Chapter 162: The Third Gate Burning

Whenever Vulcanus found a spare moment while climbing the Tower, he began churning out mass-produced items.

[ Whew, Vulcanus really seems alive ]

– Who was the idiot spreading rumors that Vulcanus had been kidnapped to Japan, lol

– Hey, delete your previous post before you say that, lol

– What a relief, sob sob

– Vulcanus! Vulcanus! Vulcanus!

– If Vulcanus disappeared, honestly, Korea wouldn’t be able to keep its reputation as a powerhouse of Hunters, lol

– Vulcanus forever!

[But why is the quantity so low? ]

Compared to before, there are so few products being listed on the Blacksmith’s Forge page.

– An official statement from the Vulcanus Blacksmith’s Forge representative said that, due to personal circumstances, item production would be slow for a while.

– Did the blacksmiths leave?

– Well, it never made sense for Vulcanus to make all those items alone anyway.

– Maybe they’re out of materials?

– The government and Association are involved, so it’s unlikely they ran out of materials.

Fortunately, the panic that had arisen over whether Vulcanus had disappeared was at least somewhat calmed.

There was even a small amount of Vulcanus Equipment being exported abroad.

Well, even so, I still couldn’t accept all the requests pouring in from every country.

[But doesn’t it feel like life’s gotten a bit easier these days? ]

There may be more Gates, but there are also more Hunters and the level of the Hunters has gone way up, too.

Honestly, these days, even when I get Gate warning texts, I don’t worry.

– That’s true, lol

– I get them so often I’m numb now

– Guys, that’s actually really dangerous; you still need to pay attention

– I live in the heart of the capital of Korea, the world’s Hunter powerhouse. Why should I worry, lol? The Hunters will handle everything

– Shouldn’t we actually be grateful? Thanks to the Gates, Korea’s economy bounced back. These days, Korea’s GDP is rising as if it’s about to catch up to the United States, lol

As time passed, peace settled into people’s hearts.

There were more Gates, yes, but the Hunters had grown even stronger.

No one denied that it was thanks to Vulcanus Equipment.

With Vulcanus Equipment, Hunters could now take on stronger Monsters, and the fatality and injury rates among new Hunters wearing Vulcanus Equipment had plummeted.

There weren’t enough Gates in Korea to satisfy all the Hunters, so they were even being dispatched to other countries—of course, it was only natural that people’s worries would fade.

It seemed like peace was finally returning to the world.

But—

“Crackle—”

The world wasn’t about to simply watch.

***

Crackle—

The Tower’s outer wall began to crumble.

Vulcanus had repaired the Tower’s main supporting columns—especially the crucial pillars in the lower levels—but there was no way to restore every aged and rusted structure of the Tower.

It was fortunate that the columns were still intact, but the cracked walls could not withstand the passage of time and began to collapse.

“Rumble—”

The Tower’s outer wall caved in.

Of course, it wasn’t collapsing so much that it would cause major issues.

However, through the breaches in the Tower’s wall, the power of the Tower began to seep out.

This was a problem that not even Riohr, the Tower’s manager, nor the Gatekeeper—the Statue of the Swordsmith and the Statue of the Spearsmith—could do anything about.

The power leaking from the Tower resonated with the dimension connected to the Tower.

And currently, the only dimension linked to the Tower is ‘Earth.’ 

As the dimension was stimulated, the Tower’s energy flowed into Earth.

“Crack!”

In midair over Earth, sparks ignited.

The Tower’s energy flowed out, clashing with Earth’s own energy.

The sparks grew larger and larger, and the gap between the dimensions widened even further.

Soon, the Tower’s energy flowing into Earth began to form the shape of a ‘gate.’

A textbook Gate formation.

Normally, the Gate would remain closed for a set period, and if it wasn’t cleared in time, the Monsters inside would emerge.

But the Gate forming now wasn’t a normal Gate.

It was a Gate forcibly created by the Tower’s power, shoving its way through the rift in Earth’s dimension.

As such, the Gate was dangerously unstable.

And so—

“Graaaaaargh-!”

The Gate ignored all normal levels and began spewing Monsters.

Through this unstable Gate, still connected to the Tower, Monsters were pouring out.

Gate Break.

In the past, it was an extremely rare occurrence, but lately, it wasn’t so uncommon.

Gate Break was an extremely dangerous disaster, but the Hunter Association would have already identified this location.

As long as Hunters were dispatched immediately, there wouldn’t be a major problem.

However, the problem was that the number of Gates being created like this wasn’t just one or two.

“Crackle!”

This time, the Gate Break was no coincidence.

With the Tower’s walls crumbling, the power leaking out was affecting Earth directly.

Because the wall had collapsed, the direct outflow of power was massive, and in proportion, a tremendous number of Gates began to appear.

“Beeeep!”

“Four Gates just appeared in Eunpyeong District!”

“Three in Seodaemun District too!”

“Also in Mapo District…….”

Seoul, Korea’s largest metropolis.

Just in Seoul alone, the number of Gates had already soared past dozens.

No, they were still multiplying. 

At this rate, it would soon surpass a hundred.

“Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, North Chungcheong Province, South Chungcheong Province……! They keep appearing!”

“Monsters are even coming out of the existing open Gates!”

It wasn’t just Seoul.

Gates were appearing all over Korea.

A national crisis, in all but name.

The director of the Gate Surveillance Team at the Hunter Association’s observation room spoke with a trembling voice.

” ..I declare the Third Gate Burning. Immediately send disaster alerts to all citizens and request support from all Korean Hunters, including those with the Association.”

