# Chapter 192
Sano possessed abilities nearly equal to Iyeon’s, with even stronger offensive capabilities and far, far more experience dealing with high-level mutants. Naturally, when he first encountered the Dumugwi, he would have gone through a similar process as Iyeon. Being attacked by the tentacles, responding, and when they seemed endless, trying to bind them.
But all of this was just a war of attrition. Simply restraining the Dumugwi wouldn’t make it behave itself. They couldn’t just leave it buried at the bottom of the lake forever. And Sano wasn’t idle enough to stay here constantly monitoring the Dumugwi. In the end, they had to find some way to eliminate it to resolve the situation.
Considering how much effort it took to wound the tentacles, the main body would likely present similar difficulties. In fact, being larger and thicker, it was probably even more durable. Trying to break down this ridiculously tough mutant by inflicting damage from the outside bit by bit was not only extremely inefficient but also a task with an uncertain timeframe.
The Dumugwi was a Level 2 mutant, meaning it was a gem core mutant. The toughness of its outer skin was due to the power of the gem core, just like with Cheongho and Dabalsin.
And the gem core was located inside the mutant.
‘It uses those tentacles to capture and devour living beings.’
Coincidentally, both Sano and Iyeon had recently experienced capturing a gem core mutant by entering its interior.
After pondering briefly, Iyeon moved to face the Dumugwi’s head. The two black, bald-like heads with no eyes or nose made it look even more monstrous.
There was actually no evidence that Sano had gone inside. Unlike Dabalsin, which could merge with space, they had no idea what was inside the Dumugwi. This was simply a gamble.
But Iyeon felt an inexplicable certainty.
The white net that had been endlessly expanding suddenly stopped moving.
Then, beginning with a few grains of sand falling, the net completely transformed into sand and scattered. The violently thrashing tentacles, freed from their restraints, immediately lunged at the small, defenseless prey standing before them. And just before countless tendrils could grab Iyeon’s body…
Pop! As the air bubble surrounding his head burst, Iyeon held his breath and created a thick membrane to envelop his entire body. The tentacles, excited by their newfound freedom, lifted the sturdy defensive barrier intact. Iyeon gritted his teeth against the intense pressure as he was pulled in instantly. Just before the barrier completely covered his face, he saw the left head of the massive mutant open its mouth wide.
Soon, a strong current sucked him inside.
The barrier that sealed him completely also blocked Iyeon’s vision entirely. Thanks to his goggles, he could somewhat make out the internal terrain—if that’s the right way to describe a mutant’s body—using infrared, but that was it.
To make matters worse, the lake water swallowed along with Iyeon turned into a rapid current, violently tossing his body around. The swaying was so extreme that despite never having experienced motion sickness before, he felt nauseous. If he hadn’t created the protective barrier beforehand, he would have been seriously injured somewhere.
He couldn’t tell how many minutes had passed like this. After drifting for a long time through the Dumugwi’s winding throat, Iyeon felt the speed gradually decreasing. The rough water currents surrounding him became progressively calmer, and the passage was gradually widening.
Iyeon patiently waited without hastily releasing his power. And finally, when everything completely stopped, the membrane covering him dissolved into powder and dispersed.
The unfamiliar air touched his body, wet from being submerged in water, and droplets fell from his damp hair. When he cautiously inhaled, he found he could breathe normally. There seemed to be some oxygen inside. This was somewhat surprising. Although the fishy smell entering his nostrils was quite strong, considering the route Iyeon had taken to get here, it was an unavoidable issue…
“Hmm.”
After making a sound to check his condition and bending various parts of his body while brushing them off, Iyeon looked around. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything. That was natural, since there was no light source. He lowered his goggles to his neck and created a large flashlight, shining it around to properly see his surroundings.
The place where Iyeon stood was an enormous space resembling a plaza. The reddish-black, bumpy flesh was as hard as rock and formed curved lines up to the ceiling. On one side of the rounded space, there was a continuing path that curved steeply at such an angle that its end wasn’t visible. The floor was completely covered with what looked like white stones, and on the opposite side from where Iyeon stood, the lake water that had been swallowed along with him pooled and rippled. The ground seemed to be slightly lower on this side.
