Free Web Novel“Ugh, the smell.”
Yoon Seungryong scowled as he hacked the mudskipper apart to make sure it was dead, splattered all over with blood and slime. Yohan, who had been watching from behind Hyunmook, hurried over to purify him clean. As he did, he glanced at the spot where the mudskipper had emerged. Foul-smelling water was oozing up to fill it. It hadn’t been just a mudflat after all.
“Since a mudskipper came out, I guess this was like a tidal flat.”
“We’ll have to be careful. It wasn’t such a wreck before.”
Hyunmook came closer, studying the hole where the mudskipper had burst out. After purifying the corpse, Yohan showed interest in the puddle forming there. In the Abyss, drinking water was always the most precious resource. Yoon ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Seungryong dipped a gourd full, and the water was thick with greasy scum floating on top. Yohan winced.
“Then I’ll purify this, too.”
The liquid was like sewage, but the moment Yohan’s light touched it, it cleared. Yet the salty smell did not vanish. Doubtful, Yohan dipped a finger to taste it—and his eyes widened.
“It’s salty water!”
“Huh? Let me—whoa, it is salty. Seawater bubbling up here? Is it connected to the lake?”
Yohan poured more light into the water, focusing so hard that his brow furrowed, trying to strip away the saltiness. But no matter how he purified, it stayed briny. Disappointed, he pulled back, and Joo Hoyoung reassured him. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
“Hyung, don’t worry. With this humidity, it’s easy to get drinking water. Look.”
Just as he said, with a flick of his hand, chunks of ice formed in the air and fell. Water wouldn’t be a problem. Seo Yakrin, watching Yohan’s disappointed attempt to “purify” the salt water, thought for a moment and said:
“Maybe it’s because it’s a substance the body itself needs, so ‘purification’ doesn’t work on it?”
“A substance the body needs?”
“Right. If your body lost its sodium, you’d be in serious trouble, wouldn’t you?”
At her words, Yohan remembered the time in the jungle when he’d been trapped in hallucinations. Then, too, he couldn’t purify the substance, because it had beneficial effects on the body. With no other choice, he gave up on trying to purify the salty water, thinking to himself:
‘So the standard for purification... is my body? But plastic and metal don’t get purified either. Maybe the reference is Earth’s materials. ...No, it feels more complicated than that. And...’
He reflected again on the very concept of “purification.” Until now, he had only thought of it as a way to aid allies, to keep the environment clean and restore sanity. But now he realized—it was far more than that.
From the perspective of the Abyss, contamination, and the Bumram, purification was hostile, aggressive, destructive. Almost on the level of deletion, of annihilation. No wonder the Bumram had hunted him so persistently.
For the Abyss, a purifier was practically a mortal enemy. When it had swallowed Yohan, it was as if it had swallowed poison.
* * *
The mudskipper’s flesh was chewy and delicious. Luckily, Yohan’s purification extended to foul odors too, removing the stench from the meat.
After eating and digesting, Yohan withdrew his purification sphere, at Hyunmook’s instruction not to waste strength just filtering out the stink. The acrid smell rolled in again, and everyone wrinkled their noses until they grew somewhat accustomed.
Since they were surrounded by mudflats, their shelter wasn’t much. They spread the skin of the mudskipper they’d slain across the soggy ground and laid mattresses on top. The fog grew even denser until they could hardly make out the lake’s outline.
“Makes me want to go back to the Reed Sea.”
Seo Yakrin muttered, glaring pointlessly at the black mountain. Yohan wholeheartedly agreed. Wrapped in purification, the stench barely reached him, but when a whiff slipped through, his head throbbed. Joo Hoyoung sighed deeply, complaining as he set down his game.
“Even if it’s the Abyss, this stench is overkill.”
“Looks to me like something’s rotting alive in that lake. Let’s finish quickly and leave this place. Settling in the Russia zone would be perfect.”
Seungryong grumbled about the stink soaking into their food and supplies. Then, from beyond the fog, came a chilling wail—like a whale’s cry, or someone weeping. Goosebumps prickled across Yohan’s skin. Hyunmook drew him into his arms and murmured.
