FLIA 74

“Still, Eternal Stone is one of the hardest minerals there is, right? The hardest substance in the world, completely impervious to damage.”

Why else would it be called Eternal Stone? Even when subjected to extreme heat, drenched in all sorts of chemicals, or struck with massive force, it didn’t wear down or chip in the slightest. It was a material beyond scientific explanation.

“…That’s true.”

Yoon Seungryong’s expression grew complex. He, too, had understood what Yohan was getting at. Seo Yakrin turned her gaze away from the Black Mountain she had been glaring at. Ju Hoyoung also stopped turning on his game console and looked at Yohan. A frown crept onto Yohan’s brow from the thought that had just come to mind.

“Then, do you think the Eternal Stone, I mean the Black Mountain, could wear away even that ultra-hard rock layer?”

“Huh… wait a minute, is that possible?”

Yohan’s question seemed plausible enough that all eyes turned to Lee Hyunmook. Seo Yakrin asked urgently.

“Are we going to the Black Mountain, Team Leader?”

“Well… Yohan says he’s scared of going there.”

At Lee Hyunmook’s comment, Yohan’s face flushed red. The others nodded along as if to say, “Well, if Yohan’s scared, we can’t help it,” making him feel like a whining child. Embarrassed, he hurried to correct himself.

“I am scared! But if there’s a chance, we should at least go check it out, right?”

“Yeah, Yohan’s right.”

Lee Hyunmook’s voice was so kind it sounded like he’d agree even if Yohan said the sky was green. He seemed to be teasing a little… After pondering Yohan’s theory seriously for a moment, he turned to Seo Yakrin.

“Yakrin-ah. Want to go one more time? If we’re going to reach the base of the Black Mountain, there’s got to be some kind of path, right? At the very least, we need to find out where that path is.”

“Got it. I’ll go right now!”

As Seo Yakrin and Ju Hoyoung stood up to leave at once, Yohan tried to stop them, suggesting they rest a bit first. He couldn’t shake the image of Seo Yakrin’s earlier frenzy. It seemed it really had taken a toll on her, because the two accepted his suggestion. After a few days of rest, during which Yohan gave them ample purification, Seo Yakrin returned from the Black Mountain with a surprisingly specific answer.

“Go to the massive salt lake.”

The moment she said it, Yohan felt it. It was time to leave the Reed Sea and move on to a new area.

***

Everyone except Yohan seemed to immediately know what the massive salt lake referred to. As he looked around, confused, Lee Hyunmook smiled and explained.

“There’s a region with a massive salt lake, maybe a remnant of the sea that got displaced. There’s nowhere else that fits the description of a lake, so it must be that place.”

“A salt lake?”

Yohan asked in a worried tone. By now, he knew enough about the Abyss. Like every other zone, it was surely crawling with terrifying abominations. But before long, his worry was replaced by hope.

‘As long as it’s not the Flood, we’re fine!’

Yohan was traveling with Lee Hyunmook, Yoon Seungryong, Seo Yakrin, and Ju Hoyoung. Aside from Go Jaewon and Lee Chanha, four members of the Sunrise Team were with him. Each of them was now incomparably stronger than before they had fallen into the Abyss. And if the Flood did occur, Yohan could take care of it. It was a nearly perfect lineup. Three damage dealers, one support. No tank, but Yohan, a healer and purifier, could compensate.

“Well, we’ll be fine! There are five of us now!”

Beaming with confidence, Yohan’s eyes sparkled. Lee Hyunmook, quietly watching him, reached out to gently pat his head. The other teammates followed suit, giving his head some rough rubs, leaving Yohan bewildered.

After gathering as much food as they could and carefully packing precious fruit and vegetable seeds, they finally left the Reed Sea behind. Maybe thanks to Seo Yakrin being with them, not a single bone bird or flesh bird bothered them. In fact, not one was even in sight. Remembering how she had controlled the birds during her corrupted state, Yohan asked curiously.

“Yakrin-noona, can you still control the birds?”

“Haha, no! It’s just that they remember my energy and are avoiding me. But I can do this much.”

Laughing heartily, Seo Yakrin put a finger to her lips and let out a long whistle. In response, a swarm of flesh birds burst from underground, confusedly flapping and looking around like they had no idea what was happening. Seo Yakrin instantly snared them in a golden telekinetic net she had laid out in advance.

