Chapter 288

Chomp chomp.

This was the aptest expression describing the monsters' advance. An endless stream of monsters rushed out of the holes inside the outer wall of Armstrong city.

‘We would've been in big trouble if we had decided to defend the city hall and look for the safe at the same time.’

Sungyoon watched Armstrong city from a hill far away and shook his head from side to side when he saw the battlefield.

From his position, it looked as though a tsunami of monsters was about to wipe out a house in its path, the house being the units in charge of baiting the monsters. Their situation was precarious. Both units were on the verge of being surrounded and snuffed out by monsters.

‘Thankfully, they're doing well to disengage from the fight.’

The Moon people were like a sailboat that didn’t lose its way in a storm. They skillfully surged past the waves of monsters. It was all thanks to Plu-El, who led them from the center. She had borrowed Devices and Gems from her comrades. Today's battle showed that she was an excellent commander.

Even though Plu-El’s unit was holding up well, Sungyoon felt uneasy.

‘Wouldn't it have been better if we had stopped her?’

If something happened to Plu-El, it wouldn’t matter whether they had retrieved her Device and Gems or not. They would be put in the awkward situation where they wouldn’t be able to return to Earth without her.

However, Plu-El had been adamant about participating in this plan.

She was one of the three leaders of the Moon people. Everyone else was inexperienced in commandeering troops in battle.

This would especially be a problem since one couldn’t hear any sound on the Moon's surface, and the gravity was weaker than what the Moon people were used to. It would be much harder to command the troops out here as compared to the normal environment within the labyrinths.

This meant that only a handful of people were qualified to command the Moon people, and Plu-El was one of them. She had insisted on taking on the role of commander, and she wasn’t wrong for doing so.

‘I wish Aruwen would have taken on the role instead of her.’

However, Aruwen had another task to accomplish, so that plan wasn’t feasible.

‘Still, she's sticking to her promise of not participating in the actual battle. She is allowing others to protect her. It should be fine.’

Above all else, she had one of the Flesh Gems that contained the portal function. If she fell in any danger, she could escape the battlefield.

Sungyoon looked away from the battlefield. He also had work to do, so he returned to the ancient city through the portal.

“How's it going?”

As soon as Sungyoon exited the portal, the Mayor, who had been waiting for him, asked the question.

“The number of monsters exiting the city is decreasing.”

Even though the stream of monsters rushing out of the city looked endless, in reality, their numbers had a limit. Sungyoon made sure that the number had started decreasing before returning.

“Good! Let’s move on to the next stage of the plan.”

The Mayor called in the Connectors who were on standby outside of the room. These units were here for the second part of the plan.

They were all armed to the teeth, and their faces contained anxiousness, anxiousness for the upcoming battle.

“Are you ready?”

Sungyoon spoke to the unit that would be deployed first. These men might die as soon as they exited the portal. They were the unit being sent in to monitor the situation within Armstrong city, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were bait.

The Connector in front of the group nodded. He had made his peace beforehand, so no more words had to be said.

Woo-oong!

Sungyoon opened the portal. He became tense for a brief moment, but no monsters jumped through the portal, unlike what had happened before.

The first unit of Connectors entered the portal.

After a moment, one of the Connectors from the unit reappeared.

“There are no monsters within the building, and a small number within the city.”

Everyone let out a cheer at his words.

Their plan of baiting the monsters outside the city was a success.

“Good! The result is good. Let’s move on to the next stage in earnest.”

After hearing the Mayor’s order, the Connector who had come back to give the report entered the portal once again.

Sungyoon turned to his side and looked at Aruwen, who was standing next to him.

“Let’s start, Mr. Aruwen.”

“Understood.”

Aruwen raised his hand. His Warrior Gem awakened, and a portal appeared.

Sungyoon also made a new portal. It was a portal that led to a location different from the one he had previously been in.

“Begin!”

When the Mayor gave the order, the various units of Connectors jumped through the portals.

***

The plan proceeded without a hitch. Connectors entered Armstrong city through the portals.

Sungyoon and Aruwen had opened portals to predetermined locations. Interestingly, Aruwen could open his portals more accurately when compared to Sungyoon.

Both the Royal Gem and the Warrior Gem could open the basic portals to places where their owners had visited before. However, Sungyoon hadn’t really explored the city before. He usually operated near his house, the first sector of Armstrong city where all the major organizations were located, and the restaurants that he occasionally visited.

Unlike him, Aruwen had scouted every corner of the city to gain information about his enemies.

They had to send Connectors to various locations within Armstrong city, and the one most suited for this task wasn’t Sungyoon, but Aruwen.

This was the reason Plu-El had to take on the role of the Moon people's commander.

While Aruwen opened portals to various locations within Armstrong city, Sungyoon focused on opening portals within key facilities. Since Sungyoon had earned the trust of the Mayor, he was more acquainted with the inner parts of these key facilities.

The Mayor kept pointing at locations on the map. Either Sungyoon or Aruwen opened the portal depending on the location. This process continued for a while.

“That’s the last of them.”

As soon as the last unit inside the room disappeared through the portal, the Mayor spoke.

Both Sungyoon and Aruwen let out a sigh.

