Moon's Labyrinths

The halberd fell from Soobin’s hands . He could no longer hold it due to the pain in his arm .

‘Good!’

Sungyoon rejoiced . His enemy had lost his weapon, and he hadn’t used a shield in the first place . The only equipment he possessed were defensive gears like the helmet, armor, shin guards, and vambrace . Even if he tried to unsummon and then summon his halberd, he would need at least five seconds . It was the same if he wanted to activate his other Gems .

However, Sungyoon didn’t dare to let his guard down . He kept track of Soobin as he stabbed harder with his spear .

Hoo-oong!

Despite the injuries inflicted on him, Soobin had seven years of battle experience to fall back on . He swung his uninjured arm . The Gem which had enhanced his physical abilities was still active . His fists were absolutely dangerous to Sungyoon .

Sungyoon took a step back as he tried to extract the spear .

Duhp-suhk!

Soobin grabbed the spear shaft, and at the same time, he kicked out . Sungyoon had no choice but to back away, as he unsummoned his spear .

Poo-shoohk!

More blood erupted from Soobin’s wound . The spear had been causing damage when it remained impaled within him . So when the spear disappeared, Soobin’s face looked a bit less strained .

However, Sungyoon wasn’t going to let this relief continue any longer .

Toohk!

Sungyoon placed his right hand on his injured left arm . His wound throbbed, but he endured the pain as he activated his Gem .

Hoohng!

His healing spell caused the Gem to vibrate . It was a Purple rank Gem, so a purple light surrounded his wound . His wound became visibly less angry, and he felt his wound starting to heal .

Sungyoon looked towards Soobin . Soobin had opened up the distance between the two of them, and he had also placed his hand on his wound . As expected, he had a Gem with a healing ability .

‘I won’t let you do that!’

He had worked so hard to put his enemy in such a disadvantageous situation, so why would he give him time to recover?

‘I won’t give you 5 seconds!’

It didn’t matter how many Gems Soobin had . It didn’t matter how great those Gems were . They were all useless right now . The only advantage Sungyoon had over Soobin was the activation time of the Gems . He had to make the best use of this fact .

Toohk!

Sungyoon placed his foot under the halberd and kicked it up into the air . He grabbed it and immediately swung it towards his enemy . Sungyoon didn’t hesitate to use the long reach of the halberd to his advantage . He quickly removed the distance created by the desperate Soobin .

Soobin quickly unsummoned the halberd . Sungyoon held the weapon, yet it was his Gem . Moreover, there was no delay in unsummoning the weapon .

The halberd in Sungyoon’s hand disappeared .

Soobin let out a sigh of relief . In the time Sungyoon swung with his empty hands, Soobin thought he would be able to finish healing up .

However, this was a gamble taken by Sungyoon . It was to induce Soobin from not retreating any further .

‘Wait a moment!’

An image flashed inside Soobin’s head .

‘Didn’t he summon his spear really quickly...!’

Sungyoon needed several dozen seconds to activate his Gem . This information was too deeply ingrained in Soobin’s mind . He had seen Sungyoon summon his spear and use his healing magic really quickly . However, the battle had deteriorated too quickly for him, and the pain due to his wound was excruciating . Hence, he wasn’t able to override the old information with the new information .

Soobin realized that a spear had appeared in Sungyoon’s hands when the spear blade had already arrived at his neck .

Suh-guhk!

The cracked spear blade sliced past Soobin’s neck .

Poo-shoohk!

Blood erupted into the air . Soobin became aware of his new wound . Fear appeared in his eyes .

Ooh-oong!

It seemed five seconds had already passed . Soobin’s hand, which was pressed against the wound, started letting out a light .

‘I won’t let you do this!’

Sungyoon didn’t know if the healing spell would heal only a single wound or his entire body . If he wasn’t careful, the critical wound on Soobin’s neck might be healed too .

As he had that thought, Sungyoon summoned his mace .

