Chapter 243

Chapter 243

Sungyoon took a couple of steps forward .

The ball of water existed in the air, but another existed on the ground too . The one on the ground looked like little drops of water that remained suspended to form a wall . The only difference was the size . The one in the air was incomprehensibly ma.s.sive .

Chal-pahk!

When Sungyoon placed his hand on the wall of water, a ripple spread out with his hand at the center .

Ssssk!

He pushed his hand against the water, and it went inside . Water flowed in through the gaps in his armor, and the refres.h.i.+ng, cool sensation of the water hit him .

‘It"s indeed water . ’

Sungyoon had readied his healing spell just in case the liquid was something else . However, he had been worried for nothing . He extracted his arm .

Ssssk!

“Whoa?”

Not even a single drop of water remained on his armor, and surprisingly, the water that had entered into his armor was gone too . Sungyoon took off his gauntlet and saw a clean and dry hand .

“Are you ok?”

Emily had been looking at Sungyoon with a worried gaze, and she had also prepared her healing spell . When Sungyoon took off his gauntlet, Emily grabbed his arm and took a closer look at it . When she found nothing wrong with his arm, she felt rea.s.sured .

Afterward, Sungyoon pushed his arm deeper into the water, and subsequently, he put his entire body inside . The weight of his heavy armor prevented him from floating upward, but he could feel the buoyancy .

As Sunygoon walked around, the density and the pressure of the water slowed him down .

Chwhahk!

After moving around a bit, Sungyoon exited the wall of water . As expected, he didn’t have a drop of water on him .

“It doesn’t flow and just maintains its enormous shape . However, it"s water . ”

Sungyoon explained to his party members .

“Do you think that’ll fall on us all at once?”

Emily looked up at the water drops floating in the air . She had only glanced at it, yet she knew the amount of water up there was enormous . If all of it fell at once, they would be crushed . It would be an absurd way to die .

“We just have to trust that it’s not something that’ll happen in the Great Labyrinth . Let’s move . ”

The party started moving after Tim’s words .

For now, the water didn’t show any abnormal behavior . Only, if someone accidentally crashed into it, it would impede their movements . Therefore, the party avoided the bodies of water . They felt like they were walking through a maze made out of walls of water .

The party soon reached a narrow opening surrounded by two bodies of water . Only one person could move through the gap at a time . Grace stepped in and looked at the wall next to her with an amazed expression .

She lightly dragged her fingers across the wall of water and watched it create a ripple . It was fun to watch the distortion of her shadow reflected by the wall of water .

‘Huh?’

In a flash, Grace realized something was out of place .

‘Shadow?’

With the absence of any light source on the floor, there shouldn’t be any shadows, and even if there was one, the shadow wouldn’t have formed right next to her . Her eyes turned round as they headed toward the shadow that she kept catching a glimpse of . The shadow had an extremely muscular body, and its face was gaunt . Moreover, it had webbed hands and feet .

“Mer—”

Grace"s shout was cut off .

Chwahk!

A hand with blue scales shot out of the water to grab Grace’s neck . In one motion, it pulled Grace into the water .

Splas.h.!.+

The splashed water retired to the wall of water . Grace struggled as its hand squeezed around her neck . She hit her opponent’s arm, yet its powerful arm didn’t budge . Grace’s eyes turned round within the water and became filled with fear . She had seen a dozen shadows swimming within the water .

‘Mermen!’

Mermen were male aquatic monsters named after a creature from fictional stories . The Mermen in front of her let out ominous cries as they circled her . Their voice resembled that of crows .

Ggee-geek!

Ggee-geek!

The monsters were laughing . Their mouths were split open wide, and she could see their terrifying teeth when they laughed .

Grace felt a chill run up her back .

She struggled more fiercely . The water was giving her a hard time in moving around . She didn’t need to breathe, so she would not die from the lack of oxygen, but her blood was being constricted, and she was starting to lose consciousness .

The most dangerous part was that she felt her neck was about to break . The hands. .h.i.tting the merman’s arm was getting weaker when it happened .

Puh-uhng!

A halberd came cras.h.i.+ng inside the wall of water . It didn’t lose its strength through the water and severed the arm of the merman holding Grace’s neck .

Gyahhhhhhhk!

Red blood spread through the clear water . The merman grabbed its stump as it struggled .

Duhp-suhk!

Grace felt someone grab the scruff of her neck . The strong grasp frightened her as she thought another merman had grabbed her . However, the hand didn’t drag her deeper into the dark waters . It pulled her out of the water, and the fresh air caressed her body .

“Poo-ha!”

She became dry again . She didn’t need to breathe, but she had just escaped the waters that had been like an abyss to her . A deep breath unconsciously escaped her body .

“Are you ok?”

Sungyoon gently rubbed her back .

“M-Mr . Sungyoon! The merme—”

Grace didn’t have the time to finish her desperate warning .

Ggee-gee-gee-geek!

Ggee-gee! Ggee-gee-gee-gee!

It was a terrifying scene . An immense presence pressured the party through the large water wall . Numerous mermen pushed toward the surface of the water .

Kyahhhhhhk!

Splas.h.!.+

When the upper body of a merman exited the surface of the water, it let out a bizarre scream . Then it fully exited the wall of water . More and more mermen swam closer toward Sungyoon’s party .

They brought up their hands, which looked like jagged rakes .

“Hoohp!”

Too-hwahk!

Sungyoon resummoned his halberd and threw it . The halberd flew straight toward a merman . The merman extended its hand toward the side and touched the surface of the water .

Shoohk!

Its body was sucked into the wall of water, and the halberd lost its target . The weapon just flew through the empty air . As soon as the halberd went past, the merman stuck its head out from the water .

