“Wait, if it’s that direction, there are some civilian houses nearby.”
Sergeant Yun Taehyeok, having checked the location, immediately swerved the vehicle.
“Sinhyeok, report it over the radio.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sinhyeok immediately took out the radio and reported.
*Chhk.*
“This is the Night Duty Squad. We’ve spotted signs of a Break at the Gate near Papyeong Mountain, so we’ll check it as a priority.”
*Chzzt.*
A familiar voice answered over the radio.
“This is the watch officer. Only go in slightly to scout and come back. If it seems dangerous, get out immediately.”
Sergeant Yun Taehyeok nodded. Sinhyeok immediately replied over the radio.
“Understood.”
Sergeant Yun Taehyeok drove while keeping his eyes on the Gate.
“Sinhyeok, is it here?”
Sinhyeok looked around and activated Mapping.
“That’s right. The mana concentration in this area is thicker than usual. It’s unusually dense right here.”
At those words, Sergeant Yun Taehyeok immediately got out of the car.
“You two wait here. Baek Arin, you follow me. We’ll go check quickly.”
Baek Arin immediately followed.
“There’s a Gate at the summit over there. Use Body Strengthening Technique to keep up, got it?”
“Yes, sir!”
The two immediately sprinted toward the mountain.
“Hyung, so do we just wait?”
“Looks like it.”
Sinhyeok leaned comfortably against the car and watched.
“I don’t think it’ll be dangerous. The rank looks low, too.”
Judging by the spreading mana concentration, it wasn’t a very dangerous Gate.
“The sun’s starting to set.”
Sinhyeok turned his gaze toward the setting sun.
“Hyung, let’s eat some ramyeon when we get back.”
“What kind?”
“Gong-gan.”
“You’re on.”
While chatting about trivial things as they waited, Sinhyeok’s gaze fixed on the area around the fading sun.
“What is it?”
“That’s strange. Hey, wait a minute.”
He immediately activated Mapping again.
[Activating Mapping.]
A crystalline projection emerged and spread outward.
But that direction happened to be near a small rural village situated nearby.
‘Why is the concentration so high over there, too?’
As he scanned calmly, the concentration grew unusually higher toward the center of the village.
“Hyung?”
“Ichan, get on the radio. Call Sergeant Yun Taehyeok right now—immediately!”
“Y-yeah!”
At Sinhyeok’s urgent voice, Ichan hurriedly called for him.
*Chchik.*
“Sergeant Yun Taehyeok, this is Sergeant Hong Ichan.”
“Yeah. We’re a bit busy. It’s about to break here, so we’ll clear it and come down. Wait.”
Sinhyeok shouted urgently.
“There’s another one about to break in the village!”
*Chchik.*
“Damn it! Report to base immediately, and you guys run over there! You know how to drive, right?!”
“Yes, sir!”
Sinhyeok immediately got into the driver’s seat.
“Ichan!”
“Yeah!”
Ichan hurriedly got in.
*Vroom.*
Sinhyeok floored the accelerator and headed toward the place he had scanned.
A military vehicle sped down the darkening country road.
“Well, what in tarnation is that?”
“Is there a fire somewhere?”
The elders murmured as they saw the car.
Sinhyeok stopped the car and looked around.
“It should be around here.”
When he turned his gaze to the side, he saw a gray fence that looked like it belonged at a construction site.
“Over there. Ichan, get out.”
They got out immediately and checked a gap in the gray fence.
Through the gap, an unusually flickering and expanded portal was visible.
“It’s churning like crazy.”
“Hyung, isn’t that about to break?”
“Yeah.”
Sinhyeok immediately got on the radio.
“This is the Night Duty Squad. Master Sergeant, the Gate in Ungdam-ri village is also on the verge of breaking.”
*Chzzt.*
“What, there too?! Sinhyeok, I’ll send the others, so do what you can until then. Start evacuating nearby civilians!”
The radio cut off, and Sinhyeok stepped past the fence, shouting at the villagers walking leisurely by.
“The Gate is about to break at this very moment! Residents, please evacuate immediately!”
“Oh my, what was that?”
The elders flinched at the sudden announcement.
Some looked around after hearing it.
At their slow reaction, Sinhyeok checked the surroundings.
‘The village hall.’
