Ascension Through Skills

“Your power is alien. The being inside is stealing their power. That is impossible.”

Minerva had said something similar—stealing the power of the High Gods. Not just the power of a mere monster, but the power of the High Gods themselves. Even the gods had called it alien.

Elain continued speaking.

“Gods are close to omniscient, but they don’t know everything. They probably didn’t anticipate that your abilities could reach this level.”

Elain was smiling.

It was a smile that seemed genuinely happy about the current situation, rising from deep within his heart.

“I don’t know everything either. Even though the great being imparted all knowledge to me, my mind wasn’t perfect enough to fully accept it. After all, I am just a mortal.”

Elain looked regretful, as if it was truly a pity.

“But even such a humble me knows one thing.”

Elain spread his hand with a twisted smile. Darkness distorted, and a staff appeared in his hand.

“The great being desires something from you. And that is to set him free.”

Freedom.

To Taesan, it didn’t have a pleasant ring.

“I am his saint.”

Elain raised his staff.

The aura of darkness spread throughout the desolate land and began to gather into the staff.

“Everything I do is for him. I exist to achieve what he desires.”

Uuuung.

The aura of darkness spread out. Outside, Minerva, who was waiting with the demons, shuddered.

An ominous energy radiated. She had seen such an aura in Arulia.

“Master, hang in there.”

She murmured softly.

Taesan drew his sword. In response to Elain, he also began to gather his power.

[You have activated Apostle Transformation [Myriad Souls].] [You have activated Vessel of the King.] [You have activated Small Ember.] [You have activated Deer Walking on the Wind Path.]

The power of the apostle descended upon Taesan. The vessel of the Spirit King synchronized with the ring and conveyed power to Taesan.

Control over flames formed, and wind enveloped Taesan’s body.

And even more.

[The opponent is a difficult enemy to defeat.] [Battle Craving has been activated.] [Honorable Duel has been activated.] [Proof of Limits has been activated.] [Despising the Strong has been activated.] [Antithesis of the Giant Will has been activated.]

Various buffs settled into Taesan’s body. Stronger than before, he gripped his sword tightly.

Elain smiled.

“Come forth, the one brought here by the Demon God, Lucifer. I will show you who the true master of this land is.”

Tak.

Taesan stepped forward.

Elain felt as if his body had disappeared in an instant.

So fast that it was almost impossible to perceive. Elain swung his staff.

Wharack. Darkness poured out in all directions. Taesan’s sword, which had moved behind Elain, was blocked by the darkness.

“As expected, you’re fast. I wouldn’t stand a chance if we fought physically.”

Elain admired the attack. The speed was incomparable, even if the power of all the fingers present here were combined.

“But my power does not come from physical strength.”

The staff struck the ground. Power gathered at the head of the staff and soon brought forth a phenomenon.

Chwachwachwachak!

Dark rain began to fall.

The rain, which corroded the body upon contact and stained it with its color, fell heavily. Taesan gathered his power. Flames combined with the wind, shaking everything around. The dark rain scattered in all directions.

In the meantime, power was gathering again on Elain’s staff.

Gulloong.

Power materialized, and a wave of darkness surged.

A deep, dense energy that had spread throughout the entire land gathered with the power of the staff and tried to crush Taesan. Taesan spread the wings of the fairy and soared into the sky.

“Hmm.”

Taesan looked at the power Elain wielded.

‘Similar.’

To the noble idiot who fought him in Arulia. The one who directly contracted with the High God. The feeling of the power was similar.

But it was much stronger. Both in degree and in quality and power, it was incomparable.

The staff gathered power again.

Pale-colored spikes shot up from the ground, trying to pierce Taesan.

Taesan swung his sword to brush them off, but the spikes, as if they had their own will, avoided Taesan’s sword and rushed at him.

Kwaaak.

Taesan kicked hard, sending the spikes flying.

“When the great one ruled the demon realm, his magic existed here.”

Elain bared his teeth.

“I will show you the greatness of the once pervasive, now forgotten magic of the great one.”

The staff vibrated.

Kuung!

The ground collapsed, and pillars rose like dominoes, trying to pierce Taesan. Taesan kicked off the ground to dodge, but the pillars continued to rise, aiming at him.

Clicking his tongue, Taesan flew high into the sky where the pillars couldn’t reach.

Kuuuung!

Then, the pillars suddenly rose high enough to pierce the flying Taesan.

Taesan struck down with his sword.

The pillars crumbled and shattered.

As if its job was done, no more pillars rose.

The basic framework seemed similar to black magic. But it was more sinister and alien.

Elain smiled faintly.

“Thank you. Thanks to your surprise, I bought some time. Now I can eliminate the most troublesome thing.”

Power gathered on the staff.

Then the air changed.

The air turned sticky like mucus and began to press down on Taesan’s entire body. Elain murmured.

“The power to erase the attack itself. That was very annoying.”

Elain knew about attack nullification. Having fought the High Gods several times, he was bound to respond sooner or later.

As the air tried to cling to Taesan, the intangible energy surrounding Taesan moved. It shattered the air trying to stick to him, not allowing any approach.

“……I haven’t heard of such a power.”

“I am not stupid enough to leave such an obvious weakness.”

This was the absolute blessing he had obtained for this purpose.

“This is becoming difficult.”

Elain calmly struck his staff down. Power rippled and began to envelop his body.

‘The God-Seeking Flute… is it a gamble?’

A flute that prohibited the use of all magic for 10 minutes. Taesan was also included in the target.

