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The red monster, twisting its limbs haphazardly like an incomprehensible ghost from a horror movie, moved about aimlessly.

The crimson creature seemed completely oblivious to my presence in the Mini Reaper Garden.

“Wow, what a surprise.”

It was my first time being caught off guard like this by something appearing out of nowhere from behind.

To think it could shock me, who had eyes everywhere; that was quite impressive.

As I kept my gaze on the red monster wandering uselessly outside, I tried to calm my racing heart.

Before long, as I became assured that the Mini Reaper Garden was safe, I began to observe the crimson creature closely.

The red monster had the silhouette of a human, yet its actions were nothing like a human.

Its hollow face, lacking features, seemed to gaze vacantly into the air.

The way it staggered around, unable to walk straight, looked as if it was forcing limbs that wouldn’t respond.

However, a closer inspection revealed a stark contradiction.

It had already reached its destination through movement, rearranging the causes leading to that result.

As a result, whenever the monster walked, time seemed to reverse, and space folded and unfolded endlessly.

It moved as if seeking something, yet it seemed incapable of seeing anything.

When the monster passed by where a tree had stood, the tree transformed into a crumbled “something.”

There were no traces left of the tree; it was just a “something” that looked like mashed red flesh and red stones.

The grass that had covered the open lot in front of the Sehee Research Institute turned into unknown “somethings” with every step the monster took.

In truth, its bizarre and grotesque appearance wasn’t the main issue.

What posed a bigger problem was the essence of those “somethings.”

The “position” that contained the tree and grass had changed.

No, something beyond space and other concepts had shifted.

Creatures that had come into contact with the monster were here but no longer in the same state of existence.

Their essence had been moved to a distant place, beyond space and dimension, while only their projections remained on Earth like reflections in a mirror.

How long had the monster wandered like that?

I heard something shatter, and the form of the monster had distinctly changed.

The area where the monster’s body had been shattered unnaturally, like broken glass.

Those jagged body fragments seemed to be trying to reform a human shape.

However, it couldn’t be called human anymore.

One arm, severed from the shoulder, appeared to grow new arms, legs, and a head, attempting to create a human form.

A tiny face sprouted on the back of its hand, while countless limbs sprang densely from the underside of its arm, wriggling like a centipede and beginning to crawl across the floor.

No one would call such centipede-like grotesqueries human.

The disassembled body parts appeared to teleport to various places, then vanish again.

There were times when only four arms roamed about, all other body parts having disappeared.

Conversely, there were moments when all but ten heads wandered around.

It even tried to reassemble itself but only ended up looking more bizarre, with heads where arms used to be and chests sprouting where legs once were.

[■ ■ ■ ■]

[■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■]

The magic emanating from the monster had become entirely incomprehensible.

And the more the monster shattered and became chaotic, the more peculiar the surrounding environment became.

Fog began to fill my vision.

Bizarre flesh and red stones were popping up from the ground as if they were alive.

What was once the open lot near the Sehee Research Institute was transforming into an increasingly grotesque and dangerous space; however, the presence of the monster was fading.

No, it felt less like fading and more like it was becoming distant.

Was it self-destructing?

Or could it not remain on Earth for long?

For some reason, it seemed like it would disappear if left as is, but the spreading red mist was problematic.

If I left it unchecked, it might reach the place where Yerin was.

Worrying about Yerin made me feel that the weaker that monster became, the easier it might be to see its destruction conditions.

So I checked the destruction conditions again to eliminate the monster more quickly.

[Kill ■ ■ ■ ■]

One character was visible!

Bang!

Just as I felt joy, a giant hand descended upon the Mini Reaper Garden from the now thick fog, so dense I could barely see an inch ahead.

[■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■]

Then, a head, about two meters in size, burst through the fog, revealing itself.

That head seemed to gaze at me with its empty eye sockets, as if it had found me.

*

The black reapers scurried about the institute, leaving sounds like small critters bustling around.

So busy they were, making adorable pitter-patter sounds with their little feet as they ran around, bumping into each other, rolling about in chaos.

Pitter-patter!

The black reapers sluggishly entered the Sehee Research Institute Medical Center, hoisting up bandages larger than their bodies above their heads.

“Bandages? Is someone hurt?”

Seeing this, Yerin felt a surge of curiosity, stealthily slipping out of the shelter and following the busy black reapers.

In truth, about 80% of her was curious about the black reapers, but she also felt a strange sense that the gray reaper needed her for some reason.

Following a familiar path, they arrived at the courtyard of Sehee Research Institute.

