Moon's Labyrinths

“Isn’t it odd?”

Emily spoke .

“Monsters carrying around weapons, it is another unsolved mystery of the labyrinths . Someone manufactured those weapons, but the monsters wielding the weapons are probably incapable of doing it . ”

The three of them started roaming the labyrinth once again .

It seemed this floor mainly consisted of groups of Goblins as the party mostly ran into them .

Kwah-jeek!

An annoying Goblin was shooting arrows at them from a distance . Sungyoon brought down his halberd on the last Goblin, vertically splitting its head in half . The corpse fell to the ground .

“They are really annoying . ”

After killing three Goblins, Tim approached them . These monsters used numerous types of weapons, formations, and tactics . It was enough to get on a person’s nerves .

“All the animal type monsters immediately charged at us with their teeth bared . They look cute when compared to the Goblins . ”

“Right?”

When Tim realized Sungyoon had the same thoughts as him, he laughed out loud .

Even as they bantered with each other, the party diligently moved forward, killing all the monsters in their path .

Hoo-doohk!

‘Huh?’

Tim, who had been walking in the front, looked at the floor . It felt a bit odd, so he stomped his foot a couple of times .

Tuhng! Tuhng!

He had expected to feel a solid surface, but his face slightly stiffened . The floor felt hollow, as if there were a large empty space beneath its surface .

Tim was taken aback . He had never experienced this before, nor had he heard of something like this happening before .

“What’s wrong?”

Sungyoon and Emily had kept a bit of distance as they followed Tim . When they saw the serious expression on Tim’s face, they became guarded . Sungyoon gripped his ax and shield, while Emily also raised her shield .

“The surface of the floor here feels weird . ”

“In what way?”

“It feels as if it’s empty below, like a surface that is about to form a sinkhole . ”

As he spoke those words, Tim’s face stiffened . And when he raised his head, he saw the faces of Sungyoon and Emily stiffen too . It didn’t matter who was first . They all tried their best to get out of there .

However, they were a step too late .

Ooh-jee-jee-jeek!

An ominous sound rang out as the floor started to crack . Their faces turned white as they desperately tried to step off the cracked surface .

Koo-roo-roo-roo-roong!

A large sound rang out inside the labyrinth .

The floor started to collapse .

“This is...!”

“What the hell is this!”

“Kyahhhhhhhhk!”

The area of the collapse was too large . It was impossible to run away . The only thing they could do was scream . Then they fell downwards alongside the debris of the destroyed floor . At this moment, they really hated that the gravity of the labyrinth was similar to Earth’s gravity .

Koo-goo-goo-goong!

The sound of rocks and dirt hitting the surface of the floor appeared . The connectors were barely able to maintain their balance as they landed on top of the messily strewn dirt and rocks . Although they had fallen from significant heights, they possessed the body of a Connector . They were unhurt . However, rocks still fell on top of them, so they nimbly dodged . If they couldn’t dodge, they protected themselves with the shield . Finally, the floor stopped caving in .

“Ha-ah!”

“We’re still alive!”

Tim and Emily sat down on the pile of dirt . Sungyoon brushed the dirt out of his hair as he looked up at the place where they had fallen from .

It had been a long distance . It felt like falling from the 3rd floor of an apartment building . The cave-in encompassed a large area, so it created a large hole, and small amounts of dirt kept falling from the edge .

‘Where is this place?’

Sungyoon looked at his surroundings . If he thought about it logically, since they had fallen from the 7th floor, they should be on the 8th floor . However, Sungyoon’s senses told him that this wasn’t the case .

‘The magical energy is too thin here . ’

The Magical energy in this place was much thinner compared to a normal labyrinth . That was why the external information delivered to them by the magical energy was extremely sparse . They could see, but it was like the vision when seeing through a fog .

The siblings slowly got up, and then they approached Sungyoon, who asked them a question .

“Are you guys ok?”

“I’m fine . ”

“I’m also fine . ”

Thankfully, they hadn’t suffered any damage . They were just covered in dirt .

“I never expected the labyrinth to cave in like this . This is absurd . ”

Tim let out a sigh . Then he looked at his surroundings .

