Moon's Labyrinths

Sungyoon rapidly approached the ground. He felt that his entire body had become weightless and that he had achieved true freedom. However, his body wasn’t truly free. He used his vision enhancement magic.

‘It’s over there.’

A figure with large bat-like wings and an ugly face appeared in his sight.

Sungyoon was very familiar with its face.

‘I found it! Kevil!’

Kevil was the enemy of Connectors. In fact, it was the enemy of all humans.

Kevil had yet to realize that Sungyoon’s party was approaching it from the sky.

‘Including that bastard, they number ten.’

Sungyoon counted all the monsters gathered there, and this number showed that the monsters had significantly lessened.

- I’ll hit him now!

Everyone heard Grace's voice through their communication device.

She was preparing her spell even as she was falling.

Blue lightning crawled over her staff.

Rumble!

The lightning revealed its teeth as it growled.

Kevil and the monsters finally realized something was amiss. They raised their heads.

However, Sungyoon’s party was in no hurry.

Sungyoon rooted through his pockets and pulled out something. They were sunglasses and earplugs. After putting them on, Sungyoon looked at Emily and Tim. They had done the same thing as him.

All of them finished their preparations before Grace executed her spell.

Flash!

Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-kwahng!

Bolts of lightning fell through the clear sky.

Unlike the lightning spells Grace had used before, this one fell from the sky.

Pah-jee-jee-jeek!

A powerful stream of electricity connected the staff to the ground. Several dozen lightning bolts burned the ground and the trees that were swept up in the attack.

The lightning spell came to an end.

‘As expected, the spell couldn’t cause significant damage to it.’

Smoke came off Kevil’s body, yet it was normally moving.

‘Still, the spell was effective on the others.’

The success of the attack didn't mean that all the monsters had died. As expected of the last remaining monsters following Kevil, two of them were very strong. As for the rest, they had suffered heavy damage and were unsteady on their feet.

‘Two are still energetic.’

The two monsters were typical beast-type monsters. Instead of being intimidated by Grace’s spell, they let out a roar and threatened their surroundings.

Sungyoon took out his earplugs and put the communication device back into his ear. He immediately heard Grace’s voice.

- Not a lot of them died.

Grace sounded a bit frustrated when she realized her attack wasn’t that effective.

Kevil being undamaged was expected, but some of the other monsters had fared well too.

“Still, we safely carried out the first step of our plan.”

The eyes of Kevil and the monsters were closed as the sudden light from the lightning had temporarily blinded them.

- Should I use another spell?

Grace wanted an opportunity to regain her pride. However, Sungyoon answered in the negative.

“You should unfurl your parachute. We are nearing our destination.”

Sungyoon pulled the knob of his parachute.

Chwahk!

Four parachutes opened in the air.

The speed of their descent decelerated very quickly, but they had unfurled their parachutes too late.

If they were normal humans, they would have died or gotten heavily injured.

However, they were Connectors.

‘This should be enough.’

The speed of his descent was still fast, but Sungyoon felt that he had slowed down enough. He cut the lines to the parachute.

Boom!

Sungyoon’s feet landed on the ground, and a loud collision sound rang out.

With the force behind the landing, if it were a normal person in place of Sungyoon, their bones would've broken at the very least. However, Sungyoon was unharmed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three more collision sounds rang out.

After Tim landed, he moved in front of Sungyoon and raised his shield. He also looked unharmed.

Emily and Grace stood behind Sungyoon. Unlike Sungyoon and Tim, Grace and Emily grimaced a little from the pain they felt. It was to be expected since they were weaker in terms of physical attributes.

The two women groaned. It was a small sound, yet all the monsters turned toward Sungyoon’s party. Moreover, their vision was starting to get clear.

‘For now…’

Sungyoon raised his hand.

‘I have to attack them once more before they fully recover their senses.’

Sssssk!

A halberd appeared in his hand.

Kwahng!

He pushed off hard against the ground; his body absorbed all the shock as he transferred all the force to the arm holding the halberd.

Twisting his body, he threw the halberd.

Ssaeeeeeeeeeeeng!

The sunlight glinted off the spear blade as the halberd flew through the air.

Kwah-jeek!

Koo-ehhhhhhhk!

It pierced the head of a weakened monster. Sungyoon didn't stop at the halberd. He immediately followed with his ax and hammer and struck the monsters. Moreover, he didn’t leave the halberd after throwing it once. He unsummoned it. It disappeared from the head of the monster and reappeared in his hand.

Ssaeeeeeeeeeeeng!

The halberd flew again.

“There are five fewer monsters now.”

Tim kept his shield raised as he spoke.

“I want to decrease their numbers further, but as expected, they are formidable foes.”

Some of the blinded monsters just endured the attacks, while others struck down the weapons thrown toward them. The toughness of these monsters was quite surprising.

Kwahhhhhng!

A fireball erupted from behind him and flew toward the monsters. The fireball detonated, and the fire roasted the monsters.

Sungyoon turned his head around. Grace shook her staff as if she wanted him to see it.

“That should shrink their numbers by a little.”

Sungyoon looked at the monsters once again.

“Three left.”

As Emily had said, they only had to care about three monsters. Only Kevil and two powerful monsters had survived the initial attack relatively unscathed.

“You!”

“It has been a while. I was dying to see you again.”

Sungyoon waved his hand at the growling Kevil. He wasn't exaggerating. He was glad to see Kevil.

