Chapter 330

Chapter 330
Chapter 330

However, these were all thoughts he had to go over after this battle .
Sungyoon summoned his halberd and threw it with the spear blade leading the way . The halberd opened up a path of blood, and the blood and flesh of the monsters splattered everywhere in a mess .
‘Other than my Gems that underwent explosive growth, another power is increasing the damage I can inflict . ’
He found the power flowing through his body familiar and unfamiliar at the same time .
Sungyoon glanced at the Royal Gem .
After he had killed Kevil, the Warrior Gem, the Mage Gem, and the Shaman Gem had awakened at the same time .
Moreover, they all awakened to a power that the previous owners like Plu-El and Aruwen never possessed .
It was a power Sungyoon had sporadically used in the past . It was a connection to the source of magical energy .
Grace, who had been shocked by her own lightning spell, had accessed this power .
Plu-El had fully awakened the Shaman Gem long ago . Although Aruwen had awakened the Warrior Gem only a short while ago, he had become quite adept at using it . That was why, the Gems in the possession of Sungyoon’s party awakening all at once and displaying such power was surprising .
However, Sungyoon had a guess .
When the three Gems awakened this time, they had been around his Royal Gem .
It seemed Aruwen had been right . The three special Gems had to be kept near the Royal Gem .
Of course, none of Grace, Tim, and Emily could use this power on command . Either the three Gems had to be near the Royal Gem, or they had to be gathered in one place . Only then could the Gems fully display their power .
This was the reason Grace had looked around in her surroundings when her spell had acted abnormally .
The power that she could normally bring out was much weaker than the power drawn by Sungyoon on instinct . However, this didn’t mean that she was weak .
The fight went on, and Grace used another spell . This time, it was her Frost magic .
The nearby region froze over . A layer of ice covered the monsters, and they stopped moving . Then, the frozen monsters fractured into pieces .
Grace's spell had a long-range, and it halted the monsters in a large area . Sungyoon used this pause to ruthlessly slaughter . He swung his weapons when the monsters were close and threw the weapons if the monsters were far away .
It didn’t take long for Armstrong city to support the Connectors .
After the Mayor’s orders, all the numerous weapons installed on the city walls started firing toward the monsters .
The guns especially focused on the large monsters . The bullets made out of Mana Knight honeycombed the monsters' bodies .
‘We’ll be able to hold the city at this rate . ’
Even though monsters were coming at them with overwhelming numbers, Armstrong city’s defense was well fortified .
Moreover, Connectors were on par with or better than monsters in terms of stamina . Even a low level Connector could fight for a week . Of course, this discounted mental fatigue and injuries .
‘We can win this!’
Sungyoon felt his confidence surge .
***
The battle continued on the next day . The area surrounding Armstrong city was full of dead monsters . The casualties also continued to mount for humanity, although their casualties were far fewer than the monsters' .
Armstrong city held the overall advantage in the battle . Moreover, Earth continuously shipped Connectors to Armstrong city, and these Connectors helped in solidifying the city's defenses even further .
When the monsters had attacked in the beginning, all the normal soldiers and Connectors had to head out and block them . It had been a desperate fight . Now, they could afford to split the forces in two . One group defended the city while the other rested .
“We have somehow stopped them . ”
Tim spoke . He had been rushing about the battlefield in a frenzy like a boar .
After participating in another round of battle, Sungyoon's party got the chance to take a rest .
While things had stabilized for now, they didn’t know what would happen in the future . Therefore, they had to use this opportunity to rest and keep themselves ready for their turn to battle .
“Connectors have performed as well as we expected, but Armstrong city’s defense performed much better . I never expected the Mana Knight ammo to be so effective . ”
“We made it so effective . The brightest minds of Earth refined the design of the bullets . Moreover, every country entered a defense production treaty . They are producing the bullets in massive quantities . There are a lot of monsters, but humans are also numerous . Our technical capabilities of producing these weapons are amazing . ”
Sungyoon explained the process through which Armstrong city had gained this massive firepower, and the explanation surprised many .
‘The Mayor always emphasizes defense . It seems he's correct in his approach . ’
The Mayor had gone through a lot of trouble to set up a defense of this caliber .
He did it despite receiving objections from some circles . Armstrong city would become a safe zone in the near future, so the people in these circles didn’t see the point of massively upgrading the city’s defense .
However, prevention was always better than cure . The Mayor’s philosophy shone in this war .
“We are half sure that the monsters can't overrun Armstrong city unless Grenoid awakens . If we consider the monsters we baited and killed in the fight to recover Armstrong city, they should start hitting the limit on how many more monsters they can send . ”
“Don’t let your guard down . We don’t know what the future may hold . ”
As always, Emily berated Tim .
Tim smacked his lips, then threw a question at Sungyoon once again .
“I’m sure the monsters are coming up with a plan . I wonder if we can do anything to prepare against that . ”
Sungyoon stroked his chin .
“I’m not a monster, so I have no idea how they are faring right now . However, there is one thing that I'm being mindful of . ”
“What is it?”
“Portals . ”
Tim blinked .
“Do you mean the portals that the monsters can use? Didn't that threat disappear once the force field was put up?”
“The threat of monsters appearing on Earth indeed disappeared . However, portals don't lead to just Earth . ”
“Do you think monsters could open portals on the Moon?”
