Kahng!

  Sungyoon skillfully deflected a sword coming at him . When the weapons clashed, he used the rebound to swing his ax to the side .

  Hoo-oong!

  The ax split through the air, but the attacker easily dodged .

  However, Sungyoon’s effort wasn’t in vain . His opponent had to bend his upper body almost parallel to the floor, and this gave Sungyoon’s party the time to create some distance .

  “Shit! Annoying bastards!”


  Tim smacked away a spear with his ax . He then swung the pointed edge of his shield toward his opponent .

  Boom!

  The opponent’s shield blocked the attack, but the shock transmitted by the impact was significant . The man groaned and came to a stop for a moment . This scenario kept repeating itself for some time; the intruders caught up to Sungyoon’s party, then Sungyoon and Tim would push them back by retaliating .

  The situation was precarious, but the party was maintaining the status quo .

  “We can’t increase our lead . ”


  Tim mumbled as he looked at their tenacious pursuers .

  Unlike the pursuers, Sungyoon’s party didn’t consist of all warriors . Due to the presence of Emily and Grace, they were slower than their pursuers . Moreover, there was another problem . Emily had to carry another person in her arms .

  “I’m . . . I’m so sorry!”


  Chelsea was aware of the fact that she was a hindrance to the party .

  “You don’t have to apologize . I’m the one who’s slow . It’s not your fault, Ms . Chelsea . Please don’t worry about it . ”


  Emily consoled Chelsea, then glared at Tim, who had been expressing his frustration . There was no ill intent behind his words, so he was flustered by Chelsea’s reaction .

  He tried to apologize to her, but he was attacked once again .

  “These sons of bitches!”


  His enemies weren’t even giving him the opportunity to apologize . The irritated Tim swung his ax .

  In terms of strength, Sungyoon and Tim were superior to Emily and Grace . But neither was carrying Chelsea because they were busy protecting the party . Plu-El, who was on Sungyoon’s shoulder, was causing enough trouble as it was .

  ‘I can’t let Ms . Emily or Ms . Grace carry her . ’


  Even if she was in a weakened state, Plu-El was a Connector . Emily and Grace lacked physical strength, so if Plu-El decided to struggle within their arms, their speed would further decrease .

  ‘The Mayor wants us to protect this woman, but if push comes to shove, we might have to abandon her . ’


  Even if she was an important figure, she wasn’t more important than his comrades .

  “Mr . Sungyoon!”


  Tim wheezed as he blocked another attack .

  “I believe we know what they are aiming for, right?”


  Tim’s eyes were fixed on Plu-El .

  Sungyoon felt the same way .

  “Yes . Both groups are aiming for this woman . ”


  “However, their reasons are different, right?”


  “Yes . ”


  Sungyoon looked at the archer’s group .

  “This group is trying to rescue the woman . ”


  Sungyoon’s gaze moved to the other group .

  “That group wants to kill her . ”


  “Is she that important?”


  Emily kept glancing toward Plu-El with a hostile expression in her eyes .

  “Even the Mayor thinks she’s worth holding onto . I believe she’s important . That’s good news for us . We can use her to our advantage . ”


  “What? Are you going to let her go?”


  Tim was surprised on hearing Sungyoon’s words, but Sungyoon firmly shook his head .

  “That’s the last resort . ”


  Sungyoon said those words as he brought down Plu-El from his shoulder . He then placed his arm around her waist . Plu-El tried to resist, but her fists lacked strength . Moreover, Sungyoon’s body had the extra protection of his armor .

  One of the pursuers got close to the party once again, and Sungyoon looked at him .

  ‘He’s in the group that wants to take this woman back alive . ’


  This situation was perfect . The usefulness of the woman depended on how this group would react to his next move .

  “Hoo-oohp!”


  Hoo-oohng!

  Sungyoon heard the pursuer take a breath as he put strength behind his swing . The sword let out a frightening sound as it split through the air near Tim . Tim grumbled once again as he raised his shield . Since they were running away, he couldn’t get into a proper fight . He was as angry as he could be .

  However, what happened next made Tim, the pursuer, and even the struggling Plu-El rear back in shock .

  Hweek!

  Sungyoon kept a firm grip on Plu-El as he extended his arm forward . Plu-El’s body appeared in the path of the pursuer’s sword .

  “Ooh-ooht!”


  The shock was evident in the man’s voice . The gasp was so loud that even a normal human would’ve heard it from far away .

  Hoo-oong!

  The sword took a sharp turn as the pursuer almost threw his entire body to change the direction of his attack .

  Puh-uhk!

  The man’s body had bent low to the ground in the process, and Tim used this opportunity to smash him with his shield . The shield was already hefty, and the blow contained Tim’s strength as well . The shield’s edge hit the pursuer, and the man’s armor couldn’t withstand the blow .

  “Kuh-huhk!”


  Following a short scream, the man rolled across the ground as Sungyoon’s party left him in the dust .

  “M . . . Mr . Sungyoon! You!”


  Tim had attacked the pursuer on reflex even though he had been shocked by Sungyoon’s actions . His round eyes kept staring at Sungyoon . The living shield named Plu-El was in a similar state . She didn’t need to breathe, yet she took ragged breaths to calm down herself .

