It seemed as if despair had taken form and surrounded the man.

No matter where he turned his gaze, blue spiderweb-like objects stretched across the space, weaving through it.

The sight was surreal, like a nightmare, yet disturbingly vivid.

The powerful mental contamination emanating from the blue spiderweb object relentlessly threatened the man’s consciousness.

Clenching his teeth, the man struggled to hold onto his sanity.

If he let his concentration slip even for a moment, he feared he would be sucked back into that illusion.

His sister and Cheong were still unconscious, lying motionless on the ground.

Despite the spiderwebs gnawing at their flesh whenever there was an opening, they showed no signs of reaction.

Had it not been for their faint breaths and warmth, they could have easily been mistaken for corpses.

The Purple Reaper and the Orange Crown Reaper looked equally exhausted.

The Purple Reaper, who always carried a poised smile, now had only hardened lines on their face.

The normally serene expression of the Orange Crown Reaper had been replaced with a furrowed brow and a grimace.

The unfamiliar appearance of the Mini Reapers only emphasized the severity of the situation.

The man’s own condition was also dire.

His hands, devoured by the spiderwebs, were in tatters.

His once-prized superhuman marksmanship was now useless.

It was a struggle just to hold his pistol, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

He forced a bitter smile.

At this rate, proper aiming was out of the question; even pulling the trigger would be a challenge.

Yet, in this hopeless situation, the man’s will remained unbroken.

The Purple Reaper and the Orange Crown Reaper also gathered their last ounce of strength, steeling their resolve.

The Purple Reaper’s shadow strikes scattered in all directions.

The black flame-like slashes cut through the surrounding spiderwebs, momentarily creating breathing room.

Seizing the opportunity, the man quickly ran toward his unconscious sister and Cheong.

Though his hands were already in tatters, he refused to give up.

Swiftly, he removed his long coat and used it like a rope to bind the two to his back.

Blood seeped out, but the man gritted his teeth.

At that moment, the Purple Reaper and the Orange Crown Reaper, who had been moving around, flew up and positioned themselves above his head.

Simultaneously, the artificial eye in the man’s right eye socket flickered with a subtle light.

The familiar sight began to unfold before him.

The world where he could see the flow of energy used by objects.

It resembled a maelstrom of raging currents.

Within the thick and seemingly impenetrable flow of power, the man began to capture the gaps that appeared with each passing moment.

“That way!” he shouted.

At the same time, the Purple Reaper’s strike flew.

As if the man and the strike were one, the slash dug precisely into the weak point in the flow of energy.

In that instant, the spiderweb wall, made of webbing, split apart as easily as paper.

The man’s artificial eye read the flow, and the Purple Reaper’s powerful strike sliced through it.

And the invisible force of the Orange Crown Reaper manipulated the probabilities of the spiderwebs.

With these three forces working in perfect harmony, the spiderwebs could not even approach the man.

They continued to advance.

Finding the weak points in the spiderwebs, they slashed through them and moved forward.

At this rate!

The man held onto hope.

As he reached the spot where bright light was shining through the cut spiderwebs, the Purple Reaper and the Orange Crown Reaper leapt forward in surprise.

What lay before them was a massive open space, but not an escape route.

The space was filled with various-sized eyeballs rolling across the floor.

And it was a space where the spiderwebs were so tightly woven that even a gap couldn’t be created.

His face drained of color.

“Were we lured here...?”

A sigh of resignation escaped from the man’s lips.

At that moment, the Purple Reaper’s body wavered.

Unable to hold on any longer, it collapsed to the ground.

Blood-like firewood continued to pour from their mouth.

It seemed as though despair had completely enveloped them.

The man, overwhelmed by helplessness, cradled the fallen Purple Reaper in his arms.

At that moment, the movement of the Orange Crown Reaper caught the man’s attention.

The Orange Crown Reaper slowly lifted its head and began gazing at the sky.

A new expression appeared on its face, one the man had never seen before.

Mom...

It was a look of pure expectation and relief, as if a child had just found someone they had been waiting for.

It really is Mom...

And with that, the Orange Crown Reaper curled its hair around like a bed and fell asleep with a peaceful expression.

