The transition through the A-Rank Gate wasn't a magical teleportation. To the Heavens-Gate Hunters, it felt like a brief, dizzying flash of blue light.
But to Jinsu, operating with a Processing stat of 65, it was a loading screen.
For three excruciating seconds, he watched the "Clean World" de-compile into wireframes, replaced by the heavy, oppressive geometry of the dungeon.
They materialized in a sprawling, ruined futuristic city. The sky above was a jagged matrix of dark red polygons that pulsed like a dying heart.
The skyscrapers surrounding them were skeletal, choked by miles of thick, rusted cables and piles of corroded industrial dirt. It smelled of old iron, abandoned ambition, and ozone.
"Form up! Shield wall to the front, Casters in the center!" a voice barked, shattering the eerie silence.
It was Choi Sang-min, the S-Rank raid leader. He stood atop a pile of rusted cars, his golden armor practically glowing in the dim, red light. His Compliance bar was a blinding, flawless 100%.
"Listen up, Heavens-Gate!" Sang-min shouted, his voice echoing off the decaying buildings. "The Association expects a clean sweep. The cameras outside are waiting for a victory speech, and I don't intend to keep them waiting. Park! What's the mana density?"
A tall A-Rank Mage, Park Do-hyun, adjusted a glowing monocle over his eye. "High, Boss. Real high. The atmospheric mana is so thick it's messing with our scanners. We've got multiple signatures ahead, probably A-Rank and B-Rank variants."
Sang-min smirked, drawing a massive, jewel-encrusted broadsword. "Good. More loot. More glory. Porters! Keep your heads down and the supply crates sealed. If you drop my spare potions, I'll leave you here as bait."
In the back line, Jinsu adjusted the heavy straps of his supply pack. He kept his shoulders slumped and his eyes locked on the dirt.
"Don't look at him too long, kid," a raspy voice whispered.
Jinsu glanced to his right. An older porter with a heavily scarred face and a Compliance bar hovering around a shaky 81% was tying off a loose strap on his own pack.
"I wasn't looking," Jinsu said, pitching his voice to sound appropriately nervous. "I'm Kang Han-eol. It's my first A-Rank."
"I'm Bae," the old man grunted, handing Jinsu a piece of dried ration. "And you picked a hell of a first run, Kang. Heavens-Gate is all flash. They care more about their kill-counts than their rear guard. When the fighting starts, you glue yourself to the nearest wall and you don't breathe until the screaming stops."
"Are the monsters that bad?" Jinsu asked, playing the part.
"It's not just the monsters," Bae muttered, spitting onto the rusted pavement. "It's the Gate itself. Look at this place. Does this look like a natural dungeon to you? It feels... wrong. Like it's sick."
Jinsu looked at the rusted environment. Through his [Eyes of the Architect], he didn't just see rust. He saw corrupted code. The buildings weren't just old; they were heavily degraded data structures, dumped here by the System because they were too broken to delete properly.
[WARNING: Atmospheric Stability - Corrupted]
[Host Stability: 24.1% - Dropping]
Bae is right, Jinsu thought. The System uses A-Rank Gates as a landfill for its mistakes. And my body is starving for it.
"Movement!" Mage Park shouted from the front. "Sector 3! They're coming out of the rust!"
From the shadows of the collapsed skyscrapers, massive shapes began to uncoil. They were Scrap-Golems—grotesque amalgamations of rusted steel beams, concrete, and pulsing blue muscle tissue.
[Entity Identified: Corrupted Scrap-Golem]
[Rank: B+]
"Vanguard, engage!" Sang-min roared, leaping from his vantage point.
The S-Rank leader swung his broadsword, unleashing a wave of golden, "Optimized" energy that cleaved the first golem in half. The Hunters cheered, their spells and arrows lighting up the ruined street. It was a slaughter.
But from the back line, Jinsu saw the truth. The golems weren't dying; their physical forms were breaking, but the heavy, A-Rank mana was simply leaking into the ground, preparing to re-render.
"They're not using enough heat to burn the cores!" Bae yelled, pulling Jinsu behind a rusted concrete pillar as debris rained down. "Stay down, Kang!"
Jinsu crouched, but his eyes were fixed on a severed golem arm that had landed just a few feet away from their pillar. The blue muscle tissue inside the rusted steel was violently thrashing, leaking raw, heavy data.
I need that, Jinsu realized, his own heart hammering against his ribs. [Stability: 23.9%]
While the Hunters were distracted by the main horde, cheering and racking up their kill counts, Jinsu let his backpack slip off one shoulder. He leaned out from cover, extending his left hand toward the severed, pulsing arm.
Bae was looking the other way, watching the S-Rank leader.
Jinsu's eyes flashed a brilliant, terrifying violet.
"Erasure: Siphon," he whispered.
A tiny, almost invisible thread of static shot from Jinsu's fingertips and pierced the golem's severed limb. Instantly, the blue mana inverted, turning into a stream of violent grey data that rushed directly into Jinsu's palm. The heavy chunk of steel and flesh quietly dissolved into white salt, completely unnoticed in the chaos.
Jinsu gasped quietly as the heavy, unfiltered A-Rank data hit his core like a shot of adrenaline.
[Nihil Engine: A-Rank Data Consumed]
[Stability: 23.9% ➔ 28.5%]
[Strength +1]
Jinsu closed his fist, the violet light fading from his eyes just as Bae turned back around.
"You holding up, kid?" Bae asked, breathless.
"I'm fine," Jinsu said, a cold, genuine smile ghosting across his lips as he felt his muscles harden. "I think I'm getting the hang of it."
Suddenly, a massive, screeching sound echoed from the sky. The red polygon matrix above them cracked, and a creature entirely different from the golems dropped onto the battlefield, crushing two A-Rank Vanguard tanks instantly.
It was a System-Purge Entity. It looked like an angel made entirely of jagged, rusted blades and bleeding code.
[WARNING: ANOMALY DETECTED]
[Rank: A+ (System Executioner)]
Sang-min's arrogant smirk vanished. "Mages! Focus fire!"
But Jinsu's UI was flashing a different message entirely.
[Host Alert: Executioner is carrying a Fragment of the Second Founder's Logic.]
[Objective Updated: Consume the Executioner.]
[End of Chapter 16]
📊 SYSTEM ARCHIVE: LOG 016
[HOST: HAN JINSU (Mask: Kang Han-eol)]
Current Level: 26
Strength: 29 (Increased from data siphon)
Agility: 31
Processing: 65
ERASURE: C+
STABILITY: 28.5% (Stabilizing)
[PARTY STATUS: HEAVENS-GATE RAID]
- Choi Sang-min (S-Rank): Active (Unaware)
- Porter Bae: Active
- Casualties: 2 Vanguard Tanks (Deceased)