It wasn’t the mysterious blue woman that appeared before the black-clad agent as he emerged from the cave, carrying the blonde girl in his arms.

Instead, what greeted him were massive pillars of swirling water, rising under the full moon.

When he looked up, towering above him in the radiant celestial light, was a Hydra made entirely of water, its nine heads swirling and rising majestically.

Even just standing there, the sheer pressure from its immense size felt like it could crush him.

The towering water pillars radiated an overwhelming sense of mass and force.

“What on earth is this…?”

The black-clad agent muttered to himself in confusion, but his voice was drowned out by the furious sound of the swirling, crashing water.

The Hydra, arching proudly against the starlit sky, seemed almost to touch the clouds as it focused on something in the distance and opened its mouths.

From each of the Hydra’s mouths, a jet of water shot out like a laser, striking the ground with such force that it tore through solid rock like it was paper.

The whirlpools surrounding the Hydra began to pull in everything around them, creating a chaotic scene of flying debris and water droplets.

To the black-clad agent, it looked like the signal of Seoul’s destruction.

A catastrophe of a scale comparable to a steel tower had descended upon the city.

The water from the lake swirled upwards, forming massive pillars that shot towards the sky.

They were so large that they cast shadows over everything around them.

The Golden Reapers, the blue reaper, and even I couldn’t help but stop what we were doing and look up at the spectacular sight.

The sheer size and intensity of the water pillars filled me with a sense of anticipation.

Could this finally be the "Mirror of the Blue Witch" that I’ve been searching for?

But what emerged was neither a witch nor a mirror.

It was a nine-headed serpent.

A monster made of water that looked like a Hydra.

The moment the Hydra emerged from the lake, it launched streams of water towards me and the mini reapers, and the sheer power of those streams was incredible.

To unleash such an enormous volume of water at a speed that could slice through rock...

If the blue reaper were hit by one of those water jets, it would turn into mist. So I quickly sent it back to the garden.

The whirlpools rose all around, grinding rocks into dust and hurling the debris into the air.

The nine water streams from the Hydra's mouths cut and pulverized everything in their path.

Water and rocks ricocheted everywhere, and even a slight brush with them could sever limbs.

But despite the Hydra’s intimidating entrance and relentless attacks, they had no effect on us.

The Golden Reapers rode the violently spinning whirlpools like a merry-go-round.

They played around, dodging the water streams and flying rocks, laughing as they were knocked around by the blasts.

They even enjoyed the skydiving experience as they were flung into the air by the water pressure.

The Golden Reapers had turned it into their own water park.

I drifted along with the Golden Reapers, watching the scene unfold.

The Hydra’s destruction condition was “Destroy all nine hearts simultaneously.”

A fairly straightforward condition.

The problem was, I couldn’t find where the hearts were.

The Hydra’s transparent body, made of water, revealed nothing inside it.

The woman covered in tattoos, upon spotting the Hydra, immediately returned to the lodging and woke her sister.

“Sis? What’s going on all of a sudden?”

Grabbing only the bag with the crystal in it, the woman urgently replied, “Get up quickly. We need to evacuate right now.”

The tremors in the ground were getting stronger.

As they left the lodging, they saw the Hydra, shooting water streams in some direction, and the deafening sound of it shattering the mountain echoed through the air.

Having dealt with its initial target, the Hydra would soon annihilate everything around the lake, so they needed to flee as quickly as possible.

The woman and her sister ran as fast as they could towards the farthest and highest ground.

“Sis, look over there! A monster made of water appeared!”

Her sister’s voice was tinged with an odd excitement as she looked back.

Enchanted by the blue moon, the girl didn’t sense the danger of the situation at all.

The woman simply gripped her sister’s hand tightly and urged her to move faster.

Even as they hurried, something felt off.

Why did the lake’s serpent appear so quickly?

The serpent only appears when the lake is in real danger, so this was strange.

The traitor’s contamination shouldn’t have progressed this quickly.

Who summoned the serpent?

After climbing to a hill that seemed safe enough, she spotted the source of the problem.

To an ordinary human with normal eyesight, the Object would have been nearly impossible to see due to its size compared to the massive Hydra.

It was an Object so small and seemingly powerless compared to the Hydra.

And it was the most famous Object in Korea—the Gray Reaper.

Despite being the highest-risk Object, it was helplessly swept around by the Hydra, like a newspaper caught in a typhoon.

She expected it to be torn to shreds in seconds, but the Gray Reaper was holding its ground better than she had thought.

But just holding on wouldn’t be enough to win.

Any hope that someone else might defeat the Hydra quickly faded.

They would have to run farther away.

They needed to get as far away as possible and complete the crystal.

“Wow, Sis, look at that! It’s glowing gold.”

Her sister, still enchanted by the blue moon, was smiling brightly.

As the woman turned to call her sister back, she noticed the golden particles.

