Moon's Labyrinths

Its head had dropped to a location where he could hit it easily . Sungyoon moved his hands .

Puh-uh-uhk!

The hard steel head of the mace squarely hit the Heavy Muscle Gorilla’s face . The face didn’t have any fur, and the hide on it was thin compared to the rest of its body .

-Poo-uhhhhhh!

The terrifyingly sharp teeth that looked like corn kernels flew into the air, and the monster’s face sunk inwards . It seemed Sungyoon had hit a weak spot .

Tul-suhk!

Its other knee buckled . At a glance, one could see that it had completely lost its ability to fight . But Sungyoon didn’t stop .

Kwah-jee-jeek!

The mace flew towards its face for the second time, and this time, the face completely cratered inwards . Where the face used to be, a red hole made out of pulverized flesh had been formed .

Boom!

Its upper body fell forward .

Drip! Drip!

Blood dripped down from Sungyoon’s mace . It was clear that the monster was dead, but Sungyoon swung his mace again . He confirmed his kill .

“Are you ok?”

After dispatching the Heavy Muscle Gorilla, Sungyoon queried Tim . Tim had been stalling the monster by himself, but he shrugged his shoulders and indicated that he was alive and well .

“I’m unscathed . ”

Sungyoon nodded . He took a look at Tim and couldn’t see any wounds .

Then, Sungyoon turned his gaze towards the fallen monster . At the same time, Tim signaled Emily with his eyes . When Emily showed hesitation, Tim looked frustrated as he urged Emily on .

“E . . . excuse me... . Are you ok, Mr . Sungyoon?”

“Yes, I’m fine . ”

Sungyoon’s gaze rested on Emily for a brief moment as he answered her . However, after that, his gaze was drawn to the corpse of the monster once again .

But, it was enough for Emily . She made a small fist, looking happy . Tim was her big brother, but even he couldn’t believe what he was seeing .

After recovering the moonstones from the two monsters, he looked at his watch . The clock hands indicated that it was quite late .

“Shall we wrap it up for the day?”

“Sure . Let’s do that . ”

Tim let out a big yawn . He smacked his lips as he pointed upwards .

“Let’s head up . ”

Sleeping within the labyrinth was dangerous in itself . Even if they were traveling in a party, they had to minimize the risk . That was why, when it was time to sleep, they went up a floor or two .

Sungyoon’s party climbed up to the 6th floor to sleep . They killed all the nearby monsters before settling down .

They spread their blankets on the floor .

Unlike Sungyoon’s beaten-up blanket, the two siblings had clean blankets . However, he didn’t mind at all .

Tim had been bothered by this, but Sungyoon said it was ok, so Tim no longer paid attention to it . Sungyoon’s personality made him indifferent to small details like that . But even though Sungyoon showed no signs of caring about his blanket, when she saw it, Emily still felt sorry for him .

Sungyoon took out his dinner one by one . He called it dinner, but his meal was all shaped like pills . He merely ate a couple nutritional supplements for dinner . It was the same for Tim and Emily . The scene looked as if three people with seasonal flu were sharing medicine with each other . They washed down the nutritional supplement with water . That was all they ate for a meal .

Tim kept shaking the box containing his nutritional supplements .

“We’ll be going up as planned tomorrow . We don’t have much water or supplements left . ”

“I guess it is already that time . ”

Sungyoon looked at the hard rocks making up the ceiling of the labyrinth . However, no regret could be found in his voice . For the past three days in the labyrinth, he had constantly been fighting against monsters that were aiming for his life . It really fatigued his mental state .

When they would exit the labyrinth tomorrow, he could, at least, get one solid day of rest . It buoyed his feelings . Also, there was the weight he was carrying . The bag, which he had brought from earth, was full with moonstones . It further elevated his mood .

“I want a beer when we get out of here . ”

“I’m taking a bath . ”

Tim and Emily spoke as they laid down in their respective blankets on the floor .

