Chapter 18
The conditions for a Dungeon Break in a Gate are simple.
After a Gate appears, the mana inside begins to expand until it eventually causes the Gate to crack.
That is why there are limit times, from the first to the third stage, before a Dungeon Break occurs.
The way to prevent a Dungeon Break is surprisingly simple.
Either clear the conditions that appear upon entering the dungeon and close the Gate, or periodically clear out its interior to remove the mana that would otherwise build up.
The latter method is used when they want to leave a Gate open on purpose, as they do with the Seoul Station Gate.
But since Gates have yet to be fully explained, there are always exceptions.
The Gate that appeared at Cheongju Sports Complex was one such case.
"You bastards! Let's win the championship this time!"
"We lost 24–3 last week, so that's like losing 8–1 three times, right? That means it's our turn to win! I can feel it!"
With around ten thousand spectators watching, a Gate appeared in the middle of the stadium.
"Ah... We could've won this time."
As the disappointed spectators looked on, Association employees measured the Gate's rank after it appeared.
The measurement of its internal energy classified it as an orange-rank Gate. After registering the Cheongju Sports Complex Gate in the Association database, they selected a raid team to challenge it.
The selection process prioritized local guilds.
The team that could deploy the fastest got first priority, followed by teams above a certain rank, which were given the right to bid.
The Cheongju Sports Complex Gate was awarded to the KPP Guild, formed by local Hunters, and they entered the Gate at once.
"Hyung, this place is..."
"I know..."
KPP Guild Master Kim Hansu and Jo Hoyeol, an A-rank tank, looked at the scene inside the Gate with conflicted expressions.
It was a wasteland.
A desolate world of arid cities swept by sandstorms.
There were plenty of worlds like this in Gates. Hunters were used to seeing interiors so devastated they looked as if the world had ended.
The problem was the civilization level of this Gate.
"At the very least, it's a modern civilization. Maybe... more advanced than Earth."
Buildings still stood tall despite being in ruins. Autonomous robots roamed the streets...
"This is fascinating. A Gate set in the future."
"We've got fantasy and martial arts Gates, so why not a future-world one?"
The worlds inside Gates came in an enormous variety.
Dungeon-type Gates often ended once the monsters and boss were defeated, while field-type Gates often failed to render anything beyond a certain distance.
But the higher a Gate's rank, the more complex and varied its scenery and characteristics became.
For example, fantasy-type Gates.
Humans and elves wielding swords and magic might appear, with goblins or orcs as enemies.
Or martial arts-type Gates.
The Martial Alliance, the Unorthodox Faction Alliance, or those known as the Demonic Cult. Usually, the Unorthodox Faction or the Demonic Cult were the enemies.
There were also many other kinds of Gates, including apocalypse, arcane-punk, and steampunk types.
「New implant now available. Replace useless body parts with machinery.」
A perk granted to sentient beings and Hunters in Gates was the so-called 'perfect translation' function. Jo Hoyeol read a poster painted on the outside wall of a building.
After reading it, he spoke to Guild Master Kim Hansu.
"Guild Master, this is cyberpunk."
"Hoo..."
A world of the future, as it was commonly known—a world whose civilization had advanced beyond Earth's.
"This is a headache. We'll have to completely rethink our party tactics for fighting monsters."
Highly advanced civilizations inevitably relied on powerful ranged weapons, such as firearms and lasers.
That made things extremely difficult for Hunters, who had to rely on each individual's firepower.
"Mass-produced units are actually the natural enemies of Hunters, whose individual strength varies so much. We have limits to our stamina, too."
"Yes. Still, since it's urban warfare, we can conserve our stamina by moving between buildings. We shouldn't have to worry about getting surrounded."
Hunters were strong. Even a D-rank Hunter was far beyond an ordinary human.
But in the end, they were still living beings, mere infantrymen, with the limits of human stamina.
Whatever kind of monsters inhabited the Cheongju Gate, an army armed with firearms would be difficult to deal with.
"Let's use that building over there as our base camp. It's fairly tall, so it'll be good for scouting, too."
The fifty-eight members of the KPP Guild's raid team entered a small, seven-story commercial building among the crumbling structures.
They prepared for battle just in case and cleared the floors one by one, but all they found was a desolate ruin. There was nothing else of note.
"Look at this, Guild Master. These clothes are really strange. There's a hologram flowing across them."
Kim Hansu was impressed as Park Hyeri brought back the clothes she'd found in a nearby shop, fascinated by how unusual they were.
"Hyeri, hang on to those. If they're made with decent technology, they could be worth a pretty penny."
A civilization more advanced than Earth's could be troublesome, but that didn't mean there was nothing to gain from it.
If they could figure out how the objects from these advanced civilizations worked, they could put them to use in everyday life.
Most were impossible to decipher, but reverse-engineering wasn't unheard of. Even now, governments around the world were mining technology from Gates like these.
"Hoyeol, see anything?"
"Hmm... There's really nothing here. No NPCs, and no monsters either."
It was strange.
Normally, a field-type Gate had something in it, whether NPCs or monsters.
"Where's the 'Jagd Spinner'? That seems to be the boss monster."
The quest that had appeared as soon as they entered the dungeon read:
「Acquire or destroy the 'Orb of Wisdom' guarded by the Jagd Spinner.」
The KPP Guild's primary objective was to defeat a boss monster called the Jagd Spinner.
The Gate's closure condition was the 'Orb of Wisdom.' They planned to appraise it first, then decide whether to take it or destroy it.
