Moon's Labyrinth

“Kuh-huhk!”

Jinsoo’s body got flung backward at the same speed as he had charged with . He rolled across the ground in a very undignified manner .

“What the hell! Shit! What is this?”

Jinsoo looked like a fool, so he became embarrassed . He cussed as he used his spear to get up . Moreover, he felt the region where the halberd had hit him go numb .

Hoo-doo-doohk!

An unpleasant sound rang out . When Jinsoo looked down, he saw a part of his armor breaking apart .

‘He did this with just one blow?’

Jinsoo finally realized something was wrong as he saw Sungyoon slowly approach him .

“Ooh…!”

Sungyoon’s overwhelming presence made Jinsoo take a step backward .

‘Shit! What's going on!’

His face turned red inside his helmet . The fact that he was afraid of a half-dead human made him feel incredibly embarrassed .

“You bastaaaaaaard!”

Jinsoo raised his voice without any reason and rushed at Sungyoon . With a firm grip on his spear, he stabbed Sungyoon .

Hoo-oohng!

However, he didn’t feel like he had struck anything . Sungyoon had tilted his body to dodge the attack . Still, Jinsoo didn’t panic . He had fought many battles over the years; he was a veteran .

Jinsoo put more strength into his legs as he maintained his speed . At the same time, he moved his grasp up the spear .

“Hoohp!”

When he got close to Sungyoon, he stabbed .

Kwah-jeeek!

The sharp spear blade pierced through the armor and entered the flesh . Unfortunately for Jinsoo, he had failed to stab his opponent . His opponent's halberd's spear blade had pierced him instead .

“AHhhhhhhk!”

The momentum of Sungyoon's movement drove the spear deeper into Jinsoo's body .

The embedded spear blade almost severed Jinsoo's arm in half .

“Fuuuuuuuuuck!”

Jinsoo desperately retreated . When he gained some distance, he started using his healing magic .

He looked like a dog that had run away from a fight with its tail tucked between its legs . However, Jinsoo had to do this since he was incapable of instantly activating his spell like Sungyoon or automatically healing like Hyunwoo .

“I’m going to kill you!”

As soon as his wound healed, Jinsoo ground his teeth . He was about to charge forward to kill Sungyoon, but he put on his brakes when he realized something .

“What the hell? You healed yourself?”

Sungyoon had been unable to run because of an injury he had suffered in the previous fight . However, he was no longer limping .

‘Now that I think about it, that halberd . . . ’

Jinsoo knew Sungyoon had four weapons: the lightning sword, the poisonous ax, the explosive hammer, and . . .

‘The healing halberd!’

When Sungyoon almost severed Jinsoo’s arm, he had recovered from his wounds to a certain extent .

“Ke ke ke! Your plan is going to shit . It's so enjoyable to see you get flustered . ”

“Just stay there and shut your mouth!”

“Ill-tempered…”

At some point, Hyunwoo had crawled toward a wall . He comfortably leaned against it as he watched Jinsoo’s flustered appearance with a cackle .

“Be careful . At this rate, the Knight will fully recover thanks to you . ”

“I said shut up!”

“Ah! Maybe, he will give you a quick death as a favor . The Knight had no way of healing his body, but you used your body to heal him . If he wins, you’ll be placed in the history books as a useful enemy . ”

“Shuuuuuut uppppppppp!”

Jinsoo tried to ignore Hyunwoo’s sarcastic remarks as he once again charged forward .

“Nothing changes just because his leg got a little bit better!”

This time, Jinsoo didn’t stab with his spear . He grabbed the bottom of the spear's shaft to attack from a distance, then swung the spear .

Tuh-uhng!

Sungyoon’s shield deflected the spear, and at that moment, Jinsoo let go of his spear . He brushed past Sungyoon’s shield and clenched his fist .

“Dieeeee!”

Jinsoo’s fist headed toward Sungyoon’s face .

Hweeek!

However, his fist met empty air . Sungyoon titled his head and easily dodged the attack .

Puh-uhk! Puh-uhk!

