The tower connecting the disk layers.
The Pink Girl and the Blue Reaper slowly advanced as they entered the tower.
Thud thud.
[Thud thud.]
The sound of the Pink Girl’s steps echoed inside the tower.
The interior of the tower was so narrow that even the Mom Golem would have trouble squeezing in, so the Blue Reaper perched quietly on the Attached Human’s shoulder.
Inside the tower, metal pipes were irregularly tangled together, and there was no clear path resembling an actual route.
But the Pink Girl skillfully navigated this maze-like tangle of pipes with ease, heading upward.
She crossed thin pipes like tightropes,
spun around a pole and leaped to cling onto another,
or climbed upward like scaling a tree using just one beam.
The Blue Reaper applauded while watching the Attached Human’s impressive movements.
Phew.
The Pink Girl wiped sweat from her slightly flushed forehead.
“Grandfather once said this tower wasn’t originally like this.”
“Apparently, there used to be spiral staircases.”
The Blue Reaper glanced down at the tower they had climbed so far after hearing those words.
No matter how you looked at it, this was not designed for humans to climb. It resembled a jungle gym meant only for the bravest souls prepared for d*ath.
Even so, the end of the seemingly impossible-to-climb tower was now in sight.
Looking somewhat tired, the Pink Girl regained her energy upon seeing the white light emanating from the tower’s exit and began ascending faster.
“Arrived!”
As they emerged into the bright white light outside the dark tower, a completely different landscape greeted them compared to the previous layer.
The sky barrier covering the tower’s sky appeared much looser than the one seen in the previous layer.
Because of this, the hazy, whitish sky became much clearer.
Moreover, the amount of light streaming through holes in the sky barrier made everything exceptionally bright.
“Bright!”
The sudden brightness caused the Pink Girl to squint slightly and shield her eyes with her hand.
The Blue Reaper, whose vision wasn’t affected by such things, found the pale, misty sky uninteresting.
However, this layer offered a view even the Blue Reaper could appreciate.
Clear water rose up to human knee-level and rippled across the entire layer.
The pure white light descending from the sky danced on the surface of the clear water.
And the dazzling white buildings reflecting the light blended harmoniously with the water, creating an otherworldly atmosphere.
The clear water reflecting the white sky and white buildings!
Was this what a salt desert reflecting the clouds under a clear sky felt like?
<…, So much water.>
The Blue Reaper gazed down at its reflection on the water’s surface and smiled faintly.
Already having discarded all her clothes, the Pink Girl dove into the water and started swimming.
“Hurry up! Let’s play together!”
Hehe, grinning mischievously, the Attached Human watched as the Blue Reaper slowly began flying toward her.
From high above, looking down at the White City, some strange things occasionally caught their eye.
Black spots mixed into the white city like foreign objects.
‘?’
Those black spots turned out to be statues depicting entities with roots planted into the ground and long arms.
“Black Reaper? Strong Mom?”
The Blue Reaper tilted its head curiously as it observed these bizarre statues scattered throughout the city.
Seoul Forest sprawling widely to the north of Seoul.
As I arrived there via instant teleportation, the Golden Reapers who had been patrolling nearby quickly gathered.
“Mom!”
“It’s serious!”
The number of approaching Golden Reapers was alarming.
Seoul Forest had become almost like a Mini Reaper Garden, densely packed with Golden Reapers.
This density hadn’t been seen even during the Yellow Reaper’s disappearance.
I reached the outskirts of Seoul Forest, where the Blue Reaper went missing, and extended my senses in all directions again.
Through the Mini Reaper Network, I sensed the locations of Mini Reapers scattered across the globe.
But I could only sense nine Blue Reapers.
One is missing.
The remaining nine Blue Reapers were flying in formations, continuously circling near Seoul Forest.
Since I couldn’t sense the Blue Reaper’s location no matter how hard I searched, it must have been sucked into a space similar to the “Mini Reaper Garden.”
The most likely culprit was the Object that distorted Seoul Forest’s space.
However, detecting the space created by the Object was quite difficult since Seoul Forest’s space was already thoroughly tangled.
Even the ability to “find the main body,” obtained through bargaining with Hungry Ghosts, couldn’t pinpoint the location of the object causing the spatial distortion.
It was as if this spatial entanglement wasn’t caused by an Object but rather a natural phenomenon.