“Where are we? Did we drop to the 8th floor?”

“I don’t think so . The magical energy is too thin for a labyrinth . ”

After hearing Sungyoon’s words, they moved their hands through the empty air .

“You are right . It is thin . ”

“That means we aren’t in a labyrinth . Is that the reason why I can’t see very well?”

Emily and Tim spoke one after another .

However, their curiosity lasted only a moment . The reality of their current situation came crashing down on them .

“What should we do?”

Sungyoon asked .

“Should we explore this place? Or maybe we should find a way to get back up . ”

Everyone looked up at the place they had fallen from . While they were wondering about ways to get back up, something happened .

Woo-oong!

At first, it was faint, and one could feel a minor disturbance in the ambient magical energy . However, the flow of magical energy got stronger, and in a flash, it started to run amok like a storm . The dense and turbulent magical energy flowed down through the large hole . They were able to see better, but they didn’t rejoice at this change .

“Mana Stream?”

Sungyoon looked towards Tim in surprise .

“Is it already time for the Mana Stream?”

“N-no! There is no way! At the very least, we still have three months!”

Tim clearly looked taken aback by all of this . However, the Mana Stream didn’t care about their feelings and kept getting stronger as time passed .

“W-we should be ok . We know Mr . Sungyoon isn’t affected by the Mana Stream, and that remains true for us too . Moreover, if we take into consideration that we are in a low-rank labyrinth, we won’t face powerful monsters that we can’t kill . ”

“Emily is right . The strongest monsters in this labyrinth are Orcs . We should be fine . ”

If their words were true, he wouldn’t suffer the same fate as when he had almost died encountering a Bigfoot at his labyrinth’s entrance .

“I’m glad to hear that . ”

However, Sungyoon’s relief came too early . He quickly looked upwards . The Ross siblings also moved their gaze up .

They watched the edge of the hole . It was barely holding on from crumbling further, and lights had appeared near that region .

“What the hell is that?”

Tim mumbled to himself . It seemed the Ross siblings had never seen monsters being summoned .

“It is the sight of monsters being replenished by the Mana Stream . ”

“Ah! Is that what it is?”

The siblings looked with interest . This was their first time seeing monsters being replenished, but they weren’t worried since they knew the truly powerful monsters won’t appear here .

However, their expectations were completely betrayed .

Wooooooooong!

The magical energy vibrated more and more, and the size of the light got larger . As if the rampaging magical energy were rejoicing this event and expressing its joy, it started to swirl around the light .

Then, a foot appeared out of the light .

Koooooong!

The sound of a heavy crash rang out . Only a single foot had landed on the ground, yet it felt as if an earthquake had happened . It was the same when the other foot landed . Two massive legs had appeared out of the light .

Sungyoon’s party was speechless . They understood it at an instinctual level . The monster coming out of the light wasn’t like the Goblins or the Orcs . There was no way this monster was insignificant like them .

Sssssssk!

The light disappeared, and the labyrinth was once again filled with darkness . But now, the monster stood at the edge of the hole where the floor had collapsed .

Their first impression was that it was big and massive . Its skin was smooth . It wasn’t a living being, and there was an inanimate look to it . The monster seemed to be made out of an unknown ore . From his vantage point, Sungyoon had no idea what kind of ore let out an orange light .

It had two arms and two legs . All its limbs were thick, the arms especially long . At the end of its arms, it possessed a hand with eight thick fingers . There was no head . To be precise, six ores were embedded in the upper region of its body, next to its shoulders . It seemed these ores acted as its eyes .

“ . . . does anyone know what that is?”

Sungyoon asked .

He had been diligent about reading up on all the monsters discovered in labyrinths . However, he had never come across a description of a monster that looked like this . Tim and Emily kept their eyes on the monster as they shook their heads from side to side .

Boom!

It moved . It had taken only a single step, yet one could feel its overwhelming force . Sungyoon’s party took a step backward .

“W . . . what should we do? Should we fight it?”

