Moon's Labyrinths

Chee-jee-jee-jeek!

The arm pushed back Sungyoon, and his legs left behind two deep trails across the Moon's dusty surface.

Koo-oohng!

He used his gravity magic to increase his weight, and it finally allowed him to come to a stop.

‘Thankfully, I managed to withstand the attack even if it was barely.’

Sungyoon put strength into his stinging hands as he thought about the blow. Thanks to killing Jinsoo and Hyunwoo, all his Gems had evolved to the highest rank, the Diamond rank. As a bonus, he had added Jinsoo's and Hyunwoo’s Gems to his arsenal.

A Connector was praised as the best even if one had a single Diamond rank Gem. Therefore, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Sungyoon was the strongest being to exist ever since the people of Planote had fallen.

“Haa-ahhhhht!”

Sungyoon swung his shield, and his shield was surrounded by a blue light. That blue light was the ability of the Diamond rank Gem that Hyunwoo used.

Puh-uhk!

Flinch!

Sungyoon deflected Grenoid’s hand, but the hand only moved by a short distance.

‘I put a lot of strength behind that.’

Sungyoon clicked his tongue. However, he didn’t let his limited success stop him from carrying out his next move. A sword appeared in his hand, and the blue light surrounded the sword, imbuing it with more power.

Taht!

Dust flew into the air as he kicked off the ground. When he reached Grenoid’s palm, he stabbed with his sword.

Poo-oohk!

He felt great resistance, but he still stabbed the sword halfway in.

‘Good!’

It was an encouraging development. Sungyoon was happy that his attack worked against Grenoid. Even though it was akin to sticking a toothpick into Grenoid’s palm, at this point, Sungyoon was willing to take whatever he was given.

‘He isn’t some invincible monster!’

Hope surged within his heart.

‘Did the lightning affect him at all?’

When the blade had pierced the palm, Grenoid's hand had flinched a little. However, Sungyoon had no idea if the movement was caused by pain or lightning. Maybe, it was both.

Poohk! Poohk!

The other Connectors started wielding their weapons against Grenoid. Due to their blows, Grenoid’s flesh parted, and blue smoke leaked out of the wounds.

‘Is that his blood?’

As expected of a unique being, even Grenoid's blood was special. After extracting his sword, Sungyoon took a big swing at the palm once again. He again left a long wound, but his joy at wounding Grenoid lasted only a moment. Sungyoon’s eyes twitched when he saw the wound disappear.

‘Regeneration!’

It wasn’t similar to what Hyunwoo had done. This regenerative ability was much superior. The wounds that the other Connectors had made also disappeared in no time.

“Get out of the way!”

When he heard Grace’s voice, Sungyoon retreated without any hesitation. The other Connectors, who had stuck close to Grenoid like ants, also moved away.

Too-hwahhhhhk!

The Connectors in the rear sent their spells toward Grenoid all at once. In terms of power and synergy of the spells, this was the perfect attack from all sides. The enormous force hit Grenoid.

Kwahhhhhhhng!

When the numerous spells landed on Grenoid, the most noticeable reaction was a large explosion.

“It worked against him!”

Grace’s delighted voice rang. It was to be expected. Numerous Connectors had attacked in a concerted manner, and the attack had blasted off half of Grenoid’s upper body and an arm.

“Wow~!”

“Great!”

Cheers erupted all over the place. One Connector even held his fists in the air. However, Sungyoon was suspicious of this development.

‘It can’t be this easy, right?’

The descendants of Planote had been terrified of Grenoid. How could a being who had driven Planote into extinction be so weak?

Boom!

As if he couldn’t withstand the damage, Grenoid fell to his knees. This bolstered the confidence of the Connectors even more.

Sssssk!

However, at the next moment, Grenoid started regenerating its wounds. In a couple of seconds, his upper body became as good as new. The cheers subsided, but this didn’t mean the Connectors despaired. A large number of the Connectors present on this battlefield had fought for over several dozen years in the labyrinths. They had gone through all kinds of hardships. If they could injure Grenoid, they would attack until they could kill him!

