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James’s simple words came to mind.

“Please guide the guest.”

As I opened my eyes with tremendous pain, the sky was filled with thick cream-like smoke.

My gaze was fixed on the eerie sky painted in crimson and ashes, lying amidst the wreckage of a once orderly city.

Smoke billowed above like a giant serpent, consuming the heavens, while flames raged below, washing the world in a light of destruction.

Thick smoke darker than the night sky caught the light of the flames burning the ground, taking on a sinister red hue.

In the smoky sky, ominous thunder occasionally rolled like a symphony announcing the end.

“Ha. Ha.”

Breathing became increasingly difficult.

With every shallow exhale, the crimson blood filling my lungs bubbled as if boiling.

Cough.

Each cough sent the blood surging back from my throat.

The blood flowed onto the cracked, damaged asphalt, leaving my final traces behind.

Death was nearing.

Though I barely moved, every corner of my body screamed in agony.

It was easier to find parts of me that were uninjured than those that were.

I had messed up.

If I had paid a bit more attention, I could have escaped…

As I wallowed in endless self-blame, I suddenly heard rustling sounds from around me, and I struggled to shift my gaze toward the noise.

“!”

I could see James’s guest slowly rising from where she lay.

After such a massive collision, she could still move?

Like a phoenix resurrecting from ashes, James’s guest, ‘Yerin’, was getting back up.

‘Thank goodness.’

A wave of relief washed over me.

She seemed to have some minor injuries, but her life didn’t appear to be in danger.

Yet, since this was a task that James entrusted to me, I wanted to see it through to the end…

I had to get her to safety, but my body wouldn’t cooperate.

I wanted to use my fingertips to push myself up, but my body wouldn’t budge.

‘Although I couldn’t guide her to the end, is this enough, James?’

I spoke to someone who wasn’t there with unvoiced words.

Regret for not completing my mission and apologies for my failure swirled in my blood-filled mouth.

My eyes could barely open, and my lips only quivered softly as I saw an approaching grotesque figure.

In my fading vision, I saw gray flickering and yellow flames that looked like they were burning before I lost consciousness.

*

Looking up at the vague shadow hanging over the city, the shape of a massive pig startled me with its overwhelming size.

Though I knew it was the same pig I had seen before, its presence was extraordinary.

When it had been using some unknown dead body, it had felt like looking at a pet mini pig, but now it appeared as a powerful object.

From its gaping mouth flowed a foul-smelling, rotting lava, and unquenchable flames burned on the skin that covered its body.

The gigantic pig slowly lowered its head, staring in my direction.

The mindless, violent gaze of the pig bore down on me like nails.

And then, gradually, it faded and vanished from sight.

Was it in a state where it couldn’t yet properly manifest, existing somewhere between substance and non-substance?

To handle that pig, I would need to head toward the whirlpool I had visited with Yerin.

As I turned around, Yerin, forgetting her pain, was stumbling toward something as if she had remembered something.

The place she stumbled to was where the secretary lay, bleeding profusely.

“Reaper. What should we do?”

Yerin looked at the blood-soaked secretary, at a loss for what to do.

The secretary was in a state that looked like it would be hard to save even in a hospital.

As soon as I saw that, I summoned the Blue Reaper.

The Blue Reaper that appeared on my palm looked up at me with a worried face before flying toward the secretary on its broom.

Both Yerin and the Blue Reaper, and even the Golden Reapers that were stuck in my hair, all looked at me with concerned expressions.

Do I look that bad?

I’ve just turned into a slightly dry mud doll…

[Please don't be hurt.]

[Heal all the wounds, please.]

[Please don't give in to your injuries.]

Seeing the seriously injured secretary, the Blue Reaper tightly shut its eyes and began to write strings over and over again.

Thanks to that, the secretary, who had seemed close to dying, started to breathe more steadily.

But still, proper treatment was necessary; the Blue Reaper’s healing wasn’t enough for serious injuries.

I sent the now-stabilized secretary off with several Golden Reapers toward the Sehee Research Institute.

This way, they should be able to send her to the hospital, right?

I wanted to send Yerin back too, but that wasn’t possible.

Yerin was needed to deal with the pig.

I felt too weak due to the lack of firewood; I was hungry and dizzy.

After sending the secretary over long distances, dizziness began to creep back up on me.

I needed more firewood.

Feeling weak, I approached Yerin, who had collapsed on the ground, and licked the bloodstains on her cheek.

“!”

Startled, Yerin turned to me, but I pretended not to notice and looked away.

Thanks to my playful act, even more firewood seemed to come pouring in from Yerin, who was hugging me from behind.

And I ordered the Mini Reapers.

“Now, scatter and help the people.”

However, the Golden Reapers and the Blue Reaper shook their heads vigorously in opposition.

“I’m okay now.”

As I showed them my skin regaining some luster, the Mini Reapers began to scatter in all directions.

Gradually, the city that had been filled with despair began to see its levels of despair decrease.

