Chapter 248

The black crack gradually expanded, and within it swirled an endless void.

And from within it, the Book that Killed God began to slowly reveal its form.

The blue girl looked at its overwhelming appearance with a somewhat resigned smile.

‘There exists a grimoire of this caliber!’

Just by revealing itself, the Book that Killed God was already distorting the world.

Truly a mythic magical book.

A being from a completely forgotten age, entirely different from the seven moons called gods that currently sustain the world.

Can anyone stand against such a monster?

The blue girl glanced at the girl in black and white clothes but saw not a trace of worry or concern on her face as usual.

Ku-ung.

With a massive rumbling sound, the blue girl redirected her gaze.

There stood the upper half of a monstrous figure emerging from the rift of void.

As soon as the upper body of the Book that Killed God touched down, the earth it stood on began to transform.

Like fine root patterns tangling together, the ground twisted into the same color as the monster.

And as the land continued to twist repeatedly, parts of it spiraled upward like sharp spires pointing to the sky.

What was once clearly a city now bore no trace of its existence.

Only the grotesque land, warped just like the Book that Killed God, remained as its substitute.

When finally the monster’s two legs descended onto the earth, it began to slowly rise with its massive body.

As the creature fully stood up from the darkly twisted land, the world completely turned upside down.

The golden and blue trees surrounding like fortress walls were gone, replaced by an endlessly distorted landscape.

Pointed spears of land spiraling upward stretched endlessly.

The ominous clouds with holes piercing through them disappeared too, leaving only an endless darkness without end.

The world of the Book that Killed God, unrecorded in any alchemist’s tome from ancient times to now, revealed its true form.

“This is…the true form of the Book that Killed God.”

The blue girl murmured softly while peering into the endless darkness.

The monstrous entity that had completely dyed the world in its own color lowered its head toward where the blue girl and the white hungry ghost stood.

Though its face was impossibly large, reaching near the heavens, it clearly had no eyes – yet it was undoubtedly looking down at the white hungry ghost.

Where the sky once was, there stretched an infinitely dark void.

Where the city once stood, there spiraled a vortex-like distortion pulling into the void.

And there stood the Book that Killed God, exuding an equally ominous atmosphere as the void in the sky.

But the white hungry ghost did not step back.

With the halo and golden flame bestowed by the girl in black and white clothes.

And the core held tightly, along with unwavering belief sent by the blue girl.

Squeak!

The white hungry ghost shouted bravely and charged at the monster.

However, the brave charge didn’t even last a few steps.

Just taking a few leaps, the white snow-like skin began to darken and twist into a spiral pattern.

Crackle crackle.

Her body contorted sharply into spikes that tore open her insides.

Squeeeeek!

Covered in golden flames, the white hungry ghost could do nothing but let out a painful scream as her entire body became riddled with holes.

Seeing the shaking core of the white hungry ghost, the blue girl cried out.

“No!”

The little sprout magical books gathered on the blue girl’s shoulder showed various shocked expressions upon witnessing the scene – covering their eyes with their tiny hands, holding their cheeks, or covering their mouths.

In that desperate moment, a massive golden flame began to burn beside the blue girl.

***

Despite consuming tons of firewood and wearing a halo, the otherworldly Yerin seemed powerless.

The biggest issue was clearly that some object-like phenomenon was occurring, and the halo couldn’t block it.

For some reason, the halo didn’t recognize this ‘corrosion’ as an ability.

It judged it as natural as an apple falling from a tree.

“No!”

The blue girl’s voice sighed as she watched the white hungry ghost’s body become full of large holes.

Though nearly an hour had passed, the current state of the white hungry ghost wouldn’t be able to last much longer.

There’s nothing I can do.

I started burning the firewood hidden in Yerin’s heart.

I began emitting massive amounts of golden flames through her skin, to the point they burst out.

And I forcefully pushed those large quantities of golden flames into the hungry ghost’s body.

