Chapter 462
The path stretched unnaturally high.
As I climbed the stone road that extended endlessly toward the sky, I couldn’t help but smile faintly at the bizarre scenery.
A path soaring into the air without any pillars.
From a physical standpoint, such a stone path would normally collapse under its own weight, but this sky path did not crumble like an object. Instead, it maintained its shape perfectly.
Thud, thud.
With every step I took, the tiny sound of my footsteps echoed, cutting through the quiet air.
The path, rising as if it would touch the sky, seemed like a passage leading to heaven.
The light shining through the clouds reflected off the surface of the stone path, sparkling.
On either side of the path, the distant ground could be seen far below, while clouds, resembling mist, floated around me.
The surface of the stone path was smooth but had a natural texture, almost as though it had been shaped by nature over a long period.
Yet, its geometric perfection clearly hinted at deliberate design.
‘The end is in sight, but the scale of this path seems all wrong…’
This strange path felt like it truly led to heaven, and it was incredibly long.
‘Could such a massive path have been hidden in the Evolution Liquid?’
I couldn’t help but think that.
Judging by my pace, it felt like it would take months to reach the end if I were to walk at a normal speed.
Not wanting to take such a long walk, I used Ghosting and Time Acceleration to quickly advance along the path.
As I continued, I suddenly realized I had forgotten about the Golden Reapers, so I turned my gaze back.
The starting point was now far behind, and the Golden Reapers gathered there were barely visible.
‘Are they still clustered at the beginning of the path?’
The Golden Reapers could have easily caught up with me if they wanted to…
It seemed like they had suddenly stopped following me, as if they had given up.
It was a little strange, but I shrugged it off.
Unexpected behaviors from the Golden Reapers were nothing new.
Especially when they were grouped together.
‘Maybe something interesting popped up unexpectedly.’
With that thought, I turned my attention back to the path and continued forward.
The higher I climbed, the clearer and more transparent the air became, and I could see that the clouds behind me were slowly scattering, revealing the sun.
As I continued, the blackened corpse and the city grew larger.
‘It’s much bigger than I thought…’
It seemed as if the closer I got to it, the larger the black corpse grew.
My initial guess had been way off.
What I thought would be the size of the Black Giant now appeared to be several times larger.
‘Something’s wrong here.’
But something felt off.
At first, I thought it might be an illusion, but as I drew closer, the change became more obvious.
With each step I took, the city’s appearance changed.
As if time was flowing rapidly, the buildings started to look older.
The changes were so significant that even my poor memory could recognize them.
‘…’
A strange sense of foreboding crept over me.
It felt like I was heading toward something unusual.
Finally, at the end of this mysterious path, I arrived at the solid plateau.
The moment I set foot there,
The black corpse had disappeared without a trace.
It was as if it had never been there from the beginning.
Just moments ago, it had filled my vision with its overwhelming presence, but now, it vanished in an instant like an illusion.
With a confused heart, I looked around, only to find that the city was gone too.
The large buildings that had stood before were now nowhere to be seen, and in their place, deep claw marks had been left in the ground.
With a sense of unease, I turned my gaze behind me.
‘…’
As expected, the strange stone path I had climbed was also gone.
The path, which had once led to the sky, had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
‘Mental contamination of the object? Or some kind of mirage-like phenomenon I don’t understand?’
Questions piled up, but there were no clues to be found.
What lay before me was only the high plateau and the deep scars left by the gigantic claw marks.
If all of this was an illusion, what had led me here?
And who, or what, had left those claw marks?
With these unanswered questions in mind, I called for the Golden Reapers around me.
‘Mom?’
‘Mom called!’
‘Teleportation?’
When I asked the Golden Reapers who were at the starting point, it seemed they thought I had suddenly disappeared.
The children, who had seemed downcast, now regained their energy and laughed cheerfully as soon as I called them again.
Standing on the plateau, I looked down at the land below, and by then, the Black Planet had turned green.
‘???’
