Chapter 319

Aruwen didn’t stop speaking.

“You should do the same. Mmm. You're called Sir Russell? Am I right?”

“Just call me Russell.”

“You too, Mr. Russell. You should give the Mage Gem to...”

Aruwen furrowed his brows as he looked at Grace and tried to recall her name.

Grace introduced herself to him once again.

“My last name is Taylor.”

“Please hand it over to Ms. Taylor.”

“I’m not opposed to that.”

Grace was like a niece to Russell. Moreover, both of them were Connectors affiliated with England. He had no problem handing over the Mage Gem to her since he couldn’t even use it.

If it would bring about the destruction of Grenoid, he would gladly give it to her.

However, not everyone agreed with the plan.

“Wait! Wait! Wait a moment!”

The Mayor waved his arms as he put himself between Aruwen and Russell.

“I understand what you're trying to say, Mr. Aruwen. However, one person with the ability to use the portal has to remain on the Moon at all times! If any emergency happens, we need the portal!”

“That can’t be.”

Aruwen immediately shut down the Mayor’s opinion. The response surprised the Mayor.

“Our people don't possess all the knowledge about the special Gems. However, we do know that all of them have to be in one place to reveal their true power.”

“Can’t we give them the Gem when they decide to confront Grenoid?”

“You want them to go into the most important mission without training and experience with the Gems?”

Even the Mayor realized that it sounded like an impossible task, so he hesitated.

“Shouldn’t we give them some time later on to get acclimated to using the Gems? We have no reason to do this right now.”

“I’ll agree with you if you can set the date of the final battle.”

“…”

The Mayor had no idea how the war would progress the next day, so he had no idea when the final battle would take place. If he had the ability to look ahead like that, he wouldn’t have lost Armstrong city in the first place.

“It seems your words are more sensible than I initially surmised. I agree with Mr. Aruwen.”

“Sir Russell!”

The Mayor yelled. The tide was turning against him. Russell’s words showed that he was leaning toward Aruwen’s suggestion. That was why the Mayor's sigh became deeper than ever before.

“… I’ll send reports to each country and ask for more reinforcement. They are going to chew me out.”

“What can we do? It is your job, Mayor.”

Russell had spoken to comfort the Mayor, but it didn't sound even one bit comforting to the mayor. He glared at Russell, then sighed again while clutching his head.

It was as he said before. He left to avoid getting yelled at by others.

“Take this.”

Russell tossed the Mage Gem toward Grace.

“It is yours now. Use it well.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“The Mayor didn’t say no, so it should be ok.”

Russell looked in the direction where the Mayor had departed.

“If it's truly something worth thinking over, he would've asked us for more time. Since he didn’t do that, he somewhat agrees with our reasoning. Moreover, it means he's confident that he could resolve this problem. He's a capable man.”

“He kept his mayoral seat even after he lost Armstrong city. Moreover, he gained the cooperation of all the countries in reclaiming Armstrong city. He will continue to be the Mayor. You don’t have to worry about him.”

Sungyoon provided a further explanation.

Finally, Grace slowly put the Gem into her Device.

“So, I should give my Gem to you?”

“Yes, yes!”

Plu-El presented her Shaman Gem to the nervous Emily, who carefully received it.

“Try activating them.”

Plu-El had the most experience in using the special Gem, so she spoke toward the three new owners.

It seemed Aruwen had thought his job was done, and at some point, he had ducked out of there. Russell hadn't left since he was curious. He observed the three of them as they tried to activate the special Gems. Russell hadn’t been able to awaken the Mage Gem, and he was curious if the three of them would be able to do it.

“… Nothing is happening.”

After concentrating for a brief moment, Grace spoke in a disappointed voice.

Emily continued to pour her magical energy into her Gem, while Tim’s face became red. He had physically exerted himself while pushing his magical energy toward the Warrior Gem.

None of them could activate the Gems.

“Well, everyone is like that in the beginning. You should always keep the Gem on your body, and inject it with magical energy.”

“Even I was unable to awaken it. It will take a while for you to activate it.”

In some ways, his words sounded condescending as if he were pleased with their failure. However, Russell didn’t have such a poor personality.

“The Mage Gem was sealed when you were carrying it, Sir Russell.”

“It has been several days since the force field has gone up. The Mage city has regained its function. Do you really think I didn’t try awakening it during that time? I am one of the top five Connectors of Earth, yet I was unable to awaken it. If the three of you could do it right now, I would have to bite my tongue in embarrassment.”

Russell’s exaggerated words brought a faint smile to Grace’s lips.

“You should always be conscious of your Gem. Moreover, you should try injecting your magical energy into it whenever you have time. It might awaken faster if you stay close to Mr. Sungyoon, who has the Royal Gem.”

The three of them paid full attention to Plu-El when she gave her advice.

After hearing the basic precautions, Sungyoon’s party intended to board the spaceship. However...

