Tearing the Gate Apart - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 32.
Jon was a man of two meters in height, built solid and confident.
Having served as a tank through his awakening, his strength was extraordinary.
But surely he couldn’t hurl a person a hundred meters into the air.
Still, Ha Gyeong posed the question without hesitation.
“Do you have a defensive skill you can layer onto your Shield?”
“Damn right I do. I’m a tank, man. That’s basic stuff.”
“Who on earth taught you to talk like that? Anyway, do it like before, but buffer it with skill. Got it?”
“And I time the bounce just right?”
“Of course you do.”
“You think we can get more than 328 feet up that way?”
Only an American would answer in imperial units.
The measurement came out without thinking.
Ha Gyeong paused briefly, then shook his head.
The unit hardly mattered at the moment.
Ha Gyeong stepped back, dodging the spikes erupting from below.
When Jon stopped and took his stance.
Ha Gyeong sprinted forward at a staggering pace.
“Going for it! Hold on!”
“Okay!”
Ha Gyeong’s legs were wrapped in pale gray energy.
He’d concentrated the Abyssal Resonance into his feet.
He stamped down on Jon’s glowing blue shield.
Tap-tap-tap! Boom!
The recoil was tremendous.
Pain shot up his legs as though struck by a sledgehammer.
But the hurt was brief.
[Spirit Cloak Activated]
[You are now immune to pain]
Thanks to the Spirit Cloak, Ha Gyeong could focus entirely on his leap.
Jon then launched his shield with all his strength.
The timing was absolutely perfect.
Whoosh—!
Ha Gyeong flew in a parabolic arc like a cannon shell.
It wasn’t quite the hundred meters mentioned earlier.
But he climbed close enough.
Ha Gyeong quickly calculated his landing point.
‘Much more accurate than last time. At this rate, I’ll land right above the Crack Swarm.’
He poured Abyssal energy into his Karambit.
Whoosh—!
Pale gray flames engulfed the blade.
The Stage Three resonance ability unleashed a chilling killing intent.
It seemed Ha Gyeong’s will had been directly projected into it.
[The Abyss Challenger’s ‘Compression’ Authority increases the density of Abyssal energy]
Crack—!
Ha Gyeong honed the Abyssal Resonance even sharper.
Then he deployed Cham-hon immediately.
A full-bodied strike falling from a hundred meters above.
His body, merged with the Karambit, burst forth.
Whoosh-crack! Bang!
Cham-hon drove straight into the Crack Swarm’s body.
The creature couldn’t close its fissure since it was in the midst of deploying its ultimate.
So Ha Gyeong’s attack pierced clean through the red flesh.
Crunch!
‘Got it!’
Ha Gyeong exulted.
The Cham-hon had landed so cleanly.
He thought the battle would turn in his favor right then.
But something different unfolded.
A new body began to grow from the Crack Swarm’s flank.
“Screee!”
Burst! Lash-lash-lash!
Dozens of thorned tentacles erupted from the ground, targeting Ha Gyeong.
It had turned its ultimate away from the Raid Team.
But the number of attacks was overwhelming.
Ha Gyeong, trying to slip aside, found himself in serious danger.
‘Can’t dodge this.’
There was only one option left.
To sever the spiny tentacles and escape.
[Reactive Mana Armor Activated]
[Impact is converted to mana]
The armor’s mana amplification function could be used just in time.
It was thanks to the recoil generated from Jon’s shield.
Of course, the power wasn’t that strong.
But even a cat’s paw would do in a pinch.
Ha Gyeong focused his remaining Abyssal energy and mana into the Karambit.
Whoosh—!
“Hyah!”
As the compressed Cham-hon deployed, the spiny tentacles were severed in a shower.
It was a counterattack with everything he had.
Lash-lash-lash!
For a moment, his field of vision opened up.
But Ha Gyeong’s brow furrowed.
‘Didn’t it turn its ultimate on me?’
The Raid Team was still reeling.
The Crack Swarm’s spiny tentacles were erupting everywhere.
To think it could do this much while fighting him.
What kind of absurd monster was this?
