Free Web Novel“But Eternal Stones are incredibly hard ore, aren’t they? The hardest substance in existence, something nothing can damage.” freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Why else would they be called Eternal Stones? No matter how high the heat, how many chemicals were poured over them, or how strong a blow was struck, they never wore down, never scratched. They were material that defied scientific explanation.
“...That’s true.”
Yoon Seungryong’s expression grew thoughtful. He understood what Yohan was getting at. Seo Yakrin turned his gaze away from the black mountain to look at him. Joo Hoyoung, who had been about to turn on his game console, tucked it back away and stared at Yohan. The idea Yohan had just voiced furrowed his brow with worry.
“Then the Eternal Stones—the black mountain—could they gnaw through that bedrock layer?”
“Uh... wait, could they? Maybe...?”
Since Yohan’s words sounded plausible, everyone’s eyes turned to Lee Hyunmook. Seo Yakrin asked urgently.
“Team leader, are we going to the black mountain?”
“Well... Yohan says he’s scared of going there.”
At Hyunmook’s words, Yohan’s face flushed. Everyone else nodded with expressions that seemed to say, ‘If Yohan’s scared, then there’s no helping it!’ The reaction made him feel like a child throwing a tantrum. Deeply embarrassed, he blurted out hastily.
“N-no, I am scared! But... if there’s a possibility, at least we could take a look, right?”
“Right, Yohan’s correct.”
Hyunmook’s voice was so warm it felt as if he would have agreed even if Yohan had claimed you could ferment soy paste with red beans. Almost teasing. After seriously considering Yohan’s idea, he spoke to Seo Yakrin.
“Yakrin. Want to go again? If we’re to go beneath the black mountain, there has to be a path, right? At least we need to know if such a path exists.”
“Got it. I’ll head out right away!”
Seo Yakrin and Joo Hoyoung were about to leave immediately, but Yohan stopped them, urging them to rest first. He was worried about Seo Yakrin, who had shown signs of madness earlier. It seemed he was right—both accepted his words and stayed. After several days of rest and plenty of Yohan’s purification, they returned to the black mountain. Seo Yakrin came back with a surprisingly specific answer.
“It says we should go to a giant water pool.”
At those words, Yohan felt it instinctively. The time had come to leave the Reed Sea and move to a new region.
* * *
At the mention of a giant water pool, everyone except Yohan immediately seemed to know where. Yohan, bewildered, looked at them until Hyunmook explained with a smile.
“There’s a huge salt lake, probably a part of the sea that shifted inland. There’s no other lake around here, so it must mean that one.”
“A salt lake?”
Yohan asked uneasily. By now, he knew the Abyss well enough. Surely, like every other area, hideous monsters would inhabit it. But then he thought optimistically:
‘As long as it’s not the Bumram!’
He was with Hyunmook, Seungryong, Seo Yakrin, and Joo Hoyoung. Except for Go Jaewon and Lee Chanha, the Sunrise Team had four members gathered again. Each one was stronger now than before they’d fallen into the Abyss. And if the Bumram appeared, Yohan could handle it. Their lineup was nearly perfect: three dealers, one supporter. No tank, but Yohan himself was a purifier—a healer.
“Well, we’ll be fine! There are five of us now!”
Eyes shining proudly, he said it with confidence. Hyunmook, watching him quietly, reached over and stroked his hair. Then the other teammates joined in, ruffling his head as they passed, leaving Yohan dazed.
They gathered as much food as possible, packing precious fruit and vegetable seeds, and left the Reed Sea they had stayed in for so long. With Seo Yakrin along, neither bone-birds nor flesh-birds bothered them at all—so much so that they were scarcely seen. Remembering how Seo Yakrin had once controlled the birds when contaminated, Yohan asked curiously.
“Yakrin-noona, can you still control the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) birds now?”
“Haha, no! They just remember my aura and won’t come near. But I can still do this.”
Laughing heartily, Seo Yakrin bit her finger and let out a sharp whistle. Instantly, flesh-birds burst from the ground in a frenzy, looking around in confusion as if they themselves didn’t know why. Seo Yakrin caught them at once in a golden telekinetic net she had prepared and shouted.
