Tearing the Gate Apart - Chapter 37

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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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Episode 37.
An enormous surge of Abyss Energy flooded in all at once.
Befitting an Incomprehensible Grade boss from the Bottomless Abyss.
Yet Ha Gyeong merely furrowed his brow slightly.
His reaction was markedly different from before.
In truth, he felt no great burden.
‘Finding one more Ultimate Abyss Fragment must be why the weight of Kindred Predation feels lighter.’
It was proof that Ha Gyeong had grown a step stronger.
He materialized the Abyss Energy through the Karambite.
The blade burned fiercely despite the use of Compression Authority.
A chilling killing intent poured forth toward the target.
But Frost Bishop did not simply endure the assault.
Boom—!
[Frost Bishop deploys Frozen Remorse]
[Curse permeates your entire body]
[Mana Freezing effect: 50%]
[Skill deployment becomes difficult]
A powerful shockwave hit him, and a binding force squeezed his entire body.
If skills were blocked, Ha Gyeong would be reduced to flailing uselessly at empty air.
Yet he showed no sign of panic.
‘No need to worry. I have Curse Breaker.’
[Curse Breaker activated]
[Curse effect reduced by half]
Curse Breaker differed fundamentally from ordinary Artifacts.
Applied passively at all times, it required no cooldown management.
In exchange, it also negated beneficial curses entirely.
Though such things were rare.
Regardless, Ha Gyeong focused entirely on deploying Sword Soul.
‘Though I primarily use Abyss Energy, Mana is the true core that controls power.’
The curse’s influence hadn’t vanished completely.
Thus skill deployment remained harder than usual.
But Ha Gyeong steadied himself with practiced ease.
Soul Stigma sharpened his senses in turn.
Shing-shing-shing-shing!
A fifteen-meter blade formed from Ha Gyeong’s sword.
Fusion Abyss.
When he unleashed Kindred Predation against the final boss’s ultimate skill.
It resembled the time he faced the remnants of an Abyss Ruler.
Soon after, Ha Gyeong swung the Karambite, and a spinning disc shot forth.
Whoooosh—!
With a deafening boom, the air rippled violently.
The power defied imagination—space itself seemed to warp.
The enormous recoil sent Ha Gyeong’s body flying backward.
Even as he soared through the air, his eyes remained fixed on Frost Bishop.
‘Hit him. Please.’
This Field Boss unleashed all manner of strange skills.
So there was no letting his guard down until the end.
As expected.
Frost Bishop extended his right hand forward.
Whoosh! Click!
The Staff Ha Gyeong had hurled so far away suddenly returned in an instant.
And all the monster corpses hanging from it opened their eyes at once.
Red light spreading in a flash.
[Frost Bishop Ultimate Deployed: Frozen Requiem]
[An unstoppable surge of Abyss Energy is detected]
Screee—!
With a piercing shriek, everything around froze solid.
There was no warning.
The moment Frost Bishop pointed with his Staff, the phenomenon occurred.
The transformed Sword Soul Ha Gyeong had launched.
The fifteen-meter grayish-white disc was no exception.
Crack-crack-crack!
Ha Gyeong couldn’t help but grimace.
It had been an all-out strike pouring every ounce of power.
Yet it was blocked so pathetically.
His vision swam.
He wouldn’t be able to unleash such an attack again in this fight.
His odds of defeating Frost Bishop seemed to plummet endlessly.
The team’s reaction was the same.
“No way!”
“That’s the single best performance I’ve seen from a melee DPS in my entire career… this is so frustrating.”
“The opponent’s just too strong.”
“Shouldn’t we rescue him first?”
“The situation doesn’t allow it.”
In truth, the back line of the raid team was operating at full throttle.
Of course, the ranged dealers took brief respites whenever their Mana depleted.
But the Healer did not.
They had to maintain constant support while never reaching Mana exhaustion.
It was a position requiring extreme skill allocation.
So everyone could only watch regretfully.
Ha Gyeong’s descent.
‘I’ll fall as gracefully as I can. As long as I don’t die, I should find some way through.’
He had Restoration Veil and Tyrant’s Bracelet after all.
But the moment Ha Gyeong’s body was about to hit the ground.
Tap-tap-tap! Click! Whoosh!
