Moon's Labyrinths

Every one of them was a prominent high rank Connector . Sungyoon thought this venture might turn out to be a success .

“Of course, they are the cream of the crop . We also asked other high rank Connectors to participate too . ”

“I’m surprised you got them to agree . ”

“We’ll allow them to own real estate in Armstrong city . ”

‘I can see why they joined . ’

Even if one possessed a massive amount of money, one couldn’t ‘own’ real estate in Armstrong city . So this incentive was enough to bring the high rank Connectors to the table .

“We’ll give you the same deal, Mr . Woo . Of course, the size of the reward is proportional to the skill of the Connector . For starters, we are willing to give you the building which Jungbum is currently renting . Any additional rewards will depend on how you perform . ”

Sungyoon had heard Jimin complain about the exorbitant amount of money she had to pay for renting their current building . So this was welcome news .

“Why me? I’m less skilled than these Connectors . ”

“We know that . We don’t expect too much from you, but you shouldn’t sell yourself too short . In terms of results, not many have accomplished as much as you . This is especially true when we start talking about Connectors who awakened around the same time as you . Mr . Woo is plenty strong, and the fact that you can enter the Great Labyrinth is proof . ”

Many Connectors refused to go into the Great Labyrinth even if they were capable of entering it . They feared it . Then there were the countless Connectors who didn’t even have the ability . Sungyoon could be considered one of the powerful Connectors in Armstrong city .

“Moreover, Mr . Woo was one of the first to survive an encounter with a Golem . You also defeated a Golem with your party members in Armstrong . Above all else . . . ”

Smith appraised Sungyoon .

“You dispatched a Super Golem . ”

“I don’t remember how I did it . ”

“We already know that . However, it doesn’t change the fact that you used your unknown power to defeat the Super Golem . It’s enough to take you along as the wild card . ”

“... Where are you going to carry out this plan? There is no way you are going to do this in the sealed Beginner’s Labyrinth, right?”

“We aren’t that crazy . ”

Sungyoon thought this plan was already plenty crazy, but he didn’t speak it out loud .

“In order to assure the safety of Armstrong city, we plan to eliminate the Golems that appear within the Beginner’s Labyrinth as well, but that will have to wait for a later date . We’ll only do so if we are confident that we can eliminate all the Golems . I don’t believe there is an unlimited number of Golems, but there might be more than expected . Also, there is a chance that the Golems might no longer appear in other labyrinths if we eliminate all of them in this expedition . ”

Thankfully, they weren’t going to be reckless by going to the Beginner’s Labyrinth .

“We decided to carry out this plan in a labyrinth that’s about three days’ travel away . We’ll start off slowly by carrying out experiments . ”

Three days . It was a vague answer .

Even if it took three days to get there, Sungyoon had no idea how many kilometers he would have to travel if he went in a straight line .

The surface of the Moon wasn’t level, and it had a lot of large craters . If one wanted a smooth ride, one had to drive around a lot of the terrain .

Thankfully, Smith solved Sungyoon’s doubt .

“There are no roundabout paths to this labyrinth . It will take around three days going in a straight line . ”

“That’s good . ”

Sungyoon pondered for a brief moment .

“What’s the date of this expedition?”

“It’ll start two weeks later . ”

“If that’s so, my party members can’t participate . ”

“Why?”

“Two of them are stuck doing their standby duty . Ms . Grace is working hard to further the recovery of London . ”

“It’s fine . Though it’s a shame because Mr . Woo’s party members are fine Connectors . However, it can’t be helped . ”

Sungyoon made his decision .

“Understood . I’ll accept the offer . ”

Sungyoon needed to gain more experience, and he thought this would be a good opportunity for him . He also liked the idea of owning real estate in Armstrong city . Moreover, it should be relatively safe if he was with Connectors like Hyunwoo and Sir Russell .

“You made the right choice . ”

Smith laughed as if he was satisfied .

***

Gee-eek!

Sungyoon parked his vehicle . A cloud of dust trailed behind the vehicle, and the dust slowly settled down to the ground .

He had arrived at the labyrinth where the Golem eradication plan would be enacted .

Sungyoon could see a lot of vehicles and people gathered in front of the labyrinth .

These Moon Surface Vehicles were larger than normal since they were owned by the highest-ranked Connectors .

However, one vehicle was distinct from all others . It was so large that even the second biggest Moon Surface Vehicle couldn’t hold a candle to it . This vehicle could hardly be called a Moon Surface Vehicle as it looked like a train in which four vehicles were connected to each other .

‘Is that it?’

Sungyoon approached the massive Moon Surface Vehicle and knocked on the door .

Sssk!

The door unlocked, and Sungyoon went inside .

He couldn’t immediately see the interior as another door stood in front of him .

Ssssk!

The door behind him closed, then he was sprayed by a white chemical .

This chemical was a disinfectant . As always, it was unpleasant to experience this .

Sungyoon brushed off his slightly wet clothes in annoyance .

When the disinfectant process was done, the inner door started to open .

As expected of such a large vehicle, the interior was spacious . It was more apt to call it a mobile building rather than a vehicle .

“Welcome, Mr . Sungyoon!”

An acquaintance greeted Sungyoon . The director of the International Moon research facility warmly welcomed Sungyoon .

“It’s an amazing vehicle . ”

“Ha ha! Do you like our mobile researcher facility?”

The Director let out a belly laugh .

“However, it isn’t that comfortable . Most of this vehicle is a research installation . The living space is tiny . ”

“Where are the other Connectors?”

