Chapter 148
Chapter 148
After gathering all the pieces of the corpses, Sungyoon approached the Ross siblings, who were resting .
“Are you done?”
“Yes . I’ve gathered all the corpses . ”
Sungyoon displayed his vambrace as a response to Tim’s question . To be precise, he showed the storage Gem, which held everything . Then he sat in front of the Ross siblings .
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel a bit better after the rest . ”
Tim’s face was still pale, but it looked noticeably better than before .
However, Emily was still lying down on the floor of the labyrinth .
She tried getting up, but Sungyoon gestured her to lie down once again . He decided to rest here for a little longer .
“Let me explain what happened here . ”
Sungyoon gave his conjecture based on the state of the corpses and the conditions around the battleground . Even as they rested, Tim and Emily paid close attention to his words .
“Monsters slightly weaker than a Centaur . . . ”
Tim’s face stiffened .
“It’s only a hypothesis based on the size of the moonstones, and not something definitive . ”
“Your hypothesis sounds very likely since you are basing it on the size of the moonstones . ”
Tim tensed at the mention of the Centaur . He hadn’t fought it before, but he had heard it was a very powerful monster . Moreover, Sungyoon had said he had lost against it some time ago .
“Did the Princess’ party lose to these monsters?”
Emily pulled herself into a sitting position as she asked . It seemed she felt a bit better .
“It is quite likely . Thankfully, I didn’t find her corpse amongst the bodies . ”
However, this didn’t mean that it was certain that she was alive .
“From what I know, Princess Grace’s Gems are specialized around powerful magic . She is a damage dealer . ”
Sungyoon frowned at Emily’s words .
Even if she had downplayed her status to fight in the labyrinths, it seemed her social standing did have a role in how she was treated . It might have been inevitable .
It looked like she was protected by her party members and didn’t have to directly fight the monsters . She probably stood in the rear and took on the role of being the artillery . Normally, this would place her in relative safety, but in this situation, her role would act as a poison .
“That means she is less likely to survive in the labyrinth compared to other Connectors . ”
Without an escort, she would be in a very vulnerable position .
“Still, she is the Princess . I believe she possesses Gems for emergency use . ”
Emily spoke .
Sungyoon nodded, but he didn’t really agree with Emily .
The difference between Connectors who fought directly against the monsters day in and day out, and a Connector like the Princess, who had some training with a couple of close combat Gems in case of emergency, was as clear as the difference between night and day .
‘I guess it is better than having nothing . ’
“So what should we do now?”
Sungyoon focused his gaze on the Ross siblings .
“We’ve found the alleged site where the Princess’ party had fought, and we’ve recovered the alleged corpses of her escorts . However, we weren’t able to find the most important person, the Princess herself . But we have found some information that’ll be helpful toward the search . Taking all this into account, we have two choices at this moment . ”
Sungyoon pointed upward with his finger .
“We can go up right now, hand over the corpses of the Princess’ escorts, and relay the information we have found . Then we can bring reinforcement . Or . . . ”
He twirled his finger before pointing downward .
“We can continue going forward to search for the Princess . ”
“Of course, we should continue the search . ”
Tim didn’t hesitate .
“We came down here to find the Princess . If her Gems are specialized for magic, the odds of her survival are low . You pointed this out, Mr . Sungyoon . That means we have to find her as soon as possible . As more time passes, the chances of her surviving become lower . ”
“It isn’t that easy of a decision . ”
It seemed Emily truly felt better this time around . Her voice had returned to normal as she countered Tim’s opinion .
“It’ll put us in more danger . Even if the monsters are slightly less powerful than a Centaur, over a dozen of them had attacked the Princess’ party . Moreover, these monsters had appeared on a floor where they shouldn’t have been present . It means something is wrong here . If we aren’t careful, we might lose our lives . ”
Tim scrunched up his face . He felt as if they were running away if they decided to go up . But he couldn’t refute that Emily had a point .
“What do you think, Mr . Sungyoon?”
Maybe, Sungyoon might side with him or he might have a better idea . So Tim turned the conversation toward him .
Sungyoon thought for a brief moment .
He wanted to continue this search . However, he didn’t want to die and leave behind Shinhae, and not to mention, he also had a responsibility toward his comrades .