While carefully inspecting the area around Seoul Forest, I noticed the Orange Crowned Reaper patrolling alongside the Golden Reapers.
After all, the “Blue Reaper disappearance” was a serious enough issue to bring back the kids attached to their humans.
At that moment, I saw the Orange Crowned Reaper showing something to the Golden Reaper.
What is it?
“A severed head of a Blue Reaper has been found!”
“AHHH!!!!”
On closer inspection, it was a Blue Reaper’s head formed precisely from water, held together by “probability domination” preventing the water from dispersing.
“Ah!”
When the Orange Reaper met my gaze, it immediately tried to flee.
Not only did the Orange Crowned Reaper fail to assist in the Blue Reaper search, but it also seemed to be hindering it, so I grabbed it firmly and delivered a sharp slap.
Upon releasing the probability domination binding the water lump, the head the Golden Reaper was holding turned back into ordinary water.
Realizing he had been tricked, the Golden Reaper bit into the plump cheeks of the Orange Crowned Reaper with great anger.
“Uwaaaah!”
The Orange Reaper let out a pitiful cry of pain.
Holding the Orange Crowned Reaper in my grasp, I began walking around the suspected Blue Reaper disappearance site.
By the time we finished our rounds, the Orange Reaper’s cheeks were covered with bite marks.
“Ow…”
How many fake Blue Reaper heads did you give to the Golden Reapers?
Though it’s a prank I’d like to try someday, it might not be appropriate given the current situation of the Blue Reaper disappearance…
Maybe next time when the Golden Reaper’s Attached Human goes missing.
Hehe.
The layer of clear water and white sky.
The sound of the Pink Girl walking on the water spread throughout.
Splash splash.
Enjoying stepping through the water, the Pink Girl wore a faint smile.
As the Pink Girl hummed a tune while splashing along, the Blue Reaper transformed the melody into musical note-shaped water droplets and launched them into the sky.
Continuing their journey, the Pink Girl and the Blue Reaper eventually entered a large building they had chosen as their destination.
A massive structure surrounding the tower connecting the layers.
Sitting on the dry floor inside, unlike the wet exterior, the Pink Girl dried her feet and put on her shoes while speaking.
“This layer is so clean, bright, and wonderful, but we need to move on to the next layer soon. It’s a little disappointing.”
The Pink Girl wore a slightly regretful expression.
Still, they had to leave.
There was absolutely no food in this layer.
Nor were there any objects from other worlds scattered about as seen in the previous layer.
In fact, there wasn’t a single piece of trash anywhere in this layer.
“This place is huge.”
The building the Pink Girl and the Blue Reaper entered was incredibly vast.
A colossal structure made entirely of smooth white stone without a single pillar.
As they continued moving forward, a mosaic filling the ceiling came into view.
“Wow.”
Seeing this for the first time, the Pink Girl repeatedly expressed admiration as she looked up.
The ceiling mosaic formed a single enormous picture.
A world filled with black liquid.
Seven-colored moons floating in the sky and a giant spider endlessly climbing upward.
At the edge of the building stood a black statue.
<Strong Mom...>
The Blue Reaper muttered a string upon seeing the statue.
Then the Pink Girl called out excitedly.
“There’s writing here!”
Under the pitch-black statue that absorbed all light, small letters were inscribed.
<Finally able to create an idol.>
<But this is a world without gods now.>
<Creating idols holds no meaning anymore.>
*
The center of Seoul Forest, the open lot where the Steel Tower once stood.
Standing in the spot where the Steel Tower once existed, now replaced by a Black Light Pillar, I gazed up at the dark night sky where the sun had disappeared.
Surrounded by black light, it felt as though I was trapped within the Black Light Pillar.
Around the pillar lay numerous unfamiliar architectural ruins.
These ruins were heavily saturated with the smell of Evolution Liquid.
“The Harmful Object!”
The Golden Reapers examined the debris closely, declaring it smelled harmful and proceeded to destroy it systematically.
Looking up, directly above my head, a sinister black star emitted ominous light.
“Looks like that black star is the problem…”
Reaching out my hand toward the black star, I pulled at the space.
At that moment, a translucent sphere resembling a massive Earth began appearing in the sky.
Instead of blue oceans, this black planet churned with a black sea.
