Chapter 279
The ruler of the Free City Alliance, the gigantic worm, was in despair.
‘I have to escape.’
The gray reaper that had descended underground looked like a god come to deliver divine punishment.
It was truly a scene of despair and end times.
Every time the gray reaper’s gaze landed on them, the children in the tank writhed in pain, their mouths spewing out jagged stones.
Those stones were shaped from the children’s flesh, life, and souls.
It was a truly brutal sight, but the gray reaper seemed unfazed.
And then, the cozy dark curtain that concealed the underground began to rip apart.
Light burst forth from the hole in the space, shredding the darkness below.
On the other side of that space were greedy demons galore.
The demons’ tiny hands reached out from the gaps in the space, greedily grasping the stone made from the children’s souls.
As if they could not afford to miss even one.
It looked as if those stones were precious treasures to the demons.
Meanwhile, within the red tank prepared to nurture the children, an unidentified liquid was bubbling up.
The brown-tinged black liquid was thicker than any poison and more gooey than mud.
Unfortunately, the children who came into contact with that liquid found their insides melting away, continuously vomiting the black liquid from their mouths.
The sight of the children in pain was unbearable to watch.
With each step the gray reaper took underground, the core foundations of the subterranean facility crumbled.
The rebar and concrete that once sturdy supported the scale of the city were now bleached white and seemed on the verge of collapse at any moment.
The efforts to reach the moon were fading to nothing.
‘Ah, my dignity is dwindling.’
Under the gaze of the gray reaper, dignity was being lost.
The giant worm, which was dying while vomiting stones like the children, fell under the gray reaper’s gaze.
As the gray reaper stared at the giant worm, it slowly opened its hand.
And then clenched it tight again.
That was the end for the three worms that had ruled the Free City Alliance.
Thus, the worms died lamenting that even striving to touch such a monster had been a mistake.
*
In the deep underground of the Underground City Alliance.
‘Ah.’
As soon as the object that encompassed the “Free City Alliance” was destroyed, the anger quickly subsided.
The halo above my head, reminiscent of ‘seeing death,’ returned to the heart once more.
Thump.
I knocked on the heart area, which had firewood in it, with regret, but the halo showed no response.
That halo could kill even low-level objects just by giving it a glance.
And it was a splendid halo that could also lower the level of very strong objects so they could be easily killed.
Moreover, it was a perfect halo that didn’t even split apart or cause pain!
I stared hard at the heart and recalled the feeling when I had taken out the halo, trying to retrieve it again.
Seeing that something inside the firewood was tickling, I thought I could take it out this time, but unfortunately, I still couldn’t.
What a pity.
I smacked my lips in disappointment and looked around.
The underground of the Free City Alliance, where the grotesque worms thrived, was in complete disarray.
Star candies scattered in all directions.
And the golden reapers were greedily roaming around, trying to collect them for the Mini Reaper Garden.
The liquid that had been in the tank had all turned into hot chocolate, and the concrete of the underground had all transformed into marshmallows.
It had effectively become a “Mini Reaper Garden.”
Well, a Mini Reaper Garden is better than the bizarre and gloomy underground it used to be.
‘Soon, I should head back.’
In my line of sight, a golden reaper appeared.
The golden reaper was returning to the Mini Reaper Garden, cradling a star candy as large as its own body.
I swiftly snatched the precious star candy from the golden reaper and teleported to the spot where the orange reaper had been playing dead.
Hehe.
*
Upon arriving at the location where the orange reaper had been, an expansive view greeted me.
Inside the room, various mini reapers were scuttling about, and a cool breeze blew from the hole dug in search of the tyrannosaurus.
Through that hole, the city’s scenery was laid out at a glance.
Though messy, the city, once exuding a dark atmosphere, had transformed into something straight out of a fairy tale.
The dirty buildings had turned into fluffy, white marshmallows, and the neon signs had morphed into colorful lollipops.
In the square visible from the buildings, the remains of the Mecha Tyrannosaurus were gathered in several pieces.
The mini reapers were picking up each piece and moving it around.
The small, light pieces were moved by the golden reapers, while the large and heavy pieces were carried by the black reapers.
The surviving residents watched the spectacle with curious eyes.
After placing a piece on the heap of debris, a mini reaper closed its eyes tightly and sent a prayer as if offering a tribute.
‘May I be reborn as a sturdy snack in the next life.’
Then, it placed the star candy it had cradled into the heap of remains like a tribute.
