Chapter 331
Chapter 331
Everyone had been calling it the defense of Armstrong city, but this was just a blanket statement . Armstrong city wasn’t the only location humanity had to protect .
There was the landing strip of the Aldrin s.p.a.ceport, which stretched out of the city . The stake of the Mage city was the other vital location . After all, it was part of the mechanism that had created the force field and stopped the monsters from opening portals to Earth .
The location most difficult to defend amongst the three was the stake . The stake was incredibly large, and unlike Armstrong city, it lacked outer walls . This basically made it a large tower staked into the ground as it held up a large foundation .
This was the reason Armstrong"s higher-ups had been most worried about the stake .
‘They came out in incredible numbers . ’
Sungyoon admired the battlefield for a moment .
The monsters attacking Armstrong city had become a bit demoralized since they had met fierce opponents .
On the other hand, the monsters attacking the stake were full of spirit . They had the same enthusiasm that Sungyoon had seen when he had looked down at the monsters for the first time from the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p .
‘Thankfully, they can"t use their portals to get there . ’
It seemed the forcefield’s influence was active around the stake as the monsters couldn’t open direct portals to it . With that, the Connectors" side didn’t need to worry about a situation like in Armstrong city where the monsters had attacked from within .
However, Armstrong city was also unable to create portals near the stake . Therefore, Sungyoon’s party walked toward the stake and arrived near it .
- We’ve confirmed your location, Mr . Sungyoon . I see you"re in the transport tunnel leading to the stake .
The Mayor checked Sungyoon"s location as he spoke .
They had created a small transport route that connected Armstrong city to the besieged stake . Its purpose was to safely transport reinforcement and supplies, which made it the stake"s lifeline .
- We’ve dispatched enough reinforcements to defend the transport route . We would like you and your party to support a different location . We’ll send you the coordinates .
Sungyoon"s tablet displayed the new information .
His party started to run . It didn’t matter where they looked; fights were taking place in every direction .
As he ran, Sungyoon extended his hand toward the locations where the monsters had gathered en ma.s.se . Sharp stalagmites shot up from the ground and ruthlessly impaled the monsters .
While running to his designated location, Sungyoon did his best to help . He attacked where monsters had crowded and helped the places where monsters had overwhelmed the battle line .
‘This is the place . ’
When they arrived at the location indicated on the tablet, the party saw an enormous army of monsters charging toward the front line defense in waves .
At a glance, one could tell that the fight here was fiercer compared to the other locations along the front line .
Without any hesitation, Sungyoon jumped into the battlefield . His party members followed suit and joined the front line .
The Royal Gem infused his body with power .
Sungyoon indiscriminately cut down any monster that came in his way . He didn’t even summon his s.h.i.+eld, and solely focused on attacking . His right hand held his hammer, and his left hand held the ax .
‘I have to reduce the number of monsters here . Even if I get injured, I have a healer in Ms . Emily . I don’t have to worry about getting injured . ’
He fought monsters of all sizes . Occasionally, he encountered some that could block his attack . However, he didn"t get fl.u.s.tered; he calmly killed them all .
Some attacks got through his defense from time to time . However, none of them could break through his armor . Sometimes, the attacks were oppressive and overwhelming . In those situations, he immediately switched to his halberd . Whenever his halberd sliced through a monster, the discomfort he felt in his body melted away .
Suddenly, a large monster crushed the smaller monsters in its path as it charged toward him .
‘That"s… . ’
It was a snake that creepily slithered across the ground . Overall, the monster didn’t look much different from a normal snake .
However, there was one big difference: its size .
The snake was the size of a house . Its poisonous fangs, which could be seen within its mouth, were as long as a car .
At a glance, it looked similar to the Giant Snake Sungyoon had faced in the past . However, this monster was on a different level .
‘Jormungandr . ’
Its name came from a monster in Norse mythology . The monster was as powerful as its namesake implied .
Jormungandr opened its mouth, and a liquid dripped down from its poisonous fangs . The liquid fell on the corpse of a monster that Jormungandr had trampled .
The corpse melted away in an instant .
‘Its poison looks stronger than the poison of my ax . ’
Sungyoon saw the Connectors near him hesitantly step backward .
Jormungandr"s head and upper body came to a stop, but its lower body, including the tail, continued to move forward as Jormungandr coiled upon itself .
Sungyoon could imagine what the snake was about to do next .
It shot its head forward like a bullet . All the monsters in its path were sent flying like the leaves caught in a fierce wind .
The Connectors in the battle line quickly dodged . However, two weren’t fast enough .
One of them collided with the bullet-like head of the snake . His armor shattered, and his body was ripped into pieces .
Jormungandr"s fang grazed past the second Connector . The attack ripped open the man"s armor and left a long wound . It was a shallow cut, but there was one problem: the poison . The injured Connector quickly retreated, and a healer moved forward to heal him . However, everything happened in an instant . The first appendage to melt away was his arm, then the poison invaded his main body . His flesh melted away, and liquid leaked out of the armor . The armor and the melting body fell to the dusty floor of the Moon .
‘Even a graze is a death sentence!’
Jormungandr"s poison was frightening . Due to this snake, the battle line fell apart, and the monsters" attacks turned fiercer .
The monsters around Jormungandr charged forward .
‘Danger!’
Sungyoon unfurled his wings . He flew until he arrived under Jormungandr’s head .
‘Koohk!’
Jormungandr had a very quick reaction speed as it brought down its head toward Sungyoon . Its actions generated a small quake, and a large cloud of dust rose into the air .
‘It"s no joke . ’
Sungyoon dodged to the side in time as he a.s.sumed his fighting posture . However, the monster wasn’t done with its attack .
