Chapter 274

Chapter 274

Kahng!

Sungyoon skillfully deflected a sword coming at him . When the weapons clashed, he used the rebound to swing his ax to the side .

Hoo-oong!

The ax split through the air, but the attacker easily dodged .

However, Sungyoon’s effort wasn’t in vain . His opponent had to bend his upper body almost parallel to the floor, and this gave Sungyoon"s party the time to create some distance .

“s.h.i.+t! Annoying b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”

Tim smacked away a spear with his ax . He then swung the pointed edge of his s.h.i.+eld toward his opponent .

Boom!

The opponent’s s.h.i.+eld blocked the attack, but the shock transmitted by the impact was significant . The man groaned and came to a stop for a moment . This scenario kept repeating itself for some time; the intruders caught up to Sungyoon’s party, then Sungyoon and Tim would push them back by retaliating .

The situation was precarious, but the party was maintaining the status quo .

“We can’t increase our lead . ”

Tim mumbled as he looked at their tenacious pursuers .

Unlike the pursuers, Sungyoon’s party didn’t consist of all warriors . Due to the presence of Emily and Grace, they were slower than their pursuers . Moreover, there was another problem . Emily had to carry another person in her arms .

“I’m . . . I’m so sorry!”

Chelsea was aware of the fact that she was a hindrance to the party .

“You don"t have to apologize . I’m the one who"s slow . It"s not your fault, Ms . Chelsea . Please don’t worry about it . ”

Emily consoled Chelsea, then glared at Tim, who had been expressing his frustration . There was no ill intent behind his words, so he was fl.u.s.tered by Chelsea’s reaction .

He tried to apologize to her, but he was attacked once again .

“These sons of b.i.t.c.hes!”

His enemies weren’t even giving him the opportunity to apologize . The irritated Tim swung his ax .

In terms of strength, Sungyoon and Tim were superior to Emily and Grace . But neither was carrying Chelsea because they were busy protecting the party . Plu-El, who was on Sungyoon’s shoulder, was causing enough trouble as it was .

‘I can’t let Ms . Emily or Ms . Grace carry her . ’

Even if she was in a weakened state, Plu-El was a Connector . Emily and Grace lacked physical strength, so if Plu-El decided to struggle within their arms, their speed would further decrease .

‘The Mayor wants us to protect this woman, but if push comes to shove, we might have to abandon her . ’

Even if she was an important figure, she wasn’t more important than his comrades .

“Mr . Sungyoon!”

Tim wheezed as he blocked another attack .

“I believe we know what they are aiming for, right?”

Tim’s eyes were fixed on Plu-El .

Sungyoon felt the same way .

“Yes . Both groups are aiming for this woman . ”

“However, their reasons are different, right?”

“Yes . ”

Sungyoon looked at the archer"s group .

“This group is trying to rescue the woman . ”

Sungyoon"s gaze moved to the other group .

“That group wants to kill her . ”

“Is she that important?”

Emily kept glancing toward Plu-El with a hostile expression in her eyes .

“Even the Mayor thinks she"s worth holding onto . I believe she"s important . That’s good news for us . We can use her to our advantage . ”

“What? Are you going to let her go?”

Tim was surprised on hearing Sungyoon"s words, but Sungyoon firmly shook his head .

“That"s the last resort . ”

Sungyoon said those words as he brought down Plu-El from his shoulder . He then placed his arm around her waist . Plu-El tried to resist, but her fists lacked strength . Moreover, Sungyoon’s body had the extra protection of his armor .

One of the pursuers got close to the party once again, and Sungyoon looked at him .

‘He’s in the group that wants to take this woman back alive . ’

This situation was perfect . The usefulness of the woman depended on how this group would react to his next move .

“Hoo-oohp!”

Hoo-oohng!

Sungyoon heard the pursuer take a breath as he put strength behind his swing . The sword let out a frightening sound as it split through the air near Tim . Tim grumbled once again as he raised his s.h.i.+eld . Since they were running away, he couldn’t get into a proper fight . He was as angry as he could be .

However, what happened next made Tim, the pursuer, and even the struggling Plu-El rear back in shock .

Hweek!

Sungyoon kept a firm grip on Plu-El as he extended his arm forward . Plu-El’s body appeared in the path of the pursuer"s sword .

“Ooh-ooht!”

The shock was evident in the man"s voice . The gasp was so loud that even a normal human would"ve heard it from far away .

Hoo-oong!

The sword took a sharp turn as the pursuer almost threw his entire body to change the direction of his attack .

Puh-uhk!

The man"s body had bent low to the ground in the process, and Tim used this opportunity to smash him with his s.h.i.+eld . The s.h.i.+eld was already hefty, and the blow contained Tim’s strength as well . The s.h.i.+eld"s edge hit the pursuer, and the man’s armor couldn’t withstand the blow .

“Kuh-huhk!”

Following a short scream, the man rolled across the ground as Sungyoon’s party left him in the dust .

“M . . . Mr . Sungyoon! You!”

Tim had attacked the pursuer on reflex even though he had been shocked by Sungyoon"s actions . His round eyes kept staring at Sungyoon . The living s.h.i.+eld named Plu-El was in a similar state . She didn’t need to breathe, yet she took ragged breaths to calm down herself .

