Ascension Through Skills

“You came?”

“Of course, I had to come and watch you fight.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Taesan caught the potato that Junggeun had thrown at him. His face crumpled at the touch of the now-cooled potato.

“This was why I didn’t want to go.”

Returning to the restaurant was a bother, so he had no choice but to eat it. Lee Changchun, who was on his mind, had long disappeared. Only Junggeun was left to admire Lee Changchun’s defeat.

“Wow, you are really great, hyung. Even though he’s a Hard player, you beat him in one hit.”

“Is there anything great about defeating such a weak guy?”

“He’s not a weak guy……

Junggeun said this with some trepidation.

Changchun was strong.

Besides, he also had a valuable skill that few other Hard players possessed. His Strong Attack was also quite a successful skill.

Sturdiness, a rare skill that halved all damage, was also rare.

Even Junggeun, considered the strongest Hard player, would have struggled to suppress him. He was not a player who could be easily taken down.

Taesan was just overwhelmingly strong.

Junggeun couldn’t suppress his curiosity.

“So, how on earth did you acquire that multiplication skill?”

Such a crazy skill that would automatically square the power of an attack.

It wasn’t even applying the effect to the basic attack power but rather the current attack power.

Taesan’s basic stats were lacking, with the highest capping at about 10,000. However, depending on the user, the damage that could be dealt was nearly infinite.

The only comparable skill was Addition, but it was utterly negligible when compared to Multiplication. Lee Taeyeon was the only other player to possess it after Taesan.

“What’s ‘Absolute Judgment’? Ignoring defense? Where is there such a skill? Absolute invalidation of the first attack? What kind of cheat-like skill is that? Where on earth did you get it from?”

Junggeun was genuinely curious.

If every Easy player had gotten skills like Taesan, Junggeun would have killed himself for choosing Hard Mode.

However, only Taesan had such skills.

As always, Taesan answered.

“I worked hard and got them well.”

“There you go again. Even in this situation, do you have something to hide?”

“That’s all there is, so what do you want me to do?”

Taesan replied lazily.

He had diligently broken through the labyrinth tower. He didn’t merely pass through it but understood and analyzed it thoroughly. That was all there was to it.

However, people couldn’t accept it even if he explained it that way. For them, the labyrinth was nothing more than hell. They didn’t try to understand why he put in the effort to understand and analyze such a dreadful world.

And so, Taesan, too, worked hard…

Junggeun could feel that Taesan had no desire to explain in detail, so he simply only spoke.

Then, another cheer erupted from the other side.

“Oh, looks like another player has arrived? It’s a good year.”

“I don’t think so.”

Usually, a player would arrive in the center of the city. However, the cheer came from the side nearest to the barrier. Junggeun also noticed this quickly.

“Looks like Lee Taeyeon has arrived.”

In a situation where humanity was on the brink of extinction, no one had the luxury of being concerned about style and safety. Most of the houses in the city were on the verge of collapse.

However, there was a single neat house among them. It looked as if it had been consistently maintained, and not even a speck of dust was on its walls.

“She’s still annoyingly attentive to these things.”

Taesan stood in front of the house with an annoyed expression. He then entered.

Squeak.

As the door opened and the interior was revealed, Taesan was taken aback.

“What the hell.”

All sorts of decorations and murals were visible inside. The madness of this world meant that nobody cared about decorating their homes. If someone did, they would be considered insane.

Taesan sighed and spoke to the woman who was waiting for him inside the house.

“Are you not going to fix this strange habit?”

“I don’t want to hear about my hobbies.”

The woman grumbled while sitting in a luxurious red leather chair. The long-haired lady proudly raised her finger.

“Isn’t it beautiful? I got it from an art museum this time.”

At the end of her finger was a gigantic portrait.

The portrait, four times the size of a human body, didn’t have a speck of dust or a single scratch on it.

In an outside world swarming with all kinds of monsters, she had carefully brought that portrait back without knowing if she would see tomorrow.

Taesan sighed.

“Why must the strongest human be a woman like you?”

Lee Taeyeon.

The only human who cleared Solo Mode.

She was a woman considered to be the strongest human on earth. According to Taesan’s standards, she was also the most abnormal.

Lee Taeyeon grinned.

“In a situation like this, obsession with something is important. How about you try having a hobby like me? I used to think things like art had no meaning in the old world, but now I see each has its own flavor. For instance, this portrait I brought this time…”

“Let’s hear about that when we have time.”

The more Lee Taeyeon talked, the further she strayed from the main point.

From his past experiences, Taesan knew it was best to not get sucked in and just get to the point.

“What’s the matter?”

The reason why Taesan came here was because Lee Taeyeon had called for him. Lee Taeyeon casually touched the armrest of her chair.

“That newbie in Hard Mode. You said you were training him?”

“There’s no one else to do it, so I have to.”

“Really, an Easy Mode player training a Hard Mode player. No matter how many times I hear it, it’s a weird story,”

Lee Taeyeon said this while giving Taesan a curious look.

