Moon's Labyrinths

“Kuh-huhk!”

Jinsoo’s body got flung backward at the same speed as he had charged with. He rolled across the ground in a very undignified manner.

“What the hell! Shit! What is this?”

Jinsoo looked like a fool, so he became embarrassed. He cussed as he used his spear to get up. Moreover, he felt the region where the halberd had hit him go numb.

Hoo-doo-doohk!

An unpleasant sound rang out. When Jinsoo looked down, he saw a part of his armor breaking apart.

‘He did this with just one blow?’

Jinsoo finally realized something was wrong as he saw Sungyoon slowly approach him.

“Ooh…!”

Sungyoon’s overwhelming presence made Jinsoo take a step backward.

‘Shit! What's going on!’

His face turned red inside his helmet. The fact that he was afraid of a half-dead human made him feel incredibly embarrassed.

“You bastaaaaaaard!”

Jinsoo raised his voice without any reason and rushed at Sungyoon. With a firm grip on his spear, he stabbed Sungyoon.

Hoo-oohng!

However, he didn’t feel like he had struck anything. Sungyoon had tilted his body to dodge the attack. Still, Jinsoo didn’t panic. He had fought many battles over the years; he was a veteran.

Jinsoo put more strength into his legs as he maintained his speed. At the same time, he moved his grasp up the spear.

“Hoohp!”

When he got close to Sungyoon, he stabbed.

Kwah-jeeek!

The sharp spear blade pierced through the armor and entered the flesh. Unfortunately for Jinsoo, he had failed to stab his opponent. His opponent's halberd's spear blade had pierced him instead.

“Ahhhhhhhk!”

The momentum of Sungyoon's movement drove the spear deeper into Jinsoo's body.

The embedded spear blade almost severed Jinsoo's arm in half.

“Fuuuuuuuuuck!”

Jinsoo desperately retreated. When he gained some distance, he started using his healing magic.

He looked like a dog that had run away from a fight with its tail tucked between its legs. However, Jinsoo had to do this since he was incapable of instantly activating his spell like Sungyoon or automatically healing like Hyunwoo.

“I’m going to kill you!”

As soon as his wound healed, Jinsoo ground his teeth. He was about to charge forward to kill Sungyoon, but he put on his brakes when he realized something.

“What the hell? You healed yourself?”

Sungyoon had been unable to run because of an injury he had suffered in the previous fight. However, he was no longer limping.

‘Now that I think about it, that halberd...’

Jinsoo knew Sungyoon had four weapons: the lightning sword, the poisonous ax, the explosive hammer, and...

‘The healing halberd!’

When Sungyoon almost severed Jinsoo’s arm, he had recovered from his wounds to a certain extent.

“Ke ke ke! Your plan is going to shit. It's so enjoyable to see you get flustered.”

“Just stay there and shut your mouth!”

“Ill-tempered…”

At some point, Hyunwoo had crawled toward a wall. He comfortably leaned against it as he watched Jinsoo’s flustered appearance with a cackle.

“Be careful. At this rate, the Knight will fully recover thanks to you.”

“I said shut up!”

“Ah! Maybe, he will give you a quick death as a favor. The Knight had no way of healing his body, but you used your body to heal him. If he wins, you’ll be placed in the history books as a useful enemy.”

“Shuuuuuut uppppppppp!”

Jinsoo tried to ignore Hyunwoo’s sarcastic remarks as he once again charged forward.

“Nothing changes just because his leg got a little bit better!”

This time, Jinsoo didn’t stab with his spear. He grabbed the bottom of the spear's shaft to attack from a distance, then swung the spear.

Tuh-uhng!

Sungyoon’s shield deflected the spear, and at that moment, Jinsoo let go of his spear. He brushed past Sungyoon’s shield and clenched his fist.

“Dieeeee!”

Jinsoo’s fist headed toward Sungyoon’s face.

Hweeek!

However, his fist met empty air. Sungyoon titled his head and easily dodged the attack.

Puh-uhk! Puh-uhk!

