“Monsters?”


  “I don’t think so . It sounds like humans running . ”


  “Some monster’s footsteps can sound like a human’s . ”


  Russell’s party discussed what the sounds were .

  “It could be Fabion Connectors . ”


  When Bruce spoke those words in a low voice, everyone became tense . Until now, the monsters of the Great Labyrinth hadn’t been much of a challenge to the group, and that would only change if they went much deeper into the Great Labyrinth .

  However, it was an entirely different story if they had to face Connectors .

  Everyone raised their weapons .

  “I hope so . I don’t want to stay here any longer without knowing the reason Fabion is here . ”


  As Bruce grumbled, the footsteps came closer and closer . A figure rushed past a steep bend in the tunnel and appeared before the group . He was a human, a fully-armed human . As his eyes fell on the group, he stopped in his tracks .

  “Hey! Hello there!”


  Bruce waved at him .

  As of right now, the group wasn’t enemies with Fabion, and Bruce didn’t want to instigate a fight without a good reason .

  “I heard you guys are doing something fun here . We want to participa—”


  Boom!

  The sudden attack forced Bruce to shut his mouth . He had been friendly with his words, yet the newcomer had attacked with reckless abandon .

  “Did this bastard lose his mind?”


  Bruce became furious .

  “You fucking bastard! Fucking Fabion! In the end, you decided to attack us!”


  “F…… abion?”


  The attacker stopped moving for a moment .

  “Fa……Bi……On…… . ”


  He stammered as he repeated ’Fabion’ .

  “Faaaaaaaaaaabion!”


  Then, with a scream of despair, he started attacking once again . His scream contained despair, anger, hate, and grief, and it made Sungyoon’s party flinch . Their reaction wasn’t about strength . Any ‘human’ with normal thoughts and values would react to such a display of anguish .

  However, they were still in a battle, and nobody would concede an inch .

  “Did he lose his mind?”


  Bruce clenched his fists within his Gauntlets, then swung them toward the halberd nearing his face .

  Kwahng!

  Bruce effortlessly deflected the halberd .

  “Sleep for now!”


  He then spun his body to move behind the attacker and chopped down on his neck .

  Boom!

  “Ku-huhk!”


  Despite a helmet covering the attacker’s head, due to the blow, the attacker let out a scream and lost consciousness . He rolled across the ground as if he were a marionette whose strings had been cut .

  “What does this guy do for a living?”


  Bruce grumbled as he shook his fist . His opponent hadn’t been skillful, and he couldn’t even take down any member of the group . However, the attacker’s spirit had been amazing, and everyone had felt an oppressive sensation from him . It was as if a special brand of madness had infected the man’s heart .

  Russell approached the fallen man .

  “Are you sure you didn’t kill him?”


  “Of course . Do you know how much trouble I had to go through to control my power?”


  It would have been much easier for Bruce to just crush the helmet and the head .

  Russell took a knee and observed the attacker’s body . It was almost a miracle that the man’s armor Gem hadn’t broken . The armor had been damaged in many locations, and blood seeped out of the cracks in it .

  It was also evident that the halberd was damaged .

  Zzuh-uhk!

  While Russell was checking the body, the attacker’s shield disappeared and one of his Gems broke . Extreme damage to the shield had done irreparable damage to the Gem .

  Russell clicked his tongue .

  “He’s a complete mess . Close to death’s door . ”


  “I’m just putting this out there . I didn’t do it . ”


  “I know . ”


  Bruce sauntered forward .

  “Where did he receive these wounds though? It seems he was running away by himself . Did the Fabion Connectors get wiped? I thought Fabion had dispatched Hyunwoo Sung and their elite team here . What’s going on?”


  “We’ll soon find out the answer . ”


  Russell called out to one of his party members, a skinny man clad in a similar robe as Emily’s .

  “Please heal him . ”


  “Are you sure?”


  “We have to keep him alive to extract information . ”


  Russell’s party member nodded and raised his staff . The staff radiated light .

  ‘So he’s the Connector in charge of healing within Sir Russell’s party . ’


  This Connector’s outer garb and role in the party were the same as Emily’s . After activating his Gem, the healer from Russell’s party was about to place the healing spell on the attacker, when—


  Hwah-roohk!

  At first, a small flash of light appeared in the tunnel where the attacker had come from, but the light soon turned into fire . In the blink of an eye, fire was all the group could see .

  Kwahhhhhhhhhng!

  The raging fire swept through the labyrinth like a tsunami made out of flames . The heat increased the surrounding temperature, and light burned bright . Flames danced in exuberance before it all disappeared .

  However, the heat remained even after the fire had disappeared . A normal person would have instantly died facing such heat .

  Juh-buhk . Juh-buhk .

  A man walked through this oven in an easygoing manner . He looked at the fallen attacker, then at the people surrounding him .

  “Oh my! Look who it is?”


  Hyunwoo sounded happy as if he had seen a couple of old friends, but the group wasn’t in the mood to humor him .

