Moon's Labyrinths

A lull happened in the war.

The monsters had been charging forward like a tsunami and trying to turn Armstrong city into a heap of dilapidated rocks. However, it seemed they lost their will to fight all of a sudden. They started to get abused by the Connectors in a one-sided manner.

The only saving grace was their numeric advantage. The monsters used their numbers to push against the Connectors, but shells made of Mana Knight fell wherever the monsters gathered in large numbers. The shells blew their bodies into pieces.

Glaia, the officer of the monsters, had died, and her elite troops of Jormungandrs had been wiped out. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the outcome of the battle had become clear.

Sungyoon and his party stood a bit away from the battle lines. They were tasked by the Mayor to be firefighters who would deal with any emergency and rush toward any location where the battle line was about to break. They would stabilize the battle line.

However, all that was mere pretense. The main purpose behind such a move was to give a rest to Sungyoon, who had finished fighting Glaia and the group of Jormungandrs.

‘It's slowly coming to an end.’

From the spaceship, the prospect of fighting against the tsunami of monsters had looked hopeless, but they were finally seeing the end to this fight.

‘I hope my brothers-in-law are ok.’

After parting ways with Woosang and Woosung, Sungyoon hadn’t thought about them.

‘Both of them are high rank Connectors. They should be fine.’

Since the battle had yet to end, he decided to worry about them at a later time.

When he looked around, he found more corpses than living beings around Armstrong city. A large percentage of them were monster corpses, but there were a lot of human corpses too.

‘The cleanup after the battle will be a nightmare.’

The injured could be healed by the Connectors with healing spells, but the dead couldn’t be revived. That was why it would take them a long time to recover the corpses. Moreover, their work wouldn’t end even if they cleared the battlefield of enemies.

The corpses had to be recovered and given a funeral, then compensation had to be sent out to the family of the dead. There was a lot to do after the battle.

‘The Mayor won’t be able to rest for a while.’

Sungyoon could easily imagine the Mayor walking around like a zombie with dark circles under his eyes.

‘Still, we won.’

Sungyoon had risked his life and done his part in bringing the victory. Even if it wouldn’t last long until their next fight, there would be a short amount of time where everyone would be able to celebrate their victory to their heart's content.

However, it didn’t take long for Sungyoon’s hope to be shattered into pieces.

It happened when a Connector cut open the neck of the last monster. Everyone realized that all the monsters were dead, and the Connectors started to raise their hands one by one. Like a wave, everyone raised their hands.

They had won.

The Moon was a desolate location, where they couldn’t even let out a cheer of victory. However, they didn’t care about that at all. To them, it didn’t matter if others could hear them or not. Each Connector celebrated in their own way.

Sungyoon relaxed. When he looked to his side, he could see his party members celebrating in joy.

Tim raised his fist into the air. Emily and Grace looked at each other as they held hands. Their faces held big smiles. Sungyoon also laughed as he celebrated with them.

‘Some other crisis might happen in the future, but we solved this one for now...’

The ground shook. Sungyoon quickly put strength into his legs to keep his balance.

‘What's going on?’

The quake was quite intense. A normal person would have fallen over. The Connectors, who had been celebrating their victory, looked taken aback by what was happening.

They could see movements at the place where the corpses of monsters were piled up. Sungyoon’s face crumpled when he caught sight of this.

‘That's where we fought Glaia..’

He looked at the location where her corpse used to be. When he saw suspicious movements from that location, he became worried.

Using his vision-enhancing spell, he observed the spot as if he were looking through a magnifying glass.

‘Blood?’

It was clearly blood. The red liquid rose into the air like a snake that creepily moved.

Sssk!

The puddle of blood oddly moved as if it were surveying its surroundings. Then, it suddenly shot toward all directions as though it was creating tentacles.

The blood tentacles dug into the corpses of the monsters. Then, the tentacles rippled like they were sucking in something.

‘The corpses…!’

Sungyoon thought he had seen a subdued light emanate from the monster corpses, but it went out in an instant. The only thing left behind was the wriggling blood tentacles, which had been planted in the corpses of the monsters.

‘It's similar to the phenomenon where the monster corpses turn into moonstones.’

He analyzed what happened when the monster corpses disappeared and noticed blood traveling up through the tentacles.

‘The mass of blood looks bigger.’

It wasn't speculation. It had indeed gotten bigger.

Sungyoon quickly tapped at his communication device.

- What’s wrong, Mr. Sungyoon?

There was desperation in his voice, but also a feeling of expectancy. The Mayor was hopeful that Sungyoon knew the reason behind the quake.

Sungyoon tapped his communication device to send a signal. However, he couldn’t clearly express himself. The taps were a desperate measure that allowed humans to communicate with each other on the Moon. However, the information that could be transmitted was very limited.

The Mayor, who was on the other side of the communication device, was having a very hard time deciphering Sungyoon’s signal.

- Is something happening around you, Mr. Sungyoon? You have no idea what it is? Is that what you are trying to say?

Sungyoon relaxed a little when he finally was able to get his message through. It was a tiny amount of information, but this was the best he could do. He then tapped the communication device once to show his acknowledgment.

- Understood. We’ll immediately investigate.

Even that tiny bit of information was gold for the Mayor, and he immediately moved.