And looking up, even when he shined his light, only darkness was visible beyond the reach of the beam. Presumably, that’s where the throat he had entered through would be.
The interior of the Dumugwi was both similar to and different from what he had expected. It felt less like being inside a living organism and more like entering another world.
“What is this?”
Iyeon’s gaze turned downward. Unlike the dark-toned walls and ceiling, the floor was unnaturally snow-white. Seeing how they were endlessly scattered along the path leading inward, they resembled pebbles neatly spread across a garden.
But the Dumugwi wouldn’t just be doing interior decorating in its stomach. Feeling confused, Iyeon bent down to examine them closely and realized these weren’t ordinary pebbles.
These unidentifiable fragments came in various sizes and thicknesses, but unlike typical stones that are rounded from being carved and polished, these were generally elongated in shape. Crouching down completely, Iyeon stared at a particularly dense pile and carefully reached out to grasp one of them. The snow-white, pointed rod-like fragment was subtly curved. As Iyeon examined it carefully and turned his attention to other fragments, he froze when he spotted a familiar shape in his field of vision.
It was a shape commonly seen when eating whole grilled fish. That’s when Iyeon realized what these white objects were.
This was a bone graveyard of creatures devoured by the Dumugwi.
“Holy shit…”
Clatter. Without realizing it, Iyeon sprang up and stepped backward, creating a loud noise under his feet. Even the sound itself was unpleasant. Unable to hide his disgusted expression, he carefully nudged the area with his toes, revealing bones that were either half-decayed from age or cracked and covered in dust underneath. Most appeared to be fish, but occasionally there were shapes that were unidentifiable—or that he preferred not to identify.
The rumors circulating in the nearby town said this had been going on for 20 years. It was a more devastating sight than he had expected. With this many creatures dead, it was rather surprising that only a fishy smell permeated the air.
In any case, this was definitely not a place he wanted to stay long. He just needed to find Je Sano and leave immediately. Iyeon grimaced once and quickly moved on. Since there seemed to be no one in this plaza area, his next destination was the only available passage.
Considering the Dumugwi’s short, thick cylinder-like body, its surprisingly winding path—or rather, organs—were densely packed. That meant no end was in sight no matter how far he walked. The one fortunate thing was that, as he had anticipated upon entering, the mutant didn’t engage in digestive activity, so the interior felt like a massive passage lined with strings of white bones.
As he proceeded further, the bone piles gradually diminished, until about 10 minutes into his walk, there were only a few bones piled in corners along the walls. Instead, the size of the bones had noticeably increased. If he thought about what kind of living beings could have moved from the initial drop point to here… No, better not think about it anymore. Iyeon shook his head with a slightly pale complexion.
Even though he seemed to have gone quite far, there was still no sign of Sano. Since there were no obstacles along the way, it was unlikely he had missed him. Had Sano gone all the way to the end? Since he had presumably entered at least an hour earlier, it wasn’t impossible. With a groan, Iyeon gently placed his hand against the wall. White sand began to form where his hand touched.
The white sand that instantly spread across the wall extended forward in nonlinear curves. Like a magical sight, the elegant phenomenon revealed ivy vines covering the entire wall.
While he would eventually reach the end anyway, this was a kind of signal flare sent ahead. If he spread this throughout the space, Sano would be able to spot it no matter where he was. After all, lush plants suddenly growing in a place where all life had perished would definitely seem suspicious.
One concern was what if Je Sano was in a situation where he couldn’t see this… Should he try a more noticeable method? Like a neon sign, perhaps… As Iyeon applied slightly more pressure to his fingertips against the wall, suddenly a dull vibration resonated with a “kuwoong” sound.
“…Je Sano?”
After pondering for a moment, Iyeon hesitantly called out toward the empty interior of the wall. Since the heavy resonance that felt like the ground vibrating was characteristic of when Sano used his ability, there was a hint of expectation in his voice.
