Tearing the Gate Apart - Chapter 97

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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 97.
The power of the Liquid Cores exceeded imagination.
It seemed to easily surpass the output of the two tanks in this Raid Party.
So at least the Gimmick Breakdown was achievable.
The problem lay with the other team across the way.
Ha Gyeong studied the area beyond the barrier intently.
‘This won’t work. They’re all going to die at this rate.’
Just before the Liquid Cores converged.
Ha Gyeong’s own team was also being pushed back steadily.
Seo Hyun Woo’s squad was in the same position.
At this rate, they’d all be wiped out in less than a minute.
And the dungeon would be marked a failed Raid.
Something had to be done before that happened.
Ha Gyeong looked toward the back of the Guardian Sever Sentinel.
‘I’m sure I need to press that button, but the dungeon description bothers me.’
Hadn’t it said that a path to death would open?
A single mistake could mean a total wipe.
The only method worth trying was pressing both simultaneously.
But first, Seo Hyun Woo’s team also needed to balance the forces.
That way, whether someone sneaked around to the back,
or they just beat the Guardian down and moved on,
at least they’d have options.
Then, in that moment.
A different idea struck Ha Gyeong’s mind.
“Beat it down?”
Balance of forces be damned.
Why bother with all that?
If he just obliterated the Guardian, it’d all be over.
Ha Gyeong immediately released the roller.
The backward pressure stopped instantly.
Fortunately, even just the two Liquid Cores were enough to maintain equilibrium.
He stared directly at Sever Sentinel.
‘Let’s try it. After all, it’s just a Guardian.’
The dungeon might be high-level, but it wasn’t a Final Boss.
Ha Gyeong was an Awakened One who had crushed nobles of the Zardor Empire.
Moreover, he’d acquired a skill perfectly suited for smashing stone like this.
He launched himself directly at Sever Sentinel’s face.
[Core Guardian’s Will enhances your physical capabilities]
[You cannot use skills while Brutalize is active]
Boom! Whoosh!
The sound of his feet tearing into the ground was heavy and deep.
An unexpected shockwave swept through the surroundings.
Ha Gyeong charged forward, his eyes burning crimson.
His body wrapped in ashen-white light.
His fist collided with Sever Sentinel’s palm.
Crash! Bang-bang-bang!
With a deafening boom, its entire forearm exploded outward.
Pulverized by Ha Gyeong’s monstrous punch force.
He struck Sever Sentinel like a man possessed.
Boom―! Crash-crash-crash!
With each heavy impact, stone fragments scattered in all directions.
Sever Sentinel’s body became a shattered ruin in moments.
The creature was forty meters tall.
Yet it was being utterly demolished.
But its resistance was formidable.
Ha Gyeong’s crimson eyes blazed.
‘Its regeneration speed… is considerable.’
It recovered about as fast as he destroyed it.
Technically, Ha Gyeong’s destruction rate was slightly faster.
Eventually, it would be completely obliterated.
But whether Seo Hyun Woo’s team could survive until then was uncertain.
An uncontrollable euphoria made his thoughts sluggish.
Still, Ha Gyeong forced himself to think.
‘I need to stay cool. If the skill rewires my brain into muscle, what’s the difference between me and Barkalon?’
Seo Hyun Woo’s team was roughly ten meters away.
In about ten seconds, everything would be over.
Ha Gyeong’s gaze suddenly shifted to Sever Sentinel’s flank.
“Huh?”
In that instant.
He realized something crucial.
‘There’s not even a basic safety barrier.’
Winding mountain roads are fitted with barriers and guardrails.
But beside Sever Sentinel, there was nothing.
Despite the enormous cliff face beyond.
Ha Gyeong didn’t hesitate for a moment before launching himself upward.
[Crosswind activated]
[Double mid-air dash now available]
Whoosh!
As he kicked off empty air, his body rocketed toward the wall.
In doing so, he evaded all of Sever Sentinel’s attacks.
Ha Gyeong pushed off the wall with his feet and shot forward.
Then he slammed a drop kick directly into the Guardian’s temple.
