Moon's Labyrinths

The blood net above Armstrong city started to move. Unlike the slow and limp tentacles of a jellyfish, the blood net moved very quickly.

‘Where is it going?’

Sungyoon’s gaze naturally followed the blood net as he tried to see where it was going. After exiting Armstrong city, the blood net moved straight toward the stake.

‘It's aiming for the stake of the Mage city!’

Sungyoon was horrified by the realization. The stake had barely allowed his side to stop monsters from directly attacking Earth. If it were damaged, Earth would once again become exposed to monsters.

‘We have to stop it!’

Despite the thought, Sungyoon had no idea about how to stop the tentacles.

- You have to kill Udocus right now!

It seemed the Mayor had also realized the movements of the blood net. As he yelled into the communication device, he sounded like he was almost having a seizure.

Sungyoon and the other Connectors started running toward the being they assumed to be Udocus.

‘Shit! How much more do we have to go?’

They were thirty kilometers away from Udocus if they went in a straight line. However, the Moon's terrain sometimes changed in elevation, so the distance was well over thirty kilometers on foot. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a distance that would trouble most Connectors. The only problem was time.

‘The blood net will arrive at the stake before we reach Udocus.’

However, the Connectors couldn't do anything else.

‘I can’t open a portal!’

Sungyoon could open a portal only to places he had been before. He had never been anywhere near the place indicated on his tablet right now. The only thing he could do was to make his feet move faster. He had to arrive faster.

***

While Sungyoon and his party dashed toward Udocus, the blood net had already approached the stake. The Connectors used their weapons and spells, and Armstrong city shot their Mana Knight cannons. However, none of it worked.

In the end, the blood net started to encircle the stake as if it wanted to catch the stake in its net. Until now, the blood net had been dragging itself across the dirt. Now, it dug deeper into the ground.

Then, the tentacles that made up the net started to narrow. As they grew thinner, the surface area of the blood net started to increase. In the end, the tentacles became very thin, but the blood net had almost reached the full height of the stake. After that, the magical energy within the blood started to activate.

Since the stake was huge and the blood net had increased its area to surround it, Sungyoon and his party could see what was happening from a distance.

“Shit!”

Someone yelled, and Sungyoon nodded.

‘I don’t fault him for cussing.’

Even Sungyoon felt like cussing up a storm right now.

‘Still, it's useless to cuss on the Moon where no one can hear—’

Sungyoon immediately turned toward the Connector who had cussed. The Connector also looked shocked, and he almost stumbled.

“Waitt! Stop!”

Russell, who had been running in the front, yelled. Everyone came to a stop.

“… It seems you can hear my command.”

“Normally, I would've asked you if you had gone senile, but...”

Bruce approached Russell and waved his arms through the air.

“I’m sure of it. This is air.”

Sungyoon copied Bruce’s gesture. He could feel the air brush past his arms. Both magical energy and were flowing in the atmosphere.

“It isn’t as abundant as on Earth.”

That was the reason they had been slow to notice the change. Since the air was scarce, everyone’s voice sounded very muted. The exceptional hearing that came with being a Connector was the only reason they had no problems communicating with each other.

Sungyoon looked at his surroundings and saw the entrance to a nearby labyrinth.

“The only places on the Moon with air are the labyrinths. Is air leaking out of them?”

“That's the most likely explanation for now.”

Russell also looked at the entrance of the labyrinth. However, he soon turned his gaze toward the stake.

“It might also have something to do with the blood net surrounding the stake.”

“That’s the only thing that could have caused it.”

Bruce spat on the ground in disgust as he agreed with Russell.

“Let’s start moving again, Mr. Russell. If the blood net caused this anomaly, there is no way this development is good for humanity.”

“Yes, you're right. Let’s move!”

The group started to move once again.

“This might be part of their scheme, but I really like that we can communicate with each other! It was really frustrating not being able to talk to each other!”

Bruce had an energetic personality; he could even be considered quite hyper. So the inability to talk on the Moon had been torturous for him.

Even though he and the other Connectors were in a desperate situation, Bruce looked much more relaxed right now.

“Hey, it's understandable you feel that way considering your personality. However, there's no way this is advantageous for us. There is no way they let out air on the Moon so that humans could have an easier time. It must be for some other reason.”

After speaking to Bruce, Russell turned to Sungyoon.

“Can you feel it, Knight? Air isn’t the only thing leaking out of the labyrinths.”

Sungyoon had picked up on it too.

“The density of magical energy has also increased.”

“Correct.”

“I believe their true objective is to increase the density of magical energy on the Moon, and the increase in the air is merely a side effect of that process.”

“That does sound likely.”

Some of the Connectors waved their arms like Sungyoon, some closed their eyes to feel the change with their entire bodies, and others used their own methods to check the density of the magical energy in the air.

“I wonder what those bastards are planning.”

Bruce scratched his head.

“Let’s go and defeat Udocus or whatever his name is. That’s our only option right now.”

“Alright. I’m good at doing that.”

Bruce liked what Sungyoon had said and clashed his gauntlets against each other.