Emily, Grace, and Chelsea were also shocked, but Sungyoon was surprisingly nonchalant .

“The s.h.i.+eld works better than expected . ”

All kinds of words poured out of Plu-El’s mouth . Sungyoon couldn’t understand the words, but he knew they weren"t praises . He then silently pushed Plu-El toward his rear once again .

Flinch!

One of the pursuers, who had gotten close to Sungyoon, froze in place . As Sungyoon said, the tactic was quite effective .

“It really works well . ”

The frequency and the power of the attacks noticeably decreased, so Tim mumbled .

“Still, it won’t work against the other group . ”

The other group wanted to kill Plu-El . If Sungyoon used her as a s.h.i.+eld, Tim a.s.sumed they wouldn’t hesitate to attack her .

When Sungyoon heard Tim, he shook his head from side to side .

“The other group"s attacks will decrease too . ”

Sungyoon said those words as if he were predicting the future .

Tim tilted his head in confusion as he couldn’t imagine any scenario where the other group would slow down because of the woman . However, he soon found out the meaning behind Sungyoon’s words .

Kwahnng!

The sound of weapons clas.h.i.+ng rang out, but Sungyoon’s party hadn’t been attacked .

‘This is what he meant . ’

Tim watched as one of the pursuers swung his weapon toward the woman, but his attack was deflected by the weapon of another pursuer . Until now, the two groups had been in an uneasy truce as they had chased after Sungyoon’s party .

This status quo was disrupted when Sungyoon started to use Plu-El as a s.h.i.+eld . The Moon people felt bitter about it, but they defended Plu-El from the Fabion Connectors" attacks .

Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwah-kwahng!

As the two groups fought, the attacks coming at Sungyoon’s party lessened . In fact, it dropped to zero .

“It"s very effective . ”

Grace sounded a bit despondent .

Plu-El once again cussed out Sungyoon, but Sungyoon couldn’t understand what the words meant . Even if he could, it wouldn"t have mattered . He was deep in thought so her words didn’t reach him .

‘The result is good . ’

Things were working better than what he had expected, but something bothered him . He looked toward the group that had the intention to kill the woman .

‘It feels as if they aren’t trying their best right now . ’

Suddenly, a chill ran up his spine . Sungyoon’s eyes met a pursuer"s, and he understood something at an instinctual level .

‘He"s aiming for me!’

Sungyoon pa.s.sed Plu-El to Tim .

‘This s.h.i.+eld thing won"t work against him!’

If Sungyoon were careless, he might lose his valuable s.h.i.+eld .

Tuhk!

The pursuer who Sungyoon stared at hunched his shoulders and reached Sungyoon in a flash . Sungyoon had already taken out his halberd and swung it .

Kwahhhhhhhng!

“Koo-oohk!”

When Sungyoon received the blow, his hands stung . He realized the pursuer was very strong .

‘He’s dangerous!’

The pursuer indiscriminately swung his mace, and Sungyoon increased his concentration to the maximum to deflect the attack .

Sungyoon"s hands became numb from deflecting those powerful blows, but he somehow defended against all of them .

‘This man is a novice at using a mace!’

Sungyoon realized that the mace wasn’t the man’s weapon of choice . However, this weakness was masked by the pursuer"s amazing powers . Sungyoon had overcome all kinds of hards.h.i.+ps, so his battle sense was unparalleled . Yet, his opponent was crus.h.i.+ng him with pure physical ability .

It was obvious that his opponent was using incredibly high rank Gems .

‘As expected, they weren’t using their full power!’

If this man started to fight in earnest, the other group and Sungyoon’s party wouldn’t stand a chance .

‘What is he planning?’

The man wasn’t revealing his true skills, and his moves didn"t contain killing intent either . In fact, his movements gave off the impression that he was very curious about the fight . The man acted as if he were a child poking at a frog with a branch to see how the frog would react to each jab .

‘This is unpleasant . ’

Sungyoon felt that he were a doll being pulled by its strings, but he didn’t complain . This pursuer’s unpleasant actions allowed his party to continue escaping .

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Get away from him!”

Tim was about to swing his ax, but Sungyoon quickly stopped him .

“No! I’ll face this person . Mr . Tim, you should keep an eye on the others!”

“But . . . ”

“Do it!”

Tim flinched when Sungyoon wielded his words like a knife . After a moment of hesitation, he did as Sungyoon ordered and moved away . He had a.s.sumed Sungyoon had a plan, but that wasn"t the case .

‘There is a high probability that this man might kill Mr . Tim . ’

A child playing around would become very angry if someone interfered with the game . It would be the same for this man . His every action expressed deep interest in Sungyoon, and if Tim interfered in his game, the man might take severe action .

‘At the very least, he doesn’t plan on killing me . ’

Sungyoon decided it was best if he faced this man, so he increased his focus and became oblivious to his surroundings . He didn"t have the luxury to pay attention to anything around him, and this was true for the others too . Therefore, they didn"t notice the magical energy that had started to spread across Armstrong city .