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Lee Chanha, after hearing about the past events, the Black Mountain that had now become a Stained Mountain, and the mysterious core located at the center of the Abyss, fell into deep thought.
“So, my role is to protect Yohan, right?”
Yohan’s heart fluttered a little. Lee Hyunmook, Yoon Seungryong, Seo Yakrin—three dealers; Joo Hoyoung, one supporter; and finally, the tank Lee Chanha with Yohan himself as healer. It was a flawless composition with not a single role missing. To sort their abilities out once more:
Team leader Lee Hyunmook, dealer. Main ability: lightning.
Yoon Seungryong, dealer. Main ability: poison, secondary ability: spatial art.
Seo Yakrin, dealer. Main ability: telekinesis, secondary ability: Eternal Stone refining.
Joo Hoyoung, supporter. Main ability: enhancement buffs, secondary ability: ice system.
And the last to join, deputy leader Lee Chanha, tank. Main ability: defense; secondary ability: self-healing—in other words, regenerative power far superior to the others.
Of course, on top of that, there was also Hyunmook’s terrifying shadow, Joo Hoyoung’s speed, and Lee Chanha’s illusions. To Yohan, it seemed doable. Perhaps... this time they really might succeed in conquering and escape the Abyss. His heart was already pounding with the thought.
“Right. If Chanha protects Yohan firmly, the rest of us can focus on attacking. We’ll be able to inflict much more damage. In the end, the chance of reaching the core before losing reason to Bumram will go up.”
Yohan knew well that in the previous raid, because he was relatively vulnerable, everyone had been unable to give their all. But now, with Lee Chanha joining, if Yohan no longer needed to worry about being attacked, everyone could devote themselves solely to opening the path to the core.
“Then before we go in, let’s sync once.”
After resting enough within Yohan’s purification field for several days, the party stood up one by one. Wondering what “syncing” meant, Yohan walked over to Hyunmook. As they stepped down from the blotched Black Mountain and left the purification field, Lee Chanha gave a regretful glance.
They headed toward the brine lake. The unbearable stench from before was now only a trace, but the damp, clammy, and fishy atmosphere remained.
“Hoyoung inside the shield, Seungryong outside. The rest standby.”
Following his orders, the others except Lee Chanha, Joo Hoyoung, and Yoon Seungryong withdrew. Hyunmook spread an electric field, scanning the surroundings. A faint tingling brushed past, making Yohan flinch. Soon, Hyunmook turned his head toward a suitable target.
Rumble... the sky groaned low, then split apart as a bolt of lightning struck down near the brine lake. KWAANG! Even though the strike was much weaker than usual, in Yohan’s eyes it looked terrifying.
‘That was just a light hit...’
Yet even that equaled the full power of an upper Awakener’s strike. That was what was frightening. And yet, the stronger it was, the more reassuring. Yohan instinctively pressed closer to Hyunmook, who naturally wrapped an arm tightly around his waist.
The ground struck by lightning bulged and writhed. Tensing, Yohan gripped his spear tightly. What would come out? A mudskipper? A clam? What kind of sea creature had lived here? As he searched his memory, a grotesque form beyond imagining burst from the wet sand. freewebnoveℓ.com
Huge, long, writhing body, brown mottled skin constantly squirming, opaque and changing, countless claw-like legs groping at the ground and air....
Yohan’s face turned pale instantly. He had thought he was used to hideous monsters, but this one was truly revolting. Stammering, he asked,
“Wh-what... what is that?”
“Uh... doesn’t look like a fish? Not a clam either. Tsk, not an octopus, not a squid. Looks nasty—maybe we shouldn’t eat it?”
Saying that, Yoon Seungryong gripped his spear and dashed forward. Lee Chanha, who had been eyeing the filth clinging to his shoes with disgust since earlier, was no better. His obsessive cleanliness hadn’t changed even after escaping contamination. Breathing deeply, he glanced at Yohan and muttered, the whites of his eyes frighteningly bloodshot,
“I only trust in you, Yohan.”
“Y-yes. Just... trust me....”
Meeting that desperate gaze, Yohan agreed without thinking. Hearing his answer, Lee Chanha rushed forward with Joo Hoyoung, hurling himself at the revolting monsters. Seo Yakrin, who had been staring at them with narrowed eyes, suddenly clapped.
“Ah! Got it. They’re probably bristleworms.”
Bristle...worms? Even regular worms were disgusting, but adding “bristle” to it? The very name felt revolting, as if even the uncontaminated original form would be creepy. A name Yohan would never search online.
“When you’re fishing for black sea bream, nothing beats bait that size. Heh, maybe I should fish a bit. With my Eternal Stone rod, I could even fish here.”
