Moon's Labyrinth

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 since the people of Planote had fallen .

“Haa-ahhhhht!”

Sungyoon swung his shield, and his shield was surrounded by blue light . That blue light was the ability of the Diamond rank Gem 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, and blue smoke leaked out of the wounds .

‘Is that his blood?’

As expected of a unique being, even his 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 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 the 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 from 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!

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 over several dozen years in the labyrinths . They had gone through all kinds of hardships . If they could wound Grenoid, they would attack until they could kill it!

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

However, 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 to itself .

“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 him!”

Seeing 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 .

He 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 a corpse . ’

It was a shockingly powerful attack .

『Pla… Pla… Planote! Rooooooyal!』

Grenoid turned his head toward Sungyoon . It was like watching a cancerous growth . Different-sized lumps 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 Grenoid’s 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 .