Chapter 184

Chapter 184
Chapter 184
The 2nd floor of the Great Labyrinth was the plateau . Sungyoon’s party had been an irresistible force until they had reached this point in the Great Labyrinth . But then, a new type of monster had stalled the progress of the party . It was the flying monsters .
Sungyoon’s party had accomplished so much in a short amount of time, so Sungyoon thought this would be a time of self-reflection and examination . Therefore, he thought they would spend a long time here .
Unlike his expectations, the plateau on the 2nd floor couldn't stop the party’s progress for long .
Puh-uhk!
The Four-Winged Vultures descended at a steep angle .
The sound of them cutting through the wind was terrifying to hear .
However, Sungyoon’s party wasn't the same version of themselves from their previous visit .
Sungyoon held his halberd, and he threw it toward the monster diving at him . One of the Four-Winged Vultures was pretty close to Sungyoon, so it desperately flapped its wings to change its direction .
Sungyoon unsummoned then resummoned his halberd . He ran toward the monster .
Even if it had dived at a steep angle, flapping the wings had killed most of the monster's speed .
It had descended far enough to almost touch the ground .
“Hoohp!”
Sungyoon swung his halberd . He easily cut down the monster flying just above the ground .
Kah-ahhhhhhhhhhh!
The other Four-Winged Vultures realized that they couldn’t win through a straightforward fight, so they started to flap their wings to gain altitude .
Sungyoon reversed his grip on the halberd and threw it again .
Kwah-jeek!
Ggweh-ehhhhhhhk!
A Four-Winged Vulture had been unable to accelerate and reach maximum speed . The halberd squarely pierced through its body .
‘That’s two . ’
After reducing the number of foes, Sungyoon immediately ran toward his party .
Tim was protecting Emily and Grace . In the past, he had been unable to keep up with the movements of the Four-Winged Vultures . But this was no longer the case .
“You bastards!”
Tim spun in place . A Four-Winged Vulture was about to attack Grace and Emily, but Tim swung the corner of his shield toward the monster .
Ggee-eeeeeeeeek!
The monster desperately tried to dodge, but in the end, Tim’s shield struck one of its wings .
Crunch!
Tim was already strong . However, his new Gems had increased his strength and speed . The Four-Winged Vultures were innately low on defense and high on offense . There was no way Tim's attack could be blocked .
As the bones in its wing were crushed, the Four-Winged Vulture fell to the floor .
Kwah-jeek!
Tim brought down his steel boot .
The monster trembled on the ground, and then, Tim squashed it on the ground . Even as he did so, Tim perfectly defended against the other Four-Winged Vultures with his ax and shield .
At that moment, Sungyoon charged in .
Suh-guhk!
He cleanly cut down a Four-Winged Vulture that was solely focused on Tim, Emily, and Grace .
When Sungyoon intruded into the fight, the monsters desperately tried to gain altitude . However, Sungyoon and Tim wouldn’t let them run away . In a flash, they cut down the nearby monsters .
The party supplemented each other’s shortcomings as they defeated all the Four-Winged Vultures that had descended from the skies to attack them .
“We killed a lot of them all at once . ”
It was as Grace had said . The party had been fighting against a large flock of Four-Winged Vultures .
The party had defeated a total of eight monsters . In the past, they had a hard time dealing with fewer numbers . They had barely won against five Four-Winged Vultures . This signified that they had taken tremendous strides forward in their powers .
After they collected the moonstones, the party started to move once again . The grass on the plateau was short, and the winds unique to plain brushed past them .
They could hear beasts let out cries into the night for no apparent reason .
The land wasn’t flat as they climbed and descended large rolling hills .
When Sungyoon reached the top of a hill, he used his sight-enhancing magic to look at his surroundings .
He could see monsters all over . For a brief moment, Sungyoon mulled over where they should go .
However, he didn’t have to worry for long .
“Monsters are coming . ”
Sungyoon looked down at the base of the hill . His party members followed his gaze .
Huge monsters similar in appearance to cats were running toward them . These monsters were jet black .
“It is the Quick Black Pumas . ”
Sungyoon closely watched the pack as he spoke .
“We got company from above too . ”
When Grace spoke, the party looked up at the sky . They could see five Four-Winged Vultures circling them .
