Tearing the Gate Apart - Chapter 96

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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 96.
Discussions with the United States Eastern Association had only just begun.
Seo Hyun Woo’s Raid Party was on the verge of departure.
For a dispatch to be prioritized, contact should have been made at least three days in advance.
Ha Gyeong refused outright.
Then he simply left the conference room.
Jang Myeong Chul, left alone as vice chairman.
A hollow laugh escaped him unbidden.
“Heh! To move like that against the American Association—the sheer audacity is something else.”
The vast land mass presented only minor difficulties.
The United States was a nation with exceptionally high-level Awakened Ones.
If they wished, they could seal Gates in other nations entirely.
They’d simply need to put on a shameless face and act the villain.
Much like the DRC did.
But Ha Gyeong possessed a powerful weapon of his own.
Vice Chairman Jang Myeong Chul muttered to himself.
“So he’d shut down every Gate if it came to that? I can’t fathom what he’s thinking.”
Ha Gyeong’s words came back to him suddenly.
He said he wouldn’t do it if he could help it.
He never said he absolutely wouldn’t.
Besides, it was only a promise in words.
Just an empty check scattered to the wind.
Vice Chairman Jang Myeong Chul found himself trembling involuntarily.
He had just grasped how truly frightening Ha Gyeong was.
Then, with a long sigh, he left the conference room.
“Sigh. I’m done guessing. He’ll do as he sees fit.”
* * *
The Raid Party’s departure went smoothly.
Seo Hyun Woo was a quite capable Awakened One.
Thanks to that, his team’s overall level was also high.
Unfortunately, there was no one on the team who knew Ha Gyeong, but Jon exchanged greetings often.
“Yo! Been well?”
“Sure. Your stocks have been climbing lately, yeah? You’ve come up in the world, old man.”
“Watch it, you little punk. I’m your senior.”
“We’re only six months apart—how are you my senior?”
“Come on, they changed to real age years ago.”
“Even by that standard, we’d be the same age after your birthday.”
“Oh, really? Damn, I didn’t know that.”
Jon chatting casually with one of his teammates.
Ha Gyeong watched with a dumbfounded expression.
“When did you say you didn’t have any connections?”
“Bro, how much experience do you think I have? I was just talking. It’s not that I don’t have any.”
“Honestly, I feel like hitting you.”
“Getting hit by a hero is actually an honor.”
“Then one punch is okay?”
“You think I’ll let you?”
“If you won’t let me, I’ll just have to make you. Come here.”
“Whoa, whoa?”
While Ha Gyeong and Jon were bickering.
Seo Hyun Woo approached and greeted him respectfully.
“Thank you so much for joining us. Ha Gyeong.”
“Please, think nothing of it.”
I hope we’ll work well together.”
“Yes, let’s do our best with good teamwork.”
After the brief pleasantries ended.
Ha Gyeong casually turned his head.
But his eyes met with someone’s directly.
A person he’d never seen before.
He was about to just nod and move on.
When something uncomfortable seemed to grab the back of his neck.
Disturbed by the unpleasant sensation, Ha Gyeong tilted his head.
“What’s this?”
―Why are you acting strange?
It seemed his reaction was odd.
Rokan, who had been following him around, posed a question.
Ha Gyeong tried to shake off the discomfort.
“It’s nothing.”
But no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t erase it.
So he gently drew upon his Soul Stigma senses to check.
From the Awakened One whose eyes had met his for a moment, he felt Abyss Energy.
Ha Gyeong’s feelings were decidedly complex.
‘Are they like me? Should I be glad about that? It’s… complicated.’
Humans who wielded Abyss Energy were extraordinarily rare.
A title, a skill, or an Artifact.
One needed something special to handle it.
Apparently, this person had recognized Ha Gyeong as well.
That must be why they’d suddenly stared at each other.
Ha Gyeong decided he should try to talk to them when the opportunity arose.
‘Just not right now.’
Given that this was a mid-tier Dungeon.
It would be far more difficult than most Incomprehensible-grade threats.
Now was the time to focus on the danger at hand.
The Raid Party pushed forward through the hellish environment of the Abyss.
