Moon's Labyrinths

Monsters flowed into the portals like a stream of water. All these portals led to the same location, a vast plain. The Connectors tried their best to keep the monsters in place, but they were facing too many monsters. There weren’t enough Connectors to stem the tide.

It reached a point where the monsters had filled the plain.

So many monsters had passed through the portal that the flow of monsters had started to decrease. It meant that most of the monsters attacking the Connectors in Armstrong city had passed through the portals.

In the short term, it looked like a defeat for the Connectors in this mission. In the long term, it felt as if this signaled Earth's eventual defeat.

“Almost all of them have passed through.”

On a tall mountain across the plain stood an army in a formation. The commander of the army put down his binoculars.

“Shall we proceed with the plan?”

“Yes. Signal the Connectors.”

The commander brought up his binoculars once again when his subordinate went away. With the zoomed-in view, he saw the Connectors disengage from the monsters that they had been holding back.

The monsters tried to chase after the Connectors, but due to their own numbers, they had trouble moving. This meant that most of the monsters remained on the plain while the Connectors moved to safety.

“Boom!”

The commander shouted.

After a short amount of time had passed...

Kwahnnnng!

A sound similar to the one made by the commander’s mouth rang out. However, the intensity of the sound was very different.

The explosives buried underneath the plain had exploded at the same time, and the size of the explosion was oppressive.

‘It's basically akin to using a nuclear bomb.’

Some people on Earth had wanted to use nukes for this mission. However, those suggestions were turned down.

The commander had been one of the more aggressive people who wanted to use a nuke if needed.

‘However, a nuke is unnecessary if the explosion is this powerful.’

A nuke would have been overkill here.

Of course, one couldn’t damage monsters using regular gunpowder. At the very least, one had to make the monsters use a lot of their magical energy in a location containing no ambient magical energy. Only in that case would regular weapons work on monsters.

However, they hadn’t committed such an outrageous act without purpose.

Too-kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-kwahk!

As the explosions erupted, something else flew through the air alongside the dirt and rocks. These items were refined Mana Knight weapons shaped like sharp needles.

Poohk! Poohk! Puh-uhng!

Ggoo-ehhhhhhhk!

Kee-ahhhhhhhhk!

The monsters screamed. However, the continuous explosions drowned out their voices.

The Mana Knight needles continued to pierce through the monsters.

“Wow~!”

The Connectors, who had run far away from the blast radius, expressed their admiration as they watched the explosions from safety. The flames and the heat were impressive, but it was the result that they liked the most.

“It's working very well.”

One of the Connectors standing off to the side spoke in a satisfied voice.

The scene looked as if the fires of hell had descended in front of them. However, the ones to suffer were the monsters, so the Connectors laughed as they watched the hellish sight.

After a while, the explosions came to a stop and the loud noises receded.

However, the intense heat remained, albeit a heat of that magnitude wasn't a hindrance to the Connectors.

The Connectors carefully advanced through the heat.

“They were cooked very well. They look scrumptious.”

The monsters that were nearest to the Connectors remained intact even after the explosion. However, the monsters packed into the plains were mutilated. Most of them were dead. As for those who were still alive, their bodies were in rough shape.

Despite the injuries, the monsters hadn’t lost their will to fight. They bared their teeth as they growled toward the Connectors. However, the Connectors didn’t take them seriously considering the critical wounds on them.

“Let’s clean this up.”

A spear-wielding Connector stabbed a monster that had escaped the explosions and killed it with one strike.

The Connectors started killing all the injured monsters. At this moment, they were like the grim reapers with scythes who harvested the lives of the monsters.

***

The sword struck against the nails once again, and Russell jumped backward.

‘She’s a tough one.’

His palms felt numb. He had almost lost his grip on his sword several times.

‘Didn’t they say she’s an officer?’

He was going one on one against her, but he was barely hanging on. Still, Russell's mood became better and better as time passed. On the other hand, the expression on the face of the monster in front of him was worsening with time.

‘It seems our plan was a success.’

Most of the Connectors and the monsters in the city had passed through the portal, so the war within Armstrong city had cooled off.

The only things left were the silence and the corpses. Only a few monsters were left roaming the city, and a few Connectors, including Russell, were fighting by themselves. However, Connectors started charging out of the portals once again.

Flames flickered out of the portals, but they instantly died down due to the lack of air on the Moon.

However, it was enough for Russell as he now knew for sure that the plan had been a success.

Since most of the monsters within Armstrong city were gone, the Connectors easily recaptured Armstrong city.

‘How...’

Things weren’t turning out as Glaia had expected. She could only look on in shock when it happened.

Russell kicked Glaia’s stomach, and her enormous body flew through the air and slammed into a building.

“Ggoo-oohk!”

Her scream rang out in the surroundings.

“Huh? I guess this building had some air left.”

Russell followed her into the building and sensed the remaining air being sucked out.

Red lights flashed within the building, and emergency sirens rang nonstop.

It was a small building, so it didn't contain lots of oxygen. However, something was constantly pumping air here.

“Did they install an oxygen inflow machine here? They were very thorough in building this place.”

Ooh-roo-roo!

Glaia stood up, and the debris over her body fell away.

“You... bastard!”

“Mmm! You have a beautiful voice. If I were twenty years younger, I might have proposed to you.”