“Status window.”

Lee Taeyeon’s status window appeared.

[Lee Taeyeon] [Level: 258] [HP: 45810/45810] [Mana: 7020/7020] [Strength: 10152] [Intelligence: 9899] [Agility: 13254] [Attack + 5421] [Defense + 8456] [Target is frightened.]

To any other person, these stats would inspire awe. Even a casual attack from her would be deadly against a fully prepared Hard Mode player.

Taesan simply looked at her status window blankly.

“What’s this? Are you showing off?”

“Just a simple check. Taesan, show me your status window as well.”

“You are bragging, aren’t you? So much for feeling inferior to the Easy Mode player.”

Grumbling, Taesan opened his status window.

[Kang Taesan] [Level: 57] [HP: 1021/1021] [Mana: 820/820] [Strength: 105] [Intelligence: 100] [Agility: 98] [Attack + 49] [Defense + 58] [Target is in optimal condition.]

Lee Taeyeon nodded her head.

“As expected, you’re pretty weak.”

Taesan frowned.

“Are you suggesting we fight?”

“Didn’t I say it’s just a simple check? Still, those stats are pretty good. Most Easy Mode players have stats much worse than yours. In terms of mana, you’d rank among the top even among Normal Mode players.”

Fundamentally, Taesan was a player of the easiest difficulty level.

And the difference in growth based on the difficulty of the labyrinth was extreme.

Since all growth stopped the moment the labyrinth was cleared, it was impossible to get stronger.

Typically, a Hard Mode player would easily be ten times stronger than Taesan.

In Junggeun’s case, he would be twenty times stronger.

Yet Taesan would be able to take a hit from all of them.

Even Lee Taeyeon wasn’t sure she would be able to decisively win against Taesan.

All because of the skills that Taesan possessed.

“Do you have about two hundred skills?”

“About two hundred thirty or so.”

“…Truly an astounding number.”

Lee Taeyeon let out a hollow laugh.

She only had about fifty skills. Hard Players, at best, had about twenty.

Moreover, it wasn’t just Taesan’s number of skills. Each and every one of his skills was of a different quality.

Lee Taeyeon clenched her fist.

“Just stand still.”

[Lee Taeyeon has activated 'Addition'. Half of the base attack power is added.] [Lee Taeyeon has activated 'Multiply'. The current attack power doubles.] [Lee Taeyeon has activated 'Sure Hit'. This attack will definitely hit.] [Lee Taeyeon attacks.]

An attack that would kill Taeasn ten times over was about to engulf him.

[Taesan's 'First Attack Immunity' has been activated.] [Taesan receives 0 damage.]

Yet only a short system message appeared. Taesan hadn’t even bothered to take a defensive posture.

“What are you doing?”

“……Just nothing.”

Lee Taeyeon managed a bitter smile.

‘Sure Hit’ the ultimate hit skill.

It was one of the top five skills she possessed, but it was of no use in front of Taesan.

“‘First Attack Immunity’, ‘Absolute Judgement’, ‘Multiply’, ‘Multiple Overlay Attack’, ‘Copy’, ‘Temporary Time Stop’… truly unbelievable skills.”

Skills that, even if you possessed only one of them, would make you a top player.

Taesan had more than two hundred such skills. That’s why, despite his mediocre stats, he was able to survive for so long and overpower everyone else.

“You said you got the skills while playing with elements of the Tower, didn’t you?”

“It’s not a tower. It’s a labyrinth. Why call it a tower when you’re going down?”

“Most people other than you call it that. What’s the problem? You’re one of the few who call it a labyrinth, right? Answer me.”

“Yeah. You can get the skills regardless of the difficulty level.”

Lee Taeyeon dropped her head and mulled over this.

“We should have properly understood the tower like you. Instead of obsessing over clearing it, we should have become stronger to our limits…

They failed to do so.

They were controlled by their fear and were obsessed with clearing the labyrinth as quickly as possible, missing most of the opportunities to become stronger. Lee Taeyeon had belatedly realized this.

“I wonder.”

Taesan spoke in a low voice.

Would the others have become as strong as him if they had acted the same way?

He didn’t think so. To him, Lee Taeyeon’s words were like saying that if everyone lived like Edison, everyone could have invented the light bulb.

But he didn’t want to fuss about something meaningless, so he just said casually,

“Anyway, it’s all in the past.”

“That’s not necessarily the case.”

Lee Taeyeon gave him a cryptic smile. Taesan looked at her with a puzzled face, but she changed the subject instead of responding.

“Anyway, you’re amazing. If you played in Solo Mode, maybe we could have won.”

His skills were powerful, but most of them were based on stats. The current Taesan couldn’t even use a tenth of his skills.

If Taesan had stats comparable to a standard Hard player, humanity could have been at least twice as better off.

Taesan waved his hand irritably.

“Can you stop talking about that?”

