Moon’s Labyrinths (Web Novel)

Every one of them was a prominent high rank Connector. Sungyoon thought this venture might turn out to be a success.

“Of course, they are the cream of the crop. We also asked other high rank Connectors to participate too.”

“I’m surprised you got them to agree.”

“We’ll allow them to own real estate in Armstrong city.”

‘I can see why they joined.’

Even if one possessed a massive amount of money, one couldn’t ‘own’ real estate in Armstrong city. So this incentive was enough to bring the high rank Connectors to the table.

“We’ll give you the same deal, Mr. Woo. Of course, the size of the reward is proportional to the skill of the Connector. For starters, we are willing to give you the building which Jungbum is currently renting. Any additional rewards will depend on how you perform.”

Sungyoon had heard Jimin complain about the exorbitant amount of money she had to pay for renting their current building. So this was welcome news.

“Why me? I'm less skilled than these Connectors.”

“We know that. We don’t expect too much from you, but you shouldn’t sell yourself too short. In terms of results, not many have accomplished as much as you. This is especially true when we start talking about Connectors who awakened around the same time as you. Mr. Woo is plenty strong, and the fact that you can enter the Great Labyrinth is proof.”

Many Connectors refused to go into the Great Labyrinth even if they were capable of entering it. They feared it. Then there were the countless Connectors who didn’t even have the ability. Sungyoon could be considered one of the powerful Connectors in Armstrong city.

“Moreover, Mr. Woo was one of the first to survive an encounter with a Golem. You also defeated a Golem with your party members in Armstrong. Above all else...”

Smith appraised Sungyoon.

“You dispatched a Super Golem.”

“I don't remember how I did it.”

“We already know that. However, it doesn’t change the fact that you used your unknown power to defeat the Super Golem. It's enough to take you along as the wild card.”

“… Where are you going to carry out this plan? There is no way you are going to do this in the sealed Beginner’s Labyrinth, right?”

“We aren’t that crazy.”

Sungyoon thought this plan was already plenty crazy, but he didn’t speak it out loud.

“In order to assure the safety of Armstrong city, we plan to eliminate the Golems that appear within the Beginner’s Labyrinth as well, but that will have to wait for a later date. We’ll only do so if we are confident that we can eliminate all the Golems. I don't believe there is an unlimited number of Golems, but there might be more than expected. Also, there is a chance that the Golems might no longer appear in other labyrinths if we eliminate all of them in this expedition.”

Thankfully, they weren’t going to be reckless by going to the Beginner’s Labyrinth.

“We decided to carry out this plan in a labyrinth that’s about three days' travel away. We’ll start off slowly by carrying out experiments.”

Three days. It was a vague answer.

Even if it took three days to get there, Sungyoon had no idea how many kilometers he would have to travel if he went in a straight line.

The surface of the Moon wasn’t level, and it had a lot of large craters. If one wanted a smooth ride, one had to drive around a lot of the terrain.

Thankfully, Smith solved Sungyoon’s doubt.

“There are no roundabout paths to this labyrinth. It will take around three days going in a straight line.”

“That’s good.”

Sungyoon pondered for a brief moment.

“What’s the date of this expedition?”

“It’ll start two weeks later.”

“If that's so, my party members can’t participate.”

“Why?”

“Two of them are stuck doing their standby duty. Ms. Grace is working hard to further the recovery of London.”

“It’s fine. Though it's a shame because Mr. Woo’s party members are fine Connectors. However, it can’t be helped.”

Sungyoon made his decision.

“Understood. I’ll accept the offer.”

Sungyoon needed to gain more experience, and he thought this would be a good opportunity for him. He also liked the idea of owning real estate in Armstrong city. Moreover, it should be relatively safe if he was with Connectors like Hyunwoo and Sir Russell.

“You made the right choice.”

Smith laughed as if he was satisfied.

***

Gee-eek!

Sungyoon parked his vehicle. A cloud of dust trailed behind the vehicle, and the dust slowly settled down to the ground.

He had arrived at the labyrinth where the Golem eradication plan would be enacted.

Sungyoon could see a lot of vehicles and people gathered in front of the labyrinth.

These Moon Surface Vehicles were larger than normal since they were owned by the highest-ranked Connectors.

However, one vehicle was distinct from all others. It was so large that even the second biggest Moon Surface Vehicle couldn't hold a candle to it. This vehicle could hardly be called a Moon Surface Vehicle as it looked like a train in which four vehicles were connected to each other.

‘Is that it?’

Sungyoon approached the massive Moon Surface Vehicle and knocked on the door.

Sssk!

The door unlocked, and Sungyoon went inside.

He couldn’t immediately see the interior as another door stood in front of him.

Ssssk!

The door behind him closed, then he was sprayed by a white chemical.

This chemical was a disinfectant. As always, it was unpleasant to experience this.

Sungyoon brushed off his slightly wet clothes in annoyance.

When the disinfectant process was done, the inner door started to open.

As expected of such a large vehicle, the interior was spacious. It was more apt to call it a mobile building rather than a vehicle.

“Welcome, Mr. Sungyoon!”

An acquaintance greeted Sungyoon. The director of the International Moon research facility warmly welcomed Sungyoon.

“It's an amazing vehicle.”

“Ha ha! Do you like our mobile researcher facility?”

The Director let out a belly laugh.

“However, it isn’t that comfortable. Most of this vehicle is a research installation. The living space is tiny.”

“Where are the other Connectors?”

