Moon's Labyrinths

Chapter 353

Chapter 353


Chapter 353


“s.h.i.+t! Where the h.e.l.l are they!”


Tim"s nose steamed as he kept pacing around . He looked like he wanted to beat up and smash anything and anyone nearby . Normally, Emily reined him in when he got too excited, but she wasn’t in her right mind either . Therefore, Tim"s aggressiveness went unchecked .


“Please calm down . ”


Thankfully, Grace remained calm as she soothed the siblings . However, she also felt anxious .


‘It has been so long . He’s probably fighting Hyunwoo Sung . ’


Before becoming a traitor to humanity, Hyunwoo had been one of the top Connectors of Earth . Moreover, he was on Grenoid"s side now . There was a possibility that he had gained some other power . If that wasn’t bad enough, other foes might show up after Hyunwoo .


The party had to somehow rejoin with Sungyoon as soon as possible .


Ta-ta-taht!


Suddenly, the three of them heard footsteps . They stopped searching the tower and looked toward the source of the sound .


Russell descended from a staircase .


“Russell! Did you find Mr . Sungyoon?”


Grace rushed toward Russell as she asked the question . She didn’t use his t.i.tle like usual . Even though she was calm on the surface, she was so fl.u.s.tered that she forgot to call Russell by his t.i.tle .


“No . I couldn"t find him . ”


The three of them became crestfallen .


“Don’t worry too much . As you know, the Knight won’t lose that easily . Moreover, all the monsters around the tower have run away . He must"ve done something . ”


Monsters had been ama.s.sed around the tower, and they had been fighting a b.l.o.o.d.y battle with the Connectors . However, they had dispersed a couple of minutes ago . Only a small number of monsters remained outside the tower . Most of them had gone back to the nearby labyrinths .


It meant the being controlling the monsters had died .


“You"re probably right . ”


“Of course, I am!”


Russell did his best and acted unperturbed to keep Grace calm .


Ooh-roo-roo-roohgn!


The tower shook .


“Ooh-ahk!”


“Kyahhhk!”


Everyone quickly grabbed the wall to keep their balance .


The vibration was intense, but it lasted only for a short time . That was why none of them fell .


“What . . . what the h.e.l.l was that?”


Tim looked at his surroundings, but the only thing he saw was the twisted narrow pa.s.sageways .


“It seems something has happened . . . ”


Russell spoke in a low voice .


“Let’s start moving . ”


If they stayed here doing nothing, they wouldn’t be able to find out any information about what had caused the vibration . Moreover, they wouldn’t find out any information about Sungyoon’s whereabouts .


Everyone followed Russell’s instruction as they started climbing the stairs .


The first to speak was one of Russell’s party members .


“Hmm? Something feels different . ”


“Doesn’t it?”


It was subtle, but Russell got an uncomfortable feeling . He warily looked at around .


“Something has changed . ”


“Did the vibration cause this?”


Russell and his party members spoke amongst themselves . The change made everyone raise their guards . Grace, who did her best to control her worry for Sungyoon, looked at the map . Her eyes widened .


“This is odd . There should be a fork in the path, yet there is none here . ”


Everyone turned their gaze toward the front, then climbed the staircase pointed out by Grace .


Russell carefully touched the wall of the pa.s.sageway .


“Did the tower"s structure change?”


At that moment, everyone heard footsteps coming from the staircase . They turned toward the source of the sound on reflex .


The one making the footsteps started coming into view .


“Ah!”


Someone groaned . The man who had been descending the staircase stopped when he saw them .


“You were here . ”


They were broken in many places, but they were the familiar silver armor and the red cape .


On Earth, he was called the symbol of hope . Everyone recognized him .


“Mr . Sungyoon!”


No one knew who was the first as Tim, Emily, and Grace ran toward Sungyoon . They hugged, cried, and celebrated that Sungyoon was fine .


“You made us worry… . ”


Russell, who had been watching from behind, grumbled in a low voice . However, a small smile blossomed within his helmet .


“Let’s head back right now . ”


Sungyoon spoke as he calmed his party members, who were crying with joy .


“Return? Did you find how we can return the Moon to its original orbit?”


Russell asked the question with antic.i.p.ation in his voice .


Sungyoon took out a Gem .


“This has the way to solve the problem . ”


“What is it?”


“It"s Mr . Hyunwoo’s storage Gem . ”


Everyone’s face hardened when they heard that name .


“That Gem contains the solution? Who said so?”


“Mr . Hyunwoo . ”


“… Can we trust him?”


Russell asked with a dissatisfied expression . His eyes were full of suspicion, and everyone else felt the same . How could they not be suspicious? Hyunwoo had turned his back on humanity . He was the biggest traitor in humanity"s history . He was the devil .