“Ichan, the village hall is over there. Go make a broadcast. Grab anyone and tell them, got it?”
“Yeah!”
Hong Ichan ran off in a hurry, and when Sinhyeok tore down the fence, only then did the people realize it was real.
“Oh my! What’s going on!”
“Everyone run!”
Sinhyeok, having torn down the fence, checked the Gate.
The flickering portal looked like it would spew something out at any moment.
‘Check first.’
He used Mapping to scan the inside of the Gate.
Inside were countless creaking dolls.
‘They look ready to swarm out.’
“Ahem, this is the village hall. The Gate is about to break right now! Everyone run!”
The short, blunt broadcast threw the village into chaos.
Ichan immediately came running breathlessly.
Ichan spoke to him while he was focused in front of the portal.
“Hyung? Are you going in?”
“Probably. I think the core is nearly depleted. I need to go in and clear it. Otherwise, they’ll swarm out.”
Sinhyeok inspected his rifle and removed the magazine.
“Ichan, keep watch. Let me prepare a bit.”
[Reinforcing live rounds.]
[Reinforced rounds absorb mana.]
[Creating magic bullets.]
Ichan kept watch at the portal entrance while Sinhyeok went through the natural series of steps to infuse mana.
“Give me yours too.”
He immediately snatched Ichan’s as well and carefully infused mana into each round.
Each time he carefully packed mana, the system displayed messages.
[Live rounds are reinforced.]
[Magic bullets are created.]
He organized the magazines and handed them back to Ichan.
While reloading his rifle, his eyes momentarily went to the system message.
‘I reinforced them, yet it says creation. Why?’
His gaze was particularly drawn to it because of the synthesis that had failed to yield meaningful results.
‘It’s simply the act of infusing mana, so why does it become a new form of crafted item?’
Seeing that message reminded him of what the dwarf had said was possible.
‘Is this what he meant? Have I been overthinking it?’
Various thoughts flickered through his mind in an instant.
“Hyung, shall we go in?”
Ichan called out to Sinhyeok, who had momentarily fallen into thought.
“Yeah, let’s go in.”
For now, the Gate took priority.
Sinhyeok steeled himself once more and took the lead.
* * *
Upon entering the Gate, a vast city appeared.
It was a city with a medieval European aesthetic.
Around them were numerous wind-up dolls.
Things decorated as various races and species—small goblins, small humans, elves, orcs, beasts—were approaching with awkward movements.
“We just need to buy time. Ichan, shoot them down as they come.”
Sinhyeok guarded the entrance and used Mapping in the air.
[Activating Mapping.]
[Deploying 2 reconnaissance drones.]
One headed forward, and one headed to the rear—that is, outside the Gate.
‘I need to check the evacuation route.’
He waited and kept watch with a calm mind.
“Here they come.”
The wind-up dolls began to slowly approach.
With expressionless faces, they approached Sinhyeok and Ichan.
“Fire.”
*Bang! Bang!*
At Sinhyeok’s signal, they fired bullets at the approaching expressionless dolls.
The easily broken dolls littered the floor.
“Hyung, this is the end of it, right?”
“I wish.”
But as if his words had sown the seeds, the broken dolls stirred.
“Damn it.”
The remains of the broken dolls slowly clumped together.
“What kind of self-repair is this! Just die already!”
Sinhyeok frowned, looking at the dolls that were repairing themselves.
“Tch.”
Sinhyeok’s gaze fixed on the regenerating dolls.
Through Mapping, he observed their recovery process in more detail.
‘They first grab and connect the pieces with mana. After joining them, mana weaves and blends together tightly, reattaching them.’
“Fascinating.”
Sinhyeok immediately sprayed bullets at the broken dolls.
*Bang bang bang bang bang!*
Watching the dolls break and regenerate again, he compared it to the dwarf’s work.
‘Similar, yet different. If that simply uses mana as an adhesive, what that gentleman did felt more like kneading dough and stamping it out.’
Ichan admonished Sinhyeok, who was unusually captivated by the dolls.
“Hyung, now’s not the time to sightsee.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just let me finish looking at that. It’s really fascinating.”
Seeing his brother openly observing now, Ichan was dumbfounded.
“Ichan, shoot well. There they come. From there too.”
Watching Sinhyeok point out directions without even looking, Ichan clicked his tongue.
