“That means the blood net is the result of your ritual . ”


  Even as Sungyoon worried, Russell continued his attempts to drag information out of Udocus by taunting him .

  “That’s right . ”


  “You’re sacrificing the power of trash . I doubt you can achieve much with that ritual . ”


  “Do you really think so?”


  “Of course . ”


  “Ke ke ke!”


  Udocus laughed; his laughter was full of contempt and derision . The Connectors found his laughter unpleasant, and they could also sense an ominous air around him .

  “It’s commendable that you’re trying to extract information from me in any way possible . It almost brings tears to my eyes . It’s to be expected of you lowly beings to pull out all the stops like this . Don’t worry! Kevil would’ve laughed at you, but I have a high opinion of you all . I admire that you struggle to live . ”


  ‘As expected, he knew what we were trying to do . ’


  Sungyoon felt a chill run up his back . His intuition hadn’t been wrong .

  “Hmm? It seems you’re badly suffering from delusions of grandeur . I know a good doctor in a mental hospital . Do you need an introduction? Ah! You don’t have to worry whether he’s good or not . Even if he’s a quack, he has to be better than you guys, who screwed around in the labyrinth . ”


  Russell’s expression didn’t change at all as he continued to provoke Udocus . As expected, he was a veteran at this .

  In terms of being dark and dreary, Udocus had no match .

  “You’re trying really hard . Yes, yes . Since you’re inferior to us in every way, you have to struggle and work hard to make up for the gap . I’ll reward your hard work by giving you a couple more tidbits of information . ”


  Udocus spoke his next words very slowly as if he wanted to savor the reaction of the Connectors .

  “Your efforts were commendable, but you’re too late . The ritual is complete . Nothing will change even if you kill me . Well, I don’t plan on dying either, but you’ll soon see the result of the ritual . ”


  It happened when Udocus finished his sentence .

  Ddoohk!

  The moonquake came to a stop . The Connectors looked around as a creepy silence descended in the area, and the one to break this silence was Udocus with his joyous voice .

  “It has started . ”


  The Connectors raised their guard to the max . Many used their sharp eyes to monitor Udocus and the monsters, while others started looking at their surroundings . This wasn’t part of a plan, and they hadn’t trained for this . However, everyone knew what to do . It was a testament to their experience on the battlefield .

  “.…… Nothing is happening?”


  Neither the ground caved, nor space fell on them, and nor did the monsters receive reinforcement . Were they duped? Some Connectors had that thought .

  “No . Something happened . ”


  “What do you mean, Knight? Nothing has changed . That bastard was bluffing . ”


  The Connector next to him spoke up . Sungyoon didn’t know his name, but he disagreed with the man .

  “I can’t put it in words, but something has changed . ”


  Something had changed, and it felt very unpleasant .

  When they heard Sungyoon’s words, the Connectors looked at their surroundings once more . They paid extra attention to it . However, they noticed nothing but the desolate Moon .

  “You must be mistaken . . . ”


  “No . The Knight is right . Something has changed . ”


  Bruce stomped his feet a couple of times as he spoke . Aside from him, frowns appeared on the faces of some other Connectors .

  “It seems some of you lowly beings are quicker on the uptake . Or all the others are just too incompetent? Consider this warning as a favor . You should just kill yourselves right now . If you’re that talentless, there is nothing but pain for you going forward . Of course, I can show you mercy by putting you down right now . ”


  A thin current of darkness flowed out from Udocus’s body .

  “Stop spouting nonsense . Just tell us what you did . ”


  Russell engaged Udocus once again . He continued to speak in a way that would get on Udocus’s nerve, but he couldn’t hide the small amount of anxiousness in his voice .

  In contrast to Russell, Udocus was laid-back .

  “Since you planned on putting on an act, you should’ve committed to it until the end . You should’ve done it even if it’s a futile gesture . When did I say I won’t tell you what’s happening? I’ll explain it slowly so that even soft-headed beings like you can understand it . ”


  Sungyoon had been quietly assessing the situation, Russell had been trying to bait his opponent up until now, and Bruce had wanted to beat the hell out of Udocus . All three of them paid close attention to the words Udocus was about to speak .

  “The Planote bastards came up with a pretty good plan . They drained all the magical energy from the Moon, so our master can’t use his power . Moreover, they did this while reinforcing the seal . ”


  The people of Planote were his enemies, but Udocus’s voice continued admiration and deep respect .

  His behavior was completely different from how he treated Sungyoon’s party with disrespect . Nevertheless, the admiration didn’t last long .

  “However, it’s merely a trick concocted by lowly beings . ”


  As expected, Udocus went back to acting like himself .

  “I made a little modification to the tower . The tower will continue to send magical energy toward Earth . I can’t change that unless I gain access to the tower . Even then, it will take a long time . However, I can release the magical energy inside the labyrinths out in the open . I can make this magical energy flow out faster compared to the magical energy being sent to Earth . As a consequence, the air is leaking out of the labyrinths too . However, I don’t care about that . Isn’t that good news for you? The air won’t be able to escape into space thanks to the influence of magical energy . ”


  ‘So that’s why magical energy started flowing out of the labyrinths . ’


  Sungyoon glanced at his arms as he felt a dense current of magical energy flow across his skin .

  “Excluding the Great Labyrinths, the Moon’s labyrinths draw out magical energy to maintain Master’s seal . However, their effectiveness lessens when magical energy is directed outside of the labyrinths, and this also weakens the seals Planote’s descendants created . ”


  The Connectors who understood the meaning behind Udocus’s words turned pale .

