Why do accidents always seem to happen wherever James goes?

The once high-priced neighborhood around Trinity Lab had transformed into a living hell the moment James arrived.

People flooded the streets from every direction.

Hundreds of eyes gleamed with madness, their wide stares glowing with a terrifying intensity that seemed ripped from a nightmare.

On top of that, the agonizing screams of people burning in the flames of James’s bodyguards clung to my ears, refusing to let go.

I was sure I would never forget these sounds and would be haunted by them in my nightmares forever.

But then, as if answering my desperate prayer to be spared, something strange happened.

The residents of Gwanak-gu, who had been relentless and unstoppable, suddenly scattered as if gripped by an overwhelming fear.

At that moment, James stood frozen, staring blankly at the sky.

I followed his gaze, and what I saw sent waves of indescribable terror crashing over me.

It was as if some monstrous claw had torn through the very fabric of space.

The scars in the sky quickly vanished, but I knew something dangerous was lurking nearby.

"James, we need to leave Gwanak-gu now. Something’s very wrong."

Thankfully, James’s bodyguards agreed with me.

Only a fool would choose to stay in a place where the entire population seemed to have fallen under the influence of some monstrous Object.

But James had a different idea.

"No, let’s head to Trinity Lab. I need to find out what’s happening."

James took a strange stone from his tightly locked bag and checked it, muttering something absurd.

The stone in James’s hand pulsed with light, brightening and dimming like a heartbeat.

In the darkness of the shadow-filled space, a figure emerged, slicing through the gloom.

This twisted being, brimming with malice toward humans, spoke with smug arrogance.

"Ah, Gray Reaper. So, here you are."

His presence radiated an overwhelming sense of hostility toward humanity.

It was so thick with malice that even the Golden Reapers, not to mention the Blue Reapers, glared at the figure in anger.

<Bad human!>

<Bad!>

Who knows how many humans had been sacrificed to fill his body with that black slime?

"I have obtained the concept of 'indestructibility.'"

He spread his arms wide, a self-satisfied smile playing across his face.

"I am now immune to all physical harm. Unlike the many Objects that modern technology failed to destroy, I have become truly immortal!"

Oh, really?

I glanced at him with a bored expression as he continued his monologue.

Seeing my disinterest, the man smirked condescendingly.

"It seems I’ve wasted my breath, speaking to an Object incapable of understanding language."

A massive creature began to rise from the man’s shadow.

An Agu subspecies, bulked up and monstrous.

I recognized the form instantly—it was a familiar sight, one of the many Objects the man harbored within his body.

Now I understood the odd feeling I'd had—this man was carrying hundreds of Objects inside him.

Over a hundred, easily.

"Even if you can’t understand words, surely you can feel the power of an Agu that has gained immunity to physical damage."

Despite claiming I couldn’t understand him, the man couldn’t seem to stop talking.

Thud. Thud.

The Agu subspecies approached with heavy footsteps.

At the same time, the Golden Reapers bounced forward energetically.

The Agu subspecies’ destruction condition was the same.

<Exhaust its regeneration.>

Physical immunity didn’t matter to the Golden Reapers.

As the Agu charged with terrifying speed and force, it was met with a headbutt from the Golden Reapers, leaving gaping holes in its body.

The Agu subspecies lost mass in proportion to the size of the Golden Reapers that collided with it.

Black slime oozed from the wounds, trying to regenerate, but the Golden Reapers’ energy lingered in the injuries, continuously blocking the healing process.

Riddled with holes and shrieking in agony, the Agu subspecies collapsed to the ground.

"…."

The man’s face twisted in confusion.

"Why…? Is there something I’m missing?"

Like a deranged person, he kept muttering to himself, his expression shifting rapidly.

"Missing something? No, I understand every 'grimoire.'"

"It was part of the 'contract.' There’s nothing I don’t know."

"Something’s wrong."

"No, there’s nothing wrong."

The man, babbling incoherently, suddenly clutched his head and screamed.

From the shadows, more Objects began to rise.

"That’s right. I still have all these grimoires."

