Chapter 336

“That means that blood net is the result of the ritual.”

Even as Sungyoon worried, Russell continued his attempt to drag information out of Udocus. He continued to taunt the monster.

“That’s right.”

“You are sacrificing the power of trash. I doubt you can achieve much with that ritual.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course.”

“Ke ke ke!”

Udocus laughed.

His laughter was full of contempt and derision.

The Connectors clearly found his laughter to be unpleasant. Moreover, there was an ominous air around him too.

“It is commendable that you are trying to extract information from me in any way possible. It almost brings tears to my eyes. It is to be expected of you lowly beings to pull out all the stops like this. Don’t worry. Kevil would have laughed at you, but I have a high opinion of you all. I admire that you struggle to live.”

‘As expected, he knew what we were trying to do.’

Sungyoon had felt a chill run up his back, and it seemed his intuition hadn’t been wrong.

“Hmm? It seems you are suffering badly from delusions of grandeur. I know a good doctor in a mental hospital. Do you need an introduction? Ah. You don’t have to worry if he is good or not. Even if he is a quack, he has to be better than you guys, who screwed around in the labyrinth.”

Russell’s expression didn’t change at all as he continued to provoke Udocus. As expected, he was a veteran at this.

In terms of being dark and dreary, Udocus couldn’t be matched.

“You are trying really hard. Yes, yes. Since you are inferior in every way to us, you have to struggle and work hard to make up for the gap. I’ll reward your hard work by giving you couple more tidbits of information.”

Then Udocus spoke very slowly. It was as if he wanted to savor the reaction of the Connectors. He looked like he was enjoying himself.

“Your efforts were commendable, but you are too late. The ritual is complete. Nothing will change even if you kill me. Well, I don’t plan on dying either, but you’ll soon see the result of the ritual.”

It happened when Udocus ended his speech.

Ddoohk!

The quake, which had been continuously shaking, came to a stop. The Connectors looked around. There was a very creepy silence. Udocus’ joyous voice broke the silence.

“It has started.”

The Connectors raised their level of alert to max. Several Connectors used their sharp eyes to monitor Udocus and the monsters. The others started looking at their surroundings. This wasn’t part of a plan, and they hadn’t trained for this. However, everyone knew what to do. It was a testament to their experience on the battlefield.

“…nothing is happening?”

The ground didn’t cave in, and space didn’t fall on them. It wasn’t as if more monsters had shown up. The only monsters were the small group in front of them. Were they duped? It made some have that thought.

“No. Something happened.”

“What do you mean, Knight? Nothing has changed. That bastard was bluffing.”

The Connector next to him spoke up. Sungyoon didn’t know his name, but he disagreed with the man.

“I cannot put it in words, but something has changed.”

Something had changed, and it felt very unpleasant.

When they heard Sungyoon’s words, the Connectors looked at their surroundings once more. They paid extra attention to it. However, they noticed nothing new. They just saw the desolate moon.

“You must be mistaken...”

“No. The Knight is right. Something has changed.”

Bruce stomped his feet a couple times as he spoke. Aside from him, several more Connectors had an expression of distaste on their faces.

“It seems some of you lowly beings are quicker on the uptake than others. Or all the others just too incompetent? This warning is purely given as a favor. You should just kill yourselves right now. If you are that talentless, there is nothing but pain for you going forward. Of course, I can show you mercy by putting you down right now.”

A thin current of darkness flowed out from Udocus’ body.

“Stop spouting nonsense. Just tell us what you did.”

Russell engaged Udocus once again. He continued to speak in a way that would get on Udocus’ nerve, but he couldn’t hide the small amount of anxiousness in his voice.

In contrast to Russell, Udocus looked laid-back.

“If you planned on putting on an act, you should have kept committed to it until the end. You should have done it even if it’s a futile gesture. When did I say I won’t tell you what is happening? I’ll explain it slowly, so even soft headed beings like you can understand it.”

Sungyoon had been quietly assessing the situation, and Russell had been trying to bait his opponent up until now.. Bruce wanted to beat the hell out of Udocus. All three of them paid close attention to Udocus’ words at that moment.

“The Planote bastards came up with a pretty good plan. They drained all the magical energy from the moon, so our master can’t use his power. Moreover, they did this while reinforcing the seal.”

The people of Planote were his enemies, but there was admiration in his voice. There was deep respect towards his enemies.

His behavior was completely different from how he treated Sungyoon’s party. He had treated Sungyoon’s party with disrespected. However, the admiration didn’t last long.

“However, it is merely a trick that was concocted by lowly beings.”

As expected, Udocus went back to acting like himself.

“I caused a little change to the tower. The tower will continue to send magical energy towards the tower. I cannot change that fact unless I gain access to the tower. Even then it will take a long time to change its function. I cannot stop it. However, I am able to release the magical energy within the moon towards the outside through the labyrinths. I can let the magical energy flow out faster compared to the magical energy being sent to earth. As a consequence, air is leaking out of the labyrinths too. However, I don’t care about that. Isn’t that good news for you? The air won’t be able to escape into space thanks to the influence of magical energy.”

‘That is why magical energy started flowing out of the labyrinths.’

Sungyoon took a glance down at his arms. He could feel a dense current of magical energy flow across his skin.

