The passage remained shrouded in darkness. Vivian had cast a light spell, but since her specialty wasn’t traditional magic, it wasn’t enough to fully dispel the gloom that filled the cavern.
Suddenly, I found myself missing Hayun. Someone as skilled in classical magic as Hayun would be a huge help—not just in battle, but in situations like this. Sure, I could heighten my spiritual senses to detect objects in the dark, but that was a far cry from actually illuminating the entire area.
Anyway, had it been about fifty minutes since we entered through the central entrance?
Quite some time had passed. Throughout the march at the front, I hadn’t seen a single monster. Not even a hint of anything unusual. The corridor felt utterly empty—nothing more, nothing less.
Marching on endlessly without incident was, frankly, pretty dull. The kids were starting to relax, too; for the past ten minutes, they’d been whispering quietly among themselves. Sun Yuwon occasionally glanced back with a frown, either because of their chatter or his naturally reserved nature. But when I shook my head to signal him to let it slide, he stopped looking back.
“Clan Lord,” Helena suddenly approached, breaking the monotony. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and a faint, enigmatic smile played on her lips. She must have a genuine question. After asking Sun Yuwon to take the lead for a moment, I slowed my pace.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Well… I was just wondering. The humans are trying to cross this Steel Mountain Range, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why go through all that trouble? Why risk death to cross it? Humans have already settled on one continent and have everything they need to survive.”
“Because beyond the Steel Mountain Range lies a new continent.”
“Is it really necessary to discover and claim that new continent? Can’t they just be satisfied with what they already have?”
Hmm. I suppose from a dragon’s perspective, the viewpoint would naturally differ.
Helena’s initially playful tone grew softer as she spoke, almost as if seeking wisdom from a sage. I noticed Sasha quietly edging closer, listening in. Clearing my throat, I spoke calmly.
“It’s a matter beyond mere satisfaction. First, what do you know about the users?”
“I’ve heard a bit, so I know something.”
“Good. The whole world of the Whole Plane is ruled by power. Users have an obligation to become stronger just to survive. But the ways to get stronger are, broadly speaking, very limited.”
“Isn’t self-training one way?”
“Since user information has been introduced, there are limits to how much you can grow through training alone. Your potential is predetermined from the start, so it’s like there’s a boundary you can’t cross. That’s why you have to find other methods—hunting monsters, discovering ancient ruins, exploring to find powerful weapons or class gold coins, and so on. But even those have limits. The resources and rewards on a single continent aren’t infinite. If you keep mining and excavating, eventually they run out. The Northern Continent is already saturated, yet users keep coming.”
“I see. So they’re pioneering new continents for the sake of new users?”
“Of course, creating conditions for new users is part of it, but that’s not the ultimate goal. We jokingly call the new continent a land flowing with milk and honey. Since it’s unexplored, it holds untouched valuable resources and lucrative rewards. If such a continent exists, do you think users will just sit still? And since they risk their lives on these expeditions, they deserve certain privileges. After they’ve filled their bellies, the continent will probably open up to other users.”
“So, they pioneer new continents for progress, but prioritize those who’ve endured the hardships.”
I nodded slowly.
“I still don’t quite get it. Maybe it’s just a difference in perspective, but those reasons seem secondary to me. Why, then, must they cross the Steel Mountain Range? There are unexplored areas to the north, aren’t there? Why don’t they organize large expeditions there?”
Helena pressed on relentlessly. At that moment, I felt a pang in my chest. The sudden silence around us told me everyone was focused on this conversation. I sensed I needed to choose my words carefully.
“Because there’s no certainty. And because standing still isn’t an option.”
“Certainty?”
“About eight or nine years ago, Barbara was an unexplored region. We conquered it by passing through the central forest, just like the Steel Mountain Range now, and then discovered other cities, establishing the Northern Continent as a foothold. During that conquest… specifically, in an ancient library in Barbara, we found records of a new continent called Atlanta. But there was no mention of any unexplored regions to the north.”
“I see. So that’s what you mean by certainty. And when you say standing still isn’t an option…”
“That continent, Atlanta, will eventually reach saturation, too. Then we’ll have to find another new continent. Whether or not there are records of yet another continent in Atlanta, the point is that the Whole Plane isn’t just home to the Northern Continent.”
“Not just one?”
“Our Northern Continent leads south through the Steel Mountain Range to Atlanta. The same goes for the others: the Eastern Continent pushes west into Florence, the Western Continent moves east through the Frost Canyon to Iris, and the Southern Continent advances north past the Orc Castle to Ragnarok. Now imagine if each continent keeps pushing in the opposite direction of where it currently lies. What do you think will happen eventually?”
“…They’ll collide.”
Exactly. More precisely, they’ll compete over the final continent, Terra, but that’s a story for another time.
Fortunately, Helena seemed satisfied with the answer and nodded slowly.
“Thank you for your explanation. I feel much lighter now.”
…Lighter?
Helena returned to her place with a somewhat lonely expression. Suddenly, a flood of thoughts rushed through my mind.
Why did she ask those questions out of the blue?
What did she mean by feeling lighter?
And what was the meaning behind that fleeting sadness?