I rubbed my eyes, thinking it might be another illusion, but this time it was unmistakably real.
The Mini Reapers were bringing the now-decaying world back to life.
‘Revolution!’
The Red Reapers burned the polluted substances to purify them.
<Please return to your original form!>
<Please become moist, fertile earth!>
The Blue Reapers began filling the seas and rivers with water.
“Bing!”
The Green Reaper breathed life into the land.
The land gradually turned green, and animals appeared among the greenery.
Perhaps because of the Mini Reapers’ tastes, Mini Mink Eyes and Mini Rabbits were the predominant creatures, but…
They were revived, so I suppose that’s what mattered.
And as though declaring that this planet now belonged to me, multicolored moons from Earth rose in the sky.
‘My siblings have done it!’
‘I’ll help too!’
Some of the Golden Reapers, seeing this, pulled out the sibling doll clothes from their pockets and began helping with the purification.
‘Where did those clothes come from?’
For a moment, I wondered, but since they were Golden Reapers using similar abilities to mine, I roughly understood and moved past it.
Maybe they got a small space ability or something…
On the high plateau, I ate fish-shaped bread, sitting with the Golden Reapers who remained beside me, looking down at the land.
‘Somehow, it feels like a picnic.’
I suddenly had that thought.
Once the Black Planet was fully purified, it would probably make for a nice vacation spot.
‘I’ll have to come back here with Yerin later.’
Hehe.
New York, USA, in a suburban apartment complex, on the lower floors, there was a room.
From the outside, it looked like an ordinary house, just like any other, but the inside was completely different.
Heavy gray blackout curtains completely blocked out the outside world, and soundproof panels covered the entire wall, giving it the appearance of a mental hospital.
In the middle of the room were advanced broadcasting equipment.
High-performance webcams, microphones, and multiple monitors were on, and a man sat in front of them.
He was a streamer who had been rapidly gaining popularity with content that filmed the surface of the Black Planet.
His specialty was conspiracy theories about objects, particularly the Golden Reapers.
“Those fools. Don’t be fooled by their cute appearance! The Golden Reapers are the vanguard of objects invading this world!”
The man’s voice trembled with excitement.
His face was flushed under the LED lights, and beads of sweat were on his forehead.
He showed a bunch of photos he had taken, passionately talking about them.
“Look at this. I found this yesterday while photographing the Black Planet with a telescope.”
The photo he showed featured a small, gray Reaper protruding slightly from the planet’s surface.
“Looks small? Absolutely not!”
The man began scribbling numbers on a whiteboard, like a mad scientist.
Complex calculations filled the board.
“I did the math, and even if we’re generous, it’s at least bigger than Everest!”
To explain it to those who didn’t quite understand, he held up a peach in front of the webcam.
“If this is Earth, Everest would be about this size.”
He scratched the peach’s surface with his fingernail.
“Now, can you imagine how huge that gray Reaper is in that picture?”
He spread his arms wide, as if to show the scale.
Then, he smiled meaningfully and said:
“I told you, right? The Gray Reaper and the Golden Reapers are monsters hiding their true identities.”
It was as if he was declaring “checkmate” while playing chess.
Just then, the doorbell rang through the speakers.
Ding-dong.
“Oh, it must be the pizza. It’s already late. Well, everyone, enjoy your meals and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The man checked his watch, quickly ended the stream, and headed to the door.
When he opened the door, his eyes went wide.
On top of the pizza box, a Golden Reaper was holding a pickle and smiling brightly.
“G-Golden Reaper!”
He screamed as though he had encountered an armed robber and backed away…
But sadly, the broadcast had already been turned off.
Mini Reaper Garden, Marshmallow Plains.
A restricted area surrounded by fences, the Mini Reapers stayed far away from the Invariant Field.
In this quiet place, a Lead Doll was quietly staring up at the sky.
The Lead Doll seemed to be reaching out as if seeing something in the air.
[….]
The Lead Doll opened its mouth, as if saying something, but no mental waves emerged.
