the trajectory of my fingers, the sky split open.

The black bubbly sky tore apart to reveal an even darker void.

When the path of my finger met the giant jellyfish, it split into five pieces with a screeching mechanical sound.

Ki-i-ik.

With a sound like a bursting balloon, the jellyfish wobbled and fell back into the black sea.

Huh? Could it really be over already?

But the giant jellyfish betrayed my expectations by fully resurrecting from within the sea and floating elegantly as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, that method doesn’t work.

Objects seem to need their destruction conditions fulfilled.

It would probably regenerate even if crushed by spatial compression, but I should test that when I have time.

This jellyfish is too big, plus it has resistance to spatial erosion, so it requires too much firewood.

I’ll test spatial compression on a smaller one next time.

To figure out the destruction condition of the giant jellyfish, I first need to find the ‘eye of the storm’.

While gravity flipped up and down and intense whirlpools spun my body around, I noticed an unusually large vortex among many connecting heaven and earth.

Among countless vortices connecting sky and earth, this one stood out as particularly thick and more horizontally wide than vertically tall – a obese vortex.

Lacking flight ability, I consumed some firewood to anchor myself to space and flew toward the vortex.

By anchoring to space without tearing it, I propelled myself forward.

As I interfered with space, I could feel firewood burning fiercely while dashing toward the vortex at incredible speed.

Upon entering the vortex, I was greeted by a peaceful space devoid of wind, sound, or gravity.

This space was the complete opposite of the chaotic space from moments ago.

Without wind, sound, or gravity, it felt like entering another dimension ruled by weightlessness.

The space appeared 100 times wider than seen from outside, filled with stagnant air and silence.

Both the sky and sea within this vortex revealed vast oceans of pitch-black darkness.

It was as if floating between two expansive seas of darkness.

And upon those black seas, white moons like pearls reflected above and below.

Could those be the ‘pearls of night’?

Without an actual moon, only two reflected images of the moon floated there.

Plus numerous obsidian-like mirrors floated around.

Unbreakable water surfaces reflecting two moons, and mirrors that might manipulate light.

Hmm, it’s like a puzzle.

And quite a difficult-looking one.

***

James was surprised to find the inside of the white hungry ghost’s mouth surprisingly cozy when he entered.

Golden reapers positioned throughout emitted soft lighting.

Thanks to the gentle light of the golden reapers, he could clearly see inside the hungry ghost’s stomach.

It was much larger than expected.

And filled with soft, fist-sized balls making it feel like being inside a ball pit.

Upon closer inspection, these balls were miniature versions of white hungry ghosts with even shorter limbs.

Why are these in here?

When James picked up and squeezed one of the white hungry ghost balls, it made an amusing sound.

A ball pit filled with balls that say ‘