Chapter 473

A quiet street in a restaurant district surrounded by dense jungle.

As soon as I saw the severely injured First Sword and the Golden Cloak Reaper, I was really shocked.

The First Sword, with one arm severed.

The Golden Cloak Reaper, almost completely drained of firewood.

The Golden Cloak Reaper’s body had many small wounds, which was unusual, considering he normally has an overflow of firewood.

I picked up the First Sword and the Golden Cloak Reaper, and forcefully pushed firewood into them.

‘What on earth happened?’

As I pushed the firewood in, I asked what happened, and the First Sword, barely opening his eyes, spoke with a faint will.

‘There are many domes.’

It was a short message, but it was enough to convey the seriousness of the situation to me, as I had already discovered the domes.

Then came the story of the First Sword and the Golden Cloak Reaper.

I listened carefully to their story and started piecing together the situation.

‘So…’

I slowly continued speaking.

‘Many domes containing the Color Universe have appeared…’

The First Sword nodded weakly.

‘And not only the inside of the domes, but the outside of the domes also gets altered by the domes’ influence?’

Another nod.

I knew that the insides of the domes would undergo alteration, but the fact that the outside was also changing was news to me.

I had assumed that the overgrowth and desolation I had seen were merely odd, ordinary phenomena, not alterations…

There was a lot more information that the kids had conveyed.

The situation was more serious than I had imagined.

I knew that a tremendous amount of firewood would be required to destroy a dome, but apparently, when the internal space of a dome grows too large, foreign beings emerge.

That was truly shocking information.

The First Sword told me that he and the Golden Cloak Reaper were ambushed by foreign beings while attempting to destroy a dome together.

I let out a silent sigh, almost by habit.

There are so many domes, and now, if we leave them alone, foreign beings will appear?

Could there be a worse situation than this, especially with the automatic hunting of foreign beings still incomplete?

Ugh, I don’t want to fight the foreign beings…

To lessen my burden, I decided to merge the First Sword and the Golden Cloak Reaper.

‘Hug Reaper?’

Since I would have to keep using the Halo of Fusion, I called for the Hug Reaper as usual, but there was no response.

Something was wrong.

The Hug Reaper, unlike the almost always unreachable Orange Crown Reaper, was usually a good child who would always answer…

Was something happening?

But now, I didn’t have time to worry about that.

I pushed that question aside and, donning the Halo of Fusion, merged the First Sword and the Golden Cloak Reaper.

Then, the Golden Cloak Reaper, First Sword left me with one last meaningful statement.

‘Mom, take care of the other siblings.’

The First Sword, mentioning that several of the younger siblings, including the Green Sibling, were missing, drew a golden trajectory and flew into the sky.

Hmm, maybe the First Sword takes better care of the children than I do… but that’s probably just my imagination.

The once peaceful land on the outskirts of Songpa-gu had now turned into a battlefield.

The mansion raised by alchemy stood isolated like a lighthouse in the storm.

With a flash of white light, the asphalt road and streetlights that once stood here were all gone, replaced by a dense jungle.

And beyond that endless jungle, a huge sphere could be seen.

It was clear that it was quite far away, but the enormous size of the dome made it feel as though the sense of distance was distorted.

And from the direction of that dome, grotesque monsters kept pouring out.

Their upper bodies were twisted beasts devoid of fur, while their lower bodies resembled crustaceans or arachnids, like creatures from another world.

They truly looked like products of objects.

Surrounded by such monsters, the Purple Girl and her companions were struggling.

[Alchemist’s Flame.]

The majestic flame of the Master Reaper resounded, and a white fire blazed up.

Like a divine judgment, that fire quickly turned a cluster of monsters into ashes.

It was truly overwhelming firepower!

At the sight of this overwhelming scene, the Pink Girl couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Wow, that’s incredible…”

She hadn’t said it out loud, but in the Pink Girl’s judgment, that Reaper seemed to be a spider that swallowed the sun.

The alchemist, who had been fighting nearby, nodded as he barely burned one of the monsters with the white fire.

Sweat covered his face.

“Incredible. Without that guardian, it would have been hard to hold out. There are just too many enemies.”

On another part of the battlefield, the Blue Idol Reaper was struggling valiantly.

[100,000 needles made of water!]