It looked like the unique monsters of the Great Labyrinth would be attacking them in concert .
Sungyoon furrowed his brows . Both the Quick Black Pumas and the Four-Winged Vultures had high mobility .
They were quick and agile . Moreover, it would cause a big headache if they simultaneously attacked from the land and the sky .
“Let’s kill those first . ”
Sungyoon pointed at the Four-Winged Vultures .
“Ms . Grace?”
“Understood . ”
Grace quickly got an accurate picture of what Sungyoon wanted her to do . She raised her staff into the sky .
Kwah-jee-jeek!
Lightning erupted from her staff . It was a frightening sight . Since her party members had experienced this spell before, they were ready to close their eyes and cover their ears .
“I’ll shoot it now!”
After she yelled out those words, Grace activated her spell .
Flash!
She could cast it much faster than before, and of course, it was more powerful .
Rumble!
The sound of thunder shook the sky after the lightning was shot . When the light and sound disappeared, the party looked up at the sky .
“The power of your spell has significantly increased . ”
In the past, this spell had shot down only two Four-Winged Vultures . This time, it erased four of them . One of the Four-Winged Vulture was still flying in the air, but it was so hurt that it could barely stay in the air .
“Shall I kill them too?”
It seemed Grace was overjoyed by the fact that her spell had become stronger . She looked at the Quick Black Pumas as she shook her staff toward them .
However, Sungyoon turned down her offer .
“No . We have to save your spells . ”
Sungyoon looked up . The last Four-Winged Vulture was very hurt, but it continued to dive at the party .
Sungyoon looked down the hill once again . As expected of monsters with ‘Quick’ in their name, the Quick Black Pumas were as fast as advertised .
However, it seemed the Four-Winged Vulture would arrive faster than the Quick Black Pumas .
Sungyoon raised his halberd .
Hweeek!
When the flying monster entered his range, he threw his halberd . The Four-Winged Vulture tried to dodge, but it couldn’t maneuver its body . It was too wounded .
Puh-uhk!
The spear blade of the halberd pierced through its body .
“Let’s try facing those guys now . ”
Sungyoon raised his sword and shield .
The Quick Black Pumas were incredibly large .
They were over 1 . 7 m tall . Even though they had a large body, they could still move at incredibly high speeds . It was a very dangerous combination .
Koo-ahhhhhhhhhng!
The very first one of them to reach the party swung its paw . Tim calmly stepped forward and blocked its attack .
Boom!
Its front paw landed on his shield, yet Tim didn’t budge . In fact, Tim even moved his shield forward to threaten the monster . He also kept another Quick Black Puma at bay on his right with his ax .
These monsters were really agile . They kept moving around Tim in order to attack him from his side . They also constantly moved to attack Emily and Grace .
However, Tim's movements were much better than before . His agility had risen, so he was able to block all their attacks .
Sungyoon rushed forward from behind Tim .
Koo-ahhhhhhng!
The Quick Black Puma was overjoyed when its prey presented itself in front of it . The monster opened its mouth wide as it tried to bite Sungyoon to pieces . But Sungyoon shoved his sword into its mouth .
Kwehhhhhk!
The flesh inside its mouth was tender . The sword parted flesh as lightning erupted from Sungyoon's sword, and the Quick Black Puma’s eyes rolled backward .
Sungyoon summoned his shield to block another one of the monsters attacking from the side . Then he resummoned his sword to face off against his next foe .
When Sungyoon swung his sword, the Quick Black Puma jumped backward . At that exact moment, Sungyoon summoned and threw his halberd . The monster desperately dodged the weapon, but Sungyoon didn’t give it a chance to get its feet under itself . He caught up to it and swung his sword .
Suh-guhk!
The tough leather resisted against the attack, but Sungyoon didn’t have too much difficulty decapitating the Quick Black Puma .
After killing two of them, Sungyoon immediately went back to Tim . Tim was doing very well in keeping the two remaining Quick Black Pumas occupied .
Sungyoon attacked these Quick Black Pumas from the rear, while Tim took a step forward to match Sungyoon’s actions . They pinched the monsters on both sides, and it didn’t take them too long to kill all the Quick Black Pumas .