“Lunch ingredients secured!”

With the easily caught roast bird in hand, they moved on. The tall reeds and grasses that had reached up to their thighs grew gradually sparser and shorter. As they crossed the wasteland between zones, Yohan glanced back at the Black Mountain.

‘The blotches are increasing…’

For the first time in this pitch-black, filthy, and bloody abyss, other colors were appearing. Bright, pastel-toned, multicolored stains were subtly spreading a little more each day. Yohan could only hope this change was a positive one.

***

The salt lake was far away. Since the wasteland held absolutely nothing, they had to pass through a nearby zone. In the region known as the highlands, they had to gather food and water, so it ended up taking nearly two months to reach the salt lake from the Reed Sea. By now, it had been a full year since Yohan had fallen into the abyss.

‘My family… they probably think I’m dead by now.’

After just one year, life on Earth already felt like a distant memory. He let his shoulders slump, suddenly melancholy.

“Yohan-ah.”

At the warm voice and a hand resting on his shoulder, Yohan looked up to see Lee Hyunmook pointing ahead.

“There it is. The salt lake.”

“Whoa…!”

Yohan’s eyes widened, mouth falling open. He swallowed hard and muttered,

“It really… doesn’t look like a place you’d want to get close to.”

Perhaps because part of the sea had shifted there, the salt lake was vast, stretching so wide it didn’t look like a lake at all. A dark, shady mass pooled across its surface. But what unsettled Yohan wasn’t its size. Thick fog clung to the lake’s edge, and through it, he had caught glimpses of something ominous slithering in and out of view. He’d even faintly heard shrill, ghostly screams. Just as he was thinking maybe it always looked like this, Yoon Seungryong scratched his cheek and said,

“Wait, why does it look so different now?”

“There wasn’t fog like this before, was there?”

Ju Hoyoung nervously tucked his game console into Yohan’s backpack. The fog was so dense it made the ground damp and muddy. Seeing even Lee Hyunmook and Seo Yakrin staring intently into the fog made Yohan feel even more anxious. Soon, Lee Hyunmook gave a clear command.

“Visibility is too poor. Let’s avoid getting too close to the lake.”

“Too bad. I was hoping we could have sashimi for the first time in ages.”

Even while joking, Yoon Seungryong kept a sharp eye on the fog. Following Lee Hyunmook’s lead, they steered wide around the lake.

“Ugh, that smell…”

Ju Hoyoung, who was a bit sensitive to smells, grimaced and nearly gagged. A damp, sickly wind blew from the lake, carrying a stench so foul it was as if long-rotting fish had begun to decay anew. Even Yohan covered his nose with a sleeve. If it was this bad from a distance, getting closer might make it impossible to breathe.

“Hoyoung-ah, come here.”

Yohan created a glowing sphere of light that enveloped the group. The stench vanished instantly, replaced by fresh, clean air. Even Lee Hyunmook, who had been stoically enduring the smell, looked relieved as he examined the sphere.

“Yohan-ah, it’s just a smell. Don’t overdo it.”

“This much isn’t hard. It’s a small area.”

It was true. After creating that giant dome-shaped purification field back in the Reed Sea, he’d gained a lot more confidence in using his ability. He didn’t even feel particularly drained. As her mood improved with the clean air, Seo Yakrin was cheerfully walking again when she suddenly stopped.

“What’s that?”

Something strange stood upright on the ground. It looked like a hand stretching toward the sky, holding a sphere in its palm. But when it twitched and turned to stare at them, they realized it wasn’t a sphere, it was an eye.

The ground cracked, and from beneath it burst a massive monster. It bared sharp fangs as it lunged viciously. Yohan only guessed its original form after seeing its entire body.

A mudskipper, perhaps.

But unlike any normal mudskipper, this one dwarfed even an orca. Its slick, slimy skin oozed strange mucus, and its eyes bulged and stretched toward the sky. Whether from sweat glands or mucus sacs, it wheezed repulsively.

Mehh, meh! It made a ridiculous bleating noise like a goat as it charged, ravenous.

But by then, golden mist had already seized its tail. As its grotesque eyes swiveled backward, Yoon Seungryong’s spear sliced through its head. Blood gushed like a waterfall, and after a few wild convulsions, the mudskippermonster collapsed.