Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: Dungeonization
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Gates were known to be governed by several laws.
The first was that their appearance was not bound to any specific location, but they could not greatly interfere with the material world.
They usually appeared in empty space above nothing, rarely overlapping with buildings or anything of the sort.
The second was that if a gate was left alone without being cleared, it would eventually reach mana saturation and trigger a break.
The moment a break occurred, the gate would spew out its internal monsters, laying waste to the surrounding area.
The third...
Shwaaaa.
Gates had always been subject to such laws up until now, and it was because of those laws that people could console themselves with a sense of relative safety.
But the black gates had appeared in defiance of those very laws.
Even without this mass outbreak of gates in South Korea, people could no longer consider themselves safe.
What was unfolding now was Go Yohan's gift to those very people—a quiet salvation.
Kwaaaa!
Especially to those in South Korea.
"So that they no longer have to fear gates."
He intended to make them realize what it meant to be under Go Yohan's protection.
"Dungeonization, begin."
Thud.
It felt as though a massive impact resounded once more from the tower.
The gates that had vanished starting from the places farthest from the magic tower in South Korea.
Ripple.
Reappeared above the tower's sky.
The sight resembled artificially generated gates, but only for a moment.
Paat! Paat! Paat! Paat! Paat!
The gates that had disappeared from afar began appearing one by one above the tower, forming a circular ring.
Paat.
As their number grew, so did the circle.
Paat!
And finally, once they surpassed several dozen.
Pzzt! Pzzt!
Currents of electricity began sparking between the gates.
'Mana interference.'
It was expected.
Gates were essentially massive lumps of mana, each with different properties and quantities, now gathered in one place.
'Chain break.'
It was the harbinger of the chain break that people feared most.
Even so, more gates continued to appear.
Papapapat!
The electric currents between them solidified further, forming a ring that connected the circles.
Kukukukukuku!
A massive resonance and shockwave spread in all directions.
Even the top-tier rankers would undoubtedly explode if they approached anywhere near it.
No.
Kukukuku!
That power was an amplification capable of annihilating the entire area—or even a country.
If this were moved and hurled at an enemy nation.
'Boom!'
Everything would explode, potentially creating an impact similar to an ancient asteroid collision.
But that was not what Go Yohan desired.
Not even this power.
Kukukukuku!
He intended to suppress it and demonstrate control over it.
Whiiiing!
Now, the gates numbered over a hundred.
-......
The voice of Yun Seung-ah, exerting extreme concentration, had faded at some point. In its place.
-Haa.
Only ragged breaths echoed in his mind.
-Current gates: 137.
Yggdrasil, called one of the world's great trees, was at least managing to report the status.
-140...
Her voice sounded like a countdown.
Go Yohan was also pouring all his strength into stabilizing the massive gate ring.
-144...
Drip.
Blood trickled down from Go Yohan's philtrum.
Connecting the world and sequentially controlling over a hundred gates' mana was a burden even Go Yohan struggled to endure.
-147...
Boom!
The gate ring above the tower now resembled a halo.
The ring spun rapidly, generating immense gravitational pull that barely held them together, but it was clearly approaching its limit.
-148.
When had he last felt such strain?
For a moment, his mind grew hazy.
-149.
Finally, the signal announcing the end seemed to arrive.
-Gate stabilization commencing...
The faintly heard voice felt like a dreamlike prophecy.
A ring of 149 gates, with an unusually high proportion of high-grade ones despite their varied ranks.
The instant all that mana was crushed and began stabilizing.
-150...!
Yggdrasil's urgent voice rang out.
Puuung!
It felt as though something burst inside Go Yohan's body.
*
*
*
Crunch.
Blood trickled from between Go Yohan's clenched teeth.
Drip.
The blood from his nose now flowed from his eyes as well.
At some point.
-162!
The number was ballooning uncontrollably.
It had already surpassed the number of gates that had appeared in South Korea.
-168!
It was increasing rapidly, far exceeding expectations.
This was no mere addition.
Multiplication.
No.
Kwaaaang!
An experiment nearing exponential growth, one that had to withstand infinity.
In Go Yohan's mind, it felt like bells were tolling.
At the same time, names of certain beings surfaced.
'Angels!'
Perhaps even demons.
The entities that had not appeared when the magic tower was summoned were now seizing the perfect opportunity to move.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
If he failed to endure this moment, the end would be nothing but ruin.
-180!