Someone came sprinting at tremendous speed.
He hopped lightly, caught Ha Gyeong’s body, and descended gently.
In the critical moment.
The one who saved Ha Gyeong was Jon.
“The front line must be swamped right now—how did you get back here?”
“Something about Yoon-chong, or whatever?”
“It’s not ‘or whatever.’ It’s Yoon Chang-ho. Master of Blackwater.”
“Doesn’t matter what organization he’s from. Anyway, some Tank with decent experience told me to charge in, so I did.”
“Sigh.”
“Besides, I wouldn’t have just come because he said so anyway. I’d have come regardless.”
“Why?”
“We’re partners, aren’t we?”
“That’s just something you decided unilaterally.”
“So what? If we’re partners, we’re partners.”
Jon, patched through a pirated Korean translation, remained utterly incomprehensible.
Ha Gyeong shook his head in resignation.
Still, he had to say something.
“Anyway, thanks for saving me.”
“Though I’m starting to think it was pointless.”
“Wait—after rescuing me like that, why are you saying that?”
“Just like last time, I think you’re getting that look like I wasted the effort. Jon! I read faces well! Jon! I’m getting angry!”
“… Calm down, please.”
“Yeah. Jon calming down.”
At Jon’s keen observation, Ha Gyeong stuck out his tongue.
In any case, he’d conserved an Artifact because of this.
It would certainly prove useful later.
Ha Gyeong observed Frost Bishop and the frozen ice block.
But something seemed odd.
He posed a question to Jon.
“Jon.”
“What. Why.”
“The skill I used—if it turned into an ice chunk like that, shouldn’t it fall downward? That’s normal, isn’t it?”
“Huh? Yeah, seriously. Why’s it just floating there? That’s mad weird.”
The two stood staring at the ice block with bewildered expressions.
Then, that very moment.
Kiiiii—!
An eerie sound echoed unexpectedly.
Ha Gyeong glanced around.
Something grinding sensation, it seemed.
But no matter how he looked, there was nothing like that.
Just as he tilted his head in confusion.
“Ah!”
Ha Gyeong snapped his fingers.
He’d realized something.
Only one thing was madly rotating here.
The transformed Sword Soul he’d launched.
Ha Gyeong smiled meaningfully and murmured to himself.
“Go on then.”
“Huh? Go where… woooah?!”
Jon’s confused expression shifted to shock.
Crack-crack-crack! Boom!
The ice block floating in midair exploded.
The still-ferociously-rotating transformed Sword Soul began accelerating anew.
Soon the disc struck Frost Bishop’s left shoulder.
Grayish-white energy tore mercilessly through torn skin and bone.
Crush-crush-crush-crush! Screech!
Then, suddenly, silence descended.
In that oppressive quiet.
Frost Bishop’s wail poured out.
—Guuuuuh!
As if sensing death itself.
The tone was unbearably sorrowful.
Soon Frost Bishop’s body exploded.
Kuh-whoooosh!
Bone fragments whipped about wildly, driven by the violent blast.
Jon quickly raised his shield to block.
Ting-ting-ting-ting-ting!
Thanks to him, Ha Gyeong didn’t need to move at all.
After the shockwave passed.
He struggled to his feet.
Trying to confirm the situation beyond Jon’s barrier.
The pile of bone fragments blocked his view entirely.
Moments later, an unexpected sight unfolded before Ha Gyeong’s eyes.
“Wait… why didn’t it collapse?”
“That’s definitely strange. With an attack like that, ‘you’re already dead’ would be the normal response.”
As Jon answered, Ha Gyeong kept his guard up.
His Mana and Abyss Energy were nearly depleted.
Fighting again would be difficult.
He needed to reserve enough stamina to escape if necessary.
But right then.
A welcome system message appeared.
[Field Boss Frost Bishop has been defeated]
[You receive the Catherberic Staff as a reward]
Ha Gyeong exhaled in relief.
‘Phew. We pulled through somehow.’
Truly a dramatic victory.
If that last strike had been blocked by Frost Bishop?
There would have been no choice but to admit defeat and withdraw.
Obsidian Titan’s interference seemed to have been a major factor.
Its sudden intrusion had turned an otherwise smooth raid into complete chaos.
