Moon's Labyrinths

Chapter 199

Chapter 199


Chapter 199



“… Isn’t this too excessive?”


Armstrong city had been hit with a double whammy . It had been attacked by the Golems, and a rival city had appeared . Yet, Armstrong would still be the only place churning out moonstones for the near future .


The city was no longer paralyzed, and it was slowly returning to normalcy . New owners had taken over the empty stores . The real estate in the city was still worth a lot .


“If I’m being honest, it is a bit excessive . ”


The Mayor discreetly studied Sungyoon .


‘Didn’t they say his company went bankrupt when his friend betrayed him? It seems his wife was in league with his friend . ’


Sungyoon had become the hero of Earth . Of course, countries, media organizations, and people on the internet were looking into his past .


The Mayor had access to his government’s information apparatus, so the information he had received on Sungyoon was a bit detailed .


‘He distrusts people, especially women . ’


It was the reason the plan to get Sungyoon"s genetic material through a honey-pot operation had been a ma.s.sive bust from the beginning .


‘I probably would"ve turned out like him if it had happened to me . ’


The Mayor sympathized with Sungyoon as a human being and a man . However, it wasn’t the time or place to reveal his sympathy . If he clumsily made it look like he was pitying Sungyoon, the pity might poison their relations.h.i.+p .


“Half of the reward is to make sure Mr . Sungyoon doesn’t move to the new Lunar city . We want to maintain a good relations.h.i.+p between Armstrong and you . The other half is a bribe . We would like you to partic.i.p.ate in the mission to exterminate Golems in the Beginner’s Labyrinth . ”


“You are giving me so much because you’ll be conducting a Golem extermination mission in the future?”


“Actually, we plan to clear the Beginner’s Labyrinth in two months . ”


Sungyoon furrowed his brows .


“The Golem extermination mission ended just a month ago . Aren’t you rus.h.i.+ng this too much?”


“A part of me indeed thinks we"re being too hasty . This is embarra.s.sing to say out loud, but this decision was politically motivated . ”


An embarra.s.sed expression appeared on the Mayor’s face for a brief moment .


Political motivation .


When this word was mentioned, Sungyoon inevitably thought about the other city .


“Does this have something to do with the new Lunar city?”


“Yes . They heard about us defeating the Golems to stabilize several Labyrinths, so they also immediately moved into action . It seems they’ve already destroyed Golems in several labyrinths . ”


“They are really fast . ”



It had taken Armstrong a decent amount of time to gather all their high rank Connectors .


However, the new Lunar city had cleared several labyrinths just after Armstrong city finished their mission .


“It seems someone leaked our tactic on how to defeat the Golems . The other city knew about how many Golems would appear, and they also knew that the Golems would weaken when Connectors exit the labyrinths . Russia and China used their unique advantage over us on their task . Of course, they had to give up a lot to their Connectors to make it happen . ”


From the beginning, the new Lunar city had promised Connectors rights to own parts of the city . So this venture probably hadn"t come at a cheap price .


“It feels like we did all the work, and somebody else got the credit . ”


Sungyoon and the other Connectors had to put their lives on their line to find out how to defeat the Golems . Therefore, he was a bit despondent when he heard others had stolen their battle plan .


“Well, it"s unfortunate that our information was leaked, but we did gain information of our own . ”


A mischievous light flashed in the Mayor’s eyes .


“From what I heard, the Golems that the other side faced were very weak . It was the reason behind their rapid pace . Let"s take the Golem from the Beginner’s Labyrinth that your party and Sir Russell faced . The Golems in the other city"s mission weren’t as strong as this one . That"s our guess right now . ”


“Are you saying the strength of the Golems differ depending on where it is located?”


It was in no way good news . These Golems were weaker than the ones the Connectors faced in Armstrong, and it gave rise to the possibility that stronger Golems also existed .


Thankfully, the Mayor shook his head from side to side .


