Ascension Through Skills
Chapter 431: 84th Floor, Levynenoff’s World (4)

“Ohhhhhh!”

The man roared as he swung his greatsword. Merely waving it caused dozens of storms to form.

Taesan did not back down.

He planted his feet firmly and charged forward, wielding a sword that, compared to the greatsword, was nothing more than a toothpick.

Kwaaaang!

With the impact, shockwaves swept through the surroundings.

The man’s face twisted.

Unlike before, Taesan was not sent flying. Though he was pushed back, he remained standing on the ground, enduring it. The man moved his hand as if displeased by this.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The greatsword moved to crush Taesan. Taesan pushed his muscles to their absolute limits.

Kuuuuung!

They clashed and clashed again.

And at some point, Taesan stopped being pushed back.

Now, he was fighting with all his strength.

Lakiratas’s blessing, Master of the Howling Struggle, had activated. His speed and power increased exponentially.

Kuuung!

Taesan stomped his foot. As the descending sword came at him, he swung his own sword upward.

Kwaaaang!

“Kuugh!”

The man’s body was pushed back. Regaining his stance quickly, he gritted his teeth.

“Damn divine blessing!”

[You have activated Forced Descent.]

Forced Descent.

A skill transformed through Ability Sword—when clashing with an opponent’s weapon, it increased the weight of their weapon.

“Hmm!”

After several collisions, the man quickly noticed something was wrong. His greatsword was getting heavier and heavier.

“Don’t be ridiculous! This isn’t just any sword! It’s my authority! You think such a cheap trick will work?”

“It’s still a sword, isn’t it? That means it’ll have an effect.”

Though subtle, the greatsword’s movements were slowing down. Taesan cloaked himself in demonic energy.

[You have activated Ba’al’s Pitch-Black Surging Abyss.]

Pitch-Black Surging Abyss was powerful, but due to Taesan’s lack of mastery, he had never been able to unleash its full potential.

But this time was different.

The Demon God’s blessing, Precious Child of Darkness, granted him complete dominance over all dark magic.

Zzeojeojeojeong!

A space engulfed in darkness surged forward. Within it lay the power to crush all things and interfere with the very concept of existence.

The man attempted to trample it down with his greatsword, but the dark magic did not yield easily. It clashed against the greatsword, holding firm, and the man’s expression stiffened.

Taesan seized the opening. In an instant, he closed in and stabbed deep into the man’s side.

There was not a shred of hesitation in his movement. With absolute confidence, he had chosen to exploit the gap.

Maria’s blessing activated. Divine power imbued Taesan’s sword.

Kaaaaang!

“Guh!”

The man barely managed to block it by shifting his sword’s hilt, but his body was sent flying backward.

‘This is the power of divine blessings.’

Each one possessed the ability to shift the tides of battle.

The once-overwhelming incarnation of the High God was no longer something to fear.

“…Don’t make me laugh!”

The man let out a furious shout.

He raised his greatsword high, and as the air currents rose, the atmosphere began to collapse.

“You damn Transcendents! You are unfair! You lavish endless gifts upon those you favor, while giving not even an ant’s worth of attention to the rest! Instead, you toy with their lives like playthings! You are not gods! You are nothing but arrogant brutes with power!”

He gritted his teeth.

“I will never accept your existence! Beings like you should not exist in this world!”

His declaration echoed as if spoken by one with true conviction to defy the world itself.

Taesan, however, moved with a bored expression.

“So what?”

“W-what?”

“Gods are unfair. I know that. But it’s not like unfairness is exclusive to them.”

Taesan was an Easy Mode player.

No matter how strong he became, his limits were clear. He was forced to endure a world where only loopholes in skills could make him stronger—a hopeless and unreasonable fate.

But he had never given up.

Unfairness was the nature of this world itself.

The man’s words held no weight to him.

“And you have no right to complain about unfairness. You said it yourself—you’ve killed countless immortals and conquered countless worlds using the power granted by the High God. You’re part of the same unfairness.”

