Chapter 358

‘Meteors?’

In fact, they looked like big rocks with a propulsion system attached to the back.

The rocks had fallen from space, so it could technically be called a meteor.

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

‘She did say that.’

In the past, he had encountered a group of scientists including Chelsea looking up at space. He remembered her saying something to that effect.

- We shot many chunks of Mana Knight into the Moon’s orbit. We put in propulsion devices that allow us to control their trajectory. We can hit whatever we want!

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

It was a tactic that many imagined using in sci-fi movies and books. It was the orbital bombardment from space, and they were executing that tactic right now.

Chelsea was excited as she described the attack, but Sungyoon didn’t feel that excitement. He had almost died when a meteorite almost hit him.

“That is amazing. However, you should have told me about this plan beforehand.”

- I’m sorry, Mr. Sungyoon.

The one to give the apology was the Mayor.

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

Sungyoon heard Chelsea grumble next to the Mayor.

It seemed she was very offended by the fact that the Mayor hadn’t believed in scientists.

A large number of meteorites had been placed on standby near the tower, so there were a lot of meteorites falling.

The wounds created by the meteors were mended almost instantly, but it was enough to make Grenoid retreat backward.

Puh-uhng! Puh-uhng!

A couple of meteorites were destroyed by Grenoid’s magical cannon, but the meteorites were successful in pushing Grenoid below the tower.

“Now! Shoot!”

Russell yelled out loud. The magicians shot their spells toward Grenoid all at once.

Unlike the spells from before, this wasn’t an attempt to push back Grenoid any longer.

It was as if the spells contained all the repressed rage felt by the magicians. It was the types of spells that were designed to smash, mince and disintegrate one’s foe.

Kwahhhhhhhhhng!

Fire, electricity, rock, explosions, gale, etc. All kinds of violent attacks hit Grenoid’s body.

Grenoid looked like swiss cheese as a heap of wounds appeared on his body.

It felt as if their stress was blown away seeing what was occurring to Grenoid.

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

Grace lowered her hand as she spoke. It was 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.”

Grace was able to accept Sungyoon’s explanation.

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

Koo-ooh-oong!

Blue smoke emanated from his wounds as Grenoid’s enormous body toppled backward.

The tentacle-like structure of the Great Labyrinth, which was supporting the tower, became damaged.

Woooooooooohng!

At that moment, the Great Labyrinth vibrated.

It was like a sponge sucking in water. The Great Labyrinth acted like a vampire that was greedy for blood. It started sucking in the blue smoke, which was the blood of Grenoid.

Ggool-luhng! Ggool-luhng!

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

Tim became unsettled.

The other Connectors showed similar reactions to Tim.

Several Connectors even dry heaved. The Great Labyrinth was crawling, and it gave them the willies.

A parasite, which was universally hated for being gross, was the hairworms. 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 didn’t plan on giving up on a source providing it pure magical energy.

The Great Labyrinth followed the system created by Hyunwoo. It continued to move as it sucked Grenoid’s magical energy into itself.

Ssssssk!

More tentacles formed from the complicated structure of the Great Labyrinth. It was such a ridiculous sight that it was hard to describe it in words.

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

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

They started to drain the magical energy from within Grenoid’s body.

The amount of magical energy being drained into the Great Labyrinth couldn’t be compared to before.

Grenoid was now surrounded by the Great Labyrinth, and the several thousand tentacles looked like hungry snakes attacking their prey.

Kwahhhhk!

A light appeared from the tower.

Kwahhhhhhhng!

It was as if the Great Labyrinth was moving to swallow Grenoid whole, but in the end, Grenoid was able to break free.

The Great Labyrinth broke apart like an empty pile of bamboo.

When he did so, the Great Labyrinth collapsed. Despite losing its support, the tower continued hovering in the air as it left out a light.

It meant the preparation was done.

“Did you finish evacuating everyone, Mayor?”

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

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

Kwah-jee-jee-jee-jeek!

Cracks started to form on the surface of the Moon.

***

Jimin was sitting in her backyard, and she was looking up at the Moon.

The Moon was clearer than ever as it grew bigger in the sky in recent days. It was shining its bright light on Earth.

Thanks to the approach of the Moon, 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 on what they could do.

The damage to Earth became larger as the Moon moved closer, and in the end, it would probably drive humanity into extinction.

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

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

“Mom.”

“Why are you awake, Shinhae?”

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

“I can’t fall asleep.”

In recent days, Shinhae was starting to act more childish.

It was unlike Shinhae, who was normally quite mature.

‘She’s worried.’

As always, children quickly picked up on what was wrong.

Currently, there was a cloud of uncertainty hanging around humanity, and it was starting to affect Shinhae.

No, it didn’t matter if Shinhae was quick on the uptake or not. At this point in time, 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.

Shinhae dug her face into Jimin’s bosom when she smelled the gentle scent of Jimin. It was something Shinhae had never experienced before with her birth mother.

Jimin lightly patted Shinhae’s back.

They weren’t related by blood, but the similar wounds they had suffered in the past had created a bond that was stronger than the bond that most mother and daughter possessed.

The two of them hugged each other for a long time.

When her anxiety subsided, Shinhae wiggled to turn herself around.

Shinhae sat on Jimin’s knee, while Jimin encircled both arms around her. Shinhae smiled in happiness when she was completely enveloped by Jimin.

Jimin knew why Shinhae was doing this, so she hugged Shinhae harder.

“Mom! Moon! It’s the Moon!”

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

“Wow! It’s so big!”

“Yes. It is 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 outwardly show any of her concerns.

“Uh? Look over there, mom!”

Shinhae suddenly pointed up toward the Moon. 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.

It was as if God was trying to punish humanity for its sin. It was as if this was the result of god’s wrath.

The ground churned. The ground on top went under as the Earth from below surged to the top.

However, this lasted only a moment before it churned in reverse.

All the Great Labyrinths and labyrinths on the Moon shared magical energy with each other 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.

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 vibration was affecting the entire city.

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 they 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.

They would survive if the palace collapsed on them, but even they wouldn’t survive if the capital was buried deep underground.

The one to answer was Plu-El.

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

“I really hope that’s true.”

It seemed Bruce felt endangered by what was going on.

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 vibration started affecting the walls surrounding the capital city. The walls started to crack as debris started to fall.

“Everyone get down and grab something!”

Sungyoon yelled out loud 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 walls of buildings. Others went into houses as they grabbed onto the sill of a window.

Kwahhhhhng!

It was as if a bomb had gone off nearby. Accompanying the loud sound, the ceiling exploded outwards.

Too-hwahhhhhk!

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

‘We are flying upwards!’

Sungyoon could feel it. The capital and the bedrock supporting the city were accelerating upwards toward the sky.

The city had been buried deep underground, and now it was exposed to the light.

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

“Ah!”

Someone let out an exclamation.

The scene in front of them overwhelmed their senses.

There was an enormous amount of rocks obstructing their view, but the light from the sun and the beautiful Earth could be seen.

Then they saw the Moon nearby crack as it sent out 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 mouths of the battle-tested Connectors had fallen open as they viewed 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 that was letting out light as bright as the sun.

It was the tower.