Chapter 228
In a beautiful cave made of various colored jade, something horrifying began to rise.
A red figure, as if made from clotted blood.
The red human that emerged from the pit had a horrific appearance as if it were a corpse ground into a pulp.
[Insufficient.]
[Utterly insufficient.]
The meaning conveyed from the red monster, with emaciated limbs as if it were a corpse that had starved for a very long time.
It was a wave of will transmitted directly to the mind without opening its mouth or vibrating the air.
Hearing that will, the green jade person shouted loudly.
“Bring it!”
At the green jade person’s command, the prepared objects began to come in one after the other.
Men with large jade stakes driven into their hearts were moving the objects firmly fixed to the large green jade.
The men with jade stakes were executives of an organization that had sacrificed all their subordinates to the red monster as offerings.
Until recently, they had been calling each other brother and sister, but the expressions on their faces showed no change, even as they were crushed like sesame paste.
Rather, their gaze, filled with greed and shining strangely, looked like that of madmen.
Having devoured all the prepared objects, the red monster had already started to change a little.
The glimmering red jade sporadically emerged on its skin, which had a texture like that of corpses ground together.
And on that red jade, red flesh wriggled like blood vessels, sticking all over it.
[Insufficient.]
[Utterly insufficient.]
At the same time, the red jade person reached out to the man who had brought the objects, tightly grabbed his body, and began to devour his brain.
“Ughhhhhh!”
The man’s desperate scream as his brain was being torn out alive.
As that scream echoed, the men filling the open lot startled awake from their trance and began to flee outside.
“Stop.”
But at the green jade person’s single word, their bodies did not listen and froze in place.
And in that state, one by one, they began to have their brains eaten.
“No, please!”
“Save me!”
Countless pleas and threats and horrific screams echoed, but the act did not stop until every person’s brain was devoured.
The cave, once filled with screams and pleas, fell back into silence, replaced by the stench of all manners of filth and blood.
[Insufficient.]
[Utterly insufficient.]
Having consumed many humans and objects, the chest of the red jade person was as hollow as if it had a gaping hole.
[Divine blood and flesh are needed.]
Hearing those words, the green jade person beamed with a satisfied smile and shouted.
“Go and find it. The god somewhere on this land. The traces of the god. The descendants of the god. The apostles of the god. Find anything!”
As that cry echoed through the cave, the corpses from which brains had been devoured began to wriggle.
And those corpses rose as if alive, running off somewhere.
Countless corpses emerged from the depths of Seoul Forest, marching towards Seoul.
*
The twilight light stained the sky and seeped into the tranquil Seoul Forest.
Whenever the wind tickled the leaves, the trees sang a serene chorus, and that sound felt like the breath of the forest.
Within the gently blowing wind, there was not just the refreshing scent of leaves and the moist smell of earth, but also something else.
The source of mystery.
The scent of alchemy, all too familiar to the tattooed woman alchemist.
‘It’s taking longer than expected.’
It had already been two days since entering Seoul Forest, yet she still hadn’t collected all the ingredients.
‘Going deeper is dangerous…’
The alchemist thought as she looked at her younger sister, who was slowly following behind.
Since Seoul Forest resembled her hometown’s forest, she might have been confident in going deeper alone, but she couldn’t ensure safety with her sister tagging along.
Of course, it should mostly be safe, but unexpected situations could arise.
“Huuh.”
The alchemist sighed, looking up at the giant tree, worried about her younger sister.
No matter how many times she warned her about the dangers, her sister pursued her with determination, and it was difficult for the alchemist to strongly insist on keeping away.
‘At least I’m glad I gathered most of the ingredients.’
The materials she needed this time were for a suppressant to eat and for repairing the gray reaper’s lightsaber.
She had gathered most of the materials needed for repairing the lightsaber, but the suppressant ingredients were not in sight.
‘This is bad.’
The alchemist took out the remaining suppressant and, counting the numbers, made a troubled expression.
There was little suppressant left.
It was crucial to have the suppressant so as not to become a monster who naturally leads people to death like during the theme park incident.
If she couldn’t take the suppressant, her perception and self would slowly twist, ultimately becoming a harmful existence to humans.
No matter how much she cried out that she was acting for the sake of humanity, she would be nothing more than a harmful entity.
A magical book, once a human, would always be like that.
It was a change that could be suppressed with a strong will or a suppressant, but there would be no human who could maintain it forever.
In the end, a human who becomes an object either commits suicide before their self twists or renounces their self and becomes a sort of machine.
“Sis, have you found all the materials you need?”
Just then, her younger sister’s voice interrupted the alchemist’s spiraling thoughts.
