Moon's Labyrinth

‘Meteors?’

The items falling from the sky looked like big rocks with propulsion systems attached to them . Since the rocks had fallen from space, they could technically be called meteors .

- Didn’t I tell you before? The scientists were also busy working on something .

‘She did say that . ’

A few days ago, Sungyoon had encountered a group of scientists, including Chelsea, looking up at space . He remembered her saying something similar .

- We put propulsion devices inside chunks of Mana Knight, then shot them into the Moon’s orbit . This allowed us to control their trajectories . We can hit whatever we want!

‘This is why she said she was mimicking a meteorite fall . ’

An orbital bombardment from space, the scientists were executing a tactic mainly shown or described in sci-fi movies and books .

Chelsea excitedly described the attack, but Sungyoon didn’t feel that excitement . He had almost died when a meteorite had whizzed past him .

“That's amazing . However, you should've told me about this plan beforehand . ”

- I’m sorry, Mr . Sungyoon .

The one to apologize was the Mayor .

- The scientists had assured me that it would work, but I had considered it to be a highly uncertain plan . That was why I hadn’t included it as an asset for our attack .

Sungyoon heard Chelsea grumble . She got offended when she heard that the Mayor hadn’t believed in scientists .

A large number of these meteors were on standby near the tower, so rocks continued to fall in massive numbers . The wounds these meteors left on Grenoid healed almost instantly, but they were enough to make him retreat .

Puh-uhng! Puh-uhng!

A couple of meteorites shattered on impact with Grenoid’s magical cannon, but they successfully pushed Grenoid below the tower .

“Now! Shoot!”

Russell yelled, and the mages shot their spells toward Grenoid all at once .

Unlike before, this wasn’t an attempt to push back Grenoid . It was a fully offensive attack . It seemed as though the spells contained all the rage the mages had been suppressing until now . These spells had specific aims: smash, mince, and disintegrate the opponent .

Kwahhhhhhhhhng!

Fire, electricity, rock, explosions, gale, etc, all kinds of violent attacks hit Grenoid . As a heap of wounds appeared on his body, Grenoid started to resemble swiss cheese .

When they saw what happened to Grenoid, the Connectors felt as if all of their stress had disappeared .

“I never expected our attacks to work so well against it . ”

Grace spoke as she looked at her hand, which had directed her spell .

“I’m sure Grenoid isn’t in its normal state . The ambient magical energy is way too low . ”

“Ah . I forgot about that . ”

Sungyoon reminded Grace .

Grenoid had the power to completely control ambient magical energy . Planote's mages had created the stake to drain the magical energy of the Moon, and their arrangement was paying off right now .

Koo-ooh-oong!

As Grenoid’s enormous body toppled backward, blue smoke emanated from his wounds . The tentacle-like structure of the Great Labyrinth, which was supporting the tower, got damaged .

Woooooooooohng!

At that moment, the Great Labyrinth shook . It became like a sponge sucking in water, a vampire that was greedy for blood . The Great Labyrinth started sucking in the blue smoke, which was Grenoid's blood .

Ggool-luhng! Ggool-luhng!

“Ooh-ahhhhh! What the hell! That’s creepier than Grenoid!”

This sight unsettled Tim . The other Connectors showed similar reactions . Many of them even dry heaved . The Great Labyrinth was crawling, and it gave them the willies .

Hairworms were a phylum of parasites that was universally hated for being gross, and right now, the Great Labyrinth looked like a mass of hairworms crawling over each other . However, the Great Labyrinth didn't care what others thought about it . It wouldn't give up on a source that was providing it pure magical energy .

The Great Labyrinth followed the system Hyunwoo created as it continued to move and suck in Grenoid’s magical energy .

Ssssssk!

More tentacles appeared out of the complicated structures of the Great Labyrinth . Such a ridiculous sight was hard to describe in words .

The Great Labyrinth grew like a living organism and created a wall around Grenoid . The tentacle-like structure acted as worms trying to crawl through an empty tunnel . The tentacles dug into Grenoid’s wounds .

Kwah-jeek! Kwah-jeek! Kwah-jeek!

They started to suck in the magical energy within Grenoid’s body . The amount of magical energy being drained into the Great Labyrinth couldn’t be compared to before .

The Great Labyrinth had fully surrounded Grenoid, and the several thousand tentacles looked like hungry snakes attacking their prey .

Kwahhhhk!

A light appeared from the tower .

Kwahhhhhhhng!

It had seemed like the Great Labyrinth would swallow Grenoid whole, but in the end, Grenoid escaped the constraints . The Great Labyrinth broke apart like an empty pile of bamboo .

Despite losing its support, the tower continued hovering in the air and letting out a light . It meant the preparation was done .

“Did you finish evacuating everyone, Mayor?”

- Yes . Everyone is heading to Earth on the spaceships . The only ones still on the Moon are you guys .

“That's good to hear . I think it's about to start . ”

Kwah-jee-jee-jee-jeek!

Cracks started to appear on the Moon's surface .

***

Jimin was sitting in her backyard, looking up at the Moon . The Moon was clearer than ever as it had been growing bigger in the sky in recent days . It shone its bright light on Earth .

Since the Moon was approaching Earth, Earth was suffering from numerous natural disasters . The whole world was desperately working together to minimize the damage, but at a certain point, they reached a limit . The damage to Earth grew worse as the Moon moved closer . If this continued, it would probably drive humanity into extinction .

