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A grand indigo tree pierced through the ceiling of the massive underground cavern.

I slid down the indigo tree that burst forth from space, taking in the vast underground chamber before me.

On one side, a never-ending uphill stretch rose towards a large city, while on the other side stood facilities resembling a research institute and elegant mansions.

‘The atmosphere is better than I imagined…’

The air held a slightly bluish hue, the ceiling resembled the night sky, and the city had a unique vibe.

The buildings in the city were constructed entirely of rock, akin to ancient temples, giving off a touristy European allure.

I couldn’t help but think it would be nice if there were such a place in the Mini Reaper Garden!

However, there was one problem.

The city was filled not with humans, but with harmful objects on the level of evolution liquid.

As I took in the sight of this harmful city and stepped onto the ground, the fine sand beneath my feet slowly rose into the air.

The sand that stirred up from my footsteps floated leisurely, as if in a slowed-down video, and at some point, it paused in midair.

It was as if time had stopped for the sand.

‘?’

As I stared curiously at the sand, a mini sprout reaper’s magic echoed in my ears.

[Mom, it’s incredibly fast!]

The mini sprout reaper sat atop the head of a human, who appeared to be its attached human, and looked at me with a bright smile.

Perhaps having expended nearly all of its energy to grow the tree, the firewood light was slightly dim, but it looked healthy otherwise.

I gently stroked the mini sprout reaper’s head and turned to face the object that seemed to be a foe of the mini reaper.

It was a rather aristocratically styled man glaring at me with a stiff expression.

The man’s demeanor appeared flawless and calm, but strangely enough, he seemed quite frightened.

Yet what bothered me even more was the thick stench emanating from that man.

It was a much worse smell than all the harmful objects combined in the center of the underground cavern.

He was unparalleled among the harmful objects I had encountered so far.

What on earth had he done to emit such a stench?

‘Before I fight that harmful guy, I need to evacuate the mini reaper and the humans.’

I summoned the Mini Reaper Garden and sent the mini sprout reaper and two humans away.

[Mom, no!]

The mini sprout reaper seemed to want to say something to me, but I figured it didn’t matter.

“Ha, hahaha.”

As soon as I sent the mini sprout reaper to the garden, the harmful man began to laugh and speak.

‘What’s going on? He suddenly looks so full of himself.’

I had a bewildered expression watching him.

In that moment, the tree that had been towering high enough to pierce the void began to wither.

As if the video was fast-forwarding, its grandeur vanished in an instant, leaving only its bare branches behind.

‘Is it because the mini sprout reaper disappeared?’

The moment I pondered that obvious question, the world was shrouded in darkness.

No sound, no light to be seen—only darkness.

‘!’

And it felt as though I was trapped in concrete, as the very space hardened and confined my body.

*

In a world where everything had ceased, the man laughed loudly.

He laughed as if he were truly enjoying himself.

“Truly lucky!”

Like a true adversary that had been placed before him by the gods, an unidentified object that had obtained true power of domination appeared just before.

But that object faded away on its own.

It was akin to being chosen as the ruler of the world.

To him, it felt as if the world spoke to him.

[In this world, your adversary awaits, so prepare and be ready!]

“Hehe, hahaha!”

The man couldn’t hold back his laughter once again.

‘Right. An absolute being must indeed have a fitting adversary.’

After laughing for a while, the man suddenly stopped and looked down at the gray reaper, who was frozen in time with a blank expression.

“Thanks for getting rid of the adversary.”

When the man raised his right hand, parasites burst forth from the skin of his right arm and began to twist like sharp spears.

“With this gratitude in mind, kill him in one go.”

Then he aimed his spear-like right hand at the gray reaper’s heart.

“In stopped time, you won’t even feel your death!”

With that shout, the massive spear shot toward the gray reaper’s heart.

But the sharp spear tip couldn’t penetrate the gray reaper’s skin.

‘!’

Seeing this, the man raised his arm once more.

“Then!”

The spear trembled violently, slowly beginning to materialize.

Pffft!

The massive hand, akin to a huge stake, obliterated the gray reaper’s heart and accompanied it in a mutual demise.

The gray reaper, its heart pierced, remained suspended in the air as if caught in space.

“It’s over.”

The man muttered as he turned his back on the gray reaper and slowly began to walk away.

