FLIA 91

The early part of the flight was smooth. At least for the first two or three hours.

Seo Yakrin, whose corruption had risen from prolonged ability use, landed briefly on the wasteland below. She clenched her fists, as if trying to calm her anger and irritation. After taking a few deep breaths, her wings suddenly unfurled out with a loud crack of bones and flesh twisting. It looked like she’d released something she’d been forcing down, snapping out like a spring.

Seo Yakrin, who had been shaking her head, randomly pecked Yoon Seungryong on the head. As he let out a shriek, she let out a cry of her own and lowered her body. She wanted them to get on.

“What a temper, seriously…”

Yoon Seungryong grinding his teeth and leapt onto her back. Yohan followed cautiously, weighed down by guilt. As soon as Lee Hyunmook climbed on last, Seo Yakrin took off in a rush. Yohan screamed.

“Aaagh!”

They shot upward, then dropped in a plunge. Every beat of her wings made it feel like his insides were being ripped out, and the scenery around them flipped past in blurs. The wind was so strong he could barely keep his eyes open. Yohan groped blindly, looking for his lover, whom he was pressed against. Lee Hyunmook chuckled and pulled him into his arms. Once in his arm, Yohan finally felt like he could breathe again.

The flying itself was rough and jarring, but fortunately, Seo Yakrin still had enough sense left to know which direction to go. The problem was that she wasn’t the only airborne creature in the abyss.

The smaller bird-like creatures from the Reed Sea scattered in a panic at the mere sight of her, not daring to approach. But the larger ones, moving in packs, circled nearby, keeping pace. Seo Yakrin’s head kept turning side to side, clearly annoyed.

Long-tailed monstrous birds cried out in harsh screeches. When some flew in too close, snapping their beaks, Lee Hyunmook’s lightning flared out. A few of the monsters were scorched midair and dropped, trailing smoke. Immediately, the others dove and tore into their fallen kind. Watching the cannibalism made Yohan nauseous and he grimaced.

Over time, the sudden attacks and chaotic flight, which had felt impossible to adapt to, started to feel familiar. Yohan purified Seo Yakrin from time to time to keep her from losing herself entirely, even dozing off here and there. After all, when you’ve been through days of constant turbulence and assaults, you either adapt or die.

After flying for nearly a week, landing occasionally to rest, they finally reached the Ruined City zone.

***

“I, just a moment, I feel motion sickness…”

Ju Hoyoung looked like someone who had gotten off a boat after a long and was experiencing land sickness. He groaned, dizzy from adjusting back to solid ground after being used to constant motion.

“Yakrin-noona, thank you. Thanks to you, we got here really fast.”

Seo Yakrin, collapsed just like him, groaned while receiving Yohan’s careful purification. Her shoulders were probably suffering from serious muscle fatigue.

“I’m never doing that again…”

“Me neither…”

With the two lying flat on the ground, Yohan looked around. They had landed on the roof of a tall building. But it wasn’t part of the Ruined City. They had rushed to get there quickly, only to find that a new zone had already appeared. This was one of the buildings in the newly emerged Korean zone.

Beyond the rooftop railing lay a gloomy cityscape. The place had already gone through a rift phase and been evacuated, so it was completely deserted. Yohan scanned the area, wondering if any mercenaries had been caught exploring the rift.

“What are you looking for, Yohan-ah?”

“I was hoping there might be someone around.”

Just like how he and Lee Hyunmook had managed to meet, maybe there was someone else, too. But Lee Chanha shook his head.

“There’s a reason almost no people are left in the abyss. Life forms above a certain level of intelligence can’t survive here long. Most get eaten by monsters within a few days, or even if they make it, they end up killing themselves… If the team leader hadn’t been with us, we probably…”

His voice trailed off into a weak smile. Thinking about it, Yohan realized he was an unusual case. He had been lucky, and thanks to his purification ability, he’d survived without being corrupted. Otherwise, he would’ve been devoured by monsters before even meeting Lee Hyunmook.

Once Seo Yakrin recovered, they descended the building. The Korean signs were a welcome sight. Quite a few buildings were still intact. They settled into one of them and waited. But like Ju Hoyoung had said, the city didn’t bounce back out of the abyss.

Yoon Seungryong had already given up and was off scouting land for farming. Ju Hoyoung wasn’t too disappointed either, which meant he hadn’t expected much to begin with. Only Yohan stayed glum, clearly upset. Seeing the Korean city made him even more homesick.