Then, Sungyoon’s fist continuously smashed Jinsoo’s helmet. As the helmet became dented, Jinsoo lost consciousness for a moment.

Kwah-doo-doohk!

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhk!”

However, he regained his consciousness when he felt a burning pain.

“Oooooooooh!”

He found the ax blade of the halberd embedded in his shoulder. Jinsoo quickly dislodged himself from the ax blade, retreated, and used his healing magic. The wound on his shoulder instantly healed along with the wound Sungyoon's fist had created on his face.

“Hoo-ooh!”

Jinsoo let out a sigh of relief when the pain went away. However, his relief lasted only a moment.

‘I’m losing to him! He’s barely alive!’

It made him grind his teeth. His bottomless pride also made him disparage Sungyoon.

‘Hmmph! Stupid bastard. If he continued to attack me, he could've won.’

He inwardly mocked Sungyoon, who had made an idiotic move. As Jinsoo raised his gaze, he found Sungyoon calmly looking at him from a distance. It was as if Sungyoon were just monitoring Jinsoo.

“Are you done?”

“What?”

“I asked if you're done healing.”

Jinsoo was his enemy, yet Sungyoon asked about his well-being. Was Sungyoon really a noble person as his nickname suggested?

‘No way!’

When Jinsoo realized Sungyoon’s intention, rage bubbled within his heart. At that moment, a loud laugh rang out. Hyunwoo guffawed. Since Hyunwoo was in a miserable state, he groaned as he laughed, but his laughter showed no signs of ending.

“Ha ha! Koohk! Ha ha ha ha! You're being treated like a living healing elixir, Kim Jinsoo!”

‘Shit! Maybe, I should kill him first!’

Hyunwoo was close to dying, yet he continued to get on Jinsoo’s nerves. However, Jinsoo knew he couldn’t attack Hyunwoo with Sungyoon present.

On the other hand, Sungyoon wasn’t doing this to play with Jinsoo. He wouldn’t go through all this trouble to do that.

‘This is the only way I can heal.’

Sungyoon had used up all the spells of his healing Gem. He thought about taking Hyunwoo’s Gems after killing him, but he had witnessed Hyunwoo’s body healing by itself. There was no guarantee that a healing Gem was involved in that process.

‘Also, Kim Jinsoo overclocked his Gems.’

Jinsoo had overclocked his Gems to increase his chances of winning in this fight. Sungyoon knew it as Jinsoo had shown all his Gems when he previously displayed his Diamond rank Gem. Those Gems were now shining more than before. It also meant that Jinsoo could take more abuse.

He might have to fight another battle after this, so Sungyoon had to do his best to keep his body in optimal condition.

‘I have no choice but to keep healing my wounds this way.’

Sungyoon looked at Jinsoo.

‘Thankfully, he’s weak.’

If Jinsoo could hear Sungyoon's thoughts, he would be hopping mad.

“Ahhhhhhhk!”

With only venom in his voice, Jinsoo dashed toward Sungyoon like a beast.

As he ran, saliva leaked out of his mouth. There was no tactic or skill involved in his attack. He just blindly charged at Sungyoon. He had only one resolve: to plant his spear inside Sungyoon’s body.

Even if Jinsoo had attacked in a strategic manner, he would've had a hard time winning against Sungyoon. And since he rushed at Sungyoon like a mad dog, he just became easy prey for Sungyoon.

Sungyoon slowly diced up Jinsoo.

“Shit! Shit!”

Jinsoo once again healed his wounds. His healing Gem was also reaching its limit, and on the other hand, Sungyoon almost looked like his normal self.

Sungyoon's last wound, the one on his left hand, also healed. He then looked at his left arm with a satisfied expression and tapped the location where the wound had been. His skin felt smooth as usual.

‘I’ve fully healed. My body is at tip-top shape.’

It meant that Jinsoo’s usefulness had come to an end.

Sssk!

Sungyoon unsummoned his halberd, then took up his sword and shield. Jinsoo also knew what that meant.

“Oooooooh!”

His confidence from before was nowhere to be seen. Jinsoo matched Sungyoon’s footsteps and retreated each time Sungyoon took a step toward him.

