Moon's Labyrinths

Aftergathering all the pieces of the corpses, Sungyoon approached the Ross siblings, who were resting.

“Are you done?”

“Yes. I’ve gathered all the corpses.”

Sungyoon displayed his vambrace as a response to Tim's question. To be precise, he showed the storage Gem, which held everything. Then he sat in front of the Ross siblings.

“How are you feeling?”

“I feel a bit better after the rest.”

Tim’s face was still pale, but it looked noticeably better than before.

However, Emily was still lying down on the floor of the labyrinth.

She tried getting up, but Sungyoon gestured her to lie down once again. He decided to rest here for a little longer.

“Let me explain what happened here.”

Sungyoon gave his conjecture based on the state of the corpses and the conditions around the battleground. Even as they rested, Tim and Emily paid close attention to his words.

“Monsters slightly weaker than a Centaur...”

Tim’s face stiffened.

“It's only a hypothesis based on the size of the moonstones, and not something definitive.”

“Your hypothesis sounds very likely since you are basing it on the size of the moonstones.”

Tim tensed at the mention of the Centaur. He hadn’t fought it before, but he had heard it was a very powerful monster. Moreover, Sungyoon had said he had lost against it some time ago.

“Did the Princess’ party lose to these monsters?”

Emily pulled herself into a sitting position as she asked. It seemed she felt a bit better.

“It is quite likely. Thankfully, I didn't find her corpse amongst the bodies.”

However, this didn’t mean that it was certain that she was alive.

“From what I know, Princess Grace’s Gems are specialized around powerful magic. She is a damage dealer.”

Sungyoon frowned at Emily’s words.

Even if she had downplayed her status to fight in the labyrinths, it seemed her social standing did have a role in how she was treated. It might have been inevitable.

It looked like she was protected by her party members and didn’t have to directly fight the monsters. She probably stood in the rear and took on the role of being the artillery. Normally, this would place her in relative safety, but in this situation, her role would act as a poison.

“That means she is less likely to survive in the labyrinth compared to other Connectors.”

Without an escort, she would be in a very vulnerable position.

“Still, she is the Princess. I believe she possesses Gems for emergency use.”

Emily spoke.

Sungyoon nodded, but he didn’t really agree with Emily.

Thedifference between Connectors who fought directly against the monsters day in and day out, and a Connector like the Princess, who had some training with a couple of close combat Gems in case of emergency, was as clear as the difference between night and day.

‘I guess it is better than having nothing.’

“So what should we do now?”

Sungyoon focused his gaze on the Ross siblings.

“We've found the alleged site where the Princess’ party had fought, and we've recovered the alleged corpses of her escorts. However, we weren’t able to find the most important person, the Princess herself. But we have found some information that’ll be helpful toward the search. Taking all this into account, we have two choices at this moment.”

Sungyoon pointed upward with his finger.

“We can go up right now, hand over the corpses of the Princess’ escorts, and relay the information we have found. Then we can bring reinforcement. Or...”

He twirled his finger before pointing downward.

“We can continue going forward to search for the Princess.”

“Of course, we should continue the search.”

Tim didn’t hesitate.

“We came down here to find the Princess. If her Gems are specialized for magic, the odds of her survival are low. You pointed this out, Mr. Sungyoon. That means we have to find her as soon as possible. As more time passes, the chances of her surviving become lower.”

“It isn’t that easy of a decision.”

It seemed Emily truly felt better this time around. Her voice had returned to normal as she countered Tim’s opinion.

“It’ll put us in more danger. Even if the monsters are slightly less powerful than a Centaur, over a dozen of them had attacked the Princess’ party. Moreover, these monsters had appeared on a floor where they shouldn’t have been present. It means something is wrong here. If we aren’t careful, we might lose our lives.”

Tim scrunched up his face. He felt as if they were running away if they decided to go up. But he couldn't refute that Emily had a point.

“What do you think, Mr. Sungyoon?”

Maybe, Sungyoon might side with him or he might have a better idea. So Tim turned the conversation toward him.

Sungyoon thought for a brief moment.

He wanted to continue this search. However, he didn’t want to die and leave behind Shinhae, and not to mention, he also had a responsibility toward his comrades.

