Moon's Labyrinths

Sungyoon's mind went back to the conversation he had with Lee just a few hours ago.

‘Is this the fear he was referring to?’

Sungyoon thought it was incredible that he could assess himself in such an objective manner in this state. However, this didn’t mean he was free from the effects of the fear. This fear was like a chain around his body and weighed his body down.

But Sungyoon knew he had to move.

Kevil swung its whip, and the red flame looked like a viper flicking its tongue out. The demonic monster's eyes headed toward Sungyoon’s companions, who had just arrived.

Sungyoon attacked Kevil with his sword.

Tuh-uhng!

However, it was futile. The demonic monster easily grabbed the sword with its hand.

- Amazing. You can move to this extent while feeling his presence?

The sarcasm had disappeared in its voice, and true admiration had taken its place. However, this admiration was akin to what a person felt when seeing a monkey use a tool. Kevil didn't see Sungyoon as a threat and treated him very lightly.

Hoohk!

The sword its hands were grasping disappeared, and Sungyoon immediately swung his ax.

Tuh-uhng!

The attack was blocked once again, but Sungyoon let go of the ax. While Kevil still held the ax, Sungyoon stabbed its side with the spear blade of his halberd.

Puh-uhng!

Kevil deflected the spear blade, and Sungyoon used this moment to create some distance.

“Ms. Emily! Ms. Grace!”

The two women were moving into action even before his shout.

Woo-oong!

A light surrounded Sungyoon’s body as Emily cast her support spells on him. She had gone all out and used all the support magic that she had on hand.

Grace also activated the spell that she had been preparing.

Zuh-zuh-zuh-zuhk!

It was the frost spell. Grace assumed Kevil was a fire-type monster due to the flame whip. Even if this opponent was out of their class, a fire-type monster was weak against ice magic.

The ground froze as cold energy tried to cling to Kevil.

- Hmmph!

Kevil snorted.

Boom!

It moved its foot, and Grace’s face turned pale. Most of the monsters with high resistance to magic had to break through the ice freezing on their body. But the ice hadn't even been able to touch Kevil’s body.

Grace didn’t give up and started preparing her next spell.

“Please get away from here right now, Ms. Jimin, Ms. Chelsea!”

When Jimin heard Sungyoon’s words, she immediately grabbed Chelsea’s arm.

“W-we are running away by ourselves?”

“Do you really think you’ll be of any help to them?”

Jimin’s response was cold. However, the unrest in her eyes revealed her true emotions, and it was obvious that she was mightily struggling with this decision.

Chelsea decided to listen to her friend. She looked back at Sungyoon before leaving.

“… Please be careful!”

Sungyoon kept his eyes trained on Kevil as he nodded.

- Who said I’ll let you go?

Along with the frightening voice, Kevil moved its hand.

“Run!”

Sungyoon desperately moved forward while shouting. Jimin and Chelsea turned around and dashed into the distance.

Boom!

The fire whip flew toward the two of them. The attack left a deep crevice on the ground, but thankfully, the fire was too far away to damage them. Jimin and Chelsea had succeeded in going down the hill.

Kevil stared at its fire whip for a brief moment, then turned toward Sungyoon.

“Koohk!”

“Just bear with me! It’ll take only a moment.”

Emily stuck close to Sungyoon, whose arm was charred black.

At a glance, one could tell Sungyoon was in dire straits. His shield had been destroyed, and the armor around his left arm was broken and scorched black.

- You were able to react to that attack?

Sungyoon hadn't been able to react to the first attack by Kevil. However, this time, he had deflected the fire whip sent toward Jimin and Chelsea. Of course, it had dearly cost him.

- Interesting.

Kevil brought the fire whip back. In a smooth movement, the whip extended straight upward and transformed into a frighteningly large sword.

Grace swung her staff once again.

Hoo-ooh-ooh-oong!

A tempest erupted in the region, and the winds that had been silent up until now as if they had been afraid of Kevil started to move. Kevil was the center of a large tornado. This spell was a new addition to Grace's arsenal after Sungyoon had evolved her Gems.

Puhl-luhk!

Kevil swung its wings.

Puh-uhng!

The tornado had been so fierce that it appeared as though it would uproot the entire hill. Yet, Kevil had dismissed it with just a flap of its wings. This development stunned Grace.

Hoo-oong!

Kevil swung its sword and sent a crescent flame at them.

“Shit!”

Sungyoon didn’t have the time to continue healing. He quickly grabbed the two women and jumped to the side.

Puh-uhng!

An ominous sound rang out in the direction of his right leg, and a burning pain washed over him. He rolled across the grass.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

Emily yelled.

Sungyoon was dizzy from the pain, but he suppressed the pain to look at his right leg. His thigh was on fire, and he couldn't see anything beyond that.

Grace quickly took off her robe.

Puhk! Puhk!

She smothered the flames using her robe, while the teary-eyed Emily started healing whatever was left of Sungyoon's leg.

- Hmm. Your reaction speed became a bit faster again.

Kevil had recognized it. That person’s power was flowing more and more into Sungyoon’s body.

‘The same thing happened with the previous trash. As expected, they have a sympathetic link.’

However, the sympathetic link was more active with this particular sacrifice, and it was growing with time.

‘I have to stop playing around. This trash’s power is insignificant, but it's a different story if he starts using that person’s power.'

Kevil took a powerful step forward and pushed off the ground.

Hoo-oong!

