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 . ’


  He found the power flowing through his body familiar and unfamiliar at the same time .

  Sungyoon glanced at the Royal Gem .

  After he had 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 . That was why, the Gems in the possession of Sungyoon’s party awakening all at once and displaying such power was surprising .

  However, Sungyoon had a guess .

  When the three Gems awakened this time, they had been around his 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 in her surroundings when her spell had acted abnormally .

  The power that she could normally bring out was much weaker than the power drawn by Sungyoon on instinct . However, this didn’t mean that she was weak .

  The fight went on, and 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 the Connectors .

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

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

  ‘We can win this!’


  Sungyoon felt his confidence surge .

  ***

  The battle continued on 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 head out and 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 have somehow stopped them . ”


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

  After participating in another round of battle, Sungyoon’s party got the chance to take a rest .

  While things had stabilized for now, they didn’t know what would happen in the future . Therefore, they had to use this opportunity to rest and keep themselves ready for their turn to battle .

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


  “We made it so effective . The brightest minds of Earth refined the design of the bullets . Moreover, every country entered a defense production treaty . They are producing the bullets in massive quantities . There are a lot of monsters, but humans are also numerous . Our technical capabilities of producing these weapons are amazing . ”


  Sungyoon explained the process through which Armstrong city had gained this massive firepower, and the explanation surprised many .

  ‘The Mayor always emphasizes defense . It seems he’s correct in his approach . ’


  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 the people in these circles didn’t see the point of massively upgrading the city’s defense .

  However, prevention was always better than cure . The Mayor’s philosophy shone in this war .

  “We are half sure that the monsters can’t overrun Armstrong city unless Grenoid awakens . If we consider the monsters we baited and killed in the fight to recover Armstrong city, they should start hitting the limit on how many more monsters they can send . ”


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


  As always, Emily berated Tim .

  Tim smacked his lips, then threw a question at Sungyoon once again .

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


  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’m being mindful of . ”


  “What is it?”


  “Portals . ”


  Tim blinked .

  “Do you mean the portals that the monsters can use? Didn’t that threat disappear once the force field was put up?”


  “The threat of monsters appearing on Earth indeed disappeared . However, portals don’t lead to just Earth . ”


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


  “They could open it on Earth, which is very far away . It wouldn’t be strange if they could open it on the Moon . ”


  “However, we never witnessed them using portals to travel around the Moon . ”


  “They might not have needed it . Moreover, there is a chance that they can’t use portals for an infinite amount of time . Otherwise, they wouldn’t use portals to intermittently send monsters . Also, they probably have a limit on how many monsters that they can control . Therefore, they probably use portals only when needed . ”


  However, things were different compared to the past .

  “The higher-ups are also worried about this thing . Giving rest to one group was only part of the reason Connectors were split into two groups . The other part is that this resting group can defend against any monsters that invade through a portal . ”


  That 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, portals can only be opened where one has visited before . When Armstrong city had fallen, monsters had gone in and out of every place in the city . They can surely open a portal here . ”


  Emily looked around her surroundings as she spoke .

  “If they were capable of attacking using portals, wouldn’t they have attacked Armstrong city earlier? After all, our defense was much weaker then . ”


  Tim raised the question .

  “I wonder that too . ”


  It wasn’t just Sungyoon . All the higher-ups wanted to know about that .

  “We don’t know the circumstances of our enemies . Also, they might be coming up with some different plan . ”


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

  A watery light appeared on the Armstrong city’s roads, which had not regained its past splendor .

  “It’s a portal!”


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

  ‘Speak of the devil . . . ’


  Sungyoon led his party out through the door .

  Monsters started coming of the portal in droves, and Sungyoon swung his sword at them .

  The curtain on the battle within Armstrong city went up .

  ***

  The monsters used the portal to attack Armstrong city from the inside . It was a deadly attack . If the defenders of Armstrong city became careless, they could turn into a sandwich with monsters on both sides of them .

  However, the higher-ups 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 died to Connectors immediately after they crossed the portal . Their 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 meticulously prepared for this possibility . There’s no element of surprise to this ambush .

  “It serves them right!”


  Tim swung his shield toward a monster that was charging toward 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 toward him fell to his ax way too easily .

  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!

  Enormous legs crushed the half-fallen building .

  ‘Behemoth . ’


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

  Ooh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

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

  However, Sungyoon wasn’t afraid .

  ‘You’re no longer a match for me . ’


  Sungyoon lightly kicked off the ground as he ran toward the Behemoth . He summoned his halberd and sliced the monster’s front leg .

  Suh-guhk!

  The halberd cut through the leather as if it were paper . The blade made a deep cut into the Behemoth’s muscles and bones .

  Koo-ahhhhhhhhh!

  The Behemoth shrieked in pain .

  It pulled back its front leg but lost its balance in the process .

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


  Sungyoon activated his Gravity Gem .

  He had evolved this Gem, and the Royal Gem was boosting his power . The two synergistically worked to create a stronger spell with a brutal effect .

  The Behemoth had considerable resistance to magic, but it couldn’t fight back against the spell with an injured leg .

  Kwahhhhng!

  The Behemoth fell on its belly as the powerful gravity restricted its body . The monster could only shake its body .

  “You made it too easy for us . ”


  Tim sidled up next to Sungyoon and sarcastically spoke .

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


  Sungyoon gripped his sword, then moved up toward the immobilized Behemoth .

  “You’re way too kind, Mr . Sungyoon . ”


  Tim followed Sungyoon .

  It seemed the Behemoth had no intention of giving up .

  Zzuh-uhk!

  It opened its mouth, and its mouth started to gather an enormous amount of energy . The Behemoth was using the Breath attack .

  Since it couldn’t move, it executed an attack that it could use even without moving its body .

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

  Kwahhhhng!

  Suddenly, fire surrounded the Behemoth; the flames were large enough to swallow up most of its body .

  Ooh-uhhhhhhh!

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

  The attack that had killed it was a fireball that had come flying from behind Sungyoon and Tim . The two men 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 and shrugged .

  The battle continued .

  Did the monsters not know that their plan had failed? Or was there some different angle to this attack? No one knew the answer, but monsters continued using the portals .

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

  His intuition had indeed been right -

  Mr . Sungyoon! Please directly head to the stake! A large number of portals have opened near it!

  ‘Their objective is the stake!’


  Sungyoon immediately opened his portal .