Then, Sungyoon’s fist continuously smashed Jinsoo’s helmet . As the helmet became dented, Jinsoo lost consciousness for a moment .

Kwah-doo-doohk!

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhk!”

However, he regained his consciousness when he felt a burning pain .

“Oooooooooh!”

He found the ax blade of the halberd embedded in his shoulder . Jinsoo quickly dislodged himself from the ax blade, retreated, and used his healing magic . The wound on his shoulder instantly healed along with the wound Sungyoon's fist had created on his face .

“Hoo-ooh!”

Jinsoo let out a sigh of relief when the pain went away . However, his relief lasted only a moment .

‘I’m losing to him! He’s barely alive!’

It made him grind his teeth . His bottomless pride also made him disparage Sungyoon .

‘Hmmph! Stupid bastard . If he continued to attack me, he could've won . ’

He inwardly mocked Sungyoon, who had made an idiotic move . As Jinsoo raised his gaze, he found Sungyoon calmly looking at him from a distance . It was as if Sungyoon were just monitoring Jinsoo .

“Are you done?”

“What?”

“I asked if you're done healing . ”

Jinsoo was his enemy, yet Sungyoon asked about his well-being . Was Sungyoon really a noble person as his nickname suggested?

‘No way!’

When Jinsoo realized Sungyoon’s intention, rage bubbled within his heart . At that moment, a loud laugh rang out . Hyunwoo guffawed . Since Hyunwoo was in a miserable state, he groaned as he laughed, but his laughter showed no signs of ending .

“Ha ha! Koohk! Ha ha ha ha! You're being treated like a living healing elixir, Kim Jinsoo!”

‘Shit! Maybe, I should kill him first!’

Hyunwoo was close to dying, yet he continued to get on Jinsoo’s nerves . However, Jinsoo knew he couldn’t attack Hyunwoo with Sungyoon present .

On the other hand, Sungyoon wasn’t doing this to play with Jinsoo . He wouldn’t go through all this trouble to do that .

‘This is the only way I can heal . ’

Sungyoon had used up all the spells of his healing Gem . He thought about taking Hyunwoo’s Gems after killing him, but he had witnessed Hyunwoo’s body healing by itself . There was no guarantee that a healing Gem was involved in that process .

‘Also, Kim Jinsoo overclocked his Gems . ’

Jinsoo had overclocked his Gems to increase his chances of winning in this fight . Sungyoon could tell it as Jinsoo had shown all his Gems when he previously displayed his Diamond rank Gem . Those Gems were now shining more than before . It also meant that Jinsoo could take more abuse .

He might have to fight another battle after this, so Sungyoon had to do his best to keep his body in optimal condition .

‘I have no choice but to keep healing my wounds this way . ’

Sungyoon looked at Jinsoo .

‘Thankfully, he’s weak . ’

If Jinsoo could hear Sungyoon's thoughts, he would be hopping mad .

“Ahhhhhhhk!”

With only venom in his voice, Jinsoo dashed toward Sungyoon like a beast .

As he ran, a spittle came out of his mouth . There was no tactic or skill involved in his attack . He just blindly charged at Sungyoon . He had only one resolve: to plant his spear inside Sungyoon’s body .

Even if Jinsoo had attacked in a strategic manner, he would've had a hard time winning against Sungyoon . And since he rushed at Sungyoon like a mad dog, he just became easy prey for Sungyoon .

Sungyoon slowly diced up Jinsoo .

“Shit! Shit!”

Jinsoo once again healed his wounds . His healing Gem was also reaching its limit, and on the other hand, Sungyoon almost looked like his normal self .

Sungyoon's last wound, the one on his left hand, also healed . He then looked at his left arm with a satisfied expression and tapped the location where the wound had been . His skin felt smooth as usual .

‘I’ve fully healed . My body is at tip-top shape . ’

It meant that Jinsoo’s usefulness had come to an end .

Sssk!

Sungyoon unsummoned his halberd, then took up his sword and shield . Jinsoo also knew what that meant .

“Oooooooh!”

His confidence from before was nowhere to be seen . Jinsoo matched Sungyoon’s footsteps and retreated each time Sungyoon took a step toward him .