The small amounts of firewood provided by the Mini Reapers and the large amounts given by Yerin.

With this, it seemed I could gather enough firewood to fight before the pig completely manifested.

*

Thud thud.

Holding the Reaper’s hand, I kept walking beyond the curtain of flames.

To protect me, a Golden Reaper and a Blue Reaper were perched on my shoulders.

Fortunately, thanks to the Blue Reaper’s healing, the pain had subsided, allowing me to accompany the Reaper on this journey.

I still felt a foreign sensation in my side, but as long as it didn’t hurt, it was fine!

As we crossed the blazing Spirit Barrier, the long-abandoned ruins of the city welcomed us.

It was a city constantly claimed by the appearing Spirit Objects.

Though it was a dark city with no electricity, the burning wall of fire and the crimson-dyed sky illuminated the ruins enough.

We passed over cracked roads, filled with overgrown weeds, with remnants of civilization crumbling around.

Particularly, there were fresh footprints of pigs all over.

We continued upward, swimming against the current of the pigs.

Seeing the sinister flow of the ominous sky made me anxious, and I tightened my grip on the Reaper’s hand, saying,

“Reaper, look at the sky over there.”

Black smoke coiled and gathered in one spot above, swirling like a snake.

It looked like a vortex had formed in the sky.

The Reaper is invincible, so it should be fine, right?

*

As I approached the pit, the stretched space forced me to wander through the ruins like a fisheye lens.

To counter the spatial distortion, I continually spread the Mini Reaper Garden around and continued walking, and I reached my destination faster than expected.

After passing through a dark forest, a massive pit welcomed us at the bottom of a vast cliff.

Surprisingly, the pit was closer to the barrier than expected, but the distance was not the issue; spatial distortion was.

What I saw was a colossal vortex of land that felt entirely different from when viewed above with a helicopter.

The black, twisted earth swirled like a dark creature, and at its center gaped an abyss that swallowed everything.

And from within that shadow, the gigantic pig began to reveal itself.

As it emerged, it radiated an overwhelming presence, taking steps that caused the ground to tremble.

Each step distorted the space.

With each contact with the ground, the land twisted as if caught in a vortex.

I tensed up, checking the destruction conditions.

[Destroy without leaving a single piece of flesh.]

And the destruction conditions were completely unexpected.

Was it really just this simple of a destruction condition for such a massive presence?

Here stood a pig that breathed flames that burned black liquid while also holding the power to distort the surrounding space, and yet its conditions were that simple.

A sudden question emerged, and as I examined the pig closely, I began to understand the reason.

The faint stench wafting through the air.

The black lava trickling from its mouth.

Though it had flames that burned black liquid, was it insufficient?

It appeared this pig was already stained with the black liquid.

What I had thought to be just a foul-smelling liquid turned out to be more significant than I had anticipated?

In that case, this may be simpler than expected.

I resolved to use the new technique I had gained by handling dead bodies.

As I stretched my right hand forward, the skin of my right hand darkened.

Squish.

Clenching my fist, the space warped and created a black sphere.

A sphere that devours everything used by dead bodies appeared before me.

Weaving the goodwill and affection Yerin sent my way, this sphere seemed capable of crushing the pig entirely.

*

As the Reaper’s right hand blackened, the air warped, creating a black sphere.

It looked like a sphere that could swallow everything, including light, so could I call it a black hole?

“Wow, Reaper, you’re amazing!”

I silently applauded in my heart for the Reaper’s new ability.

However, the results began to unfold quite differently.

The gigantic pig started to gnaw at the space that included the black sphere.

Though it was clearly a tough task for the pig, more than half of its body was bitten away and vanished, but it successfully isolated the space.

The space that had been crushed between the giant pig’s teeth twisted into a whirlpool and began to fly toward us like a bullet.

The black sphere, twisted into a swirling shape, flew toward us, tearing at the space.

At the sight of this, the Reaper frantically let go of my hand and kicked me away.

The black sphere left long traces on the ground as it swept through the place where the Reaper had just been.

“Reaper!”

Could it be that the Reaper had died?

The Reaper vanished without a trace.

*

On the marshmallow land where the Gray Reaper had disappeared, Yerin stood dazed as if she had lost her soul.

The Pig King, who had lost most of its physical form, slowly turned to Yerin and started to walk toward her.

From its blackened bones to the decayed blood vessels, muscles and skin slowly began to cover it.

In response to the approaching pig, the Golden Reapers and the Blue Reaper stepped forward with tense expressions.

At that moment, it seemed the pig would charge at them and sweep everything away.

Then the pig suddenly stopped.

And an incongruous sound began to echo in tune with the current situation.

Tap tap.

The sound of small footsteps.

With that sound, the marshmallow land stretched toward the pig.

A tiny gray Reaper’s feet were walking alone on the marshmallow.

Slowly, from those small ankles, the soft gray Reaper was being recreated.

The Reaper, with all its antennae regenerated, began to glare fiercely at the pig.