FLIA 84

***

Lee Chanha heard the full account of what had happened, including the now-stained Black Mountain and the unidentified core at the heart of the Abyss, he fell into deep thought.

“So my role is to protect Yohan-gun right?”

Yohan’s heart fluttered a little. Lee Hyunmook, Yoon Seungryong, and Seo Yakrin were the three damage dealers. Ju Hoyoung was the support. Then came Lee Chanha as the tank, and finally Yohan himself as the healer. It was a flawless team composition with no missing roles. Let’s go over everyone’s abilities again.

Team leader Lee Hyunmook, damage dealer. His main ability was electricity.

Yoon Seungryong, damage dealer. His main ability was poison, and his secondary was spatial manipulation.

Seo Yakrin, damage dealer. Her main ability was telekinesis, with eternal stone refining as a secondary.

Ju Hoyoung, support. Main ability: enhancement buffs. Secondary: ice-based techniques.

The final addition, deputy team leader Lee Chanha, was a tank. His main ability was defense, with self-healing as a secondary, an exceptional regeneration ability far above the rest.

On top of that, there were hidden abilities like Hyunmook’s terrifying shadow, Hoyoung’s speed, and Chanha’s hallucinations. Yohan thought they might actually have a shot this time. Maybe, just maybe, they could finally conquer the Abyss and escape.

“Right. As long as you protect Yohan-ah properly, we’ll be able to focus fully on offense. That means we can deal way more damage. In the end, we’ll have a better chance of reaching the core before we lose our minds to the Flood.”

Yohan was well aware that in their last attempt, the others had held back in order to shield him. But now, with Lee Chanha joining them, if Yohan was no longer a weak point for monsters to target, everyone could fully commit to clearing a path to the core.

“Alright then. Before we dive in, how about we run a quick formation check?”

After several days of rest inside Yohan’s purification field, the group began getting up one by one. Curious about what a “formation check” entailed, Yohan walked over to Lee Hyunmook. As they descended from the blotched Black Mountain and stepped outside the purification field, Lee Chanha cast one last regretful glance behind them.

They headed toward the lake. The stench from last time had mostly faded, but the damp, soggy, fishy atmosphere still lingered.

“Hoyoung-ah, inside the barrier. Seungryong-ah, stay outside. The rest, hold position.”

Following the command, everyone except Lee Chanha, Ju Hoyoung, and Yoon Seungryong stepped back. Lee Hyunmook scanned the area with his electric field. A faint tingling sensation passed through, making Yohan flinch. Soon, Hyunmook tilted his head, he had found a suitable target.

Rumble… The sky groaned lowly. With a rip in the air, a bolt of lightning struck near the lake. Kaboom! Even though the attack was far weaker than usual, it still looked terrifying to Yohan.

‘That was supposed to be a light tap…?’

The frightening part was that this “tap” could easily rival the full-power attack of a high-tier awakener. That was terrifying, but also reassuring. Yohan unconsciously pressed closer to Hyunmook, whose arm naturally wrapped firmly around his waist.

The ground where the lightning struck began to bulge and shift. Yohan tensed up and gripped his spear. What was going to come out? A goby? A clam? What kind of creatures lived near the sea again? As he racked his brain for answers, something grotesque burst forth from the wet sand.

A massive, long, squirming body. Brown, semi-translucent skin that twisted and changed constantly. Countless claw-like legs flailing as they groped both earth and air…

Yohan’s face turned pale in an instant. He thought he was used to grotesque monsters by now, but this one was genuinely horrifying. He stammered,

“W-what is that thing?”

“Uh… doesn’t look like a fish. Doesn’t look like a clam either. Hm, not an octopus, and definitely not squid? Looks disgusting, so let’s not eat it, yeah?”

With that, Yoon Seungryong gripped his spear and leapt forward. Lee Chanha, who had been eyeing the muddy filth stuck to his shoes with disgust, looked the same. Even after recovering from the corrupted state, his obsessive cleanliness remained unchanged. He took a deep breath, glanced at Yohan and muttered. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot.

“I’m counting on you, Yohan-gun.”

“Y-yes. Please… count on me…”

Faced with that desperate gaze, Yohan nodded almost reflexively. Lee Chanha and Ju Hoyoung lunged at the monsters whose very appearance was enough to make someone faint. Seo Yakrin, who had been glaring at the disgusting, writhing beasts, suddenly clapped her hands.

“Oh! I get it. They’re probably bristleworms.”

Bristle…worms? He hated regular worms already, and now it was something with ‘bristle’ on top? Even in their uncorrupted original state, they probably still looked hideous. It was also a name he felt he’d absolutely never look up on the internet.

“They’re the best bait for catching black seabream. Ah, maybe I should go fishing before we leave? With an eternal stone fishing rod, it might even work here.”

While Seo Yakrin nodded, lost in old memories, the three at the front suddenly came under attack. A swarm of enraged bristleworms appeared out of nowhere. Lee Chanha was the first to deploy a barrier. A transparent shield glowing blue like a glass orb enveloped both himself and Ju Hoyoung. Yoon Seungryong followed up by releasing a dense, fog-like poison.

