Chapter 213

Chapter 213
Chapter 213
A crowd had gathered around the police line, and people craned forward to look past the policemen guarding the site . The hill that used to boast a great scenery had turned into a pile of ash . A deep ravine now existed in the middle of the hill, and steam was still coming out of it .
The battle between Sungyoon and Kevil had left very deep wounds in this peaceful vacation spot .
“Excuse me . ”
People frowned when someone pushed them, but they became surprised when they recognized who it was . A policeman quickly moved forward to stop the figure from moving past the line, but when he recognized Sungyoon, he moved back to his post .
An entire day had passed since the battle, yet it was still an appalling sight . As Sungyoon looked down at the ravine, he heard a voice .
“Welcome, Mr . Woo Sungyoon . ”
The officer in charge of the site approached Sungyoon, and as if he had been notified beforehand, he greeted Sungyoon without hesitation .
“Did you find Mr . Lee?”
Sungyoon asked .
“No . Unfortunately, Mr . Lee is still missing . ”
“What about his family?”
“We found and confirmed two corpses of Mr . Lee’s daughters-in-law and four corpses of his grandchildren . ”
Sungyoon’s face hardened as he climbed the hill and followed the person in charge .
“Have all of your wounds healed, Mr . Woo?”
“Yeah . ”
“That's good news . I heard your comrades were also hurt . ”
“They have also recovered and are resting right now . ”
Emily and Grace had never suffered such severe wounds before . They were fine for now, but Sungyoon worried they might develop a mental trauma in the long run .
“Don’t you need to rest, Mr . Woo?”
“I’m used to it . ”
Sungyoon was used to recovering from serious injuries . But he did not know if these experiences of his were a good or a bad thing . As he thought about it, Sungyoon felt a bit dumbfounded .
The white brick house atop the hill had been burnt black . The explosion had blown the roof off, and half the building had crumbled . The fairytale-like scenery had vanished .
“Did you find any traces of the monster?”
“No . We're still combing the nearby area . ”
Sungyoon was the Knight, who had saved London in style against the Behemoth, and the current him was much stronger than that time . Yet, he had been defeated without being able to put up much of a fight . That was why the world was in an uproar .
Above all else, Sungyoon had reported that the monster was capable of rational thought, and it could talk and make decisions for itself . Moreover, the monster had spoken about a possible unknown power pulling the strings from behind the scene .
Kevil's decision to retreat showed one of the many ways how it was much different than the regular monsters . And its successful retreat meant that it might cause harm at a different location .
Sungyoon thought about the monster and remembered its frightening red eyes .
‘It said it’ll come back for me . ’
Sungyoon had no idea why Kevil had retreated, but he knew it hadn’t been joking when it made that promise . Of course, he felt a sense of crisis . His power couldn’t even come close to the monster’s power . The only solace was the fact that he had been able to exchange blows by the end of the fight .
‘I survived thanks to that power . ’
The power that came out when he faced the Golems had helped him against Kevil too . Sungyoon knew he had to learn more about this power, but he also felt worried about doing so .
‘Fear . ’
He had also felt the fear like all other 1st gens, but for some odd reason, this fear had been delayed and it came out blunted for him .
However, that power was the only thing he could bank on right now .
***
Sungyoon stood in front of the entrance to a labyrinth . It wasn’t the Great Labyrinth or his Personal Labyrinth, and neither was it one of the Personal Labyrinths of his party members . He was facing one of the many labyrinths near Armstrong . One could reach it by traveling in a Moon Surface Vehicle for less than a day, and so, it was a very popular spot for Connectors .
- Are you ready?
Sungyoon heard the voice from a bone conduction earphone .
He was clad in his usual armor . The armor had been heavily damaged in the fight against Kevil . However, the damage wasn't enough to destroy the Gem, and the Gem had recovered with time . Of course, the shield Gem couldn't escape its destruction .
But right now, Sungyoon wasn’t just wearing his armor . Cutting edge sensors were placed all over his body within his armor . These sensors were like relentless stalkers that would assess and analyze the status of his body .
A signal was sent into the labyrinth, and the Connectors on standby destroyed the wall .
Sungyoon summoned his halberd and firmly gripped it . He couldn’t enter the labyrinth because it would make the sensors useless . So he placed the butt of his halberd on the ground and waited .
Too-hwahk!
Soon, the Connectors who were baiting the Golem ran out of the labyrinth .
The Golem which had been about to attack the Connectors came to a stop . Its inorganic eyes moved toward Sungyoon .
- Can you feel the power?
Sungyoon replied in the negative .
The Golem moved, and the Connectors formed a wall in front of Sungyoon to stop it . They were trying their best to stall the Golem from attacking Sungyoon, who tried to stay loose while watching the battle .
Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!
When he heard the heartbeats, Sungyoon tapped at his communication device to create a vibration . When he was done sending the signal, he took up the halberd and entered the battle . Soon, the Golem existed no more .
As expected of the ultimate weapon against the Golems, Sungyoon lived up to his reputation . Even if the Golems from the labyrinths near the Great Labyrinth were relatively weaker, Sungyoon’s halberd was cutting through their hard bodies as if they were butter .
Sungyoon pushed aside the broken fragments of the Golem at his feet and got ready for the next one .
***
The Golems had been annihilated, and the number of labyrinths free of the Golems increased by one . However, Sungyoon hadn't come to this labyrinth because he wished to free this labyrinth from the Golems . He had joined this mission for an entirely different reason .
“How was it?”
Sungyoon entered a large trailer parked a good distance away from the battlefield .
“Ah . You're here . ”
Numerous displays were hung on the wall of the trailer, and the screens showed all kinds of graphs and figures . One’s head would hurt just by looking at those numbers . And going over these very same numbers was the man who had greeted Sungyoon .