Jon bounced excitedly, cheering wildly.
“Yesss! We won! We won! Unkillable Bad King, bro! You’re truly the best!”
With the massive man making such a racket beside him.
Ha Gyeong felt his head spinning.
Moreover, a strange heaviness settled in his chest.
Despite this magnificent victory.
Why did such melancholy wash over him?
Ha Gyeong glanced down at his left hand.
‘It’s as if I’ve met Father again.’
It must be because of the Collapse Heaven Fist.
Obtaining his father’s keepsake was cause for joy.
Yet bitter emotion accompanied it.
Time passing didn’t erase wounds completely after all.
However agonizing, however heartbreaking, one simply endured and moved forward.
Ha Gyeong slowly clenched his fist, beginning with his little finger.
‘Father likely never wished for revenge, but still… I must walk this path.’
Without it, he couldn’t survive even a moment.
The final words, forcibly swallowed even within his mind.
Ha Gyeong quietly wiped away his unshed tears.
Soon his teammates gathered around him.
“Ha Gyeong, you worked so hard. Thanks to you, we could win.”
The first to speak was Dae Hyeon-ja.
Her face changed with each meeting, making adaptation difficult.
Yet something remained unchanged.
Her eyes and voice.
And that warm sentiment.
Finding familiarity within strangeness, Ha Gyeong smiled softly.
“Once a raid begins, you must give your all.”
“Still, you performed far beyond expectations, didn’t you? You defeated Obsidian Titan almost single-handedly too. This reminds me of something from before.”
Ha Gyeong recalled the past.
The day they’d entered the Bottomless Abyss, both brimming with confidence.
When Obsidian Titan ambushed them, they’d faced a critical moment.
Then too, Ha Gyeong had nearly concluded the boss raid alone.
Just as he had moments ago.
Though today’s circumstances were somewhat different.
The team’s efforts in containing Frost Bishop had been impressive.
Soon Yoon Chang-ho and several others expressed their gratitude.
“We could complete the raid properly thanks to you. You’re truly remarkable.”
“What an honor to witness the Immortal Tyrant’s performance firsthand.”
“Let’s definitely do this again next time.”
One by one, teammates extended their hands with words of praise.
Ha Gyeong shook each hand and bowed respectfully.
‘They’re all rather senior, it seems—their cheers are quite refined.’
He thought of the raid team Kang Woo-jin had assembled.
Specifically the Awakeners of Death Hound.
They’d rushed over madly, hoisting him on their shoulders.
Roaring like beasts, hadn’t they?
Compared to that, these were gentlemen indeed.
All except two.
“Why are you jumping in when I can boost him up? You nearly got the front line killed.”
“The Tank with lots of experience told me to go.”
Ma Do-hyuk growled at Jon.
The sticking point was that Jon had been absent for a while supposedly going to boost.
When Jon brushed it off casually, Ma Do-hyuk’s eyes turned savage.
“Then hurry back and help. You know what happens if the front line breaks?”
“But the result was good anyway. Rescued Bad King and everything. Why are you venting at Jon?”
“It’s feedback. Constructive feedback.”
“What constructive about it? You think I’m an idiot?”
“Of course you are, you jerk.”
“You know how old I am?”
“How should I know?”
“Here you are, some greenhorn, spouting nonsense at me? Got some nerve.”
“What?”
“Abyss Beast or whatever—how many years have you been eating rice?”
“…”
Ma Do-hyuk fell silent.
The age gap was more than ten years.
Jon jutted his chin and spoke.
“In the Land of Eastern Courtesy, is such talk even acceptable?”
“Well, for foreigners there’s… isn’t there no such rule?”
“I’ve been naturalized and eating Abyss rice in Korea for 18 years. You joking?”
“Oh, is that so? Is that really true?”
Faced with such impressive credentials, Ma Do-hyuk lowered his tail.
He was practically a first-generation-and-a-half Awakener.
Though seniority culture was supposedly thin in Awakener circles.
Such a gap in age and experience couldn’t be denied.
But at Jon’s next remark, Ma Do-hyuk’s eyes bulged.
“All bullshit, obviously.”
“You bastard!”
Ripping open gates
Author |
Morae Tseop
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Samyang C&C
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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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