Ascension Through Skills

His goal was to crush Amelia’s pride.

She was a strong woman.

Amelia’s pride was the only pillar that supported her. One defeat would not shake it.

So he decided to completely break it.

For her sake.

“..You?”

Amelia frowned. Taesan spoke.

“Let’s do it again. Honestly, aren’t you still dissatisfied? You yourself think that you didn’t lose because of your skills.”

Amelia’s eyes wavered.

But she believed it was because Taesan had higher stats due to descending deeper, not because he was better than her.

Strong but a force she could catch up to someday.

That was Amelia’s assessment.

And Taesan intended to shatter that belief.

“So let’s do it. On equal terms, to see who is better.”

“Conditions?”

“With your stats. Only basic skills like Strong Blow and Flow.”

“……You’ll regret it.”

[Amelia accepted the duel.]

Amelia drew her sword, her eyes shining.

The people around them moved back. They watched with interest.

Taesan and Amelia. The fight between the two who were known to be the strongest in the four countries. Even with conditions, it was a fight worth looking forward to.

“Come on.”

Taesan drew his sword, and Amelia charged.

Clang!

Their swords clashed. Gasps arose from the crowd. They moved so fast that they were hard to follow with the eyes.

Amelia’s eyes burned fiercely as their swords clashed.

‘At this level!’

It was possible to overcome.

Aiming for victory, she moved her body. Her sword strikes created sparks.

And Taesan swung his sword indifferently.

Clang!

He deflected her descending sword. He lowered his stance and dug in. When Amelia tried to shake him off, Taesan stepped on her foot.

“Ugh!”

Amelia’s voice trembled with surprise. Taesan grabbed and twisted her wrist.

Amelia tried to hit Taesan’s chin with her elbow, but he leaned back to avoid it.

He tightened his grip on her wrist. Twisting the sword to cut her tendons.

“Grk!”

What followed was a one-sided battle. Having lost the initiative, Amelia slowly succumbed.

[Duel ended.]

[Victory: Kang Taesan.]

Amelia sat down, dazed.

Taesan pointed his sword at her.

[Kang Taesan challenged Amelia Aerin to a duel. The duel was fought on perfectly equal terms.]

“Again.”

Amelia gritted her teeth.

[Amelia accepted the duel.]

The fight began anew.

Amelia gained experience from the recent defeat. She prepared to counter Taesan’s unconventional moves.

Tap.

She charged. When Taesan swung his sword, she lowered her stance and stepped on his foot.

She had talent.

She remembered what had happened to her and adapted it to her own movements.

But the same was true for Taesan.

Instead of retreating when she stepped on his foot, Taesan charged at her. For a moment, Amelia’s face showed surprise, but she quickly reacted.

Clang!

Their swords clashed. Taesan moved his free foot to trip Amelia. Thinking she had restrained his movements, Amelia lost her balance.

“Ugh!”

Her sword strikes became unsteady. She barely managed to regain her stance, but it was too late. Given the equal conditions, losing that much stamina made victory nearly impossible.

In the end, she lost again.

“Stepping on my foot means you also restrict your movements. From there, it’s a battle of strategy. Again.”

[Kang Taesan challenged Amelia Aerin to a duel. The duel will be fought on perfectly equal terms.]

Amelia gripped her sword roughly.

Their swords clashed. This time, Amelia focused on using skills. She used Flow and Acceleration to press Taesan.

But it was the wrong judgment. There was no one who could surpass Taesan in the utilization of skills.

She lost. She had focused too much on skills and failed to notice Taesan’s movements.

“Again.”

Kang Taesan spoke indifferently.

Amelia grabbed her sword again.

Her hand was trembling slightly.

She lost again.

“Why…”

“Because you’re weak. Again.”

The duel began again.

And she lost. This time, even she didn’t understand the loss.

“This, this…”

She was driven mad. It was supposed to be perfectly equal stats. The skills were the same.

And in such a situation, she believed she couldn’t lose.

She judged her talent to be superior to anyone in the world.

But she couldn’t overcome it now.

“Again.”

A cold voice echoed.

She gripped her sword, trembling.

The crowd, once filled with admiration and gasps, began to grow quiet.

She lost again.

And the time she lasted grew shorter.

Thus, she could not accept it all the more.

She prided herself on understanding her opponent better with each fight.

So she thought that as she fought more, she would grasp Taesan’s movements and habits and overcome them.

She believed that if she fought many times, she would win.

Although it was her own movements and habits that were being identified, not Taesan’s.

Her confidence in being able to win began to fade.

“Again.”

“Ah…”

And that indifferent word started to scare her.

“You have talent.”

