The residence they stayed at was right under the 'Sky rivers'.
"The view from here is so beautiful!"
"Ya, I know, right?"
"Hehe, we knew you would love it." Beom-seok said. He then looked at worried Hyunwoo. "Hyunwoo, I know it might be a concerning matter, but rest for the night. We'll talk about it first thing in the morning, ok?"
Even though it was clear that the concern didn't go away, he agreed nonetheless.
---------------------------
At night, Ae-rin woke up to drink some water and found Hyunwoo sitting in the yard alone.
"Hyunwoo-san? You haven't gone to bed yet?"
"Oh, Ae-rin, it's you. No, I couldn't."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"Huh?"
"It should help you sleep, at least."
Ae-rin always had been like that, caring and mature beyond years… even with her meme addictions.
"Heh. I should do it for my team, I'm their leader after all."
'Huh? Something deep's coming there'
"Nuh, everyone needs things to talk about every once in a while. It's ok if you're not comfortable sharing it with me."
"Oh no, no, it's not that. It's no news to others either. About two years ago,… hahh…I, Yoon-Hwan and Jae-geum accompanied our leader back then to his town. It was informed to be hit by a constant heavy-rainfall. We were losing quite a bit of our members to the underworld beings. So, we put that on a back burner, even if it were for 2 days or so. We were taking our time to get over the pain of losing our comrades. But… the very day we got to the town, a massive flood swarm through it. We managed to save most of the people there, but we lost our leader to that… When I was chosen to be the next person to take up on the responsibility, I vowed to myself "Never again. I would never let us lose anyone ever again, whether it be the monsters or these natural disasters..."
"I see why you're so concerned now."
"The Fountain Falls, Maru has one of the most beautiful waterbodies in the world, at least in our world. It suppose to have 100 Sky rivers covering this village. It doesn't count up to be that much anymore." The worry was prominent in his voice.
Ae-rin looked up to the sky again. The gorgeous view was sure a distraction to forget that detail but he noticed it. There were no more than 30 falls. '100 sky rivers…'
"If this is the situation and if we wait around for longer, we might see a deficit of water across Goguryeo-sun."
Ae-rin was quiet for a bit but then proceed to ask a curious question.
"Do you think there might be an underworld creature up there?"
Hyunwoo's eyes widened a bit.
"Umm… no, I don't think so. The Fountain Falls is a massive mana sphere, and it's said that it has its own guardian sleeping inside somewhere."
"Oh, I see. I wonder what the problem might be then."
'Wait, a guardian…? What would that be?'
"We wouldn't know until we investigate. But we have to hurry and don't waste any more time."
"Of course, leader!" Ae-rin jokingly saluted him. He was taken aback by it for a moment.
"Haha! Well, if we want to wake up early and get done with the investigation much tomorrow, we should go to bed now."
"Yeah, you're right."
Before Hyunwoo moved into his room, he turned around and called out.
"Ae-rin" "Yes?" "Thanks for listening to me."
Ae-rin gave him a soft smile and a thumbs-up and left with just "Any day, leader."
Thank the lords the light was out, otherwise Ae-rin would've definitely noticed the flash across his cheeks.
-----------------------
'But what if the 'guardian' is sleeping inside? Would it still have woken up sensing any monster? Surely, right?'
'What am I thinking? Of course, it would've.'
With that, Ae-rin drifted to sleep.
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"As we mentioned before, our water source had started reducing about 15 days ago. We suspect the problem might end up as a big problem down the road. So, we just wanted to get to the bottom of the problem as quickly as possible." Beom-seok informed.
"It's only 30 or so remaining now, out of 100! No way…"
Yoon-Hwan and Seung-tae seemed dumbfounded to hear Hyunwoo's words.
"Yes, even we didn't believe it at first. And we still don't know the reason for it. We need to send you all to the Fountain Falls to inspect the matter."
"That we figured already. *sighs* We need to do something fast. Anyway, wasn't the chief going to give us some hints to find information about 'Four Divine Sorceries'?" Hyunwoo mentioned it again.
"Oh, right. All that we know is that the Fountain Falls has its own mighty guardian spirit guarding the 'sacred seal' for millennia now. The sacred seal was placed by the 'Priestess', and after her sacrifice, the 'guardian' came and resided inside the Fountain Falls. If anything, to find in Maru about 'her', it's inside there."