Puh-uhk!

He swung right above the vambrace where the forearm was exposed .

Puh-uhk!

This time he swung the mace at the opening of the helmet .

Puh-uhk! Puh-uhk!

He swung the mace as if he were a mad man . He didn’t know when his enemy would finish healing . He didn’t know when he would start his counterattack . This fear urged Sungyoon to move .

Puh-uh-uhk!

The mace hit Soobin’s face one again .

Ooh-jee-jeek!

He felt the sensation of bones breaking . Soobin’s body fell backwards . Finally, Sungyoon stopped his attack . If he saw anything a bit suspicious, Sungyoon was ready to attack once again . He kept a firm grip on his mace as he glared down at Soobin .

However, Soobin no longer looked like a human . His face and anywhere that wasn’t protected by his defensive gears had turned into a bloody mess . His bones were all broken . He looked boneless like a mollusk, and his flesh had burst open into a bloody pulp .

The most horrifying part was his face . No, it couldn’t be called a face anymore . The face was completely caved in, so there was no shape left . Gray matter of the brain, pieces of broken bones, and pulverized flesh mixed to form a grotesque sight . His helmet was like a pot holding in this grotesque mixture .

Sssk!

The flow of magical energy to Soobin’s Gem had stopped, so they stopped working . His defensive gear went away . All the amplified physical abilities went away .

Sungyoon was finally sure of it .

Soobin had died .

Tul-suhk!

He flopped down to the floor .

“Oohk!”

As soon as the tension was gone, pain struck his palms . Sungyoon raised and looked at his hands .

The hands holding the mace had ripped wide open . Blood dripped out of the wounds . His bones ached . In the end, he hadn’t even aimed as he started raining down indiscriminate blows . It seemed he had been injured by the rebound .

The mace wasn’t undamaged either . The handle was drenched in blood, and the mace-head had taken a significant amount of damage .

Sungyoon ignored the pain as he got up . If he had his way, he wanted to just lie down .

However, he couldn’t do that . He was in front of the entrance, but he was still within the labyrinth . He didn’t know when a monster would show up .

‘I’m not in a state where I can fight . ’

He staggered on his feet as he walked forward . His stamina was still fine, and he had healed his wounds . However, he was mentally drained .

Sungyoon looked at Soobin’s corpse .

‘... should I take that?’

If he left it in the labyrinth, monsters would eat the corpse . He didn’t care what happened to the bastard’s corpse, but there would be fallout from this . Things would go more smoothly if he had the corpse .

He recovered the Gold Gem, which had been flung into the distance . Then he grabbed Soobin’s leg and dragged the corpse towards the entrance, leaving behind a bloody trail .

Pah-jeek!

Sungyoon was tired, and he only focused on getting out of the labyrinth . This was why he hadn’t heard the small sound of destruction .

As if it had pushed itself to the limit, the Blood Gem broke apart into fragments . Its life had come to an end . The fragments turned into dust as it dissolved into the surrounding . The only thing left behind was the necklace type Device with an empty slot .

After exiting the labyrinth, he just let go of Soobin’s corpse . He just needed to prevent the corpse from being eaten by the monsters . Aside from that, it was of no concern to him .

‘Since it is out in space, I doubt the corpse will rot . ’

He immediately headed towards his Moon Surface Vehicle .

But his eyes winced when he saw his vehicle .

All the wheels had been destroyed .

He didn’t even need to guess as to who had done this . He felt anger rise when he saw his completely broken vehicle, which was worth a couple of million dollars . However, his anger lasted only for a brief moment . He was too tired to be angry .

Fortunately, only his wheels were destroyed . Sungyoon opened the door, and he entered the vehicle . The communication equipment was intact . Sungyoon tried to contact Armstrong city . A woman appeared on the screen . It was one of the government workers of Armstrong . Since there was no air within the Moon Surface Vehicle, he had to explain his situation using the small keyboard .

