Ascension Through Skills

Taesan frowned.

“Explain in detail.”

Taesan urged the ghost to answer. If it was an ordinary change, Taesan would figure it out himself, but if the ghost’s words were true, it was a different story.

The deep layers.

Commonly referred to as the deep layers of the labyrinth.

Taesan had entered the 63rd floor. He couldn’t move easily without information.

[Hmm... Hold on.]

The ghost hesitated. After organizing his thoughts, he slowly began to explain.

[If my memory serves me right, the 71st floor was the Flesh of Life.]

“What do you mean by it being the foundation of the previous 11th floor?”

[Can I really explain this?]

The ghost spoke uncertainly.

[Unlike the upper levels of the labyrinth, the deep layers have periodically changing clear quests. Although it's only one or two floors changing every few hundred years... it's not fixed.]

“Why is that?”

[I don’t know that much. If I were to guess, it probably holds some significance even to the gods. It changes whenever something is accomplished on a floor.]

“So, this isn’t the current deep layers?”

[At least when I cleared the deep layers, it wasn't like this.]

One question was resolved. Taesan asked again.

“The Flesh of Life? Is it not a labyrinth?”

[It is. Starting from the deep layers, each floor is strangely twisted. It’s recognized as a floor, but the interior is completely different. Sometimes it’s an entirely different world, sometimes it’s just a single room. Think of it as a completely different place.]

Taesan recalled Lee Taeyeon’s words.

She had said something similar. The labyrinth changed from the deep layers. From then on, it was real hell.

“So whose flesh is it?”

[The ancient king who was said to have fought against the gods. It’s the remnants of the Giant King.]

“A labyrinth floor, huh? That’s quite a scale.”

Taesan looked around. All he could see were masses of red slime.

“So, is this a blood vessel?”

[Probably, yes?]

It was Taesan’s first time entering the interior of a living being.

He walked through the undulating slime. The ground moved as if it were alive, making it hard to walk.

“This is uncomfortable.”

It seemed it would interfere with combat.

As he moved forward, he came to a fork in the path.

Taesan looked at the system window that had been visible for a while.

[Quest Conditions]

[In the depths of the heart of the deceased Giant King. Defeat the centipede that has infested the apex.]

The apex.

That seemed to be the objective.

The problem was not knowing where he was.

[I only know from information. I don’t know the details. From what I’ve heard...]

Before the ghost could finish his sentence, his figure distorted.

Like static on a TV, the ghost flickered.

“Hey?”

[Uh, hmm.]

After a while, the ghost returned to normal. He murmured awkwardly.

[They told me not to speak?]

“Who?”

[The god of trials.]

Taesan frowned.

[I'm allowed to convey information, but I was told not to mention anything that directly affects the clear. I won’t be much help.]

“Tsk.”

It was a natural stance from the god’s perspective. They wouldn’t allow an external interference to make clearing the trial easy, consuming their intervention domain.

Taesan clicked his tongue and surveyed his surroundings.

First, he needed to understand where he was.

[You have activated Essence Understanding.]

[The corpse of the deceased Giant King.]

[A place where parasites live.]

Parasites. It seemed to refer to the parasites mentioned in the quest conditions.

[You have activated Reconnaissance.]

[The Giant King's Blood Vessels]

He used it both front and back. He could roughly guess where he was.

[Blood vessel leading to the right ventricle.]

[Blood vessel leading to the left atrium.]

He was already in the heart.

Considering that the size of the blood vessel alone was as big as an ordinary labyrinth, if he had started from the legs, it would have taken days to clear. It didn’t seem like they intended to take up that much time.

Taesan slowly advanced through the labyrinth.

Even near the heart, it wouldn’t be easy. This was the deep layer. If it were simply a matter of advancing, it wouldn’t have been given as a trial. There was definitely something, and Taesan’s guess was correct.

Kagak.

A rough sound was heard. The sound grew closer and finally reached Taesan.

“An ant?”

It was a red ant the size of a person. It clacked its giant jaws while looking at Taesan.

[A worker ant that eats internal organs has appeared.]

It was the first monster of the deep layer. Taesan took his stance, and the ant moved its legs.

Tat. Tat. Tat.

It bounced off the slime, lunging at Taesan.

Even with the unfamiliar movement, Taesan wasn’t flustered. He read its trajectory and swung his sword.

Kwachik.

“Keeek!”

The ant screamed. Taesan frowned.

[You dealt 1104 damage to the worker ant eating internal organs.]

‘It’s tough.’

Given his current attack power, he should deal over 4000 damage, but he only inflicted a fraction of that.

The ant’s body showed no damage, indicating extremely high defense. It felt like hitting a turtle shell with a sword.

“Keeek!”

The ant bounced its legs again, thrusting its jaws.

Kwaduk.

Taesan blocked the jaws with his sword. The ant grabbed and pulled the sword with its jaws.

The ant’s pulling force was quite strong. If Taesan were a typical adventurer on the 63rd floor, he would have been dragged away.

[You have activated Flow Skill.]

