Ascension Through Skills

Taesan sat quietly next to the statue, waiting.

The followers, fearing he might destroy the statue, watched him with wary eyes, but Taesan had no such intention.

After some time, everyone had gathered.

“So many of them.”

Hundreds of people crowded in front of his eyes.

“As you said, I brought them all.”

The Saint bit his lip. These hundreds were all the followers that had descended to the battlefield.

“…… Don’t regret it! Everyone! Line up!”

At the Saint’s shout, they all responded with a short cheer.

The followers quickly formed ranks around Taesan. Their movement ceased, and the Saint held his crushed shield.

“O God! We are gathered here! Please recognize our worth and manifest in this world!”

With the Saint’s shout, a massive energy was felt from the statue behind Taesan.

The energy spread to the followers. They slammed their shields into the ground. A barrier-like power was felt, and its target was Taesan.

Koooong!

A massive force oppressed Taesan. It felt like a giant pressing down on him.

These followers believed in the God of Self-Proof.

The followers, with the god’s assistance, brought their self-proven worth into reality. Individually, they were insignificant, but it was a different story when hundreds gathered.

Echoing each other, they created a massive barrier and formed a kind of seal with the god’s assistance.

The power oppressing Taesan was their worth.

Its uniqueness made it impossible to escape with physical strength. Neither magic nor skills worked against it.

[I told you, didn't I? Even if they are weak, they can sufficiently oppress you with a god's assistance. Why did you give them this chance?]

The ghost was still puzzled.

The opportunity Taesan spoke of was simple.

He would wait here beside the statue.

So, go and call the followers of their god.

And then try to trample him with the power of the god they believed in.

Essentially, he had prepared them to fight at their full capacity. It was a completely different approach from what Taesan had been doing, so the ghost was bewildered.

“I told you. I’m going to take as much as I can.”

Taesan looked up at the power oppressing him.

This wasn’t just simple energy or the power of a god. It was the will of hundreds of individual followers. Their power.

The accumulation of what they had proven was pressing down on Taesan.

“This is us! The power of the god we believe in!”

With Taesan immobilized, the Saint, confident of victory, shouted.

“Proud one! Die before our power!”

“The gods of the labyrinth reward based on achievements.”

Taesan ignored the Saint’s words and spoke to the ghost.

“Then what would be the biggest achievement that would make them give the greatest reward?”

The ghost paused, then replied after a moment of contemplation.

[Breaking the confidence of the outside gods.]

“Right.”

The faith of the outside gods. The belief that there was no significant difference between them and the gods of the labyrinth. The belief that the labyrinth was nothing.

Breaking that belief.

“So, I thought of that method.”

Taesan raised his hand. He touched the statue and slowly rose to his feet. As his resisting figure appeared, the Saint panicked and shouted.

“Everyone, pull out all your strength! We must defeat this unbeliever!”

At the Saint’s command, the followers exerted even more power. A stronger force than before oppressed Taesan.

“There’s also a God of Light in the labyrinth.”

Asking the ghost, he had said it resided in the depths.

Harmon was also a God of Light. The God born from the heavens, whom Taesan had just defeated, was also a God of Light.

The God of Self-Proof they believed in resembled Pabrasha, the God of Proof.

Many gods held similar ranks.

“That’s why they’d probably like this the most.”

Taesan clenched his fist.

[You have activated Self-Proof.]

Taesan stood up. The pressure he had felt noticeably decreased.

He turned to look at the followers of the God of Self-Proof.

They were shaken.

“This, this!”

“What is that!”

“Don’t panic, everyone!”

The Saint urgently shouted, but he couldn’t hide the turmoil in his eyes.

‘What’s this!’

An aura different from before emanated from Taesan. The Saint, a believer in the God of Self-Proof, immediately recognized it.

It was everything he had accumulated.

What Taesan had done, what he had achieved, was materializing into energy.

‘But this is…’

The issue was the sheer amount.

The energy flowing endlessly from Taesan held a magnitude the Saint couldn’t have imagined.

A might unreachable by the most perfect warrior, the most devout Saint, or the highest mage.

The subtly spreading energy began to crack their barrier.

“Everyone! Steel yourselves! Believe in our god!”

The Saint desperately raised his voice. The shaken followers barely regained composure and pressed Taesan harder.

“It’s useless.”

Taesan bared his teeth. He took a step forward. The barrier of proof created by the followers began to yield to Taesan’s energy.

“You are nothing.”

The hundreds of believers in the God of Self-Proof, even when combined, couldn’t stop Taesan’s individual proof.

“What you’ve built is nothing. All trivial.”

Taesan hummed and advanced again.

Cracks began to appear in the barrier.

[...Ah. So, this is what it was?]

The ghost realized.

What would the gods of the labyrinth like?

As Taesan said, crushing the pride of the outside gods.

Thus, Taesan was proving it. That what they had built was nothing. Hundreds of proofs were trampled by his own achievements in the labyrinth alone.

