188 - The Cinder Crown

The expedition spent the next two days stabilizing the damaged regulation structure before continuing deeper into the volcanic region.

The work was slow because the structure was far more complicated than the one beneath the western road. Several channels had been damaged simultaneously, and the engineers had to redirect the excess mana before repairing the individual pathways. Nobody attempted to restore the mechanism completely. Their goal was simply to prevent another uncontrolled surge from spreading toward Ember Basin.

Once the immediate danger had passed, Kael led the expedition toward the northern mountains.

The landscape changed dramatically.

The broad volcanic plains disappeared behind them, replaced by enormous black ridges that rose one after another toward the sky. Rivers of molten material flowed through deep channels, while enormous clouds of ash drifted between the peaks. The temperature was higher here, but the heat was not constant. It rose and fell according to the movement of mana beneath the ground.

The road became narrower.

Eventually, even the old stone route disappeared.

Kael stopped at the edge of a massive ravine.

"This is where Ember Basin's territory ends."

Across the ravine stood a stone arch.

It had survived countless eruptions, although much of its surface had been covered by dark mineral deposits. Several ancient symbols were carved into its sides.

Beyond it lay the Cinder Crown.

Subin studied the arch.

"Has anyone from Ember Basin crossed this recently?"

Kael shook his head.

"Not officially."

"Unofficially?"

"Hunters sometimes go farther than they should."

"What happens?"

"Some return with rare materials. Some don't return."

Jae-hyun looked across the ravine.

"That's encouraging."

Kael smiled.

"The Cinder Crown isn't a forbidden region. It's simply one where survival becomes much harder."

Subin stepped onto the bridge.

The others followed.

The moment they crossed the ancient arch, the environment changed.

The sound of the volcanic region seemed to disappear.

No distant eruptions.

No wind.

No movement.

The silence was unnatural.

Ara checked her instruments.

"The ambient mana just dropped."

Subin felt it as well.

The heat remained, but the surrounding mana was strangely concentrated below the ground rather than circulating through the atmosphere.

They continued.

The terrain descended into a massive valley surrounded by towering black cliffs.

At the center stood a mountain.

Unlike the other volcanoes, it had no visible lava.

Its entire surface was covered with dark crystal.

Kael stared at it.

"The Crown."

Subin looked toward the mountain.

It wasn't simply a volcano.

The entire structure appeared to have been crystallized.

Thin red lines ran through the black surface like veins.

Ara's instruments began producing warnings.

"There's an enormous mana concentration beneath it."

"How large?"

She hesitated.

"Too large for the equipment to measure accurately."

That was the first useful warning.

They approached cautiously.

The ground was surprisingly stable.

No monsters appeared.

No movement disturbed the valley.

After several kilometers, they reached the base of the crystalline mountain.

A massive opening appeared in the rock.

It looked like an entrance to a natural cavern, but the walls were too smooth.

Someone had carved it.

Subin touched the surface.

The stone was cold.

That was strange.

Everything surrounding it was hot.

He looked toward Ara.

"Temperature?"

"Near normal."

Kael frowned.

"That shouldn't be possible."

They entered.

The passage descended gradually.

The deeper they went, the colder it became.

After several hundred meters, the volcanic heat disappeared completely.

The walls were covered in crystalline veins.

Some were red.

Others were orange.

A few were completely black.

Ara stopped.

"These aren't normal crystals."

Subin examined one.

It wasn't storing mana.

It was directing it.

The crystals formed a continuous network along the walls.

The structure reminded him of the underground networks they had encountered in the Frozen Region, but the function was different.

There, mana circulated through natural channels.

Here, the crystals seemed to guide it toward a single location.

They continued downward.

The passage opened into a huge underground chamber.

A circular platform occupied the center.

Above it floated a sphere of condensed mana.

It was enormous.

Red, black, and orange energy rotated around one another without mixing.

Kael whispered.

"The Heart."

Subin looked at him.

"You know this?"

"Only from old records."

Kael stepped closer.

"The Cinder Crown was built around this chamber."

Ara immediately corrected him.

"Built?"

Kael nodded.

"According to the records, the mountain formed around an existing structure."