He was the lead researcher in the field of the anatomy and physiology of Connectors .
Sungyoon wanted to study the power that surged within him alongside the heartbeat, and Chelsea had introduced him to a scientist in the relevant field . This researcher had already wanted to examine Sungyoon’s body, so he had quickly accepted Sungyoon’s offer .
Sungyoon stood next to the Researcher and looked at the displays . Of course, he had no idea what the numbers meant, and they just gave him a headache .
The Researcher furrowed his brows .
“I see nothing out of the ordinary . The figures match up with what we see in most Connectors . ”
Sungyoon also furrowed his brows .
“Does that mean we found out nothing?”
“Unfortunately yes . Even if the quality of the magical energy within you is different from others, we have no way of measuring it . There is no research that produced any meaningful results . ”
The Researcher stared at Sungyoon .
“Of course, dissection might be the only way to bring about a concrete answer… . ”
“I’ll never let you do that . ”
“It was a joke . ”
Could he really trust this researcher? Sungyoon already had many doubts, and the Researcher's words made him revisit his skepticism once again .
The other researchers in the trailer helped Sungyoon remove the sensors from his skin .
Sungyoon then posed a question .
“How long are we going to continue this experiment?”
“We got all the data we need . We went around multiple labyrinths, so we have a very good sample size . Also, Armstrong city is starting to show reticence in clearing out more labyrinths . ”
“Is it because of the Golem Role theory?”
The Researcher nodded .
Golem Role theory .
This theory proposed that the Golems fulfilled some unknown but important role in the labyrinths, and it was very important to retain the population of Golems . Armstrong city had been eliminating the Golems under the guise of making the city safe, but this theory undercut their excuse .
It was well known that the Golems repaired the labyrinths . So it wasn’t a stretch to say that they might fulfill other important functions . Thus, the theory made some sense .
“Armstrong city destroyed many Golems . They did this in the Beginner’s Labyrinth and many labyrinths around Armstrong city . So they have many sites where they could excavate the ‘Mana-Knights' . They have no excuse to further destroy the Golems, and they also want to monitor the other city to see what happens if too many Golems are eliminated . ”
The other Lunar city, which Russia and China were still constructing, was indiscriminately destroying all the Golems around their Great Labyrinth . So if it had any side effects, they would appear in the other city first .
“Mana-Knights? Why did they have to name it that?”
“I had nothing to do with that decision . ”
The Researcher responded to Sungyoon’s complaint . However, Sungyoon could tell by the Researcher’s voice that he was amused by the name .
Mana-Knight was the name of the ore found in the labyrinths near the Great Labyrinth . Normally, a substance would be named after the one who first discovered it . Chelsea’s boss had led a group of researchers to find the ore, and Sungyoon had helped in the discovery . So, the Director wanted to name the ore after Sungyoon .
However, Sungyoon had become aghast when he had heard that idea . So, they combined Mana, which referred to the magical energy, with Sungyoon’s nickname, and came up with a new name .
“I thought it was a pretty good name . ”
“It really isn’t . ”
“Well, Mr . Woo can file a complaint if you dislike it so much . Anyway, this is the end of our experiments since we have nothing else that we can test . We've discovered nothing, and the only thing left is to dissect your body . ”
“That's too bad . Let’s end the research here . ”
Sungyoon spoke quickly as a small smile appeared on the Researcher's lips .
“I’ll stop joking around now . We still have a lot of interest in your power, Mr . Woo . If we come up with another idea for a test, we’ll contact you . For the near future, we’ll be comparing the figures gathered from your various battles . ”
“Please do so . ”
“Are you going back into the labyrinths again, Mr . Woo?”
Sungyoon shook his head from side to side .
“After we fought the demonic type monster, our party decided to take a half-year break . I only came up here for a short time for these experiments . ”
Sungyoon had bounced back from Kevil's attack pretty quickly, but he decided it would be best to delay the party's activities for a short time . Emily and Grace needed some time to rest and calm down . And so a suggestion was made to take this opportunity to rest for half a year . Thus, Sungyoon had been living a comfortable life on Earth, and it had been a while since he could do that .
“Are you heading back to Earth now?”
“Yes . ”
“I’m jealous . ”
Sungyoon left behind the Researcher, who looked at him with envy, and returned to Armstrong .
***
Sungyoon walked through Armstrong city . He had purchased his ticket, and he would be riding the spaceship to Earth the next day . Since he had a day to burn, he had left his house to head toward the Beginner’s Labyrinth .
With the elimination of all the Golems, the Beginner’s Labyrinth was deemed safe again, and it functioned as the sole labyrinth for beginner Connectors in Armstrong city . However, something was different from before .
Sungyoon easily killed all the monsters that got in his way of descending the labyrinth . Soon, he caught sight of a sealed section . In the past, he had gotten in trouble when he had walked into a sealed section that was still being cleaned of monsters . But this section was sealed for an entirely different reason .
Without any hesitation, he entered the sealed section, and none of the Connectors on guard stopped him .
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!
Sungyoon heard noisy sounds ringing again and again . He arrived at a location that looked more like a mining shaft than a labyrinth . Several people were making holes in the wall and excavating the Mana-Knights .
“Oh . Mr . Sungyoon is here . ”
Chelsea greeted him . With a safety helmet covering her head, and a magical energy eliminator protecting her body, she had been overseeing the excavation .
Hearing Sungyoon's name, everyone in the area turned to look at Sungyoon .
“What are you doing! Hurry up and get back to work!”
An extremely muscular man yelled at the workers, and they once again went back to excavating the Mana-Knights .
“Welcome, Boss . ”
The muscular man was the task leader who oversaw the work crew .
Sungyoon had hired this crew when he had received the rights to excavate Mana-Knights in the Beginner’s Labyrinth .