The woman’s face quickly stiffened . She told him a rescue team would be sent as soon as possible . She would also contact Sungyoon’s company . After she informed him of this, she ended the call .

‘I did everything I need to do right now . ’

It would be fine now . Sungyoon crawled into his bed, and he closed his eyes . He immediately fell asleep .

* * *

After being contacted by Sungyoon, the Armstrong city quickly moved into gear and immediately dispatched an investigative team . Then, they contacted Jimin and Soobin’s company .

Unlike the mayhem unfolding within Armstrong, Sungyoon’s surroundings continued to be silent .

Sungyoon awoke from his sleep . He looked at his watch . He had slept for 12 hours .

He thought about yesterday’s incident . Sungyoon got off the vehicle and walked towards the entrance of the labyrinth .

It was still there .

The horrifying sight of Soobin’s corpse was still there . His face didn’t have a shape . It was just a bloody mess . Did space have minimal effect on the corpse? Or was his unbeating heart still protecting the body even in death?

However, Sungyoon hadn’t been in a position to think about such things .

He had fought a life or death battle yesterday, so he had been too tired . He hadn’t been able to process everything . However, he had gotten enough sleep, and when his mind started to get back into gear, he saw Soobin’s corpse . The reality of what had happened hit him all at once .

He didn’t have any positive feelings towards the being called Kim Soobin . In fact, he was overflowing with hostility towards that man . Sungyoon didn’t care if he died or not . He was worth nothing to Sungyoon .

However, he felt differently now . He had created the corpse in front of his eyes .

He had killed a human .

“Oohk!”

He dry heaved . He was experiencing emotions that were on a different level as the ones he felt when he killed an animal or a monster . His head started spinning .

‘It’s fine . I just did what I had to do . If I didn’t kill him, I would be dead . ’

He wasn’t coming up with an excuse . It was the absolute truth . Even if one was being objective, Sungyoon held no blame for this situation . However, the logical portion of his brain couldn’t control his emotions .

Sungyoon stood there absent-mindedly for a long time .

However, he soon took out a picture . It was the picture of Shinhae . Strength started to return to Sungoon’s eyes as he looked at the picture .

He couldn’t fall apart here . He had to walk forward once again for his daughter .

As if he was protesting against his own feelings, Sungyoon looked away from the picture and glared at Soobin’s corpse .

‘... I was really lucky . ’

If he was being honest, he had been outclassed against Soobin . He didn’t know the exact ranks of the Gems Soobin possessed . However, when he thought about the explosive power he displayed, Sungyoon realized that Soobin must have had Gems that were several ranks higher than what he had .

Sungoon’s victory was a miracle created by a mixture of his special ability to activate a Gem quickly and his enemy’s complete disregard for him .

‘I didn’t expect such a gamble to work so well . . . ’

Sungyoon had expected to be wounded, yet the wound turned out to be relatively minor . When Sungyoon had executed his final attack, Soobin had misjudged Sungyoon’s activation time of his Gem . It had all been luck .

‘I did reinforce the idea that it took me several dozen seconds to activate a Gem, but . . . ’

He hadn’t known if it would work or not . It was very fortunate for Sungyoon that his ruse had worked .

‘This guy recently graduated from the Beginner’s Labyrinth?’

It was nonsense . Sungyoon knew the level one needed to clear the Beginner’s Labyrinth . At Soobin’s level of power, he should have graduated from the Beginner’s Labyrinth a long time ago . Was it a problem with his party? However, Soobin had been affiliated with one of the famous conglomerates . There was no way his company would pair him with weak party members .

Also, Soobin had wanted to show off his strength throughout the battle . It was the reason why he hadn’t immediately killed Sungyoon .

‘Was he that resentful of his lack of skills?’

In Sungyoon’s eyes, Soobin had been plenty strong . Maybe, Soobin wasn’t considered strong within a large company .

‘I have no idea . ’

He couldn’t come to an answer at all .