Russell shook his sword.

“Normally, I would drape my cape over a nude lady, but I guess I don’t need to do that for you, right?”

“You’ve been barely hanging on against me. You're acting arrogant just because the situation changed a little bit!”

“Ah! You speak the truth. I’m embarrassed to say that I can't win against you.”

Russell scratched his chin. Unlike his words, he looked very calm.

“The situation is turning advantageous for our side. More and more of our people are coming here. Do you know what that means?”

Boom!

Another wall of the building was demolished, and an even larger amount of air leaked out. Even if there was an emergency oxygen inflow machine here, the building didn’t have an infinite supply of oxygen.

That was why the conversation came to an end after Russell spoke the next words.

“That miserable old sod has come to help me.”

Bruce, who had entered through the broken wall, frowned.

***

“We did it! We killed most of the monsters that we had baited away!”

Sungyoon’s finger, which had been anxiously tapping against his arm, came to a stop.

The Mayor quickly asked a question to his subordinate.

“What about the casualties amongst the Connectors?”

“I was told it's minimal!”

“How many monsters are left within Armstrong city?”

“Almost none! We received a report from Sir Russell that the officer named Glaia has run away! We won!”

A large cheer erupted within the situation room.

The Mayor was elated, but he tried his best to calm his heart. He clapped his hands to get rid of the excitement.

“Our work is not done yet! We’ve only finished the first step! We have to immediately move our supplies and set up the defense!”

After reigning in the euphoric feeling in the air, the Mayor gave his orders. Then he turned to look at Sungyoon. It was time to hammer home the last part of the plan.

“I’ll leave the preparation to you, Mr. Sungyoon.”

“Understood.”

Sungyoon pushed off the wall that he had been leaning against. A portal appeared in front of him, and he passed through it.

***

A massive supply had been prepared beforehand, and all of it had been piled up at the Aldrin spaceport. They were in the midst of installing massive cannons and machine guns around the spaceport. They were also paying special attention to the entrance of the Beginner’s Labyrinth and the Great Labyrinth within Armstrong city.

As this was occurring, Sungyoon, his party members, and Plu-El were on standby inside the Mage city.

“Now that I think about it, we never heard how this place was created. Why did a labyrinth develop around this place?”

Plu-El answered Emily’s question.

“It might have something to do with the large magic diagram below the Mage city. It doesn't work right now, but it still possesses the power to command and absorb incredible amounts of magical energy from outside. It was the reason the flow of magical energy around the city changed, and powerful monsters congregated toward this place. It caused a Great Labyrinth to form on the floors above.”

At that moment, a person exited the portal. He was the subordinate who the Mayor had ordered to activate the pillar.

Plu-El guided Sungyoon toward the front of the pillar. The Royal Gem in his Device glittered. Everyone’s curious gaze was fixed on Sungyoon as he approached the pillar.

‘This is the greatest legacy left behind by those who had sacrificed themselves for humanity.’

He pushed his magical energy into the Royal Gem. As he got closer to the pillar, he could feel the will of the people of the Mage city. It sounded nice that they had sacrificed themselves for humanity. However, if one looked at it from their view, it had been a shitty experience.

When Sungyoon placed his hand on the crystal, the magical energy he felt was very warm and peaceful. Of course, he could feel resolve and stubbornness too. Sungyoon did as instructed by Plu-El. He let his magical energy flow into the pillar at the same time as he poured his magical energy into the Royal Gem.

Ooh-oong!

Oooooooooooong!

The Royal Gem and the Crystal reacted to each other as if they were a separated child and a parent who had just reunited. Both the Gem and the Crystal let out a cry to each other as if their dreams had come true.

Kooooooooohng!

Magical energy started to move. It flowed out of the maze-like tunnels, and in a flash, a uniform flow of magical energy had been established within the basement. Moreover, the flow of magical energy filled the entire city and moved the magical energy around the city.

Koo-roo-roo-roo-roong!

The ground started to rumble as the city shook.

“This is quite the impact!”

“Be careful, everyone! I don’t think it’ll happen, but debris might fall from the ceiling!”

Everyone lowered their stances as they became vigilant toward any potential accidents.

In the beginning, all of them had thought it was just an aftereffect of the machine activating, so no one was worried about it.

However, the vibration never went away; it steadily became worse. This caused everyone to become a bit tense.

“Are you sure this is fine?”

Tim asked Plu-El, but she also had no idea what was going on.

“I... I think it should be fine.”

“Do you know what’s happening?”

This time Grace asked the question.

“No. The pillar only describes how to activate it and the result. It doesn’t describe the process at all.”

“It means something might happen in the middle.”

Tim lowered his stance further.

The vibrations became worse. Sungyoon looked down toward his feet. He felt the intense vibration, but also a bit of a buoyant feeling.

“M... Mr. Sungyoon.”

Emily, who stood close to Sungyoon, called out to him.

“It feels as if we are rising. Am I imagining it?”

“No. I feel it too.”

Grace lightly kicked the floor. It seemed she was trying to get rid of the buoyant feeling through that action. However, the buoyant feeling wasn’t an illusion, and her kicks couldn’t stop what was going on.

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!

“It... it's rising!”

Someone yelled. The sound of rocks falling away rang out in the distance. As they pushed through the dirt and rocks, they could hear the screams of the monsters.