When I took a closer look upward, there was indeed a floating pudding leisurely hovering above our heads.
“A flying pudding?”
This pudding didn’t fit the current factory atmosphere at all.
Golden Reapers were scattered everywhere, looking utterly defeated.
Chunks of corpses were strewn across the cold concrete floor.
A pool of blood, dark and congealed, glistened on the floor where it clung.
Decorations made from human flesh and flesh puddings that screamed bad taste adorned the area.
And yet, here came this floating pudding gliding over such a grim scene.
Under the dim factory lighting, the pudding shimmered with a creamy custard-like texture.
Odd cheerfulness amidst the gloom?
The strange contrast coaxed an odd smile out of me.
The soap bubble encasing the dessert reflected light in rainbow hues as it floated.
It occasionally distorted and warped parts of the factory’s horrific scenery, reflecting them back in twisted ways.
As the Gray Reaper and I stared endlessly upward, James followed suit and looked up too.
“Seems we missed collecting one of these puddings.”
James said this with a calm expression, as if seeing something familiar.
How can he react so casually to such a wondrous sight?
I gave him a glance filled with this sentiment, and he responded.
“Ah, you two must be seeing this for the first time. All puddings produced in this pudding factory are wrapped in bubbles like this during production.”
Why would there even be a need for such a method of production?
No matter how much I thought about it, there seemed to be no necessity for such a production process.
“Ah! The way these puddings pop out like this is not intentional. It’s the Object making the pudding that does it on its own. Well, Objects can’t really be designed as we wish, which is part of their charm, so there’s nothing we can do.”
If the Object insists on acting this way, there’s nothing we can do about it.
Still, the fact that intention could be embedded into an Object to design machinery was impressive.
Compared to Korea, which struggles just to contain or remove Objects, there certainly seemed to be a gap in capabilities.
This pudding factory of James’ sure was peculiar, using an Object to make puddings.
The Gray Reaper was still staring at the pudding intently.
Is it really that appetizing?
The Gray Reaper now held a Golden Reaper in hand, gripping it in a somewhat unsettling manner.
The Golden Reaper appeared delighted by being held, smiling happily while looking up at the Gray Reaper.
For some reason, the way the Gray Reaper was looking at the pudding and holding the Golden Reaper reminded me of someone getting ready to throw a ball…
Nah, surely not.
***
A ninja pudding floats in the air.
It seems impossibly high to reach.
With ghosting, climbing walls and hanging from the ceiling might make it possible…
But it’s too troublesome.
Would throwing a Golden Reaper get close enough?
Unfortunately, my strength probably wouldn’t cut it.
I placed the Golden Reaper who had been happily looking up at me onto my shoulder.
The number of remaining rabbit Objects was surprisingly low.
There should’ve been at least ten times the amount of the first bunny doll I killed, but the numbers were eerily similar.
Mass-producing Golden Reaper puddings failed.
Now the only hope left was the machine producing puddings inside bubbles.
After giving up on the airborne pudding, I moved toward the location of the pudding-producing machine.
We continued walking down the dark corridor filled with the smell of blood.
Thud-thud.
Soon enough, the exit of the shadowy building came into view.
Beyond the open lot lies the building where “Hungry Ghosts” reside.
However, the worsening stench made me feel increasingly uneasy.
The closer we got to the center of the pudding factory, the stronger the stench grew—far worse than the monster we encountered in the desert.
The Golden Reapers that had been hopping around behind me had already fled back to the Golden Reaper garden.
In the wide-open lot near the building’s exit sat a rather expensive-looking sports car.
This felt oddly out of place amid the lot riddled with Hungry Ghost bite marks.
At this sight, James marveled, and the Timid Man rejoiced.
“Surprisingly intact. I thought for sure the Hungry Ghosts would’ve wrecked it.”
“Oh! Thank you, God!”
Upon seeing the undamaged sports car, the seemingly timid man began shedding tears of gratitude toward the heavens.
“Lucky for you that the sports car, into which you invested your entire prepaid salary, remains intact.”
James patted the man on the shoulder in celebration while he prayed to the sky.
“You spent your entire salary on a sports car? And it was prepaid salary?”
Yerin wore an expression of confusion.
“Not just any salary—it’s more like ten years’ worth of what this guy usually earns, right?”
