After making my way to the deepest part of the chamber—
The moment I looked in the direction Behemoth was pointing, I saw a dazzling scene of a cluster of lights exploding violently. A beam of red light shot out from somewhere, striking a jagged rock formation jutting out of the lava. Almost immediately, the light wrapped around it like a halo, radiating a brilliant glow.
Clang!
I could see it clearly—not because of the red light, but the rock itself glowing a fiery crimson, emitting a clear, metallic ringing sound. Then, as if the surrounding light was being absorbed, it faded away, and with a cracking noise, the size of the rock began to shrink.
It was truly an incredible display of power. The fiery energy wasn’t just released on the visible surface; the lava flowing around the rock pulsed with vivid light, rippling like waves. At this intensity, a tidal wave wouldn’t have been surprising, yet strangely, the surroundings remained eerily calm. Aside from the phenomena caused by the light cluster, there was no sign of disturbance.
Each time the fiery energy flared and then died down, the clear metallic ringing echoed, and the rock’s size gradually diminished. When it had almost disappeared from sight, a woman emitting a red light stepped out from behind the rock.
Bathed in radiant light, the woman was none other than Gehenna. Her appearance was almost unchanged from before, except for one thing: her once flowing hair was now neatly tied back. With calm yet serious eyes, she manipulated the rock formation, and I found myself staring in awe.
“Huh… no way…”
A small voice came from right beside me. Behemoth, looking in the same direction, sighed repeatedly. He seemed deeply regretful, occasionally shaking his head in disbelief.
“Let’s leave for now. Since the work isn’t finished yet and is in its final stages, it’s best not to disturb her.”
“Can’t we just watch quietly?”
“She already knows we’re watching. The fact that she continues despite that means she’s deeply focused right now.”
“……”
Come to think of it, that made sense. The destructive power of the fiery energy was so immense that even Hwajeong would have to step back. Yet this rock formation seemed to withstand it to some degree.
“Alright.”
Agreeing with him, I stopped insisting. Behemoth led me back about fifty meters.
Even as we retreated, Behemoth kept sighing. Muttering to himself things like, “How could she…” and “That’s just too much…” I watched blankly, not understanding why. Suddenly, Behemoth smacked his lips and stopped walking.
“Uh… well… I’m not sure where to start explaining…”
He poked at the area above his upper lip awkwardly—more like tapping than scratching—then suddenly plunged into the lava river. Splashing about, he walked somewhere, telling me to be careful not to melt while he seemed perfectly fine.
Not far off, he stopped and turned back to me, stretching out his arm. The thing he placed his hand on was none other than the blood-red rock formation.
“Shin-yeol-seok, Hwalhwa-seok… this rock has many names. But there’s still no exact term for it. I call it the Nameless Stone.”
Behemoth’s voice suddenly grew serious.
“The Nameless Stone?”
I asked cautiously, and he nodded emphatically before calmly explaining.
“As you saw when you arrived at Yajang, this area is made up of lava and wasteland. More precisely, almost everything here is lava. So, let’s keep it simple. Lava is incredibly hot, right? Hot enough to melt anything it touches. But this—this rock here.”
He tapped the rock with his hand to emphasize it.
“Isn’t it strange? That this rock can remain so solid in such scorching lava. Oh, and by that logic, the ground we’re standing on shouldn’t even exist. With the constant lava waterfalls pouring down, it should have melted away long ago.”
Now that he mentioned it, I was curious too. If the lava kept flowing like this, how did the ground here hold up? It was just wasteland, after all.
“The secret lies in this region called the Great Superheat. In other words, the world itself is alive, and it adjusts things so this place can endure.”
For a moment, I didn’t understand what he meant, but recalling the Mugan zone helped. Gehenna described Mugan as a world that witnesses the birth and death of kings—a kind of consciousness or will tied to the king’s beginning and end. If Mugan had such a will, why couldn’t other zones?
“The Great Superheat world doesn’t want this place supporting the lava to collapse. But it doesn’t reject the lava either. So it concentrated a certain energy here, and that energy still flows. That’s why the Duke chose this place as Yajang.”
Listening to him, my interest grew. I thought deeply for a moment, then asked a question.
“I understand what you mean. But even if the Great Superheat has a will, how did you discover that it doesn’t want this place to collapse, and that energy flows here?”
“Excellent question. Your Majesty, you’re looking at the proof right now.”
Behemoth struck the rock sharply once more. By the way, “Your Majesty” felt a bit awkward coming from him.
“This is something I only see occasionally. Sometimes, the ground suddenly rises from the surface of the flowing lava. Over time, it grows larger until it takes on a shape like this.”
“So the ground itself is rising on its own.”
“Exactly. From that, I define the energy flowing here as absorption and assimilation. It means the lava is absorbed and then assimilated. So, I think this rock is a kind of crystal.”
“Absorption and assimilation? A crystal?”
“Yes, yes. Think about it. This land has had lava flowing for thousands of years. It can’t absorb lava forever. So, it releases the essence of the lava it’s absorbed like this, creating a cycle.”
“Hmm.”
Feeling things getting a bit complicated, I crossed my arms and looked around. As I’d noticed earlier, there were jagged rocks scattered throughout the lava sea, just as Behemoth said.
“To sum it up, this rock is the crystallized will of the Great Superheat, formed over countless years. Hmm.”