But unfortunately, the tyrannosaurus would never be reborn as a snack belonging to the Mini Reaper Garden.
Because there were no glow-in-the-dark snacks.
The glow-in-the-dark tyrannosaurus would be forever a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur, no matter how weak or devoid of regeneration abilities!
When I turned my gaze inside the building, I spotted the attached human of the orange reaper, seemingly treated by the blue reaper.
A very relieved expression graced the tired human’s face.
Judging by the expression, it seemed the human had realized that the orange reaper was alive.
The orange reaper was snuggly cradled in the human’s arms, though its appearance had slightly changed.
It seemed that while creating the moon, its dignity was diminished, causing it to shrink in size…
Or was it because of summoning the moon?
Though its size had shrunk, it appeared its dignity had rather increased.
It seemed the golden reapers also sensed that elevation in dignity, gathering around and starting to shower praises.
‘Amazing!’
Receiving a flurry of compliments from the golden reapers, the orange reaper began to escape from the clutches of the attached human.
To ensure the sleeping attached human wouldn’t wake, it tiptoed away.
Then, it climbed atop a tall rock, crossed its arms, and started to look down with a smug expression.
Then the golden reapers began to cheer and leap about in excitement.
‘Amazing!’
‘You’re awesome, little brother!’
It was a bit funny seeing the one that had shrunk down to the size of a red reaper wearing a crown.
I approached that orange reaper and lifted its crown.
‘!’
But the crown wouldn’t come off.
I thought it was something it had picked up somewhere, but it turned out to be protrusions sprouting from its head like horns.
Was it some kind of unusual horn?
Noticing that I was uncomfortable holding the crown, the orange reaper struggled and flew back into the embrace of its attached human.
The golden reaper looked on with nostalgic expressions.
‘I wish that hadn’t happened?’
Indeed, the golden reapers were a bit strange.
They were the ones who would feel regret if unable to give compliments when there was something to praise.
I couldn’t fathom it.
As I pondered over the mystery of the golden reapers, a strong wind blew.
Whoosh.
Perhaps because the tower was so tall, the wind was blowing fiercely.
Each time it did, the tower made of marshmallow swayed and shook.
It felt somewhat like a ride without safety mechanisms, and the golden reapers were happily smiling and enjoying it.
By the way, despite being marshmallow, it was doing remarkably well without collapsing.
As expected of the Mini Reaper Garden, the object marshmallow is impressive.
Tap, tap.
As I was lost in various thoughts, one golden reaper came up and pinched my cheek.
‘Mom! Windmill!’
In response to the golden reaper’s request, I transformed the marshmallow tower into a massive “golden reaper windmill.”
A meeting place that could be seen from afar, connecting with the Mini Reaper Garden.
The golden reapers without attached humans pranced around, giggling, saying they had a new meeting place.
*
At the James Tower construction site in Songpa District of Seoul.
James was watching a video streaming from the monitor.
It looked like a video that had meticulously stitched together footage gathered from CCTV scattered everywhere.
“This is really unexpected.”
Every time the gray reaper, dyed red all over, turned its gaze, the world twisted and became colored.
As the halo resembling an eye was hovering above the gray reaper, the world transformed into snacks.
Concrete turned into marshmallows, and flowing rivers became hot chocolate.
Objects scattered, turning into star candies.
Especially the objects from the “Free City Alliance” resembled humans, giving off an even more chilling vibe.
It truly appeared as the gray reaper was showcasing its essence as a “super object,” more dangerous than an atomic bomb.
Fortunately, the mini reapers and humans were entirely unaffected.
“Nonetheless, it’s a relief. The operation was a success.”
In fact, James had felt somewhat anxious just a few days prior.
[When an object danger area appears in Korean news, the gray reaper is highly likely to head there.]
Setting that hypothesis, they pushed it a bit and aired ‘Free City Alliance’ on the news.
The Korean Object Association was pathologically reluctant to broadcast overseas object news, so getting a broadcast permit was quite challenging.
In fact, the gray reaper’s tendencies had only recently become clear because of the Korean association’s nature.
They were so busy covering up and hiding object incidents that it was…
Regardless.
Regardless, it felt like taking a step closer to saving humanity.
James closed his eyes with a fatigued expression and placed the report he was holding on the desk.
On the cover of the report, it was written like this.
[Humanity Salvation Scenario ③]
[Predicted side effects of mini reaper garden scenarios throughout the Earth.]
And below that, a note jotted down in marker.
[Absolutely do not interfere with the tyrannosaurus.]