“We wouldn"t go so far in making that a.s.sumption . However, we found something common between the Beginner’s Labyrinth and the labyrinths that were cleared by the new Lunar city . ”


“What is it?”


“They are all near the Great Labyrinth . ”


It seemed the Mayor was parched, and he drank some water from his cup .


“We chose labyrinths a bit further away from Armstrong for safety reasons . Unlike us, the other Lunar city cleared the labyrinths near their Great Labyrinth . The implication of this information made us all happy . ”


While he couldn"t defeat the Super Golems in the missions just by himself, Russell had handled the Super Golem from the Beginner’s Labyrinth very easily . Any of the highest rank Connectors could comfortably take on that Super Golem one-on-one .


“That means we"ll have an easy time in the Beginner’s Labyrinth . ”


Armstrong city was trying to prioritize safety . And one of the important steps to ensure that was eliminating all the Golems within the Beginner’s Labyrinth .


“That’s good news . ”


Sungyoon was satisfied with that information . Even if he was basically the ultimate weapon against Golems, he preferred fighting against weaker enemies .


“Yes . This really is good news . This information had a large influence on why we made up our mind to carry out this mission within two months . ”


“Were you able to gain any other information?”


Sungyoon wondered if Armstrong city had learned new information that would make it easier to defeat the Golems of the Beginner’s Labyrinth .


“There was no new information that’ll be helpful in our mission . However, we did learn about something else . ”


A horrified look appeared on the Mayor"s face, and he shook his head from side to side .


“Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds messed with their Great Labyrinth . ”


“… You"re saying they broke the wall of the Great Labyrinth to see if a Golem appears? Is that what you are saying?”


Sungyoon sounded like a person who couldn’t come to grips with reality after seeing something unbelievable .


“You"re correct . ”


The Mayor let out a sigh .


“I don’t know if they are amazing or stupid . Since their Great Labyrinth is a bit away from the site of their city, they had decided to conduct this experiment . I don’t know what they expected to appear when they did that . . . ”


The Mayor shook his head side to side as he once again took a sip .


“It"s good news for us . Since our Great Labyrinth lies within the boundaries of our city, we would never dream about conducting such an experiment . ”


If things went wrong, a very powerful Golem or some other powerful mysterious being might appear . And if that happened, it would be the end of days for Armstrong city .


“So what was the result of the experiment?”


It was a crazy experiment . Sungyoon didn’t know if he should commend their bravery or laugh at their stupidity . Still, the information would be beneficial to Armstrong, and he was curious about the result too .


“They couldn’t destroy it . ”


“They couldn’t destroy it?”


“Yes . As you probably know, anything that’s destroyed in the various floors of the Great Labyrinth recovers by itself . This holds true for floors like the gra.s.sy plains, the plateau, the snowy field, etc . ”


Sungyoon nodded . He had burned the gra.s.s in the gra.s.slands, exploded the surface of the plateau, and even melted the snow in the snowy fields in battles with monsters .


However, no Golems had appeared . Moreover, the environment had repaired itself .


“The walls of the Great Labyrinth encircles the floors like the gra.s.slands, or they are located in the tunnels leading toward the next floor . The other city"s Connectors used all kinds of methods, but they couldn’t destroy the walls at either location . ”


“Did they hit the wall with high rank weapons as we did?”


“According to the information we received, they even used a Diamond rank weapon . ”


Diamond rank .


It was the highest-ranked Jewel Gem .


The Jewel Gems had eight ranks, and the Rainbow Gems had seven ranks . The Diamond rank Gem was at the pinnacle of these fifteen Gems .


Even the highest rank Connectors had only one of these Gems .


‘The fact that even a Diamond Gem can"t do anything to it means that the Great Labyrinth"s walls can’t be destroyed with the power of a Connector . ’


The revelation made it clear that Golems wouldn’t appear from the Great Labyrinth and lay waste to Armstrong .


