Chapter 267
“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 .