‘If we were surrounded by a dozen Centaurs, what would happen?’

If he were by himself, he would die. However, what if he was with the Ross siblings?

‘We’ll put up a good fight at the very least.’

The Ross siblings had become very powerful. They were a scary duo now. Moreover, the three of them had been a party for a while, and their synergy made them very effective.

Despite all this, the result of the fight would be the same. They would lose.

Sungyoon looked at the Device that he had set aside. The two Gold slots shone.

“What is that?”

Tim craned his neck to look at Sungyoon’s hand.

“It is a Device used by one of the Connectors who passed away.”

Sungyoon placed the rest of the Devices and Gems in front of the siblings. While the siblings looked at the items, Sungyoon continued to think.

‘If I can borrow this, I can significantly boost my abilities.’

He would be able to use his most trusted Gem. And he could use its power amplification ability in conjunction with the sword given to him by Hyunwoo. Moreover, this Device could also allow him to overclock his Gold Gems, an option unavailable to him whenever he had forcefully activated the Gold Gem in the past.

Overlocking would increase his power by tremendous levels.

“We’ll head downward.”

He spoke. Even if they were to be surrounded by a dozen Centaurs, Sungyoon concluded that they’d be able to run away at the very least.

“As expected, I knew Mr. Sungyoon would make that call.”

It seemed Tim felt really good when Sungyoon came to the same decision as him.

“Understood.”

Emily didn’t show much dissatisfaction at Sungyoon’s decision. But Sungyoon still felt the need to give an explanation.

“I’m thinking about borrowing this for now.”

Sungyoon showed the Device to the two of them.

“I’ll be able to use my Gold Gems with this, and our party’s power would be significantly increased.”

He had already told them about his other Gold Gem.

“Even if we do get into a precarious situation, I can overclock my Gems. We’ll be able to escape even if we are surrounded by a dozen Centaurs.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Emily looked a bit less worried.

“Still, we should be prepared for the worst. I would like the two of you to take any Devices or Gems you might need. We can give it back later. The UK government won’t take too much of an issue if we use them. However, it seems the prolonged overclocking broke most of the Gems. Even the ones that survived are mostly unusable due to the backlash.”

“I don’t need any of them.”

Tim turned down the offer after he looked over the Devices and Gems.

“Then let’s head down now.”

The manslotted his Gold Gems into the borrowed Device and led the Ross siblings deeper into the labyrinth.

***

Sungyoon cut down a Troll who had attacked him. His weapon easily cut through the monster's bumpy and rough skin.

The powerful attack had sliced half of the monster's thick arm, and yet the attack hadn't come to an end.

Pah-jee-jeek!

A tiny spark erupted near the wound. At the same time, a powerful electric attack hit the troll, and electricity spread out to the rest of its body from its arm.

Koo-ahhhhhhh!

All the musclesin the monster's body became locked, and its organs churned as blood started to evaporate. Its movement became very stiff.

“Ooh-cha!”

Tim easily applied the finishing blow on the completely defenseless troll.The monster fell over when two-thirds of its waist had been cut.

Afterconfirming the kill, Sungyoon looked at his weapon once again.

Up until now, he had been using his halberd and ax as his main weapons. But he wasn’t using any of them right now, and he wasn’t using his backup mace or spear either.

Instead, in his hands wasa sword that let out a subdued silver light. Its blade was long and very wide.

On Earth, this type of sword was called a great sword, yet those regular swords looked shabby next to this sword. The enormous size of this sword was enough to be intimidating.

It had a sharp edge, and it was quite hefty. Sungyoon felt as if he could cut through anything with this weapon.

However, the strength of this sword didn’t lie only with the obvious.

The Troll’s body hadn’t disappeared yet, so the man stabbed the corpse with his sword once again.

Pah-jee-jeek!

As soon as the sword pierced the corpse, a blue lighting erupted from the wound. The already dead body of the Troll flopped on the floor.

At the same time, he smelled its flesh burning.

“That is an amazing sword.”

Tim, who had his ax on his shoulder, spoke up in admiration. Sungyoon’s new weapon was amazing.

It was a weapon that had appeared from the Gold Gem given to him by Hyunwoo.