“That’s quite fortunate . ”


“Yes . It really is fortunate . The only thing we now have to do is defeat the Golems within the Beginner’s Labyrinth, and Armstrong will be safe . ”


That concluded all the reasons the Mayor had called Sungyoon .


“Please contact me when it"s time . ”


“Understood . How long will you stay in the Great Labyrinth this time?”


“We"ll be there for around a month . ”


“Armstrong will contact you around the time when you come back out of the Great Labyrinth . Will you rest in Armstrong before heading back into the Great Labyrinth?”


“No . I"ve to go down to Earth for a couple of days . I have something I have to take care of . ”


Sungyoon’s eyes turned sharp . The Mayor could sense something was wrong with Sungyoon"s abrupt visit to Earth, but he didn"t say anything as he led Sungyoon out of the room .


***


Sungyoon"s return to Earth was an unplanned one, so he wasn"t met with an army of reporters waiting for him .


He was happy to meet s.h.i.+nhae after so long, but he didn’t have the luxury to relax and spend time with her . He and his party had to enter the Great Labyrinth soon, so he had to settle things quickly .


‘I have to end this before I go back . ’


Sungyoon’s eyes turned sharp, and a killing intent appeared in them .


He entered a cafe with Jimin . The cafe wasn’t crowded, but Sungyoon didn"t take any chances . He kept his sungla.s.ses and hat on .


Sungyoon and Jimin burned time and conversed about random topics when a voice interrupted them .


“You guys are here already . ”


Ooh-doohk!


As soon as he heard her voice, Sungyoon clenched his fists, and as if they wanted to express his anger, his fists made a terrifying noise .


Sungyoon slowly raised his head to look at the owner of the voice .


As always, she was dressed in fancy clothes . Her hands held a handbag that proudly displayed a luxury brand logo .


It was a newer handbag . It seemed she had bought a new one with the money she had gained by selling him out .


Sungyoon pressed down on his emotions and spoke .


“It has been a while . ”


But he added another sentence at the end .


“I’m not pleased to see you . ”


“Really? I’m very pleased to see you, Mr . Ex-husband . ”


“Don’t start with that bulls.h.i.+t . Just sit down . I’m really holding myself back right now . ”


Sungyoon felt his throat was burning . He opened the lid to his ice coffee and downed it in one go .


Crunch!


He chewed on the ice, and it seemed the action made him feel a little better .


Miyun sat down on the chair .


“It has been a while, right?”


Jimin asked, but Miyun didn"t answer her . She just looked at Sungyoon and Jimin .


The two had been sitting shoulder to shoulder until Miyun had arrived .


“Are you in that kind of relations.h.i.+p already? I’m not sure if I should be congratulating you or not . ”


Miyun had spoken in a sarcastic manner . However, neither Sungyoon nor Jimin reacted to her .


Sungyoon took off his sungla.s.ses .


“Stop with the bulls.h.i.+t . Just tell me what you want . ”


Miyun stared at Sungyoon’s face .


Before she had betrayed him, his face had been full of wrinkles, and he had a potbelly . However, that middle-aged man was nowhere to be seen .


Sungyoon now looked good enough to be called handsome, and Miyun could see that his body was fit through his clothes .


The Sungyoon she had known in her twenties had appeared in front of her . Moreover, his eyes were sharper than before . It was enough to attract glances from women .


She had thought he would hit rock-bottom and die after living a miserable life of looking after his daughter . But all her predictions had been completely off the mark .


Sungyoon had become world-famous . He was the ‘hero" .


Moreover, he had acc.u.mulated an amazing amount of money . According to the media, his net worth ranged from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars .


Miyun unintentionally bit her lips . She had thrown away Sungyoon, but he had become the most successful person in the world . Miyun tried to maintain her nonchalance, but she felt aggrieved . She really was regretting her decision .


However, her pride wouldn’t let her reveal such emotions .