Moon's Labyrinths

“That looks like it really hurts. Are you ok?”

Russell asked Sungyoon.

When Sungyoon heard the words, he finally felt the pain. He had overdone it. He had moved while his body was still healing, so he had re-aggravated his injuries.

Sungyoon once again used a healing spell on himself.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

Grace moved up next to Sungyoon and supported him.

Sungyoon looked at Russell.

“You're Sir Russell, right?”

The man in front of Sungyoon had worn a helmet that hid his face, but Sungyoon had seen the shape of Russell’s armor before. The voice was the same too.

“What kind of question is that? You already know it's me. Are you really ok?”

“My healing magic is already working on my body.”

“I forgot you can activate your Gems really quickly.”

Russell was one of the best Connectors of the world, yet even he was extremely envious of Sungyoon’s Gem activation speed. However, he couldn’t continue to be jealous.

In a flash, Russell swung his sword backward.

Kwahhhhhhng!

A loud sound rang out as the sharp sword clashed against something.

“Hoo-ahht!”

Russell put strength into his arms. His muscles bulged as he pushed his opponent backward.

The Super Golem jumped a significant distance backward.

Russell observed the Super Golem. One of the Super Golem’s six arms was shaped like a sharp blade that extended from its forearm.

However, suddenly, it looked as if the blade was melting. Then, in a flash, it was reformed back into the same shape as the other arms.

“It has some pretty interesting tricks. What's this thing? I’ve never seen it before.”

Russell was as experienced as any other Connector in this world, yet he had never seen it before.

“It looks a bit different, but it's made out of similar metal to the Golem. Since it is bigger than a Golem, we’ve been temporarily calling it Super Golem. Its battle capabilities are much higher than the normal Golem.”

“Golem. I’ve heard about it before. You're referring to the one fallen by your feet?”

Russell glanced at the fallen Golem next to Sungyoon.

“Yes.”

“Weren’t you and your party the first ones to discover the Golem?”

“That’s right.”

“It really seems happenings and events occur wherever you go.”

Sungyoon couldn’t see Russell’s expression because of the helmet. However, he could tell through the voice that Russell was smiling.

However, they no longer had the time to talk any more.

Kwahhhhhng!

Russell once again parried the Super Golem’s attack.

“Stand back. You guys can’t handle it at your power level.”

They had no reason to turn down the offer. Sungyoon and Grace quickly distanced themselves from Russell. Grace picked up the other injured Connector as she continued to retreat with Sungyoon.

“Are you ok, Mr. Sungyoon?”

Emily, who had been healing Tim, asked Sungyoon when they arrived. She ran her hands over Sungyoon’s arm that had been broken not too long ago.

Fortunately, his bones hadn’t been crushed, as the break had been clean. It was probably the same case with his leg too.

“I healed myself to some extent. Please heal this man, Ms. Emily.”

The black-armored man had lost consciousness either due to the excruciating pain or due to the exhaustion. Emily applied her healing spell on him. Even though he was unconscious, the man had been groaning from pain, but his groans subsided soon.

The party became relieved, but the relief lasted only for a moment.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Booooooooooom!

As they saw the quality of the fight occurring in front of their eyes, their mouths fell open.

This was the type of battle that appeared in a manhwa where normal eyes couldn’t keep up with the movement of the fighters. It was a literary device used to emphasize how strong the fighters were.

Such a literary device could be used to describe the fight between Russell and the Super Golem. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the fight was that outrageous.

Kwah-roo-roo-roo-roo!

Another building fell due to the fight between the two combatants.

“We should move a bit further away.”

Everyone agreed with Sungyoon’s suggestion.

Emily had the lowest combat capability, so she carried the unconscious man. Sungyoon and Tim readied themselves for the unexpected as they slowly moved away from the fight.

Boom!

The Super Golem landed roughly on the ground. Russell landed a short distance away from it.

“Fortunately, Sir Russell has the upper-hand.”

Russell looked almost the same as before, but the Super Golem’s body was breaking down.