Swoosh―! Crash!
―Guuuuuh?
Sever Sentinel made a sound for the first time.
It seemed genuinely shocked.
Its massive body teetered from a single blow.
And then Sever Sentinel toppled over instantly.
Without legs to regain its balance, it was utterly helpless.
Whoooosh―! Boom!
Sever Sentinel fell.
The barrier dividing the center was torn apart in an instant.
But it didn’t fall into the abyss below.
The outer frame supporting the barrier remained intact.
So Sever Sentinel made an excellent stepping stone.
Ha Gyeong ran straight across its body.
‘No time. I need to move faster.’
Thanks to Brutalize, his physical abilities were overwhelming.
But only about five seconds remained.
Even at maximum speed, it felt too close.
Ha Gyeong leaped off Sever Sentinel’s head.
Thud!
But the sound of footsteps came three times in rapid succession.
The Liquid Cores had followed him, launching themselves as well.
‘Good. Then I don’t need to go defend them myself.’
Ha Gyeong poured Abyss Energy into the Core Belt.
Then he began sprinting up the wall once more.
Tap-tap-tap!
While Ha Gyeong closed in on the opposite Sever Sentinel,
the Liquid Cores executed their task flawlessly.
They began pushing back the roller with their characteristic overwhelming strength.
As a result, time that had almost run out was extended.
The Sentinel’s advance halted.
Meanwhile, Ha Gyeong was creating a massive crater in the wall.
Boom!
He simply pushed it with his foot.
The wall caved in with a shockwave.
The tremendous recoil sent Ha Gyeong flying like a cannonball.
He hurled his entire body at Sever Sentinel’s temple.
‘Damn, too fast to control my body.’
His posture was unstable, but what could he do?
This was the situation now.
All that was left was to ram it home.
Boom―!
Ha Gyeong, curled into a ball, burrowed in like a catapult projectile.
Sever Sentinel lurched heavily.
The method was unusual, but the objective seemed achievable.
Then came the moment.
Snatch!
“Ugh!”
The falling Sever Sentinel grabbed Ha Gyeong.
Pain flared across his body.
From crashing in with an unstable posture.
It seemed quite a few bones had broken.
So he couldn’t respond properly.
At this rate, he’d plummet into the cliff face with the monster.
Sensing his danger,
his teammates’ voices reached him.
“Ha, Ha Gyeong!”
“No!”
Ha Gyeong suddenly looked up.
Faces passing slowly overhead.
All wore expressions of regret.
Their lives had been saved by his actions.
Yet the man himself was about to be thrown from the dungeon.
If he fell somewhere in the Bottomless Abyss in this condition, death was certain.
But one person.
John alone shrugged his shoulders.
‘What are you stalling for?’
That’s what it looked like he was saying.
Ha Gyeong let out a quiet laugh.
“Aren’t you overestimating me?”
Actually, John’s judgment was correct.
Ha Gyeong had simply assessed where safety lay.
Not watched his life flash before his eyes.
Then, a sinister sound emanated from Ha Gyeong’s entire body.
[Tyrant’s Bracelet activated]
[Your body rapidly recovers]
Crack! Pop-pop-pop!
The shattered bones snapped back into place instantly.
Returning to their rightful positions.
Ha Gyeong grabbed Sever Sentinel’s fingers.
“Hraaaah!”
Rip!
He barely tugged at them.
The fingers bent in a grotesque direction.
The strength was frankly inhuman.
Ha Gyeong planted his foot on Sever Sentinel’s forearm.
And hurled himself into empty space.
Tap! Whoosh―!
“Huh?”
“Ah……”
Surprised voices and sighs came from above.
His teammates’ reactions upon seeing him escape.
They’d thought he’d made it.
But the cliff was so deep they’d despaired.
Yet Ha Gyeong’s ascent wasn’t over.
[Core Guardian’s Will Brutalize is deactivated]
Tap-tap-tap!
He immediately began running up the cliff face.
Ha Gyeong’s Awakened skill.
He deployed Wall Climbing String.
Moments later.
As Ha Gyeong suddenly shot up, cheers erupted from all sides.