“Clan Lord!”
Before I could ponder further, Sun Yuwon urgently called out. Putting my thoughts aside, I hurried to the front. He stood still, pointing ahead. I immediately signaled to halt and focused on where he was pointing.
Had I been too absorbed in the conversation? The dull feeling of boredom had momentarily vanished, but now a faint, murky light was seeping through up ahead. Though some distance remained, we were nearing the end of the passage, where a new entrance appeared. And standing there, rigid and facing us, was something.
It wasn’t just one. They looked somewhat like users, but also like scarecrows. Even with my spiritual senses heightened to the max, I couldn’t make out clear details at this distance.
Thud!
Suddenly, one of them collapsed without resistance. My eyes instinctively sharpened. I sensed the clan members gathering quickly, and quietly drew my sword.
…At least I could see clearly. The moment one fell, a black shadow darted swiftly beyond the entrance.
“Suhyun, should we send a shadow scout?”
“We could also advance cautiously with a mist formation.”
Goyeonju and Sasha spoke simultaneously. But I shook my head calmly. Even after maximizing my magic detection, I sensed no presence. Then…
Could it be?
“I’ll lead the charge.”
Giving the order, I stepped forward without hesitation, passing through the passage. After about five minutes of brisk walking, we reached a wide chamber beyond the entrance.
The murky light came from torches mounted on the walls. The chamber was roughly two-thirds the size of the previous one, with nine tunnels branching off in the direction we came from. In other words, all the passages connected to this single space.
But that wasn’t what caught my attention. As I finished scanning the area and looked toward the center, Sun Yuwon gasped beside me.
“Suhyun, what is it?”
Goyeonju asked, but after glancing at the center, she stopped and quickly turned, running toward the opposite side.
The figures standing upright in the center weren’t scarecrows. To be precise, they were eight corpses arranged in the shape of scarecrows.
Each was impaled on a wooden stake driven into the dirt floor, the stakes piercing through their chests. Below the abdomen, their bodies were savagely torn apart; their organs and entrails had been completely devoured, leaving nothing visible. The only parts left intact were their heads and their dangling arms.
I approached the corpse of the man lying at the very front and examined it closely. His face was twisted in agony, as if he had suffered greatly before death, but his mouth was torn all the way up to his ear and fixed in place. Fresh blood still oozed from the wound, forming a grotesque expression that was impossible to tell if it was a smile or a cry.
“That was Joe from the second group on the right,” Nam Da-eun said, kneeling down and flipping the fallen body over. The second group on the right… That included the woman who had tripped over a bone when we first entered the pit—the same woman who had cursed at Yoo Ji-tae’s joke about their crude way of welcoming guests.
In other words, an entire group had been wiped out. What I had barely dared to suspect moments ago was now a grim reality.
Wait a minute. Come to think of it, I don’t see the woman’s body anywhere—only the man’s.
“Clan Lord, wait a moment. Take a look here,” Nam Da-eun said, moving aside a stick that had been stuck in the ground and pointing to the floor. It was the spot where the bodies had collapsed earlier. Bending down slightly, I noticed a jagged smear of bright red blood on the ground—the same handwriting I had seen when we first descended into the pit.
‘How arrogant. Coming in here without permission, and now you’re complaining?’
‘So this time, I put a little more effort into it. How’s this? Not crude enough? Hehe, hehehe!
P.S. Ah, the other three can make good use of this.’
“Those bastards!” Ahn Hyun’s furious voice echoed through the chamber.
I glanced at him, then turned my attention when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Ko Yeon-ju had returned from her search, looking a bit puzzled as she stared at me.
“Soo-hyun, this is strange. There’s no sign of any trace at all.”
Thud… thud…
“There should be some indication of someone coming or going… Soo-hyun?”
“Ko Yeon-ju, shh.”
“…Ah.”
“…”
Had Ko Yeon-ju heard it too? I signaled for silence and turned toward the tunnel we had just entered.
There was the sound of someone walking weakly. From where we stood, it was coming from the tunnel immediately to our right—the one we hadn’t entered.
Thud-thud… thud-thud…
It wasn’t a normal walking sound. It was slow, dragging, and feeble, with occasional scraping noises as if someone was dragging their feet. And then…
“The smell of blood is overwhelming,” Sasha said softly, wiping her nose.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Ah, today was a real headache dealing with my comprehensive income tax. Someone told me it’s easiest to just print out the receipts and pay at the bank, so I went to a PC bang just after lunch since my printer at home was broken. But no matter what, something was wrong—maybe a conflict with the security keyboard—because my password kept getting entered incorrectly. After wrestling with it for about an hour, I gave up and went home, then managed to pay everything electronically in just 30 minutes. I’d been warned that paying local taxes was complicated, but it was actually pretty straightforward once I followed the instructions. -_-a
I hope today’s middle section clears up some questions a certain reader had. I wanted to draw a map for you, but I’m terrible at drawing. I tried once, but it ended up just a bunch of circles and squares—nothing more, nothing less. It was embarrassing, so I won’t be sharing that. Instead, I’ve done my best to explain everything clearly in writing, including the other details.