'Guarding the seal… does that mean the guardian won't engage with any monsters unless-'
"So, we have to go up there to investigate both of the matters regardless." Jihoon said it with a blank face.
"Then I don't think we should wait around any longer."
"Yeah, we should head out!" Yoon-hwan was too determined to save this beautiful place.
"Sure, I'll go ask the residence manager to prepare for you guys' departure."
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"How are we supposed to go up there though?"
Ae-rin was a little confused.
"Um… we'll fly up? How else?" Seung-tae said nonchalantly.
"Fly? Fly like with wings?"
"Well, ya. We're ravens after all."
Ae-rin looked back at Seung-tae with the 'what did you just say' look on her face.
"Huh?"
"I mean like this. See?"
Two giant wings came out from his back.
"It's like Yeong's."
"Ya, we all have wings."
"Huh?! What?! That's so awesome!"
"What? You think so?" "Ya!"
"Wait. Your world don't have them?"
Ae-rin shook her head comically.
"Here, every lord has given their worshipper power to evolve. For us who worship the lord 'Raven', we are granted the power of these black wings." Yoon-Hwan participated in the conversation.
"Ok? So, if someone worships the cat…. I mean, sorry- ah- 'Feline'? is that it? Then they can have the power of 'paws'?"
"Oh, Ae-rin is a fast learner, huh? Yes, they do. And have Neko-ears and tail."
'Ok!!! Hold on!!!! Buyeong fanarts in real life!!! I can't wait to meet them!!'
"That sounds awesome too!"
"Well, they're our rivals," Jihoon mentioned.
"Uh?"
"Friendly rivals. We're different nations, yes, but we're on nice terms with them, unlike the 'Tigres'"
"Tigres?"
"Ya, the Woong nation, also known as Baeho, is our neighbouring country. They worship the 'White Tigre'." Hyunwoo also got into convo. A rare sight to witness.
'So Baeho here worships the white tiger, makes sense, that matches them. I wonder what would be on Gaya's case? Horse? No…'
"What is in your mind now, Ae-rin?"
"Any other nations we're neighbours with?"
"Yes, we have many actually. The closest is Baeho. Then, Buyong. The other nations didn't really have their lords after the war, their primary lords that is. Gaya, the nation that worships the lord of 'Mammoth', Daejo, the nation that worships the 'Ursus' and another one of our 'not so friendly' rivals, Balhae, the nation of 'Falcon'. Names of a few lords who have taken their place in guiding nations in this world."
'So… Um, elephant, Ursus….is bear? Right? And Eagle. Ya, ya make sense…. Wait, does it?'
"Well, we need to handle our magic power properly, though." Seung-tae's remark wasn't much appreciated…
"Oh, why is that?"
"If we use up much of our power, we might embarrass-"
Yoon-Hwan shut Seung-tae up real fast.
"That won't ever happen; there is no need for her to know."
'Hu... that makes me curious a bit'
Yoon-Hwan's aura was screaming danger, and Seung-tae was clearly asking Ae-rin to save him with his eyes.
"A-Alright! No need to go into it. We should head out now, no?"
"Wah! Ae-rin, you're right! It's going to be a long day today."
The flip in Seung-tae's attitude was almost unrecognisable.
"Thank you." Seung-tae mouthed, and Ae-rin only smiled back "No problem".
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing." "Nothing!"
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The crew were outside, ready to departure.
"Ae-rin, you can get on my back," Hyunwoo said.
"Alright." Ae-rin got on his back.
'These days, I am getting too many piggy-back rides, huh? Yay!'
"Yoon-Hwan, you should put the spell on before. We might not be able to see through the heavy water flow while flying."
"Ya, I don't want you to drop Ae-rin. Right~?"
"I know he won't. Don't worry, Yoon-Hwan."
Yoon-Hwan's little teasing didn't end up in a fight. Thank goodness. 'Keep it calm, guys, everything's fine… let it stay like that!'
Everyone flew towards the biggest Sky river and dived through the waterfall. As Yoon-Hwan cast the spell, the water around them started to revolve around them, making it almost like a protective barrier. It also cleared out the sight ahead.
Once they all got to a stable ground inside the Fountain Falls, they gathered around to plan their next step. Ae-rin was quiet, in deep thought, so Hyunwoo asked.