“Woaaah―!”
“Insane!”
His teammates celebrated with fierce joy upon confirming his safety.
Ha Gyeong, landing on the ground, cracked his neck from side to side.
‘Not bad.’
In America, he hadn’t gotten a proper test.
He’d only destroyed a Gate Guardian.
But in real combat, it seemed viable.
Unlike Barkalon, Ha Gyeong was the embodiment of composure.
He could fight without being swept up by the skill.
Of course, it required some concentration, which was annoying.
But with performance this good, what was the complaint?
Ha Gyeong smiled with satisfaction.
Then Seo Hyun Woo suddenly approached him.
“Thank you so much. Because of you, we overcame the crisis.”
“It was the right thing to do.”
“Still, your team’s strength seems… somewhat lacking.”
Seo Hyun Woo’s Raid Party had ten more members than optimal.
Yet they’d been stopped at the Guardian stage.
Despite everyone giving their all, they’d nearly died.
The reason was simple.
This was a mid-tier Incomprehensible-tier dungeon in the Bottomless Abyss.
It was on par with the extreme rating of the upper Abyss.
Ha Gyeong recalled the Raid Party that Kang Woo Jin had assembled.
‘Even filled with top-tier talent, they only cleared the Guardian and left.’
Though admittedly, that mid-tier had been far more difficult.
Still, it was true that Seo Hyun Woo’s team’s strength was somewhat insufficient.
Now was the time to decide.
Seo Hyun Woo was lost in thought.
It seemed hard to make a decision.
Ha Gyeong opened his mouth suddenly.
“Striking a rock with an egg is certainly reckless.”
“Probably so.”
“But if you only retreat without trying, you can’t grow. In my view, it’s doable, so why not press forward?”
“Are you… really sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“……I understand.”
Seo Hyun Woo nodded heavily.
He seemed to have drawn courage from Ha Gyeong’s counsel.
Soon the Raid resumed.
The team members shouted instructions across the broken barrier.
“Three!”
“Two!”
“One!”
“Press it!”
Click! Click! Whirrrrrr!
As both red buttons were pressed, the cliff face began to contract.
Two 200-meter corridors, one side open, merged into one.
Then a vast chamber formed,
and a door appeared in the center.
Thankfully it wasn’t a trap,
and it seemed they simply had to enter.
Ha Gyeong muttered to himself without thinking.
“It said a path to death would open, but maybe it was just referring to the Final Boss.”
“Right. Simpler than expected.”
Suddenly someone approached his side.
The Melee Dealer of Team One, led by Seo Hyun Woo.
A teammate whose eyes had met his while clearing the path to the dungeon.
The one carrying Abyss Energy in his body.
Ha Gyeong kept a slight distance and spoke.
“We’re clearing the dungeon together, yet I don’t even know your name.”
“Ah, I’m Cha Min Woo. I belong to Foresight Guild.”
“A pleasure.”
Carrying Abyss Energy meant complications in his past.
Perhaps the other man had some idea of this too.
About Ha Gyeong’s background.
Cha Min Woo bowed respectfully,
then looked at Ha Gyeong with gleaming eyes.
Throughout, he talked about the display they’d just witnessed.
“Your strength seems better than some tanks. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I couldn’t have believed such a sight.”
“You’re too kind.”
“To be honest, I didn’t think highly of you before.”
“Why? We’ve never really crossed paths.”
“A kind of inferiority complex, I suppose. The hype around you seemed excessive.”
“Community talk, then.”
“Exactly. But I’ve completely changed my mind as of today.”
The more they talked, the less objectionable he seemed.
So Ha Gyeong lowered his guard somewhat.
Then came the moment.
The instant his eyes shifted, a sudden blow struck.
Swoosh―!
A sharp Dagger pierced precisely through the gaps in his armor.
A surprise attack he couldn’t avoid.
But Ha Gyeong slipped his hand below his ribs,
and seized the blade.
Then his cold gaze swept across Cha Min Woo.
“Amusing fellow, aren’t you?”
Gate Ripper
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Moraetop
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(주) 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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