Chapter 330

However, these were all thoughts he had to go over after this battle.

Sungyoon summoned his halberd and threw it with the spear blade leading the way. The halberd opened up a path of blood, and the blood and flesh of the monsters splattered everywhere in a mess.

‘Other than my Gems that underwent explosive growth, another power is increasing the damage I can inflict.’

The power flowing through his body felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Sungyoon glanced at the Royal Gem.

After he killed Kevil, the Warrior Gem, the Mage Gem, and the Shaman Gem had awakened at the same time.

Moreover, they all awakened to a power that the previous owners like Plu-El and Aruwen never possessed.

It was a power Sungyoon had sporadically used in the past. It was a connection to the source of magical energy.

Grace, who had been shocked by her own lightning spell, had accessed this power.

Plu-El had fully awakened the Shaman Gem long ago. Although Aruwen had awakened the Warrior Gem only a short while ago, he had become quite adept at using it. Therefore, the Gems in the possession of Sungyoon’s party awakening all at once and displaying such power was suprising.

However, Sungyoon had a guess.

When the three Gems awakened this time, they had been around Sungyoon’s Royal Gem.

It seemed Aruwen had been right. The three special Gems had to be kept near the Royal Gem.

Of course, none of Grace, Tim, and Emily could use this power on command. Either the three Gems had to be near the Royal Gem, or they had to be gathered in one place. Only then could the Gems fully display their power.

This was the reason Grace had looked around her surroundings when her spell had acted abnormally.

The power that she could use was much weaker than the power drawn by Sungyoon on instinct.

This didn’t mean that she was weak.

At that moment, Grace used another spell. This time, it was her Frost magic.

The nearby region froze over.

A layer of ice covered the monsters, and they stopped moving.

Then, the frozen monsters fractured into pieces.

Grace's spell had a long-range, and it halted the monsters in a large area.

Sungyoon used this pause to ruthlessly slaughter. He swung his weapons when the monsters were close and threw the weapons if the monsters were far away.

It didn’t take long for Armstrong city to support them.

At the Mayor’s orders, all the numerous weapons installed on the city walls started firing toward the monsters.

The guns especially focused on the large monsters. The bullets made out of Mana Knight honeycombed the monsters' bodies.

‘We’ll be able to hold the city at this rate.’

Even though the monsters were coming at them with overwhelming numbers, Armstrong city’s defense was well fortified.

Moreover, Connectors were on par or better in terms of stamina compared to monsters. Even a low level Connector could fight for a week. Of course, this discounted the mental fatigue and injuries.

‘We can win this!’

Sungyoon felt his confidence surge.

***

The battle continued on to the next day. The area surrounding Armstrong city was full of dead monsters. The casualties also continued to mount for humanity, although their casualties were far fewer than the monsters'.

Armstrong city held the overall advantage in the battle. Moreover, Earth continuously shipped Connectors to Armstrong city, and these Connectors helped in solidifying the city's defenses even further.

When the monsters had attacked in the beginning, all the normal soldiers and Connectors had to be mobilized to block them. It had been a desperate fight. Now, they could afford to split the forces in two. One group defended the city while the other rested.

“We were somehow able to stop them.”

Tim spoke. He had been rushing about the battlefield in a frenzy like a boar.

After Sungyoon’s party participated in another round of battle, it was their group’s turn to rest.

While things had stabilized for now, they didn’t know what would happen in the future. This was why they had to use this opportunity to rest up. The four of them made themselves comfortable as they rested.

“The Connectors performed as well as we expected, but Armstrong city’s defense performed much better than expected. I never expected the Mana Knight ammo to be so effective.”

“We made it to be effective. The brightest minds of earth were mobilized to refine the design of the bullets. Moreover, every country on earth entered a defense production treaty. They started producing the bullets in massive quantities. There are a lot of monsters, but humans are numerous too. Our technical capabilities of producing these weapons are amazing.”

The process described by Sungyoon translated into Armstrong city having massive firepower. Many were surprised by it.

‘The mayor always emphasized defense. It seems he was right.’

The mayor had gone through a lot of trouble to set up a defense of this caliber.

He did it despite receiving objections from some circles. Armstrong city would become a safe zone in the near future, so these people didn’t see the point of massively upgrading Armstrong city’s defense.

Still, it was said that prevention was better than cure. The mayor’s philosophy shone at this moment.

“We are half-way sure that the monsters won’t be able to overrun Armstrong city unless the Grenoid awakens. If we think about the monsters that we baited and killed in the fight to recover Armstrong city, they should start hitting the limit on how many more monsters they could send.”

“Don’t let your guard down. We don’t know what the future may bring.”

As always, Emily berated Tim.

Tim smacked his lips before he threw a question towards Sungyoon once again.

“I’m sure the monsters are coming up with a plan. I wonder if there’s anything that we can do to prepare against what they’ll do.”

Sungyoon stroked his chin.

“I’m not a monster, so I have no idea how they are faring right now. However, there is one thing that I am being mindful of.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the portal.”

Tim blinked his eyes.

“Do you mean the portals that the monsters could use? Did that threat disappear once the force field was put up?”

“The threat of monsters appearing on earth went away. However, the portal isn’t just for traveling to earth.”

“Do you think the monsters could open portals on the moon?”

“They could open it on earth, which is very far away. It wouldn’t be strange to learn that they could open it on the moon.”

“However, we never witnessed them use the portal to travel around the moon.”

