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Splash.

The Trinity Researcher tossed the corpse into the lake.

It was an act of contaminating a water source used for drinking, but the researcher unhesitatingly threw the body into the lake.

Naturally, it was a reasonable choice since the researcher had no intention of staying in this cave for long.

In fact, he was having some rather useless thoughts.

‘When someone comes, I should show them this lake as our drinking water. And just imagine their shock when they see the corpse underneath!’

‘And when they turn around, ta-da! There I am, transformed into an evolved being!’

‘Their expression will surely be something to behold.’

Chuckling to himself, he meticulously searched for any missed corpses.

Why was he so obsessively careful?

Because a corpse with no memory of being disposed of had suddenly disappeared.

The girl’s corpse left abandoned on the altar and the man in the black suit.

Where the girl had been, there was merely a pool of blood left behind.

Where the man had been, some internal organs were scattered, but the body had vanished.

No memory of cleaning up!

It was enough to make a ghost weep.

After that, he threw himself into work, convincing himself that he must have cleaned them up and forgotten, and he was carefully going about his tasks.

Thanks to the researcher’s efforts, the cave, once filled with dismembered corpses, was now pristine and empty.

Now, only bloodstains remained on the floor and walls.

And the smell of blood that lingered in the cave.

The smell of blood would fade in time, but he had no choice but to leave the stains as they were.

“Ah, this smell of blood just won’t go away. At this rate, I’ll be in trouble.”

The researcher grumbled to himself, sitting in a corner of the cave, waiting for the sacrificial offering to arrive.

*

Even after scanning the sandy surroundings, there were no signs of people.

Finally, the “shark operation” in the sand had successfully chased away all the wandering people in the area.

Now, all that was left was to confirm if there was anyone inside that cave.

As he approached the red skull, the smell of blood filled the air.

And it was human blood.

“Ah, this smell of blood just won’t go away. At this rate, I’ll be in trouble.”

An irritated voice echoed from within the cave.

Entering the cave, it was drenched in blood.

The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were painted red.

The red rocks and the red blood had distinctly different textures, making them immediately recognizable.

Fresh blood flowed down the walls, creating grotesque patterns.

On the floor, chunks of human flesh were scattered carelessly.

And there sat a human with a nonchalant expression amidst this horrific environment.

No, it was a monster.

It looked human but was not human.

A hideous being with a mix of human and object.

A deep-seated malice toward humans flowed through its veins.

Born not from an object but injected with something as a human.

Upon hearing my footsteps, that grotesque being approached me with a beaming face.

“Ah, hello! Reaper….”

But as it checked my appearance, it gasped and stepped back.

“Gr-gray Reaper! No, why is the Gray Reaper suddenly here?”

The man backed away, his face pale with fright.

Is he more scared than I thought?

“Y-you don’t attack humans, right? I’m a human! Haha.”

A monster that claims to be human.

But to me, it looked more dangerous to humans than an object.

Ignoring its words, I continued to walk forward.

“W-wait! Could it be that you’ve caught on? They said I would never be discovered in the research institute!”

Having backed himself against the cave’s wall, the man looked desperate.

“I-I don’t want to die! Please save me! Please!”

As I approached, he curled up, trembling with his head held in his hands.

Then, his clothes exploded from around him as he transformed into a monster.

A horrific stench emanated from his body.

I grimaced and stepped back from the terrible smell.

“Y-yeah. I’m strong enough. No need to fear even a Gray Reaper.”

The monster murmured to himself as if casting a spell.

Perhaps it saw a possibility in my retreat.

But in reality, it was far weaker than me.

“I can win. I can win!”

The monster spun its hand around like a whip.

And with a force so strong it could shatter rocks, it slammed its grotesque hand down towards me.

I used Ghosting to overlap with the whip and materialized.

“Ugh!”

The monster’s arm was severed in an instant, and it held its stump while rolling on the ground.

Before long, its veins began to writhe uncontrollably.

It looked as if the veins were trying to escape from the body, shining with madness.

“No! My balance! Aah!”

The veins ripped and tore through the monster’s flesh.

Like a creature of its own, the veins began to riot.

The monster, whose limbs twisted in strange directions, suddenly stopped screaming and died.

Then it exploded with a ‘bang!’

What remained was a black blood that reeked terribly.

Blood created from something truly harmful to humans.

The smell was enough to make me want to vomit.

It had a scent I’d never want to touch.

I playfully summoned a Golden Reaper from the black blood.