To the point she’d explode from overconsumption!

Seeing the white hungry ghost swelling as if about to burst, I summoned another halo above one hand.

A halo that perfectly evades all attacks.

I placed that halo on top of the hungry ghost’s head.

The phenomenon of the skin twisting uncontrollably and destroying the body stopped, but the collapse caused by the stabilizing halo resumed.

The white hungry ghost’s skin darkened, and red tears began flowing from her crimson eyes.

Despite the immense pain that prevented her from even screaming, the endless influx of golden flames kept her body from collapsing.

Endless cycles of destruction and regeneration.

Amidst these endless repetitions, the white hungry ghost’s body began to grow larger.

Growing bigger with each cycle of breaking and regenerating.

But within this cycle, the hungry ghost lost consciousness.

The white hungry ghost, now grown to a size comparable to the ‘Nameless’, stood quietly while unconscious.

“Aoguiya. I’ll borrow you for a bit.”

With that, the blue girl skillfully began controlling the white hungry ghost using the core.

It was a perfect combination – I provided the halo and firewood, while the blue girl controlled the hungry ghost.

Under the blue girl’s control, the white hungry ghost moved freely as if performing acrobatics.

Dodging the countless spikes shooting up from the ground while approaching, then throwing a white hungry ghost punch.

While the complete evasion halo might make this unnecessary, considering the opponent’s ability to adapt to anything, dodging seemed better.

The blue girl’s movements, which looked like they came from extensive training, proved to be an effective method.

Yet despite these one-sided attacks, the white hungry ghost’s physical assaults failed to significantly damage the ‘Nameless’.

This made the blue girl increasingly anxious, though I remained calm.

After all, we just need to endure for one hour!

The closer the ‘Nameless’ gets to doing nothing, the closer my victory becomes.

But just as I was confidently thinking this, an unusual sound began echoing in my ears.

Keeeeek!

A grating sound like nails on a chalkboard.

Then the world began to shake as if space itself was being forcibly torn apart.

“Ah! We’ve been caught!”

At the same time, I heard the blue girl’s surprised voice.

Looking toward the white hungry ghost, I saw the ‘Nameless’ grabbing the supposedly ungraspable white hungry ghost with sharp claws.

And slowly, the ‘Nameless’s claws began digging into the white hungry ghost’s torso.

‘!’

Seeing that scene, I realized the problem.

Being in a dream was the issue.

The power of the sprout reapers wasn’t enough to properly maintain the connection of the halo.

Looking at the situation where the ‘Nameless’ seemed ready to rip the white hungry ghost apart with both hands, the blue girl appeared very anxious.

“What should we do?”

The blue girl looked quite exhausted from manually controlling the hungry ghost using the core.

“There’s only one way!”

“?

The only option is the ultimate move.

The image of the corpse inside the black sphere firing a laser beam remains vivid in my mind.

If the corpse can do it, so can I!

Of course, firing a laser beam with Yerin’s body would result in instant atomization, so I decided to use the sturdy hungry ghost instead.

Closing my eyes and concentrating.

The blue girl also closed her eyes and began sending her wishes.

“To defeat the Book that Killed God.”

Listening to those wishes, I started pushing all the firewood I have into the white hungry ghost.

The white hungry ghost, which had been burning fiercely in gold, began glowing blue as it surpassed a certain threshold.

The sudden eruption of blue flames was so intense it forced even the ‘Nameless’ to step back.

“Aogui Beam!”

Following my cry, the white hungry ghost floating gently in the air opened its mouth and began spewing massive flames.

Though more like flames than a proper beam.

Its power was great enough to destroy everything corrupted around us, creating a massive crater in the ground.

When the flames cleared away the dark void in the sky, a purple moon dyed black was revealed.

All the bizarre traces covering the ground were burned away.