The courtyard, once bustling with mini reapers playing and employees watching, was now utterly empty.

Crumpled paper cups and scattered documents fluttering in the wind.

Only the papers scattered on the ground were flying about, but the atmosphere of the courtyard had morphed into something quite eerie.

Perhaps caught up in that unsettling atmosphere, Yerin felt a sudden chill.

As if cold, she slowly rubbed her arms, stepping into the entrance of the Mini Reaper Garden, where a completely different air welcomed her.

A sweet fragrance and warm light.

It was a place that naturally warmed the heart.

As she entered the Mini Reaper Garden, she discovered mysterious bundles of bandages piled on top of marshmallows.

Meticulously and carefully wrapped, they were perfectly spherical, rolling easily at a light touch.

Yerin picked up one bundle of bandages, feeling a hefty metallic weight.

“There’s something inside?”

As she started to unwrap it to check the contents, a black reaper arrived, shaking its head resolutely with a serious expression.

It was a rare moment to see such a serious face, so Yerin gently patted the black reaper perched on her palm before placing the bundle back on the ground.

Wandering through the Mini Reaper Garden, puzzled about what was happening, Yerin inadvertently observed the form before it became a bundle of bandages.

They were mini reapers that had turned gray like the gray reaper.

However, they didn’t seem soft like the gray reaper; they appeared solid yet fragile, as if they could crumble to pieces.

The black reapers were meticulously cutting the bandages into smaller pieces for the mini reapers beside them, their faces etched with concern.

‘So the mini reapers stiffened after getting hit by something, and the bandages are wrapping them to prevent them from shattering from the shock?’

That could indeed appear to be a reasonable measure.

‘By the way, where’s the reaper?’

Of course, the usual gray reaper would steal the mini reapers’ pudding and playfully trick them, knock them down, and toss them around.

But in this kind of emergency, it was the gray reaper who usually took care of the mini reapers first…

Had the gray reaper turned the children to stone?

If it were a prank gone awry, it would have been easy to just run away instead of caring for the injured mini reapers.

But seeing the black reapers diligently preparing bandages, it didn’t seem likely.

If it were the gray reaper’s prank, the black reapers would probably have been beating up the gray reaper.

As Yerin continued to ponder these questions while wandering the Mini Reaper Garden, she finally caught sight of the gray reaper.

It was fiercely fighting with a brilliant halo of light overhead.

Its skin had burned completely black.

“Reaper!”

Yerin exclaimed worriedly at the sight, causing the gray reaper’s antennae to perk up toward the sky.

*

I messed up.

I made a tremendous mistake.

The moment I checked the destruction conditions, that monster began to clearly recognize my presence.

The once-human red monster had grown to the size of a giant, looming from behind the red mist.

The crimson creature, having recognized me, leaned its hollow eye sockets into the garden as if to peer inside.

Those eye sockets were so enormous that a person could fit inside, filled with a thick darkness that obscured the end.

“Ugh.”

And numerous hands shot out from those eye sockets.

The sight was terrifying enough to haunt my dreams.

Tap tap tap!

Countless hands began to beat against the borders of the Mini Reaper Garden with their palms.

While it was just a light tapping, each time a palm struck the boundary, the red mist and the borders of the Mini Reaper Garden grew increasingly blurred.

[■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■]

If I left it as it was, it would swiftly break through the boundaries, so I began to reinforce the edges using the halo.

The halo I used was the Halo of the Labyrinth.

I started to wildly overlay images of a boundary as sturdy as I could imagine onto the Mini Reaper Garden.

As I did, my firewood began to fly away in chunks.

I couldn’t hold out like this.

Even if the firewood were infinite, it wouldn’t change anything.

The Halo of the Labyrinth could alter reality, but its essence was merely a fake illusion.

That red monster, too, seemed to be breaking down with some time limit, but before that, the boundary of the Mini Reaper Garden would collapse.

To defeat that monster, a high “level” was necessary.

However, obtaining such a level would be impossible even if I wore all three halos.

At that moment, I heard Yerin’s voice.

“Reaper!”

And the instant I heard her voice, a solution to the situation sprang to mind.

I threw off the halo and dove toward Yerin.

As I threw myself into Yerin’s soft embrace, nearly depleted firewood surged back to life in an instant.

Hehe.

Feeling the firewood roaring inside my heart, I tightly shut my eyes.

Then, a black sphere rose above my head.

[The Unchanging Black Sphere]

It was the highest level of the things I held.