Ha Gyeong landed and tightened his grip on the Karambit.
But he couldn’t afford to rush in carelessly.
The Crack Swarm’s aura was far too vicious.
A powerful will to kill anything that drew near.
Yet Ha Gyeong stepped forward.
Tap! Whoosh!
At that, a few more tentacles crawled out from the Crack Swarm’s body.
Right at that moment.
Ha Gyeong understood.
‘This bastard… was just posturing?’
His own efforts had brought one Crack Swarm to the brink of death.
And the Raid Team had finished off another.
Though they’d merged into one, it hadn’t fully recovered.
It only looked that way on the surface.
Ha Gyeong advanced.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Now all he had left was a pittance of Abyssal energy.
His mana had run dry long ago.
Yet Ha Gyeong didn’t stop.
As the distance closed, the Crack Swarm’s spiny tentacles lashed out.
With a horrific shriek.
“Screee!”
Clang!
Ha Gyeong swiftly batted the tentacles aside.
He’d grasped why the Crack Swarm was acting this way.
‘It’s thrashing about, desperate to keep me back. Like a frightened dog barking fiercer.’
The blade formed by the Karambit was hazy.
A shimmering Stage One resonance.
His Abyssal energy was nearly depleted.
Yet Ha Gyeong deliberately acted with composure.
Now was a moment where momentum decided everything.
Any sign of hesitation would only give the creature confidence.
More tentacle attacks came.
“Krieeeek!”
Clang!
Ha Gyeong parried this time as well.
But his strength was nearly gone.
The Abyssal Resonance would fade soon.
And the Crack Swarm’s spiny tentacles would turn him into a pincushion.
The shadow of death loomed before his eyes.
But Ha Gyeong didn’t stop.
The distance between him and the Crack Swarm was now roughly five meters.
For an Awakener or monster, that was practically point-blank range.
Yet Ha Gyeong took another step forward.
Tap! Whoosh—!
Spiny tentacles burst through the ground.
This time, it was a strike even Ha Gyeong hadn’t anticipated.
So he allowed one to pierce his left arm.
But his expression didn’t change.
Squelch!
He callously severed the tentacle.
And pressed onward.
Though he wasn’t without precautions.
[Tyrant’s Bracelet Activated]
[Your body is rapidly recovering]
Whoosh!
The wound on Ha Gyeong’s body closed instantly.
Soon after, the Crack Swarm’s attacks struck several more times.
Clang! Thud!
Yet Ha Gyeong’s stride never faltered.
Moments later.
He closed to within one meter of the Crack Swarm.
The exact range of the Abyssal Resonance extending from his Karambit.
Ha Gyeong swung his blade even as the tentacles lashed him.
Thud! Squelch!
“Krieeeek!”
The Crack Swarm convulsed with pain.
Its reaction was far more violent than his previous leaping strikes.
He pressed forward, drenched in blood, hacking with the Karambit.
Squelch! Hack!
As Ha Gyeong pierced and cut.
The Crack Swarm kept driving its form through him.
It was a brutal, head-on clash.
Then Ha Gyeong’s continuously healing body finally stilled.
The Tyrant’s Bracelet had exhausted its power.
He’d burned through the Restoration Veil as well, so there was no more recovery available.
Just then.
Kang Woo-jin’s voice reached his ears.
—Ha Gyeong, can you pull back? If you wait just a moment, the Raid Team can provide support!
But Ha Gyeong shook his head.
If he withdrew now, the outcome would become uncertain.
Right now, becoming a charging bull dinosaur offered the highest probability of victory.
Ha Gyeong clenched his teeth and cried out.
“I can’t back away.”
Without using the Whisperer, the Raid Team wouldn’t have heard.
But that didn’t matter.
It wasn’t meant for their ears anyway.
Just words spoken to steel his own resolve.
Ha Gyeong swung his blade, now shortened to fifty centimeters.
Squelch! Whoosh—!
He carved a new fissure into the Crack Swarm’s body.
And plunged his Karambit inside, hacking wildly.
When their blood and forms were so tangled it was impossible to tell which was which.
The Crack Swarm’s movements ceased.
