Chapter 267

Chapter 267

“Monsters?”

“I don’t think so . It sounds like humans running . ”

“Some monster’s footsteps can sound like a human"s . ”

Russell’s party discussed what the sounds were .

“It could be Fabion Connectors . ”

When Bruce spoke those words in a low voice, everyone became tense . Until now, the monsters of the Great Labyrinth hadn"t been much of a challenge to the group, and that would only change if they went much deeper into the Great Labyrinth .

However, it was an entirely different story if they had to face Connectors .

Everyone raised their weapons .

“I hope so . I don’t want to stay here any longer without knowing the reason Fabion is here . ”

As Bruce grumbled, the footsteps came closer and closer . A figure rushed past a steep bend in the tunnel and appeared before the group . He was a human, a fully-armed human . As his eyes fell on the group, he stopped in his tracks .

“Hey! h.e.l.lo there!”

Bruce waved at him .

As of right now, the group wasn’t enemies with Fabion, and Bruce didn"t want to instigate a fight without a good reason .

“I heard you guys are doing something fun here . We want to partic.i.p.a—”

Boom!

The sudden attack forced Bruce to shut his mouth . He had been friendly with his words, yet the newcomer had attacked with reckless abandon .

“Did this b.a.s.t.a.r.d lose his mind?”

Bruce became furious .

“You f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d! f.u.c.king Fabion! In the end, you decided to attack us!”

“F… abion?”

The attacker stopped moving for a moment .

“Fa…Bi…On… . ”

He stammered as he repeated "Fabion" .

“Faaaaaaaaaaabion!”

Then, with a scream of despair, he started attacking once again . His scream contained despair, anger, hate, and grief, and it made Sungyoon’s party flinch . Their reaction wasn’t about strength . Any ‘human’ with normal thoughts and values would react to such a display of anguish .

However, they were still in a battle, and n.o.body would concede an inch .

“Did he lose his mind?”

Bruce clenched his fists within his Gauntlets, then swung them toward the halberd nearing his face .

Kwahng!

Bruce effortlessly deflected the halberd .

“Sleep for now!”

He then spun his body to move behind the attacker and chopped down on his neck .

Boom!

“Ku-huhk!”

Despite a helmet covering the attacker"s head, due to the blow, the attacker let out a scream and lost consciousness . He rolled across the ground as if he were a marionette whose strings had been cut .

“What does this guy do for a living?”

Bruce grumbled as he shook his fist . His opponent hadn’t been skillful, and he couldn"t even take down any member of the group . However, the attacker"s spirit had been amazing, and everyone had felt an oppressive sensation from him . It was as if a special brand of madness had infected the man’s heart .

Russell approached the fallen man .

“Are you sure you didn’t kill him?”

“Of course . Do you know how much trouble I had to go through to control my power?”

It would have been much easier for Bruce to just crush the helmet and the head .

Russell took a knee and observed the attacker’s body . It was almost a miracle that the man"s armor Gem hadn"t broken . The armor had been damaged in many locations, and blood seeped out of the cracks in it .

It was also evident that the halberd was damaged .

Zzuh-uhk!

While Russell was checking the body, the attacker"s s.h.i.+eld disappeared and one of his Gems broke . Extreme damage to the s.h.i.+eld had done irreparable damage to the Gem .

Russell clicked his tongue .

“He’s a complete mess . Close to death’s door . ”

“I’m just putting this out there . I didn’t do it . ”

“I know . ”

Bruce sauntered forward .

“Where did he receive these wounds though? It seems he was running away by himself . Did the Fabion Connectors get wiped? I thought Fabion had dispatched Hyunwoo Sung and their elite team here . What’s going on?”

“We’ll soon find out the answer . ”

Russell called out to one of his party members, a skinny man clad in a similar robe as Emily"s .

“Please heal him . ”

“Are you sure?”

“We have to keep him alive to extract information . ”

Russell"s party member nodded and raised his staff . The staff radiated light .

‘So he"s the Connector in charge of healing within Sir Russell’s party . ’

This Connector"s outer garb and role in the party were the same as Emily"s . After activating his Gem, the healer from Russell’s party was about to place the healing spell on the attacker, when—

Hwah-roohk!

At first, a small flash of light appeared in the tunnel where the attacker had come from, but the light soon turned into fire . In the blink of an eye, fire was all the group could see .

Kwahhhhhhhhhng!

The raging fire swept through the labyrinth like a tsunami made out of flames . The heat increased the surrounding temperature, and light burned bright . Flames danced in exuberance before it all disappeared .

However, the heat remained even after the fire had disappeared . A normal person would have instantly died facing such heat .

Juh-buhk . Juh-buhk .

A man walked through this oven in an easygoing manner . He looked at the fallen attacker, then at the people surrounding him .

“Oh my! Look who it is?”

Hyunwoo sounded happy as if he had seen a couple of old friends, but the group wasn"t in the mood to humor him .