Since it was a Gold Gem rank weapon, its sharpness and durability couldn’t be compared to any of his past weapons. It was simply marvelous.

However, this sword had one more special characteristic.

It was like Hyunwoo’s sword, which emitted an incredible amount of flame. But in this one, electricity surrounded its surface.

Whenever his sword touched a weapon or a body part, the electricity immediately attacked his foe. Moreover, thanks to his amplification Gem, its power was doubled. Therefore, Sungyoon could hunt down the monsters with relative ease.

He had known a great weapon would appear from the Gold rank Gem, but something like this was beyond his imagination.

‘I’ll have to thank Mr. Hyunwoo next time.’

The partycontinued to descend into the labyrinth.

They passed through several floors, cutting down any monsters in their path. However, they came to a stop at a certain point.

‘That's...’

Sungyoon’s eyes narrowed.

They caught sight of a monster. It looked like a lion, but it clearly wasn’t a lion.

It had a height of around two meters and a length of about 4.5 m. Above all else, it possessed three tails that looked like snakes. Each of the tail possessed a head.

‘Chimera.’

The name had been taken from the monster in Greek Mythology. The Chimera was on a different level compared to all the monsters they had killed up until now. It was similar in difficulty as the Centaur, which Sungyoon had struggled mightily to kill.

Sssssk!

Its three tails looked toward Sungyoon’s party at the same time. The snake-like heads glared at them, and it was a frightening sight.

The party went into their fighting formation expecting the Chimera to charge toward them like every other monster.

However, the real head of the Chimera, the one that resembled a lion's head, hadn't turned to look at Sungyoon’s party.

‘Did it not notice us?’

However, Sungyoon shook his head from side to side at his own question. The three tails were looking straight at them. Of course, the monster knew the party was there.

‘So why isn’t it showing any interest in us?’

It was acting as if it had another enemy nearby that it had to kill first.

‘Could it be!’

At that moment, he quickly extended his hand toward the Chimera.

Koo-ahhhhhhng!

The Chimera pounced toward a certain direction, but Sungyoon was a step faster.

Too-hwahhhhhhhhk!

Stalagmites erupted from below the monster.

Poo-ook! Poo-ook! Poo-ook!

The sharp stalagmites dug into the body of the Chimera.

Kuh-huhng!

It let out a pained scream. Although it had a great deal of magic resistance, Sungyoon was using his amplification Gem. His spell was four times stronger than usual.

Moreover, even though the monster was comparable in rank to a Centaur, it was on the lower end of the comparison. Basically, it was weaker than the Centaur.So, of course, the Chimera would suffer much more damage than the Centaur.

Sungyoon layered his gravity magic atop his previous attack.

Kwah-doo-doohk!

The stalagmites continued to dig further into its body.

The monstersuffered more.

Ssssk!

Boom!

As soon as the stalagmites disappeared, the Chimera fell from the air.

However, it couldn’t land properly, and its body slammed onto the floor. The fall gave it a great deal of damage.

Suh-guhk!

Sungyoon applied the killing blow, killing the monster in an instant.

“Why did you rush the fight like that?”

Normally, Sungyoon preached caution, yet he had charged forward in a rush. Tim was confused.

Sungyoon didn’t give an immediate answer. He looked at his surroundings.

‘If my prediction was right….’

It was indeed as he had expected. He could see some shiny golden threads behind the large boulder.

Sungyoon quickly moved toward it. The siblings looked puzzled and they gazed at each other before following Sungyoon.

‘I knew it!’

Hefound someone behind the boulder.

The woman possessed long blonde hair, and she looked like a doll as she leaned against the boulder.

She had used the boulder as a cover to hide, and one could see blood and dust all over her body.

A blood-soaked dark robe covered half of her face. However, one could see the beautiful face hidden inside.

Her eyes were closed, so one could see her long eyelashes. She hadexquisite ears, eyes, mouth, and nose. In all, she looked like a doll made to embody the ideal appearance of a woman.

“This person is…!”

Tim, who had followed up behind Sungyoon, mumbled in surprise. Emily’s eyes turned round.

The woman was Princess Grace, the one they had been working so hard to find.