  Emily, Grace, and Chelsea were also shocked, but Sungyoon was surprisingly nonchalant .

  “The shield works better than expected . ”


  All kinds of words poured out of Plu-El’s mouth . Sungyoon couldn’t understand the words, but he knew they weren’t praises . He then silently pushed Plu-El toward his rear once again .

  Flinch!

  One of the pursuers, who had gotten close to Sungyoon, froze in place . As Sungyoon said, the tactic was quite effective .

  “It really works well . ”


  The frequency and the power of the attacks noticeably decreased, so Tim mumbled .

  “Still, it won’t work against the other group . ”


  The other group wanted to kill Plu-El . If Sungyoon used her as a shield, Tim assumed they wouldn’t hesitate to attack her .

  When Sungyoon heard Tim, he shook his head from side to side .

  “The other group’s attacks will decrease too . ”


  Sungyoon said those words as if he were predicting the future .

  Tim tilted his head in confusion as he couldn’t imagine any scenario where the other group would slow down because of the woman . However, he soon found out the meaning behind Sungyoon’s words .

  Kwahnng!

  The sound of weapons clashing rang out, but Sungyoon’s party hadn’t been attacked .

  ‘This is what he meant . ’


  Tim watched as one of the pursuers swung his weapon toward the woman, but his attack was deflected by the weapon of another pursuer . Until now, the two groups had been in an uneasy truce as they had chased after Sungyoon’s party .

  This status quo was disrupted when Sungyoon started to use Plu-El as a shield . The Moon people felt bitter about it, but they defended Plu-El from the Fabion Connectors’ attacks .

  Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwah-kwahng!

  As the two groups fought, the attacks coming at Sungyoon’s party lessened . In fact, it dropped to zero .

  “It’s very effective . ”


  Grace sounded a bit despondent .

  Plu-El once again cussed out Sungyoon, but Sungyoon couldn’t understand what the words meant . Even if he could, it wouldn’t have mattered . He was deep in thought so her words didn’t reach him .

  ‘The result is good . ’


  Things were working better than what he had expected, but something bothered him . He looked toward the group that had the intention to kill the woman .

  ‘It feels as if they aren’t trying their best right now . ’


  Suddenly, a chill ran up his spine . Sungyoon’s eyes met a pursuer’s, and he understood something at an instinctual level .

  ‘He’s aiming for me!’


  Sungyoon passed Plu-El to Tim .

  ‘This shield thing won’t work against him!’


  If Sungyoon were careless, he might lose his valuable shield .

  Tuhk!

  The pursuer who Sungyoon stared at hunched his shoulders and reached Sungyoon in a flash . Sungyoon had already taken out his halberd and swung it .

  Kwahhhhhhhng!

  “Koo-oohk!”


  When Sungyoon received the blow, his hands stung . He realized the pursuer was very strong .

  ‘He’s dangerous!’


  The pursuer indiscriminately swung his mace, and Sungyoon increased his concentration to the maximum to deflect the attack .

  Sungyoon’s hands became numb from deflecting those powerful blows, but he somehow defended against all of them .

  ‘This man is a novice at using a mace!’


  Sungyoon realized that the mace wasn’t the man’s weapon of choice . However, this weakness was masked by the pursuer’s amazing powers . Sungyoon had overcome all kinds of hardships, so his battle sense was unparalleled . Yet, his opponent was crushing him with pure physical ability .

  It was obvious that his opponent was using incredibly high rank Gems .

  ‘As expected, they weren’t using their full power!’


  If this man started to fight in earnest, the other group and Sungyoon’s party wouldn’t stand a chance .

  ‘What is he planning?’


  The man wasn’t revealing his true skills, and his moves didn’t contain killing intent either . In fact, his movements gave off the impression that he was very curious about the fight . The man acted as if he were a child poking at a frog with a branch to see how the frog would react to each jab .

  ‘This is unpleasant . ’


  Sungyoon felt that he were a doll being pulled by its strings, but he didn’t complain . This pursuer’s unpleasant actions allowed his party to continue escaping .

  “You bastard! Get away from him!”


  Tim was about to swing his ax, but Sungyoon quickly stopped him .

  “No! I’ll face this person . Mr . Tim, you should keep an eye on the others!”


  “But . . . ”


  “Do it!”


  Tim flinched when Sungyoon wielded his words like a knife . After a moment of hesitation, he did as Sungyoon ordered and moved away . He had assumed Sungyoon had a plan, but that wasn’t the case .

  ‘There is a high probability that this man might kill Mr . Tim . ’


  A child playing around would become very angry if someone interfered with the game . It would be the same for this man . His every action expressed deep interest in Sungyoon, and if Tim interfered in his game, the man might take severe action .

  ‘At the very least, he doesn’t plan on killing me . ’


  Sungyoon decided it was best if he faced this man, so he increased his focus and became oblivious to his surroundings . He didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to anything around him, and this was true for the others too . Therefore, they didn’t notice the magical energy that had started to spread across Armstrong city .