Awakening from her reverie, the alchemist felt the ominous aura that had permeated the forest and showed a startled expression.
‘I was foolishly lost in thought in an unsafe forest!’
It was too late to run away.
“Get behind me quickly! Hurry!”
The alchemist urged her younger sister, who was trailing a little behind, as she drew her sword and started scanning the surroundings.
As her sister rushed over with a puzzled expression, terrible monsters began to reveal themselves from the shadows of the forest.
Monsters with giant jade stakes driven into their hearts and all the parts where their brains should have been completely eaten away.
“Ugh.”
Seeing their horrific appearance, her sister was so terrified that she subtly clung to her sister’s clothing.
“Jade stakes? That technology should have disappeared long ago, right?”
The alchemist murmured in a tense voice, sword drawn.
*
The orange reaper, caught cheating the golden reaper, was sulking slightly while flying in the sky.
In the meantime, she spotted many cloud fish flying through the skies.
The cloud fish were transporting the golden reaper and black reaper around the world.
While gazing at the well-flying school of cloud fish, the orange reaper suddenly thought of an amusing ‘mistake.’
What would happen if the mini reapers looking for attached humans dropped into the empty Seoul Forest?
Just then, the orange reaper discovered a cloud fish passing over Seoul Forest carrying the golden reaper and smiled even wider.
Smirking like the gray reaper, the orange reaper approached the cloud fish and commanded.
‘Drop them.’
Then the cloud fish lost its physical force, like an ordinary cloud.
‘!’
Suddenly losing its footing, the golden reaper began falling with a startled expression as it waved its arms around.
Why?
As the golden reaper looked up at the sky filled with questions, it saw the orange reaper smiling similarly to the gray reaper.
‘!!!’
The betrayal of a sister who was always so well-behaved!
Seeing the shocking scene, the golden reaper crashed headfirst into Seoul Forest with an astonished expression.
Teehee.
Curious about what had happened to the fallen golden reaper, the orange reaper began to lower her altitude.
Just as the tall trees of Seoul Forest approached quite closely, the orange reaper spotted a desperate scene.
Harmful objects desecrating a human corpse surrounded one human.
“White flower resembling the sun, red stem soaked in blood, roots falling under the magical book. The alchemist’s shield!”
An object seemingly protecting a human was struggling while scattering white flames, but victory seemed unlikely.
“Sis!”
The desperate cry of a human.
The orange reaper hurriedly began to twist probabilities, seeing that the situation looked more urgent than expected.
*
With a cheerful smile, I was running around holding a halo when I heard a will.
‘Mom!’
It was a desperate wish for help.
It was the voice of a mini reaper seeking assistance.
The white fur ball caught in my grasp was screaming.
Hehe.
The golden reaper and black reaper, faster than me, had given up early on and focused on catching the slow orange reaper, who was quickly snagged.
I actually hadn’t intended to catch her, but she had irritated me so much that I really did catch her.
Suddenly the ground became slippery.
Objects fell and hit my head.
While I was slightly annoyed by the way probabilities had been twisted to obstruct me, it was even more bothersome that she was maintaining a distance that felt just out of reach while grinning at me.
In a fit of anger, I used time acceleration and space dominion to actually catch her.
The problem was that I hadn’t thought of what to do after catching her.
Before I knew it, the halo had shrunk to mini reaper size.
I guess it can’t be helped; I’ll have to put it on to show Mom that I can do what I said I would.
As I brought the halo closer, the orange reaper tightly closed her eyes and began to tremble.
It was a shaking reminiscent of a puppy shivering in the cold.
The other mini reapers, having stopped fleeing, popped their heads out and were watching curiously.
The watching mini reapers had expressions that seemed to say, ‘She can’t be really putting it on, can she?’
The moment I was about to place the halo on the orange reaper’s head, the air distorted, taking on texture, and began to ripple.
‘!’
At this sudden turn of events, even the mini reapers who had been hiding with only their heads showing began to rise and look around, and I too released the orange reaper from my hand and looked around.
There was something different about the malice surrounding the objects I had experienced before, as it poured into the Sehee Research Institute.
Feeling a strange sensation, I looked up at the sky, where a massive wall was being formed.
A huge red wall, embroidered in the sky, resembling a red aurora.
However, it didn’t feel at all like an aurora.
It felt more like a gigantic wall made of jade, with a substantial presence.
Stomp, stomp.
At the same time, brain-devoured corpses began to reveal themselves around the Sehee Research Institute.
Bizarre monsters with jade stakes shot through their chests, their brains having been hollowed out.
But I didn’t even give those monsters a glance; I just kept staring at the red jade wall.
This is dangerous.
It felt like an object, but I sensed that something different was targeting me.