Chapter 353

“Shit! Where the hell are they!”

There was steaming coming out of Tim’s nose as he paced around.

It was as if he was about to explode. He looked like he wanted to beat up and smash anything and anyone nearby.

Normally, Emily reigned in Tim when he got too excited, but she wasn’t in her right mind either. Since she wasn’t doing well either, Tim became more aggressive.

“Please calm down.”

Thankfully, Grace remained calm as she soothed the two siblings. However, she was feeling anxious inside too.

‘A lot of time has already passed. He’s probably fighting with Hyunwoo Sung.’

Before he became a traitor to humanity, Hyunwoo had been one of the top Connectors of earth. Moreover, he was on the side of the Grenoid now. There was a possibility that he might have gained some other power.

If that wasn’t bad enough, other foes might show up after Hyunwoo was defeated.

They had to somehow rejoin with Sungyoon as soon as possible.

Ta-ta-taht!

Footsteps could be heard. The three of them had been searching the tower when they heard footsteps. They looked towards the source of the sound.

Russell was descending from a staircase from above.

“Russell! Did you find Mr. Sungyoon?”

Grace quickly ran towards Russell as she asked the question. She didn’t use his title like usual.

She had acted as if she was calm, but she was fl.u.s.tered enough to forget calling Russell by his title.

“No. I couldn't find him.”

The three of them looked crestfallen.

“Don’t worry too much. As you know, the Knight won’t be defeated easily. Moreover, all the monsters around the tower have run away. He must have done something.”

The monsters had been amassed around the tower, and they had been fighting a bloody battle with the humans. However, they had dispersed a couple of minutes ago.

The monsters had been attacking the humans with abandon, but only a small number of monsters remained. Most of them had dispersed backed to the nearby labyrinths.

It meant the being controlling the monsters had died.

“You are probably right.”

“Of course, I’m right!”

Russell did his best to act unperturbed to keep Grace calm.

Ooh-roo-roo-roohgn!

The tower shook.

“Ooh-ahk!”

“Kyahhhk!”

Everyone kept their balance by quickly grabbing the wall.

The vibration was very large, but it lasted only for a short time. This was why none of them had fallen to the ground.

“What...what the hell was that?”

Tim looked at his surroundings. However, the only thing he saw was the twisted narrow passageways.

“It seems something has happened...”

Russell spoke in a low voice.

“Let’s start moving.”

If they stayed here doing nothing, they wouldn’t be able to find out any information about what had caused the vibration. Moreover, they wouldn’t find out any information about Sungyoon’s whereabouts.

Everyone followed Russell’s instruction as they started climbing the stairs.

The first to speak was one of the party members from Russell’s party.

“Hmm? Something feels different.”

“Doesn’t it?”

It was subtle but Russell felt an uncomfortable feeling. This was why he was wary as he looked at his surroundings.

“Something has changed.”

“Was it caused by the vibration from before?”

Russell and his party members spoke amongst themselves.

The change made everyone walk more warily.

Grace, who did her best to control her worry for Sungyoon, looked at the map. Her eyes widened.

“This is odd. There should be a fork in the path, yet there is none here.”

Everyone turned their gaze towards the front. Then they started climbing the staircase pointed out by Grace.

Russell carefully touched the wall of the passageway.

“Did the structure of the tower change?”

At that moment, they could hear someone descending from the top. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound on reflex.

The one making the footsteps started coming into view.

“Ah!”

Someone groaned. The person, who had been descending the staircase, stopped when he saw them.

“You were here.”

It was broken in many places, but it was the familiar silver armor and the red cape.

On earth, he was called the symbol of hope. Everyone knew who he was including the present company.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

It was unknown as to who was the first one to move. Tim, Emily, and Grace ran towards Sungyoon at the same time.

They hugged and cried. They celebrated the fact that Sungyoon was fine.

“You worried us….”

Russell, who had been watching from behind, grumbled in a low voice.

However, a small smile blossomed within his helmet.

“Let’s head back right now.”

He spoke as he calmed his party members, who were crying with joy.

“Return? Did you find how we can return the moon to its original orbit?”

Russell asked the question with anticipation in his voice.

Sungyoon took out a Gem.

“This has the solution that’ll allow us to solve this situation.”

“What is it?”

“It is Mr. Hyunwoo’s storage Gem.”

Everyone’s face hardened when Sungyoon’s name was spoken.

“That Gem contains the solution? Who said so?”

“Mr. Hyunwoo said so.”

“…can we trust him?”

Russell looked dissatisfied.

His eyes were full of suspicion. Moreover, this was the case for everyone present.

How could they not be suspicious? Hyunwoo had turned his back on humanity. He was the biggest traitor in the history of humanity. He was the devil.

“Wouldn’t it be better to search where you guys disappeared into? Since you were able to exit that place, it must mean an entrance has formed. No, let me ask this first. What happened? I heard you met Hyunwoo Sung. Did you kill him”

“I’ll explain as we go. I guess it won’t be bad to search that place. When the distorted space returned to its normal state, an entrance was created. If you go straight up this staircase, you’ll arrive at where I was.”