Even the trash mobs were as terrifying as bosses from ordinary dungeons.
Yet all of them, being top-tier Awakened Ones, carved a path through with ease.
Ha Gyeong, too, fought with full intensity without letting his guard slip.
‘Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown. It doesn’t seem nearly as hard.’
He recalled the days when he’d put together a Raid Party himself.
Of course, back then, traversing the field had posed no problem either.
But he’d felt some burden from these prolonged, draining battles.
He simply hadn’t had the resources to spare.
But now it was different.
From his mindset to his actual combat power.
Ha Gyeong had become someone entirely different from before his trip to the United States.
‘It might be because my Mana has vanished and been replaced entirely by Abyss Energy.’
What consequences that would bring in the future, nobody yet knew.
While they were busy crushing monsters.
Before long, the Raid Party had reached their destination.
Seo Hyun Woo turned to his teammates with a slightly excited expression and spoke.
“We’re opening the Gate.”
Click! Rumble—rumble!
[You have entered the Dungeon ‘Abyss of Severance’]
[Communication devices cannot be used in this location]
[The buttons placed on both sides must be pressed to open the path to death]
[Grade: Incomprehensible]
[Capacity: 60 people]
[Reward: Artifact of Unknown Properties]
A blinding burst of light erupted.
Before long, Ha Gyeong found himself transported to a certain space.
The right side was blocked by a wall.
The left side opened into empty space.
A roughly 200-meter stretch of flat ground lay before him.
Ha Gyeong immediately checked his Whisperer.
“It’s not working.”
No matter what he did with the device, it refused to respond.
All his teammates were in the same situation.
Jon, who had come to Ha Gyeong’s side, grumbled quietly.
“Man, so the Insight Ability user didn’t anticipate that the Whisperer wouldn’t work.”
“This is a Gimmick we’ve never encountered before. This could be quite dangerous.”
“Since we can’t communicate. Plus, all the orders went over to the other side.”
Hearing Jon’s words, Ha Gyeong looked around.
Typically, team-division Gimmick dungeons had separate entrances.
But this time, everyone had entered simultaneously through spatial transfer.
As a result, the teams they’d pre-organized had become meaningless.
The team containing Ha Gyeong and Jon descended into chaos.
“What do we do? How are we supposed to handle this?”
“Shouldn’t we figure out how many tanks and healers we have first?”
“But who’s going to do that?”
“The commander should, but there’s no commander.”
Eventually, all eyes turned to Ha Gyeong.
He was the most famous and strongest person here, after all.
No matter what happened.
Someone needed to manage the chaos.
Ha Gyeong turned immediately to Jon.
“I’m going to need your help with this.”
“What should we start with, bro?”
“Let’s get a headcount first.”
“I don’t like to stand out, but if you’re asking, bro, I’ll do it.”
“Sure, I’m sure you will.”
At Ha Gyeong’s clearly skeptical expression, Jon laughed under his breath.
Even he seemed to find himself ridiculous.
While Jon was doing the headcount.
Ha Gyeong began surveying the Dungeon’s structure.
‘There’s something like a barrier dividing the center.’
It seemed to prevent any communication between the other team and theirs.
A truly harsh Dungeon concept.
Ha Gyeong gazed at the 200-meter stretch of flat ground ahead.
At the far end sat a red button.
The other team beyond the barrier had the same layout, only in reverse.
The method to bypass the Gimmick was simple.
Just press the button, as the Dungeon explanation indicated when they entered.
But Ha Gyeong shook his head.
‘It can’t be that simple.’
And sure enough.
A system message suddenly materialized.
[You have encountered Sever Sentinel, Guardian of Abyss Dungeon]
Boom!
An enormous stone statue suddenly plummeted from above.
An upper body resembling a gargoyle, fronted by something like a massive roller.
It looked much like a ground compactor.
But there was one crucial difference—it was far more terrifying.
Sharp spikes protruded irregularly across the roller’s surface.
If someone got run over by that, they’d end up like breaded meat ready for frying.
Ha Gyeong found himself muttering involuntarily.
