# Chapter 191
The small lights spread out in an instant. Endlessly, endlessly, as if gauging the reach of Iyeon’s vision. It was like thousands of tiny bulbs had been scattered across the lake. The star-like orbs swayed with the current, illuminating their surroundings.
Only then could he see the landscape beneath the lake. Bumpy rocks, aquatic plants, and schools of fish moving here and there. Some fish fled in startled panic at the sudden light, while others curiously approached it instead.
But there was no time for leisurely sightseeing. Though it wasn’t a common sight, it wasn’t an irreproducible scene either. Iyeon soon diverted his attention and examined his surroundings.
If Sano had fought with Dumugwi, there would be traces left somewhere. As everyone knew, he wasn’t exactly the type to fight neatly.
Fortunately, that assumption proved correct. As Iyeon swam around the vicinity, he soon discovered unnaturally cut and protruding rocks. Seeing debris from the rocks floating around, it seemed they had been broken very recently.
Following these marks would lead to either Dumugwi or Je Sano, or perhaps both. Iyeon turned without hesitation.
However, contrary to his expectations, he found nothing despite searching for quite a while. He’d gone far enough to faintly see the massive wall Sano had erected to prevent Dumugwi’s escape, yet hadn’t discovered a single strand of Sano’s hair. Finally, Iyeon paused briefly.
‘Maybe I was thinking too simply.’
Ugh, Iyeon frowned as he looked around again. The vast, deep lake presented nearly identical scenery in all directions, making it almost impossible to tell where anything was, if not for the wall that caught a glimpse of his vision.
Sano had definitely passed through here. Clear battle traces were scattered everywhere. Starting with the huge rock embedded right in front of Iyeon. When he reached out to touch the reef that looked like someone had taken a bite out of it, he felt a rough texture. The rock beside it was bristling with spikes like a sea urchin. That would be a trace of Sano’s ability. And the seaweed next to it…
‘Huh?’
Feeling something odd, Iyeon stared at the kelp-like object swaying fluidly. It was quite thick, about the size of Iyeon’s forearm, and was caught on the protruding spikes of the rock, unable to move. Looking around, he noticed more similar objects scattered about.
At first, he thought it might be some poor aquatic plant caught in the battle, but Iyeon soon realized that the object wasn’t simply being tossed by the waves; it was wriggling of its own accord. The movement reminded him of cnidarians like jellyfish or sea anemones. While quietly observing, Iyeon noticed another strange thing.
The end of the object was unnaturally severed.
As if someone had forcibly torn it off.
Swish!
Just then, something sharp like a spear rushed toward Iyeon. Beep! His goggles emitted a brief warning sound. Narrowly detecting the attack trajectory, Iyeon created a shield to block the attack aimed at his torso. Bubbles scattered. Instead of a dull sound, waves rippled, pushing his body slightly backward.
‘What is this?’
Iyeon summoned white sand to take a defensive stance and identified what had attacked him. Looking closely, it wasn’t a spear but something like a cord. A slow-waving, thick black object.
An intact version of the same object that had been caught on the spikes earlier was now in front of Iyeon.
Iyeon followed the length of the cord, which stretched long like a diver’s oxygen tube, as if entranced. Below, there was a rock so large it felt like the bottom itself. Due to its black body, the detailed shape wasn’t visible. Iyeon created a few more lights to illuminate the area below. Only then could he see something covering the rock’s surface, slowly wiggling.
“…”
A strange silence flowed within a very brief moment.
The next instant, countless tentacles identical to the previous one burst out from what he’d thought was a massive rock.
The tentacles, so fast and sharp they looked like javelins, sliced through the water and rushed at Iyeon. There were so many that they looked more like a net than individual tentacle stems. Iyeon summoned sand in alarm. Thump! Thump! Thump! Vibrations rang out each time a tentacle charging toward Iyeon was blocked.
