Chapter 186

The vision spun round and round.

The giant blade glowing with white light had split me cleanly in half with a single strike.

I’ve lost my limbs quite a few times, but having my body split in two was…

A rare experience indeed.

“Mom!”

In the dizzying field of vision, I could see my lower half slowly fading away as it turned into firewood while yellow flames burned brightly. I also saw the mini reapers rushing towards me with shocked expressions.

The mini reapers clung tightly to my upper half that had been split in two and kept repeatedly asking if I was okay.

The blue reapers were sobbing while endlessly unleashing strings into the air.

<Please don’t feel pain.>

<Heal all the painful spots, please.>

Even though the mini reapers knew I wouldn’t die from something like this, they were overreacting a bit too much.

I tried to regenerate the wound, but the white flame clinging to the injury was preventing regeneration.

Connecting the dots between the hungry ghost-like face of the hungry ghost reaper and the ability of the white hungry ghost made it easy to deduce what kind of power this was.

It was definitely the ‘white flame that burns objects’ used by the white hungry ghost during our battle with the jellyfish.

Upon closer inspection, there was a light-like swirl on the hungry ghost reaper’s blade, resembling compressed white flames.

Only, compared to the white hungry ghost’s flames, these were so dense they felt less like flames and more like a nearly light-based coating.

Kind of like those lightsabers from sci-fi?

No, since it’s applied onto the sword, it’s more akin to the sword qi often seen in martial arts novels.

The white hungry ghost’s flames didn’t seem to have the ability to burn through physical immunity, but the hungry ghost reaper’s flames easily torched and cut through it.

Could the white hungry ghost learn to use flames that burn physical immunity with enough training?

While pondering such things and continuously pushing firewood into the wound, the yellow flames successfully devoured the white flames.

As soon as the white flames disappeared, my lower half began regenerating.

Standing up again, I could feel the solid floor beneath my feet.

As I got back up, I smiled slightly at the mini reapers who were celebrating like they were shouting “Hooray!”

The start of Round 2.

***

Looking down at the tattooed woman who seemed lifeless with her eyes closed and not breathing, the younger sister cried incessantly.

Her older sister, who had said she wouldn’t die unless her head was cut off, lay sprawled out like she was dead, her body split in two.

“Sis… Sis… Sis… Sis…”

“Sis is my salvation. Get up quickly.”

“Sis… Sis… Sis… Sis…”

“The only beacon in this hellish world.”

“The companion of my story in this other world.”

“If I hadn’t insisted on coming along, would this have happened?”

“Did insisting because I knew sis couldn’t refuse lead to this?”

Her mind was in utter chaos.

Tears flowed endlessly as if her tear ducts had broken.

Amidst blurred vision from the tears, a sun-like fragrance began to waft from somewhere.

A scent of happiness.

Even though she felt like she might die at any moment, it was a scent that forcibly calmed her heart.

It was a terrifyingly powerful mental pollution, just as her older sister had said.

Reaching into her pocket, she saw the neatly packaged pill meant to counteract mental pollution given to her by her older sister.

And then the younger sister simply threw the pill onto the ground.

“Sorry, sis.”

Without mental pollution, I might die.

Sis is kind, so she’ll forgive me.

The golden reapers gathered around the younger sister and began gently patting her cheeks, as if saying “Don’t be sad.”

Seeing the corpse of the woman the younger sister clung to, the golden reaper tilted its head.

Then the golden reaper grinned widely and clenched both fists.

It was as if it was saying, “It will definitely be alright, so don’t worry!”

Though it was probably just a delusion created by false hope, it would be nice if it were true.

Whether due to the mental pollution or seeing the bright expression of the golden reaper, the endless fall of her heart began to calm slightly.

The younger sister grabbed a golden reaper in her hand and poked its cheek.

“It’ll be okay, right? It’ll be okay.”

She mumbled to herself anxiously while looking at the golden reaper.

Nodding vigorously with a cheerful smile, the golden reaper shook its head.

Even though it probably didn’t understand the meaning behind the words, it was reassuring.

Only now did the younger sister notice the chaotic battlefield around her.

When the gray reaper grabbed and swung at empty space, a rift appeared.

Gripping space caused black holes to form, swallowing everything within a certain range.

When it looked like a blade was flying towards them, the gray reaper would suddenly appear from a distant location as if teleporting.

Though the younger sister didn’t know much about the gray reaper or other objects,

it was obvious they possessed extraordinary abilities. Yet, none of their powerful attacks were hitting the hungry ghost reaper.

Despite launching large and powerful attacks, the gray reaper didn’t seem to have the upper hand.

“Can we win?”

The younger sister’s muttering echoed faintly amidst the fierce battlefield.

***

The sound of a massive blade aiming for my neck reached my ears.

Whoosh!

It was an incredibly sharp sound, hard to believe it came from a heavy blade.

Dodging the blade that pierced physical immunity, I used instant teleportation.

Appearing near a golden reaper at a suitable distance, I gripped my hand and tore open space.

But the rip in space dissipated before reaching the hungry ghost reaper.

Another attack wasted.

