FLIA 54

When the Eternal Stone touched it, a wave of light burst forth, far clearer than before, incomparable to what had happened earlier. The wave rippled outward like an echo, then returned, and the space containing Yohan began to writhe.

“Ahhh!”

Startled by the shifting surroundings, Yohan screamed and clutched his weapon tightly. As the walls began to close in on him, he instinctively unleashed his power with all his strength. A brilliant light, so bright it blinded him, filled and overflowed from the cramped space, seeping into the walls of black stone. The black mineral that had been closing in on him rippled and trembled as if startled.

Rumble…! Boom, boom!
Loud crashes of stones and rubble echoed all around. Yohan squeezed his eyes shut and curled into a ball, shielding his head. The terrifying image of being crushed to death consumed his mind. But even after a long while, no stone struck him, and no crushing weight followed.

“Hah… hngh…”

Trembling, Yohan slowly lifted his head and blinked. Incredibly, the space that had once been suffocatingly tight had suddenly opened up. The terrible noise he’d heard earlier had been the sound of that expansion.

The cavern, now vast, echoed when he made a sound. It was dark on all sides, like a cave made of obsidian. But if one looked closely, faint lights shimmered from scattered gray minerals.

“What the hell is going on…?”

Yohan muttered in confusion. The Abyss defied all logic compared to Earth. He had suspected the Black Mountain was like a living creature, but to think it could move this dynamically… While sitting frozen for a long time, Yohan eventually noticed some crystals behind him glowing more brightly than the rest.

The transparent crystals shimmered softly, varying in size, some no bigger than a thumbnail, others long and thick like a forearm. As he stared, mesmerized, a sense of déjà vu crept over him. What was this feeling? It felt so familiar. He muttered without realizing:

“Is this… Eternal Stone?”

The words startled him, and he slowly scanned his surroundings again. Could all these black minerals really be Eternal Stone?

Eternal Stone, an unchanging, uncorruptable substance found only in living organisms, a crystallized fragment that remained pure no matter the environment. Which meant, in other words, that the entire Black Mountain…

All of it, the countless ridges spanning the Abyss…All Eternal Stone? A substance so rare it was usually only found in especially strong and massive monsters?

Then just how many living beings had this Abyss consumed over time?

Yohan swayed, overwhelmed by the terrifying realization. His body trembled with renewed fear toward the Abyss.

“So that’s why the Flood can’t easily invade the Black Mountain…”

Eternal Stone wasn’t called that for nothing. Without intervention from someone with a special ability, it couldn’t be corrupted, broken, or altered. It was the hardest material in existence. Not even the Flood could affect it.

Finally regaining his senses, Yohan exhaled deeply and curled up. Though it wasn’t as suffocating as before, being alone in such a vast space was still unsettling. He huddled there, completely deflated. As the shock over the mountain’s true nature began to wear off, tears welled up again.

“Heuuuu… I’m scared… I really, hic, hate this… I want to go home…”

Like a firefly flickering in the darkness, Yohan wept loudly, his sobs echoing. He didn’t even notice that a few of the Eternal Stones catching his tears were slowly turning from obsidian black to crystal-clear. The fear that he might have to spend the rest of his life trapped here made the tears flow endlessly.

Eventually, Yohan cried himself to sleep. When he awoke, he hesitated for a while, then slowly opened his eyes, he was still alone in the massive cavern of Eternal Stone.

“Hic… hngh… hic…”

With puffy eyes, he sniffled and opened his backpack. It held various supplies for emergencies. Still whimpering, he pulled out a water bottle and drank. After sipping sparingly, he sluggishly took out his emergency rations.

“Huuuuu, sniff, hhhngh… Hyunmook-hyung…”

Crying as he thought of Lee Hyunmook, he tore open the ration pack. After taking a big bite that puffed out his cheeks, he sobbed again, then chewed with tears streaming down. Only after finishing one ration did the tears finally slow. A bit of hope stirred in him. He remembered what Lee Hyunmook once told him.

“Yohan-ah, my negative enhancement is…”

Like Yoon Seungryong and Ju Hoyoung, Hyunmook also had a negative enhancement. Thinking about it made Yohan feel painfully lonely, but paradoxically, it gave him strength now. Swallowing a sob, he spoke loudly, as if to steel himself.