“They are in the labyrinth . They said they’d rather spend time in the labyrinth than in the small Moon Surface Vehicles or the boring surface of the Moon . ”

“As expected of top-class Connectors . . . ”

“I know what you mean . ”

The Director sounded a bit despondent . He had to put in all kinds of effort to enter a labyrinth even once, whereas these Connectors treated a trip to the labyrinth as if it were a camping trip . He was very envious of them .

“I heard about it, but I never expected all these researchers to come here . ”

Sungyoon looked around . Researchers in spacesuits were moving all around the vehicle .

“If the search-and-destroy mission for the Golems is successful, we plan on entering the labyrinth to investigate it . Of course, we’ll only do so if the Golems no longer appear . We might get the chance to gather numerous samples we couldn’t collect before . We would also like to research how all of you fight . ”

This could potentially be a life-threatening venture, yet the Director’s eyes were twinkling . It seemed he didn’t even care about the dangers .

“Ah . You’re here, Mr . Sungyoon!”

Chelsea crossed over from a different section of the vehicle . She waved her hand in greeting .

“Ms . Chelsea came too?”

“Of course . She’s one of the few researchers who has experienced going inside a labyrinth . ”

Chelsea made a V sign with her fingers .

“I look forward to working with you again . After the Golems appeared, we couldn’t venture into the labyrinths . ”

If Sungyoon had remembered correctly, Chelsea, the Director, and other researchers had left to investigate other labyrinths on the Moon .

“Was it difficult for you to continue your research?”

“It really was . ”

It seemed Chelsea appreciated Sungyoon asking the question . She started speaking in rapid-fire .

“The higher-ups of Armstrong told us to suspend our exploration until further permission . Even before all of that, Connectors refused to provide their labyrinths as a place for research . It really was a mess . Above all else, Connectors kept whispering that the researchers were at fault for the incident in Armstrong . One of our colleagues did guide the culprits behind it, but these culprits were Connectors, not us!”

By the end of her rant, Chelsea was yelling .

It seemed she had kept a lot of things bottled up . Fortunately, the vehicle was on the surface of the Moon, and no sound could leak out of this place . Sungyoon considered it fortunate that no Connectors heard what she said .

It seemed all the researchers agreed with Chelsea’s assertion as they all nodded .

“Well, everything will turn out fine if the eradication of the Golems is successful . That’s why please work hard . ”

“I’ll do my best . ”

The Director joined in on the conversation .

“We really need your help . I don’t think our research will bear fruit in the near future, but we really want to find out more information about the Golems . ”

“Understood . If you think about it, it’s amazing that we only found out about the Golems in recent days . ”

Sungyoon was bringing up an obvious point .

The Director answered him .

“As you know, the walls of the labyrinths are very sturdy . Until Mr . Sungyoon brought us the information, we had assumed the walls were indestructible . However, it seems only Connectors of a certain caliber could break the wall . I don’t know where the cut-off is, but it seems Connectors capable of entering the Great Labyrinth are capable of doing that . ”

It made sense in an odd way . Sungyoon had never thought about destroying the wall of the labyrinth .

“Well, I can’t make an absolute statement . I’m sure some Connectors tried it out of curiosity, but they probably never made it out of their labyrinth alive . ”

Jean Fajardo and his party were skilled enough that they could go pretty deep inside the Great Labyrinth . Yet, his party was wiped by the Golems . It wasn’t hard to imagine the scenario for other Connectors .

***

After he exchanged greetings with the researchers, Sungyoon entered the labyrinth . He could see a lot of people gathered inside .

Too-hwahk!

Several dozen streaks of light made geometric patterns in the air and streaked across the labyrinth .

Their target was the Fang Boar, which was charging toward the crowd of Connectors .

Poo-shook!

One beam of light was ahead of the pack, and it pierced through the Fang Boar . However, the attack hadn’t ended yet .

Poo-shook! Poo-shook!

The other beams of light arrived afterward, and they pierced through the body of the Fang Boar . The overwhelming power left large holes in the Fang Boar’s body and turned it into a bloody mess .

Boom!

Wa-hahahahaha!

When the Fang Boar rolled across the floor, the crowd uproariously laughed .

Sungyoon slowly assessed the situation .

He could see about fifteen Connectors . It seemed someone had brought some logs from Earth too since the Connectors were lounging around in front of three campfires . Some Connectors were standing, some were sitting, and some were lying down . They did whatever they felt was comfortable . Moreover, beverages and an enormous amount of food were laid out near the campfires, and the Connectors drank and ate as they pleased .

It really was a camp .

“What do you think!”

The man closest to the Fang Boar had his staff raised up high . It seemed he was the one that had used the light magic .

The nearby Connectors clapped and whistled . Some even cursed . However, it was clear that everyone was just having fun .

“Huh? Someone new entered?”

One of the Connectors took notice of Sungyoon’s appearance .

“Uh? What the hell! It’s the Knight of London!”

In a flash, everyone in the labyrinth looked at Sungyoon . Sungyoon subconsciously took a step back at the intensity of their attention .

“Wow . It really is him!”

“What the hell! The Knight is participating in this mission?”

“He’s the first one to discover the Golem, and he killed a Super Golem in the mess that occurred in Armstrong . I can see why they asked him to join . ”

The Connectors slowly gathered around Soungyoon . At that moment, Sungyoon heard a familiar voice .

“Be quiet! The old shouldn’t make fun of the young!”

In some ways, it felt like hearing the voice of a savior . Sungyoon looked at the speaker .

“Sir Russell . ”

“It’s been a while . ”

Charlie Russell grinned as he approached Sungyoon .