Chapter 90: The Core’s Embrace

They stared at the core in silence for a while.

No joy or emotion stirred within them.

It was unclear if this was due to the sheer exhaustion of finally reaching their destination, or the unsettling sight of the grotesque, writhing mass of darkness.

“We’ve seen enough for now. Let’s head back,” Sagyeol suggested.

Despite his stern expression, Sagyeol’s mind remained remarkably calm.

If the core truly presented such a state, there was only one viable method of approach.

Yeowon would have to enter alone and resolve it, just as he had always done.

‘This is insane,’ Sagyeol thought, gritting his teeth.

He had never imagined the core would be in such a horrific state.

Rarely did he blame himself, yet a wave of self-reproach washed over him.

‘I should have left Yeowon behind.’

By any measure, this was no ordinary Black Mist.

The ominous aura it exuded felt akin to a living, breathing monster.

If something within had truly created it, that entity was certainly no mere magical creature.

“Yes,” Yeowon managed, turning Reph around.

Yu Seong’s expression was deeply unsettled, yet he wisely chose to remain silent.

The three of them returned to the base camp in an instant.

The camp, which had been buzzing with the thrilling news of reaching the core and the scouts’ reports of something immense, fell into an abrupt silence upon seeing the returned trio’s grim expressions.

The hardened visages of the two men, who rarely displayed even a flicker of alarm, conveyed that this was no ordinary matter.

Sagyeol immediately convened an emergency meeting.

A select few leaders from other guilds, who had not fallen behind during the arduous journey, also participated.

A hologram shimmered above the table, displaying a map of the flood zone crafted from Yeowon’s intelligence.

A vivid red dot in the center marked the core, while a neighboring blue dot indicated the base camp.

The distance between them was a mere three kilometers.

“Too close,” Sagyeol muttered, pulling the blue dot back.

“We need to move the camp back.”

The assembled individuals exchanged hesitant glances.

Their eyes collectively turned towards Lee Hyun-su.

With a sigh, the Vice Guild Master finally took the initiative.

“What exactly did you see? You need to explain that first.”

Sagyeol’s cheeks hardened, a flush of mortification creeping up his neck.

He had been so profoundly flustered that he’d failed to recall such an obvious, crucial detail.

Sagyeol closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again, his gaze now steely as it swept across the assembled group.

Sagyeol recounted what he had witnessed as objectively as possible.

A wave of murmurs spread through the room like a contagion.

Initially, the hunters actively exchanged frantic opinions with their neighbors, but this did not last.

A heavy, oppressive silence soon descended upon the interior of the tent.

Everyone had reached the same conclusion.

Their gazes, feigning casualness, drifted towards Yeowon.

“I’ll—”

“First.”

Before Yeowon could utter, ‘I’ll go,’ Sagyeol hastily brought the meeting to an abrupt close.

“Let’s move the base camp back first, then we can discuss this again.”

…

The core’s magical energy, while stagnant like other Black Mist, was far from static.

A colossal current of power pulsed even from afar, menacing sparks erupted, and it seemed as though dozens of colossal snakes writhed within its depths.

To send Yeowon into such a place, utterly alone?

‘Absolutely not,’ Sagyeol thought.

Despite his tumultuous thoughts, one conviction was etched clearly into his mind: he absolutely could not send Yeowon.

It was at that very moment he resolved it, a fierce determination settling within him.

“Returnee?!”

He snapped back to reality at the startled, incredulous cry.

An icy wave of dread surged through him, chilling him to the bone.

Sagyeol’s head whipped around, only to see Yeowon already mounted on Reph, amidst everyone busily moving to relocate.

“I’ll go take another quick look.”

“Yeowon!”

Reph’s powerful legs were a step faster than Sagyeol’s desperate cry.

Swallowing a curse, Sagyeol quickly mounted Rephtha as well.

Even as he pursued from a distance, a gnawing anxiety consumed Sagyeol, fearing that Yeowon might impulsively charge straight into the core.

Reph ascended the same towering building once more.

Sagyeol, his hand sweeping across his chest in an attempt to calm his racing heart, approached and stood directly behind Yeowon.

Yeowon did not turn around; he didn’t even ask why Sagyeol had come.

More accurately, it seemed he hadn’t even registered Sagyeol’s presence at all.

Yeowon could not tear his gaze away from the core.

There was no doubt: the voice of impulse was emanating directly from within its depths.

That ominous place was the true starting point of everything—Lee Myeong-hwan’s mansion and the headquarters of the Three Crescent Moons Guild.

It was the very site where the Great Catastrophe had begun twenty years prior.

‘Perhaps that Great Catastrophe, too…’ Yeowon’s thoughts trailed off, and he deliberately disrupted them.

It was a baseless assumption, and he had no idea how such a thing could have occurred, yet he knew the terrifying possibility was immense.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t look alright.”

Sagyeol embraced Yeowon from behind, his arms a reassuring anchor.

A profound sense of stability finally settled over Yeowon, as if his feet, which had been floating adrift, had at last found solid ground.

He exhaled softly, allowing the tension to drain from his body.

Supporting Yeowon, Sagyeol quietly murmured, “Is there a demon capable of creating such a thing?”

“An ordinary demon wouldn’t be able to,” Yeowon replied, a subtle, unsettling nuance in his tone.

“Meaning, an extraordinary demon could.”

“It’s merely my conjecture,” Yeowon whispered, his low voice betraying an undeniable tremor of anxiety.

Sagyeol pressed his lips to Yeowon’s nape.

“Don’t think about it.”

“Think about what?”

“What you’re thinking right now.”