Ta-da! The Golden Reaper jumped out striking a pose.

But soon, it was horrified by the black blood covering its body and collapsed to the ground, looking like it had lost all hope.

Hehe, as I repeatedly ghosted and materialized, the Golden Reaper removed the blood with Ghosting and resurrected.

Oh, it picked up on things faster than I expected.

Then it came over to me and began to attack wildly.

Thunk, thunk.

This time, it seemed quite annoyed, not planning to stop its assault.

Leaving the Golden Reaper pounding on my head, I explored deeper into the cave.

Although there were bloodstains everywhere, it was odd that there were no corpses, but now I could see the cause.

The lake inside the cave was filled with corpses.

Ugh, I definitely can’t drink this lake water.

*

Sitting atop the red skull, I gazed up at the red moon for a long while.

A good while had passed, yet the night showed no signs of ending, the red moon still hanging high.

Looking down, all I could see was the horizon.

Even sitting atop a fairly high skull, it was an endless desert.

Looking down, shattered fragments of a statue lay scattered about.

When I attempted to exit the cave, something suddenly drop-kicked me, and I smashed it.

Above me was one Golden Reaper, sound asleep.

Occasionally, it would tap its head lightly in its sleep; I wondered just how mad it could be?

I looked up at the red moon for the reason of ‘the center of the desert.’

Golden Reapers had spread evenly across the entire desert.

Yet I still didn’t know where the center of the desert was.

A neat spherical dome.

But within that dome, my position continued to shift.

At first, I thought the desert flowed like a river, but the dome was moving.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like the moving moon was the center of the desert.

The Golden Reapers were already with all the humans.

Now humans are safe.

There were no people around.

Now it was time to wake the red skull.

I jumped off the red skull and called the Golden Reapers to gather.

*

From a sand dune where the enormous red skull was clearly visible, I watched the red skull.

Behind me stood a line of unemployed Reapers who couldn’t find a one-to-one job.

Using ‘gaze’ to confirm destruction conditions.

[Destruction of the Heart.]

As soon as I confirmed the destruction condition, the desert began to pulse.

Roar.

A pillar of fire erupted from the sand.

Flames began to pour over the red skull like a waterfall.

The stone pieces clinging to the skull melted away, erasing any remnants of a cave.

What remained was a significantly powerful ancient red skull.

And it began to rise, shining with flaming eyes.

Where the skull had lain, now only the lake of spring water remained.

What emerged from the sand was only the upper half, yet it rivaled the size of a building.

Within the ribcage, a burning heart clung to the bone.

That must be the weak point.

Thud.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed.

The upper half of the skull began to walk towards us, parting the sand like cutting through water.

The red skull glared at me with its fiercely burning eyes.

It opened its empty mouth wide, exhaling fire.

Just its massive size was imposing, and the flames it spewed could melt sand.

If an ordinary person saw it, they might find it quite terrifying, right?

But to me, it looked like a kind skull that took care to light the way for me.

Thanks, skull!

The surrounding sand was so vehemently burning that it began to turn into glass.

The Golden Reapers and I remained unscathed.

With a confident smile, I pointed at the skull.

That skull is harmful!

Very harmful to humans!

From behind me, a Golden Reaper charged ahead.

The wave of Golden Reapers clung to the red skull like termites gnawing at wood.

The high-temperature flames protecting the skull were useless.

The skull struck down with its enormous hands, trying to shake them off, but it was a futile effort.

Even if one was flung away, more Golden Reapers clung on.

Finally, breaking through the red skull’s fierce resistance, one Golden Reaper pierced through the heart.

The heart began to spew flames like a balloon with a hole.

GooOOOooooo.

A peculiar resonance echoed from the skull throughout the desert.

The red skull, supporting its collapsing body with its arms, froze and ceased its actions.

The Golden Reaper also stopped and looked up at the skull.

The softly flickering flames in the eye sockets felt as if they were staring directly at me.

Surprisingly calm and filled with emotion, unlike before.

As the heart, spewing flames from its wound, slowed to a halt, the red skull began to disintegrate into powder.

*

With a massive cloud of dust, the fallen red skull lay in ruins.

Given its size, it took quite a long time for the dust to settle.

The heart and the remaining bones were all crushed to dust.

What remained was still the skull head, burning fiercely.

So now, do I just dance up there?

I turned back, hoping the Golden Reaper might dance for me, but it stood there with a cheerful, vacant expression, just smiling.

Ugh, what a hassle.