“Of course he has the upper-hand. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that he's the greatest Connector of England.”

Grace sounded proud.

The Super Golem’s six arms had morphed into various weapons. However, none of them could touch Russell.

But the Super Golem wasn’t going to go down easily.

Ggee-reek! Ggee-reek! Ggee-reek!

A strange sound emanated from its body. A blue Gem appeared as a flap opened in the middle of its chest.

Tah-aht!

Russell sensed something was off, so he charged the Super Golem.

However, it was a step faster than Russell.

The blue Gem shone as it shot out a large beam of light.

Kwahhhhhhhh!

The light beam flew straight towards Russell, and everything in its path was being destroyed. Russell raised his shield.

Boooooom!

The blue light beam hit his shield.

However, Russell’s shield didn’t move an inch. Russell didn’t budge either.

In fact, he took on the light beam head-on, and he moved forward step by step.

At a glance, one could tell that Russell was much stronger than the Super Golem. It was obvious that he would win.

However, Sungyoon caught sight of the Super Golem. It kept glancing at Sungyoon’s party. Sungyoon unconsciously raised his sword.

Ddoohk!

It happened at that moment. The light beam pouring out of its chest disappeared, and the Super Golem turned toward Sungyoon’s party. It charged at them.

“You dare!”

Of course, Russell wouldn’t let it do as it pleased. He chased after it. He was about to cut it down from the back when it happened.

Boom!

A Golem burst through the wall of a nearby building. It was a weakened normal Golem. It couldn’t hold a candle against the Super Golem, but it was capable of buying some time.

“You bastard!”

Russell’s sword cut the Golem into two. However, this gave the Super Golem some time to approach Sungyoon’s party.

It was moving at a monstrous speed, so the party couldn't react to it. The Super Golem extended its hand toward Sungyoon as if it wanted to get rid of an irritant.

With his current capabilities, there was no way Sungyoon could react to the incoming attack.

Yet, he could clearly see the Super Golem’s movements right now.

‘It is this feeling again!’

This was the same feeling he had sensed when he dodged the Super Golem’s attack earlier.

Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

It had been a long time since he felt his heartbeat. Sungyoon moved his arm. He felt as if he wasn’t moving his own body. It felt unreal as though he was looking at his body from a third-person point of view.

Suh-guhk!

The sword in his hand flew past the extended arm of the Super Golem. It was too easy. His sword moved like flowing water, and he stabbed toward his target.

Poo-shoohk!

The sword went in too easily. It was like stabbing a sword into mud. The sword smoothly penetrated the head of the Super Golem.

Duhl-kuhk!

The Super Golem stopped functioning as if it were a toy whose batteries were just taken out.

It moved forward but only because of its momentum. Once it lost its momentum, it would turn into an odd-looking sculpture.

It would be a broken sculpture buried in rubble.

Sungyoon dodged the Super Golem, which was flying toward him.

Boom!

It struck the ground. Sungyoon looked at all of this with an unbelievable amount of calmness in his heart.

Ssssk!

His senses returned to reality. Sungyoon opened his palm and slowly looked down at it. The feeling of his body not being his own went away.

He turned to look at his comrades.

They were all frozen in funny looking poses as they stared at him. They had been trying to dodge the incoming foe when they witnessed Sungyoon use his incredible speed and body movement to take down the Super Golem.

Boom!

“You….”

Russell arrived right after and expressed his surprise. Sungyoon couldn’t see Russell’s face, but he could discern that Russell's voice was full of questions.

However, Sungyoon couldn’t resolve Russell’s curiosity.

Ba-dump!

He once again heard his heart beat. Soon, he felt enormous pain from the depth of his chest.

“Koohk!”

Sungyoon clutched at his chest as he fell to the ground. Everyone became surprised at his sudden movement. They ran toward him, but Sungyoon couldn’t even hear their worried voices.

‘This is….’

He remembered the pain he felt right before he awakened as a Connector. The pain he was feeling right now was remarkably similar. It almost felt the same.

Tuhl-suhk!