“Wow, you’re annoying.”
Sinhyeok left Ichan—who was shooting well enough—and snatched one of the dolls.
“Why that one!”
“It’s data. I need to see how it regenerates.”
“We’re in an emergency right now.”
“I know. Once the residents finish evacuating, we just need to wrap things up here.”
Sinhyeok deliberately broke the doll and observed it closely.
‘Mana weaves the broken remains and body together.’
“It’s familiar.”
Something was on the tip of his tongue. Soon, he thought of one thing.
“Is that the catalyst thing?”
He remembered Lucien mentioning the ‘magic stone’ as the core catalyst when making potions.
‘He said it smoothly connects the synthesis between two substances. A mysterious material that forcibly weaves together unruly things.’
Just in case, he groped around the doll’s body to check.
“Hyung! If you’re doing that there right now, you’re a pervert!”
“It’s not like that.”
“It totally is—hey! Where are you touching!”
Sinhyeok’s hand stopped at the doll’s vital point, and he struck down immediately.
“Ugh!”
Ichan, who had been keeping watch and blocking the monsters’ approach from the side, let out a groan.
“What is it?”
“I flinched without realizing it.”
Soon, inside the damaged male-form doll, a small glowing magic stone was visible.
‘I was right.’
When he tore it out, the doll that had been self-repairing on its own stopped functioning.
“Huh? Hyung, how did you do that?”
Sinhyeok lifted the doll and flung it far away as he spoke.
“They’re powered by magic stones inside. If you take out the battery, they power down.”
“Ah, okay.”
At his words, Sinhyeok and Ichan slung their rifles over their backs and drew their military greatswords.
“Then let’s go.”
In an instant, they dashed forward.
Their excited minds and suitably heated bodies arbitrarily awakened their Sensory Amplification.
[Activating Sensory Amplification.]
[Five senses are amplified.]
Sinhyeok overwhelmed the dolls’ movements and immediately found and pierced their magic stones.
*Pak! Pak! Pak!*
He pierced them in one attempt without even fumbling.
“Phew. Sensory Amplification is insane.”
[Acquiring experience.]
‘Ah, my experience is going up now.’
The level-ups that had been locked during the training period began to rise.
“Nice, levels are going up and my body feels light.”
Thanks to Sensory Amplification, his physical condition was definitely at its peak.
Though the learning process had been gruesome, its utility was clearly extraordinary.
‘I should ask to learn more. This is too good. No, not right now.’
He hesitated slightly, somehow feeling the training process would be severe.
Sinhyeok diligently practiced turning off the dolls’ power.
After removing batteries for a while, he looked to the side and saw Ichan.
Ichan was also diligently removing the dolls’ batteries using his specter.
He threw his specter first to locate the magic stone, then thrust his military greatsword.
“He’s pretty good too.”
After moving their bodies for some time, the surroundings grew quiet.
Sinhyeok caught his breath and checked the surroundings.
“I think we’ve more or less cleaned up.”
“Hyung, I’m done too.”
Ichan also spoke while checking the surroundings.
A significant number had been cleared before they knew it.
Sinhyeok looked around and spoke to Ichan.
“Since we’ve cleaned up, shall we close the core too? It broke anyway.”
“You’re on! They said we’re pretty much the only night crew going in anyway. Then it’s better to wrap things up.”
With the intention of reducing their workload even slightly, they immediately set off to find the core.
“Let’s go that way. The mana is concentrated there.”
Ichan followed Sinhyeok.
“The boss should be weak, right?”
Sinhyeok thought about the monsters’ level and the atmospheric mana density, then nodded.
“I think it’ll be fine. But as long as the boss isn’t the annoying type.”
Ichan asked at the mention of the annoying type.
“What type?”
Sinhyeok spoke while roughly tracking the core’s location.
“Self-repair faster than those dolls, or a summoner type. If it’s neither of these two, it’ll end quickly.”
They found the core. And they found the boss mob, too.
“It’s an integrated type. Why is it doing that?”
The core and boss mob were of an integrated type.
A broken music box sat creaking, stopped in its tracks.
Surrounding junk, various springs, and parts clumped together on their own.
The massive music box creaked and began to pour out dolls anew.
“Damn it, we hit one.”
Of all things, it was the annoying summoner-type boss.
“Ah, back to square one.”