As Kevil moved, the air hitting his body screamed. In a flash, Kevil arrived in front of Sungyoon’s party and brought down its sword. The party felt as if a screaming sun was falling toward them.

Kwahhhhhhhng!

This was merely a playful swing of Kevil's sword, not its strongest attack.

The nameless grass, the shy flowers, the sparse trees on the hill, the twinkling stars, and the sound of waves, all combined gave this location a picturesque view. Yet Kevil's single attack ruthlessly destroyed this view.

The attack formed a deep ravine as long as twenty meters in the middle of the hill, and the melted earth flowed downward as lava. The rest of the hill also became engulfed in the flames.

“Huh-uhk! Huh-uhk!"

Sungyoon took shallow breaths even though he didn't need to breathe to live. It was just a natural reaction from his body trying to compensate a little bit against the fear and pain.

Somehow, he had been able to dodge the terrifying attack. But his right thigh was nowhere to be seen now, and a large chunk of his side had been ripped away too. On top of that, his whole body was covered in severe burns.

“Oooooooooh!”

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Sungyoon heard the groans from the two people next to him. He had covered Emily and Grace with his body, so they hadn't suffered critical wounds. But they did have burns all over their bodies and were paralyzed from the shock.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Kevil approached them as if it were a messenger sent from hell. Its gaze fell on Emily and Grace, whom it didn’t need.

“Koo-oohk!”

Using his halberd as a crutch, Sungyoon got up on his remaining leg. He didn’t have time to heal his wounds.

Hoo-oong!

Kevil didn't pay attention to the injured trash. It silently swung its sword at Emily.

Kwahhhhhhhhng!

- Huh?

The halberd blocked its flame sword, and Kevil was surprised. Until now, the trash had barely been able to survive its attack, yet he had now dared to block its attack.

“Ooh-ahhhhhhhhhhhhk!”

Sungyoon screamed and tried to squeeze out all the power in his body, then pushed back with his halberd. Kevil snorted as it made a fist. It planned on destroying both arms of this upstart trash.

Boom!

- What?

But Kevil was once again surprised.

‘I was pushed back?’

One step. It was just one step, but Kevil couldn’t believe it had been pushed backward in a contest of strength. Moreover, it was done by a severely-injured piece of trash.

However, it wasn’t the end.

Twoo-hwahk!

Sungyoon’s halberd finally pushed back the flame sword, and Kevil was sent back a good distance. The demonic monster flapped its wings to regain its balance, then looked at Sungyoon with a dumbfounded expression.

However, rage soon engulfed its face.

- Bitchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Kevil forgot that Sungyoon was a sacrifice that it had to take back and only thought about its pride being trampled. Its body overflowed with the desire to kill Sungyoon.

Kwahhhhhhh!

The flame sword expanded upward to become almost ten meters tall, and the sight looked as if the sun had descended onto Earth.

- Dieeeeeeeeeeeee!

Leaving behind a trail like a comet, the flame sword fell.

“Ooh-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhht!”

Sungyoon swung his halberd head-on.

Kwahhhhhhhng!

A large explosion rang out. Flames erupted in all directions and pushed superheated air outward. Kevil assumed the trash had died with this attack, and it was getting ready to gloat. However, something pierced through the flames, and Kevil subconsciously swung its arm.

Poo-oohk!

The sharp spear blade of the halberd pierced through the hard spikes and stabbed into Kevil’s arm.

Blue blood gushed out, and Kevil felt pain. However, the shock it felt was bigger than the pain.

- What!

The demonic monster was so surprised that it couldn’t react as Sungyoon pushed through the billowing flames and grabbed the shaft of the halberd.

“Hahhhhhhhht!”

Kwah-doo-doohk!

The halberd pushed deeper into Kevil’s arm, and at the same time, Sungyoon’s wounds healed a little.

- You trashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Puh-uhk!

Kevil swung its enormous fist toward Sungyoon’s face.

Kwahng!

Sungyoon was sent flying like a leaf in a tornado. His body traveled through the flames and hit the ground.

With an annoyed expression, Kevil extracted the halberd and threw it on the ground.

- He isn’t dead?

To Kevil's surprise, Sungyoon got back up even though his body swayed.

- Let’s do this! I’ll turn you into minced meat!

Kevil once again grasped his flame sword, but it didn't immediately attack.

- What’s wrong with this?

As it eyed the flame sword, Kevil was taken aback. The flame sword was still burning fiercely, but its intensity was weaker than before.

- Is it because of the magical energy?

Kevil realized it had been fighting for far too long in a location with no magical energy. The situation irritated the demonic monster. It was already annoyed by the fact that its power had been reduced, yet it now found that the power had a time limit too.

The demonic monster looked at Sungyoon, who held an ax in one hand and a hammer in the other. It could see that the trash hadn’t lost his will to fight. If this trash had been normal, Kevil could've easily killed him.

However, Sungyoon was different right now.

‘His sympathetic link to that person’s power is getting deeper.’

If Kevil wasn’t careful, it would be the one to die. However, it wasn’t afraid of death, but rather, failing its mission.

- Tsk!

Even though this decision would hurt its pride, but since the battle was getting in the way of its original mission, Kevil decided to retreat.

- Hey, trash. You're lucky today. But I promise you this. You'll become one of the sacrifices, and I’ll come back for you later. At that time, I’ll make you suffer so much that you'll wish for your death!

Kevil picked up Lee, who had miraculously survived the battle. With Lee on its side, Kevil unfurled its wings and flew into the night sky.