“To resist beings of such scale, sacrifices are inevitable. They were necessary losses.”

“In the end, you just acted on your own desires. So how are you any different from a Transcendent?”

The man’s face flushed red, but he had no response.

“Besides, Transcendents are beings who ascended from mortality on their own. They weren’t born with some grand duty to protect the mortal realm. You can’t expect absolute virtue from them.”

“Shut up!”

The man swung his sword. It was an attack driven purely by emotion, devoid of reason. He spat out his words as if chewing them.

“So what are you saying?”

“You’re acting according to your own desires—just like the Transcendents.”

In the end, his true motive was simple.

He wanted revenge against the Transcendents who had ignored him and treated him like a mere plaything.

“That’s all this is, so don’t dress it up as something grand.”

“Die!”

The man roared as his greatsword moved wildly, filled with pure murderous intent. The overwhelming physical force distorted space itself.

Taesan did not back down. Blessed by numerous deities, he now wielded transcendent power.

But he wasn’t overwhelmingly stronger—just able to hold his ground.

Because of the greatsword’s sheer size, he had lost the initiative. A frontal battle was difficult.

His only option was the approach he had considered at the start. Making his decision, Taesan gathered his mana.

[You have activated Great Collapse (Negation).]

The magic of negation—a spell that could only be cast with supreme control over mana and partial world alteration.

But with Zelbando’s blessing, that condition had been fulfilled. The black-mixed magic manifested into reality.

The greatsword and Great Collapse clashed.

With a deafening roar, space itself crumbled. Both forces clashed evenly, neither easily overcoming the other.

And it was Taesan who cracked the balance.

[You have activated Magic Explosion.]

Great Collapse exploded, engulfing the surroundings.

The man swiftly covered his body with his greatsword. A black sphere swallowed everything around them, cutting off his vision.

‘The goal is to obscure my vision… but!’

How laughable. He was an Immortal—one of the strongest among them. Vision was not a crucial ability.

[You have activated Baal’s Overlapping Darkness.]

However, Taesan’s body merged with the darkness.

The man’s pupils trembled.

Taesan was nowhere to be sensed.

‘…Even so!’

The man aggressively raised his greatsword. He spun it like a windmill, sweeping everything around him.

If he could not perceive his opponent, he would simply destroy everything in his surroundings. It was not a bad decision.

But Taesan had a skill to counter it.

The greatsword did not touch Taesan. Neither did the shockwaves. The overwhelming force that shook the surroundings narrowly missed him.

Taesan arrived at the man’s back without resistance.

The man, realizing too late, hastily moved his sword hilt.

The positioning was the same as before, but the situation was entirely different. Close combat was no longer in the man’s favor.

[You have activated Blade of Fighting Spirit.]

Kaaaang!

“Grrrgh!”

The effect of Blade of Fighting Spirit—it tripled the impact of his sword strike.

The man’s body staggered. Taesan pressed in even further.

[You have activated Storm Rush.]

He swung both swords fiercely. A storm-like barrage of slashes instantly carved deep wounds across the man’s body.

“This level of attack…!”

The man tried to regain his stance and counter, but Forced Descent had significantly increased the weight of his greatsword. Regaining balance quickly was impossible, and Taesan gave him no opportunity to do so.

He stomped his foot and rammed his shoulder, making the man stumble.

At point-blank range, he activated Great Collapse.

Kuuuuuung!

Hit directly by Great Collapse, the man was slammed deep into the earth.

Taesan stomped on the hand gripping the greatsword. The man coughed up blood.

“Haha… Hahahaha! Alright! I admit it! Blessed as you are, you are stronger than me!”

Yet, there was no trace of defeat on the man’s face.

“But I am the Incarnation of the Hollow Horror! Your agent calls to you from this place! Bestow upon me the authority to erase all that exists!”

A colossal force began to descend upon him. Divine power filled the man’s expression with an overwhelming sense of omnipotence.

“No.”

[You have activated Selective Exclusion.]

The force attempting to descend upon the man vanished in an instant, as if it had never been chosen.