“Lunch is taken care of!”
With roasted bird meat as their meal, they traveled on. Gradually, the reeds and grass that had reached up to their thighs grew shorter and more sparse. Crossing the wastelands that separated regions, Yohan glanced back at the black mountain.
‘The colors are spreading more and more....’
For the first time, in the Abyss’s murk of black, filth, and red, other colors had appeared—faint pastel rainbow hues creeping outward, expanding their territory little by little each day. Yohan prayed that this change would be something good.
* * *
The salt lake was quite far away. Since the wasteland held nothing, they had to pass through neighboring zones. It took nearly two months to reach the salt lake from the Reed Sea, gathering food and water in a place known as the High Mountains along the way. By then, Yohan had already spent a full year in the Abyss.
‘My family... by now they must believe I’m dead.’
After only a year, his life on Earth already felt like the distant past. He was slumping his shoulders in gloom when—
“Yohan.”
A gentle voice called his name, a hand draping warmly over his shoulder. When he looked up, Hyunmook was pointing.
“That’s the salt lake.”
“Wow...!”
Yohan’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open. Then he gulped and muttered.
“Really... it looks like somewhere I don’t want to go near.”
The salt lake spread vast as a sea, even from this distance. Like a dark, shadowy pool filling the land. But what frightened Yohan was not its size. Thick fog blanketed the lake’s edges, and beyond the mist, ominous shapes writhed and slithered, then vanished. Faint wails echoed through the air. Just as Yohan was thinking, Maybe it was always like this, Yoon Seungryong scratched his cheek and said:
“No, this wasn’t here before. Why’s it changed?”
“There definitely wasn’t fog before, right?”
Joo Hoyoung, uneasy, quietly slipped his game console into Yohan’s backpack. The fog was so heavy that the ground was damp and muddy. Even Hyunmook and Seo Yakrin stood frozen, staring into the mist, which only worsened Yohan’s dread. Soon Hyunmook gave orders.
“The fog is too thick. Better not approach the lake too closely.”
“Shame. I thought maybe we could eat sashimi again.”
Seungryong joked, but his sharp eyes kept scanning the fog. They followed Hyunmook’s lead, keeping as much distance as possible from the lake.
“Ugh, that stench....”
Hoyoung, whose stomach was weak, grimaced and gagged. From the lake came a sickly, cloying stench carried on the wind, mixed with the rotting-fish stench of long-decayed flesh. Yohan covered his nose with his sleeve. If it was this bad even from afar, closer in they would hardly be able to breathe.
“Hoyoung, come here.”
Yohan formed a glowing sphere of light around the group. Instantly the foul smell vanished, replaced with crisp, clean air. Even Hyunmook, who had endured silently, relaxed a little. He studied the shining sphere.
“Yohan, don’t overexert yourself. A bit of smell won’t bother me.”
“This much isn’t hard. The range is small.” ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
He wasn’t lying. After creating a huge dome of purification at the Reed Sea, his confidence had grown. This little barrier hardly strained him at all. Just then, as their spirits lifted, Seo Yakrin stopped.
“What’s that?”
On the ground ahead, something strange jutted upward—a hand reaching skyward, clutching a round object. But when it shifted slightly and stared at them, they realized it was no orb but an eye.
The ground shattered. From beneath, a massive monster burst out, baring its fangs and lunging savagely. Only after taking in its full form did Yohan guess what it had once been.
A mudskipper.
But unlike ordinary mudskippers, this one dwarfed even an orca. Its skin oozed slimy mucus, its eyes bulged and stretched skyward like stalks, its glands or sacs puffing grotesquely with each breath.
Meeeehhk, mehhk!
Uttering comical goat-like cries, the ravenous monster mudskipper charged. But in that instant, golden mist seized its tail. Its bulging eyes turned just as Yoon Seungryong’s spear sliced its head. Blood gushed like a waterfall as the beast thrashed a few times, then collapsed.