Grin!

Its eyes were laughing, and it was mocking Sungyoon .

Sssssk!

Sungyoon unsummoned his halberd and looked at his surroundings .

Kahng!

Kah-kahng!

The mermen freely moved between each wall of water as they aimed for Tim and Emily .

The sharp claws kept attacking Tim’s s.h.i.+eld .

“Mr . Tim! Ms . Emily! We have to get out of this small alleyway!”

The environment was against them . Aside from the narrow road between the two bodies of water, the mermen could freely operate wherever there was water . Sungyoon’s party needed to reach an open s.p.a.ce .

“Understood!”

Tim slowly retreated as he kept Emily close to him . Sungyoon summoned his sword, and the frightening lightning displayed its might . When Sungyoon was sure his party members weren’t in contact with the water, he stuck his sword into the body of water .

Pah-jee-jee-jee-jeek!

The lightning from the sword started to conduct through the water .

Kaa-ahhhhhhhhhhhk!

Ooh-ka-ka-kahk! Ka-ka-ka-kahk!

As expected of creatures living in water, the mermen were weak against lightning . Several mermen near the sword got shocked, and they ran away in fright . After pus.h.i.+ng back the mermen from one body of water, Sungyoon planted his sword into the other .

Having seen the ability of the sword, the mermen dispersed into their surroundings in surprise .

“Let’s run!”

Sungyoon had chased them away, but he hadn’t seriously injured them . The party ran to find a larger s.p.a.ce where it would be more advantageous for them . The mermen quickly swam after them .

Finally, the narrow road enclosed by the two bodies of water came to an end . As soon as the party secured the large open s.p.a.ce, they immediately turned around . Fortunately, the mermen didn’t leave the water to chase after Sungyoon’s party .

The monsters stuck out their upper bodies to growl at Sungyoon’s party, and then, returned to the water . They soon disappeared into the bodies of water .

“Hoo-ooh!”

With the battle coming to an end, everyone let out a sigh .

Grace, who had been dragged into the water, sank to the ground .

“As expected, there are no easy places in the Great Labyrinth . ”

Tim violently shook his head after taking off his helmet . He glared at the two bodies of water .

“I’m guessing all the bodies of water are under their domain?”

“Probably . ”

Sungyoon answered Tim and looked toward where they had to go . The party followed his gaze .

The bodies of water were everywhere, and roads and open s.p.a.ce lay between them . They also saw a lot of narrow roads like the one they just traveled .

“We have to brace ourselves . ”

Sungyoon took a firmer grip of his sword .

***

Chum-buhng!

A merman reached out from the surface of the water to grab Emily, who was behind Tim . However, a large ax was brought down on its arm before the merman could touch Emily .

Kah-ahhhhhk!

The merman grabbed the stump of its arm as it ran away into the water . However, the poison had already spread through its wound . The monster struggled within the water, and it became still as the poison wreaked havoc inside it . It turned into a hideous corpse .

However, this monster was one of the many mermen who had attacked the party .

Cheng! Cheng! Che-cheng!

Tim blocked the attacks directed at Grace . His s.h.i.+eld was mainly being used to protect Grace, so more and more blows were landing on his armor . Despite their slim and weak appearance, they were strong, and their claws were very sharp .

More and more scratches appeared on Tim’s armor .

“I got it!”

These words were welcome news for Tim . Grace suddenly stood up and raised her staff high . A ma.s.sive storm of electricity appeared around her staff .

“Get away from the left one!”

Ggwah-roo-roo-roong!

Grace immediately sent her lightning forward . The lightning drove the darkness away as it struck the water .

The lightning spread through the water . It was like throwing a toaster into a lake full of fishes . The mermen realized something was wrong, so they tried to run away; nonetheless, they were all electrocuted at the same time .

Kyahhhhhhhhhk!

Ggoo-ehhhhhhhhhk!

The scale of this attack was different compared to the lightning of Sungyoon’s sword .

In a flash, the eyes of all the nearby mermen flipped upward, and the large water body turned into a ma.s.s grave .

“Let’s get out of here!”

When the mermen stopped attacking the party ran forward . Sungyoon pulled up next to grace .

“How many more lightning spells do you have left?”

“That was the fifth time I’ve used it . ”

Realizing that she had only a few left, Sungyoon frowned . Grace’s lightning magic was the ant.i.thesis to the mermen, but it could only be used a limited number of times .

‘We have to get out of here now . ’

The party once again pushed past a narrow road surrounded by two bodies of water .

“Ah, s.h.i.+t! This is so annoying! We can’t even recover the Gems and moonstones!”

Tim kicked the floor . The others felt the same way, but they just hadn’t spoken up about it .

“Thankfully, there are no other monsters than the mermen . ”

Emily tried to comfort Tim .

“I’d rather face a huge monster than fight so many of these small ones!”

Tim pouted in discontent as he complained .

Ooooooooooooooooooh!

The party came to a stop . They had heard a cry that was enough to elicit fear from the core of their being . Their heads slowly moved up as if they were old, rusty machines .

At first, all four of them had thought they were seeing a dragon . The monster had a long body, and it emerged out of the enormous body of water and floated into the air .

It had the red eyes that were characteristic of monsters, and its enormous mouth was large enough to eat an elephant in one bite . The monster stared at Sungyoon’s party, and there was no way those eyes were friendly .

“… Leviathan . ”

Sungyoon mumbled .

The monster floating in the air was a famous one .

“I-I told you to be careful about what you say . You always jinx us . ”

Emily growled at Tim . Tim didn’t want to say anything to exacerbate the situation, so he could only shut up for now .