Jormungandr’s head pierced through the cloud of dust and moved across the ground like a whip . Innocent monsters in its path were sent flying like bowling pins .
Sungyoon quickly unfurled his wings once again and jumped backward . Jormungandr’s head pa.s.sed through empty air instead of his body .
For a moment, Sungyoon exchanged glances with its red reptilian eyes .
‘Because of that size, its attacks are incredibly powerful . ’
After crus.h.i.+ng basically everything near it, Jormungandr raised its head .
‘As expected, we can"t take them lightly on the Moon . ’
On Earth, Sungyoon had the upper hand against Kevil and the Archdemons . Part of the reason he had been able to defeat them was that they couldn’t use their true powers on Earth .
In contrast, Sungyoon’s Gems had performed the same as they did on the Moon . Moreover, the source of magical energy had given him a buff .
Right now, the situation was different . Monsters could use their true powers, and while he had again received a buff from the source of magical energy, the buff was weaker than it had been when he had fought Kevil .
‘In some ways, this is the real fight . ’
Jormungandr once again charged toward Sungyoon . It seemed the snake had become enraged after Sungyoon had dodged its attack several times .
It coiled its body once again, intending to use the bullet-like attack again .
Sungyoon gripped his halberd as Jormungandr shot toward him . However, he didn’t move this time around .
‘I don"t need to fight it by myself . ’
Someone in his party was more skilled at dealing with such attacks .
Tim appeared before Sungyoon, placed his large s.h.i.+eld in front of him, and leaned forward .
Jormungandr’s face collided with Tim’s s.h.i.+eld . Tim’s body skidded backward, but he didn’t lose his balance, and his st.u.r.dy s.h.i.+eld managed to hold up .
Tim skidded until he reached Sungyoon, but in the end, he had stopped Jormungandr’s charge .
Sungyoon immediately moved . As soon as he moved past Tim, Jormungandr’s large face greeted him . Its poisonous fangs were trying to pierce Tim’s s.h.i.+eld, and Sungyoon could see the soft flesh behind those fangs .
He stabbed the roof of Jormungandr"s mouth with the spear blade . Its flesh was tough, but in the end, the halberd pierced its mouth .
Jormungandr quickly retracted its head .
‘Jeez!’
Sungyoon also retreated .
‘I have to be careful of its poisonous fangs . ’
Those poisonous fangs had missed him by several centimeters as they had brushed past him . He shuddered at the thought .
Jormungandr shook its head from side to side . The attack had been very painful for it .
It glared at Sungyoon . Its reptilian eyes had vertical pupils, and the slit looked sharper than ever .
Jormungandr opened up its mouth wide as if it wanted to swallow Sungyoon in one bite . Its mouth had almost opened at a 180-degree angle as it unhinged its jaws .
Suddenly, a lightning bolt hit Jormungandr . Grace had used her spell .
The lightning was already powerful, but it became more destructive since it had entered through Jormungandr"s open mouth . Smoke started to come out of Jormungandr"s mouth .
However, the monster didn’t fall over yet .
Sungyoon used his earth magic at this time .
Stalagmites erupted around Jormungandr and turned the nearby monsters into s.h.i.+sh kebabs .
‘It works better than I expected . ’
Until now, Sungyoon had used his spells strictly as support .
He focused on fighting close while rotating through his numerous weapons . Moreover, he had Grace for attack magic and Emily for healing magic . That was why he rarely used any of his spells as a pure attacking move .
Above all else, the part that held him back the most was the low rank of his magic Gems .
However, all of his Gems had gone through explosive growth when he killed Kevil .
Moreover, he had a Gem that increased the abilities of his other Gems, and it worked synergistically with the buff the Royal Gem gave to him . All of this made Sungyoon’s spells quite powerful now .
The stalagmites destroyed Jormungandr’s scales and pierced through its body .
However, even that wasn’t enough to kill it .
‘It doesn’t matter . ’
While Jormungandr went mad from pain, Sungyoon ran up one of the stalagmites .
He reached Jormungandr’s head .
Jormungandr shook its head to regain its senses, and its red eyes started to search for its target once again .
Sungyoon jumped, aiming for the top of Jormungandr’s head .
‘Ha-aht!’
He gripped his halberd and thrust the spear blade with all his might . The spear blade broke through the scales and pierced deep within the monster’s head .
Jormungandr once again writhed in pain, and Sungyoon’s body was flung all over the place . However, he held onto his halberd .
‘I didn’t plan on killing it with this attack in the first place . ’
He took a firmer hold of the halberd with his left hand and gripped his sword with the right . Then, he planted the sword right next to the halberd .
Jormungandr"s struggles turned fiercer .
The sword discharged the lightning, but the attack didn’t cause much damage .
Since his posture was bad, Sungyoon couldn’t put much strength behind the sword strike .
He then raised his hammer and brought it down on the handle of his sword .
He kept pounding it .
Explosions kept occurring, and the sword went inside until only its handle could be seen .
‘Last one!’
Sungyoon swung his hammer once again . The sword accompanying the explosion completely pierced through the monster"s head .
Jormungandr suddenly went limp . The momentum behind its thras.h.i.+ng remained as it fell to the ground . Its body squashed several monsters .
Sungyoon jumped off before the body hit the floor, and safely landed .
‘I did it . ’
It happened as soon as Sungyoon let out a sigh .
In the distance, he saw a large cloud of dust, and out of it, came another large snake . There wasn"t just one . Three Jormungandrs were coming toward the battle line .
‘s.h.i.+t!’
Sungyoon was about to grab his sword once again when he saw two figures run toward the three Jormungandrs .
The first figure swung a sword and severed one of the snakes . The other jumped on top of the second snake and punched the head .
‘Sir Russell! Mr . Bruce!’
Reinforcements had arrived .