[You have defeated the Dungeon Guardian, Crack Swarm]
[You receive a Skill Enhancement Scroll (A) as a reward]
Ha Gyeong collapsed the moment he read the system message.
Stuck inside the Crack Swarm’s fissure.
At this rate, the creature’s heavy corpse would crush him.
But he had no strength left to escape.
Then, in that instant.
Whoosh!
Someone grabbed the back of Ha Gyeong’s neck and pulled him free.
Looking up, Ha Gyeong saw Jon’s upside-down face.
“Hey, bro. You good? Jon’s gonna get you out real quick.”
“Thank you.”
“You guys are all alive ’cause of you, so least I can do.”
Watching Jon speak so breezily, Ha Gyeong smiled faintly.
Slung over a brawny white man’s shoulder wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t mind.
After all, Jon had made sure to move him to safety.
Ha Gyeong whispered softly to himself.
“That’s… nice.”
“Huh? You say something?”
“What?”
“You just whispered my name. Tell you what, I’m letting it slide ’cause we’re bros. If anyone else had breathed in my ear like that, I’d have slammed ’em on the ground first thing.”
……
He seemed to have misunderstood something.
Ha Gyeong’s bewildered expression twisted into a smirk.
Jon’s full name had suddenly come to mind.
‘Was it Jon Neygar?’
It was an easy mistake to make.
If a muscular man had whispered like that, anyone would shudder.
Ha Gyeong lay limp and quiet.
Until they could rejoin the Raid Team.
* * *
Ha Gyeong opened his eyes quietly.
‘I fell asleep like I’d passed out.’
He still remained within the Abyss of Proliferation.
Directly after defeating the Guardian.
The Raid Team had paused briefly.
The damage was far worse than expected.
Even though the healers had pushed to their limits, there were fifteen casualties.
A full twenty-five percent of their forces were gone.
As he slowly got to his feet.
Kang Woo-jin approached and sat down beside him.
“This is quite the difficult situation.”
“Thirty percent is the Maginot Line, but it doesn’t look like we’ll make it. This dungeon is Extreme Grade and Medium in size.”
“I’m thinking the same way.”
Truthfully, the Crack Swarm was at roughly the same level as the final boss of an Incomprehensible Grade dungeon.
If that’s what the Guardian was like.
The difficulty ahead would be far greater.
Kang Woo-jin seemed to have made a decision, sighing as he stood.
“Well. We’ll call the exploration here. We found the Escape Mechanic, so let’s get out.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and…”
Kang Woo-jin’s words trailed off.
Then he gave a thumbs up.
“Your father was the finest Awakener I ever knew. But like father, like son—you were truly magnificent today.”
His manner of speaking was rather old-fashioned.
But it was genuine praise nonetheless.
Ha Gyeong smiled slightly and bowed his head.
“I learned a great deal.”
Kang Woo-jin’s Raid Team departed the Abyss of Proliferation.
Though it was a painful defeat, the haul wasn’t nothing.
The Artifact the Crack Swarm dropped was extraordinarily valuable.
Normally an internal auction would have been held, but circumstances delayed it somewhat.
There were simply too many casualties.
Meanwhile, Ha Gyeong took an extended rest.
The direct confrontation with the Crack Swarm had left serious aftereffects.
‘Can’t help the itching. Need to recover first before attempting anything else.’
But a small change had come to Ha Gyeong’s daily routine.
A large white man who showed up at his private training ground every single day.
Jon Neygar had become a fixture.
“Why do you come here every day?”
Ha Gyeong asked Jon directly.
The answer that came back was ridiculous.
“There’s nobody like you, man. We’ve been through life and death together—you’re really gonna be like this? What’s that word… there’s this perfect phrase for it.”
“What is it?”
“Comrades.”
……
This seemed to be a side effect of K-culture.
Ha Gyeong released a long sigh.
Then, with a resigned expression, he looked up.
Pointing at the exit door.
“Out.”
Tearing the gate open
Author |
Morae Tteop
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Corp.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C Corp. – Dream Books
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UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260306112
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
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Submissions |
[email protected]
This book’s contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Corp. – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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