Moon's Labyrinths

Hyunwoo rushed toward Sungyoon. Because of the boost from the source of the magical energy, Sungyoon was no longer at a disadvantage.

Kwahng!

Hyunwoo’s Flamberg clashed against Sungyoon’s sword.

“Let me tell you this beforehand!”

As their swords interlocked, Hyunwoo yelled.

“I have no plans of going easy on you! I’ll have fun even if Grenoid revives and wipes out humanity!”

Fun was an understatement. He would be hopping with joy.

“Anyway, you can't win against Grenoid without defeating me! Your goal is to save humanity, so you should consider me as an obstacle! You have to kill me if you don’t want to see humanity's destruction!”

Hyunwoo retracted his sword a little, and a stream of red energy enveloped the weapon.

Kwahhhhhhng!

Flamberg struck Sungyoon’s sword.

“Do your best to fight me!”

The blood-colored stream of energy swirled around Hyunwoo. It was an ominous sight, so Sungyoon unfurled his wings.

“I won’t let you!”

Hyunwoo tried to stop Sungyoon from moving once again. However, Sungyoon was now receiving power from the source of magical energy.

Keeeeeeeeeng!

Flamberg shot toward one of Sungyoon's extended wings. Sungyoon blocked it with his shield, and Flamberg slid off, making a grinding noise.

Hoooooong!

Sungyoon moved. However, he hadn’t unfurled his wings with the intention to get away from Hyunwoo. He accelerated forward.

Puh-uhk!

“Koohk!”

Fully using the momentum his wings provided him, Sungyoon charged forward with his shield up.

His actions surprised Hyunwoo. The shield went on to struck Hyunwoo and pushed him back a little bit. However, that was all.

Koo-oohng! Koo-oohng! Koo-oohng! Koo-oohng!

Sungyoon felt four consecutive impacts through his shield. It completely stalled his momentum.

‘It's his shield!’

The reason behind the impacts were the shield fragments that had budded out of Hyunwoo’s back. They slammed into Sungyoon’s shield and pushed him backward. Moreover, the shield fragments weren’t the only things that were blocking Sungyoon’s attacks.

Woooooohng!

The red balls of light kept hovering around Sungyoon. They moved as if they were hyenas that were about to pounce on their dying prey.

Sungyoon looked at them with tense eyes.

Hoo-oohng!

As the sound of air being torn apart rang out, the shield fragments flew toward Sungyoon.

The fragments weren't moving to defend Hyunwoo. The edges of the shield fragments were sharp. A shield fragment attacked Sungyoon from the front, and the rest came from behind. Moreover, the fragments coming from behind him weren't trying to attack him. They were aiming for something else with their sharp teeth.

‘Shit!’

Sungyoon folded his wings. He had been holding his shield with both hands, but now, he took up his ax in his right hand and held the shield with the left.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

He moved the ax in a dizzying fashion. The ax was so fast that it left gray streaks in the air. Sungyoon started deflecting the shield fragments, but there were too many.

Kah-ahng! Kah-ahng!

Leg, arms, body...

The shield fragments ruthlessly hit him all over. Thankfully for him, the shield fragments couldn’t pierce through his armor. However, Sungyoon felt each blow.

Kwah-jeek!

The joints of his armor, which were weaker compared to the other parts of the armor, started letting out an ominous sound.

On top of that, since the shield fragments were attacking Sungyoon from all sides, he couldn’t properly use his shield.

Puh-uhk!

Hyunwoo’s Flamberg deflected Sungyoon’s shield, leaving Sungyoon's body defenseless.

“Tsk!”

Sungyoon clicked his tongue and unfurled his wings again. This time, he was trying to gain some distance from Hyunwoo.

“I won’t let you go!”

Koo-oohng!

Hyunwoo strode forward. He moved like a missile as he chased after Sungyoon, who was flying backward. However, a stalagmite suddenly erupted from the ground and blocked his path.

Kwhahhhng!

