By Zephyria “The starting point of the Reed Sea….”
Even though it was called a sea, to Yohan’s eyes, it was just a reed plain in every direction. As the wind blew, the reeds, grown to a uniform size, swayed gently. Lee Hyun-muk stopped Yohan, who was tilting his head in confusion despite having only vaguely heard the explanation of the Reed Sea, and said.
“You could fall if you misstep even a little, so you have to be careful.”
“Ah, yes!”
Yohan stood obediently, sticking close to his side. Lee Hyun-muk swept his spear around the ground here and there, then gestured to Yohan as if to show him something.
“Watch closely.”
Lee Hyun-muk grabbed one of the gently swaying red reeds. As he slowly pulled, it became taut and then came along as he pulled. Long, long, looooong…. Yohan’s eyes grew wider. Only after pulling it for what must have been several meters did the root of the reed finally appear, marking its end.
“The reeds are this long?!”
“Yes. It’s so deep that such long reeds can grow here, so if you fall by mistake, it’ll hurt quite a bit, right? This is actually on the shorter side. It gets deeper the further inside you go.”
Is that a height that only ends with it hurting quite a bit? Yohan looked around again with a look of disgust. The red reed plain, which seemed to reach up to his thighs at first glance, now looked different. If all the reeds before him were this long, how deep must it be underneath?
Just as one cannot gauge the depth of a deep sea, Yohan could not gauge the depth of the reed sea before him. He could only vaguely guess at the darkness that cast a gloomy shadow beneath the swaying reeds. If Seo Yakrin weren’t hiding here, he would never have set foot in this place.
“Let’s head down carefully now.”
Following Lee Hyun-muk’s words, they headed in the direction the herd of deer had disappeared. Yohan gently scattered Light Particles. It was already dim and abyssal, but as they entered the reeds, a deep darkness instantly descended. Thanks to Yohan’s light, they could illuminate their surroundings.
Yoon Seung-ryong was at the very front. Whenever he carelessly swung his spear left and right like he was mowing grass, the reeds, as hard as bamboo, were cut with a rustling sound. The sound of reeds falling from above was constant. Looking up at the spots where the reeds had fallen, they could see the dark red sky through the narrow gaps. From now on, they were going to wander this vast, wide, and dark place searching for Seo Yakrin.
Swoosh… rustle… The reeds swaying and rippling from all sides sounded like waves. Other than that, it was utterly silent. Yohan already missed being outside the Reed Sea. Yohan, huddled and clutching his stone age Eternal Stone Weapon tightly, looked around when Lee Hyun-muk spoke.
“Yohan, remember the swamp from last time?”
“Yes? Yes!”
“Shall we train as we go, like we did then?”
Like they did then… That meant fending off attacks from monsters that could appear from anywhere. Of course, the difficulty was higher than before. The reeds were right next to them, limiting visibility and reducing the reaction distance for ambushes. Yohan, swallowing dryly, nodded bravely.
“…Okay. I’ll try!”
As soon as he mustered his courage, a rustling sound was heard. Something was flying towards them at high speed. Before Yohan could even notice and swing his weapon, there was a thwack! as the incoming object collided.
Letting out a screech, it writhed on the ground. It was a Bone Bird, like a corpse, which they had eaten not long ago. Before the bird, which seemed to be made only of skin and bone, could recover, Yohan swung his weapon again and killed it. Shuddering at the sensation of the monster’s life ending, he was surprised belatedly.
“How can they fly in such dense reeds?”
“Perhaps they became this dry, leaving only bones, to fly between the reeds?”
Yoon Seung-ryong said, picking up the Bone Bird and putting it into his spatial pocket. There wasn’t much meat, but it was a valuable ingredient. As they advanced, fending off flying Bone Birds, the ground nearby suddenly bulged.
“Aargh!”
Despite screaming, Yohan instinctively swung his weapon as he had learned. Plump, fleshy birds that sprang from the ground rushed to bite Yohan but were knocked away with a thump. Joo Ho-young quickly picked up the ones trying to escape and twisted their necks to kill them.
“Yes! Food secured. Thanks, Yohan-hyung.”
While Yohan clutched his chest, which was pounding wildly, Yoon Seung-ryong and Joo Ho-young rejoiced gleefully. As they moved, catching the Bone Birds and fleshy birds that suddenly appeared, Yohan gradually became less surprised as he grew accustomed to the ambushes. However, he was also overwhelmed. After all, no matter how many birds they caught, there was no end to them.
“There are so many… birds.”
Yohan whispered in a small voice, as if scared. As he focused all his senses on catching the birds emerging from the reeds and the ground, the nearby presences felt vivid, and their numbers were countless. Just in the vicinity, there were dozens, hundreds.
“The birds we saw on the plain were only a tiny fraction.”