“?”
Yerin’s expression became even more bewildered.
Just as the mood loosened slightly, heavy footsteps tightened the atmosphere once again.
Boom. Boom.
Heavy footsteps echoed ominously.
Footsteps belonging to a Hungry Ghost.
Definitely a monster’s steps, but they sounded far heavier than any Hungry Ghost’s.
Everyone fell silent and turned their gaze toward the open lot.
Too heavy to belong to a mere Hungry Ghost.
This sound was unmistakably different from my memory of fighting one directly.
The subspecies Object of the ‘Hungry Ghost,’ located beyond the steel door, radiated its weight and power through the barrier.
The thick steel door felt almost translucent under the immense weight and strength of this creature.
Bang!
With a tremendous roar, the steel door exploded outward, revealing the monstrous figure.
Glowing red eyes that gleamed menacingly.
A body pumped with muscles like a steroid-enhanced Hungry Ghost.
A size nearly twice that of the Hungry Ghost from the Central Research Institute.
Black liquid oozing from its skin.
Is this thing even a Hungry Ghost?
Boom. Boom.
Each step sent ripples through its muscles, splashing black goo in every direction.
It let out a screech like metal scraping against metal, flaunting its strength.
The target of its display was a vehicle.
“No!!! Noooo!!!”
Before our eyes, it tore apart the sports car.
Like a demonstration of its power, it dismantled the sports car piece by piece, grinding it into powder.
“No! My dream car! My year’s salary!”
The man, emitting emotions as though witnessing his parents being torn apart by the Hungry Ghost, collapsed.
With tears streaming down his face and arms stretched forward.
He succumbed to extreme emotional shock and fainted.
Thud-thud.
I stepped forward into the center of the open lot to face the Hungry Ghost subspecies.
Definitely big.
Hungry Ghosts were creepy and unpleasant, but this thing emitted a serious stench, making it twice as repulsive.
Its eyes gleamed with mockery.
It’s rare to see an Object scoff at me like this upon first sight.
Its size, strength, and imposing physique made everyone seem to fear it more than the regular Hungry Ghost.
Yet it appears weaker.
Pretty strong, but nowhere near the level of a steel tower or the original Hungry Ghost.
A lack of presence often means simpler destruction conditions.
The Hungry Ghost’s destruction condition was [start Object’s stone].
This was it. So what condition does this one have?
[Depletes regeneration ability].
Simple enough.
With a slight smile, I charged at the Hungry Ghost subspecies.
***
The Hungry Ghost chases, and the Gray Reaper flees.
The fight between the Gray Reaper and the Hungry Ghost broadcast on TV replayed here once more.
It was a shocking revelation the first time I saw it.
The Object seemed to genuinely strive for humanity’s benefit.
Since the consensus was that Objects appearing to help humans were deceptive.
Korean broadcasts seemed to dismiss it as a territorial dispute between top-tier Objects, but that was laughable.
The Gray Reaper clearly led the Hungry Ghost away from populated areas.
Similar to the battle in the broadcast, the Gray Reaper skillfully guided the Hungry Ghost in combat.
But can the Gray Reaper win against the stronger Hungry Ghost subspecies?
From the Songpa District footage, the Gray Reaper excelled in rapid regeneration and agility.
The Hungry Ghost relied on its massive size and brute force.
“This is bad. Harder to win than I anticipated.”
But the researcher Yerin, standing beside me, seemed completely unconcerned watching the battle with excitement.
Why isn’t she worried?
And the Gray Reaper’s actions were also confusing.
“Why doesn’t it summon the Golden Reaper? Surely it’s useless against a strong foe like the Hungry Ghost?”
Yerin, who had been watching the Gray Reaper’s battle with shining eyes, replied.
“Nah, it’s probably just a whim. Judging by its joyful expression, it seems to be enjoying itself.”
Enjoying itself?
To me, it looks like the usual emotionless face…
The busy Gray Reaper suddenly stopped moving, then erupted in golden flames from its entire body.
Come on… Singularity Hole?
The brightly burning Gray Reaper clapped its hands twice and stomped its small feet three times on the ground.
[!– Slider main container –]
![[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come](https://i3.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1737407792-8993-TS-The-end-of-magical-girls-has-come.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come")