‘If we were surrounded by a dozen Centaurs, what would happen?’
If he were by himself, he would die . However, what if he was with the Ross siblings?
‘We’ll put up a good fight at the very least . ’
The Ross siblings had become very powerful . They were a scary duo now . Moreover, the three of them had been a party for a while, and their synergy made them very effective .
Despite all this, the result of the fight would be the same . They would lose .
Sungyoon looked at the Device that he had set aside . The two Gold slots shone .
“What is that?”
Tim craned his neck to look at Sungyoon’s hand .
“It is a Device used by one of the Connectors who passed away . ”
Sungyoon placed the rest of the Devices and Gems in front of the siblings . While the siblings looked at the items, Sungyoon continued to think .
‘If I can borrow this, I can significantly boost my abilities . ’
He would be able to use his most trusted Gem . And he could use its power amplification ability in conjunction with the sword given to him by Hyunwoo . Moreover, this Device could also allow him to overclock his Gold Gems, an option unavailable to him whenever he had forcefully activated the Gold Gem in the past .
Overlocking would increase his power by tremendous levels .
“We’ll head downward . ”
He spoke . Even if they were to be surrounded by a dozen Centaurs, Sungyoon concluded that they’d be able to run away at the very least .
“As expected, I knew Mr . Sungyoon would make that call . ”
It seemed Tim felt really good when Sungyoon came to the same decision as him .
“Understood . ”
Emily didn’t show much dissatisfaction at Sungyoon’s decision . But Sungyoon still felt the need to give an explanation .
“I’m thinking about borrowing this for now . ”
Sungyoon showed the Device to the two of them .
“I’ll be able to use my Gold Gems with this, and our party’s power would be significantly increased . ”
He had already told them about his other Gold Gem .
“Even if we do get into a precarious situation, I can overclock my Gems . We’ll be able to escape even if we are surrounded by a dozen Centaurs . ”
“That doesn’t sound too bad . ”
Emily looked a bit less worried .
“Still, we should be prepared for the worst . I would like the two of you to take any Devices or Gems you might need . We can give it back later . The UK government won’t take too much of an issue if we use them . However, it seems the prolonged overclocking broke most of the Gems . Even the ones that survived are mostly unusable due to the backlash . ”
“I don’t need any of them . ”
Tim turned down the offer after he looked over the Devices and Gems .
“Then let’s head down now . ”
The man slotted his Gold Gems into the borrowed Device and led the Ross siblings deeper into the labyrinth .
***
Sungyoon cut down a Troll who had attacked him . His weapon easily cut through the monster’s bumpy and rough skin .
The powerful attack had sliced half of the monster’s thick arm, and yet the attack hadn’t come to an end .
Pah-jee-jeek!
A tiny spark erupted near the wound . At the same time, a powerful electric attack hit the troll, and electricity spread out to the rest of its body from its arm .
Koo-ahhhhhhh!
All the muscles in the monster’s body became locked, and its organs churned as blood started to evaporate . Its movement became very stiff .
“Ooh-cha!”
Tim easily applied the finishing blow on the completely defenseless troll . The monster fell over when two-thirds of its waist had been cut .
After confirming the kill, Sungyoon looked at his weapon once again .
Up until now, he had been using his halberd and ax as his main weapons . But he wasn’t using any of them right now, and he wasn’t using his backup mace or spear either .
Instead, in his hands was a sword that let out a subdued silver light . Its blade was long and very wide .
On Earth, this type of sword was called a great sword, yet those regular swords looked shabby next to this sword . The enormous size of this sword was enough to be intimidating .
It had a sharp edge, and it was quite hefty . Sungyoon felt as if he could cut through anything with this weapon .
However, the strength of this sword didn’t lie only with the obvious .
The Troll’s body hadn’t disappeared yet, so the man stabbed the corpse with his sword once again .
Pah-jee-jeek!
As soon as the sword pierced the corpse, a blue lighting erupted from the wound . The already dead body of the Troll flopped on the floor .
At the same time, he smelled its flesh burning .
“That is an amazing sword . ”
Tim, who had his ax on his shoulder, spoke up in admiration . Sungyoon’s new weapon was amazing .