The shockwaves from the close-range collision traveled through the water. The vibrations that rang and pounded throughout his body nearly made Iyeon lose his balance, but he quickly regained his posture. All the while, he shot a massive wave at the relentlessly advancing tentacles, and the sharp current pushed them back significantly, dampening their momentum. But soon new tentacles swarmed in again. Iyeon sighed inwardly.
Just my luck. Je Sano, who’s supposed to show up, doesn’t, but Dumugwi appears first.
He would have had to meet Dumugwi eventually, but the fact that Sano was nowhere to be seen even as Dumugwi attacked wasn’t a good sign. While fending off the swarm of tentacles, Iyeon glanced around, but there was no human figure in sight.
Swoosh! Taking advantage of Iyeon’s momentary distraction, one tentacle grazed his forearm. The contacted area stung immediately, suggesting a wound. Iyeon was too busy blocking the successive attacks to even check his injury.
From the beginning, Iyeon’s ability wasn’t specialized for tearing or breaking things. To inflict such damage, an object would need to move at high speed, but creating and controlling such movement were separate issues. For Iyeon, it was much easier to trap or bind something.
Moreover, this was underwater. The slow flow reduced the power of his attacks by more than half. As a result, the tentacles only received minor injuries despite taking hits that could normally cut down an adult-sized tree in one blow. Well, that was partly due to Dumugwi’s inherent toughness… Now he understood why the tentacle stuck on the rock spikes had been so crudely torn off.
Fortunately, there was no problem with defense. Blocking an incoming force was easy as long as there was sufficient hardness and a sturdy support to fix it firmly.
Thwoong. A tentacle that was about to pierce Iyeon’s leg was blocked by a thick metal wall. The tentacle recoiled from the reactionary force. Perhaps because it was originally sturdy, it seemed threatened by the mere fact of being hit. But other tentacles filled its place. The relentlessly charging tentacles were endless no matter how many were swept away.
He couldn’t keep this up forever. Frowning, Iyeon summoned the sand.
The snow-white sand spread like a drop of white paint in water and transformed into a living net. The finely split sand ends wrapped around Dumugwi’s tentacles.
The white net expanded in real-time, densely weaving through the tentacles heading toward Iyeon. The tentacles struggled valiantly to escape, but the more they struggled, the tighter the net became.
After binding the tentacles like this, the outline of Dumugwi within became vaguely visible.
The main body of Dumugwi was enormously large even at a glance. It looked more like a small hill than a living organism, so it wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t easily noticed it at first. He had thought Mungchi’s main body was big when facing it, even though they were both Level 2 variants, but this was incomparable. At least Mungchi was visible at a glance.
‘Let’s see… That side must be the head.’
Iyeon tightened his grip on the writhing tentacles and descended further. Even during this, small waves continued to rise as he blocked tentacles that hadn’t yet been bound.
At the end of the round, elongated body was a bifurcated part. The tentacles that sprouted all over the body weren’t present on the head. When Iyeon shined light on the smooth-looking head for a closer look, he could see faint scars on both sides. Probably Sano’s doing.
‘The question is, where the hell is he now?’
Given Je Sano’s personality, he wouldn’t have just ripped some tentacles, hit the head a bit, and suddenly fled, so it was very strange that there was no sign of him. Nothing serious happened to him, right? Iyeon suppressed his growing anxiety and racked his brain.
Then his gaze accidentally fell on one tentacle.
It was a tentacle underneath Dumugwi’s body. It was still quite far from being reached by the net that was binding from top to bottom, so Iyeon hadn’t touched it yet.
It didn’t seem to be an attack-purpose tentacle to begin with. This tentacle, which looked no different from the others, was gently undulating near the ground with other nearby tentacles instead of joining in attacking Iyeon.
But on the surface of the thick tentacle that swayed flexibly like seaweed, there was a clear, tightly squeezed mark.
The moment he saw that mark, a certain hypothesis formed in Iyeon’s mind.