He struggled to keep his seething thoughts from showing, a tumultuous storm brewing beneath his calm facade.

Upon hearing Yeowon’s answer, he instantly pictured the bastard responsible—the one who had toyed with Yeowon’s heart.

A fierce, murderous intent boiled within him for the unknown assailant, a face he’d never even seen.

Yeowon spoke with a weary sigh.

“I get it, so you stop thinking about it too.”

“Was it that obvious?”

Yeowon nodded, a subtle confirmation.

Since their thoughts were already exposed, Sagyeol no longer bothered to hide his feelings and openly growled.

“If that bastard from the demon realm ever shows his face, I’ll freeze his guts solid.”

Yeowon involuntarily imagined a battle between Sagyeol and the demon, a chilling scenario playing out in his mind.

No matter how many simulations he ran, Sagyeol never emerged victorious.

In every conceivable scenario, he was… brutally… defeated.

‘Stop it.’

It hadn’t happened, and it wouldn’t happen, Yeowon silently insisted.

He gently patted Sagyeol’s arm, a silent plea.

“Don’t even dream of it. Absolutely not. That guy is….”

“Beyond all limits, you mean? I know. You’ve hammered it into my head.”

Sagyeol grumbled, but Yeowon had no intention of backing down.

“If such a thing truly happens, swear here and now that you’ll run without looking back.”

The eyes that had been fixed intently on the core finally turned to him.

Yet, despite this, Sagyeol found he couldn’t simply be happy.

Smiling bitterly, he answered obediently.

“I’ll do as you say.”

Immediately afterward, Yeowon turned and pressed a kiss to Sagyeol’s lips.

Sagyeol’s eyes widened in surprise for a fleeting moment, then he plunged into the kiss with more passionate fervor than ever before.

A snort!

If Reph hadn’t interrupted, it would have been a very long, lingering kiss.

“I like you.”

Sagyeol’s mind raced, trying to recall what day it was.

‘Is it my birthday?’ he mused. ‘Ah, we did discover the core. But can such a discovery truly bring this much happiness?’

“I…,” Sagyeol began, his body limp and relaxed as he opened his mouth to reply.

Rumble.

The core undulated violently, and a small explosion erupted from within.

Like a solar flare, a colossal mass of magical energy surged upwards with terrifying force.

The magic, splitting into several distinct tendrils, precisely slammed into the building, snatching Yeowon’s lower body.

“…!!”

Sagyeol extended his hand, unleashing a torrent of ice in a purely reflexive response.

Clang!

However, his attack-specialized attribute proved ineffective; it could neither hold Yeowon back nor block the surging magic.

In an instant, Yeowon’s form vanished entirely, swallowed by the core’s depths.

The memory of what had transpired on the airship flashed through Sagyeol’s shock-frozen mind.

He slammed his fist against the side of his head, chastising himself.

‘This is no time to be recalling such useless things,’ he thought, enraged.

Reph, who had been standing beside him, suddenly thrust his head between Sagyeol’s legs.

Sagyeol’s body, suspended in mid-air, slid effortlessly down the creature’s neck, settling firmly onto its back.

With Sagyeol’s waist gripped tightly by its mane, Reph then leaped from the building.

After merely two steps on the vines, the creature reached the ground and began to gallop at a terrifying speed.

In moments, they stood directly before the core, at the exact spot where Yeowon had been swallowed.

Sagyeol dismounted Reph, glared at the spot for a moment, then, without hesitation, leaped into the core.

Thump!

“What…?”

Sagyeol was immediately repelled, bouncing back from the impenetrable barrier.

It felt as if he had thrown himself against solid jelly, not magic.

Another attempt yielded the same result.

This Black Mist was fundamentally different from any he had encountered before.

He could no longer move forward, his body rigid.

He could only stare, his expression hardened, at the writhing core.

The magic that had coiled around his lower body dissipated, assimilating into the other magical energies the moment he stepped inside.

Simultaneously, he realized this place was fundamentally different from any Black Mist he had previously encountered.

Shhhhhh.

Black particles surged like a sandstorm, a magic so dense he could feel it brushing against his skin.

Nothing was visible, even with his eyes wide open; it was an absolute darkness that swallowed all light.

Yet, his steps were unwavering, filled with purpose.

From the moment he stepped in, he felt it.

There was a presence deep within, calling to him.

The voice, which had been closer to a fleeting hallucination, now truly echoed in his ears.

This way.

Over here.

‘I’ve waited for you for a very long time.’

As he followed the ethereal call, walking deeper and deeper, there came a moment when—

Whoosh.

The magic parted, and his vision cleared.

What appeared before him was a ruined mansion.

A strange sensation prompted him to look around, and it was not difficult to notice the anomaly.

In this flood zone, terraformed into a demon realm, only the plants here remained intact.

They were the grasses and trees commonly seen in the Middle World, similar to those in Grisha.

However, they were all gray.

When he lightly touched one, it crumbled into ash, like an ancient, desiccated dry flower.

‘Here.’

The voice urged him forward, as if telling him not to be distracted.

He brushed the ash from his fingertips and stepped inside the mansion.

The interior was surprisingly well-preserved.

Nothing was broken or faded; even the portraits and decorations remained untouched.

A subtle sense of life lingered, as if someone had been living there just moments ago.

‘Is someone truly living here?’

The possibility existed, perhaps the owner of the voice that continued to speak in his mind.

Guided by the unseen force, he walked deeper into the mansion.

At the end of a labyrinthine corridor, he paused before an ornate door.

It was just beyond this point.

Whatever it was, the reason and purpose behind his entire journey lay on the other side of this threshold.

Having come this far, hesitation was meaningless.

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