“Please don’t tell me it’s just going to roll straight toward us…”
And sure enough, jinxes always come true.
Ill omens strike with perfect accuracy every time.
Soon, with a thunderous roar, the Sever Sentinel began advancing.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The roller’s width matched the corridor perfectly.
It was impossible to jump over.
The Sever Sentinel had three pairs of arms.
Even excluding the two pushing the roller, four remained.
Any attempt at cunning would result in being grabbed and flung aside immediately.
Ha Gyeong immediately called out to Jon.
“How did the count go?”
“The composition’s different, but roughly the numbers work out. We’ve got enough to mount a proper raid.”
“About that thing—how should we handle it?”
“Right? One wrong move and we’re flattened by construction equipment.”
“The other side is in the same situation.”
Seo Hyun Woo’s Raid Party was still floundering.
Caught off-guard by the sudden shift in composition.
They’d missed their window to reorganize before the raid began.
Ha Gyeong pointed at the Guardian and spoke.
“Whether we kill that thing or push it back, we need to press both buttons simultaneously, it seems.”
“Alright. Let’s give it a shot.”
“Moving forward and raiding now seems better than waiting.”
“We’re heading out now?”
“Can you stop that roller from spinning?”
“Live or die, we’ve got to try. Better than getting crushed.”
“A fitting resolve. Move out immediately.”
“Okay. Tanks, let’s go!”
With a team of 35.
There were 6 tanks and 9 healers.
A far more robust composition than usual.
Perhaps they could withstand the Guardian’s charge.
But something unexpected happened.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!
“Huh? Huh?”
“Th-This thing’s way stronger than expected!”
“Hold the line! Don’t let it push through!”
The Sever Sentinel’s power was far greater than anticipated.
Ha Gyeong immediately shouted to his teammates.
“Melee Dealers, close in! Ranged Dealers, aim for the lowest arm!”
“Yes, understood!”
Not a single person questioned the orders.
Ha Gyeong’s instructions were that precise.
And they carried an authority that couldn’t be defied.
He hadn’t deliberately projected any dominance.
Yet Rokan sensed something as well.
―Hey, you… You’re a bit different from before?
“Is it that obvious?”
―Just now it was. You felt completely different from ordinary humans.
“Hmm.”
Ha Gyeong exhaled quietly.
He roughly understood why.
Things had changed recently, after all.
His internal Mana had likely vanished completely.
And been filled entirely with pure Abyss Energy.
Of course, Ha Gyeong didn’t think much of it.
‘That doesn’t mean my nature has changed fundamentally.’
He cast aside distracting thoughts and focused on the Sever Sentinel’s movements.
Nine melee dealers in total.
Fifteen people clustered around it, trying to halt its heavy advance.
But the teammates were still being pushed back.
“Argh!”
“Th-This is insane!”
The pace had slowed compared to before.
Yet the Sever Sentinel continued pushing in steadily.
Remaining distance: roughly 50 meters.
Still plenty of room, but they wouldn’t hold out much longer.
They were being pushed back nearly a meter every second.
Ha Gyeong moved urgently.
‘I need to tell the Ranged Dealers to join in too.’
If necessary, he was prepared to deploy the Healers as well.
Of course, if support skills failed, they couldn’t maintain this position either.
The spikes on the roller were dealing continuous damage to his teammates.
But then he recalled some tools that would be useful right now.
Ha Gyeong quickly manipulated his belt.
[Core Belt Activated]
[Summoning Liquid Core]
Splash—splash!
Two silvery forms resembling Ha Gyeong abruptly materialized.
The Liquid Cores surged forward, their bulging muscles rippling as they charged.
Thud!
The teammates let out startled gasps.
Shocked by the bizarre appearance of the silver giants.
But they couldn’t let go regardless.
Life or death would be decided within mere seconds.
But as Ha Gyeong and the Liquid Cores joined forces, something remarkable occurred.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The massive Guardian’s body began sliding backward.
Ha Gyeong instinctively glanced toward the other side.
‘What about them?’
Gate Ripper
Author |
Moraetop
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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G720:N+A063-20260306112
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Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – 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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