Gurgle, Gurgle… As Seungryong’s poison spread, the bristleworms thrashed and spewed foul-smelling muddy foam. It was so revolting that Yohan felt like throwing up, but he forced himself to keep his eyes wide open. After spending so long in the Abyss, he had learned that turning away from horror and disgust only made things worse.

Seungryong’s purple poison spread through the area, yet the inside of Lee Chanha’s barrier remained untouched. That was its greatest strength: it allowed allies inside to use their abilities freely, while blocking out all external elements.

Everyone except Yohan was now strong enough that they didn’t need to be inside the barrier. But back then, Seo Yakrin and Ju Hoyoung had primarily fought from within it. That was how dangerous friendly fire could be, just as dangerous as the monsters themselves.

While Yoon Seungryong’s poison dealt damage across the ground, Ju Hoyoung safely fired ice arrows from within the shield. Since this battle was mainly to test Lee Chanha’s ability, everyone was going easy on their attacks. The bristleworms beat at the barrier with their tails and hook-like teeth, but it didn’t budge.

Yohan’s face brightened. To be honest, every time he took part in a battle in the Abyss, he was always scared, though he kept it in. But inside Lee Chanha’s barrier, he might not be quite so afraid. As he continued to watch the battle, a sudden, ominous thought crossed his mind.

‘…But it’s not just black seabream that like bristleworms, is it?’

Right on cue, several bristleworms exploded, spraying their revolting fluids everywhere. And sure enough, just as Yohan feared, something stirred. Drawn by the commotion and the scent of prey, something began to writhe up from the lake. Yohan’s eyes widened.

It was a massive monster with dozens of long, wriggling tentacles. A cephalopod? A jellyfish? Or maybe a sea anemone? Whatever it was, it was horrifying to look at. The grotesque creature lunged at the spot where the bristleworms had been, gulping down the mud-soaked corpses. Then it turned toward three humans.

Yohan just wanted to pass out on the spot. Crawling things and flying things on land were one thing, but compared to monsters from the water, they were practically angels. While he stood frozen, the monster slammed into Lee Chanha’s barrier. It gripped it with its tentacles and pressed down with its massive body, trying to pull it inside. Sticky mucus dripped thickly down the surface of the barrier.

Yoon Seungryong had stepped back to observe. Ju Hoyoung also stopped attacking, silently watching to see how much the barrier could withstand. Eventually, the monster engulfed the entire orb-like shield. Yohan, panicked, looked like he might run to help, but everyone else remained calm. They all seemed to trust that the barrier would hold.

After about ten minutes, Lee Hyunmook finally stepped in. Seo Yakrin quickly picked Yohan up and carried him far away. It wasn’t until Hyunmook took a bold step forward and black lightning began to crackle from his body that Yohan realized: Lee Chanha’s real test wasn’t this revolting monster.

“Just a light tap,” Hyunmook murmured.

And with that, black lightning exploded from his body. Pang! The monster, focused on feeding, screamed in agony as its tentacles spasmed wildly. The following attacks made its nerves and muscles sizzle, convulsing in pain as if it were being roasted alive. Acrid smoke rose as the creature began to stink horrendously. It tried to flee, but it was already too late, Hyunmook’s lightning tore through it again with a thunderous roar. At last, the monster collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.

Inside, Lee Chanha and Ju Hoyoung were still standing under the barrier. Hyunmook looked pleased that his lightning hadn’t broken through it. Only Chanha and Hoyoung looked pale. Soon, the flickering barrier finally faded.

“You held up well,” Hyunmook praised, watching Chanha crawl out, soaked in waste and sludge.

But Chanha didn’t seem to hear. He staggered toward Yohan as fast as he could, and clung to him desperately.

“Y-Yohan-gun. Yohan-gun… Please, have mercy on this wretched soul…”

“I’ll purify you, so please don’t kneel!”

Half panicking, Yohan quickly bathed the trembling Lee Chanha in light, his crimson-glowing eyes wide with horror. Only after the filth covering his body was gone did he finally calm down. Hyunmook was watching the scene and he smiled with soft eyes.

“I really like this.”

Yohan blinked in surprise and turned to look. Hyunmook was smiling as he said,

“The more desperate he is, the harder he’ll try to protect you. He will make you his top priority. This is good.”

Yohan was flustered by the sincerity in his voice. Even Lee Chanha didn’t seem to mind the statement. Yohan almost protested, almost said “don’t say things like that,” but in the end, it felt pointless. So he replied stiffly,

“Then I’ll do my best to protect you too!”

He didn’t have overwhelming attack power like the others. But he didn’t feel envious, Yohan was determined to do his part, the things only he could do. He knew just how important his role was in this place. Hearing his words, Hyunmook smiled gently.

“Yeah, Yohan-ah. I’m counting on you.”

He said and cupped Yohan’s head with a large hand and kissed his forehead. Yohan’s face instantly flushed red.