‘Beer and a bath . ’

Sungyoon became thirsty when he heard their words . Apart from all the fighting, he hadn’t been able to wash for the past couple of days, so the stench rising from his clothes was bothering him . However, there was something else he missed the most . He missed seeing Shinhae’s face .

Sungyoon took out the treasured picture of Shinhae, which he had kept next to his heart . He kept staring at the picture .

“You said she’s your daughter, right?”

Tim had moved up next to him . He craned his neck to look at the picture .

“She really is a cute child . ”

He was annoyed at Tim for getting in the way of him looking at Shinhae’s picture . However, as Tim complimented Shinhae, his annoyance disappeared as soon, and he nodded .

“How old is she?”

“She is 5 years old . ”

Emily stealthily moved up next to Sungyoon’s side, and she joined in on the conversation . Her eyes remained rooted on Shinhae’s picture .

When she had heard Sungyoon was a married man with a daughter, Emily felt bad about it . However, she soon got rid of that emotion . Polygamy was normalized amongst Connectors in the first place . On the other hand, it was true that her quest for love had gotten much harder . She had to gain favor from Sungyoon, but she also had to be in good graces with the child and the child’s mother .

“What kind of person is her mother?”

Instead of the child, she was more worried about the child’s mother . Therefore, Emily asked the question .

Tim showed surprise in his eyes . He never expected his sister to be so aggressive . In truth, Emily had already scraped together all her non-existent courage, and only then, she was able to ask this question .

Unfortunately, she had stepped on a landmine .

“I’m divorced . ”

Emily became mute at Sungyoon’s answer . Judging by the tone of his voice, she inferred that it wasn’t an amicable divorce .

‘W . . . what should I say?’

She had just wanted to know what kind of person Sungyoon’s wife was . She was really flustered by his answer .

“I . . . I’m sorry . ”

“It’s fine . ”

She was barely able to offer an apology, but it wasn’t enough . Emily’s eyes naturally headed towards Tim .

‘She really is . . . ’

Tim inwardly let out a sigh . However, he didn’t berate her . Emily wasn’t at fault . She had just been unlucky with her question .

Tim stealthily changed the topic .

“You are getting pretty used to the 7th floor now . Shall we go lower next time?”

“We should . ”

It was true . Sungyoon’s party had not run into many difficulty when they hunted on the 7th floor . Even if they went lower, they would be able to handle it .

However, Sungyoon felt a bit reluctant .

‘As expected, I’m the problem . ’

Sungyoon looked at his Devices . He had two bracelets and a necklace . He had twice as many Gems compared to the first time he had entered the labyrinth . However, it was merely quantity over quality .

‘The only equipment that’ll be effective in the lower floors of the Beginner’s labyrinth will be the mace and shield . ’

If he excluded his two Blue Rank Gems, all his other Gems were Purple Rank . They were the lowest of the low . Moreover, one of the Blue Rank Gems wasn’t his . If he had been on his own, he wouldn’t be able to reach the 7th floor . He would have been hard stuck on the 4th floor .

Tim picked up on Sungyoon’s dilemma .

“Mmm . It is true that it’ll be a bit dangerous if we consider Mr . Sungyoon’s Gems . ”

Sungyoon was barely getting by right now . If he went down to the 8th floor, a single attack from a monster would shred through his weak Purple Rank armor . He would suffer a critical wound . If he was unlucky, he might be one-shotted .

“If we had any leftover Gems, we would loan it to you . However, these are all we have . ”

“No . The fact that you lent me a weapon is good enough . ”

They had loaned him a weapon and had allowed him to join their party . He had received enough help from them .

“If only we had all of mother’s Gems . . . ”

Emily mumbled in a low voice . A slightly bitter expression appeared on Tim’s face .

‘They said the exploration of the Great Labyrinth was their mother’s dream, and it is why they are aiming for the Great Labyrinth . ’

He remembered the words spoken by Tim when they had shared a drink . Tim and Emily were moving forward towards their dream . He thought they looked so very bright . In comparison, Sungyoon felt like a burnt up husk of himself, of whom only ashes were left behind . In his eyes, the brother and sister were remarkable .