He had many things to do from that point.

To deal with the adversary further, he needed to accumulate more power, prepare traps, and assemble subordinates.

‘It’s a pity that I have to hide in darkness once more, but it can’t be helped.’

At that moment.

Creeeek!

A tremendous sound erupted from behind the man, as if the very space were being scraped away.

It was a sound that did not fit at all with the ‘world where time had stopped’ that was always quiet and full of silence.

As the man slowly turned his head toward the gray reaper, he saw flames dancing in a brilliant golden hue.

Flames undeterred by time.

The golden flames originating from the gray reaper’s heart swiftly spread across its entire body.

Simultaneously, its wounds began to heal, and it slowly started to descend from the air.

The gray reaper, raising its head, no longer wore a blank expression.

A small smile graced the gray reaper’s lips.

Hehe.

It looked as if it were chuckling, with a mischievous expression as if it had discovered something amusing.

*

In darkness devoid of light, sound, and even movement, I sensed that this phenomenon was related to the sprout reaper’s ability called ‘time.’

‘Time is standing still.’

But ironically, I felt a flow of time within it.

The moment I realized that, I gained the ability to move, even in this halted world.

The silence of darkness shattered in an instant.

I laughed as I took in the sight of firewood clinging to me and the astonished expression of the harmful object.

Hehe.

Perhaps it was because I was forcing myself to move while burning the firewood that I could hear the sound of space ripping apart with every movement.

Creeeek.

As I felt the sensation of tearing space while moving my body, I used spatial cut towards the man.

However, the man was dodging the trajectory of my spatial cut with minimal damage as he watched my slowly swinging hand.

“…!”

Words that sounded somewhat like English escaped the man’s lips, but I couldn’t understand since I wasn’t good at English.

Perhaps he was asking how I obtained the time stop ability?

Unfortunately, I hadn’t obtained the time stop ability.

I had only received a degree of time acceleration when I defeated the indigo moon.

And I hadn’t even managed that ability as well as the golden reaper could.

Thus, I had realized one simple fact regarding myself and the time ability.

Just because time was stopped, it couldn’t hold me back.

I laughed softly, feeling increasingly accustomed to moving within the stopped time.

At this rate, I would soon be able to kill that harmful man.

The conditions for the man’s destruction were straightforward.

[Consumed Life's Exhaustion.]

It resembled the conditions of a hungry ghost, tainted by evolution liquid.

While slowly adapting to the stopped time, I began to drain the man’s regenerative abilities, but suddenly he released the time stop.

I tilted my head.

Why would he release the stop when there was nothing particularly special besides that?

*

The man skillfully dodged the spatial cuts, yet his expression conveyed anything but skill.

‘This can’t be happening.’

‘Absolutely not.’

That gray reaper was unable to stop time but was forcibly moving within the space where time had stood still.

It was absurd.

‘How could a being living within time refuse the power of flowing time!’

However, the golden flames blazing around claimed that it was a natural rule of the world.

‘It’s getting faster.’

‘At this rate, I’ll be caught soon. I need to escape before that happens.’

The man evaded the tearing space while leaving sinister traces behind and released the time stop.

As a result, the spatial cut, with no way to avoid it, flew toward him and tore his body to shreds.

The man, thus torn apart, regenerated and summoned all of his subordinates.

‘I will show you the violence of an envoy!!!’

Of course, I didn’t believe I could defeat such a powerful figure with my subordinates.

It was enough just to buy myself time to escape.

The man grinned with satisfaction as he watched his subordinates filling the uphill.

The gray reaper tilted its head at the sight of the army and tapped its feet twice.

Tap tap.

Then, the space beneath its feet cracked open, and golden waves began to pour out.

It was the true violence of an envoy.

And it was the words of the subordinates that the man had gathered over decades.

“Ha, hahaha.”

But the man was not disappointed.

Just a few seconds.

In that fleeting moment, he had created a reasonable distance.

The man leaped toward the exit of the island and shouted as he stopped time.

“I relinquish immediate victory!”

But the triumphant look on the man’s face twisted in an instant.

“I… I can’t move…”

His steps ceased.

‘W-why?’

The space had hardened, rendering him unable to even speak.

And slowly, he began to be dragged somewhere.

In the man’s view, only the gray reaper loomed against the backdrop of the ominous black sphere.