At first, I thought the blade piercing physical immunity was the most troublesome problem, but the real issue was different.

The ability that made all attacks miss was the problem.

Although countless golden reapers rushed in from all directions to use ghosting-overlap on the hungry ghost reaper, none managed to reach its side.

Even though they clearly ran straight, somehow their direction twisted and they passed by.

It looked like space was twisting, making them miss, but from my perspective, it didn’t seem related to space at all.

Truly mysterious, bizarre phenomenon, an incomprehensible object.

Even the perceptive golden reapers could only tilt their heads, unable to understand the reason.

The water needles shot by the blue reapers and the punches of the giant black reaper all missed as well.

Fortunately, I knew the source of this strange ability.

The halo floating above the hungry ghost reaper’s head.

A simple ring of light, similar to the ‘eye’ used by the leader.

They looked alike, and the energy they gave off was identical to the leader’s eye.

Indeed, being an ‘eye,’ it was an annoying ability, just like the leader’s.

If only the solution method was similar to the leader’s, that would have been ideal, but unfortunately, the hungry ghost reaper’s destruction condition was more direct and simple.

It would have been manageable if it was something like <receiving simultaneous standing applause from ten thousand people> like the blue lizard.

At least it would have been better if it was something like <recovering the eye from within the eye> like the leader’s destruction condition…

The hungry ghost reaper’s destruction condition was <separate the halo>.

For a regular object, it would have been a clear and simple condition worth rejoicing over, but in the current situation where we couldn’t even touch the hungry ghost reaper, it suddenly became far too difficult.

Just then, the hungry ghost reaper, which had been relentlessly following me and swinging its blade, suddenly stopped and opened its mouth.

“Uuuu.”

It was a cute cry like a hungry ghost, but I couldn’t understand hungry ghost language.

With an ominous atmosphere, the hungry ghost reaper extended its blade forward and charged, drawing beautiful arcs with its blade.

Unlike before, this was a swordplay beyond theory.

But I countered such wondrous swordsmanship by dodging with instant teleportation.

No matter how excellent martial arts are, they can’t compare to superpowers.

However, at that moment, something began fluttering from the hungry ghost reaper’s blade.

What scattered beautifully like petals were small hungry ghosts made of white flames.

Round bodies with infinitely tiny arms and legs.

Hungry ghost-shaped flames that instantly filled the surroundings.

And the hungry ghost reaper, poised to slash down its blade at any moment.

“Uuuu.”

In that situation, the hungry ghost reaper softly opened its mouth, emitting a low cry, and slashed down its blade.

Simultaneously, all the hungry ghost-shaped flames exploded, tearing apart everything around them.

Though they looked small and weak, their destructive power was beyond imagination.

Rather, it was far stronger than being cut by the blade.

My limbs had already burned away long ago.

It was excruciatingly painful, as if my entire body was on fire.

Through the explosion, a painful will was transmitted.

“Mom…”

It was the will of the mini reapers caught in the explosion.

In the blurry vision, traces of the water golem protecting the blue reapers could be seen.

Most of the water golem protecting the blue reapers had evaporated.

The blue reaper with a large hole in its torso dispersed like water mist and stared at me.

An expression indicating pain but saying it was alright.

And with that as the last, every remaining piece of flesh on my body burned away, darkening my vision.

***

Flashes erupted everywhere like flashbang grenades, with white flames blazing.

All the golden reapers burned brightly and disappeared.

Thinking she was surely going to die, the younger sister tightly shut her eyes at the scene of destruction.

But when the younger sister, feeling she was still alive, opened her eyes, all she could see was endless darkness.

Only the light from the halo floating above the hungry ghost reaper’s head lingered in the darkness.

As her vision adjusted to the darkness, the ruined appearance of the reception room began to appear.

Only the area around herself remained untouched by the explosion.

Neither the younger sister nor the older sister she clung to were affected by the explosion.

It was an attack aimed solely at the reapers.

The hungry ghost reaper looked extremely exhausted.

Then, in a corner of the darkness, a small flame began to burn in the air.

As the red flame gradually grew larger, an ominous aura began to spread throughout the space that resembled ruins.

And instantly, a black body appeared covering the flame.

An object identical to the gray reaper but with black skin emitting a red glow.

The object’s blackness and the red light emanating from within formed a fiery, ominous harmony like molten lava.

Above the pulsating crimson-black reaper’s head, a white light ring began to reveal its form.

A pure white light halo contrasting sharply with the crimson-black body.

Boom.

As the halo began to emit its white light, a sound of something breaking was heard, and numerous cracks appeared on the crimson-black reaper’s body.

At the same time, the crimson-black reaper’s face contorted with anger and stretched its hand forward.

A motion similar to the pose the gray reaper took before gripping space.

Crack.

The moment the crimson-black reaper gripped space, one of the hungry ghost reaper’s arms was torn off.

Had the hungry ghost reaper not flinched at the last moment, its head would have been gone.

And the crimson-black reaper, leaking red flames from the cracks all over its body, charged toward the hungry ghost reaper.

[!– Slider main container –]