Chapter 58

Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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 .