The Orange Crown Reaper’s face was now free of pain and anxiety, filled only with comfort.

At that moment, the world began to change.

Suddenly, the sky that had been covering the man’s head—the ceiling made of spiderwebs—began to tear apart.

Through the gaps, a cloudy sky filled with clouds appeared.

The man widened his eyes and stared at the scene.

It was an unbelievable sight.

The powerful spiderwebs that had threatened them moments ago were transforming as if under a spell.

The spiderwebs were no longer threatening.

Instead, they were turning into something sweet and soft.

Were they cotton candy, or honey threads?

Pieces of the spiderweb, now transformed into sweet sugar threads, danced through the air, scattering in all directions.

A relieved smile spread across the man’s face.

The threat of death had vanished in an instant.

He exhaled deeply and looked around.

His sister, Cheong, and even the Purple Reaper seemed to be safe.

As the golden Halo above his head turned the remnants of the foreign entity into snacks, the blue spiderwebs, part of the foreign entity, began to transform into treats even faster.

In sync with the pulsating rhythm of the Halo, the spiderwebs swayed and danced.

Change began at his feet.

The blue spiderwebs melted away, vanishing with a sweet fragrance.

On the ground, jelly-like shapes resembling soft spiderwebs remained.

When he raised his gaze and scanned his surroundings, the vast ocean of blue spiderwebs was being swept by stormy waves.

And above this ocean of spiderwebs, white sugar threads shot up into the sky like an explosion of steam.

Wherever his gaze touched, the spiderwebs transformed into treats and exploded.

From beneath his feet to the horizon, it was as if a series of mines buried in the ground were exploding one by one, causing the spiderwebs to disappear.

Nom.

He plucked a sugar thread floating in the air and popped it into his mouth.

It’s sugar.

It had reminded him of cotton candy when he first saw it, but it really was sugar.

The spiderwebs that scattered in the sky were all sugar threads.

The webs that retained their form were sturdy jelly.

The remnants of the foreign entity were being turned into treats, one after the other.

Tap tap.

He began walking on the jelly-formed spiderwebs, removing them one by one.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Although the destruction conditions for the foreign entity weren’t fully visible, he was certain that if he kept turning the webs into treats, he would eventually see them.

As he kept erasing the spiderwebs, they began to take on various forms and attack him.

The spiderwebs gathered into massive waves, crashing like a tsunami, and once again summoned the blue mist that caused mental contamination.

But it was no match for him with the golden Halo.

The tsunami of spiderwebs was swept away by the Halo’s pulse and vanished, while the blue mist easily transformed into treats.

How long had it been since he started erasing the webs?

The spiderwebs, perhaps sensing they couldn’t defeat him, slowly began to move across the vast Pacific Ocean.

At first, it was just a slight tremor, but the vibrations grew stronger.

The blue-glowing threads twisted and danced, their movements becoming more intense.

Soon, a massive whirlpool formed at the center.

The spiderwebs swirled like water in a giant, spiral-shaped hole.

And all the spiderwebs began to be sucked into the center of the spiral.

The whirlpool grew bigger and faster.

The spiral expanded, forming a colossal vortex the size of the Pacific Ocean.

And at that moment, the presence of the Mini Reapers and humans scattered across the Pacific was felt.

To prevent the spiderwebs from being swept into the whirlpool and escaping into the sea, he called the Mini Reapers and humans to him.

On the jelly spiderwebs, countless people lay scattered.

The humans lying on the jelly looked somewhat like the Free City Union situation from before.

From people whose body parts had turned into sugar threads to those whose entire bodies were transformed into sugar threads.

The only difference was that instead of roll cakes, there were sugar threads.

As he turned his gaze, he saw the fallen Purple Blindfold Reaper and the Orange Crown Reaper, peacefully asleep.

Those kids were also swept up by the foreign entity.

He gently patted the fallen Mini Reapers and, after pinching the annoying Orange Crown Reaper’s cheek, sent all the humans and Mini Reapers to the Mini Reaper Garden.

The Pacific Ocean, once filled with spiderwebs, now revealed its seawater again.

He dove into the sea, chasing after the fleeing foreign entity.

...

The sea was filled with an unpleasant salty wave.