“Understood!”

Thus began the Third Gate Burning incident.

Of course, Korea wasn’t the only place hit by Gate Burning.

The United States, Japan, China, and more.

From hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of Gates opened simultaneously around the globe and monsters began to pour out.

It was the moment the Third Gate Burning truly erupted.

***

Fortunately, thanks to my assistants, things hadn’t turned into the life-threatening disaster I feared when I first entered the Tower.

However, as time went on and as I climbed higher—

My progress in conquering the Tower inevitably began to slow down.

[You are now beginning the Trial of the 62nd Floor. ]

[62nd Floor: Trial of Zombies]

Still, I had managed to reach the 62nd floor of the Tower.

The theme of the 60th floors was ‘Undead.’

After facing Skeletons on the 61st floor, now, on the 62nd, Zombies appeared.

Most people think of Zombies as low-grade Monsters, so it would be easy to assume this would be a simple trial not worthy of the 62nd floor.

“Grrrrrrrrr-.”

“Block them!”

“Yes, Master.”

“Understood, my lord.”

But these were not the lowly Zombies that appear in Rank 4 Gates.

These were powerful Zombies—Monsters that had become zombified, not just humans.

No, that was still manageable.

Even Monster Zombies were something I could handle.

The problem was their numbers.

“Grrraaa-.”

“Grrrrrrrrr-.”

Hundreds of Zombies.

No, it might even be over a thousand.

I still vividly remembered how startled I was by the hundreds of Orcs during the 5th floor trial.

But here, even though this wasn’t a semi-boss-level trial, such a massive swarm of Monsters had appeared.

“Boom!”

“Slash-“

As my level increased, my assistants grew stronger and managed to hold off the Zombies.

But we couldn’t build up any momentum.

We were so focused on defense that there was no way to push back the Zombie horde.

So, I lent a hand in combat myself.

With a squeeze of the trigger, a crossbow bolt flew, “Fwiish-.”

The moment it struck among the Monsters—

“Boom!!”

An explosion erupted, blasting apart the Monsters.

After pulling the trigger dozens of times, a gap opened up among the Zombie mob.

And through that gap—

“Cavalryman, charge!”

“Neighhh!”

Combat 10 and 11.

The two-assistant Cavalryman unit surged forward, sweeping away Zombies.

“Crunch-“

Combat 4’s magic froze the Zombies, coloring the world blue.

“Fwoosh!”

On the opposite side, Combat 20’s magic scorched the Zombies with flames.

Then earth magic was unleashed, followed by a whirlwind from the new magic assistant I’d recently created.

With spells flying, the pressure eased, and my assistants—who’d been stuck on defense—could finally go on the offensive.

Most of my assistants now wielded L-rank weapons.

With focused attacks, taking down Zombies was no problem at all.

“Wipe them all out!”

At my command, the assistants doubled their efforts.

Each swing of Combat 1’s Durandal sent Zombies flying.

Combat 21, roaring like a real Minotaur, charged in with a massive axe, sending Zombies sprawling.

In contrast, Combat 22—created with the concept of ‘the smallest assistant’—danced through the horde, stabbing Zombies with a sharp awl.

That attack seemed weak, but the L-rank weapon I’d made myself, the ‘Awl of Decay,’ had the ability to rot the enemy’s flesh.

Wherever it stabbed, the Zombie’s body began to decay.

The rest of my assistants did their part, whittling down the Zombies’ numbers at high speed.

There were just so many that clearing the 62nd floor took more than half a day.

[Level has increased.] 

[You have overcome the 62nd Floor Trial: ‘Trial of Zombies.’]

[Clear Rating: SSS]

[You are awarded the ‘Flesh of Death’ as a reward. ]

[The Tower has weakened as a result of the 62nd Floor Trial being conquered. ]

Once again, I finished the trial safely.

“Whew, this is starting to get tough.”

I could feel the rising difficulty of the trials.

For now, I could still conquer them, but the time it took kept increasing.

Once I got past the 70th floor, I was starting to worry that maybe I’d run into trials that simply couldn’t be cleared.

“This is a problem.”

Of course, I had no intention of giving up.

If I couldn’t do it, I’d just have to create even stronger assistants.

And if that didn’t work, I’d make stronger ones yet.

Climbing the Tower had given me tons of materials, and as a blacksmith, my level and skills had soared as well.

While I was making preparations to challenge the next trial—

“Rumble—”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, the Tower began to vibrate.

No, ‘vibrate’ didn’t even cover it.

The entire Tower shook, like an earthquake.

And then—

“Rumble—”

There was even the sound of something collapsing.

‘Was the Tower actually falling?’

The thought flashed through my mind.

I didn’t know what was happening, but I figured I’d better get out of the Tower and look for the two Statues.

Just then, someone familiar appeared before me.

“Climber!”

“Riohr?”

It was Riohr, the Tower’s manager.

I asked him at once, “Don’t tell me—the Tower’s collapsing?”

Thankfully, Riohr shook his head.

“No! It’s not collapsing! Only a section of the wall broke off. There’s no need to worry about the Tower falling down right now.”

“Phew…” I let out a sigh of relief.

But then, the news that followed made my eyes widen.

“Instead, the Tower’s power is leaking into Earth!”

“That means…….”

“Most likely, right now, a massive number of ‘gates’ are opening on Earth!”

Gates pouring into Earth.

An overwhelming number of gates.

What that meant was obvious.

‘Gate Burning……..’

The Third Gate Burning had begun.