While Seo Yakrin reminisced, the three were suddenly attacked by a furious swarm of bristleworms. Chanha was the first to throw up a shield. A transparent, blue-tinged glasslike barrier enclosed him and Joo Hoyoung. Then Yoon Seungryong released a dense, mistlike poison.
Grrrgle, grrrrgle... As the poison seeped in, the bristleworms went berserk, spewing foul mud-bubbles. The sight alone made Yohan nearly vomit, but he forced his eyes wide and endured. He had learned with his body in the Abyss that looking away from horror and disgust only made things worse.
The violet poison spread thick around them, but not a trace entered Chanha’s shield. That was the shield’s greatest strength—allowing allies inside to attack freely while blocking all outside elements.
Now, aside from Yohan, none of them really needed to hide inside a shield, being so powerful. But in the past, Seo Yakrin and Joo Hoyoung often attacked from inside it, as stray friendly fire could be ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) just as dangerous as the monsters.
While Seungryong’s poison inflicted constant damage from below, inside the shield Hoyoung safely fired ice arrows. Since this was just to test Chanha’s ability, everyone’s attacks were half-hearted. The worms’ tails and hooked teeth struck the barrier, but it didn’t budge.
Yohan’s face brightened. He had always been terrified during battles in the Abyss, though he forced himself to endure. But inside Chanha’s barrier, it felt a little less frightening. Then, suddenly, a dreadful thought occurred to him.
‘...But black sea bream aren’t the only ones that like bristleworms.’
Just then, several bristleworms exploded, spraying revolting fluids everywhere. And just as he feared, something else stirred in the brine lake, drawn by the commotion and the scent of prey. Yohan’s eyes widened.
It was an enormous monster with dozens of endless, writhing tentacles. Cephalopod? Jellyfish? Sea anemone? Whatever it was, its grotesque shape covered the place where the worms had died. Slurping whole clumps of muddy corpses into its body, it next turned its hunger toward the three humans.
Yohan wanted nothing more than to faint on the spot. Compared to underwater monsters, those that crawled or flew on land were like fairies. The creature slammed mercilessly into Chanha’s shield, seizing it with tentacles, pounding with its body, trying to drag them in. Sticky slime oozed down the barrier.
Now Seungryong withdrew to watch, and Hoyoung ceased attacking, gauging the shield’s endurance. Finally, the monster swallowed the orb-like barrier whole. Only Yohan panicked, while the others looked unconcerned—it seemed they all believed Chanha’s barrier could easily withstand it.
After about ten minutes of watching, Hyunmook stepped forward. Seo Yakrin quickly grabbed Yohan and pulled him far back. Black current crackled from Hyunmook’s body, and only then did Yohan realize—the true trial for Chanha wasn’t this disgusting beast.
Muttering lightly, Hyunmook unleashed black lightning. Crackle-crash! The feeding monster convulsed, whipping tentacles wildly. But the next strike roasted its nervous system and muscles, forcing agonized spasms.
Black-gray smoke billowed. The stench of flesh cooked alive filled the air. Too late to flee, the monster was pierced again by Hyunmook’s thunderclap, and collapsed with a crash.
Inside, Chanha and Hoyoung still endured within the barrier. Hyunmook seemed pleased that his lightning had been withstood several times. Only Chanha and Hoyoung were pale. Soon the flickering shield vanished.
“Well done holding out.”
Hyunmook praised Chanha, who crawled out drenched in filth. But Chanha ignored the praise, staggering desperately toward Yohan and clinging to him. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
“Y-Yohan. Yohan... Please, have mercy on this pitiful one....”
“I’ll purify you, so please, please stop kneeling!”
Quickly, Yohan poured light into Chanha, whose half-crazed eyes glowed red. Only after the foul sludge vanished from his body did Chanha calm down at last. Watching, Hyunmook’s eyes curved into a smile.
“I like him very much.”
Startled, Yohan looked at him. Hyunmook was smiling as he spoke.
“The more desperate he is, the harder he’ll try to protect you. Chanha will put you above everything else. That’s good.”
Sensing his sincerity, Yohan was flustered. Even Chanha seemed unbothered by such words. Yohan thought about protesting, but it seemed useless, so he replied firmly,
“Then I’ll also do my best to protect you all!”
Though he didn’t have overwhelming attack power like the others, instead of envying or shrinking back, Yohan resolved to work hard at what only he could do. He knew well how important his role here was. Hearing this, Hyunmook smiled softly.
“Good, Yohan. I’ll be counting on you.”
Then, placing his large hand on Yohan’s head, he pressed a kiss onto his forehead—turning Yohan’s face crimson.
