# Chapter 193
The rumbling sound grew louder and closer to Iyeon. He watched the corridor ahead with a slightly tense expression. He both wanted and didn’t want to see what expression Sano would have as he approached from the distance.
Jonghee’s words that Sano was very angry belatedly crossed his mind. From Sano’s perspective, it must be absurd—telling him to leave, then frantically searching for him when he wasn’t there. …Would he ignore me when he sees me? It would serve me right, but it would still hurt if he actually did… Even as these worries passed through his mind, the dull sound that reverberated through the space continued.
But did he need to make such a commotion just to express his anger?
Just as that question flitted through his mind, the sound abruptly stopped. And exactly three seconds later.
CRASH!
Tentacles burst forth from the wall that had been covered with ivy.
They looked just like the ones that had been attached to Dumugwi’s exterior, only slightly thinner. The tentacles surged precisely toward the intruder without giving Iyeon time to be startled. Unable to even scream, Iyeon ducked and rolled to the side. The tentacles plunged into the floor where he had been moments before, and a couple of them grazed his body.
Fortunately, he was unharmed, but the force of the charge was so strong that his goggles cracked with a snap. Ah, no! My money! Iyeon belatedly looked down and screamed, but the broken goggles wouldn’t be fixed. The infrared display wasn’t working either, suggesting it wasn’t just the screen that was damaged.
“You’re all dead…”
Iyeon stroked his goggles, swallowing his frustration. As he stood up, the tentacles that realized they had missed began to writhe and reposition themselves. When he barely managed to block a tentacle that was about to stab his torso, other tentacles that heard the battle sound also turned toward Iyeon. It was a disturbingly persistent sight.
Bang, bang, bang! A series of loud collision sounds echoed. Unlike the underwater battle just moments ago, the air-filled corridor didn’t absorb any sound.
The first few times, he created shields to block each attack individually, but he was simply outnumbered from the start. As the distance between him and the tentacles gradually decreased, Iyeon created sharp spears that stuck into the ground. The metal pieces with cutting edges rose in a spiral, piercing the tentacles that approached him. Though their outer skin was so tough that a direct hit only managed to scratch them, it seemed slightly more effective than when he had fought underwater earlier. Even when his attacks missed, tentacles caught in the narrow gaps between spears couldn’t move properly.
As the tentacles hesitated under the fierce attack, Iyeon swung his hand again. The same net as before appeared. The pure white net bound the tentacles, weaving them together as if knitting. The writhing tentacles struggled but couldn’t escape from the net.
However, there was one difference from before—the tentacles could extend endlessly.
Unlike the outer tentacles of Dumugwi that had a fixed length, these tentacles that grew from Dumugwi’s inner skin could change their length freely as needed. He didn’t know what their limit was, but they were certainly long enough to reach Iyeon. The tentacles, even while bound, stretched their bodies and rushed at Iyeon. Their speed was so fast it made his hair stand on end.
The sight of multiple entwined stems bundled together was quite threatening. Iyeon swung his arm again. A giant fist protruding from the wall threw a punch at the bundle of tentacles. Wham! Taking advantage of the tentacles’ momentary hesitation from the strong impact, the giant fist disappeared and a large, thick metal shield from the ceiling smashed down on the bundle of tentacles.
Then identical shields dropped in quick succession at close intervals.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The shields pressed down continuously as if they would drive the bundle of tentacles into the ground, but the floor was also incredibly hard, so they couldn’t penetrate beyond a certain depth. Frowning, Iyeon summoned more sand. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! As several more shields fell, the bundle of tentacles was gradually forced under the floor from the pressure. It seemed like just a little more would do it. Blood vessels bulged on the back of Iyeon’s hand. Just as he was about to summon additional shields.
More tentacles emerged from the wall. These new tentacles immediately rushed at the shields pressing down on the tentacle bundle and wrapped around them tightly. The shields that had seemed to be holding firm eventually began to fall one by one, unable to resist the tentacles that pulled at them violently. Dust flew up with a resonant sound.
If left alone, even the tentacles he had captured would all break free. Clicking his tongue, Iyeon tried to gather more sand to stop them when.
Suddenly, a large hand reached out toward him.