“Whatever it is, it must be enormous.”
His tone was calm, unshaken, without the slightest hint of fear. Yohan, in his warm, steady embrace, felt reassured. As long as Hyunmook was with him, he could endure even this horrific Abyss.
After that uneasy rest, the group moved again. Keeping as far from the lake as possible, they approached the black mountain. This time Hyunmook held Yohan’s hand and intertwined their fingers. Embarrassing, but it meant that even if they were buried alive again, they wouldn’t be separated. Yohan squeezed his hand back firmly.
“Maybe we should tie Yohan up with a rope?”
The others didn’t laugh, but nodded seriously. Seungryong even produced a carabiner and a metal chain from his pack, linking Yohan directly to Hyunmook. Ordinary rope might snap in combat.
Aside from Yohan’s embarrassment, everyone seemed satisfied. They had walked on like this for a while when suddenly, the nearby black mountain shook. The one closest to them split open, revealing a dark cave whose mouth was lined with glittering Eternal Stones like crystal teeth.
“Team leader, what do we do?”
Everyone turned to their leader, awaiting instructions. Hyunmook stepped to the entrance, gazing inside. Yohan thought he saw something black and immense slip past underfoot, rushing inside, and the cave itself seemed to shudder in response.
‘What was that?’
Confused, he looked down, but Hyunmook, after staring a long while into the cave, slowly nodded.
“We’ll enter. I’ll lead. Then Seungryong, Yohan, Yakrin, and Hoyoung last.”
Following his orders, they drew their weapons and stepped inside. Yohan scattered motes of light to brighten the darkness. Wherever the light touched, the Eternal Stones glowed softly.
The tunnel carved by the black mountain sloped steeply downward. What lay at the end? Uneasy imaginings welled up, mingled with faint hope that perhaps it might be a way out.
The deeper they descended, the heavier the air pressed down. Yohan could see sweat beading on the back of Seungryong’s neck before him. He too was tense. Yohan’s own palms, gripping his spear, were damp. After nearly an hour walking single file, Hyunmook halted.
“...This is the end of the passage.”
“So Yohan was right, it really pierced through the rock layer.”
Seungryong muttered, looking at fragments of Eternal Stone scattered on the ground. Before them yawned a tunnel chewed through the bedrock by countless ages of Eternal Stones. Beyond it, only vast, oppressive darkness. Trembling, Yohan forced himself to sound steady as he asked.
“Should I send some light in?”
“Yes. Don’t go closer, just send the light.”
Swallowing hard, Yohan shaped a shaft of radiance, spread it wide, then folded it like a paper airplane and launched it past Hyunmook’s shoulder into the gloom. The glowing craft scattered brilliant sparks as it flew into the void.
At last, they saw what lay beyond.
Encased within a shell of hard rock was a massive, round chamber. At its center spiraled a pit, coiling downward like an ammonite fossil. And in every curve of that spiral writhed countless monsters. They did not fight, only squirmed, entangled, turning their heads as one toward the newcomers.
“...!”
Yohan clapped a hand over his mouth. The black mountain had swallowed monsters for endless ages—and here they were, piled together like a mountain of writhing maggots. The grotesque forms, crawling and seething, looked like something from a nightmare. Thousands, tens of thousands of monsters fixed their gazes on the shining paper plane. Then they wailed as one, stretching out limbs and tentacles, the light flickering dangerously under their assault.
“What the hell is this.”
Seo Yakrin ground his teeth, muttering.
“Did this bastard lead us here on purpose, to bury us alive?”
Fury flared, golden mist rising faintly from her body. Meanwhile Yohan, straining with all his will to keep the light alive despite the shock, suddenly cried out.
“In the middle of the monsters—there was something! Something...!”
Something deeply ominous, unholy. A heart, or a brain, or perhaps an even more vital core. A grotesque mass of worms, maggots, rot, mud, pus, boils, brains, tentacles—all fused together—oozing sticky liquid like the Bumram itself...!
