Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Hwahk!
Light erupted from the Gold Gem . Sungyoon"s entire body became dyed with gold as the light circulated around his body .
Flich!
The sudden appearance of the light made the two monsters flinch, and they hesitated to move forward . Their actions could he considered a boon from Sungyoon’s perspective . He needed time to activate the Gem, and with the monsters stalling their advance, he was able to buy some time .
‘The activation of a Jewel Rank hits differently . ’
Sungyoon had forgotten about his current predicament for a brief moment as he became overtaken by awe .
The Gold Gem started to slowly stretch itself out, and the information about its ability started to enter into his head .
‘I can pull it off with this!’
Sungyoon rejoiced when he checked the Gold Gem’s ability . Fortunately, it would be helpful in this fight . It wasn’t a useless Gem . He wouldn’t even need to change his fighting style . The ability was simple yet powerful .
Ssssk!
After it was completely activated, the golden light disappeared into the Gem . A faint gold residue was left behind, enveloping Sungyoon’s equipment and other Gems .
-Koo-roohk!
The monsters slowly advanced towards the connector . They had been surprised by the golden light, but they didn’t plan on abandoning their pursuit . Moreover, the golden light had disappeared .
-Koo-ahhhhhh!
The first one to attack was the monster that had been chasing after him from the rear . Overall, it looked like an enormous lizard . But unlike a real lizard, it was completely bipedal . It stretched its fingers as it tried to catch Sungyoon . Its actions were aggressive .
‘This one is called Lizardman, right?’
Sungyoon b.i.t.c.hed about the really unoriginal name .
-Ggoo-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh!
As if it didn’t want to lose, the one blocking Sungyoon’s forward path charged too .
‘This one is called Sharp Leopard . ’
The monster possessed long canines that extended up and down from the mouth . It was different from regular carnivorous animals which had blunt canines . Its canines were as sharp as any ice pick that could be created by humans .
There was a leopard in the front and a lizard at his back . Sungyoon decided to charge forward .
-Grrrrrah!
It seemed the Sharp Leopard was a bit fl.u.s.tered when Sungyoon suddenly charged forward . It let out an odd sound . However, its hesitation lasted only a moment, and it increased its speed to charge towards Sungyoon .
Zzuh-uhk!
Its mouth opened wide . Aside from the four large canines, it possessed many small teeth . They were crowded in an irregular manner . They were all sharp as h.e.l.l .
He could feel its animosity, and he could imagine the teeth ripping open his throat . Chills ran down his spine . However, Sungyoon didn"t let his fear rule him, and he raised his s.h.i.+eld, moving forward .
The Lizardman’s attack had caused numerous cracks to appear his s.h.i.+eld . That was why his s.h.i.+eld looked much weaker in front of the Sharp Leopard . There was a chance the sharp canines would destroy his s.h.i.+eld, but Sungyoon wasn"t doing a suicide charge . There was a clear golden residue around his s.h.i.+eld, and it sparkled .
Boom!
The Sharp Leopard’s canines impacted on the s.h.i.+eld . But surprisingly, the s.h.i.+eld was intact . Moreover, he had taken on the charge of a high rank monster, yet the Sharp Leopard’s momentum couldn’t push Sungyoon’s body backward .
‘It worked!’
Sungyoon rejoiced . However, he didn’t have the time to savor his joy . He had something he had to do first . Sungyoon swung his mace .
Puh-uh-uhk!
The mace, which was surrounded by a golden residue, struck the Sharp Leopard’s face . The face cratered inwards, as if a huge rock had fallen on top of it . looked as if a sinkhole had formed in its face .
This was not a power that a Blue Rank Gem could generate .
However, the Sharp Leopard wasn’t his only enemy . By the time he had finished killing the Sharp Leopard, the Lizardman had snuck up on him . Sungyoon turned around and raised his s.h.i.+eld .
Boom!
The s.h.i.+eld rammed hard into the Lizardman . The monster used its enormous size and weight to make full use of its power . Sungyoon was slowly being pushed backwards . He was at a slight disadvantage, but overall, he was doing quite well .
“Hoohp!”
While he was being pushed backwards, Sungyoon swung his mace . His aim was the monster"s thigh .
Kwah-doohk!
Since it was engrossed in a battle of strength, the Lizardman was leaning slightly forward . The mace became lodged in its right thigh . In their previous exchange, it had deflected the mace with ease . But this time, the mace broke all its scales . The broken pieces flew into the surrounding .
-Koo-ohhhhhhhh!
He heard it scream .
‘It works!’
Sungyoon was happy . Earlier, the rebound of his attack on the Lizard Man had caused a stinging sensation to run up his hands . But now, he felt the sensation of something breaking, and the sensation of hitting soft flesh beneath the scales .
‘I can win this!’
The Lizarman punched with its right fist, but Sungyoon deflected it with his s.h.i.+eld . It caused its chest to be exposed . He swung his mace at its chest .
Blood flew into the air, and bones broke . The Lizardman hesitantly took a few steps backward . Sungyoon didn’t let this opportunity go to waste . He followed after it .
Kwah-jeek!
He swung with all his might as he brought the mace on top of the Lizardman’s head . Its eyes and brain matter shot out like paste as a big crater formed in its head .
Tuhl-suhk!
The Lizardman bonelessly fell to the floor .
Sungyoon was at a level where he should have been running away from these two monsters like a mouse . However, these two monsters were defeated easily by his hands .