Taesan said as he swung his sword. Amelia was busy defending.

Amelia had talent. Otherwise, the God of Descent wouldn’t have approached her in the first place.

“But it’s not that outstanding. To put it bluntly, it’s on the same level as Lee Taeyeon and Kang Jun-hyeok.”

Clang!

But she was mistaken. She spoke as if she was better than anyone else in the world.

The God of Descent made her that way.

“Again.”

Taesan said.

Amelia was on the verge of madness.

But even so, she couldn’t let go of her sword.

The only pillar supporting her wouldn’t allow it.

“Again.”

But the repeated defeats began to make her pillar wobble.

More than ten duels.

And Amelia lost every single one of them.

In the last battle, she flailed around and lost without doing anything. It meant her spirit was at its limit.

[Kang Taesan challenged Amelia Aerin to a duel. Kang Taesan uses only one skill.]

[Kang Taesan activated the Three Proofs.]

A tremendous force pressed down around them. The spectators gasped and sat down, bowing their heads to the ground.

What Taesan achieved exerted a physical pressure.

The power spread, affecting more than ten million players.

‘What in the world…’

Lee Taeyeon was astonished. What Taesan was spreading now was the power he had achieved. The power contained within was beyond her imagination.

And Amelia, who was facing it head-on, looked very pale.

Even with just the manifestation of momentum, she lost her will to fight.

[Duel ended.]

[Victory: Kang Taesan.]

With her will broken, the duel ended. Taesan challenged her again.

“Again.”

“…Stop.”

Amelia barely managed to speak.

“Stop… please.”

“Why?”

Taesan asked, as if he didn’t understand.

“You think you can beat me if you keep trying, right? Then why give up? Keep going. You can do it.”

“I lost.”

Amelia said, almost vomiting the words.

“Please stop…”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

[Amelia's skill. The condition for the special activation skill [The One Who Stands Above All] was not met. The skill was lost.]

The skill’s condition and its loss. It was his first time seeing it, but he could guess what happened.

The skill [The One Who Stands Above All] was likely given by the God of Descent. The condition might be that she believed she was better than anyone else and was overconfident in her talent.

The fact that the skill broke meant her confidence had collapsed.

Taesan sheathed his sword.

Taesan’s battle was over.

But people were still in shock.

The Three Proofs used by Taesan. Its effect had spread to everyone.

Overwhelming power.

A being stronger than anything they had ever seen.

The Korean players spoke excitedly.

“We told you on the community! His power is real! He is the modern god we should serve!”

No one could deny their words. Taesan had shown such power.

And the strongest or the leaders from each country were gathered in one place.

“It’s overwhelming.”

Daniel spoke up.

“Really… overwhelming.”

He was too strong.

If all the players in France fought Taesan, they would be one hundred percent certain to lose. That was the extent of the power Taesan showed.

“How in the world did he get that strong…”

“Through hard work, done well.”

Taesan replied as he looked around. Every time his gaze met Amelia’s, she flinched.

Daniel gave a wry smile.

“Well, it’s good for us. If there’s someone this strong, our survival rate will go up significantly.”

“But… I have a question.”

Eika murmured quietly.

“Why did so many players die in Korea?”

The number of players in Korea was only a few tens of thousands, clearly less than other countries.

So they didn’t pay much attention to Taesan’s strength. If there was someone truly that strong, they thought most of them would have survived.

“Ah…”

Kim Hwiyeon also closed his mouth.

“Even if you say that, I don’t know either.”

Kim Hwiyeon was also puzzled. Certainly, by Korean standards, without Taesan, they couldn’t have survived.

But other countries had many survivors despite being generally weaker than Korea.

“I called you here to explain that.”

Taesan spoke.

“I can’t tell you everything, but I’ll give you a rough idea.”

About the gods.

And about the labyrinth.

The situation was very different from his previous life. The High Gods would try to directly interfere with Earth. They needed to know about it.

“And there’s something I need to tell you about skills too.”

Taesan couldn’t handle everything alone. These people needed to get stronger.

‘The timing is good.’

The High Gods were focusing their power on Korea to kill Taesan. Because of that, the threats to other countries were less than in his previous life.

If these people got stronger, many more could survive and join forces.

“Skills…?”

“You’ve obtained various skills, right? How do you think you acquire skills?”

There was a brief silence at Taesan’s question. Lee Taeyeon spoke up.

“When we brought about a certain effect, we gained skills corresponding to it. You mentioned it before, Taesan.”

“That’s right. Most of you would have obtained skills like Flow Skill, Add, Breathless Attack, and Continuous Attack.”

What Taesan was about to tell them went beyond that.

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