Since the air was starting to fill the atmosphere, his metal gauntlets clashing against each other let out a clang.

It took the Connectors around fifteen minutes to arrive at their destination, and they moved faster when they caught sight of the group of monsters.

***

Tuhk!

All the Connectors came to a stop when they reached their destination.

“You're late.”

The Connectors scrunched up their faces at the same time. The voice they heard was too gravelly and bizarre. It had emanated from the being wearing a robe, who was escorted by monsters.

“It seems he's a monster.”

“I agree. No human possesses such a bizarre and horrible voice.”

“He sounds more horrifying than the other officers we have fought. At the very least, Kevil sounded better than that.”

Russell, Bruce, and Sungyoon spoke one after the other. It was clear that they were making fun of Undocus, and Udocus’s eyes turned redder.

“Alright, Mr. Monster. You're one of the officers named Udocus?”

Russell asked the question.

“You are well informed. Yes. I'm one of the three officers our master Grenoid personally created.”

Udocus’s words were full of pride. However, none of the Connectors planned on humoring his self-important words.

“Two of the three are already dead, and you're the only one left. It seems your great master is very untalented in making his creations.”

“… You're all talk, you insolent fool! You know not what you speak!”

The rage was evident in Udocus’s voice. However, Russell didn’t care that he was agitating the monster, and he just snorted.

“Whatever. Let’s move on. Did you do that?”

Russell pointed back toward the blood net covering the stake.

“That’s right.”

“What is it?”

A chuckle escaped Udocus’s mouth. His laughter was full of ridicule, scorn, and haughtiness. It was an unpleasant sound, and it made all the Connectors frown.

“You want to know?”

“Not really. I think it’ll go away once we kill you.”

Russell raised his sword. Sungyoon and Bruce stepped up next to him.

Sungyoon could feel power flow into him through his heart. This power was coming from the source of magical energy.

Udocus was deliberate as he looked at the equipment of the three men.

“It seems you went through a lot of hardship when you fought Glaia. Do you really think you can win by using such equipment?”

“I think it’ll be easy.”

Bruce clenched his fists as he tried to bait Udocus.

“Hahaha! Your confidence is amazing. Let me confirm this. You guys are the ones who killed Glaia?”

“That’s right. We imagined she would be stronger because she was an officer. However, she fell short of expectations.”

“Did you guys kill Kevil too?”

Russell and Bruce reflexively turned toward Sungyoon.

“I see. You're the one who killed Kevil.”

Udocus glared at Sungyoon with his bleak eyes.

“You defeated Glaia here, and you defeated Kevil on Earth. I’ll acknowledge that you guys are amazing. However, their deaths weren’t in vain. The thing that is about to happen now was built on top of their sacrifices!”

“I look forward to seeing it. They died like dogs, and I’m interested in seeing how you capitalized on it. Are you sure we won’t be able to thwart it as easily as we killed your officers?”

“Hey, you have been awarded a knighthood. Should you be tormenting your opponent like this? I just want to ask because I’m curious. It's something left behind from killing those trash. I wonder what kind of flower will bloom on top of that trash.”

Russell and Bruce alternated in speaking, and they got on Udocus’s nerves. Unlike their bickering selves, the two worked really well when angering someone else.

However, Sungyoon wasn’t paying attention to their words. He focused on Russell’s hand.

‘He's saying we should wait… I guess he wants to drag out more information from him.’

Since they knew nothing about the blood net, Russell and Bruce were trying to drag information out of Udocus. If they succeeded, it would have been worthwhile to delay the attack.

Moreover, Udocus took their bait.

“Glaia and Kevil are exalted beings. They aren’t like you lowly maggots. It's to be expected since they were the creations of Master. Do you really think their deaths can be compared to the deaths of lowly beings like you?”

“Of course not. I think their deaths are worth less than human deaths. It's not like your officers' deaths can split the sky and shake the ground. At the very least, humans will cry for their dead. You guys don’t even do that.”

“It's weak of humans to shed tears for their dead. It's weak to feel sympathy. Our deaths can't split open heaven and earth. However, the blood, the flesh, and the soul of our officers can be used as incredible sacrifices. We can easily accomplish our grand scale rituals through their deaths. Humans merely become nutrition for other creatures when they die. You can't compare us to humans. We are worthy even in death. It's proof that we are related by blood to our great master!”

‘The blood net is the result of a ritual.’

It was in small pieces, but they gained some information. The plan concocted by Russell and Bruce had succeeded.

‘Still, something feels off.’

Sungyoon looked at Udocus, who was spouting all kinds of information.

‘He's extremely confident. He probably wants to boast his plans to those he considers inferior. If that's the reason he's telling us this information, it's something to worry about. However, there is a possibility that he might be trying to trick us. He should know that we aren’t dumb enough to take his words at face value.’

A thought pushed through to the surface. It might be the reason Udocus was being so careless with his information.

‘What if he's telling us all this because there's no way we can stop the ritual...’

If it was indeed so, humanity would be facing great trouble. Sungyoon felt uneasy as he continued to think.