"I don't see anything at all."
"That's strange..."
The weather was awful, sure, but it was strange that there wasn't a single person—or even one monster—in a city this large.
"Well, at least we don't have to fight rebels or the army of some evil dictatorship."
What in the world was this Jagd Spinner?
"Anyway, stay alert. I'll pick a scouting team and have them map out the area—"
-Thwack
Something had passed by.
The KPP Guild members turned their attention to their Guild Master, who had suddenly fallen silent...
"Hansu hyung?"
"Guild Master?"
Everything above his navel, all the way to his head, was gone.
They only understood once Guild Master Kim Hansu's forearms and head hit the ground.
They had just lost their Guild Master.
"S-Sniper! Take cover!"
Jo Hoyeol, the vice guild master, shouted in a panic. The Hunters, veterans of countless battles, hurriedly took cover behind the building's outer wall or nearby stalls.
"What the fuck?! How did we not even react?!"
Hunters were superhuman. They were beings far beyond the limits of ordinary people.
Humanity's firearms might be ineffective inside Gates, but that wasn't true on Earth.
Hunters were much stronger than ordinary people, but they could still die if exposed to the firepower of modern weapons.
But Kim Hansu, the man who'd died, was an A-rank Hunter. He was the main tank, with higher defense and better reflexes than anyone else. And he hadn't even been able to react before being killed in a single hit?
-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!!
Before they could say anything, indiscriminate gunfire rained down on the building where the KPP Guild was taking cover.
The heavy impacts weren't on the same level as the weapon that had killed Kim Hansu instantly, but they still packed a powerful punch.
"Gah!"
"Daeyo!"
One Hunter vanished, with only part of his lower body left behind. Nothing remained where the overwhelmingly powerful, high-velocity cannon had passed.
"Damn it! We'll be whittled down at this rate! Have we found the enemy's position?"
"Three o'clock! Can't measure the distance through the sand! Vice Guild Master! We're too exposed here! We need to get down now!"
"I know! Everyone, withdraw one at a time!"
"What about the Guild Master's body?!"
"Ghk... We'll find it after we get clear and regroup!"
Jo Hoyeol gritted his teeth and gave the order to retreat. The KPP Guild members fled the building under a hail of fire, and just as Hyeri, the fastest of the archers, reached the outside...
"Huh?"
Still carrying her running momentum, Hyeri rushed through the doorway and rubbed her neck, feeling something strange. It was itchy. Why was her neck so itchy—
-Plip, plip.
"H-Hyeri?"
As they stared at their fallen comrade, they couldn't help noticing the blood droplets suspended in the air.
"...A wire?"
A wire had been set across the building entrance. Unaware it was there, Hyeri had run straight through it—a wire sharpened to a razor's edge.
'Since when?'
The Hunters shuddered as they imagined an enemy who'd been waiting to attack ever since they'd entered the city.
Who was it? How many of them were there? How long had they been watching?
"Damn it! Cut through all of them! We have to get out somehow!"
The Hunters' mana surged. Now that they knew about the wires, they were nothing more than an annoying obstacle.
They broke through with their shields and cut the wires with mana-infused swords as they tried to escape the city.
Of course, the unseen enemy didn't just watch. It rained machine-gun fire and strange, high-velocity shots down on the KPP Guild members, hunting them one by one.
"Dodge—!?"
In the brief instant they registered what was happening, a 'wire' lashed through the Hunters' bodies like a whip.
"Huh?"
"Wha—?"
Three Hunters collapsed at once. A silver thread moving at the speed of sound sliced through their flesh.
-Thwack! Thwack-thwack!
The slaughter was over in an instant, and they barely had time to realize they were dying.
"You bastard! Show yourself!"
He screamed in terror. His desperate cry to live was buried beneath his death rattle.
At last, when only Jo Hoyeol remained, it retrieved the wire and revealed itself.
"A robot...?"
Eight thick, heavy legs. Camera eyes watching in every direction, with no blind spots. It had the nightmarish design of what you'd get if you turned a spider into a horrific killing machine.
"Is it you...? Are you the Jagd Spinner...?"
Jo Hoyeol stared at the only 'monster' in this Gate.
Its eight blood-red eyes met Jo Hoyeol's gaze, and the menacing 240 mm electromagnetic accelerator cannon and 60 mm machine guns on its back stopped moving.
'Is it... going to spare me?'
He didn't know that, having completely neutralized the hostile target, the Jagd Spinner had chosen the more economical option rather than waste its 'limited supplies.'
「How about it? With this, you'll still be able to fight if you run out of bullets, right?」
A set of auxiliary joints—presumably designed for clearing obstacles and removing explosives—came into view.
The retrieved 'wire' was wrapped around those auxiliary joints. As a mechanical arm unwound it, it quickly extended to dozens of meters in length.
"Ah..."
He understood. It had no intention of sparing him. The moment Hoyeol realized that—
-Whoosh!
In an instant, the auxiliary joint swung, sending the wire flying at the speed of sound.
The sandstorm died down, and sunlight glinted off a flash of silver thread. A thin, tough silver line passed through the spot where Jo Hoyeol had stood.
Cheongju Gate.
First raid team: 58 KPP Hunters.
No survivors.
Second raid team—
Third raid team—
The Hunter Association indefinitely suspended operations to clear the Cheongju Gate.
「Yapi. Protect the city.」
Gate boss: Jagd Spinner.
Raid difficulty upgraded to Red.
Hunter Association–led operations to clear the Cheongju Gate indefinitely suspended.