They were pouring all their might into summoning Go Yohan's destruction through the gates.
Thud.
He felt something connected collapse.
"Seung... ah...."
Yun Seung-ah, the central axis of this dungeonization, had finally collapsed under the strain.
No, severed the connection.
She had pushed him out from the axis, as Go Yohan connected to her would otherwise cause her to burst and die.
"Kuh...."
The price was the burden she had been sharing.
"Kwaaaaaagh!"
Which Go Yohan and Yggdrasil now had to bear together.
Go Yohan screamed, and Yggdrasil's voice cut off.
Time seemed to stop.
A pain greater than when summoning the tower engulfed Go Yohan.
If not for the divine power continuously repairing him, he might have already been reduced to a puddle of blood.
Drip.
Flowing onto this land.
'Ah.'
In his fading mind, letting go of this thread meant utter ruin.
It was then.
"...Da...."
A voice from somewhere.
'No!'
Go Yohan noticed and cried out desperately.
"Cap...."
It was Lee Jae-kyung.
He, who had been with them, sensed the problem and tried to intervene.
But he must not.
'No!'
This massive, complex world-manipulating magic could only be handled by Yggdrasil or Yun Seung-ah, masters of magical knowledge.
'Don't!'
Not by anyone else but himself, bearing divinity, divine eyes, all curses, and even sins.
That was why he had excluded all apostles.
"Captain!"
"Captain!"
They were trying to intervene, risking the danger.
The clear voices of Lee Jae-kyung and Kim Sion.
And then.
"Captain...."
One by one, more apostles' voices joined.
'No!'
No matter how he screamed, his voice wouldn't escape his mouth.
Thud.
It was already too late.
The moment the apostles placed their hands on Go Yohan's body, burdened by what seemed over 200 gates.
Pabababababat!
The ring above the tower spewed even greater currents.
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!
Unleashing a shockwave that blanketed the world.
*
*
*
His memories cut off.
'When?'
And.
'From where?'
Blink.
Go Yohan blinked, beginning to take in the world's light.
His charred eyeballs began regenerating under divine power, and divinity spread further through his body, awakening his lost senses one by one.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
When he regained his hearing, an indescribable high-pitched tone assaulted him.
As his senses gradually returned.
Whoosh.
Go Yohan came to his senses and turned his body.
There lay the apostles, collapsed and utterly still.
His response was instantaneous.
Shwaa.
Divinity poured out like a torrent.
It enveloped the apostles, trapping them in spheres of divinity.
At the same time, he checked their conditions.
'They're breathing.'
Faint threads of life, but signs of vitality remained.
Lee Jae-kyung, Kim Sion, Lee Ha-yeon.
Squeeze.
Kim Se-hyun, Kang In-bae, Joo In-kyung...
When had they arrived?
And even Rusty's presence was distinctly felt, though absent here.
Those who had thrown everything away upon sensing Go Yohan's peril.
"Haa."
They were alive.
A power they could never have withstood, yet they had clung together and endured.
'A miracle.'
They had created a miracle.
"Ah.... Ah...."
Goddess.
Thank goodness.
An indescribable relief washed over him.
Swish.
Along with surging rage.
But setting that rage aside for now, Go Yohan opened his mouth.
"Yggdrasil."
Everyone had survived, and the gates' rampage was no longer felt.
That meant the plan had succeeded.
In that case.
"Move the apostles inside you."
Yggdrasil.
Pashit!
Had gained strength.
The apostles, wrapped in Go Yohan's divinity, vanished in an instant.
Expanding his senses, new presences began to register.
Pashit.
This time, Go Yohan's form vanished.
As the torn, scattered space began reknitting.
Clang!
A battle was raging there.
Horns sprouting from heads.
Demons, and humans whose forms were human but eyes pitch-black, unleashing overwhelming might.
'Devil contractors.'
Those hiding in South Korea had revealed themselves at the final moment, targeting when Go Yohan was weakest.
Ziiing.
Their voices and movements were slowing.
Blocking them were.
'Big Sis.'
Holy's Go Minji, Go Yunsu, Go Woojin.
They had stepped forward first to protect him.
"Ma... gi... block them...!"
They were covered in blood defending Go Yohan.
Among the demons, the most horns numbered four.
The price of hiding from the church, but they must have felt it sufficient to kill a defenseless Go Yohan.
Grasping their intent and movements.
Riiip!
Go Yohan tore them apart.