The tattooed alchemist stood protectively in front of her younger sister, reaching into her sample pouch.

‘A white flower resembling the sun. Oil embodying the earth. Purple leaves that grow in fusion.’

As the alchemist imbued her intent into the alchemical sample, the three ingredients mixed together, creating waves of white flames.

Swept up in the wall of flames, the brainless monsters rolled helplessly along the ground, unable to withstand the force.

Trees collapsed as if twisted by fate, crushing the monsters beneath them.

Glancing up briefly, the alchemist spotted a Mini Reaper with white fur and orange skin floating above, watching her with a calm smile.

Drifting high in the air, the Orange Reaper looked as if it wasn’t doing anything, yet it was offering a great deal of assistance.

‘I don’t understand how, but it feels like the world itself is stepping in to help.’

Trees fell, rocks tripped the monsters, and soil suddenly turned slick.

Unnatural events kept happening one after another.

Without the Orange Reaper, she might already be dead.

Just then, hands from the buried pile of trees began to claw their way out.

‘As I thought, flames don’t work on a magic book. Could it really be something else?’

Despite the Orange Reaper’s presence, the situation was extremely unfavorable.

The white flower flames, lethal to most objects, were completely ineffective.

With her primary weapon failing, she was merely stalling for time.

The alchemist’s brow furrowed deeply as she struggled to think of a solution.

Thud.

With an unexpectedly soft sound for such a high fall, the Golden Reaper landed on a solid rock.

‘!’

Lying on the broad, flat boulder, the Golden Reaper stared up at the sky.

Did his sibling drop him on purpose?

Was he in the wrong somehow?

Instead of blaming the Orange Reaper, the Golden Reaper wondered if he’d done something wrong.

‘Who knows.’

He and the Orange Reaper rarely interacted, always seeming to miss each other.

He pondered this with a slightly gloomy expression, until he sensed something and a smile crept onto his face.

‘Harmful objects!’

Sensing the presence of harmful objects spreading throughout the forest, the Golden Reaper sprang to his feet.

There must have been a reason his sibling dropped him here!

In the forest, torn apart as if by an explosion, trees lay fallen, and rough breaths filled the air.

“Huff… Huff…”

The tattooed alchemist clutched her now nearly empty sample pouch, struggling to catch her breath.

‘It’s certain. This is ancient alchemy.’

Though it resembled the alchemical tool known as the ‘Jade Stake,’ which vanished ages ago, its grotesque nature suggested it wasn’t truly alchemy.

She initially thought it was a magic book imitating alchemy, but the more she fought, the more convinced she became.

The fact that the flames weren’t working was secondary. It was the distinct feel of alchemy that troubled her.

It felt like ancient alchemy, not based on ‘intent,’ the foundation of the world, but rather, trying to resolve things from beyond the world itself.

She only knew about ancient alchemy from history books, so she had no idea how to counter it.

‘How much longer can I hold out?’

She glanced at her sister, who watched her with a worried expression.

In that moment, a golden flash appeared deep within the dark forest.

The alchemist’s sister shouted, her face lighting up.

“It’s the Golden Reaper!”

“Ah!”

Finally, she recognized the familiar glow.

It was the light from the Golden Reaper’s beam sword!

With the powerful weapon, they could easily handle these monsters.

However, strangely, the Orange Reaper began rising higher and higher, as if fleeing.

Though she didn’t understand, he seemed to be making an escape.

At the still-under-construction entrance of the James Tower, a commotion echoed.

Loud shouts, the impact of reinforced shields, and the roar of harpoons fired by gunpowder, all filled the air.

The James Tower entrance was clogged with people, looking like a battlefield.

James stood calmly, observing the scene.

Brain-eaten monsters.

Though they clearly looked like objects, the white flames that normally worked on objects had no effect.

They could only stun them momentarily, which led to a prolonged, dragging fight.

‘Strange.’

As he glanced at the new device being built to measure mental contamination, James sensed something odd.

‘Those objects are showing significant levels of mental contamination.’

Though they seemed unrelated to mental contamination, they registered as heavily contaminated.

They weren’t emitting contamination—they were showing signs of having been corrupted.

‘I’ll have to test it.’

James stepped forward, brushing past the security guards, who tried to stop him.

“Sir, it’s dangerous!”

After assuring them to wait, James pulled out an electric shocker.

The device, designed to subdue contaminated individuals, could deliver an electric shock from a distance, neutralizing mental contamination.

James aimed at a monster, firing the shocker calmly.

Massive jade stakes sprouting from their hearts. Empty brains.

The ghastly monsters were surging toward the Sehee Research Lab.

Even from here, I could sense them in overwhelming numbers.

If it was this bad within my sensory range, I could only imagine how severe it was across Seoul.

[The red wall has appeared in the sky, and the monster attacks have begun.]

[Reports say that people attacked by these monsters are turning into monsters themselves. Take extra caution.]

Seoul was descending into chaos.

Monsters that devoured brains and turned their victims into more monsters posed an enormous threat in a densely populated city.

Yet a greater threat lay elsewhere.

They had started to specifically target the Sehee Research Lab.

‘How dare they!’

I prepared to slice through the accumulating monsters with spatial severance, but at that moment, they all began to retreat.

The coordinated retreat of seemingly mindless creatures hinted at a controlling force.

Sure enough, something emerged from among the monsters—an oddly shaped humanoid made entirely of green jade.

It emanated an unsettling aura, too strange to be labeled as simply an ‘object.’

Logically, it should be an ‘object,’ but my instincts screamed that it was something else.

The green jade humanoid exuded a deeply unsettling vibe, as if connected to something far-off and alien.

Even the Mini Reapers seemed to sense it, looking visibly irritated.

Reading their emotions, I saw they were experiencing a much stronger sense of discomfort than I was.

While I found it mildly disturbing, the Mini Reapers seemed unable to tolerate its very existence.

Unable to restrain themselves, the Mini Reapers charged at the green jade humanoid.

The Ogre Reaper swung his shining white sword, the Golden Reaper warriors brandished their beam swords, and the Red Reaper launched fireballs while the Blue Reaper fired streams of water needles.

Throughout, the green jade humanoid kept staring at me, shouting:

“Even if you’re a fake, how low you’ve fallen to be called a god!”

Raising his arms, the green jade humanoid summoned a massive wall of green jade that emitted a powerful aura.

Thoom!

At the moment the green jade wall appeared, it felt as though something fell away from the world.

“Return to your true form, puppet created by fake alchemy.”

As his words echoed, the Ogre Reaper and Mini Reapers collapsed like puppets with severed strings, losing consciousness and rolling across the ground.