Ascension Through Skills

[What a hassle.]

The ghost clicked its tongue.

The difficulty increased in the middle of the trial.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened. The same was true for Lakiratas.

Thinking about it made him laugh. It suggested that even gods or immortals would stoop to such measures.

“There’s a lot I received, but a thug is still a thug.”

Taesan muttered and then set off to find the next monster.

The transcendental power emanating from the next knight he encountered was stronger and more intense. The knight swung his sword with a twisted arm.

Taesan parried the attack and thrust his sword forward.

Crash!

Taesan’s sword bounced off as it struck the corroded armor.

Taesan quickly created some distance and composed himself.

‘Now it completely ignores physical attacks.’

This was distinctly different from the challenges posed by the gods. Although it was called a trial, it didn’t seem to test Taesan like the gods did; instead, it seemed genuinely intent on killing him.

A huge aura roaming the floor was evidently filled with murderous intent towards Taesan.

[Immunity to physical attacks? What is this? Even an immortal should suffer considerable power drain at this level, right? Why go to such lengths to kill?]

“Didn’t you have any trouble?”

Taesan asked while dodging the charging knight.

[I managed okay. I felt some annoyance, but nothing as lethal as this. But with you, it seems different.]

“Is it because of the magic?”

Taesan had already received intermediate magic from the god of magic.

Being an immortal who pursued mysteries, it seemed they wanted to nip Taesan’s growth in the bud, even at the cost of great power.

“But this won’t do.”

Click.

Dozens of frost arrows formed around Taesan and surged towards the charging knight.

Crack!

The knight swung his sword to deflect them, and Taesan raised his finger.

[You activated Mephisto's Black Lightning.]

Boom!

The pitch-black lightning pierced through the knight. Mephisto’s Black Lightning had the power to momentarily freeze the opponent’s actions. The knight flinched as dozens of frost arrows buried into him.

[You have defeated the Blue Knight blessed with Twisted Mysteries.] [Your Soul Ascension has been activated. Your magic resistance proficiency increased by 2%.]

“It’s been a while.”

It was a nearly useless skill as he hardly encountered magic-using enemies, and even if he did, he defeated them without getting hit.

Still, the slight increase in proficiency was not an unwelcome feeling.

As Taesan defeated the Blue Knight, the aura engulfing the labyrinth changed its tone.

This time, it was of joy.

As if it was waiting for Taesan to self-destruct.

Taesan thought about the being’s intense emotional changes and continued forward.

Knights kept appearing. All of them were immune to physical attacks, so Taesan had to rely on magic, dark magic, and spirit skills.

But this was no problem for Taesan. With just these three, he could easily defeat such monsters.

Taesan thus defeated ten knights.

The joy-filled aura gradually waned, and confusion and denial began to take its place.

“Was it beyond your expectations?”

Taesan murmured as he suppressed the knight with successive thunderbolts.

“What were you expecting?”

[Maybe they thought you'd run out of mana?]

Through the ghost’s words, Taesan realized why the immortal had such extreme emotional fluctuations.

Mana was one of the basic attributes that increased the most. No matter how much one leveled up, there was a limit to how much it could increase without special items, so considerable effort was needed to use magic.

Even Taesan, in his previous life, couldn’t use skills properly due to a lack of mana.

A normal adventurer would have exhausted all their mana fairly quickly.

But Taesan was different.

[You have activated Thunderbolt.]

Lightning struck the knight continuously.

Despite using magic over twenty times, Taesan’s mana had hardly decreased from its original amount.

Thanks to the skill for designated stat increases received from the god of victory, Taesan’s mana had already surpassed 2000.

With the mana consumption reduction effect of the intelligence stat and the mana recovery skill, using low-level magic hardly consumed any mana.

Until he cleared the floor, he wouldn’t run out of mana. The immortal’s plan had not come to fruition.

Through this conversation, Taesan realized something else.

His mana was incredibly high. Due to various skills and high intelligence, depleting it was nearly impossible.

However, the immortal was trying to kill Taesan by depleting his mana.

If they knew about Taesan, they would never have chosen this method.

Boom!

[You have defeated the Blue Knight blessed with Twisted Mysteries.] [Your level has increased.] [Your magic proficiency has increased by 1%.]

The knight could not withstand any more and collapsed. As the knight turned into ashes, Taesan said,

“They don’t know about me.”

They would have chosen a different trial method if they knew the battles Taesan had fought, what he had received, and how he had grown stronger.

In other words, unlike the gods, the immortal did not fully understand Taesan—what he had done, what he had obtained.

[The immortal does not have the right rank or domain. They do not possess almost omniscient abilities like the gods. They probably know roughly from rumors but not the details.]

“Is that so? Less impressive than I thought.”

The difference from the gods was clear.

Taesan continued forward, dealing with the monsters. With each step, the agitation in the aura intensified.

Finally, Taesan arrived in front of the boss.

[A Silver Knight engulfed in Twisted Mysteries has appeared.]

The knight’s form was no longer recognizable as that of a knight.

The armor was dry and twisted, and the helmet had grotesquely fused to reveal a hideous face. Only the sword retained its original form.

[Roar!]