“Yohan-ah.”

Lee Hyunmook approached as Yohan sipped on some drink Seungryong had brought him. Just being beside him made Yohan feel better, so he leaned into him and stared blankly up at the deep red sky of the Abyss.

“There really is no way out of here?”

“There must be. We just haven’t found it yet.”

Lee Hyunmook had never once given up on their purpose since they arrived here. He wrapped his arms around Yohan, who sighed and looked toward the once Black Mountain past the city skyline. Nestled there were glimmering white stones, shining like eternal snow.

He thought of their first settlement in the ruined Japan zone, now destroyed by the Flood. He’d grown attached to it, invested considerable effort and dedication in it, but it had been wiped out in an instant by that horrible disaster. Now that they’d seriously damaged the Abyss’ core, the Flood wouldn’t come back for a while. Even if it did, it probably wouldn’t be as dangerous.

But when that time came, they’d have to leave behind yet another place they’d grown attached to. Waiting for new zones to fall from Earth, settling down, leaving again, and repeating it over and over… The thought alone was exhausting. Was there really no way out? Or had they simply not found it yet, like Lee Hyunmook said? Yohan thought back on Ju Hoyoung’s theory.

‘Let’s say the Abyss is a stomach, and the Flood acts like a powerful gastric acid. And if it overfeeds, the abyss regurgitates it… then swallows it back down.’

He reconsidered his ability. He could purify and eliminate corruption. He could even erase digestive fluids. That would cause serious issues for the Abyss. No digestion, no absorption. His purification made the Abyss unable to process its food… and it was currently weakened after taking major damage.

Then, a thought flashed through his mind. Yohan recalled the other city zones they’d passed. All worn down, filthy, filled with monsters. But this Korean zone… it hadn’t even been here a month.

It was a big, undigested lump.

“I have to purify it.”

The words left his mouth in a murmur. Saying it aloud made it all click into place. He sprang to his feet and turned to his lover, who had been quietly watching over him. Eyes shining, Yohan shouted.

“Mr. Hyunmook, I think I know how we can get out of here!”

***

Yohan urgently gathered the group. They had been lazing around in the comfort of the new city zone, with nothing to do. Faces lit up as he explained, flushed with excitement.

“Look, I’ve been thinking. The abyss doesn’t just swallow any random place on Earth, right? It always starts where rifts appear and the corruption gets bad enough.”

“Yeah… I think that’s right.”

Yoon Seungryong frowned as he tried to recall, then nodded. One day, rifts appeared in the sky. Corruption rapidly increased around them. After months or years, a black hole-like phenomenon suddenly devoured everything in the area. That was how the Abyss worked.

“The Abyss can only consume corrupted land. So what if what Hoyoung saw was the abyss swallowing both a corrupted area and a nearby uncorrupted one… and spitting some of it back out? If we purify this entire city… maybe we can get out the same way!”

Yohan spilled it all out in a rush. Silence followed. Just as he began to shrink back, thinking he’d said something wrong, Seo Yakrin blinked and muttered.

“Huh. …Really?”

Then she jumped up, visibly excited. The theory sounded convincing. Even Ju Hoyoung, normally pale and withdrawn, had a rare flush of color in his face.

“That makes sense! We never had a purifier before… no one’s ever tried this. It might actually work!”

But Lee Chanha shook his head and frowned.

“It sounds plausible. But can you really purify an entire city, Yohan-gun?”

“I’m not sure…”

Yohan hesitated. His purification field was powerful, but thinking about the scale he’d used at the Reed Sea or the Black Mountain, he didn’t think he could cover the whole city.… Lee Hyunmook asked quietly, as if reading his thoughts.

“Yohan-ah. Your ability has improved significantly after you got sick recently, right?”

“Yes! And I’ve completely recovered now!”

Yohan bounced on his feet as he answered. Every time he pushed himself to his limit, his power had grown. And after nearly dying in the Abyss’s heart, the growth this time had been massive.

“Then let’s try it. Just don’t overdo it. And… we have to be ready for how the Abyss might react.”

Lee Hyunmook’s words made Yohan hesitate. He remembered the monsters swarming like rabid dogs when he tried to destroy the core. The others had said it was unusual for the Abysd to swallow a new zone so soon. If it had forced itself to eat just to replenish nutrients, it definitely wouldn’t sit back and let them undo that.