Chapter 153 (1/2)

The Red Gate (4)

The Earthlings, Goransha, and Tongel units observed the scene from the highlands overlooking the plains. They bore witness to the sight of the empty land splitting up and bleeding out red light.

The red cracks gradually expanded into a smooth circle. Nate raised a question as he watched the event unfold.

“Is it similar to dungeon breaks?”

Based on the color and size alone, one could conclude that they were exactly the same.

The difference was that Blue Gates would only ever suddenly change like that during dungeon breaks that the system controlled, and it was summoned like that from the beginning. Looking at the scene, I began to have doubts about the system.

‘Are dungeon break phenomenons imitating the Red Gate?’

The Tongels cried out.

“They’re coming out!”

The Gate finally stopped expanding after a while. However, a monster immediately broke through the surface afterward, revealing its entirety to the Awakened beings.

‘Huh…’

It was different from any monsters I’d seen in the dungeons so far.

Thud! Thud!

With every step, heavy vibration was transmitted to the top of the cliff where we Awakened beings had gathered.

The beast put its enormous body in full display, causing its gait to look like a mountain moving.

Its overall shape was similar to that of humans, but its skin was gray, and there were only six sharply torn eyes, glowing with different colors, on the head where the eyes, nose, and mouth should be attached.

In addition to that, it also had features that were only visible to my eyes.

‘I really don’t see a Mana Core. I’ve never seen anything like that. There’s no core, but its body is full of Mana.’

It was completely different from normal Awakened beings and dungeon creatures.

It didn’t have a Core that pumped and sprinkled Mana all over the body like the circulatory system.

Instead, its body was full of Mana that was in a calm and stable state, almost like a water tank.

Noticing the monster emerge out of the red door, the Tongel Awakened shouted.

“Type 629! He’s a type 629 monster!”

“The Gate is already closing. There’s only one monster to be killed today!”

“What, today’s quest is going to be eaten cold?”

The Alliance categorized the various types of monsters that appeared from Red Gates and shared them with the affiliate dimensions.

According to the data that my party and I received before coming that day, 629-type monsters didn’t have powerful offensive abilities but had formidable defensive traits.

It was the type that unconditionally approached its enemies and attacked without hesitation.

The beast turned around, its neck reverberating a strange sound.

It was as if it was looking for something.

“…!”

Not long after, its gaze locked on over the cliff we were standing on.

It easily identified the traces of life or, more precisely, our location.

Euclid wriggled her eyebrows.

“Is it staring at us?”

The patterns in which the Red Gate behemoths behaved had something in common.

When they came out of the Gate, they would first find and attack Awakened beings, and if there were no Awakened around their vicinity, or if they had already killed them all, they’d attack intelligent non-Awakened.

Why were they attacking? Why did they aim for the Awakened first?

No one could answer those questions.

Among the types that had been discovered, there were monsters who ate the prey they killed, but not all of them behaved like that.

If monsters in dungeons created by the system attacked randomly in a frenzied state, the Red Gates’ monsters maintained a relatively calm attitude.

They killed their prey without succumbing to anger.

“It can only attack close-range! Use the distance to your advantage! Attack!”

The Tongels lined up along the cliff and aimed at it.

were hidden inside their robots connected to the fish tanks.

Chiik! Cheek!

When the two arms of the bipedal robots changed shape, muzzles were revealed.

They wanted to intercept the monster from the cliff we were standing on, which was one kilometer from the Gate.

“Fire at will!”

Artifacts were fired one after another.

Blue energy bullets poured down like rain from the barrels connected to their forearms.

Papapat!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

While that was going on, I watched the process of the Tongels manipulating their robots with interest.

The starfishes in the fishtanks conjured their Mana and transmitted it throughout the robots’ circuits.

Then it underwent a procedure that converted it into mana shells.

‘Hmm…’

I spoke.

“It’s less powerful than the multi-caliber cannons of the [Imperial Guard Program]. I think it’s an artifact they created themselves.”

Hibiki replied.

“But I think its advantage is that its firepower is maintained even if the target is at a distance.”

The behemoth on the plain shrank as if tormented by the bombardment. Its charge had been stopped.

“Good! It works!”

The Gorangsha, the owners of that world, didn’t remain on standby either.

Like the scholars taking the Jangwon exam, they sat at regular intervals with their eyes closed as they meditated.

The metal plate they were sitting on then absorbed the Mana of the Gorangsha tribe and concentrated it in one direction.

My eyes lit up.

‘It’s an artifact version of the [Mana Legacy] skill!’

They were collecting hundreds of Awakened Mana and sending them to the center.

The Gorangsha in the middle of it received the horizontal flows of Mana.

The fluffy horns on its forehead quickly stiffened, showing the extreme tension it was feeling.

After a while, the Gorangsha, who had absorbed enough Mana, reached out.

The metal cube lid in the front then opened, and black sand flowed out of it.

The fine particles quickly agglomerated in the air and formed the shape of a giant.

“Go!”

The giant’s body was made out of special metal that accepted Mana, and the fuel that moved its body was the Mana transmitted by the Awakened.

The giant, who took a form similar to the enemy, glided through the air and collided with the beast.

Chur!

A melee broke out.

The sand giant wrestled against the beast, bit down on it, and struck it with its fist.

In the meantime, the Tongels continued to fire a rain of blue bullets against it, not bothering to identify between friend and foe.

As if an arrow passed through the gap between a flock of birds, the bullets penetrated through the giant’s body without damaging it and hit the monster directly.

Bang! Kwakwang!

Both the giant and the bullets constantly struck the monster’s body, but its skin remained undamaged.

The giant broke a part of its own body, creating a sand blade.

Using its newly acquired weapon, it swung against its opponent, trying to cut and pierce, but it was to no avail.

Even if the metal sand was aimed for the eyes, which seemed to be the beast’s only weakness, its mana barrier deflected it like an iron shield.

‘Its defense is stronger than I thought.’

It didn’t take long for me to come to another realization.

‘That monster is learning.’

The mana shield wasn’t fixed the same way it was first unfolded.

With the attack of the giant pummeling down on it and the rain of bullets pouring over the cliff, it became thicker and more sophisticated, creating a shocking pattern.

Its improvement reduced mana consumption and maximized its defense even more.

Meanwhile, the different races felt a little embarrassed.

In particular, The Tongels’ embarrassment grew even more as they watched the opponent while shooting from the edge of the cliff.

“What? How is it still fine? I can’t even see any signs of exhaustion…”

“Well, it is a monster with high defense power…”