If one listened closely, there was a strange cry, like that of an old person: Gieek, gieeeek. It was the cry of a Bone Bird. There was also the friction sound of hard wingtips rustling through the reeds. From the ground, fleshy birds chirped like babies’ laughter as they crawled.
“Yes. It’s truly like a sea, isn’t it? Especially these ones, they’re like schools of sardines or anchovies, so they have the largest population.”
Lee Hyun-muk said with the calm demeanor of a seasoned explorer who had roamed this place for decades. It was then. Bone Birds suddenly sprang out from Yohan’s right side. Unaccustomed to multiple simultaneous ambushes, Yohan instinctively scattered light. And the result was astonishing.
Screeeech!
Upon touching the light, the startled Bone Birds, no, the creatures that had returned to their original, emaciated forms after being purified, flew away. Yohan, surprised, looked at the light that had spread like an umbrella from the tip of his weapon. He could use it like this too! He hadn’t thought of it before when Yoon Seung-ryong teased him about an umbrella, but thinking about it differently, it also looked like a shield.
“Oh, that was pretty good just now?”
Yoon Seung-ryong praised, picking up one of the frozen birds, too surprised to move. Joo Ho-young also clapped enthusiastically.
“Yohan-hyung, that was a cool attack!”
Yohan looked at Lee Hyun-muk with a flushed face, and he too said with a smile.
“To use what you’ve learned in practice right away, your skills are improving. Excellent. You’re doing well.”
Yohan’s face turned even redder. It was an unintentional attack, like a sneeze or a hiccup, so he felt extremely embarrassed to be praised. It was even more so because the three of them were skilled individuals, and he knew they were aware of that fact. Yohan barely managed to reply with a barely audible “Thank you.”
However, purification was indeed the most powerful attack Yohan could unleash on corrupted monsters. With Lee Hyun-muk covering his back, Yohan could safely learn how to use his abilities. The purified monsters generally showed two reactions after he scattered light: they would flee in surprise, or they would freeze as if petrified. There were also a small number of monsters that, out of inertia, would continue to charge, but it was enough to fend them off with physical attacks.
“Always, without fail, and constantly.”
Lee Hyun-muk said skillfully, teaching Yohan how to properly master evasion and defense. A deep shadow fell beneath his handsome eyes, making his pupils darker.
“Your safety must be the absolute top priority.”
“Right. Always remember that a Healer or a Supporter is never a Dealer.”
Yoon Seung-ryong chimed in with advice. A Supporter isn’t a Dealer? Yohan unconsciously looked at Joo Ho-young, who shrugged.
“I’m not as good as you two, but I can handle the role of an average Dealer, so I’m an exception, Hyung.”
Honestly, from what Yohan had seen so far, Joo Ho-young’s abilities were more than that of an average Dealer. As he said, Lee Hyun-muk and Yoon Seung-ryong possessed such immense offensive power that Joo Ho-young sometimes seemed to be playing a Supporter role in comparison.
Yohan readily agreed with their words. If the combined offensive and defensive power of the two Dealers was 10, Joo Ho-young was about 3 to 5, and Yohan seemed to be around 0.1.
‘Am I really even 0.1?’
Yohan tried hard to dismiss the thought that he felt more like 0.01. No, perhaps 0.001…
In any case, as he became accustomed to the ambushes of birds that sprang out from so close by, and perfected his ability to block and evade, Yohan spotted a building amidst the reeds that grew impossibly high. Or rather, a massive structure that looked like a building. Its height and scale seemed comparable to a skyscraper, and its shape resembled a round tower built from packed earth.
“What on earth is that?”
He asked, dumbfounded. Yoon Seung-ryong, letting toxic miasma flow from his fingertips, replied.
“It’s an anthill. Probably termites. Good timing.”
“Termites?”
He unconsciously leaned forward, and a hand slipped under his armpit. Lee Hyun-muk grabbed him, lifted him, and set him down a good distance away, saying.
“It could be dangerous, so shall we move back a bit?”
By then, Joo Ho-young was also standing close behind Yohan. Ever since being swallowed by Black Mountain once, the three of them had been extremely concerned about Yohan’s safety, to the point of being overprotective. Yohan, still bearing trauma from Black Mountain, also tensed up and stayed as close to Lee Hyun-muk as possible.
Once Lee Hyun-muk confirmed Yohan was a safe distance away, Yoon Seung-ryong, letting out toxic miasma, slowly walked around the anthill. The gray toxic miasma flowed down his spear, drawing a large circle around the anthill.
After circling it several times, Yoon Seung-ryong moved the toxic miasma. The miasma, writhing like tentacles, approached the anthill and seeped inside. And a moment later, something crawled out of the anthill in swarms. Yohan let out a short scream.