“They might not have needed it. Moreover, there is a chance that the portal can’t be used for an infinite amount of time. If so, they wouldn’t use it to intermittently send through monsters using the portal. Also, they probably have a limit on how many monsters that they could control. This was why they tried to limit the number of times that they used the portal.”

However, things were different now.

“This is something the higher-ups are also worried about. The Connectors were split into two groups, so one group could rest. However, the other reason for doing so was the fact that there would always be a group of rested Connectors that could defend against monsters that invade through a portal.”

This was why the higher-ups of Armstrong city made a schedule where at least one of Sungyoon’s party, Russell or Bruce could fight within Armstrong city.

“Now that I think about it, the portal can be opened only where one had visited before. When Armstrong city was overrun, monsters had gone in and out of Armstrong city. That is why they’ll be able to open a portal here.”

Emily looked around her surroundings as she spoke.

“Still, wouldn’t they have attacked Armstrong city earlier if they were capable of attacking using the portal? Our defense was much weaker earlier.”

Tim raised the question.

“I asked the same question too.”

It wasn’t just Sungyoon. All the higher-ups wondered the same thing.

“We don't know the circ.u.mstances of our enemies. Also, they might be coming up with some different plan...”

Sungyoon stopped speaking. The four of them turned at the same time to look out the window.

Water-like light appeared on the road of Armstrong city, which had not regained its past splendor.

“It’s a portal!”

Grace yelled out loud. The four of them immediately activated their Gems.

‘Speak of the devil...’

Sungyoon led his party out through the door.

Monsters started pouring out of the portal, and Sungyoon swung his sword towards the monsters.

The curtain went up on the battle within Armstrong city.

***

The monsters used the portal to attack inside Armstrong city. It was a deadly attack.

If they weren’t careful, the defenders of Armstrong city might become sandwich on booths sides by monsters.

However, the higher-ups of Armstrong city already knew about this possibility.

This was why they were on their toes as they prepared for the attack. This was why chaos and confusion didn’t reign within Armstrong city.

In fact, the monsters were being killed outright when they crossed the portal. The attack hadn’t been effective without the element of surprise.

“Isn’t this way too easy?”

Tim spoke as he cut down a monster with his ax. Sungyoon also struck down several monsters with ease.

“We were pretty meticulous in preparing for this possibility. There’s no element of surprise to this ambush.

“It serves them right!”

Tim swung his shield towards a monster that was charging towards him.

Tuh-ung!

The monster was sent flying backward. It flew away faster than it had run forward.

Tim had awakened his Warrior Gem, and his abilities went up when he was near Sungyoon.

The monsters rushing towards him were cut down way too easily by Tim.

A new portal appeared in the air.

Unlike the first portal, this one quickly expanded in size.

‘A big one is about to come out.’

Kwahhhhng!

The enormous legs crushed the half-fallen building.

‘Behemoth.’

It was a monster that had a lot of history with Sungyoon. The monster once again appeared within Armstrong city in front of Sungyoon.

Ooh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The Behemoth roared. It was as if it was declaring that it was the owner of this place.

However, Sungyoon wasn’t afraid.

‘You are no longer a match for me.’

Sungyoon lightly kicked off the ground as he ran towards the Behemoth. He summoned his halberd, and he sliced its front leg.

Suh-guhk!

The halberd cut through the leather as if it was paper. The blad cut deeply into its muscles and bones.

Koo-ahhhhhhhhh!

The Behemoth’s scream was full of pain as it rang out.

It pulled its foreleg back, and it caused the large monster to start losing its balance.

“Stop moving. You are making it hard for me to slice you.”

Sungyoon activated his Gravity Gem.

He had evolved the Gem, and the Royal Gem was boosting its power. The two power worked synergistically to create a stronger spell. It created a brutal effect.

The Behemoth had considerable resistance to magic, but it found it impossible to fight back against the spell with an injured leg.

Kwahhhhng!

The Behemoth lay on its belly.

Its body was restricted by the powerful gravity. The only movement that could be seen was the shaking of its body.

“You made it too easy for us.”

Tim sidled up next to Sungyoon, and he spoke sarcastically.

“I’ll kill it quickly. I feel sorry for it.”

Sungyoon gripped his sword, then he moved up towards the Behemoth, which couldn’t move.

“You are way too kind, Mr. Sungyoon.”

Tim followed behind Sungyoon.

However, it seemed the Behemoth had no intention of giving up.

Zzuh-uhk!

The Behemoth opened its mouth.

Enormous energy started to gather in its mouth.

It was the Breath attack.

Since it couldn’t move its body, it started to use an attack that could be used without moving its body.

Sungyoon and Tim quickly rushed forward to kill the Behemoth. No, they tried to run forward.

Kwahhhhng!

The Behemoth was surrounded by fire. The flame was large enough to swallow up most of its body.

Ooh-uhhhhhhh!

It let out a short sad scream. The Behemoth died before it could use its breath.

A fireball had come flying from their rear. Tim and Sungyoon turned around to look at the source of the fireball.

“Please don’t put your guard down, gentlemen.”

Grace winked as she shook her staff. Sungyoon and Tim looked at each other, then they shrugged their shoulders.

The battle continued.

Did the monsters not know that their plan had failed? Or was there some different angle to this attack? It was unknown, but monsters continued to be sent through the portals.

Even as Sungyoon killed the monsters, he had a feeling that something was off.

Moreover, his intuition had been right.

-Mr. Sungyoon! Please head directly towards the stake! A large number of portals opened near the stake!

‘Their objective was the stake!’

Sungyoon immediately opened his portal.