“They could open it on Earth, which is very far away . It wouldn’t be strange if they could open it on the Moon . ”
“However, we never witnessed them using portals to travel around the Moon . ”
“They might not have needed it . Moreover, there is a chance that they can’t use portals for an infinite amount of time . Otherwise, they wouldn’t use portals to intermittently send monsters . Also, they probably have a limit on how many monsters that they can control . Therefore, they probably use portals only when needed . ”
However, things were different compared to the past .
“The higher-ups are also worried about this thing . Giving rest to one group was only part of the reason Connectors were split into two groups . The other part is that this resting group can defend against any monsters that invade through a portal . ”
That was why the higher-ups of Armstrong city made a schedule where at least one of Sungyoon’s party, Russell, or Bruce could fight within Armstrong city .
“Now that I think about it, portals can only be opened where one has visited before . When Armstrong city had fallen, monsters had gone in and out of every place in the city . They can surely open a portal here . ”
Emily looked around her surroundings as she spoke .
“If they were capable of attacking using portals, wouldn’t they have attacked Armstrong city earlier? After all, our defense was much weaker then . ”
Tim raised the question .
“I wonder that too . ”
It wasn’t just Sungyoon . All the higher-ups wanted to know about that .
“We don't know the circumstances of our enemies . Also, they might be coming up with some different plan . ”
Sungyoon stopped speaking, and the four of them turned at the same time to look out the window .
A watery light appeared on the Armstrong city's roads, which had not regained its past splendor .
“It’s a portal!”
Grace yelled . The four of them immediately activated their Gems .
‘Speak of the devil . . . ’
Sungyoon led his party out through the door .
Monsters started coming of the portal in droves, and Sungyoon swung his sword at them .
The curtain on the battle within Armstrong city went up .
***
The monsters used the portal to attack Armstrong city from the inside . It was a deadly attack . If the defenders of Armstrong city became careless, they could turn into a sandwich with monsters on both sides of them .
However, the higher-ups already knew about this possibility . This was why they were on their toes as they prepared for the attack . This was why chaos and confusion didn’t reign within Armstrong city .
In fact, the monsters died to Connectors immediately after they crossed the portal . Their attack hadn’t been effective without the element of surprise .
“Isn’t this way too easy?”
Tim spoke as he cut down a monster with his ax . Sungyoon also struck down several monsters with ease .
“We meticulously prepared for this possibility . There’s no element of surprise to this ambush .
“It serves them right!”
Tim swung his shield toward a monster that was charging toward him .
Tuh-ung!
The monster was sent flying backward . It flew away faster than it had run forward .
Tim had awakened his Warrior Gem, and his abilities went up when he was near Sungyoon .
The monsters rushing toward him fell to his ax way too easily .
A new portal appeared in the air .
Unlike the first portal, this one quickly expanded in size .
‘A big one is about to come out . ’
Kwahhhhng!
Enormous legs crushed the half-fallen building .
‘Behemoth . ’
It was a monster that had a lot of history with Sungyoon, and it had once again appeared within Armstrong city in front of Sungyoon .
Ooh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The Behemoth roared as if it were declaring that it was the owner of this place .
However, Sungyoon wasn’t afraid .
‘You're no longer a match for me . ’
Sungyoon lightly kicked off the ground as he ran toward the Behemoth . He summoned his halberd and sliced the monster's front leg .
Suh-guhk!
The halberd cut through the leather as if it were paper . The blade made a deep cut into the Behemoth's muscles and bones .
Koo-ahhhhhhhhh!
The Behemoth shrieked in pain .
It pulled back its front leg but lost its balance in the process .
“Stop moving . You're making it hard for me to slice you . ”
Sungyoon activated his Gravity Gem .
He had evolved this Gem, and the Royal Gem was boosting his power . The two synergistically worked to create a stronger spell with a brutal effect .
The Behemoth had considerable resistance to magic, but it couldn't fight back against the spell with an injured leg .
Kwahhhhng!
The Behemoth fell on its belly as the powerful gravity restricted its body . The monster could only shake its body .
“You made it too easy for us . ”
Tim sidled up next to Sungyoon and sarcastically spoke .
“I’ll kill it quickly . I feel sorry for it . ”
Sungyoon gripped his sword, then moved up toward the immobilized Behemoth .
“You're way too kind, Mr . Sungyoon . ”
Tim followed Sungyoon .
It seemed the Behemoth had no intention of giving up .
Zzuh-uhk!
It opened its mouth, and its mouth started to gather an enormous amount of energy . The Behemoth was using the Breath attack .
Since it couldn’t move, it executed an attack that it could use even without moving its body .
Sungyoon and Tim rushed to kill the Behemoth . No, they tried to run forward .
Kwahhhhng!
Suddenly, fire surrounded the Behemoth; the flames were large enough to swallow up most of its body .
Ooh-uhhhhhhh!
The Behemoth let out a short, sad scream, then it died before it could use its breath attack .
The attack that had killed it was a fireball that had come flying from behind Sungyoon and Tim . The two men turned around to look at the source of the fireball .
“Please don’t put your guard down, gentlemen . ”
Grace winked as she shook her staff . Sungyoon and Tim looked at each other and shrugged .
The battle continued .
Did the monsters not know that their plan had failed? Or was there some different angle to this attack? No one knew the answer, but monsters continued using the portals .
As Sungyoon killed the monsters, he had a feeling that something was off .
His intuition had indeed been right .
- Mr . Sungyoon! Please directly head to the stake! A large number of portals have opened near it!
‘Their objective is the stake!’
Sungyoon immediately opened his portal .