Emily spoke as she raised her shield . It was as if she wanted to disappear behind her shield . Both Sungyoon and Tim shook their heads from side to side .

“If possible, I think it would be best if we avoid fighting it . ”

“I don’t think my ax blade can cut through its skin . ”

The party was in agreement . Everyone took another step backward . If they could, they wished to run away to a place where the monster couldn’t see them . However, there was one problem .

‘Will that bastard let us run away in peace?’

It was the only reason they didn’t turn their backs on the monster and run away . They were worried that if they made any sudden movements, the monster would show hostility towards them .

“It looks really slow at first glance . Maybe, if we run at full speed, it can’t catch us . ”

Tim was hopeful as he gave his opinion . It looked slow, so Tim might be right .

Tuh-uhk!

The monster placed its hands on the edge of the hole . Sungyoon’s party flinched . Fortunately, it wasn’t a hostile action towards them . One of its eight eyes was dyed brown .

Sssssssrk!

“Uh?”

“Uh, uh?”

The party was taken aback . The sight was like watching new skin form over a wound . Rocks started to grow out from the edge of the hole, slowly filling in the destroyed surface of the floor . The hole in the labyrinth’s floor kept getting smaller .

“ . . . it is repairing the labyrinth?”

Sungyoon and Tim agreed with Emily . It looked as if the monster was only mending the hole formed on the labyrinth’s floor .

“ . . . it is constructing the labyrinth?”

Tim spoke . If what he said were true, the three of them were witnessing something amazing . One of the mysteries regarding the origins of labyrinth might have been revealed to them .

His eyes shone .

“If we capture it, do you think we’ll become famous?”

“Don’t talk nonsense . ”

Even though Emily gave a warning, Tim found his own suggestion to be very tempting .

“No, think about it . It is like some kind of a construction robot . What if it doesn’t have any combat ability? Moreover, if it closes up the hole, how are we going to get out of here? It isn’t a guarantee that there is another exit . ”

Even if one put aside his claims of wanting to become famous, it was true that they would be in an awkward spot if the hole was fixed .

Something happened at that moment .

-Kyahhhhk!

A sound came from behind the monster’s back . Sungyoon attentively listened .

“It’s the Goblins . ”

He couldn’t see them, yet he could tell it was them . The sound of small feet running across the floor was easy to distinguish .

“Are they heading towards us?”

“I’m not sure . ”

Sungyoon gave an indefinite answer to Tim’s question . Since he couldn’t see them, he had no idea where that sound was coming from . Still, they took out their weapons just in case . But even with a commotion behind it, the large monster kept fixing the labyrinth .

-Koo-rahhhhhhk!

The Goblins let out a scream . Their eyes widened . Sungyoon’s party could see the Goblins jumping on the back of the large monster through the hole, They started stabbing it with their short sword .

However, the truly frightening sight appeared next .

Kwah-jeek!

The large monster had both hands on the floor . But its upper body turned extremely fast . It moved like a beam of light, and its massive palm swatted a Goblin out of the air . The Goblin’s bones were pulverized, and its flesh burst open . It was sent flying at a speed higher than with what he had come running towards the large monster .

Puh-uhk!

The Goblin’s corpse fell through the hole, landing in front of Sungyoon’s party . The corpse was in a truly unspeakable state . The three of them were at a loss for words .

The battle continued above . The large monster’s movements were extremely agile and fast, unbefitting its massive body . But befitting its massive body, it had incredible strength .

The four Goblins attacking it instantly turned into a corpse . Two more corpses landed in front of Sungyoon’s party .

Kahng! Kahng!

It seemed a couple of Goblins were still left . Arrows kept flying towards the large monster . However, its body was made out of hard ore, so the arrows couldn’t even scratch its skin . Sungyoon’s party thought it would also crush the rest of the Goblins .

However, they guessed wrong once again .

Sssssssk!

The eye, which had turned to brown earlier, started to take on the color of red . Then . . .

Puhhhhhhhhhng!

The dark labyrinth instantly turned red . Flame erupted from the monster’s eyes and swept through the labyrinth . The hot flame surged towards them, so they subconsciously raised their shields to block it .