The knight roared like a beast, and a storm swirled around it.

Taesan chuckled.

“Now, using magic too?”

But there was more.

A fragment of great rank emanated from the twisted knight.

It signified one thing.

The knight before him had transformed into an apostle of the hunchback who pursued twisted mysteries.

Of course, it lacked the usual power and rank, but it was definitely much stronger than any of the knights he had encountered thus far.

The ghost clicked its tongue in disbelief.

[To give such a thing to a monster? How badly do they want to kill you?]

“It doesn’t matter.”

The sheer desperation to kill him only spurred his motivation.

The opponent is a formidable enemy. You have activated Apostle Slayer. The Desire for Battle has been activated. A Fair Duel has been activated. The Proof of Limits has been activated. You have activated Contempt for the Strong. Giant Killer has been activated. You have activated Apostle Transformation [Lakiratas].

Divine power surged through Taesan.

With it, a flood of related information entered his mind.

Taesan now understood what an immortal was and even the state of the enemy before him.

There were several intriguing pieces of information, but the most crucial objective at the moment was to secure victory over the adversary.

Taesan gripped his sword firmly and charged at the knight.

Clash!

The swords collided, creating a resounding noise. Perhaps due to the Apostle Transformation enhancing his spirit strike, he did not recoil but matched his opponent.

[Roar!]

The knight roared again, and at the same time, magic materialized. A blizzard-laden storm began to sweep through the chamber.

The apostle of the immortal, the hunchback in pursuit of mysteries, wielded magic of a rank higher than Taesan’s.

Yet, to Taesan, this mattered little.

Taesan thrust his sword while activating a skill.

[You have activated Forced Duel.]

Forced Duel—a skill that creates a one-on-one situation with the target. In the current situation with just the two of them, it seemed meaningless, but not for Taesan.

As soon as Forced Duel activated, the raging storm and blizzard hurtling toward Taesan began to dissipate the moment they reached him.

It was as if their approach was not permitted.

Clash!

Taesan, excluding magic, swung his sword.

Though the knight was strengthened and essentially was far beyond a 30th-floor boss monster, it was immune to physical attacks and used magic. However, both were neutralized by Apostle Transformation and Forced Duel.

Then there was no problem. Taesan activated Ability Sword and continued to land successful attacks. The knight resisted by swinging its sword, but it was no match for Taesan.

[The Silver Knight engulfed in Twisted Mysteries took 2028 damage.]

The battle was one-sided. Then, as if in a hurry, the aura violently shook.

The aura, which had been contemplating something, made a belated decision.

[The influence of the hunchback pursuing Twisted Mysteries has diminished.] [The manifestation of the hunchback's power. The distortion of Twisted Mysteries has been more strongly activated.]

“It’s too late.”

Crack.

Taesan pierced the chest of the knight, which was beginning to be imbued with power. He twisted the sword to enlarge the wound and then slammed it to the ground.

Your Soul Ascension has been activated. You have permanently increased your Health by 540, Strength by 132, Agility by 98, and Intelligence by 12. Your magic resistance proficiency has increased by 2%. Your Apostle Slayer proficiency has increased by 1%. Your Ability Sword proficiency has increased by 1%. Your level has increased. Your level has increased.

The life force escaped from the body of the knight, which had been imbued with immense power.

“If you’re going to do it, you should have done it quickly.”

Taesan scoffed. The decision of the Hunchback Pursuing Twisted Mysteries had come too late. He had probably weighed the desire to kill Taesan against the considerable consumption of his own power for quite some time.

Ultimately, he chose the latter, but by then, everything was already over.

The aura that had engulfed the floor trembled quietly.

“It was better than I thought.”

Forced Duel was also one of the skills transformed by the Ability Sword.

Special Activation Skill: Forced Duel Mana Consumption: 1 Proficiency: 11% Engage in a duel with the target. For 10 seconds, nothing other than the target can inflict damage on you. Condition: Advanced Swordsmanship [Ability Sword] If the opponent uses a sword, both parties cannot use anything other than swords.

The skill had a penalty: if the opponent used a sword, Taesan could also only use his sword, making it a challenging skill to use.

He had expected it to take some time to use, but luckily, an ideally suitable opponent appeared, allowing him to defeat it without much trouble.

Taesan had triumphed in the trial.

Now, it was time to receive the rewards, but the immortal showed no sign of movement.

“You’re not planning on withholding them, are you?”

[That's impossible. This is a law of the Labyrinth. No matter how powerful the immortal, even if they were gods, once they are in the Labyrinth, they cannot escape it.]

Assured that he would receive the rewards without issue, Taesan was then struck by curiosity.

The gods had granted Taesan skills related to their domains after he passed their trials.

However, the immortal did not possess a domain of his own.

Taesan’s question was quickly answered.

Initiating Forced Settlement. You have obtained the 36th-floor secret room reward: Thunderbolt Struck Old Tree. You have obtained the 36th-floor clear reward: Bracelet Containing a Fragment of the Core. You have obtained the 36th-floor clear reward: ???. The Hunchback Pursuing Twisted Mysteries increased your health by 800, mana by 200, and attack power by 80. You obtained the Withered Staff of Calamity.