With all his heart, Jinsoo had wanted to be special, yet that resolve couldn't be seen in the way he acted.

“Are you going to end him?”

“There's no reason for me to drag this out anymore.”

Sungyoon gave a cold answer to Hyunwoo as he pointed his sword toward Jinsoo.

“Ooh. Ooh-ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

A last-ditch effort, only that could describe Jinsoo's attack. Jinsoo squeezed out all his strength in his body and stabbed with his spear.

However, Sungyoon’s shield easily deflected the spear.

Suh-guhk!

Sungyoon’s sword made a perfect arc, and blood spurted out from Jinsoo’s neck.

“Kuhk!”

When the sword cut Jinsoo's throat, blood surged up into his mouth. Then, the lightning attacked through the wound.

“Ggoo-uhhhhh!”

Blood flowed back up, and his innards got cooked. His body emanated smoke as he let out unintelligible moans.

Jinsoo looked into Sungyoon's eyes for a brief moment as his life started to wane.

Koohng!

Jinsoo’s body fell to the ground like a log.

“It's over.”

Hyunwoo spoke.

“… Why did he become like this?”

Sungyoon recalled the look within Jinsoo’s eyes. Those eyes were the eyes of a man seeing his life for the last time, yet they had been roiling with anger and jealousy.

“He’s a bit like me, but his situation was worse. I was unable to awaken as a 1st Gen when I was young, yet his life was worse than mine. Let’s just leave it at that.”

It seemed this was the reason Hyunwoo had been patient with Jinsoo. There was bitter sympathy in Hyunwoo's eyes as he looked at Jinsoo.

“It's a sad story, but that’s his lot in life. It doesn’t really matter.”

Hyunwoo was right. Jinsoo had betrayed the world. Even if Sungyoon could feel sympathy toward Jinsoo’s past, he couldn’t forgive his actions.

After staring at Jinsoo’s corpse, Sungyoon turned toward Hyunwoo once again.

‘I have to end this.’

Even if Hyunwoo had safely transported his party members to a different part of the tower, Sungyoon was worried about their safety. Moreover, he had to get ready for Grenoid.

Sungyoon tightened his grasp on the sword as he approached Hyunwoo.

“Do you plan to end me right now?”

“I’ll ask this for the last time. Will you agree to return to Earth and stand trial?”

“You're saying that again? My feelings on that subject remain the same. I feel no guilt toward Earth or humanity. Above all else, I can't go back to Earth. Jinsoo really destroyed my heart. I don’t have much time.”

Worry appeared on Sungyoon’s face.

“Is this really the time to worry about such a thing? Every second is precious for you. As someone older than you, let me give you a warning. Keep your priorities straight. You have to take my Gems and quickly come up with a plan to deal with what’s about to come. Ah! For your information, my Gems will only come out if you kill me.”

When he heard this, Sungyoon’s face hardened with resolve. He needed Hyunwoo’s Gems. To be precise, he needed Hyunwoo’s storage Gem.

Sungyoon pointed his sword toward Hyunwoo.

“It seems I don't have the time to wait for you to die.”

“Yes. This is how it should be.”

Death was right in front of him, yet Hyunwoo showed no fear. In fact, it looked as if he welcomed it.

“Do you have any last words?”

“No. The only regret I have is that I won’t be able to see the world after a 1st Gen saves it. It can’t be helped.”

“Even if I do save the world, I won’t be doing it alone.”

“However, you will perform the biggest role. Only idiots would look down on 1st Gens after that.”

That was the world Hyunwoo wanted the most.

“I want to make fun of those who made fun of 1st Gens in the past. However, I’ll leave that to you.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Then, it can’t be helped.”

Sungyoon raised his sword.

“This enclosed space will disappear once I die. You’ll rejoin your party members then.”

Sungyoon looked down at Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo's twisted, monstrous face had a smile so peaceful that it could almost make one jealous.

“Farewell.”

“Take care.”

After a pleasant exchange, Sungyoon’s sword fell downward.