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

The Mayor, who had disappeared, came running toward them with several pages of doc.u.ments.

“You have to open many... many portals before you go! Let’s take care of that first!”

“Didn’t I tell you? That fellow is meticulous.”

Russell winked at Sungyoon’s party.

***

It had been a while since Sungyoon had returned to Earth, but he didn’t have time to spend with his family.

He had greeted Jimin and Shinhae in person for a short time, then he was immediately dispatched to find Kevil.

They went to Italy where Kevil’s trace had been found most recently.

“The monsters have stopped attacking once the force field was put up. At that point, we assumed that Kevil would lay low until a certain amount of magical energy returned to earth. However, that prediction was wrong.”

Their Italian guide spoke. None within Sungyoon’s party spoke Italian. Thankfully, their guide spoke English. Moreover, he was quite fluent.

“That bastard became more active.”

The Italian guide was guiding them through a rural town located in the southern part of Italy.

It was where the warm sunlight and the beautiful scenery distinct to Southern Europe was on full display.

However, the atmosphere around town was very dark.

It wasn’t strange to see country people be wary of outsiders.

However, people were displaying fear. It was clear that their behavior was out of the ordinary.

At that moment, a child appeared in front of their procession.

She was a very cute 5-year-old child.

Her eyes were full of curiosity as she looked towards Sungyoon’s party.

Hoo-dah-dahk!

An old man quickly arrived to take the child in his arms.

The girl sounded frustrated as she complained towards the old man, but he ignored her as they quickly entered a nearby house.

Boom!

As if to shut out any intrusion to the outside, he shut the door.

The guide looked a bit embarrassed by the old man’s behavior.

“Everyone in town is panic-stricken thanks to the chain of events that happened here.”

“We understand.”

Even if the guide hadn’t explained, Sungyoon had no plans of holding a grudge against the people of this town.

“The ritual site is about 10km away from this town.”

The guide started climbing a mountain.

The road wasn’t paved, but it had been pretty well-kempt.

However, one could see fresh tree sap from the cut trees. It was clear that this path was cleared not too long ago.

Their destination was a cave. The ceiling was high, but it wasn’t deep. This was why they immediately saw the tragic sight.

“…how many are there?”

“From what we can discern, there are 800 people here at the very least. We believe the number is closer to a thousand. As you can see, the bodies are too damaged to get an accurate count.”

Sungyoon walked towards the pile. The corpses were thrown atop each other as if they were packages.

No, these couldn’t be called corpses. It was more accurate to call it ‘human body parts.’

Splash.

He put his hand into the sloshing liquid.

“When did you find this place?”

“It was around 3 days ago.”

“Three days….”

Sungyoon moved his hand through the liquid. He could vividly feel the frighteningly sticky liquid on his hand.

“That means the ritual was performed before that date.”

“That is correct.”

Sungyoon looked at the liquid. He looked at the blood. The stench of blood was overwhelming.

“Despite it being so long, the blood hasn’t dried.”

That meant there were enough corpses within the container to give out this much blood.

Sungyoon looked at one of the body parts within the container.

It was an arm, and it wasn’t the arm of an a.d.u.l.t.

“We believe they are all children under 15 years old.”

“That bastard!”

Tim punched the wall of the cave. Grace’s face turned pale. Emily closed her eyes as she turned her head away.

Sungyoon wanted to cuss, but he silently gathered all the information.

“Are there any other characteristics that are out of the ordinary?”

“We’ll have to investigate further, but I do not believe any 1st Gens were used for this ritual.”

Sungyoon looked at the guide.

“This is the case in regards to the rituals we found recently. To be precise, the change occurred after the force field was put up. Instead of using 1st Gens in the ritual, Kevil has just increased the number of sacrifices.”

“It seems he is starting to adapt.”

“That is our analysis too.”

Sungyoon took out a handkerchief, and he wiped away the blood. The blood was filled with the resentment and blame of the innocent, so the blood wasn’t wiped away easily.

***

The moon had come up.

It was deep within the night when almost everyone was asleep, yet Sungyoon’s room was lit up brightly.

Sssk!

Sungyoon moved his hand. The pen moved smoothly as he circled various locations on the large map of the world.

The southern part of Italy.

It was where he had seen the massacre today, and the location was marked. However, that wasn’t the only circle on the map. He had circled all the locations where a ritual had been performed.

There were triangle marks too. The triangle mark was used to label ritual sites where 1st Gens were used as sacrifices.

‘There is no pattern to his movement.’

Sungyoon tapped the desk with his pen. Its noise was unpleasant to the ears, but Sungyoon was too deep within his thoughts to notice.

“Ah. Shit!”

In the end, he threw the pen atop the desk, and he scratched at his head. He let out a sigh as he cracked his neck.

Knock! Knock!

He heard a knock.

“Who is it?”

Sungyoon got up as he tried to clear his muddled brain. He opened the door to his room.

“Do you have some time?”

Grace had come to his room.