What if he played in Normal Mode? What if he played in Solo Mode? He had heard those words so many times that it was getting on his nerves.

“Just get to the point. You went on a reconnaissance, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Lee Taeyeon replied with a serious face.

“The next wave is about to start.”

Taesan frowned.

A wave was when the monsters launched a total attack. Each time they returned to Earth, a wave would occur. In the first wave, humanity lost Seoul. Half of the Hard players died in the second wave. Humanity could only defend a small city in the third wave.

Many people died each time a wave occurred, and humanity’s territory shrank. This was now the fourth wave.

“How many are there?”

“Two S-class. Dozens of A-class. Hundreds of B-class. And an Apostle.”

Lee Taeyeon said this flatly. Taesan nodded his head.

“We’re finished.”

S-class was a level of monster that even Lee Taeyeon could barely deal with. And now there were two of them.

On top of that, dozens of A-class monsters. There were barely over twenty Hard players capable of facing A-class monsters left.

And the Apostle.

Something beyond an S-class, an alien entity.

In reality, defeat was already certain.

“But we have to struggle anyway. Taesan, please handle the two S-class monsters.”

“What?”

Taesan let out a hollow laugh.

“Do you want me to die?”

“There’s no one else who can handle an S-class but you. I’ll be fully occupied with dealing with the Apostle. I don’t have the time to worry about anything else. You know, right?”

“What a mess.”

Although Taesan grumbled, he did not refuse. He, too, knew that there was no other way.

He turned around.

“Should I go and inform them?”

“At least let them prepare themselves mentally. Should I let them die without knowing anything?”

He would strive to survive even if he had to crawl on the ground and vomit blood. That was Taesan’s belief.

Taesan stepped outside. Left alone, Lee Taeyeon muttered,

“Taesan, you are strong. You might even be able to lead us to victory.”

She offered a bitter smile.

“But I’m a coward.”

In her hand, she held a rugged stone.

“Goodness.”

Junggeun looked beyond the barrier with a bewildered face.

“I knew this day would come someday, but it’s too upsetting.”

“How are the others doing?”

“It’s a mess. Everyone’s saying it’s the end. They’re praying and causing a commotion.”

“Well, that would be expected.”

You were all going to die. Humanity was ending. No one would be able to maintain their sanity in that.

“How about you?”

“Well, I’ll just accept it. After all, I have lived quite long in a situation where everyone is dying. This is a luxury. A luxury.”

“What kind of luxury is there in dying?”

Lee Changchun passed by them with a dark, dead expression.

“When I think about it, he’s really pitiful.”

He must have been thrilled as he cleared the labyrinth and looked forward to enjoying modern life. Instead, what awaited him was this horrifying reality and inevitable death after just a day of seeing the world.

Since he was a Hard player, he must have suffered all kinds of hardships to clear the labyrinth. Truly, how unlucky.

“How about you, hyung?”

Junggeun asked Taesan.

“To be honest, I feel you would be the most aggrieved. If we did half of what you did, we wouldn’t be facing annihilation.”

“I feel so wronged that I could die. Satisfied?”

Taesan spoke sullenly. It was a casual attitude, but it reflected Taesan’s true feelings.

Roar……

The monsters’ cries were heard. Junggeun’s expression hardened/

The wave had begun.

“Ah, shit. This is crazy. Really. What did you say you had to fight?”

“Two S-classes.”

“……See you in the afterlife. I think you will go first. Please wait for me.”

“Sure.”

Taesan leaped into the air. His main enemy was not in this group of monsters.

It was two distinct monsters that were far removed from him.

Taesan braced his feet.

[You have activated the skill Great Leap.]

His body soared through the sky. He flew past the clouds and quickly distanced himself from the city.

The aftermath of a fight with an S-class was massive. It could create a crater the size of a city, so he couldn’t fight near it. Taesan looked down at the ground from the sky.

[You have activated Full Reconnaissance.]

Dots appeared on the ground. The blue dots were gathered in one place and were very few, while the red dots twinkled like city lights at night, filling the ground.

Among them, two shining red dots stood out.

“Found them.”

[You have activated Landing.]

Taesan landed on the ground. The two monsters headed towards the city stopped in surprise when they saw Taesan.

“Happy to see me?”

Grrr.

[Monster 5 has identified you as an enemy.] [Monster 7 has identified you as an enemy.]

The monsters stared at Taesan. The system window appeared between him and them.

[You have encountered horrific beings.] [Judgment starting.] [Judging for mental breakdown... ] [Judging for confusion... ] [Judging for fear... ] [Judging for instant death... ] [...] [All Judgments Succeeded!] [You have endured with indomitable willpower!] [All your stats have increased.] [Your spirit never breaks.]

The system had made an attempt to pass a judgment of instant death.

Taesan sighed and drew his sword. It was an old sword that had been with him all his life.

“Die, you damned things.”

[You have activated Unstoppable Force.]