It was a weapon that had appeared from the Gold Gem given to him by Hyunwoo .
Since it was a Gold Gem rank weapon, its sharpness and durability couldn’t be compared to any of his past weapons . It was simply marvelous .
However, this sword had one more special characteristic .
It was like Hyunwoo’s sword, which emitted an incredible amount of flame . But in this one, electricity surrounded its surface .
Whenever his sword touched a weapon or a body part, the electricity immediately attacked his foe . Moreover, thanks to his amplification Gem, its power was doubled . Therefore, Sungyoon could hunt down the monsters with relative ease .
He had known a great weapon would appear from the Gold rank Gem, but something like this was beyond his imagination .
‘I’ll have to thank Mr . Hyunwoo next time . ’
The party continued to descend into the labyrinth .
They passed through several floors, cutting down any monsters in their path . However, they came to a stop at a certain point .
‘That’s . . . ’
Sungyoon’s eyes narrowed .
They caught sight of a monster . It looked like a lion, but it clearly wasn’t a lion .
It had a height of around two meters and a length of about 4 . 5 m . Above all else, it possessed three tails that looked like snakes . Each of the tail possessed a head .
‘Chimera . ’
The name had been taken from the monster in Greek Mythology . The Chimera was on a different level compared to all the monsters they had killed up until now . It was similar in difficulty as the Centaur, which Sungyoon had struggled mightily to kill .
Sssssk!
Its three tails looked toward Sungyoon’s party at the same time . The snake-like heads glared at them, and it was a frightening sight .
The party went into their fighting formation expecting the Chimera to charge toward them like every other monster .
However, the real head of the Chimera, the one that resembled a lion’s head, hadn’t turned to look at Sungyoon’s party .
‘Did it not notice us?’
However, Sungyoon shook his head from side to side at his own question . The three tails were looking straight at them . Of course, the monster knew the party was there .
‘So why isn’t it showing any interest in us?’
It was acting as if it had another enemy nearby that it had to kill first .
‘Could it be!’
At that moment, he quickly extended his hand toward the Chimera .
Koo-ahhhhhhng!
The Chimera pounced toward a certain direction, but Sungyoon was a step faster .
Too-hwahhhhhhhhk!
Stalagmites erupted from below the monster .
Poo-ook! Poo-ook! Poo-ook!
The sharp stalagmites dug into the body of the Chimera .
Kuh-huhng!
It let out a pained scream . Although it had a great deal of magic resistance, Sungyoon was using his amplification Gem . His spell was four times stronger than usual .
Moreover, even though the monster was comparable in rank to a Centaur, it was on the lower end of the comparison . Basically, it was weaker than the Centaur . So, of course, the Chimera would suffer much more damage than the Centaur .
Sungyoon layered his gravity magic atop his previous attack .
Kwah-doo-doohk!
The stalagmites continued to dig further into its body .
The monster suffered more .
Ssssk!
Boom!
As soon as the stalagmites disappeared, the Chimera fell from the air .
However, it couldn’t land properly, and its body slammed onto the floor . The fall gave it a great deal of damage .
Suh-guhk!
Sungyoon applied the killing blow, killing the monster in an instant .
“Why did you rush the fight like that?”
Normally, Sungyoon preached caution, yet he had charged forward in a rush . Tim was confused .
Sungyoon didn’t give an immediate answer . He looked at his surroundings .
‘If my prediction was right... . ’
It was indeed as he had expected . He could see some shiny golden threads behind the large boulder .
Sungyoon quickly moved toward it . The siblings looked puzzled and they gazed at each other before following Sungyoon .
‘I knew it!’
He found someone behind the boulder .
The woman possessed long blonde hair, and she looked like a doll as she leaned against the boulder .
She had used the boulder as a cover to hide, and one could see blood and dust all over her body .
A blood-soaked dark robe covered half of her face . However, one could see the beautiful face hidden inside .
Her eyes were closed, so one could see her long eyelashes . She had exquisite ears, eyes, mouth, and nose . In all, she looked like a doll made to embody the ideal appearance of a woman .
“This person is...!”
Tim, who had followed up behind Sungyoon, mumbled in surprise . Emily’s eyes turned round .
The woman was Princess Grace, the one they had been working so hard to find .
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