The Connectors specializing in close-combat attacked Grenoid once again, while the Connectors in the rear started preparing their spells.

Grenoid's counterattack was quite underwhelming. The power he had shown when attacking the traitors was nowhere to be seen.

‘Could it be? Grenoid is only this strong?’

He might have become weak after being sealed away for a very long time. Grenoid looked powerless as the Connectors attacked it. That was why hope started to sprout within Sungyoon’s heart. However, then...

Sungyoon and Grenoid met eyes.

『Planote?』

Grenoid mumbled.

“Huh? Did he just say something to you, Mr. Sungyoon?”

Tim had been enjoying himself and swinging his ax with abandon. When he asked Sungyoon about it, Grenoid’s gaze headed toward Tim.

『Planote?』

“Uh? Was he talking to me?”

Before Sungyoon could answer Tim, Grenoid looked toward Emily and Grace.

Emily flinched as she carefully asked a question.

“Is it reacting to the special Gems we possess, Mr. Sungyoon?”

“I believe so.”

There was no reason for Grenoid to single out Sungyon’s party otherwise.

“Is it a good reaction for us?”

“I have no idea.”

Emily once again saw some hope in this situation, but Sungyoon didn’t expect much.

‘I hope things don’t get worse.’

Sungyoon was still worried about the extraordinary reaction Grenoid had shown earlier.

『Planote’s royal family and the commanders under him confirmed. Cancel the final day of civilization.』

“Huh? Really? Is it going to stop its rampage?”

“It called this day the final day of civilization because it couldn’t contact anyone from Planote. Seeing that Mr. Sungyoon possesses the Royal Gem, it must have stopped. It's to be expected as that Gem is the symbol of the royal family.”

While he listened to the conversation between Tim and Grace, Sungyoon carefully monitored Grenoid.

Until now, Grenoid was acting in a beneficial manner for humanity. Sungyoon just hoped that his worries didn’t come true.

『Immediately protect the royal family from enemies. Enemies… Planote… Confirmed...』

Grenoid’s sounded like a broken machine as he dragged out his words.

‘It's as I expected!’

“We shouldn't be hoping for a miracle! We have to defeat it right now! Something is wrong with it!”

When they had seen Grenoid’s change, everyone had slowed their attack. Therefore, Sungyoon yelled toward his comrades. The Connectors once again realized something was off, so they resumed attacking Grenoid.

『Planote. Ally. Planote. Enemy. Ally? Enemy? Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! Enemyyyyyyyyyy!』

Kwahhhng!

“Koo-ahk!”

“What the hell!”

The Connectors quickly retreated. Grenoid went all out as he stomped on the ground. Each stomp created a quake, and the nearby region shook.

『Enemy! Ally! Cannot modify! Can’t! Can’t! Can’t!』

Grenoid’s eyes turned redder. His clear glass-like eyes were nowhere to be seen. They had turned a dark and cloudy red.

『Annihilate enemies! Annihilate Planote! Annihilateeeeeeeee!』

Woo-oohng! Woo-oohng!

The black characters covering Grenoid’s body let out a dark light.

Kwahhhhhng!

Grenoid slammed his arms on the ground; he looked like a beast that walked on all four feet. He then turned his head toward Sungyoon.

Zzuuuuuuhk!

The smooth patch of skin below his eyes split open, revealing a monstrous mouth. Inside it were three layers of teeth formed on top of each other. It was a terrifying sight. Grenoid instantly sucked all the nearby magical energy; it was like watching a whale trying to swallow all its prey.

『Annihiliate the royal family!』

Kwahhhhhh!

A light appeared within his mouth. There were no other elements infused within it. It was pure magical energy, and it was the reason the attack was much more terrifying.