“There’s only… hic… two bottles of water… so I have to conserve as much as possible.”

Stop crying. He wiped his tear-swollen eyes with his sleeve and sniffled. Then he rummaged through his bag again and pulled out Ju Hoyoung’s console. He had likely entrusted it to Yohan so it wouldn’t get damaged during battle. Playing a few rounds lifted Yohan’s mood a little. After turning it off and putting it away, he looked around the cavern again.

“…Should I try purifying more?”

Lee Hyunmook, Yoon Seungryong, and Ju Hoyoung were surely looking for him by now. And if they had to choose between searching cramped coffin-like spaces or this large cavern, it would obviously be the latter. Remembering how the space had expanded after he purified it earlier, Yohan reached toward one of the nearby black Eternal Stones.

“…Ah!”

As he channeled his purification, the black faded from the stone. More precisely, the grime on the surface seemed to wash away. Soon, it turned as clear as ice and emitted a soft blue glow. The transformation was so beautiful that Yohan forgot his despair and stared in awe. Then he flinched and stepped back in shock.

“It… it’s moving.”

The fully purified Eternal Stone made a grinding sound as it shifted. It drifted away and glowed faintly in the distance. Calming his startled heart, Yohan purified another nearby stone. This one shone with a brilliant golden light, like it held the sun. It too slowly moved away from him.

Yohan began purifying stones as if entranced. Pink, blue, white, green… Stones of various colors sparkled. As he watched, Yohan finally realized something.

“They’re… arranging themselves evenly.”

By the time his power reached its limit, purified stones surrounded him on all sides, glowing with soft or vibrant lights in an aurora-like array. Yohan forgot his fear and watched in wonder.

“It looks like stars in the night sky…”

Colorful stars sparkling in pitch-black darkness. He never imagined he’d witness such a sight buried deep inside the Black Mountain.

***

“Ugh…”

Yohan groaned as he woke up. Sleeping on a lumpy floor instead of a mattress left his whole body sore. As he yawned and stretched, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Did I really purify that many last night…?”

About a tenth of the cavern’s Eternal Stones were now sparkling. They had been scattered like stars the night before, but now it looked like they’d multiplied in his sleep. Sitting cross-legged, Yohan pondered.

What exactly is Eternal Stone…? Its properties were too bizarre to be just monster byproducts. It couldn’t be damaged or broken, and it made abilities easier to control, either strengthening them or increasing their precision.

Suddenly, he remembered when he had hallucinations in the jungle flower field. The two miniature versions of Lee Hyunmook and Yoon Seungryong chattering away, those Eternal Stones, or rather Absolute Steel pieces, felt like… the essence of something.

Maybe even something like a soul.

…No, it couldn’t be a soul, right? Still, the feeling is so strange.

Just like in the Black Mountain, he sensed eyes watching him even here. If he were still hallucinating, would he be hearing whispers from all directions?

That thought somehow made him feel a little less scared.

“When will Hyunmook-hyung come get me…”

Every time he found himself in a bind, he called out “Hyunmook-hyung,” unlike his usual tone, yet Yohan never really noticed. As he snacked on emergency rations, he suddenly wondered, what if… maybe… Lee Hyunmook, Yoon Seungryong, and Ju Hoyoung also had something like Eternal Stones inside them?

Like stones… no, maybe more like pearls forming inside?

With idle thoughts like that, he slowly chewed his rations. Then he sat quietly, finally summoning the courage to stand. The cavern somehow felt larger than yesterday as he walked around, picking out especially large and long Eternal Stones to purify.

Days passed, or maybe more, it was hard to tell. But Yohan was amazed by what he’d created. The obsidian-like cave was now a glowing crystal cavern. The colors and brilliance were something he never imagined he’d see in the Abyss, especially not in the Black Mountain, buried alive.

“There’s no sign of corruption at all.”

He murmured as he touched the largest crystal. This cavern of Eternal Stones, so dazzling and beautiful it couldn’t even exist on Earth, was his creation. As pride bloomed in his chest, Yohan tilted his head in wonder.

“Is it… still spreading outward?”