Chapter 6
I’ll translate the full chapter into polished HTML, keeping all system-style content in styled `
` blocks and preserving the chapter structure.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Gate Opens for the Wrong Man
Bright light spilled across the field, and over the green expanse, countless figures began to appear.
The reincarnators have entered the dimension.
The sound was familiar to many of them, and hearing it only deepened the scowls on the faces of the reincarnators.
“What the hell is this?”
“An anomaly, out of nowhere?”
“Seriously, this is ridiculous.”
Their expressions were full of irritation. And no wonder. A D-class gate was one of the lowest-ranked gates in existence.
There was no huge reward waiting at the end.
Nor was there much honor to be had from it.
“If it had been a C- or B-class anomaly, at least it would’ve been worth watching.”
At one man’s complaint, the woman standing beside him let out a snort.
“Watching? Please. You’re barely C-class yourself. What are you talking about, when you wouldn’t even make it into a C-class anomaly?”
“……What? Who the hell are you—”
The man’s temper was just about to flare when he looked at the woman’s face and flinched.
“……Black Night Witch?”
“Hi.”
“……W-why are you here?”
“Why? Am I not allowed to come?”
The black-haired beauty smiled brightly.
At the mention of the Black Night Witch, everyone’s attention turned toward her.
“The Black Night Witch?”
“……Why is an A-class superhuman here?”
“Did she come out for a stroll or something?”
A D-class gate was usually the sort of place where, at most, a B-class superhuman would show up. It was a gate that a few C-class superhumans could clear on their own, so high-rank superhumans rarely bothered with it.
“I was bored. I’ve also got something I want to test.”
An A-class superhuman.
The Black Night Witch spoke with a faint smile.
At that smile, the people around her hesitated. They’d all heard enough about her bizarre personality to know better than to underestimate her.
Seeing their reactions, the Black Night Witch smiled.
“So don’t get in the way for no reason. I won’t care if you end up dying in the crossfire.”
With a sharp hiss, a black whip formed in her hand. A spiked whip. Her weapon of choice.
Though many of them winced at the sight, a strange sense of relief settled over their faces.
After all, with an A-class superhuman here, it looked like they could clear the gate without much trouble.
Interesting.
Inside, the Black Night Witch smiled to herself. Their reactions were amusing, but more than that, the timing was perfect.
I hope that information was right.
It was something she’d heard in advance. She’d paid a fortune for it and obtained it from an S-class information broker.
If someone contributes more than fifty percent of the clear rate alone, there’s a special reward.
It was information nobody else knew. Then again, that made sense. Clearing a gate was not the sort of thing one could do half by oneself in the first place.
But.
This is different.
The words anomaly gate had hooked her immediately. If it was one of those, she could do it.
A normal anomaly would just mean monster extermination.
There were too many gate conditions to count, and it was hard to pin down any one thing, but anomalies were usually simple.
All you had to do was wipe out the monsters that poured in within a set amount of time.
That was why she’d come here on purpose.
If it’s now.
She checked the whip in her hand and lifted the corners of her mouth.
I already gave them a warning.
Anyone who interfered would be removed. Captured. Every last one of them.
And from the looks of it, the highest any of them are is C-class.
A hundred people had gathered. Among superhumans from the Asian region, only a handful were high enough to be C-rank, and none of them were faces she recognized.
“This should be easy.”
It didn’t look difficult at all. She was lucky.
Who would have thought an anomaly gate would open the moment she got the information? And a D-class anomaly, no less.
There was no bigger opportunity than this.
Suppressing a smile, the Black Night Witch looked up.
100/100
The entry count was full.
Once that hundredth person arrived, the gate would begin.
Just as she was waiting for that thought to become reality,
100/100
the final person appeared.
And at that moment,
Whoooosh…….
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
The wind swept through. Everyone’s attention, which had been fixed on the Black Night Witch, instantly turned elsewhere.
That included the Black Night Witch herself.
What’s with that guy?
She frowned. The person who had appeared at the very end was the problem.