Even as he said those words, Sungyoon sounded sure that they wouldn’t find much there.

Sungyoon had surveyed the place once already.

However, the fact that he couldn’t find anything didn’t mean the others couldn’t find it.

The future of humanity was riding on this, so it was good to be sure.

“Let’s send the other Connectors to search the place. We should head down. I’ll give you a detailed explanation.”

***

The region around the tower had turned very quiet.

There had been the roar of monsters and screams of humans. Bloods and guts had been flying everywhere. It was hard to believe that a bloody battle had occurred here.

However, the corpses covering the grounds around the tower were proof that it hadn’t been all a dream.

Sungyoon’s party gathered around a support vehicle, which was parked a bit away from the battlefield.

Several people, who had been driving the support vehicle, were going over the data from a USB. The USB had been inside Hyunwoo’s Gem.

Sungyoon’s party let the men work in peace. They move a bit away from the vehicle, and they called the mayor.

- I see. So that is how Hyunwoo Sung met his end.

A shadow appeared on the mayor’s face as they spoke through the screen.

- I knew he had a reason for betraying humanity, but I never knew what he exactly went through. It is quite unfortunate.

“He still is a traitor.”

Russell spoke bluntly.

However, his complexion didn’t look great either.

- Yes. He’s a traitor. I do not deny that. However, I am the mayor of Armstrong city. It made me wonder if there was a way I can govern the city in a better way.

He felt the weight of being the person in charge. That was the weight being felt by the mayor.

- I can self-flagellate myself at a later time. Let’s focus on the story on hand. What was inside Hyunwoo Sung’s Gem?

“There was the USB that he called the solution. Then...”

Sungyoon took something out.

“There’s this Gem.”

Surprisingly, it was a Diamond rank Gem.

- Diamond rank Gem? That’s surprising. What is its ability?

“It can be used for a certain period. It allows one to recover the power of the overclocked Gems that lost its power.”

- …didn’t Mr. Sungyoon overclock all your Gems in this battle?

“Correct. That was why I had been worried, but I was able to participate in the fight thanks to this Gem.”

- It seems Hyunwoo Sung prepared a lot of things.

If the solution prepared by Hyunwoo allowed them to defeat the Grenoid, Hyunwoo would have played a pivotal role in defeating the Grenoid. It would mean he would have contributed the most in the effort to save humanity.

The person, who betrayed humanity, had provided the solution to saving humanity.

- He’s a complex person.

It seemed the mayor had the same thought as Sungyoon. They both shook their heads from side to side.

At that moment, one of the people organizing the data from the USB approached them.

“We checked all the data.”

- Is that so? What information was on there?

The mayor quickly asked the question. Everyone turned to look at the man.

“First, there is a piece of information that I have to tell first.”

His face had hardened.

Was he nervous because famous and influential people were staring at him?

That wasn’t the case. His face had hardened because the information that he was about to reveal was that serious.

“Hyunwoo Sung was able to estimate the date of Grenoid’s revival.”

“When is it?”

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that every human wanted to know this information.

Sungyoon quickly asked the question.

The man clenched his eyes shut as he spat out his words.

“Tomorrow”

A terrifying silence descended within the vehicle.

***

They were standing on a large hill.

There were numerous craters at the back of the moon, and Sungyoon’s party stood on top of the ridge of a crater.

No one spoke. Usually, Tim hadn’t the silence and boredom, but even he kept his mouth shut.

There was nervousness flowing between them. It was almost as if they were afraid of something.

“…how long do we have left?”

The one to break the heavy atmosphere was Grace.

She gripped her staff as she looked down at the flat ground within the crater.

Sungyoon looked down at his watch.

“I’m not sure. The day will end in eight hours. If it occurs, it should happen within this window.”

“Do you think Hyunwoo Sung’s plan will work?”

Her voice shook.

She was always cool and collected. This was unlike her normal cold demeanor.

However, everyone present felt the same way.

“It has to work.”

There can be no distraction.

Sungyoon’s voice sounded heavy.

“I see.”

Grace became silent after finally opening her mouth.

The clock kept ticking, and if their heart could beat, their hearts would sound like a percussion quartet. It probably would have made their mood worse.

“…Hoo-ooh!”

Sungyoon let out a large sigh. Tim, Emily, and Grace looked towards Sungyoon.

‘Keep it together, Woo Sungyoon. I know you are nervous, you can’t back down.’

He had experienced many hardsh.i.p.s in the past, but the foe that they would fight was on a different level. It automatically made one want to cringe in fear.

However, they couldn’t do that.

Even if they fought with all their might, it might not be enough to win.

They had to use all means possible. They couldn’t fight to their full capabilities if they were weak.

Sungyoon had to come up with a plan, and he had to calm down his party members as their leader.

“I have a bit of wine with me. Do you want to discuss what we’ll like to do after we finish this battle?”

The eyes of his party members turned round as they looked at him.

Then every one of them sent a small smile towards Sungyoon.