He looked at me with a lighter expression, as if a weight had been lifted.

As each Object emerged from the shadows, the lab around us crumbled.

The lab wasn’t large enough to contain so many Objects at once.

There were too many of them.

It would take forever for the Golden Reapers to deal with all of these.

I guess I have no choice.

I grabbed at the air.

Screech.

I clenched my fist tightly and swung it horizontally with all my strength.

Rip.

The sound of space tearing echoed as reality itself screamed in protest.

As the space split apart, it severed everything before it—the Objects and the man, all cut cleanly in two.

As the lab director stood at death’s door, memories from long ago resurfaced.

Buried deep within his mind were stories from the distant past.

[Unfortunately, you lack the intellect, craftsmanship, and talent to become an alchemist.]

It was the memory of when the talentless alchemist had first encountered the Contract Grimoire.

The Contract Grimoire was, as the rumors described, a man who carried countless gas lamps.

However, the man’s face was impossible to remember, leaving a strange impression.

"You make contracts with people and grant their wishes, right? Let’s make a deal. I don’t care about the price!"

It was a dangerous contract.

In a world where anyone connected to a grimoire could destroy entire villages, it was common to wipe them out.

[It seems you wish to become an alchemist.]

[Then how about this deal?]

The Contract Grimoire had offered the man a deal.

[I will grant you all knowledge related to grimoires that current and future alchemists on this land will uncover.]

[In exchange, you will no longer be able to acquire new knowledge.]

[You’ll be trading present and future knowledge.]

[The contract will end upon your death.]

[If you accept, take one of my lamps.]

It was a deal too tempting to refuse.

The future knowledge of someone with such meager talent was worthless anyway.

After accepting the contract, the man had quickly become an alchemist.

Becoming an alchemist was incredibly easy.

No one knew more about grimoires than he did.

Even without evidence, whatever he knew became the truth.

He was the answer.

This remained true even when he set foot on this unfamiliar land.

It was a land of fools, without alchemists.

But at the final moment, he realized that the contract was slipping away.

"What… What have I done?"

Though he had earned the title of alchemist, he was not truly an alchemist.

A scholar who could never gain new knowledge, no matter how hard he tried!

The director, who knew everything and could no longer obtain anything new, had grown arrogant.

He had even forgotten why he had wanted to become an alchemist in the first place.

Becoming an alchemist had been a means to an end, not the end itself.

‘This isn’t the outcome I wanted….’

In his final moments, he recalled a famous alchemical adage:

<A grimoire user is always met with a terrible fate.>

As we neared Trinity Lab, a disquieting sound filled the air, like the fabric of reality itself was being torn apart.

It was an unnatural sound, something that triggered a deep, primal fear.

The translator, visibly shaken, spoke in a trembling voice.

"James, maybe we should turn back? Something’s definitely not right."

But James’s expression was resolute.

"The 0-level relic is something we absolutely cannot compromise on. I hope you can understand."

Despite the translator’s unease, James’s face remained steady, as if he had sensed something significant.

As we got closer to the lab, the extent of the destruction became clear.

The once-pristine Trinity Lab was now in complete disarray, barely recognizable.

As we passed through the shattered buildings, the thick stench of oil and the sight that greeted us were shocking.

The first thing we saw upon entering the facility was the lower half of a man’s body.

His upper half had been torn away, leaving the legs standing.

In front of the mangled remains stood the Gray Reaper, staring down at the man with an expressionless face.

The torn upper body lay crumpled on the ground nearby.

The man’s eyes fluttered open, but his gaze was unfocused, staring off into the distance.

"What… What have I done?"

His faint voice drifted into the air, too weak to carry far.

Questions flooded James’s mind.

That man must be the director of Trinity’s third lab. But why had this happened?

What on earth was going on?

But before any of those questions could be answered, a deafening sound shattered the moment.

Boom!

Bursting through the rubble of the Trinity facility came a massive Object.

A towering body.

Tendrils filling and whipping through the space.

Slick, glistening skin covered in slime.

A huge mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.

It was the highest-class danger-level Object—Agu.