The night sky over San Francisco was no longer shrouded in darkness.

Instead, the sky was covered in a vibrant rainbow of worm-like foreign entities, wriggling as if alive.

The sight was horrifying yet seemed to defy existence itself.

The city lights, the squirming bodies of the worms, and the apparitions of the blue reapers merged together, creating a chaotic, surreal sky.

I stood on top of a skyscraper, looking down at this entire scene.

With every gust of wind, my long hair fluttered like a cape, while the Hug Reaper clung to my shoulder, wrapping its small arms tightly around my neck.

"Hug!"

The city was now empty.

The streets that had once been crowded with people were now deserted.

The moment the worms became visible to ordinary people, the city transformed into a ghost town in an instant.

"Now I can fight as much as I want."

"Hug!"

At my quiet resolve, the Hug Reaper nodded in agreement.

Turning my gaze, I saw the giant black reaper moving through the massive buildings, tearing apart the worms that had fallen to the ground.

"How interesting."

Though the actions of both the old god-shaped black reaper and the mini reaper-shaped black reaper hadn't changed, their presence felt drastically different now.

When the old god destroyed San Francisco, it had been like a scene from a monster movie, the destruction of human civilization. Yet, now the black reaper's movements gave a strange impression, like the sound of stomping.

The black reaper alone couldn’t clear the worms that had fallen to the ground fast enough.

The speed at which the worms fell from the sky outpaced the reaper's ability to eliminate them.

I would have liked to summon the giant golden reaper to help with this task, but that seemed unlikely.

The Hug Reaper, though acting calm, seemed to struggle with the immense energy required to merge the mini reapers into giants.

Its color seemed slightly duller, and the amount of kindling burning inside it had diminished significantly.

"It looks like handling multiple giant reapers at once is going to be difficult."

I organized my thoughts and gazed up at the worms in the sky.

The worms were descending lower and lower.

They weren’t falling randomly but seemed to be following some kind of pattern, as if slowly descending with purpose.

When the worms touched the ground, something monumental was bound to happen.

It wouldn’t just be the city swarming with worms—no, it would be a catastrophe of foreign entity proportions!

I clenched my fists as I watched the descent.

"Are you ready?"

I asked the Hug Reaper.

I could feel a small nod in response.

I closed my eyes tightly and slowly opened them again.

Pushing my toes into the ground, I took a step forward.

"Come, the strongest mini reaper!"

I called forth my two most powerful mini reapers.

Hehe.

With the dream and hope of automated hunting in my heart, I summoned the Orange Crown Reaper and the Golden Reaper First Sword.

The First Sword, upon appearing, calmly looked up at the sky.

From his sharp gaze, the presence of the First Sword was unmistakable.

In contrast, the Crown Reaper seemed like it had just been pulled out of a nap.

Yawning sleepily, the Crown Reaper immediately laid down on the ground, using its luxurious hair as a pillow.

As I watched the clear personality of both reapers, I gave the Hug Reaper, wearing a halo, a command.

"Fuse them together."

"Hug!"

The Hug Reaper's eyes gleamed, and it stretched its small arms wide, exuding its will.

Then, the First Sword and Crown Reaper were swallowed by radiant light and transformed into a giant orb.

An orb larger than my head.

"What kind of fusion reaper will emerge?"

It was like the feeling of playing a lottery game from back in the day.

Bang!

As time passed, the orb shattered, and a burst of intense light erupted.

When the light faded, there stood the First Sword and the Crown Reaper, looking confused.

There was no change.

"???"

I looked back at the Hug Reaper with a puzzled expression, and the Hug Reaper, looking up at me, exhaled its will.

"Hug!"

It seemed that it couldn’t fuse them with its current strength.

It wasn’t that fusion was completely impossible, but the Hug Reaper seemed to lack the power to merge multiple colored mini reapers.

It wasn’t an issue of rank, but of color—thankfully.

Hmm...

I began to think of a new combination for automated hunting.

Hmm...

I pondered as carefully as I would choose pudding for breakfast.

Which of the golden reapers would be suitable for fusion?

The Second Sword, perhaps? That didn’t seem very meaningful.

Should I gather a bunch of golden reapers for fusion? It was more likely to turn into just a bigger golden reaper, like the Blue Reaper.

The Golden Horn Reaper? I hadn't been able to reach them since they left the house early on.

Then, an image suddenly flashed in my mind.

The golden reaper wearing a cloak made of firewood!