Startled by the strong pressure, Iyeon reflexively tried to push the hand away, when a low voice was heard.
“Deactivate your power.”
With those words, Iyeon’s body was pulled by something. His vision was covered in darkness.
Although he was instantly bound and unable to move, Iyeon didn’t try to break free immediately. The voice he had just heard was too familiar. It belonged to the person he had been looking for, even going to the bottom of the lake that wasn’t part of his plans.
‘Je Sano…’
He didn’t know why Sano had told him to deactivate his power, but he wouldn’t have said it without reason. After a brief deliberation, Iyeon obediently canceled his power. Though his vision was blocked, he could feel the gi-ryeok he had released into the corridor dispersing and disappearing.
Even though Sano must have known that Iyeon had returned all his power to sand, he didn’t release his arms that were holding Iyeon. Feeling the strangely smooth and cool sensation, Iyeon awkwardly called out to him.
“Hey, you can let go now…”
“Shut up and stay still.”
The low voice echoed throughout Iyeon’s body as if resonating in the narrow space. The sensation was unfamiliar, but the tone was quite familiar.
Always speaking like that. Even after being apart and meeting again, this one thing never changes. Well, it’s only been about a day, so it would be stranger if he had changed in that time. Iyeon grumbled inwardly but followed Sano’s words and kept his mouth shut. This was because he could faintly hear the movement of tentacles beyond the thick human wall.
Only after a long while did Sano finally release Iyeon. The arms that had firmly wrapped around his body gradually loosened, and his vision cleared. It was still dark even after leaving Sano’s embrace since Iyeon had eliminated the flashlight when deactivating his power. Iyeon asked:
“Can I turn on the light?”
Sano didn’t answer, but since he didn’t say no, it seemed that was acceptable. Iyeon created another flashlight. Soon, a bright beam of light illuminated the space.
“If you touch Dumugwi with your superpower inside here, it will attack until there is no life response.”
Sano rose to his feet and said dryly. His face looked fine, but his clothes seemed a bit dirty. Iyeon was so busy examining this that his response was rather slow-witted.
“Until there is no life response?”
“Until it determines you’re not breathing. Since it just needs to eliminate the life response, I blocked the wall.”
Only then did Iyeon realize that Sano had transformed his body into minerals to completely seal off the space where Iyeon had been. So tightly that not even breath sounds or heartbeats could be heard.
The information he had just shared didn’t seem to be something he had learned theoretically but rather something he had discovered through experience. In other words, it was highly likely that Je Sano had already had an encounter with Dumugwi’s tentacles inside before Iyeon entered.
“…You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
Though he appeared fine to the naked eye, Sano was wearing black clothes all over, so it was impossible to be sure. As Sano had once said, blood stains weren’t easily visible on black.
At Iyeon’s careful question, Sano suddenly whipped his head around. Now that he looked closely, Sano’s face was contorted with irritation.
“Why the hell are you here?”
It was more like an irritated outburst than a question. Iyeon shrank a little as he answered.
“Because I heard you were here…”
“How devoted. Next time why don’t you dive into lava?”
Sano snapped, chewing out the words, and didn’t ease his fierce glaring expression. Feeling abashed, Iyeon defended himself.
“Anyway, since mutants don’t eat, they wouldn’t have digestive organs. So the inside would be empty too. My prediction was right. And that’s why you came in too.”
“Don’t you know what my ability is? When I synchronize, I’m just a huge mineral mass. Didn’t you think Dumugwi might have separate defense mechanisms?”
At the still irritated tone, Iyeon also became indignant.
“What about you? Don’t you know my ability? You tend to underestimate me, but even if Dumugwi had digestive organs, it couldn’t harm me. The same goes for defense mechanisms. Since Dumugwi is a gem core variant, taking it down from the inside is the fastest way. You thought so too.”
Even if he couldn’t defeat the countless tentacles of Dumugwi, he wouldn’t have lost either. If the tentacles could extend indefinitely, Iyeon could summon sand indefinitely too. It was definitely not an ability to be disrespected anywhere.
“That’s not the issue… Never mind.”
Sano turned away abruptly with a seething expression and strode inside. Iyeon was actually surprised by this uncharacteristically docile behavior. He followed with quick steps and asked glumly.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