“Kieek!”

In an instant, the sword twisted and slipped out of the jaws.

Taesan quickly stabbed the ant’s neck.

“Kieek! Kieek!”

The ant struggled. Its wildly flailing legs hit Taesan.

[Your First Attack Nullification has been activated.]

Taesan pushed the sword in deeper. This time, he activated Strong Blow, Absolute Judgement, and Addition.

However, the ant still flailed its legs and clashed its jaws. In the end, Taesan had to swing his sword several more times.

“Kieek…”

[You have defeated the worker ant eating internal organs.]

[The rewards will be settled after clearing the trial.]

“The health is almost 20,000.”

The ghost spoke as if it was obvious.

[It's the deep layers. This is considered quite low. In the past, there were hundreds like this.]

As soon as the ghost finished speaking, there was a clattering of jaws.

Dozens of red ants appeared at once.

Taesan clicked his tongue and stomped his foot.

Dozens of ants rushed towards him. The ants clacked their jaws aggressively as they bounced towards him.

It took quite some time to deal with just one, so the number seemed quite challenging, but it was no problem for Taesan.

Because he had a skill that rendered numbers meaningless.

[You have activated Forced Duel.]

He cast Forced Duel on the ant at the back. All the ants that were rushing at him were suddenly flung away.

Kwachik.

Taesan quickly dashed forward and stabbed his sword into the ant’s chest.

The ant clattered its jaws and screamed.

Taesan dodged the jaws by tilting his head back and thrust the sword in deeper.

The ant resisted a few more times before it died.

Taesan quickly cast Forced Duel on another ant and moved.

The ghost, watching, muttered.

[Now that I think about it, you have that, don't you? Numbers don’t matter to you at all.]

Forced Duel, which designates a target and makes it so no one else can interfere. This eliminated the numerical advantage, providing a huge advantage in the labyrinth.

Therefore, the ants were not a problem.

Taesan was thinking about something else.

The ground was covered in slime, and the slime had very strong elasticity. It felt like fighting on a trampoline. Proper combat was difficult.

‘But.’

It was manageable.

At this level, he could overcome it.

The power Taesan had gained so far from descending the labyrinth was effective even in the deep layers.

Tat.

Taesan stomped his foot.

‘Can this work?’

The ground here was very unstable.

It’s similar to how it’s difficult to maintain balance with just a small force on a trampoline.

But there was a skill that could only be obtained in such situations. Taesan moved his feet while blocking the ant’s attack.

“Kieek!”

He pulled his foot back to avoid the jaws. The moment his foot touched the slime, the strong rebound force was felt through his leg.

For a moment, his body balance was shaken.

But Taesan quickly moved his other foot.

His foot brushed the ground, stabilizing his body balance.

Taesan gripped his sword tightly. As his arms exerted strength, his legs also exerted strength to maintain balance. At the same time, the slime’s rebound force tried to shake his balance.

Taesan adjusted the balance of strength. The force in his arms and legs, and the transmitted rebound force, he understood it. Then, he distributed the strength and swung his sword.

Kwachik.

“Kieek!”

The ant flew backward. And Taesan’s body maintained a stable balance.

Tat.

Taesan stomped his foot again. This time, using the rebound force, he quickly dashed towards the ant.

Swinging his sword, he corrected his unstable balance. He had to do both tasks simultaneously, and both were difficult. It was like dancing on a trampoline as if he were on solid ground.

But it wasn’t too difficult for Taesan.

He had already attempted it thousands, tens of thousands of times. Though the situations and conditions were different, it wasn’t hard to adjust.

As the battle continued, Taesan’s movements became more refined.

By the time he had dealt with about ten ants, he was moving as if he were fighting on solid ground.

Kwachik.

Finally, after defeating the ant, a system window appeared.

[You have perfectly maintained balance in a difficult situation and finished the battle. You have acquired the special passive skill [Balancing].]

Tat.

Taesan cast Forced Duel and leaped again. Unlike before, the footing was now very stable. The strong rebound force was still felt through his feet. However, the balance of strength automatically adjusted, allowing him to continue fighting without any problems.

“Nice.”

Taesan smiled. He raised his hand.

[You have activated Frozen World.]

Crack-crack-crack!

A severe cold swept through. The rushing ants all froze at once.

As the ants tried to resist and struggle, Taesan activated Frozen World once more.

Crack-crack.

All the ants froze.

There were dozens of enemies that required two uses of intermediate magic to be completely neutralized.

[This is still just the beginning. Go a bit further, and you'll easily surpass a hundred.]

“Troublesome.”

[That's why they are monsters of the deep layers. By the way, you finally got Balancing. There hadn’t been a situation to get it before.]

“You got it too, huh?”

[It's necessary. And as you pass through the deep layers, you’ll be forced to acquire it.]

Skills were acquired by fulfilling conditions. Naturally, if the conditions for obtaining a skill were not met, you could not acquire it in the first place.

That’s why Taesan had not acquired many skills he had obtained in his previous life, including Temporary Time Stop.

Balancing was one of them.

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