After his long explanation, Behemoth crossed his arms too. Hearing him nod in agreement, I let out a light laugh. The idea that a mere rock could have a kind of will struck me as oddly amusing.
Behemoth placed both hands on his hips and gave me a sly look.
“Oh? You don’t seem convinced.”
“No, it’s not that…”
It’s not that I didn’t believe him. But I wasn’t ready to accept it completely either. Personally, I don’t believe what I haven’t experienced firsthand, and since my knowledge of this world is still limited, I just accepted it for now. Either way, my main concern was the performance of the material, not its origin. …Am I being too pragmatic?
“Since you seem doubtful, I’ll show you proof.”
“Proof?”
“I’ll show you that this rock truly has the will of the Great Superheat.”
“Hahaha. Is that even possible? Does it suddenly have a mouth and start talking?”
“I can do it,” Behemoth said firmly. Then, bending sideways, he pressed his ear close to the rock. Using his gloves, he listened intently, nodding with a serious expression.
Then, still listening, he opened his mouth.
“Huh. This rock is sending a will directed at Your Majesty.”
Behemoth had been serious the whole time, so I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. Just as I was starting to feel uncertain—
“Damn that human nooooom!”
That irritating voice… what?
“How dare you steal our Duke’s heart! And not just that, you took his body, and even his first time! Damn it, I’m so jealous! I’m telling you, I’m jealous!”
Then—
“I curse youuuu! Because I’m jealous, I curse youuuu! I’m so insanely jealous I could die, so I’ll curse you to death toooo! …That’s what it’s saying!”
Bang!
Before I could even finish my sentence with a simple “Enough,” Behemoth’s scream and a sudden, thunderous crash overlapped in an instant. Blinking in confusion, I realized Behemoth had vanished from where he’d been standing. Whatever had happened, my eyes hadn’t caught it.
“Who told you to speak your mind just now?”
A familiar, haughty voice whispered in my ear. Turning my gaze, I saw Gehenna standing there calmly, as if she’d appeared out of nowhere. And, sure enough, Behemoth was there too—head buried in the cliffside, thrashing about helplessly. So it was Gehenna who’d used her power.
Finally, Behemoth managed to pull his helmeted head free from the rock and began rubbing it off.
“Your Highness, that was really unfair. An ambush out of nowhere?”
“I was stunned listening to what you said. How dare you speak so carelessly about safety.”
“I—I see. That was my mistake. But still, this is too much.”
“Too much? What else is too much?”
He chuckled softly.
“I saw it.”
“Saw what?”
At Behemoth’s words, Gehenna narrowed her eyes slightly. Behemoth quickly got to his feet and pointed toward the cliff’s edge. Gehenna’s puzzled gaze flicked between him and me.
Behemoth spoke up.
“The project you worked on this time—the largest jagged rock formation in this entire area, wasn’t it? You know, that one.”
Gehenna gave a slight nod, as if to say, “So what?”
“Right. But—”
“Ha. I knew it.”
Behemoth let out a defeated sigh and hung his head low. Gehenna tilted her head, clearly not understanding.
“Why…?”
“This is really too much. That rock formation is a living witness to thousands of years of tectonic uplift—a true monument of the great heat beneath the earth. Not just me, but all the legion commanders had their eyes on it.”
“…?”
“We begged for it countless times, but you always ignored us. Then suddenly, you show up and just hand it over to the King as a gift…”
At that moment—
Whoosh!
Splash!
I blinked again, and as Behemoth disappeared, I heard something plunge violently into the molten surface. No need to see it to know—Gehenna must have thrown him into the lava.
But I’d seen earlier that he could survive in lava just fine. Wouldn’t that be enough to block his mouth?
Then, in the next moment, I realized how wrong I’d been.
Gehenna’s eyes glowed red as she stared into the lava.
Ssssssssss!
“Heh heh. This little thing…? Aaaah! Aaaahhh!”
The sizzling sound of boiling lava mixed with Behemoth’s screams. Beneath the seething surface, he writhed like a possessed octopus, thrashing wildly in agony.
“Hmph, ahem.”
Unfazed, Gehenna approached and forced me to turn my head to look at her.
“Don’t worry about that. By the way, have you been waiting long? Did you sleep well?”
“Aaaah! Your Highness! I’m sorry! I was wrong! It’s unbearably hot! Aaaah!”
“Ahem. I’m not sure how much you heard, but let’s get straight to the point. First of all…”
“Ahhh! Okay! I won’t joke around anymore! I was going to tell you that after you left Mukwan yesterday, I worked harder than ever while the King was asleep! But I won’t say it! Sob sob!”
Gehenna bit her lower lip.
Then, with a graceful sweep of her hand, her neatly tied hair came undone, cascading down in thick waves like before.
A moment later—
“You. Watch this for a moment.”
Gehenna smiled slyly and spoke softly. She pressed something into my arms, then spun around. In her left hand, a fiery whip split into two flickered into existence.
But what exactly had she just handed me…?
I immediately activated my Third Eye.
---------------------------= Author’s Note ---------------------------
There’s been a lot going on in my family lately. My little cousin’s wedding is this Saturday, so I was planning to head down to Daejeon the day before, on the 19th… but something came up, and I have to go to Changwon first. My mind’s all over the place.