And he was also telling the God of Self-Proof. Your domain was nothing. The status of the God of Proof in the labyrinth was far more exalted.

Thud.

Taesan advanced again.

“Cough!”

“Choke!”

The force oppressing Taesan was equivalent to their own worth.

As their worth was mercilessly trampled and crushed, it directly impacted their mental strength.

Some couldn’t bear it and vomited blood, collapsing.

“This can’t be happening!”

The Saint shouted vehemently.

“This is impossible!”

All who had come here were acknowledged by the God of Self-Proof. They were elites, revered in their original worlds.

But to be overpowered by just one person? Their combined worth was less than that of a single individual?

“That’s impossible!”

His entire life, everything he had built in faith was being denied.

“Isn’t proving oneself always like this? Didn’t you also come here the same way?”

Proving oneself often meant overshadowing others. The Saint must have gone through a similar process, stepping over peers and casting others into the shadows to become a saint of their god.

“It doesn’t matter, though. By coming here, you were prepared, right?”

This was the Battlefield of the Gods.

The condition of victory was the annihilation of other gods’ followers.

Thud.

Taesan walked. With each step, dozens more followers spat blood and fell.

“So, accept it.”

Taesan approached the Saint and tapped his forehead.

The Saint’s body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Taesan looked around.

No one was in their right mind. All were foaming at the mouth, collapsing, writhing on the ground.

“It’s over.”

Taesan raised his fist. In front of their own god’s followers, the statue of the God of Self-Proof shattered.

[You have destroyed the statue of the God of Self-Proof. The God of Self-Proof has been expelled from the Battlefield of the Gods.] [The gods of the labyrinth are satisfied.] [The God of Proof is extremely delighted. He is immensely pleased with your actions.]

A system window appeared, stating the God of Proof’s satisfaction. This notification hadn’t appeared when he dealt with the followers of the three previous gods.

‘As expected.’

This was the right answer. The way they liked the most, ensuring the greatest reward.

“Ah, ahhh…”

The Saint, with a world-collapsing expression, stared at the shattered statue.

A massive force started to escape through the sky’s rift.

“Ah, aaaaaah!”

The Saint screamed. A translucent something was leaving his body.

The same was happening to the collapsed followers.

“Soul?”

[Seems like it.]

The translucent entities followed the God of Self-Proof through the sky’s rift.

“Their souls belonged to their god.”

In a way, it was obvious.

The followers who had descended to the Battlefield of the Gods had undoubtedly offered their souls to the god.

What would happen to the souls dragged away by the defeated god? Would the god take out its anger on its followers? Or, as a transcendent being, show mercy?

To Taesan, it was a story of little interest.

“Let’s wrap this up quickly.”

Taesan immediately moved to meet the followers of the next god.

There was also a mansion similar to the one of the God of Self-Proof. Taesan flicked his finger, shattering the door.

“Intruder!”

“Everyone, gather!”

Taesan beat them down. He toppled the obstructing enemies and stood before the statue.

“Show me. Show me what you’ve built. The worth of what you believe in.”

And like before, he waited until they were fully prepared.

“You’ll regret this!”

“I’ve heard that before.”

This time, the god was one of Mystery who had climbed from the bottom. As he battered the followers, he saw them use some kind of magical something.

The barrage of attacks was met with Taesan’s cold demeanor.

“Just magic? I thought it would be something more, given it’s called Mystery.”

He repelled the onslaught of flames and ice. With his fists, he burst gusts of wind and suppressed the trembling earth by stepping on it.

No flamboyance or complex techniques, just simple movements. This alone blocking everything meant Taesan was on a whole different level than them.

However, the Saint, thinking Taesan was helpless and only managing to block, burst out laughing.

“Look! This is the magic bestowed by our god!”

Chachachak!

A shower of ice rained down.

It was quite a spectacle, so Taesan just watched.

In the midst, a magical arrow flew towards him.

Taesan lazily swung his sword, knocking it aside.

“Hahaha! You can’t do anything. Heretic!”

The Saint was very pleased.

Having received an oracle from the god, the Saint knew that the followers of the God of Self-Proof had been annihilated by the man before him.

A satisfied god would bestow even more potent powers upon them.

While the Saint indulged in his happy fantasies, Taesan clenched his fist.

“Low-grade.”

The magic itself was of a beginner’s level, as it was directly given by the god.

However, the wielders were so weak that they couldn’t even draw out the slightest essence of the magic.

“Not much to gain here.”

Taesan made his decision. Just to wipe them out.

He rolled his foot.

[You have activated Earthquake.]

Earthquake. A magic of little value in the labyrinth, not particularly impressive.

But here, it was different.

The ground stirred. Those who were confident in their victory and attack were terrified and collapsed.

Kururung!

The earth creaked. Their building made unstable noises, beginning to shed its ornaments.