With all his heart, Jinsoo had wanted to be special, yet none of it could be found in how he acted .

“Are you going to end him?”

“There's no reason for me to drag this out anymore . ”

Sungyoon gave a cold answer to Hyunwoo as he pointed his sword toward Jinsoo .

“Ooh . Ooh-ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

A last-ditch effort, only that could describe Jinsoo's attack . Jinsoo squeezed out all his strength in his body and stabbed with his spear .

However, Sungyoon’s shield easily deflected the spear .

Suh-guhk!

Sungyoon’s sword made a perfect arc, and blood spurted out from Jinsoo’s neck .

“Kuhk!”

When the sword cut Jinsoo's throat, blood surged up into his mouth . Then, the lightning attacked through the wound .

“Ggoo-uhhhhh!”

Blood flowed back up, and his innards got cooked . His body emanated smoke as he let out unintelligible moans .

Jinsoo looked into Sungyoon's eyes for a brief moment as his life started to wane .

Koohng!

Jinsoo’s body fell to the ground like a log .

“It's over . ”

Hyunwoo spoke .

“… Why did he become like this?”

Sungyoon recalled the look within Jinsoo’s eyes . Those eyes were the eyes of a man seeing his life for the last time, yet they had been roiling with anger and jealousy .

“He’s a bit like me, but his situation was worse . I was unable to awaken as a 1st Gen when I was young, yet his life was worse than mine . Let’s just leave it at that . ”

It seemed this was the reason Hyunwoo had been patient with Jinsoo . There was bitter sympathy in Hyunwoo's eyes as he looked at Jinso .

“It's a sad story, but that’s his lot in life . It doesn’t really matter . ”

Hyunwoo was right . Jinsoo had betrayed the world . Even if Sungyoon could feel sympathy toward Jinsoo’s past, he couldn’t forgive his actions .

After staring at Jinsoo’s corpse, Sungyoon turned toward Hyunwoo once again .

‘I have to end this . ’

Even if Hyunwoo had safely transported his party members to a different part of the tower, Sungyoon was worried about their safety . Moreover, he had to get ready for Grenoid .

Sungyoon tightened his grasp on the sword as he approached Hyunwoo .

“Do you plan to end me right now?”

“I’ll ask this for the last time . Will you agree to return to Earth and stand trial?”

“You're saying that again? My feelings on that subject remain the same . I feel no guilt toward Earth or humanity . Above all else, I can't go back to Earth . Jinsoo really destroyed my heart . I don’t have much to live . ”

Worry appeared on Sungyoon’s face .

“Is this really the time to worry about such a thing? Every second is precious for you . As someone older than you, let me give you a warning . Keep your priorities straight . You have to take my Gems and quickly come up with a plan to deal with what’s about to come . Ah! For your information, my Gems will only come out if you kill me . ”

When he heard this, Sungyoon’s face hardened with resolve . He needed Hyunwoo’s Gems . To be precise, he needed Hyunwoo’s storage Gem .

Sungyoon pointed his sword toward Hyunwoo .

“It seems I don't have the time to wait for you to die . ”

“Yes . This is how it should be . ”

Death was right in front of him, yet Hyunwoo showed no fear . In fact, it looked as if he welcomed it .

“Do you have any last words?”

“No . The only regret I have is that I won’t be able to see the world after a 1st Gen saves it . It can’t be helped . ”

“Even if I do save the world, I won’t be doing it alone . ”

“However, you will perform the biggest role . Only idiots would look down on 1st Gens after that . ”

That was the world Hyunwoo wanted the most .

“I want to make fun of those who made fun of 1st Gens in the past . However, I’ll leave that to you . ”

“I won’t do it . ”

“Then, it can’t be helped . ”

Sungyoon raised his sword .

“This enclosed space will disappear once I die . You’ll rejoin your party members then . ”

Sungyoon looked down at Hyunwoo . Hyunwoo's twisted, monstrous face had a smile so peaceful that it could almost make one jealous .

“Farewell . ”

“Take care . ”

After a pleasant exchange, Sungyoon’s sword fell downward .