‘As expected of a Jewel Rank . . . ’
Sungyoon was impressed as he looked at the Gold Gem letting out a subdued golden light .
The Gold Gem’s ability was very simple .
Boost . It had the ability to boost other equipped Gems by several fold .
To be precise, it increased Rainbow rank Gems by a factor of four . The B&W Gems received a threefold increase and any Gems above Gold Gem received a doubling effect .
‘I could probably clear the whole Beginner’s labyrinth with this . ’
Of course, this was all under the a.s.sumption that he would be able to protect himself during the nighttime when he rested . However, the Gold Gem’s power was so impressive that he didn’t even think about that .
The only regret he had was the fact that he could only use this once .
Sungyoon was a 1st Gen, and he had only been a Connector for half a year . Those were his limiting factors . Even if he had the talent to be able to handle a Gold Gem, it had been too short a time for him to be able to cultivate that talent .
‘No . It isn’t the time for me to have these thoughts . ’
He didn’t know when the Gold Gem would reach its limit and break apart . He wasn’t even going to bother collecting the moonstones . He was about to move quickly when he saw something glinting near where the monster had disappeared . He came to a stop .
‘Gem!’
The item that he had been craving for had appeared . Sungyoon quickly picked it up . He didn’t know what would happen here on out, but he had to gather any item that might increase his power .
‘Yellow Rank!’
He almost yelled out loud while he was running away . It was a much better Gem compared to anything he possessed right now .
‘It is star shaped . It is another special ability Gem . ’
Sungyoon had been extremely satisfied by the ability imbued to him by the Gold Gem . He looked forward to seeing what special ability this Gem would give him .
However, he didn"t have a Device that could slot a Yellow Gem . Still, he had to prepare for the next crisis . He forcefully slotted the Gem into the Device . It would still be able to forcefully activate the Yellow Gem . Sungyoon started running once again .
* * *
The Beginner’s labyrinth was completely different without the culling . It was as if he was in a location that hadn’t received a clean up, so this place was no longer a labyrinth for beginners . It was basically a normal labyrinth .
High rank monsters tirelessly charged towards Sungyoon . He had been too busy running away from monsters, so he didn’t know how deep into the labyrinth he had gone . If he had to make an educated guess, he had gone down one floor . However, he had to kill countless monsters as he followed the signs leading him towards Armstrong city . It was endless . The monsters with highly enhanced senses ran in each time they heard him fight a monster . They kept coming in waves .
However, Sungyoon didn’t back down an inch . He charged forward as he slaughtered the monsters .
‘This is amazing!’
Sungyoon had no choice but to become impressed by the Gold Gem’s ability once again . If he didn’t have the Gold Gem, he would have been ripped apart into pieces . He would have met a tragic end where he would be eaten by monsters .
Sungyoon looked at his surroundings . The blood and corpse of the monster was still there . He had no time to spare, but he didn’t move past it . Soon, the monster’s corpse was swept up in light .
Sungyoon’s eyes shone .
‘It dropped . ’
Sungyoon quickly moved towards where the monster’s corpse had been . As expected of a high rank monster, it dropped a big moonstone, but the connector didn’t care about that . He was only interested in the Gem that had dropped next to it .
Grab!
After he picked up the Gem, he started running once again .
‘Green Gem!’
When he checked the Gem, he inwardly let out a cheer .
‘Moreover, it is an X shape!’
It was an X shaped Gem . It was an armor Gem that Sungyoon had always wanted . Moreover, he had a Device capable of slotting a Green gem . He slotted the X shaped Gem into the slot . He had no reason to hesitate . Sungyoon immediately activated the Gem through the Device .
Hoo-oong!
The Green Gem started to let out a light . As it absorbed Sungyoon’s magical energy, the Gem slowly awakened from its slumber .
Hoohk!
The Gem was letting out a continuous light when it suddenly turned off . The activation had been cancelled . However, Sungyoon wasn’t surprised . In fact, his face turned red from embarra.s.sment .
The reason why the Green Gem failed to activate was because of the fact that he was still wearing his other armors . Currently, he was wearing a leather armor for his upper body, and a s.h.i.+n guard for the lower body . It seemed that the light of the Green Gem had overlapped with his leather mail armor .
Alongside the head, the upper body was one of the two most important locations that one had to protect . This was why it was best to have the highest defense on the helmet and the mail armor . Sungyoon had been at risk of being one-shotted if a monster got in a solid blow towards his body . It was why the Green rank mail armor was something he wanted the most .
Sungyoon unsummoned the Purple rank Armor he had been wearing, and put on the newly acquired Green rank armor .
Unlike his previous leather armor, this armor made a clanking sound . However, the sound didn’t bother him at all . The armor was made out of steel, and it meant his defense had gone up, something he had always wanted .
‘It is a Scale Armor . ’
The armor was officially called a Scale Armor . Steel would be shaped into scales, and the scales would have to be laced together in order to make the scale armor . It was much heavier than the leather armor, but Sungyoon didn’t mind the heavy weight .
Moreover, the newly acquired armor was already under the influence of the Gold Gem . A subdued golden light surrounded it .
‘Even if a monster hits my body, I won’t die from a single blow . ’
He tapped on his newly acquired defensive gear . He felt its coldness and hardness through his fingertips . It felt extremely st.u.r.dy and reliable .
-Ggoo-uhhhhhhhh!
He once again heard the cry of another monster . Sungyoon didn’t hesitate as he threw his body towards the monster, which was blocking his path .