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 .