“I have countermeasures for trump cards too.”

The man was an incarnation of the High God.

It was expected that he would try to borrow the power of the High God by any means.

Taesan had decided to block the very activation of his trump card.

He stabbed his sword into the man’s chest.

[You have activated Collapse.]

“Gah!”

The effect of Collapse—it shattered whatever it touched.

The man’s body trembled.

[You have activated Descent of All Things.]

And everything descended.

In an instant, the man’s essence was dragged to the lowest level.

[You have activated Forced Duel.]

And then, Forced Duel.

If both combatants wielded swords, nothing but the swords could be used. Magic was sealed.

“H-Hollow Horror… I…”

[You have activated Sanctuary Creation.]

Kiiiiing!

A golden light engulfed the world. The blessings of the Transcendents had elevated divinity to an even higher level.

Even in a world turned into the High God’s domain, Taesan had created a sanctuary.

The authority trying to descend upon the man was blocked by divine power.

An environment where the High God could no longer intervene had been created.

“A… Ah…”

The man’s face turned pale.

Taesan imbued his sword with divinity and swung.

Light consumed the incarnation of the High God.

---

Taesan withdrew his power.

“It worked.”

He had conducted an experiment.

The High God frequently interfered in battles.

Taesan found it extremely irritating.

What if he could block that interference itself?

While he could do nothing about power that had already descended, he could interfere with the descent process.

Taesan made a quick decision and acted.

By weakening the opponent with Fall of All Things and Collapse, then activating Forced Duel to block external power, and finally using divinity to create a Sanctuary that expelled the High God.

Once an opponent was sufficiently weakened, he could use divinity to block divine intervention—and it had worked.

Taesan looked down at the man beneath his feet.

“You’re still alive.”

Even with all four limbs severed, the man was still breathing.

But he was no longer a threat. Nothing emanated from him anymore. The mere presence of Taesan’s divinity alone had blocked the High God’s interference.

“…So I can completely block the descent of power. Good to know. Next time, I should stop it from the very beginning.”

The man muttered with a calm expression.

There was no sign of resentment over his loss or fear of death.

“Finish it. This time, you’ve won. But next time, I will kill you.”

“You speak as if there will be a next time.”

“You can’t kill me.”

The man spoke with absolute certainty.

“I am the Incarnation of the Hollow Horror. My essence is merged with my master. Even a Transcendent can only banish me at most.”

Indeed, the man’s interior was utterly hollow.

His essence was not here.

“In any case, time is infinite. Our goal isn’t to kill you—it’s to bring you to our side.”

The man smirked.

“We will never give up on you. If you defeat one of us, two more will come. If you defeat two, three will follow. We will relentlessly pursue you, uncover all your means, and find a way to break them. How long do you think you can last?”

The man taunted Taesan.

“Do your best. We’ll meet again. But next time won’t go like this.”

“There won’t be a next time.”

Taesan raised his sword. The man stood his ground without resistance.

A flicker.

Divinity spread across Taesan’s sword.

The man sneered at him.

“You may be able to block a descent with such crude divinity, but you cannot sever my essence.”

“The High Gods call me the ‘Key.’ I think this is why. I’d like you to confirm it for me.”

Divinity merged with darkness.

A grayish hue.

The Boundary was infused into the sword.

The man’s face froze.

“…Oh?”

“Correct.”

Taesan was certain from the man’s reaction.

“W-what is this?”

The man panicked. He did not know much about Taesan.

He had merely guarded Levynenoff’s realm because his master had ordered him to.

He had believed that the High Gods targeted Taesan because he was favored by the gods and could wield darkness.

That alone was already unusual enough to make him valuable to them.

But this…

The man was terrified.

For the first time, he felt fear.

That gray aura—it was neither part of the natural laws nor the High Gods.

It could separate his essence from the High God.

The long-forgotten fear of death resurfaced.

“S-spare m—”

“You’ve killed plenty before. You should have been prepared to die as well.”

The gray energy pierced through the man.

He screamed.

The force within him exploded, seeping into Taesan.

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