“Wouldn’t it be better to search the room you guys disappeared into? Since you could exit that place, there must be an entrance now . No, let me ask this first . What happened? I heard you met Hyunwoo Sung . Did you kill him . ”


“I’ll explain as we go . I guess it won’t be bad to search that place . When the distorted s.p.a.ce returned to its normal state, an entrance indeed appeared . If you go straight up this staircase, you’ll arrive at that room . ”


Sungyoon"s voice sounded like he was sure that they wouldn’t find much in that room . After all, he had surveyed the place once already . Nevertheless, it didn"t mean that others would have no chance of finding anything . The future of humanity was riding on this, so it was good to be double sure .


“Let’s send the other Connectors to search the place . We should head down . I’ll give you a detailed explanation . ”


***


The region around the tower had turned very quiet . Just a while ago, roars of monsters and screams of humans had been reverberating in the air . Bloods and guts had been flying everywhere . It was hard to believe that a b.l.o.o.d.y battle had occurred in this place . However, the corpses on the ground were proof that it hadn’t been all a dream .


Sungyoon’s party gathered around a support vehicle, which was parked a bit away from the battlefield . Several people, who had been driving the support vehicle, went over the data from the USB that had been inside Hyunwoo’s Gem .


Sungyoon’s party let the men work in peace . They moved a bit away from the vehicle and called the Mayor .


- I see . So that"s how Hyunwoo Sung met his end .


A shadow appeared on the Mayor’s face as he spoke through the screen .


- I knew he had a reason for betraying humanity, but I never knew what exactly he went through . It"s quite unfortunate .


“He is still a traitor . ”


Russell was blunt . However, his complexion didn’t look great either .


- Yes . He’s a traitor . I don"t deny that . However, I"m the Mayor of Armstrong city . It makes me wonder if there is a way I can govern the city in a better way .


The Mayor felt the weight of being the person in charge .


- I can flagellate myself at a later time . Let’s focus on the story on hand . What was inside Hyunwoo Sung’s Gem?


“There was a USB that he called the solution . Then . . . ”


Sungyoon took something out .


“There’s this Gem . ”


It was a Diamond rank Gem .


- Diamond rank Gem? That’s surprising . What is its ability?


“For a certain period, it allows one to recover the power of Gems that have lost their powers after overclocking . ”


- Didn’t you overclock all your Gems in this battle, Mr . Sungyoon?


“Yes . That was why I had been worried, but I can partic.i.p.ate in the fight thanks to this Gem . ”


- It seems Hyunwoo Sung prepared a lot of things .


If the solution prepared by Hyunwoo allowed them to defeat the Grenoid, Hyunwoo would have played a pivotal role in defeating the Grenoid . It would mean he would have contributed the most in the effort to save humanity .


The person, who betrayed humanity, had provided the solution to saving humanity .


- He’s a complex person .


It seemed the mayor had the same thought as Sungyoon . They both shook their heads from side to side .


At that moment, one of the people organizing the data from the USB approached them .


“We checked all the data . ”


- Is that so? What information was on there?


The mayor quickly asked the question . Everyone turned to look at the man .


“First, there is a piece of information that I have to tell first . ”


His face had hardened .


Was he nervous because famous and influential people were staring at him?


That wasn’t the case . His face had hardened because the information that he was about to reveal was that serious .


“Hyunwoo Sung was able to estimate the date of Grenoid’s revival . ”


“When is it?”


It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that every human wanted to know this information .


Sungyoon quickly asked the question .


The man clenched his eyes shut as he spat out his words .


“Tomorrow”


A terrifying silence descended within the vehicle .


***


They were standing on a large hill .


There were numerous craters at the back of the moon, and Sungyoon’s party stood on top of the ridge of a crater .


No one spoke . Usually, Tim hadn’t the silence and boredom, but even he kept his mouth shut .


There was nervousness flowing between them . It was almost as if they were afraid of something .


“…how long do we have left?”


The one to break the heavy atmosphere was Grace .


She gripped her staff as she looked down at the flat ground within the crater .


Sungyoon looked down at his watch .


“I’m not sure . The day will end in eight hours . If it occurs, it should happen within this window . ”


“Do you think Hyunwoo Sung’s plan will work?”


Her voice shook .


She was always cool and collected . This was unlike her normal cold demeanor .


However, everyone present felt the same way .


“It has to work . ”


There can be no distraction .


Sungyoon’s voice sounded heavy .


“I see . ”


Grace became silent after finally opening her mouth .


The clock kept ticking, and if their heart could beat, their hearts would sound like a percussion quartet . It probably would have made their mood worse .


“…Hoo-ooh!”


Sungyoon let out a large sigh . Tim, Emily, and Grace looked towards Sungyoon .


‘Keep it together, Woo Sungyoon . I know you are nervous, you can’t back down . ’


He had experienced many hards.h.i.+ps in the past, but the foe that they would fight was on a different level . It automatically made one want to cringe in fear .


However, they couldn’t do that .


Even if they fought with all their might, it might not be enough to win .


They had to use all means possible . They couldn’t fight to their full capabilities if they were weak .


Sungyoon had to come up with a plan, and he had to calm down his party members as their leader .


“I have a bit of wine with me . Do you want to discuss what we’ll like to do after we finish this battle?”


The eyes of his party members turned round as they looked at him .


Then every one of them sent a small smile towards Sungyoon .