On the crackling sand-like field.

The pink-haired girl looked around with a tense expression.

"There’s nowhere to escape…."

As time passed and the sky grew darker, the shadow cast by the sky curtain began to stretch toward where the pink-haired girl and the blue reaper stood.

No matter where she looked, there was no path to flee from the encroaching shadows.

Slowly, slowly, creatures moved along the shadowed boundary, their bodies slithering as if melting into the darkness.

The shadowy monsters stared intently at the beloved human's almost entirely eaten-away shadow, as if gazing hungrily at a delicious meal.

Some of the creatures prowled around the girl, while others scratched the ground with their claws.

Bang. Bang.

The blue reaper felt like it was drifting on a tiny boat in a sea filled with harmful evolutionary fluid.

Meanwhile, some creatures, impatient with the expanding shadows, stuck their heads out, only for their bodies to melt instantly upon contact with the faint light.

Seeing this, the blue reaper began to weave letters into the air.

<Please banish the shadows with light!>

As the letters dispersed like mist, dozens of orbs of light, each about the size of the blue reaper’s head, floated up into the sky.

Gathering around as if to protect the blue reaper and the Mom Golem, the spheres released a powerful flash, erasing all shadows like flare bombs.

At the same time, the monsters rooted in those shadows vanished without a trace.

"Amazing!"

The pink-haired girl shouted excitedly, lifting the blue reaper and rubbing it against her cheek.

"So those monsters can be defeated by exposing them to light. I’ve encountered them so many times but never realized it."

"Alchemy-produced faint lights can’t drive away shadows, you know."

As she spoke, the girl rummaged through her bag as if remembering something.

"I remember I had plenty of torches last time I checked my bag, but none of them are here now."

"I shouldn’t have thrown them all out just because they were heavy. I should have kept at least one."

As she searched, she tilted her head, looking slightly puzzled.

"Wait, but why was I even carrying so many torches in the first place?"

"You can’t eat torches, after all. That’s strange."

She closed her bag with an awkward laugh.

The blue reaper watched her awkward smile, a worried expression crossing its face.

The image of the beloved human's almost entirely eaten-away shadow lingered in its mind.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The heavy footsteps of the Mom Golem echoed.

The dry field eventually ended, leading into an area made entirely of metal.

On top of the Mom Golem, the pink-haired girl and the blue reaper were playfully bickering.

"I’m telling you, it’s delicious. Just try a tiny bit—just a nibble!"

<Liar!>

The pink-haired girl tried to feed the blue reaper candy.

But the blue reaper kept dodging.

Their game of tag, which seemed like it would never end, ultimately ended with the pink-haired girl’s victory.

The blue reaper liked the beloved human too much to keep refusing her request.

With a broad smile, the girl broke off a small piece of candy.

"Okay, say ‘Ah~.’"

The blue reaper squeezed its eyes shut and opened its mouth just a bit, allowing the girl to push the piece of candy in.

Chomp.

The moment the blue reaper tasted the candy, its face contorted.

"How is it? Isn’t it good?"

You tricked me!

It was an extremely sour candy, one the other mini reapers never even dared to try.

With tears pooling at the corners of its eyes, the blue reaper glared at the pink-haired girl before collapsing dramatically.

"Huh?"

Surprised, the girl lifted the blue reaper, but no amount of shaking could wake it up.

Pong. Pong. Pong.

By the time the blue reaper came back to its senses, it was still using its mallet to tap the pink-haired girl on the head.

"I’m sorry. I really am."

Even as the girl apologized and the blue reaper kept swinging its mallet, the Mom Golem continued on its way, eventually reaching the end of the ground.

"We’re here!"

The girl’s voice sounded excited, prompting the blue reaper to stop its hammering and turn to look.

The girl placed the blue reaper on her shoulder and walked toward the edge of the disk.

As they approached the edge, a gust of wind blew up from below, carrying with it the strong smell of evolutionary fluid.

Peeking over the edge, her hair fluttered wildly, as if she had her face to a fan.

When the blue reaper looked down alongside her, it saw the bubbling, all-consuming evolutionary fluid below, continuously swallowing up matter.

The fluid’s level was slowly but surely rising.

"The floor I lived on has already been submerged."

The pink-haired girl looked a little sad.

The place she once shared with her grandfather, filled with memories, was already gone.

Seeing her expression, the blue reaper patted her cheek with a worried look.

"It’s okay, though. I’m used to moving upward and leaving behind floors that get submerged in the evolutionary fluid."

Wiping away her expression, the girl looked up at the tower rising from the edge of the disk.

The massive tower that connected to the next disk layer above.

Looking up along the tower, the bottom of the next disk came into view, tangled with metal and pipes.

"Alright, let’s head to the next floor. Toward the sun!"

With renewed determination, the girl started walking toward the tower.

Deep within Sehee Institute, in the Gray Reaper’s Isolation Room

I lay deeply nestled in the big bed of the isolation room, enjoying an afternoon nap.

Lately, I’d been moving around more often, so I was relishing the cozy warmth that felt more comfortable than usual.

Pat pat.

While I was sound asleep, something started patting me awake.

At first, it gently tapped my cheek, but after a while, it began patting my eyelids.

Judging by the strength and rhythm, it seemed like a single golden reaper was trying to wake me up.

With one golden reaper, there was no urgent danger.

At worst, it meant a mini reaper wanted to eat pudding with me or play.

So, I forced myself to settle back down, savoring the sweetness of sleep once more.

Hehe.

Being able to sleep as an object is a blessing.

With that thought, I drifted back to sleep.

When I woke up again, the tapping had intensified.

Pat pat pat pat pat pat pat.

In the brief time I’d dozed off, the number of golden reapers had multiplied to an uncountable degree.

This many golden reapers meant there was a level five emergency!

That could only mean one thing—either a mini reaper had been kidnapped, or Sehee, Yerin, or someone else at the institute was in danger.

Mom, something terrible has happened!

As soon as I opened my eyes, the golden reapers swarmed near my face, emanating a sense of urgency.

Our weak sibling is missing!

The blue sibling is gone!

We have to save them!

They might die soon!

The news they brought was dire—the fragile blue reaper had gone missing.

It was a big deal.

The golden reapers continued making a fuss, handing me a piece of blue water.

On it was written, Blue Reaper Missing!

It looked like a lost-child flyer.

Inside the water fragment was a full-body image of the blue reaper along with an estimated time of disappearance.

But all the blue reapers looked the same to me, so I couldn’t tell who was who.

Moreover, the estimated time was cryptically described as “the moment of the seventh moon showing its belly like a maw.”

I had no idea what that meant.

Either way, I needed to get to Seoul Forest quickly.

I hurriedly rose from the bed and teleported near Seoul Forest.

A tower that rose so high it seemed to touch the sky.

At its peak, a giant spider spun an endless web from its silk.

Creak. Creak.

But the web the spider spun was made of steel pipes.

Clank. Clank.

The web it created formed a tower that stretched as if to reach the sky.

Suddenly, the spider stopped weaving, pausing under the intense sunlight as it gazed up at the sun.

<The gaze of the sun does not reach this land.> <The sun slumbers in darkness.>

The spider, its voice a faint murmur toward the sky, seemed to swallow the sun as it spoke, causing the sun to disappear again.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

The massive spider resumed spinning its steel web, with a halo of white light glowing above its head.