“You can’t contact your friends, so you're all alone now. You should've stayed quiet and picked a date for your death.”

Sungyoon’s eyes drifted toward the side of Kevil. He caught sight of it not too far away.

A mountain of unidentifiable corpses.

Bboo-doohk!

He ground his teeth.

“I guess I was asking too much when I expected intelligence from you. I admit it. I was foolish in believing that.”

“Ke ke ke! It seems your heart hurts from seeing people of your race in that state?”

Kevil let out a burst of mocking laughter. It was a nauseating laugh.

“You bastard!”

Tim’s face turned red from anger, but Sungyoon tapped his shoulder to calm him down.

“Yes. My heart does hurt. However, it doesn’t hurt as much when I think about you, who is a mouse trapped in a dead-end. You’ll die alone on Earth.”

“… You can say these impudent words to me now. Did you forget how in the past, you were so scared that your body shook in front of me!”

“Unlike your owner, who's stuck on the Moon and is unable to do anything, I can grow.”

‘He's really mad.’

Tim thought as he watched Kevil’s face distort from anger.

Unless he was in front of his daughter Shinhae, Sungyoon remained quiet and cold. He didn’t usually express his emotions. In some ways, he was a bit inhumane.

However, Sungyoon was taunting Kevil right now.

‘I guess it isn’t too strange.’

Tim was also furious at the monster in front of him.

The emotion in his heart was almost indescribable.

It was closer to hate than anger.

“Let’s see if your skills are as good as your mouth!”

“Don’t even bother fighting so hard in a place with no magical energy! Just die!”

A fire sword erupted in Kevil’s hand. Sungyoon held his halberd and shield in each hand.

“Let’s go!”

His party members had been worried that Sungyoon was too excited right now. However, he was calm enough to give orders, and they relaxed when he sounded like his usual self.

“Understood!”

Tim answered as the representative. He raised his shield forward.

Kevil’s fire sword extended like a whip and aimed for Sungyoon’s party.

Kwahhhhhhng!

The fire whip collided with Tim’s shield.

“Koohk!”

Tim groaned when a heavy blow landed on his shield. Surprisingly, he didn’t move an inch.

This scene surprised Kevil.

Kevil remembered Sungyoon because he was a great candidate for the sacrifice. Some of their encounters also stuck out in his mind.

Therefore, it also had a vague memory of Sungyoon’s party members.

‘He blocked it?’

According to its memories, Tim shouldn't have been able to block its attack.

Even though Kevil hadn’t put all his strength into the attack, it was still shocking. Tim might have grown, but it was almost impossible to grow that much in such a short period.

“They are using the power of the bastards from the Moon!”

A Device hidden with Tim’s armor contained an extraordinary Gem.

All the members of Sungyoon’s party had equipped their special Gems.

Because of the special Gems, they didn't suffer a reduction in their power when they returned to Earth.

Moreover, they had received the Gems left behind from deceased Connectors, and Sungyoon had evolved most of their Gems. Their fighting power had significantly increased.

However, this didn’t mean Sungyoon’s party held an advantage.

“Mr. Sungyoon. Its strength has increased more than we had predicted.”

Kevil was weakened on Earth, and Sungyoon’s party could use the same power that they had on the Moon. Therefore, they had hoped they would be stronger than Kevil. However, they had been too optimistic. Tim, who had received the blow from Kevil, had realized it.

“Seems like my mother-in-law’s prediction is becoming reality.”

“She had said that the monsters will become stronger thanks to the magical energy being sent to Earth.”

Grace looked up. She could see a subdued blue light covering the sky. It was the sight of the magical energy being spread into the world.

“You guys talk too much!”

Hwee-ree-reek!

Kevil once again swung its whip, and this time, the whip split into three strands.

“Still, its power is within the range we expected! We must defeat it today!”

Sungyoon raised his shield as he got out of Tim’s shadow.

“Ooh-rya-ryahhhhhhhhk!”

Tim took another step and swung his shield to deflect the whips.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Sparks flew in the air as heat washed over Tim.

He scrunched up his face as he successfully blocked the attacks once again.

Pah-aht!

Sungyoon’s cape transformed. White wings unfurled behind him as he accelerated. He flew one meter above the ground and charged toward the monsters.

Ooh-wuhhhhhhhhh!

The two monsters roared. They got in Sungyoon’s path and swung their enormous arms.

Boom!

Sungyoon folded his wings before he was about to crash into the monsters. Then, he kicked off the ground and leaped into the sky.

The monsters' attacks hit nothing but air.

In the air, Sungyoon flicked his finger.

Puh-uh-uhng!

The ground erupted.

He had evolved his magic Gems to the Gold rank, and he was also using a Gem that doubled the power of Jewel rank Gems. Therefore,his spells couldn't be compared to before.

However, the monsters were formidable foes.

Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!

They crushed the surging stalagmites with their feet. It looked as though two large basins had formed in a field of stalagmites.

Sungyoon repeated his spell a couple more times, but it was all for naught.

The earth magic didn’t work against these monsters, and the monsters continued to create large holes in the field of stalagmites. However, the carnage was limited to where they stood.

Tahk!

Grace landed on top of one of the stalagmites.

The monsters roared as they tried to bring down the wall of stalagmites trapping them in. However, Sungyoon kept throwing his weapons to slow them down.

It allowed Grace to finish her spell and send a fireball into the pit.

Kwahhhhhhng!

A large explosion erupted.