Moreover, the flames spewed from the hungry ghost’s mouth didn’t stop at creating a hole in the ground – they rose again from the crater and continued burning the ‘Nameless’ endlessly.

***

The blue flames spewed from the hungry ghost’s mouth seemed to have successfully repelled the Book that Killed God.

“Did we defeat it?”

The blue girl was tense enough to casually mention resurrection spells.

The Book that Killed God, trying to escape from the blue flames, was swallowed by the blue flames rising from the crater and fell into the abyssal pit.

“Haha, we won.”

Seeing that scene, the blue girl slumped into her seat, looking around.

Then she noticed the sprout magical books stretching their hands toward the sky with their eyes tightly shut, looking very strained.

Looking closely at those sprout magical books, I could faintly hear voices.

“We must maintain the dream!”

“Mom, stay strong!”

So these magical books could talk.

Their furrowed brows looked somehow cute, so the blue girl smoothed them out with her fingers.

“We won…”

We defeated a mythical existence!

Though completely drained, the blue girl forced herself up and tightly hugged the girl in black and white clothes.

And began shouting loudly.

“We won! We won! We won!”

While the younger girl just stared at the pit with an expressionless face despite defeating such a magnificent being.

Then suddenly words popped out of the young girl’s mouth.

“Now, we’ve won.”

Though her pronunciation was childish, she was clearly declaring victory.

Finding the expressionless young girl incredibly cute, the blue girl vigorously pinched her cheeks.

Kung.

But at that moment, a heavy sound rang out.

The Book that Killed God’s hand emerged from the giant pit, gripping its edge.

And began climbing up slowly.

“!!!”

At that moment, my heart started racing with tension.

“Aogui?”

Turning my head, I saw the completely tattered hungry ghost lying there.

But the hungry ghost was in no condition to fight until it recovered somewhat.

“I need to fight too.”

With a determined face, the blue girl once again drew the alchemist’s sword.

At that moment, her master stepped in front of her and began etching a massive transmutation circle on the ground.

It was the master’s unique technique of walking through endless corridors.

“Take the kid and run. I’ll buy you some time.”

The man quietly added “The Last Alchemist must survive.”

Protecting humans is the duty of an alchemist.

That was something the master often said.

“…Alright.”

Unlike the master who could still struggle briefly, the powerless blue girl answered softly and tried to flee with the child.

But the child refused to follow the girl and just stared blankly at the sky.

Following her gaze, we saw an anomaly occurring with the purple moon in the sky.

***

Even after an hour passed, the dream hadn’t ended.

‘Why? Did I miscount the time?’

Moreover, the ‘Nameless’ injured by the Aogui Beam started climbing up again.

Could experiencing time in Yerin’s body have broken my perception of time?

While contemplating the next move amidst this anxiety, an anomaly occurred with the purple moon.

From the completely blackened moon, sticky black liquid began pouring down endlessly.

It was raining down like a waterfall onto the ‘Nameless’s head and the massive crater that erased the purple city.

Upon contact with the evolution liquid, the ‘Nameless’ began disintegrating instantly, just like the black reaper did when touched by it.

“!!!!!!”

Not a sound, but a distinctly heard grotesque scream.

It was the final agony of the ‘Nameless’, trying to climb up even as it melted away.

‘We won!’

Finding victory amidst the unease brought an involuntary smile to my lips.

Hehe.

Now I get it – the hour was based on the collapse timing of that moon.

Tubangtubang.

I slowly approached the edge of the pit and looked down.

A sinkhole of city size.

The hole, resembling the one that appeared in Songpa District, was gradually filling up with the evolution liquid raining down from the sky.

And within that evolution liquid, the miserable form of the ‘Nameless’, endlessly dissolving and regenerating, could be seen before finally melting away completely.

‘So this ends the dream, right?’

As I smirked and turned around, the sprout reapers were hopping joyfully toward me.

‘Mom won!’

‘Mom!’

The sprout reapers greeting me with genuinely happy expressions.