  “You fucking bastard! I knew you wanted to pick a fight with me!”


  Bruce madly hopped . He had ordered everyone to retreat and blocked the attack head-on . As he looked at Hyunwoo, he clashed his gauntlets into each other to create a threatening sound .

  Russell was the opposite, and he just glared at Hyunwoo with his cold eyes .

  “I picked a fight? No way! I didn’t know it was you . That’s why I attacked . In fact, I’m even close to someone in your group . ”


  Hyunwoo looked at Sungyoon, and his eyes became the shape of a crescent moon .

  “Alright . What are you guys doing here?”


  “That is—”


  “Ah! What a moment . ”


  Hyunwoo raised his hand to stop Sungyoon from speaking . He then walked toward the attacker . To dodge Hyunwoo’s attack, Sungyoon and the group had distanced themselves from the attacker . So Hyunwoo was closer to him than them .

  Surprisingly, the attacker had survived the fierce flames . However, that was it . He was barely hanging on . The attack had destroyed his armor, and his Gem had broken; burns had appeared all over his body . He no longer shed blood as his wounds had burned shut .

  “Kuh-huh-huhk!”


  The attacker felt enormous pain from his blackened flesh, but he didn’t have the strength to scream . He just let out a whimper .

  Tuh-buhk!

  As he heard footsteps close in on him, the attacker barely opened one of his eyes to look at Hyunwoo . He opened his mouth, and several words leaked out . His voice was very low, but Sungyoon and the group could hear it with their enhanced senses .

  ‘What language is that?’


  Fabion was a Korean company . Even though a Korean company could also have connectors from other countries, such as the Ross siblings in Jungbum, Fabion mostly consisted of Koreans .

  However, the ambusher hadn’t spoken Korean; his words couldn’t be linked to any language the group knew of .

  Sssk!

  Hyunwoo raised his sword .

  Russell stepped forward when he realized what Hyunwoo was about to do .

  “Hey! Wait a moment! What are you doi—”


  Poo-oohk!

  However, Russell was too far away to stop Hyunwoo . Without any mercy, Hyunwoo thrust his sword downward . The tip of the sword pierced through the attacker’s head, and his body shook once before slumping .

  “Well?”


  Hyunwoo let out a bright smile toward the Connectors looking at him with surprised eyes .

  “Shall we talk about this current situation?”


  Every Connector had the same thought . They hated how Hyunwoo was acting .

  ***

  “So you’re saying that . . . ”


  Hyunwoo led the group forward, while Russell continued speaking .

  “You guys came here to exterminate the ambushers who had attacked Armstrong’s research team?”


  “Yes . ”


  Hyunwoo seemed quite familiar with this region, and he led the group down the tunnel without any hesitation .

  “They’ve caused a lot of trouble recently, and they slowed down our ability to gather moonstones . Fabion wants to be profitable, so we couldn’t stand by and do nothing . We worked very hard to gather information about the ambushers, and we found their base not too long ago . ”


  Russell didn’t trust Hyunwoo and Fabion even after the explanation .

  “Then why are you here by yourselves? You should’ve reported it to Armstrong before moving . That’s the much safer option . Moreover, you have a duty to report this information . ”


  “We thought the information might leak out if we did that . Information always leaks from unexpected places . These people are terrorists who can freely travel between Earth and the Moon to conduct their acts of terror . We thought it was likely they had some spies within Armstrong . ”


  “And your company has no spies?”


  “We were very careful in who we chose for this mission . ”


  “Do you think such an excuse will work on us?”


  Bruce shot back from the side .

  There were too many holes in Hyunwoo’s explanation to take it at face value .

  Hyunwoo just shrugged .

  “It can’t be helped if you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth . ”


  Hyunwoo’s voice sounded as if he didn’t care whether they believed him or not .

  Bruce wanted to hit Hyunwoo, but Russell held him back .

  “So you attacked us because you mistook us for terrorists?”


  “Of course . I was chasing down the ambusher who had run away, and I saw you guys around him . I assumed there were only the terrorists and us Fabion Connectors in the Great Labyrinth . I never expected a third party to enter this place . Thankfully, you blocked my attack . I don’t want to kill Connectors from the same side . ”


  “You killed the man who ran away because he was a terrorist?”


  “That’s right . ”


  “You didn’t kill him to shut him up?”


  Hyunwoo looked at Russell with a blank expression .

  “I know you want to link me and Fabion to something nefarious . However, you will be sorely disappointed once you find out the truth . I killed an enemy . That’s all . ”


  Russell was about to speak again when Hyunwoo spoke again .

  “We are here . ”


  A large space appeared at the end of the tunnel, and Sungyoon and the group immediately scrunched up their faces .

  “The smell . . . . ”


  Emily pinched her nose . The others did the same in the presence of the acrid burning smell .

  “This is the base of the terrorists . ”


  Hyunwoo pointed at the open space . The corpses and mounds of ashes everywhere proved that something like a village once existed in this place .