While Sungyoon communicated with the Mayor, the mass of blood continued to grow. The other Connectors also started noticing it in ones and twos. Sungyoon could see them point toward the mass of blood. Even as this went on, the quake continued.

‘Should I get closer to it?’

At a glance, he could tell that this development wasn’t good for humanity. Sungyoon took out his hammer and shield with conflicted emotions. He was ordered to be on standby, so he couldn’t act in a rash manner.

It seemed some of the Connectors received orders from the Mayor as they carefully approached the mass of blood.

- Mr. Sungyoon. Please be on your guard for whatever happens. Only attack when the order is given. This holds even if this thing attacks first.

Sungyoon tapped his communication device once again, then gestured to his party members. His party members nodded as they once again took up their weapons with tense expressions.

The Connectors approaching the liquid shot their spells from a distance. Lightning was the first spell to hit the mass of blood. Then, frost washed over it.

‘… It's useless.’

Even after receiving such powerful spells, the mass of blood retained its shape. It only jiggled a little when the spells hit it.

The nearby Connectors were surprised, and they sent forth a couple more spells. Then, the Connectors with close-range weapons started to approach it.

‘Are they transitioning to close combat?’

Suddenly, the mass of blood started to shiver, and the blood tentacles explosively shot forth, terrifying the Connectors slowly approaching it.

- Mr. Sungyoon!

Sungyoon had moved even before the Mayor gave the order.

‘I have to save the nearest people…!’

He had been running, but his movements became indecisive. It was understandable. The blood tentacles moved in a fantastical manner as they dodged all the Connectors. There were zero casualties. No Connector had received even a scratch.

However, the blood tentacles continued to harvest the corpses. The mass of blood continued to get larger, and the number of tentacles increased. It started to increase its range and consume all the corpses around Armstrong city.

‘This isn’t good!’

Sungyoon looked at his surroundings with a serious expression in his eyes.

Connectors sporadically attacked the mass of blood, and some attacked the tentacles. However, nothing worked.

‘What the hell is this?’

Sungyoon tried to slice through a tentacle several times, but he felt like he was trying to cut water. He felt no resistance, and the tentacle continued to creepily wriggle.

At that moment, the Mayor contacted him.

- Mr. Sungyoon! We have observed a small group of monsters a distance away! It's a small group, but the group is protecting someone wearing a robe! When I asked Ms. Plu-El for council, she told me that the robed figure might be the last remaining officer, Udocus! She said the probability is high!

‘The last remaining officer of the monsters? That means…!’

- There is a high probability that Udocus is behind all of this!

The last remaining officer was Udocus. In the past, his mother-in-law Plu-El had mentioned that name when explaining Grenoid's officers.

[Udocus. We don’t have much information about this monster.]

At the time, she had spoken apologetically.

[Amongst the three officers, he's the most different. Unlike the other officers, he rarely participates in battles. That's why our ancestors thought maybe he was the general. He always wears a robe, so we have no idea what kind of a monster he is. However, we do know that he mainly attacks through magic.]

It had been a short explanation, but Sungyoon focused on the fact that Udocus was ‘different.’ Kevil and Glaia were officers in charge of leading the troops, and it meant Udocus filled some different role. The information that the descendants of Planote viewed Udocus as the general backed up his speculation.

‘The problem remains that such a being will be very troublesome to deal with.’

- Are you capable of fighting right now?

The Mayor was very careful as he asked the question.

Sungyoon took a stock of himself. He had used his cape and his spells numerous times, and two of his weapons were close to breaking. It would be a lie to say that he was fine.

Moreover, his opponent was another officer. There was a high probability that he would need Russell and Bruce’s help in taking down Udocus. Udocus was probably on the same level as Glaia at the very least.

‘If I’m being honest, this will be tough.’

However, Sungyoon knew he couldn’t back out right now, so he carefully tapped his communication device.

- You can fight, but you're close to being spent. Am I correct?

Tap!

- Understood. However, I'm short of people I can trust. I’ll do my best to give you reinforcements. Please move toward the location shown on the tablet.

As the connection terminated, Sungyoon turned to look at his party members.

There were so many tentacles right now that it looked as though a net made out of blood had been cast over the region. His party members were still trying their best to find a way to sever the tentacles.

Sungyoon tapped them with his hand so that he could get their attention. Then he made some hand gestures. Their faces became filled with worry for him. Sungyoon laughed as he shrugged as if he wanted to tell them not to worry about him.

Sungyoon separated from his party and moved toward the location shown on the tablet. It was a location pretty far from Armstrong city, and several people had arrived before him.

‘It looks more horrifying from a distance.’

A net made out of blood had been cast over the enormous city, and the tentacles acted like living organisms. It was a grotesque sight.

The continuous quake made the already desolate Moon look more desolate. It made everything much more creepy.

More and more people continued to arrive, including Russell and Bruce.

In the end, a total of thirty Connectors had gathered there. Sungyoon recognized some of the high rank Connectors that had come. It was clear that this was an elite group.

‘He sent a lot.’

Since there was the danger presented by an officer, the Mayor had made a big decision.

‘It seems everyone is here. Let’s start...’

Sungyoon was about to express his intent when the blood net started to move once again.