Golden Reapers, much smaller than the Gray Reaper.

She remembered that golden color.

Ah!

The golden wave that had overtaken the theme park.

So the Gray Reaper was the one who destroyed the theme park…

The woman could only watch in stunned silence as incomprehensible events unfolded before her eyes.

With each wave of gold, the Hydra shrank.

As if it were losing part of its mass.

The golden wave remained unchanged, while the Hydra's size diminished.

Continuously, without stopping.

No matter how much the Hydra spewed water, struck, or tried to escape, it was futile.

[Khieeeeeeeeek!]

And with a final, horrible cry that echoed across Seoul, the Hydra vanished.

“This can’t be happening.”

The woman, witnessing something beyond understanding, dropped the crystal she was holding.

“Sis, you dropped the crystal. Didn’t you say it was important?”

But the crystal was now useless.

Since I couldn’t see the hearts, there was only one option.

If I erased the entire body, the hearts would disappear too.

The plan was to summon as many Golden Reapers as possible and have them swarm the Hydra, tearing it apart layer by layer.

The plan was a success.

Since it didn’t have physical immunity, it turned out to be easier than expected.

The lake, now devoid of the Hydra, remained as calm as ever.

Even though the water the Hydra had sucked in had vanished, the lake's water level remained the same.

Neither rising nor falling—the lake stayed the same.

This certainly reinforced that Yangcheon-gu Lake was indeed an Object.

I sensed movement at the entrance to the cave.

It was the presence of a human, seemingly at their limit.

Turning towards the cave entrance, I saw a familiar man in a black suit, slowly walking towards me with a girl in his arms.

The Golden Reapers flocked around him, looking concerned. Was someone gravely injured?

The man in the black suit emerged from the cave, took a few steps, and then collapsed to the ground.

Embedded in his back were several large chunks of rock.

It looked like he had been hit by one of the boulders ground up by the Hydra.

The Golden Reapers, their faces full of worry, fluttered around anxiously.

This is a job for the youngest.

I released the blue reaper into the air, and it quickly found the man in the black suit and began its healing work.

“Please make the stones disappear from the wound.”

“Please heal the wounds.”

“Please recover quickly.”

The blue reaper’s words turned into light and were absorbed by the man.

The stones slowly slid out, and his wounds began to heal.

But the blonde girl had already lost her life.

No matter how magical the powers were, they couldn’t bring back the dead.

This blonde girl, whom I’d seen at the research facility in China, was dead.

As I looked at the girl in sorrow, I felt something strange.

It felt as though I could bring her back to life.

I pulled out the flaming heart that I had thrown into the garden.

Thump, thump.

The small, pulsing heart was gently placed on the girl’s chest.

The red heart seemed to find its rightful place as it slowly sank into her body.

So this heart was the answer after all.

Gasp.

The girl coughed up blood and began to breathe again.

It’s a relief that she came back to life.

Watching her breathe again, I turned and walked deeper into the cave.

Since the leader of the hags emerged from this cave, there must be something here.

I hope to find the Mirror of the Blue Witch…

In the middle of the softly glowing cave, there was a beautiful pool of water.

It was a calm pool that perfectly reflected the night sky coming in through the ceiling.

As soon as I saw the pool, I knew.

This is the "Mirror of the Blue Witch!"

The pool was perfectly circular, with intricate designs carved into it like a mirror.

But how should I destroy it?

Should I jump in and splash around?

I considered various methods, but nothing seemed to work.

This is like an escape room game with no hints.

It’s too difficult.

I sat by the pool, dipping my feet in and splashing around.

No matter how much I disturbed it, the pool remained calm.

So, destroying it by splashing failed.

Next, I tried throwing Golden Reapers into the pool, one by one.

One, two, three.

The pool became so crowded with Golden Reapers that it would be hard to use it as a mirror, but nothing happened, so that failed too.

Then I called on our youngest, the blue reaper, to heat the pool.

At first, it didn’t want to do it, fearing the Golden Reapers would get hurt, but after I explained that they wouldn’t, it began the task.

“Please heat up.”

“Please boil until it all evaporates.”

As the blue reaper's magic took effect, the pool began to boil violently, sending steam shooting up to the ceiling.

The Golden Reapers waved their hands in the steam, enjoying themselves.

I named it the Golden Reaper Bathhouse!

But no destruction was triggered, so that failed too.

At this point, I began to doubt if this pool was really a mirror.

Tired of thinking, I decided to bring the garden into reality.

Then, I spread my arms wide and grabbed hold of the space containing the pool.

Clap.

With a clap of my hands, I crushed the space itself, erasing it.

I felt an enormous amount of firewood vanish in an instant.

Just when I thought I’d lost too much if this failed too, a change occurred in the hole in the ceiling.

A tiny blue moon appeared, floating cutely in the sky.

See, if you’re strong, you don’t need to be smart.

Hehe.