“They are in the labyrinth. They said they’d rather spend time in the labyrinth than in the small Moon Surface Vehicles or the boring surface of the Moon.”

“As expected of top-class Connectors...”

“I know what you mean.”

The Director sounded a bit despondent. He had to put in all kinds of effort to enter a labyrinth even once, whereas these Connectors treated a trip to the labyrinth as if it were a camping trip. He was very envious of them.

“I heard about it, but I never expected all these researchers to come here.”

Sungyoon looked around. Researchers in spacesuits were moving all around the vehicle.

“If the search-and-destroy mission for the Golems is successful, we plan on entering the labyrinth to investigate it. Of course, we'll only do so if the Golems no longer appear. We might get the chance to gather numerous samples we couldn’t collect before. We would also like to research how all of you fight.”

This could potentially be a life-threatening venture, yet the Director’s eyes were twinkling. It seemed he didn’t even care about the dangers.

“Ah. You're here, Mr. Sungyoon!”

Chelsea crossed over from a different section of the vehicle. She waved her hand in greeting.

“Ms. Chelsea came too?”

“Of course. She's one of the few researchers who has experienced going inside a labyrinth.”

Chelsea made a V sign with her fingers.

“I look forward to working with you again. After the Golems appeared, we couldn’t venture into the labyrinths.”

If Sungyoon had remembered correctly, Chelsea, the Director, and other researchers had left to investigate other labyrinths on the Moon.

“Was it difficult for you to continue your research?”

“It really was.”

It seemed Chelsea appreciated Sungyoon asking the question. She started speaking in rapid-fire.

“The higher-ups of Armstrong told us to suspend our exploration until further permission. Even before all of that, Connectors refused to provide their labyrinths as a place for research. It really was a mess. Above all else, Connectors kept whispering that the researchers were at fault for the incident in Armstrong. One of our colleagues did guide the culprits behind it, but these culprits were Connectors, not us!”

By the end of her rant, Chelsea was yelling.

It seemed she had kept a lot of things bottled up. Fortunately, the vehicle was on the surface of the Moon, and no sound could leak out of this place. Sungyoon considered it fortunate that no Connectors heard what she said.

It seemed all the researchers agreed with Chelsea’s assertion as they all nodded.

“Well, everything will turn out fine if the eradication of the Golems is successful. That's why please work hard.”

“I’ll do my best.”

The Director joined in on the conversation.

“We really need your help. I don’t think our research will bear fruit in the near future, but we really want to find out more information about the Golems.”

“Understood. If you think about it, it's amazing that we only found out about the Golems in recent days.”

Sungyoon was bringing up an obvious point.

The Director answered him.

“As you know, the walls of the labyrinths are very sturdy. Until Mr. Sungyoon brought us the information, we had assumed the walls were indestructible. However, it seems only Connectors of a certain caliber could break the wall. I don’t know where the cut-off is, but it seems Connectors capable of entering the Great Labyrinth are capable of doing that.”

It made sense in an odd way. Sungyoon had never thought about destroying the wall of the labyrinth.

“Well, I can’t make an absolute statement. I’m sure some Connectors tried it out of curiosity, but they probably never made it out of their labyrinth alive.”

Jean Fajardo and his party were skilled enough that they could go pretty deep inside the Great Labyrinth. Yet, his party was wiped by the Golems. It wasn't hard to imagine the scenario for other Connectors.

***

After he exchanged greetings with the researchers, Sungyoon entered the labyrinth. He could see a lot of people gathered inside.

Too-hwahk!

Several dozen streaks of light made geometric patterns in the air and streaked across the labyrinth.

Their target was the Fang Boar, which was charging toward the crowd of Connectors.

Poo-shook!

One beam of light was ahead of the pack, and it pierced through the Fang Boar. However, the attack hadn't ended yet.

Poo-shook! Poo-shook!

The other beams of light arrived afterward, and they pierced through the body of the Fang Boar. The overwhelming power left large holes in the Fang Boar’s body and turned it into a bloody mess.

Boom!

Wa-hahahahaha!

When the Fang Boar rolled across the floor, the crowd uproariously laughed.

Sungyoon slowly assessed the situation.

He could see about fifteen Connectors. It seemed someone had brought some logs from Earth too since the Connectors were lounging around in front of three campfires. Some Connectors were standing, some were sitting, and some were lying down. They did whatever they felt was comfortable. Moreover, beverages and an enormous amount of food were laid out near the campfires, and the Connectors drank and ate as they pleased.

It really was a camp.

“What do you think!”

The man closest to the Fang Boar had his staff raised up high. It seemed he was the one that had used the light magic.

The nearby Connectors clapped and whistled. Some even cursed. However, it was clear that everyone was just having fun.

“Huh? Someone new entered?”

One of the Connectors took notice of Sungyoon’s appearance.

“Uh? What the hell! It’s the Knight of London!”

In a flash, everyone in the labyrinth looked at Sungyoon. Sungyoon subconsciously took a step back at the intensity of their attention.

“Wow. It really is him!”

“What the hell! The Knight is participating in this mission?”

“He’s the first one to discover the Golem, and he killed a Super Golem in the mess that occurred in Armstrong. I can see why they asked him to join.”

The Connectors slowly gathered around Soungyoon. At that moment, Sungyoon heard a familiar voice.

“Be quiet! The old shouldn’t make fun of the young!”

In some ways, it felt like hearing the voice of a savior. Sungyoon looked at the speaker.

“Sir Russell.”

“It’s been a while.”

Charlie Russell grinned as he approached Sungyoon.