“Excluding the Great Labyrinths, the other labyrinths draw out magical energy in order to maintain the master’s seal. However, the effectiveness lessens when the magical energy is directed outside of the labyrinths. The effectiveness of the labyrinth seals created by the descendants of Planote becomes weaker.”

The Connectors, who understood the meaning behind Udocus words, turned pale.

“…the Grenoid’s seal is unravelling faster.”

“Correct!”

At Sungyoon’s hushed voice, Udocus shouted in joy.

“You planned on sending as much magical energy to earth before the master awakens, but that plan has failed! When master awakens, there will be enough magical energy on the moon that could be wielded by my master! At that point, it won’t even be a chore to kill you all!”

“Are you saying that’s the result of the ritual?”

“Ke ke! That’s right! Can you still say with a straight face that the ritual is nothing?”

Udocus laughed in a mocking manner towards Russell.

“You guys put up a good fight. That is why we lost two officers, whom we didn’t lose when we fought the people of Planote. It only happened because my master was sealed, but I cannot deny that you guys put in the hard work. That is why you deserve more than one present. I prepared another present just for you guys.”

“You have something else planned?”

“I’ll keep that information to myself, so you guys can enjoy it later. Don’t worry. You’ll soon find out about it.”

“The two presents are the result of the ritual?”

“That is correct.”

Russell moved his finger slightly.

Sungyoon immediately stretched out his hand.

Kwahhhhng!

A spectacular sound rang out. Stalagmites erupted under the Udocus and the monsters. It kept rising as if it would shoot into space.

All the Connectors took up arms at the same time. There was no need for them to extract more information. That is why they moved to kill Udocus.

However, the only thing that greeted them was the blue portal, which had formed above the broken stalagmites.

“I wanted to talk to you guys a little longer, but it seems you guys don’t want to speak with me. If so, I’ll head back now.”

“You are running away?”

Bruce yelled.

“Koo-hoo-hoo! You guys look spent from fighting Glaia and the other monsters. Why would I run away from you guys? However, if it makes you feel better, you can claim that I ran away. I can’t stop you from thinking that way. However, it really is a shame that I won’t get to see your reactions when you realize what the second present is.”

Udocus took deliberate steps towards the portal.

“Despair, humans. I want you to feel helpless when you realize you cannot escape your fate. That is the punishment I will lay on you instead of death.”

“Bullshit!”

Bruce, who had gotten close to Udocus, swung his fist. However, Udocus had entered the portal by then.

Hoohk!

The portal disappeared. Bruce’s gauntlet punched empty air.

The only thing left was the ring of stalagmites and large broken rocks.

“Shit!”

Kwahng!

Bruce lashed out at a stalagmite. The stalagmite broke, and it fell over.

However, his actions were in vain. Udocus was alread gone.

“We lost Udocus, mayor.”

Russell sounded dejected as he made his report.

***

The party returned to Armstrong city once again.

Despite the battle ending, the Connectors didn’t move away from their assigned locations. It was in preparation for a second wave of attack that might come.

The Connectors monitored their surroundings, but they couldn’t help glancing towards the stake. No, they were staring at the blood net around the stake.

“We won, but it doesn’t feel like we won.”

Bruce let out a sigh.

They had stopped a large scale attack by the monsters, but the feeling of victory, which they had felt not too long ago, was like a fevered dream.

“We didn’t win. They didn’t attack here with the intention of winning. They wanted the monsters to die, so they could pull off the ritual. As a side bonus, they were able to chip away at our fighting power. In the end, they achieved their goal. They hastened the unraveling of the Grenoid’s seal. We were completely outmaneuvered.”

There was a bitter taste in Russell’s mouth as he gave the explanation.

“There is no way he was telling the complete truth, right?”

“I hope not, but it isn’t a guarantee.”

Everyone hoped that Udocus had been bluffing.

“What about the second present that Udocus spoke about?”

Sungyoon, who had been thinking about that subject, opened his mouth.

Russell shrugged his shoulders.

“I have no idea. I’m sure it isn’t anything pleasant, but we’ll find out the details when we encounter it.”

“I hope everything was a lie starting with the second present.”

“I hope so too.”

Sungyoon’s party followed the mayor’s order. They stayed in the battle for a short time.

However, the monsters showed no signs of mobilizing once again. This was why the mayor recalled everyone back to Armstrong city aside the minimum number of Connectors needed to keep guard.

‘It’s over for now.’

They felt leery, but the battle for the day had come to an end.

Since the mayor wanted to replenish the fighting power of his city, he ordered most of the high rank Connectors to rest including Sungyoon.

Even if they weren’t physically exhausted, they were mentally drained. It might be selfish, but Sungyoon welcomed the mayor’s order.

‘I’ll worry about tomorrow’s problem tomorrow.’

Sungyoon emptied his mind of all thoughts as he laid down. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep.

This was how Sungyoon was able to escape his stress for a brief moment.

However, the information relayed to him by the mayor the next day destroyed any peace that he was able to find.

“…what did you just say?”

He had heard it, but he had spoken those words out of disbelief.

The mayor looked pale, but he didn’t shy away from fulfilling his duty.

Sungyoon once again heard the words that he didn’t want to hear.

“The moon’s trajectory has changed once again. It is falling rapidly towards earth. The moon will fall towards earth in two months at the very least.”

The countdown towards earth’s extinction had started.