A mask?
He was wearing a mask. A very dark one, at that.
What kind of gimmick is that supposed to be…?
The Black Night Witch looked at the newcomer oddly, but that was all.
All required participants have entered.
The gate mission will now begin.
The expected notification appeared. The Black Night Witch tightened her grip on the whip, excitement rising in her chest—just as it happened.
An error has occurred.
A vast existence has entered the dimension.
The gate’s danger level has risen dramatically.
The danger level of the D-class gate has increased by 200%.
What?
Not only the Black Night Witch, but everyone else’s eyes widened too.
* * *
-No, what is this!
-The danger level increased? What do you mean, a vast existence?
-No one said anything about this……! Damn it……!
Noisy voices echoed from all around.
Hearing that commotion, I slowly opened my eyes.
……Where am I?
I looked around. A broad field stretched out in every direction, and a huge crowd had gathered there.
100/100
Ah.
Only after seeing the number of people in front of me did I realize it.
So this is……
The inside of the anomaly gate. Had I really entered a gate?
My heart pounded. This was the inside of the gate I’d wanted to see so badly.
Being here meant I really had become a superhuman.
Just as that thought crossed my mind,
The vast existence has entered the dimension.
The gate’s danger level has risen dramatically.
The danger level of the D-class gate has increased by 200%.
I stopped breathing for a moment at the alert.
Did the gate’s difficulty really go up?
I’d seen that before entering.
Double? And the reason for that was because of me?
Because I entered the gate.
It meant the gate had been warped because I’d jumped far beyond its intended rank.
So that EX-class thing was real?
I’d already thought the classification wasn’t normal, but this was bizarre even by those standards.
But.
More importantly than that……
There was one other problem.
While others were reacting to the increase in danger level, I was looking at something else entirely.
The gap in rank between the reincarnator and the gate is extreme.
Calculating the difference in rank and adjusting the power multiplier.
The reincarnator’s stats have increased by 5,000%.
……
Fifty times.
It meant my strength had become fifty times greater.
……Is this for real?
I couldn’t believe it. Could something like that actually exist?
While I was still trying to process it,
“Hey.”
A voice came from nearby. Drawn by the sound, I turned my head. There stood—
……Holy hell……!
A woman with long black hair and a fierce face.
It’s the Black Night Witch?
The Black Night Witch, an A-class superhuman.
Wow, I’m seeing her in person.
I stared at her with genuine fascination. She was a superhuman from Korea and a very famous figure.
Well, famous might have been a bit of an understatement—most of that fame was for the wrong reasons—but even so, her skill was undeniable. She was a high-ranked superhuman.
That same Black Night Witch pointed at me with her index finger and asked,
“What’s with that costume?”
“Costume?”
Huh?
The words slipped out, and I was the one who got surprised. What?
Why is my voice so deep?
It wasn’t my own voice. A completely different one came out.
“I can understand hiding your identity, sure…… But where did you even get a black mask like that? Looks like an item.”
A mask?
At her words, I reached for my face. When I touched it, something was indeed covering it.
A mask?
It really was there. I hadn’t even realized I was wearing one. I hadn’t felt a thing.
It was so natural it didn’t even interfere with my vision.
What is this?
When had I started wearing a mask?
Now that I think about it.
I could see a few others nearby wearing masks too. White ones.
Ah, that’s it.
I knew what that was. It was for disguising your identity.
They’d said you could choose that kind of option before entering the gate.
If you wanted to conceal your identity, you could pick a mask like that.
……But I never pressed anything like that.
I’d only entered the gate, yet somehow I was wearing a mask. That was strange.
“I don’t care where you got it. But you don’t look like a high rank, so don’t do anything stupid.”
The Black Night Witch spoke in a thoroughly annoyed voice.
“The types who look weird like you always end up doing something pointless. If you don’t want to get blown up in my hands, you’d better stay quiet. I do care that the gate’s gotten weird, but it’s still only a D-class gate. Nothing much to worry about.”