‘I guess it won’t matter if the Moon collides with Earth . That’ll be the end of everything . ’

Her husband and his comrades were desperately fighting on the Moon to avoid such an outcome .

“Mom . ”

“Why are you awake, Shinhae?”

Shinhae hugged Jimin from behind, and Jimin held Shinhae’s warm hand .

“I can’t fall asleep . ”

Shinhae had recently started to act more childish . It was unlike her normally mature self .

‘She’s worried . ’

As always, children quickly picked up on something wrong . Right now, a cloud of uncertainty was hanging around humanity, and it was starting to affect Shinhae . It didn’t matter if Shinhae was quick on the uptake or not . At this point, everyone knew the world was in a precarious situation .

“Really? Do you want to watch the Moon here with Mom?”

“Yes!”

Shinhae moved deeper into Jimin’s embrace . She dug her face into Jimin’s bosom when she smelled her gentle scent . It was something Shinhae had never experienced before with Miyun, her birth mother .

Jimin patted Shinhae on the back .

Although they weren't related by blood, the similar wounds they had suffered in their childhood had created a bond stronger than the one between most mothers and daughters .

The two of them hugged each other for a long time . When her anxiety subsided, Shinhae wiggled to turn herself around . She sat on Jimin’s knee, and Jimin encircled her arms around the little girl . Shinhae smiled when Jimin's arms enveloped her . Jimin knew why Shinhae was doing this, so she hugged Shinhae harder .

“Mom! Moon! The Moon!”

It seemed she had finally noticed the Moon . Shinhae’s eyes twinkled .

“Wow! It’s so big!”

“Yes . It's big, right?”

“Is Dad up there?”

“Yes . ”

The mother and daughter affectionately conversed with each other . Sungyoon was fighting a fierce battle on the Moon with the fate of the world on the line . However, Jimin didn’t show any of her concerns on her face .

“Uh? Look over there, Mom!”

Shinhae suddenly pointed up toward the Moon, and Jimin lifted her head .

‘That’s . . . !’

“Wow! It's so pretty! The Moon looks pretty like glitter!”

The bright full Moon sparkled in the air as it started to disintegrate .

***

Kwahhhhhhng!

It was an incredible sight that looked as if God were trying to punish humanity for its sins . The ground churned and went under as the earth from below surged to the top . However, this lasted only a moment, then it churned in reverse .

All the Great Labyrinths and the other labyrinths on the Moon shared magical energy as they spurred on this chain of destruction .

“Mr . Sungyoon! We have to go!”

It really looked like the apocalypse . Tim urged Sungyoon, who had been watching everything unfold, into action .

“Understood . ”

The only ones left there were Sungyoon and Tim . Sungyoon looked at the roaring Grenoid and the tower letting out light in the air for the last time . Then, he passed through the portal with Tim . They arrived at the capital of Planote .

“Everyone is here now . ”

Grace, who had passed through the portal earlier, greeted Sungyoon and Tim . Emily stood next to Grace .

“Where’s everyone?”

“They exited the palace . ”

“Let’s head out too . ”

Sungyoon and his party members moved to search out the others . Since the capital was located in the Moon, the vibrations were also affecting it . The palace shook so hard that it felt as if it would collapse . Of course, none of the Connectors would die from the palace collapsing on top of them, but it also wasn’t wise to stay inside a building right now .

When the party exited the palace, they caught sight of the other Connectors staring up at the ceiling .

“Ah! The Knight is here . ’

Russell, who was with Bruce, Plu-El, and Aruwen, greeted Sungyoon .

“Hey . Are you sure we’ll be fine here?”

Bruce kept looking at his surroundings as he asked the question . Even they wouldn’t survive if the capital got buried deep underground .

Plu-El answered him .

“Our cities survived even when they were ejected into space . They are fully awakened now, so they’ll survive . ”

“I really hope that’s true . ”

It seemed Bruce felt endangered by the development . Aruwen frowned when Bruce didn’t put much faith in the cities built by his ancestors . However, he didn’t say anything .

Kwha-jeek! Kwha-jee-jeek!

The vibrations started affecting the walls surrounding the capital city . The walls cracked, and debris started to fall .

“Everyone, get down and grab something!”

Sungyoon yelled as he grabbed the pillar of a nearby building . All the Connectors quickly moved to anchor themselves to nearby buildings . Some grabbed a pillar, like Sungyoon, some grabbed onto the buildings' walls, while others went inside the houses and grabbed onto the sills of windows .

Kwahhhhhng!

As if a bomb had gone off nearby, the ceiling exploded outward with a loud sound .

Too-hwahhhhhk!

At the same time, a force pressed down on the Connectors .

‘We are flying upwards!’

Sungyoon could feel it . The capital and the bedrock supporting the city were accelerating upward toward the sky . The city that had been buried deep underground was now exposed to the light .

The Connectors tightly held on to the nearby structures as they looked toward the light .

“Ah!”

Someone exclaimed . The scene in front of them overwhelmed their senses . An enormous amount of rocks still obstructed their view, but the light from the Sun and the beautiful Earth was too beautiful . Then, they saw the Moon crack and send an enormous amount of rocks into space .

The Moon was disintegrating . A large satellite was breaking apart as dust and debris dispersed into space . It was a shocking and majestic sight . The jaws of these battle-tested Connectors fell to the ground as they looked at the sight unfolding in front of them .

Hoooohng!

Something flew past the capital . Naturally, the Connectors chased after this item with their eyes . They saw a structure letting out a light as bright as the sun . It was the tower .