Subin looked around.

The ancient mechanism beneath the volcanic region was far older than Ember Basin.

Possibly far older than the civilizations that currently lived here.

But that didn't make it mysterious.

It was simply old infrastructure whose original builders were unknown.

Ara moved toward the platform.

"There are five channels."

She pointed toward the floor.

Five enormous conduits extended from the central sphere toward different directions.

"These probably connect to other regions."

Subin examined the channels.

One went south toward Ember Basin.

Another extended west.

The third went east.

The fourth disappeared beneath the northern mountain.

The fifth descended deeper.

Ara's expression changed.

"This one isn't connected to the surface."

Subin looked at the fifth channel.

"Where does it go?"

"I can't determine that."

Kael approached.

"That channel wasn't mentioned in the records."

Subin crouched beside it.

The passage wasn't damaged.

It was deliberately sealed.

Not blocked by debris.

Sealed.

He touched the stone.

There was no active mana flowing through it.

Whatever lay beyond had been intentionally isolated.

"We leave it alone," Subin said.

Nobody disagreed.

The expedition's purpose was exploration, not opening every sealed structure they encountered.

Ara continued examining the active channels.

"The central sphere is regulating the entire volcanic region."

Kael looked concerned.

"If that's true, what happens if it fails?"

Subin looked at the enormous sphere.

"We shouldn't find out."

Before they could continue, the ground shook.

A low vibration passed through the chamber.

The sphere above the platform changed.

The red energy accelerated.

Ara's instruments immediately began producing warnings.

"The southern channel is receiving too much pressure."

Kael moved toward the controls.

"Can you stop it?"

"I don't think this structure has manual controls."

Another tremor struck.

A section of the chamber wall cracked.

Then the central sphere released a wave of energy.

The expedition was thrown backward.

Subin planted Simple Edge against the ground to stop himself.

The wave passed through him.

For a moment, his entire body felt weightless.

Then the pressure disappeared.

Ara stared at her instruments.

"The regulation structure is reacting to something."

"Outside?"

"No."

She looked toward the northern channel.

"Below us."

The fifth sealed channel began glowing.

Subin's expression hardened.

The stone seal wasn't opening.

Something on the other side was pushing against it.

Another impact shook the chamber.

This time, cracks spread across the seal.

Kael raised his weapon.

"Something is down there."

Subin nodded.

The pressure continued increasing.

The seal finally broke.

A burst of heat erupted from the opening.

But this heat was different from the volcanic heat above.

It carried dense mana.

Something emerged from the darkness.

At first, only two enormous eyes became visible.

Then a horn.

Then a massive head covered in black crystalline armor.

The creature forced itself through the broken seal.

The system appeared.

Crownscale Behemoth

Level 238

Rank: A+

The creature was enormous.

Its shoulders nearly filled the chamber.

Unlike the Cinderhorn Ravager, it did not immediately attack.

It looked toward the central sphere.

Then toward the expedition.

Subin raised his sword.

The creature roared.

The chamber shook.

The central sphere reacted.

Mana surged through the five channels.

Ara shouted.

"The creature is connected to the system!"

Subin immediately understood.

The Behemoth wasn't simply living inside the Cinder Crown.

It was using the central structure.

The creature stepped forward.

The floor cracked beneath its weight.

Kael ordered the engineers to retreat.

The Behemoth opened its mouth.

Instead of fire, a dense stream of compressed mana erupted.

Subin cut across it.

The sword split the attack.

The remaining energy struck the chamber wall and created a massive crater.

The Behemoth charged.

Subin moved aside.

The creature's body passed him with enormous force, but it did not stop.

It continued toward the central platform.

Its objective wasn't the expedition.

It was the Heart.

Subin realized the danger immediately.

If the creature reached the central sphere, it could destabilize the entire region.

"Don't let it reach the platform!"

The team reacted.

Rafael positioned himself beside the southern channel.

Yerin attacked the creature's rear leg.

Jae-hyun targeted its crystalline armor.

Kael and the engineers worked to reinforce the damaged seal.

The Behemoth ignored most of them.

It kept moving toward the Heart.

Subin followed.