The second part of their plan had been completed.

However, the last part remained, and this part was the most crucial of the three.

The Mayor called in the remaining Connectors outside the room.

They were the elites among Armstrong city's Connectors, and they would be carrying out the third part of the plan.

“It's now up to you, Mr. Sungyoon.”

The Mayor spoke.

The remaining Connectors used a variety of methods to cope with their nervousness. Some of them took deep breaths, some moved their bodies, while others shook their weapons. However, all of them stared at Sungyoon.

Sungyoon opened the last portal, the portal to the city hall.

“Go!”

With the Mayor's order, the final unit started to move.

***

Unlike the other portals that he closed after sending away the Connectors, Sungyoon kept the portal to the city hall open.

He did this because he wanted the last unit to return to the ancient city after acquiring their target, as soon as possible.

Time continued to quietly pass by, and the Mayor continued to wait in the silence.

He kept looking at his wristwatch, but his actions didn’t make the time flow faster. Nothing came through the open portal.

‘They haven’t found it yet.’

Sungyoon also felt jittery.

He hadn’t looked at his watch like the Mayor, but he could tell that several dozen minutes had passed.

However, none of them had returned.

‘As expected, the bas.e.m.e.nt was destroyed.’

The Connectors would have to clear the debris of the destroyed building. It wouldn't take them long, and it seemed they were trying to locate the safe in the destroyed bas.e.m.e.nt.

At that moment, the portal showed a reaction.

Too-hwahk!

Something shot out from the portal.

Puh-uhk!

After a hard landing on the wall, something slid down the wall, leaving behind a trail of blood.

This shocked the Mayor.

Sungyoon and Aruwen pointed their weapons toward the object on the floor.

“Shit!”

When Sungyoon checked what had come flying through the portal, he retracted his weapon and quickly moved to the body. The object that had come flying through the portal was a human. Sungyoon was sure it was one of the Connectors sent to the city hall.

Both Aruwen and the Mayor realized what had happened. The Mayor quickly moved behind Sungyoon, but unlike him, Aruwen stood guard near the portal.

“What... what happened?”

“I have no idea.”

Sungyoon checked the injured man. The man's armor was so mangled that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a mess.

‘I’m surprised his Gems didn’t break.’

The man's entire body was bloody and full of all types of wounds, both large and small.

However, the most heavily injured parts of his body were his limbs. An arm and a leg were missing. He was barely breathing, but even a hardy Connector wouldn’t last long with these wounds.

Sungyoon immediately used his healing magic.

Hoo-oong!

The wounds slowly closed, and the man’s breathing stabilized. He stopped miserably m.o.a.ning. However, the missing limbs didn’t regenerate.

‘This is the limit of my healing Gem.’

Emily was participating in the current plan. The regeneration of the limbs would have to be done at a later time by a Connector with a high rank healing Gem.

However, Sungyoon had saved the man’s life.

When the man opened his eyes, Sungyoon quickly asked him some questions.

“What happened? Did you find the safe?”

“S-safe…?”

The man's words were slurred as if he wasn’t of sound mind yet.

However, his eyes soon became clear.

“Koo-oohk!”

He lost his balance when he swung the stumps of his missing arm and leg, but Sungyoon grabbed him.

“M-my arm and leg!”

“We can fix it when another healer comes! Please calm down and tell us what happened on the other side of the portal!”

The Connector was in a confused state, but Sungyoon’s words calmed him down. He stumbled over his words as told them his story.

“W-we found the safe. However, too many monsters rushed us at once, so we couldn’t retrieve it. Then, a strange monster appeared, and our side started losing. A couple of Connectors are already dead.”

“A strange monster?”

“She had the upper body of a human, but the lower body of a snake. I’ve never seen a monster like that. It was incredibly powerful.”

“Glaia.”

Aruwen, who had been guarding the portal, spoke up. Sungyoon had never heard that name before.

“Who’s Glaia?”

“Unlike the monsters that Grenoid's body naturally forms, Grenoid created some of them with its hands. It had put a lot of effort into making these monsters, and they are the commanders of the other monsters. Basically, these special monsters receive orders from Grenoid, and they are the officers who command the normal monsters.”

“Officers….”

The Mayor felt a bit lost when he heard about the existence of these new beings.

“In the past, one of these monsters ambushed Mr. Woo Sungyoon on Earth. It was the monster that used fire as its weapon. It's called Kevil.”

Sungyoon’s face hardened. He didn’t know about the officer named Glaia, but he had fought against Kevil before.

‘If this officer's strength is similar to Kevil...’

He felt a chill run up his spine. Above all else, Sungyoon remembered Kevil complaining about the fact that it couldn’t use its full power on Earth.

Kevil would be stronger on the Moon, and there was a good chance that Glaia was as strong as Kevil.

“… What would you like to do?”

Sungyoon pushed down on the shock and asked the Mayor.

“The Connectors sent to the city hall found the safe, but they don’t have enough power to retrieve it. We have no other Connectors that we can send as support. There's only me and Mr. Aruwen here. Would you like us to go? Or do you have some other idea?”

The Mayor remained frozen in place, but Sungyoon pushed him to make a decision.