“It can’t be helped . We’ll have to hunt on the 7th floor for the near future . ”

“I’m sorry . ”

“You don’t have to apologize, Mr . Sungyoon . Emily and I had been mainly clearing the 6th floor before we met you . We only came down to the 7th floor occasionally . Now, we are able to hunt easily on the 7th floor . We’ve benefitted enough thanks to you . ”

“That’s right! You don’t have to feel guilty about it!”

Tim and Emily waved away Sungyoon’s apology . This was especially true of Emily . She was a little bit extra as she shouted those words, and Sungyoon backed down . Suddenly, she felt that she had been too excessive in her actions, so she once again withdrew into herself . She lowered her head .

“However, shouldn’t you two be clearing the Beginner’s labyrinth as soon as possible . Don’t you want to be assigned a Private labyrinth?”

Sungyoon looked at their Devices .

They already possessed the prerequisite Gems needed to be assigned a Private labyrinth . It was entirely their personal choice to clear the Beginner’s labyrinth instead of attempting a Private labyrinth .

“There is a reason why we are trying to clear the Beginner’s labyrinth . We want to experience killing as many monsters as we can, before entering into a Private labyrinth . We want to grow our skills . We can charge straight towards the last floor, but that’s not our goal . ”

“That is why you don’t have to worry too much about it . ”

The two were firm in their resolve . Sungyoon decided not to apologize any further . It was unnecessary . Instead, he spoke the words that were more appropriate for this situation .

“Thank you . ”

Sungyoon lowered his head towards the two .

* * *

Sungyoon’s party got up early the next day . They had to climb multiple floors, and their progress would be impeded by monsters . This was why they had to move diligently .

When they went up, they took different paths compared to the paths they took to get down to the 7th floor . When they had been descending into the labyrinth, they had taken circuitous routes in order to find more monsters . They didn’t have to do that when going back up . They took the shortest route possible .

“Huh?”

They were in the midst of going up to the 5th floor when Sungyoon, who had been moving towards the nearest stairway, found someone standing in front of a tunnel leading to a different section of the floor .

This person looked quite striking . He wasn’t wearing any leather armor . He didn’t carry weak weapons like wooden shields reinforced with steel . Unlike Sungyoon’s party, this person was decked out . At a glance, one could see he was out of the ordinary .

He wore a smooth plated armor that could easily turn aside any attacks from monsters and didn’t possess a shield . But a 120 cm long great sword was mounted on his shoulder .

Even if Sungyoon’s party attacked him all at once, they wouldn’t be able to cause this person any harm . It would be a one-sided slaughter . This person didn’t belong in the Beginner’s labyrinth . This was why the gaze of Sungyoon’s party was drawn to this person .

“I guess they aren’t done cleaning up that side . ”

Tim spoke .

Clean up . This word suddenly sparked a memory .

‘They are cleaning up the Beginner’s labyrinth . ’

After the Mana Stream ended, the high rank Connectors cleaned up the Beginner’s labyrinth . They only left behind monsters that could be taken on by the beginner Connectors . This meant monsters that were dangerous to beginner Connectors were present beyond this tunnel . This person was standing sentry, so the monsters from that section wouldn’t be able to come out .

The three of them frowned at the same time .

“It seems the clean up was delayed quite a bit this time around . ”

Tim sounded aggrieved . The clean up should have already been finished . Moreover, Tim and Emily almost died to a Bigfoot because the high ranked Connectors didn’t do a good job . Of course, they would feel aggrieved towards the people that hadn’t done a good job .

The sentry’s gaze turned towards Sungyoon’s party . He had probably heard the discontentment in Tim’s voice .

Tim shut his mouth . Even if he had a large grievance, this person was a high ranked Connector . If they picked a fight with him, they would lose . It would be a one-sided fight .

Thankfully, the sentry only looked at them and didn’t do anything further . Sungyoon’s party shut their mouths, and they got out of there .