Without showing much of a reaction, Hyunwoo ran straight into the stalagmite. But that stalagmite wasn't the last one. Soon, an enormous number of stalagmites erupted and surrounded him. These stalagmites shot up high enough to almost reach the ceiling.

“Hoo-ooh!”

When he succeeded in opening up some distance between him and Hyunwoo, Sungyoon let out a sigh of relief. However, he didn’t let his guard down. There was no way Hyunwoo would die from being hit with one spell.

Kwahhhhng!

As expected, Hyunwoo pushed through the outermost stalagmite. Rocks fell and murky dust rose into the air, and Hyunwoo walked through the dust.

‘He came out unscathed.’

As if Hyunwoo wanted Sungyoon to see this, he cracked his neck from side to side. It seemed he were saying that Sungyoon’s attack was nothing. When he saw this, Sungyoon’s eyes sank.

***

The two of them continued to fight a protracted battle. Neither Sungyoon nor Hyunwoo backed down even an inch to achieve one’s goal.

However, Sungyoon was clearly at a disadvantage.

‘At this rate, I’m going to lose.’

He was currently holding out, but he clearly knew he was on the losing end.

Woooooooohng!

A short distance away, Hyunwoo raised Flamberg high in the air. The blood-colored light gathered and revolved around the weapon. It created a tornado that seemed as if it was trying to suck in everything nearby and rip it apart.

Hwah-roo-roo-roohk!

Flamberg spat out a flame, and the flame danced with the tornado. Wind and heat filled the room.

Hyunwoo swung his sword.

Kwahhhhhhhh!

The flame and the blood-colored tornado shot toward Sungyoon.

Sungyoon knew that if he got sucked inside the tornado, he would be ripped apart into pieces.

“Tsk!”

He responded with a spell of his own. Stalagmites erupted in front of the tornado, and they seemed to be blocking the attack well.

Kwahng!

However, the stalagmites held up only for a brief moment. As if the tornado were greedy, it even sucked in the fragments of the broken stalagmites.

Now, apart from the flame, the tornado also contained rocks. It had gotten stronger.

Sungyoon made his move. He had taken action before the attack could threaten him and quickly closed the distance between him and Hyunwoo.

“Hoohp!”

He threw his halberd with all his might, but he didn’t expect much out of it. As expected, Hyunwoo swatted down the halberd as if it were nothing. Sungyoon used this distraction to get just next to Hyunwoo.

Tuhk!

He kicked off the ground and summoned his hammer. As if he had made his resolve to go through with this move, he unsummoned his shield. He held the shaft of the hammer with both hands.

Sungyoon was basically defenseless at this moment. Without any hesitation, Hyunwoo tried to swing the tornado that still existed around his Flamberg.

Koo-oohng!

The gravity around Hyunwoo changed, and his body came to a halt for a moment. However, Hyunwoo wasn’t the only one feeling the effects of the change in gravity. Sungyoon’s body dropped faster.

“Hoo-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk!”

Letting out a powerful shout, Sungyoon used his increased weight to bring down his hammer. The hammer’s weight had also been increased by a lot.

The hammer struck Hyunwoo’s shoulder.

Kwhahhhhhhng!

The resulting explosion couldn’t be compared to any of the explosions the hammer had created before. Even Sungyoon had to retreat despite being the one who had attacked.

‘This should do it!’

Sungyoon’s eyes shone with anticipation as he looked at the combustion.

Duhp-suhk!

‘What!’

A hand erupted from the flames and grabbed his wrists. At the same time, Hyunwoo’s face emerged from the flames of the explosion.

Zzuh-uhk!

His mouth was wide open, and one could see his sharp teeth. Surprisingly, his teeth were also coated with the blood-colored light.

Hyunwoo extended his neck and bit down on Sungyoon’s shoulder.

Kwah-jeek!

“Ahhhhhk!”

Sungyoon screamed. Hyunwoo’s teeth pierced through Sungyoon’s armor, then pierced through his flesh.

“Eeeeeeek!”

Sungyoon used his left hand to push Hyunwoo’s head, then raised his leg.

Puhk! Puhk! Puhk! Puh-uh-uhk!