In the end, he fell over and he lost consciousness.

***

Sungyoon opened his eyes.

His head felt refreshed. It didn’t feel as if he had just woken up from sleep. His eyelids didn’t feel heavy, and there was no white fog in his mind.

He got up and found himself in a pretty luxurious bed. The room looked quite expensive too. He soon spotted someone pacing back and forth at the corner of the room.

“Ah! You're awake!”

Her brown hair flew through the air. Emily rejoiced when she saw Sungyon had woken up.

“Where am I?”

“You're in a hotel. After Mr. Sungyoon fell unconscious, you were brought here. It has been one day since you collapsed.”

Emily moved up next to the bed with a chair. She sat down and grabbed Sungyoon’s hand. She was usually quite reserved, so this gesture was out of character for her. However, she was slowly starting to get over her shyness when it came to Sungyoon. Of course, this was strictly limited to Sungyoon.

“According to the doctor, you're fine. Thank god.”

Sungyoon placed a hand on his chest. He clearly remembered the sensation he felt before he fainted.

‘What was that?’

As always, he couldn’t hear his heartbeat.

Did he imagine it?

“Mr. Sungyoon?”

Emily’s voice brought him back to reality once again.

“Where are the others?”

“They are in their respective room. Everyone is waiting for Mr. Sungyoon to wake up.”

“Could you call all of them here? I would like a briefing on what happened, and we have to discuss what we’ll do from here on out.”

“I understand.”

Emily exited the room. Sungyoon once again placed a hand on his chest.

‘Something feels off.’

The doctor said nothing was wrong with him, but he still felt the need to investigate what had happened.

However, the sensation he felt wasn’t bad when he looked back at it. In fact, his mind had never felt so refreshed and focused before.

‘I’ll have to ask Mr Hyunwoo or Sir Russell about it.’

Both of them had a lot of experience. They might know what was going on with him.

***

Sungyoon’s party all gathered in his room. They let out a sigh of relief when they saw that Sungyoon was fine.

Sungyoon quelled their fears, and he asked in earnest about the status of Armstrong.

“It’s a mess.”

Grace’s description of the current situation was short and straight to the point.

“You should see it for yourself. That would be for the best.”

Grace stood up from her chair and opened the firmly shut window.

The large dome had always looked like a birdcage keeping the humans penned in. Armstrong was the city of desire and pleasure.

This was the image that Sungyoon had of Armstrong.

However, this was no longer the case.

Sungyoon approached the window. He placed his hands on the window frame and looked down at the city.

Grace quietly moved away from his side.

He saw broken buildings all around and blood staining the streets. The ceiling was no longer a round dome. Several shutters had come down to quarantine different sectors of the city.

Sungyoon could no longer see the desire and pleasure.

“Only the spaceport looks crowded.”

He could see the Aldrin spaceport in the distance and a lot of people gathered there.

In the past, a lot of people had gathered there too when magical energy had leaked out from Grace’s labyrinth. There was as much if not more people gathered there now.

At that time, the incident had occurred in a labyrinth far away from Armstrong. But, this incident had occurred at the heart of Armstrong.

“Lots of people are leaving Armstrong. Even the Connectors are shaken by this incident. Of course, it's worse for the civilians. Almost all the civilians are leaving.”

Grace spoke.

“Then Armstrong will no longer function. It’ll become paralyzed.”

“The aftereffect of the population drain can be felt already. The only reason why this hotel still has employees is the fact that they couldn’t book a flight. However, they are only thinking about leaving for Earth. They probably aren’t interested in the fact that we are residing in this hotel. When we told them we’ll be staying here, they listened to us in an absentminded sort of way.”

“Was our company building destroyed?”

“No. However, Sir Russell and the Super Golem fought near there. I’m sure it suffered a significant amount of damage. That's why we booked rooms in this hotel.”

Sungyoon nodded. At that moment, they heard someone knocking on the door.

“Who is it?”

Tim opened the door.

“Is Woo awake?”

The visitor was Russell.