“You f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I knew you wanted to pick a fight with me!”

Bruce madly hopped . He had ordered everyone to retreat and blocked the attack head-on . As he looked at Hyunwoo, he clashed his gauntlets into each other to create a threatening sound .

Russell was the opposite, and he just glared at Hyunwoo with his cold eyes .

“I picked a fight? No way! I didn’t know it was you . That"s why I attacked . In fact, I"m even close to someone in your group . ”

Hyunwoo looked at Sungyoon, and his eyes became the shape of a crescent moon .

“Alright . What are you guys doing here?”

“That is—”

“Ah! What a moment . ”

Hyunwoo raised his hand to stop Sungyoon from speaking . He then walked toward the attacker . To dodge Hyunwoo’s attack, Sungyoon and the group had distanced themselves from the attacker . So Hyunwoo was closer to him than them .

Surprisingly, the attacker had survived the fierce flames . However, that was it . He was barely hanging on . The attack had destroyed his armor, and his Gem had broken; burns had appeared all over his body . He no longer shed blood as his wounds had burned shut .

“Kuh-huh-huhk!”

The attacker felt enormous pain from his blackened flesh, but he didn’t have the strength to scream . He just let out a whimper .

Tuh-buhk!

As he heard footsteps close in on him, the attacker barely opened one of his eyes to look at Hyunwoo . He opened his mouth, and several words leaked out . His voice was very low, but Sungyoon and the group could hear it with their enhanced senses .

‘What language is that?’

Fabion was a Korean company . Even though a Korean company could also have connectors from other countries, such as the Ross siblings in Jungb.u.m, Fabion mostly consisted of Koreans .

However, the ambusher hadn’t spoken Korean; his words couldn"t be linked to any language the group knew of .

Sssk!

Hyunwoo raised his sword .

Russell stepped forward when he realized what Hyunwoo was about to do .

“Hey! Wait a moment! What are you doi—”

Poo-oohk!

However, Russell was too far away to stop Hyunwoo . Without any mercy, Hyunwoo thrust his sword downward . The tip of the sword pierced through the attacker"s head, and his body shook once before slumping .

“Well?”

Hyunwoo let out a bright smile toward the Connectors looking at him with surprised eyes .

“Shall we talk about this current situation?”

Every Connector had the same thought . They hated how Hyunwoo was acting .

***

“So you"re saying that . . . ”

Hyunwoo led the group forward, while Russell continued speaking .

“You guys came here to exterminate the ambushers who had attacked Armstrong"s research team?”

“Yes . ”

Hyunwoo seemed quite familiar with this region, and he led the group down the tunnel without any hesitation .

“They’ve caused a lot of trouble recently, and they slowed down our ability to gather moonstones . Fabion wants to be profitable, so we couldn’t stand by and do nothing . We worked very hard to gather information about the ambushers, and we found their base not too long ago . ”

Russell didn’t trust Hyunwoo and Fabion even after the explanation .

“Then why are you here by yourselves? You should"ve reported it to Armstrong before moving . That’s the much safer option . Moreover, you have a duty to report this information . ”

“We thought the information might leak out if we did that . Information always leaks from unexpected places . These people are terrorists who can freely travel between Earth and the Moon to conduct their acts of terror . We thought it was likely they had some spies within Armstrong . ”

“And your company has no spies?”

“We were very careful in who we chose for this mission . ”

“Do you think such an excuse will work on us?”

Bruce shot back from the side .

There were too many holes in Hyunwoo’s explanation to take it at face value .

Hyunwoo just shrugged .

“It can’t be helped if you don’t believe me, but it"s the truth . ”

Hyunwoo"s voice sounded as if he didn’t care whether they believed him or not .

Bruce wanted to hit Hyunwoo, but Russell held him back .

“So you attacked us because you mistook us for terrorists?”

“Of course . I was chasing down the ambusher who had run away, and I saw you guys around him . I a.s.sumed there were only the terrorists and us Fabion Connectors in the Great Labyrinth . I never expected a third party to enter this place . Thankfully, you blocked my attack . I don"t want to kill Connectors from the same side . ”

“You killed the man who ran away because he was a terrorist?”

“That’s right . ”

“You didn’t kill him to shut him up?”

Hyunwoo looked at Russell with a blank expression .

“I know you want to link me and Fabion to something nefarious . However, you will be sorely disappointed once you find out the truth . I killed an enemy . That"s all . ”

Russell was about to speak again when Hyunwoo spoke again .

“We are here . ”

A large s.p.a.ce appeared at the end of the tunnel, and Sungyoon and the group immediately scrunched up their faces .

“The smell . . . . ”

Emily pinched her nose . The others did the same in the presence of the acrid burning smell .

“This is the base of the terrorists . ”

Hyunwoo pointed at the open s.p.a.ce . The corpses and mounds of ashes everywhere proved that something like a village once existed in this place .