"What's up, Ae-rin? Something in your mind? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Oh! Yoon-Hwan also uses water magic like Yu-jun."
Yoon-Hwan's expression immediately guarded up a little hearing that.
"but… Yoon-hwan's magic feels so much more grounded."
"Huh?"
Even Hyunwoo halted for a bit and smiled,
"Heh, that's a fresh perspective, isn't it, Yoon-Hwan?"
Yoon-hwan didn't answer, a bit taken aback by Ae-rin's words.
"It's as if Yu-jun's magic flows like a river or a stream while his is like a calm lake…or a deep sea!"
Ae-rin finally realised she was yapping, she glanced at Yoon-Hwan.
And he was on the verge of crying.
"I-I'm sorry if I said s-something wrong!"
"Nah, he's just emotional."
Ae-rin was confused.
"Ae-rin! From now on, I'm your Oppa! If you ever need to ask for advice, I'm here! Ok? OK?!"
Yoon-Hwan shook Ae-rin, holding her shoulders.
"Hai! Yoon-Hwan-oppa!" Ae-rin replied with a big, bright smile.
It was on a whim. Say sorry, Ae-rin! Yoon-Hwan looked as though he had a heart attack, and smoke blasted out of his face.
'Wait- was I not supposed to say that? The manhwa author always used it like that… I- nah. I wasn't at fault, was I?'
"I-Is he ok?" "Yah, I'm pretty sure he is." Seung-tae fanned the said man lying 'dead' on the floor. "But more importantly, shouldn't I be called oppa too, Ae-rin?"
Ae-rin opened her mouth and then closed it.
"Ya, Hyunwoo-oppa!"
Say sorry again, Ae-rin. Now Hyunwoo joined Yoon-Hwan. Guess double work for Seung-tae.
"I didn't mean to do that…"
'What am I doing wrong, no…'
"*Ahem* Most importantly, we need to start looking around for clues." Jihoon's frustration was understandable, I mean he could've spent the time reading stories about Dinosaurs… wait, or is it… Dinosaurs here in this world too?
--------------------------------------
They ended up looking around for all day, investigating the area. In short, it had its own world inside the water barrier, including cliffs, mountains, waterfalls, forests and caves. They did stop to set up camp beside the waterfall before sundown.
"The Sun's setting. Nice that we found a good spot to stay the night."
"Ya, I'll go set up the fire." Hyun-woo said.
"I'll help with the cooking." We know Yoon-hwan would take up cooking duties.
"Then, Jihoon and I'll go set the camps." Seung-tae dragged Jihoon for their part of the duty.
'Huh? Wait, I wanna help too'
"I would like to help with the cooking too."
"No! Oppa got this! Leave it to me!"
'Eh?'
The night went by rather quickly. Peacefully.
-----------------------------------
The next day, everyone woke up to the ground shaking. Everyone got outside of their camps and looked around. It's Fountain Falls, there shouldn't be any 'earthquake' here. In a moment, a massive rock rolled across between Jihoon and the rest of the group and fell into the stream down the waterfall to who knows where.
"Jihoon!! Oh lord!! That was so close!!! Are you ok?!"
"I am fine. Shut up, Seung-tae."
"Sorry, Jihoon!"
'That's an iconic dialogue, ha? No, stop it, head. It's NOT THE TIME!'
In the blink of an eye, an enormous tentacle came right out of the water and grabbed onto Jihoon, dragging him into the water.
"JIHOON!!!!" "JIHOON!!!" "JIHOON!!!!"
Ae-rin didn't scream, but somehow her body moved on its own. She dived right after.
"AE-RIN!! NO!!!" She heard but didn't stop.
Under the water, she could see Jihoon trying his best to get out of the monster's grip. She swam down and tried to help him out of there. But the biggest problem was that Yoon-Hwan's spell wasn't on. It was only a matter of time before they would run out of breath.
The octopus monster didn't give them even that little time.
It faced its mouth at Ae-rin and Jihoon and
*BOOM*
The explosion made a huge ripple through the waters.
"NOOO!!! AE-RIN!!! JIHOON!!!" All the other members felt their blood drain away from their bodies.
"No, i-it can't be happening again…" Hyunwoo mumbled shakily.
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