  “.…… Grenoid’s seal is unraveling faster . ”


  “Correct!”


  Hearing Sungyoon’s hushed voice, Udocus shouted in joy .

  “You planned on sending as much magical energy as possible to Earth before Master awakens, but that plan has failed! When Master awakens, there will be enough magical energy on the Moon for him to wield! At that point, it won’t even be a chore for him to kill you all!”


  “Are you saying that’s the result of the ritual?”


  “Ke ke! That’s right! Can you still say with a straight face that the ritual is nothing?”


  Udocus mockingly laughed at Russell .

  “You guys put up a good fight . That’s why we lost two officers, whom we didn’t lose even when we fought the people of Planote . It only happened because Master was sealed, but I can’t deny that you guys put in the hard work . That’s why you deserve more than one present, and I prepared another present just for you guys . ”


  “You have something else planned?”


  “I’ll keep that information to myself so that you guys can enjoy it later . Don’t worry . You’ll soon find out about it . ”


  “Both the presents are the result of the ritual?”


  “That’s correct . ”


  Russell slightly moved his finger, and Sungyoon immediately stretched out his hand .

  Kwahhhhng!

  A spectacular sound rang out . Stalagmites erupted under Udocus and the monsters and kept rising as if they would shoot into space .

  All the Connectors took up arms at the same time . There was no need for them to extract more information . They moved to kill Udocus . However, the only thing that greeted them was a blue portal above the broken stalagmites .

  “I wanted to talk to you guys a little longer, but it seems you guys don’t want to speak with me . If so, I’ll head back now . ”


  “You’re running away?”


  Bruce yelled .

  “Koo-hoo-hoo! You guys look spent from fighting Glaia and the other monsters . Why would I run away from you guys? However, if it makes you feel better, you can claim that I ran away . I can’t stop you from thinking that way . However, it’s a shame that I won’t get to see your reactions when you realize what the second present is . ”


  Udocus took deliberate steps toward the portal .

  “Despair, humans . I want you to feel helpless when you realize you can’t escape your fate . That’s the punishment I will lay on you instead of death . ”


  “Bullshit!”


  Bruce, who had gotten close to Udocus, swung his fist . However, Udocus had entered the portal by then .

  Hoohk!

  The portal disappeared, and Bruce’s gauntlet punched empty air . The only things left were the ring of stalagmites and large broken rocks .

  “Shit!”


  Kwahng!

  Bruce lashed out at a stalagmite . The stalagmite broke and fell over . However, his actions were in vain; Udocus was already gone .

  “We lost Udocus, Mayor . ”


  Russell dejectedly reported .

  ***

  The party returned to Armstrong city once again . Even though the battle had ended, the Connectors hadn’t moved away from their assigned locations . They were preparing for a potential second wave of monsters’ attacks .

  As the Connectors monitored their surroundings, they couldn’t help glancing toward the stake . No, they were staring at the blood net around the stake .

  “We won, but it doesn’t feel like we won . ”


  Bruce let out a sigh . His side had stopped a large scale attack by the monsters, but the feeling of victory, which they had felt not too long ago, was like a fevered dream .

  “We didn’t win . They didn’t attack us with the intention of winning . They wanted the monsters to die so that they could pull off the ritual . As a side bonus, they were able to chip away at our fighting power . In the end, they achieved their goal . They hastened the unraveling of Grenoid’s seal . We were completely outmaneuvered . ”


  There was a bitter taste in Russell’s mouth as he explained .

  “There’s no way he was telling the complete truth, right?”


  “I hope so, but it isn’t a guarantee . ”


  Everyone hoped that Udocus had been bluffing .

  “What about the second present Udocus spoke about?”


  Sungyoon, who had been thinking about that subject, opened his mouth .

  Russell shrugged .

  “I have no idea . I’m sure it’s something unpleasant, but we’ll find out the details when we encounter it . ”


  “I hope everything was a lie starting with the second present . ”


  “I hope so too . ”


  Sungyoon’s party followed the Mayor’s order and stayed in the battle for a short time .

  However, the monsters showed no signs of mobilizing once again . Therefore, the Mayor recalled everyone back to Armstrong city aside from a minimum number of Connectors needed to keep guard .

  ‘It’s over for now . ’


  They felt leery, but the battle for the day had come to an end .

  Since the Mayor wanted to replenish the fighting power of his city, he ordered most of the high rank Connectors, including Sungyoon, to rest .

  Even if they weren’t physically exhausted, they were mentally drained . It might be selfish, but Sungyoon welcomed the Mayor’s order .

  ‘I’ll worry about tomorrow’s problem tomorrow . ’


  Sungyoon emptied his mind of all thoughts as he lay down . It didn’t take him long to fall asleep .

  This was how Sungyoon was able to escape his stress for a brief moment .

  However, the information the Mayor relayed to him the next day destroyed any peace that he had been able to find .

  “.…… What did you just say?”


  Even though he had clearly heard it, Sungyoon still asked in disbelief .

  The Mayor looked pale, but he didn’t shy away from fulfilling his duty .

  Sungyoon once again heard the words he didn’t want to hear .

  “The Moon’s trajectory has changed once again . It’s rapidly falling toward Earth . The Moon will fall to Earth in two months at the very least . ”


  The countdown toward Earth’s extinction had started .