He needed to stop it without destroying the central mechanism.

The creature raised one enormous limb.

The strike came down.

Subin moved beneath it and cut across the underside.

The blade penetrated the crystalline armor.

The Behemoth reacted immediately.

Its entire body released a shockwave.

Subin was thrown across the chamber.

He landed near the central platform.

The creature turned toward him.

Its eyes met his.

For the first time, its attention shifted completely.

Subin stood.

Simple Edge remained in his hand.

The Behemoth charged.

Subin did not meet it head-on.

He moved around the central platform.

The creature followed.

That was exactly what he wanted.

The Behemoth's enormous body was forced to move around the smaller circular structure, limiting the range of its attacks.

Yerin understood and joined him.

She struck its hind leg.

The creature turned.

Subin cut the opposite side.

Jae-hyun attacked from behind.

The Behemoth became trapped in a continuous rotation around the platform.

It could overpower any single fighter.

But it couldn't attack all three directions simultaneously.

Rafael protected the engineers.

Kael stabilized the southern channel.

The battle became a struggle over position rather than raw strength.

The Behemoth finally changed tactics.

It slammed both front limbs into the ground.

The chamber floor shattered.

A massive ring of energy expanded outward.

Subin jumped onto the central platform.

Yerin and Jae-hyun were thrown away.

The energy ring struck the five channels.

The central sphere began spinning violently.

Ara shouted.

"The Heart is destabilizing!"

Subin looked at the creature.

If the Behemoth continued using the chamber's energy, the entire system could fail.

He had to end the fight quickly.

The Behemoth lunged toward the platform.

Subin stepped forward.

The distance between them disappeared.

Simple Edge moved once.

The blade entered the gap between two crystalline plates on the creature's chest.

Subin continued forward instead of stopping.

The sword traveled through the opening, following the natural separation between the armor and the creature's internal mana flow.

The Behemoth's charge slowed.

Its body stopped centimeters from the platform.

Subin rotated the blade.

The creature's mana circulation collapsed inward.

The enormous beast dropped to one knee.

Subin withdrew the sword.

The Behemoth remained alive.

Its breathing became slow.

The central sphere stabilized.

The chamber finally became quiet again.

Kael stared at the creature.

"You defeated a Level 238 A+."

Subin shook his head.

"We stopped it."

There was a difference.

The expedition hadn't conquered the Cinder Crown.

They had prevented a regional disaster.

Ara approached the central platform.

"The Heart is stable."

She looked toward the broken northern seal.

"But that channel is open now."

Subin turned.

Beyond the broken seal lay a descending passage.

No map showed it.

No known route connected to it.

And unlike the other channels, this one carried no ordinary volcanic mana.

A faint blue light came from deep below.

Ara studied it.

"That energy isn't from the Volcanic Region."

Subin looked down the passage.

He didn't move toward it.

Not yet.

They had come to understand the Volcanic Region.

They had found something far more important than another monster or treasure: the central mechanism that regulated the region itself.

Whatever existed beyond the sealed passage could wait.

Subin looked toward the exhausted Crownscale Behemoth.

It had been protecting its access to the Heart, even if its actions threatened the structure.

Perhaps the creature had been responding to the same environmental changes that had driven other monsters from their territories.

The expedition needed answers.

But they would get them carefully.

Kael looked at Subin.

"What do we do now?"

Subin looked at the five channels.

"Map the Heart."

Ara nodded.

"Then?"

"Find out where these routes lead."

He pointed toward the southern channel.

"Ember Basin."

Then the eastern one.

"Crossroads."

The western.

"Unknown."

Finally, he looked toward the northern passage.

"Cinder Crown."

His eyes settled on the fifth channel.

"And that one..."

He paused.

"We leave closed until we understand what we're dealing with."

The expedition had reached the center of the Volcanic Region.

For the first time, they could see how deeply the region was connected to the larger structure of the Great Passage.

The Volcanic Region was not an isolated dungeon floor.

It was one part of a much larger geographical and mana network.

And somewhere beyond its mountains, other regions were connected to the same system.

The expedition had not reached the end of the road.

They had finally reached its foundation.