He hit Hyunwoo in the stomach with his knee four times before Hyunwoo let go.

Sungyoon clutched his shoulder as he retreated. Blood dripped through his hands.

“You gave up on fighting as a human? You're fighting like a beast?”

“If you think it's unfair, why don’t you also throw away your humanity?”

Blood and flesh were stuck on his teeth. Hyunwoo gnashed his teeth as he laughed. However, Sungyoon could tell that Hyunwoo wasn’t doing well either. The explosion had completely burned away his skin at the impact point of the hammer, and his bones had become visible.

Nevertheless, Sungyoon realized that it wasn’t the decisive blow he had been looking for.

‘He’s recovering.’

It seemed as if time was winding backward. Hyunwoo’s injury was healing.

Sungyoon quickly used his healing magic to heal himself.

‘We exchanged blows, but I came out worse for wear.’

Sungyoon looked down at his armor.

‘As expected, do I have to overclock my Gems? However, what if there’s another battle after this?’

If he had to fight another foe after this battle, he would lose. It seemed Hyunwoo hadn’t been bluffing when he said he wouldn’t go easy on Sungyoon.

“Are you worried about whether to overclock your Gems or not? I can see why. There might be another battle after this.”

Hyunwoo realized Sungyoon’s predicament.

“I’ll solve your predicament.”

‘What's he up to now!’

Sungyoon was furrowing his brows when he immediately felt an explosive amount of magical energy erupt from Hyunwoo’s body. The magical energy erupted like a rough wave. Due to it, more flames rushed out from Flamberg, and the shield fragments started moving faster.

The blood-colored balls of light turned brighter.

“You overclocked...”

“Koo-hoo-hooo! The Gems weren’t destroyed when I put them inside my body. What do you think? Can you fight an overclocked version of myself without overclocking your Gems?”

Woo-oohng!

Sungyoon ground his teeth. Without any hesitation, he also overclocked his Gems.

“Are you ready now? Let’s start again!”

The blood-colored light once again encircled Hyunwoo’s Flamberg. Flamberg spat out more flames as if it were a dragon breathing out fire.

Sungyoon took out his sword, which crackled with lightning, and attacked Hyunwoo.

Kwahhhhhhhng!

Sword clashed against sword. Hyunwoo’s shield fragments flew toward Sungyoon.

At that moment, Sungyoon’s wings started to emanate a light.

A sword surrounded by blood-colored energy clashed against the halberd, the ax, the sword, and the hammer.

This battle was already beyond a fight that could be seen between high rank Connectors. It was a hair-raising battle.

Both of them were veterans with peerless fighting ability. However, in the end, there had to be a winner.

This victor was Hyunwoo.

Kwahhhhhng!

Sungyoon crashed against the wall.

“Cough!”

Blood rushed out of his mouth. His armor prevented most of the attacks from hitting his body, but the force behind the attacks had transferred to his body. It had even injured his internal organs.

Moreover, the final attack had finally pierced through his armor.

Sungyoon probed his abdomen with his hand. A fist-sized hole had appeared within his armor, and he felt the damaged flesh beneath. Blood kept flowing out of the wound.

Pah-aht!

Sungyoon quickly used his healing magic. The wound closed, and his pain went away. However, Sungyoon’s heart remained heavy.

“This is it.”

He could hear Hyunwoo, who stood in front of him. Sungyoon raised his head and saw clear disappointment on Hyunwoo's monstrous face.

Hyunwoo looked down at Sungyoon.

“It seems you aren’t the hero I wanted.”

There was another emotion behind his disappointment. Was it joy that humanity would finally come to an end? Or was it rage toward Sungyoon, who didn’t meet his expectation? Even Hyunwoo couldn’t identify the emotion roiling in his heart.

“If you can’t overcome me, you have no chance of winning against Grenoid. Humanity ends here.”

Ssk!

Hyunwoo raised his sword.

“You're better off dead than watching your friends and family die. Don’t worry. They’ll be following you soon.”

The red balls of light wired around Hyunwoo’s sword and let out a vicious light.