Sungyoon didn’t have the time to think. He moved on reflex. After kicking his comrades away from the path of the magic cannon, he unfurled his wings. Then, he accelerated to his maximum speed to escape the line of fire. As he did so, he took up two Connectors in danger.

Puh-uuuuuuhng!

The atmosphere became unstable, and magical energy went crazy. The light smashed through the surface making up the cavity of the crater, then it went past the horizon.

“Ah!”

Everyone was too shocked to speak, and someone even groaned. They were all speechless at the sight of the earth-shattering attack. Sungyoon clicked his tongue as he put down the two Connectors he had rescued.

‘I can see why Planote fell.’

Sungyoon looked at the hole in the crater, then at Grenoid once again.

‘I don’t know how we are supposed to win against that.’

Zzuh-uhk! Zzuh-uhk! Zzuh-uhk! Zzuh-uhk!

As if to prove Sungyoon’s thoughts right, Grenoid’s skin split open all over the body, and mouths started to appear everywhere. In the beginning, everyone had thought Grenoid looked grand and mysterious. But now, it only looked like an oversized monster.

The mouths sucked in all the nearby magical energy. Sungyoon’s skin crawled since he knew what was coming. It was too obvious.

“Dodgeeeeeee!”

Russell yelled from the distance, and the Connectors desperately tried to gain distance from Grenoid.

‘It's coming.’

Kwhahhhhhhhhhng!

How could the attack be described? Grenoid looked like a fountain spraying thick streams of water. The raging streams of light swept through the surroundings as they conducted an indiscriminate act of destruction. The ground turned upside down, and the mountains fell. The only thing unaffected was space, which silently swallowed the light.

Sungyoon looked at his surroundings after he barely dodged the light.

‘Thankfully, the three of them are unharmed.’

His party members were fortunate, and they had dodged the destruction created by the light. However, a lot of Connectors had failed to escape. There were no corpses left behind, but the number of Connectors had clearly decreased.

‘The attack didn’t even leave behind corpses.’

It was a shockingly powerful attack.

『Pla… Pla… Planote! Rooooooyal!』

Grenoid turned his head toward Sungyoon. It was like watching a cancerous growth. Lumps of all sizes formed all around his body, then they fell toward the ground after budding off Grenoid’s body.

Sssssssssk!

The fallen pieces of flesh started to transform.

‘Now that I think about it, the monsters were born from its body.’

It was like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. At that moment, Sungyoon heard a transmission from the Mayor, who sounded desperate.

- M... Mr. Sungyoon! Monsters are crawling out of the labyrinths, and all of them are headed your way!

It was like adding insult to injury. Sungyoon knew something like this might happen, but when it happened for real, he felt a chill run up his body.

『Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! Leader of the enemy! Annihilaaaaaaaaaaaaate!』

‘It has gone mad.’

Sungyoon shook his head from side to side as he dodged the hand swung toward him.

Ddahk! Ddahk! Ddahk!

The teeth that had appeared all over Grenoid’s arm clacked against each other as the arm brushed by Sungyoon. Obviously, Grenoid wanted the sharp teeth to rip Sungyoon apart.

‘This is going to be tough.’

Since Sungyoon had the Royal Gem, Grenoid was prioritizing him as his target. Grenoid’s attacks kept coming toward Sungyoon in waves.

‘No. This is preferable.’

“Mayor.”

- Yes, Mr. Sungyoon!

“I’ll lure Grenoid toward the tower.”

Sungyoon preferred it because Grenoid would chase after him no matter what.

- Are you sure you’ll be ok?

“I’ll somehow survive. Please tell the others to back me up. However, they have to make sure not to attract the attention of Grenoid from me.”

Unless Grenoid was hit with a very powerful attack, Sungyoon doubted he would chase anyone other than him.

- Understood.

The Mayor ended the call.

‘Well, let’s start a deadly game of tag.’

Sungyoon hardened his heart. After dodging an attack, he flew toward the tower.