With that, she turned and walked away, as if she’d said everything she needed to say.
Leaving me with no chance to answer.
……What a nasty personality.
Just as the rumors said.
Beautiful face, exceptional ability, and a temperament as wild as they came—she was exactly that.
“……The danger level went up? Is this really okay?”
“The association’s going to kick up a fuss again.”
“Who cares about the association right now? The issue is whether we can clear the gate or not.”
“What’s the problem? Didn’t you see just now? The Black Night Witch is here.”
“Ah, right.”
The gate had become dangerous, but there was an A-class superhuman here anyway.
That seemed to settle it for everyone.
Just as the rest of them were relaxing,
The gate mission is now in progress.
A system window appeared in the air with a sharp chime.
Ah.
There it was.
The beginning of what I’d been dying to see.
A heat shimmer passed through my trembling chest.
The clear condition for this anomaly gate is as follows.
Eliminate all incoming demonic beasts.
Progress: 0%
The mission has begun.
The system notifications came in a rapid burst.
And at the same time,
Crk-crk-crack—! Crk-crk-crk-crack——!!!!
The space far ahead began to shatter. It was a massive rift. Watching it, the other superhumans all prepared for battle.
So this was what the atmosphere was like.
I stared in fascination, still not quite used to it, when—
Kwa-dduk—!!
Kyaaaaaaaaaa—!!!
The rift burst open, and monsters started pouring out from within.
……Huh.
Their numbers were far greater than I’d expected.
Hundreds of monsters spilled out of the shattered rift, and the superhumans all surged forward at once to meet them.
“Well then, shall we?”
The Black Night Witch strolled out with easy confidence. The other superhumans, too, stepped forward with tense expressions.
……Then I guess I should too.
A battle with monsters, right from the start.
This was on a completely different level from the simulations we’d done at school.
I was scared.
Could I really win against something like that?
I hesitated for a moment, but—
Clench.
The hesitation was brief.
I forced my legs to move. If I was going to cower and hesitate over something like this, then I would never accomplish anything.
None of my goals—any of them.
And the moment I took that first step,
The conditions for using Patcheonmu have been met.
Huh?
Would you like to use it?
I stared at the alert. Patcheonmu? Come to think of it—
That.
I’d learned it as my synchronization rate rose. But I could use it now?
Why had the conditions suddenly been met?
No idea what’s going on.
But maybe I should try it. It was a skill I’d gained from my past life.
Still, how? I didn’t even know how I was supposed to use it, and I was just about to fumble with it when—
Patcheonmu has been activated.
There was no need.
As if it had read my will, the message appeared, and
Whoosh.
My body moved on its own.
A slightly bent knee, a waist twisted at an angle. Power gathered over my clenched fist.
My hips rotated, and my fist smashed through the air.
Tung.
A small, sharp sound.
The power of the ability has been enhanced due to the being’s rank.
The force has increased by 5,000%.
The range has expanded in proportion to the enhanced stats.
Then—
Beeeeeeeeeeep----!!!!
With a ringing in my ears, light burst from my fist.
The world caved inward.
KUGUGUGUGUNG---!!!!
Kaag……!
The monster that had been charging straight at me was swept away by the inky-black light and vanished without leaving even a trace of its shape behind.
The shockwave kept surging forward without pause, reaching even the rift far off in the distance.
Kwa-dudududududuk--!!!!
The force, powerful enough to sweep away everything in its path, ultimately engulfed the rift itself.
Thud…… thud…….
When the tide finally passed, all that remained was a ruined plain where the rift had vanished.
It had all happened in an instant.
The superhumans who had been charging forward froze in place like statues.
And then—
Progress 100% achieved.
Congratulations.
The D-class gate has been cleared.
Rewards will be distributed according to each participant’s contribution.
With a rustle, the ranking window cascaded down before my eyes. There was only one name written on it.
Contribution Rank 1: Musin (100%)
Congratulations.
The silence that followed had lost its sound entirely.
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