It wasn’t much more than a lot of firewood, but the reaper had strangely high rank and could compensate for the First Sword’s weakness in firewood quantity.

I immediately summoned the Golden Cloak Reaper.

"?"

The Golden Cloak Reaper floated in the air, looking around with a confused expression, surrounded by a massive amount of firewood.

I smiled as I looked at the Golden Cloak Reaper, who seemed many times stronger than expected.

"Now, this will work. Fuse them together!"

"Hug!"

With the Hug Reaper’s strong will, the First Sword and Golden Cloak Reaper transformed into a golden orb.

I waited, my heart pounding, as I anticipated the result.

The orb cracked, and a new form of reaper appeared from within.

A more mature-looking golden reaper flew through the sky.

The presence radiating from its body caused the air around it to vibrate.

I watched the fusion reaper in awe.

This Golden Cloak First Sword wasn’t as strong as I was, but it contained nearly as much firewood, rivaling me in power.

As I looked at this fusion reaper, which seemed strong enough to fulfill my dream of automated hunting, I sent out my will.

"Go, and cut the worms down!"

As soon as the words left my mouth, the fusion reaper soared into the sky at incredible speed.

Its trajectory looked like a golden meteor I’d seen somewhere before.

Then, in the next moment, golden sword strikes filled the sky.

With a single slash, the night sky was lit up as brightly as day.

The golden flames swept across the sky and earth of San Francisco.

It was as if the First Sword was declaring, "This is the true form of the unflagging, tireless, firewood-consuming First Sword!"

It was truly a natural disaster.

The First Sword was powerful enough to unleash such enormous output in a single strike.

The worms on the ground had long since been burnt away, leaving the giant black reaper with nothing to do but cradle me in its arms as we looked up at the sky.

I lay on the giant reaper’s massive claw, watching the entire scene unfold, feeling as if I were in a movie theater, holding a popcorn bag and laughing playfully.

Hehe.

Automated hunting was so close now.

Though I still had to supply firewood from nearby, I could feel the completion of automated hunting was within reach.

As the worms that had covered the sky began to transform from the fusion reaper's attack, their colors slowly darkened.

As they were chopped down and burned into firewood, their colors became increasingly darker.

Eventually, they turned into a void-like black, tangled mass.

Finally, it seemed they had acquired the color that matched the discomfort one felt from the worms.

Screech!

As all the worms turned black and burnt away, a strange sound echoed, and suddenly the sky split open with a massive mouth.

From that gap, a huge tentacle, spiraling like a worm, descended from the sky to the earth.

Drill!

It was as if a giant drill was digging into the earth, and the worm burrowed deep into the ground.

As this happened, the distance between the earth and sky shrank, and the surrounding gravity and light began to twist uncontrollably.

The fusion reaper desperately sent sword strikes in all directions to counter the second phase of the worm foreign entity, but it wasn’t strong enough to cut through the distorted rules of the foreign entity.

Yet, I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched.

Indeed, the foreign entity had used up a significant amount of energy, and the destruction conditions were becoming clearer.

<Before the coil touches the ground, destroy the passageway.>

I saw the destruction conditions with my "eyes" and sent my will to the fusion reaper.

"Target the orb underground!"

As the fusion reaper’s gaze shifted toward the ground, the worm-like foreign entity appeared to react in surprise.

The thick, pillar-like spiral tentacles that had burrowed into the ground surrounded the orb, forming a protective sphere.

The sword strikes so far hadn’t been able to break through this sphere.

"It looks like I need to take matters into my own hands."

As I had this thought, a brilliant golden light shot out from above.

"Fill the sword with firewood."

"Continue, continue until it reaches its limit."

The fusion reaper raised the firewood sword high into the sky.

The light from its body faded as it forced the firewood into the blade.

This was the signature technique of the Cloak Reaper that had been taught to me.

And when the golden, intangible sword shook, as though it were about to explode, a slow, precise strike split the sky.

The beautiful arc it created seemed impractical because it was so slow.

"Cut through the void!"

Bang!

The sound of something being cut beyond time and space echoed.

In that moment, my vision shattered like broken glass.

"!"

Startled, I jumped up from my chair, but the shattered space disappeared without a trace.

But the result was clear.

The orb created by the worms had been split in half.

And the orb at its center as well.

"…It really works. Automated hunting."

The worm foreign entity, having met the destruction conditions, began to dissolve into dust.

As the burnt worms vanished beyond the sky, a brilliant golden sun slowly began to rise.

It was a morning that resembled the Golden Reaper.