At the beginning of the battle, the Blue Idol Reaper overwhelmed the enemies with the power of the Halo, but now, exhaustion was evident in his expression.

Even after throwing away the Halo because the firewood had run out, he still cast powerful magic, but his eyes betrayed his fatigue.

At least the Golden Reapers were in a better situation.

The main weapon of the Golden Reapers, “Stacking,” was a highly efficient skill as long as the opponent wasn’t physically immune, so it consumed very little energy.

The Golden Reapers, including the Golden Halo Reaper, danced around the battlefield, drilling holes into the monsters’ bodies with their golden reaper-shaped holes.

But there were three problems.

The number of monsters that showed no signs of decreasing.

The regeneration abilities of the monsters, which, though weak, steadily healed their wounds.

And the insufficient number of Golden Reapers compared to the monsters.

Monsters with regeneration abilities didn’t die just from one or two holes, so the Golden Reapers had to spend a considerable amount of time to kill each monster.

An unexpected contribution came from the Stone Reapers.

They formed a perfect formation and stopped the advance of the enemies.

Their hard bodies, which the Golden Reapers disliked because they couldn’t eat them, were like iron walls.

The massive bodies of the Stone Reapers, which no one could even think of hugging, effectively stopped the monster’s charge.

Without the defense of the Stone Reapers, the weaker humans, like the Purple Girl and Pink Girl, would likely have been in grave danger.

Amidst the chaos of monsters, Stone Reapers, and Mini Reapers, the incantation echoed once again.

[The gray crystal that illuminates wishes, the white flames that burn magic books, the guardians that protect humans.]

It was a chant, softly reverberating like a poem.

Now, even the mindless monsters seemed to realize the power of alchemy, as they stopped attacking and began retreating in unison.

[Alchemist’s Flame.]

The moment the chant was completed, one of the Stone Reapers, who had been forming the defense line, began emitting white light.

Then, like a meteor, it shot toward the heart of the enemy’s lines.

The Stone Reaper drew a pure white trajectory as it fell toward the enemy’s ranks.

When the Stone Reaper landed in the enemy camp, white flames exploded, spreading in all directions.

Like petals scattering, the beautiful flames spread and instantly turned all monsters it touched into ash.

“Incredible…”

The Purple Girl stared blankly at the scene from the safe rear of the battle.

It was a sight she had only read about in books about adventures.

However, instead of the slim prince from the books, the massive, round Stone Reaper took his place.

Even more surprising was the fighting style of the Master Reaper.

Normally, alchemists would use their alchemy safely from the rear, protected by Reapers, which was a well-known fact, even to the Purple Girl who wasn’t experienced in combat.

But the Master Reaper, instead of staying safely at the rear, weaved through the enemy’s ranks while continuing the chant.

To lighten the burden on the Purple Girl and her companions, he was drawing the enemies’ attention with agile movements that didn’t fit his massive frame, all while chanting.

How much time had passed?

When the number of monsters, which had been endless, began to dwindle, their behavior started to change systematically.

It was as if they were following the command of an invisible commander, forming an orderly formation and moving tactically.

“Ah!”

It was the moment when the Master Reaper completed a new incantation.

The group of monsters, who had scattered to minimize the damage from alchemy, suddenly charged at once.

A blind charge, ignoring the pain.

Their goal was clear.

It was the Master Reaper, who had been drawing their attention at the front.

“Watch out!”

The Purple Girl’s sharp cry rang out.

But due to the recoil from the alchemy, it seemed impossible for the Master Reaper to evade immediately.

The Stone Reapers, who had been forming the defense line, were too far away, and there was no time to flee.

‘No!’

‘Watch out!’

The urgent will of the Golden Reapers echoed.

The expressions on their faces looked as desperate as if they had discovered a Gray Reaper stealing their precious pudding.

In that moment, the Master Reaper’s expression changed drastically.

A furious wrinkle appeared on his face.

The Master Reaper abandoned the incantation he had been preparing, and his eyes gleamed with intense anger.

Bam!

The staff slashed through the air and struck the monster charging at the front. The monster’s head crumpled as if it were made of paper.

“Ah…”

At that moment, the Purple Girl realized.

The Master Reaper was not only a master of alchemy, but also a gigantic white guardian.