“I would have had so much difficulty with this fight not too long ago . ”
Tim was blown away by his own self . He was a strength-based Connector, so he hated facing agile monsters like the Quick Black Pumas . If it wasn’t for the Gems he had recently acquired, he probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up with multiple monsters . The Quick Black Puma would have attacked him from his rear .
“It doesn’t matter . You can kill them pretty easily now . ”
“You're right . ”
Tim sounded a bit proud as he answered Sungyoon .
“Then that is all that matters . We’ll perform better from here on out . ”
Tim had been slow before . The fact that he could keep up with a Quick Black Puma was a big boon to their party .
Sungyoon praised Tim as he went to check for moonstones .
“A Gem dropped . ”
Sungyoon picked up the Gem next to the moonstone . The wedge-shaped Gem let out a silver light .
It was a Silver rank weapon . It was the most bottom rank Jewel Gem weapon, but it was still a Jewel rank Gem weapon .
It hadn’t been that long since the party had acquired many Jewel rank Gems, yet they had now acquired another one . It was a reason for celebration .
Sungyoon took the Gem to his party .
“What kind of Gem is it?”
Grace asked with curious eyes .
Sungyoon had acquired a new Brooch type Device . He equipped the new Gem in his Silver Universal slot and activated it .
A large hammer appeared in Sungyoon’s hands .
The handle was engraved with elegant shapes, and it was made out of sturdy metal . One side of the hammerhead was flat, and the other side had multiple sharp spikes .
At a glance, one could tell that it wasn’t a hammer used for construction . It was a war hammer made for battle .
“Mr . Sungyoon can use it right away . ”
When she found out what the Gem was, Grace spoke . The Ross siblings also nodded .
“I’ll do so . ”
Sungyoon didn’t say much as he took the Gem for himself .
Normally, Sungyoon wouldn’t use a hammer type weapon . It was a weapon more suited for Tim . However, Tim already had a Jewel rank ax .
Moreover, Tim couldn’t switch between weapons like Sungyoon . So naturally, Sungyoon took possession of the hammer .
It also helped that Sungyoon had given up his rights to purchase Jean’s Gems . That was one of the reasons why his party members were willing to give him the Gem .
“Let’s start moving again . ”
Sungyoon’s fighting power had increased, so the party decided to move forward . They killed all the monsters they encountered in short order .
Sungyoon mixed the hammer into his fights, and he was satisfied with how it performed . As expected, the weapon did well against monsters with hard outer skins .
The party spent the next several days in the plateau hunting the monsters .
They finally found the entrance to the cave leading to the next floor .
“Are you ready?”
Sungyoon's party members gave their approval at his question .
All of them left behind the rough winds of the plateau and disappeared into the dark cave .
***
As they got closer to the entrance of the cave on the other side, the temperature precipitously dropped .
They breathed out white mist, and all of them hunched over from the cold .
After they exited the entrance, they were greeted with the overwhelming white color of the snowy field, the extremely cold wind, and snow falling from the sky .
“This is the 3rd floor of the Great Labyrinth . It is the snowy field”
Sungyoon watched the sight of snow falling from the sky
“Ooh . It's cold . ”
Grace grumbled as she re-adjusted her clothes . Unlike Grace, Tim and Emily looked more comfortable . It had probably something to do with the temperature difference between England and Canada .
Sungyoon felt very cold too, but he could withstand it . He had prior knowledge of this place, so he had worn thick clothes . Moreover, Korea was very cold during the winter, so he was also used to this atmosphere .
‘Thankfully, the armor doesn’t turn cold . ’
If the armor felt the effects of the weather, his skin would stick to the metal . He would get ice burns .
Sungyoon left footprints on the clean snow . Many Connectors had traversed this entrance, but the constant snow had deleted all their traces . Nothing from the past was left behind .
“Let’s go . ”
At Sungyoon’s words, the party started to slowly move forward . Their visibility was low because of the constantly falling snow, so the party was cautious with each step they took .
Puh-suhk!
Their good hearing soon caught a sound that was completely different from that of a foot coming down on the snow . Something was approaching them .
The monster looked large, fat, and dangerous . Since their visibility was low, the party discovered the monster only when it got close to them .
“It's an Ice Bear . ”
The monster was shaped like a bear, and its white fur was coated in frost . Its red eyes contrasted well with its white fur .
The Ice Bear plowed through the snow as it ran toward the party .