Elain claimed it was the magic of the old demon god, but it was unclear if it would be subject to the flute’s effects. If used incorrectly, it could result in Taesan penalizing himself, so he did not take out the flute.

Based on the battles so far, Taesan roughly understood the power Elain wielded.

‘There is a delay.’

Elain was borrowing the power of the high gods to manifest his multifaceted power. And the stronger the power, the longer the process of its manifestation.

Taesan frowned as if something didn’t sit right with him.

He spread his arms.

[You have activated Starlight Arrow.] [You have activated Magic Acceleration.]

Light arrows manifested in Taesan’s hand. They flew straight towards Elain.

Elain gathered his power with a determined look.

Kuuuung!

Light and darkness collided and flashed. As Elain’s body was sent flying, Taesan fired another Starlight Arrow.

Kuuuuung!

The light burned the darkness.

Taesan spread his hand once more.

[You have activated Starlight Arrow.] [You have activated Magic Acceleration.]

Kuuung!

“Argh!”

“If it were the past me, it would have been rather troublesome.”

Back then, he couldn’t properly utilize the effects of the absolute blessing. The attack nullification might have been wasted meaninglessly due to the changing air. And he wouldn’t have been able to properly evade the various attacking methods.

Even if he somehow managed to win, it would be after revealing all the cards he had.

But now was different.

The current Taesan possessed a very high amount of mana. His intelligence was also high, greatly reducing the mana consumption of spells.

Thus, mid-level magic like Starlight Arrow could be fired without much burden.

Elain gathered power with his staff and then went through the process of manifesting magic.

In contrast, Starlight Arrow manifested immediately upon use.

Taesan had a relative advantage in speed.

Chojocheok!

Elain’s hands grew frenzied from the barrage of consecutive arrows. Finally, he couldn’t gather enough power to block the Starlight Arrow.

Taesan didn’t miss the gap.

[You have activated Starlight Arrow.] [You have activated Invisibility.] [You have activated Acceleration.]

The Starlight Arrow exploded, blinding Elain’s vision. Then Taesan activated Invisibility to hide his presence and accelerated to rush in.

He struck Elain’s side, who was preoccupied with blocking the Starlight Arrow.

Choeoeoeng!

“Ugh!”

Instead of feeling the sensation of the blade piercing flesh, a clashing sound echoed.

A crack appeared on Elain’s side. From there, dark energy slowly leaked out.

It seemed to be a defense of darkness wrapped around his body.

Taesan lunged at Elain. Elain swung his staff. Dark blades erupted in all directions.

Taesan moved his hands.

[You have activated Continuous Attack.]

Illusionary sword strikes painted in all directions. They shattered and crushed the erupting dark power.

Just as Elain was about to unleash the power of his staff, Taesan grabbed the hand holding the staff.

Crack.

He twisted the arm and struck the temple with his knee. Elain’s eyes wavered momentarily.

Then Taesan drove his sword in.

[You have activated the Blade of Willpower.]

Kwajik.

The sword pierced through the dark defense and embedded deep into the chest. With a roar, Elain’s body was slammed into the ground.

“Cough.”

Elain spat blood.

His entire body was collapsing.

“You are strong.”

“Stop babbling and call him.”

Taesan twisted the sword embedded in his chest. His face showed neither the joy of victory nor the satisfaction of overcoming.

Elain faintly smiled.

“Did you notice?”

“I am not such an idiot that I wouldn’t notice that.”

Elain was not using the power of the High God spread across the earth or borrowing it from someone else. He was manifesting the old demon god’s magic using his own power.

And it was similar to magic. Since he was drawing upon the power within his body, there was no need for long casting times.

It meant there was no reason for him to be slower than Taesan’s Starlight Arrows.

But Elain’s casting time was exceptionally long.

This meant that while fighting Taesan, Elain was preparing something with double casting.

A skill that allowed the casting of two spells simultaneously, at the cost of slower casting. He had seen it before when fighting S-rank monsters in his past life.

“I apologize, great being. This humble body has failed to fulfill your will.”

Elain’s words contained an apology.

Darkness began to gather around his body.

“So please forgive me! To bring you, the great being, down to this filthy land!”

Kuuung!

Darkness burst forth.

Taesan kicked off the ground to create some distance.

Outside, the demons were preparing for battle as they watched the approaching enemies. Anetsha and Quaned drew their weapons with tense faces.

“…What?”

Minerva’s face hardened.

A massive wave of power was spreading from the direction of the thorns, covering the entire desolate land.

“Ah… Is that it? This is dangerous.”

Minerva scratched her cheek as the power of the High God that had been spread throughout the desolate land was being withdrawn.

[Hmm. Is this it?]

“Ah?”

“Oh, Demon God!”

[Hello, my children.]

The demon god greeted them with a smile. Anetsha and Quaned bowed respectfully.

The demon god turned her gaze.

The demons rushing forward collapsed one by one. They were bound by the power of the earth. As the power of the earth was withdrawn, their souls and bodies naturally separated.

The desolate land was vast beyond measure.

The domain that had spread across the entire area was now being withdrawn and gathered into the thorns.

[Do you want to hold on to it even at the cost of giving up everything?]

The old demon god could not interfere in the demon realm. He had been exiled.

But the desolate land was still within the old demon god’s domain. Therefore, even the demon god could not interfere here.

The only interference the old demon god could perform was to deliver revelations through the thorns. That was it.

But there was one way he could interfere beyond that.

He had to give up everything.

If he did, even though it was a tiny space, the old demon god’s domain would be formed for a short time.

It must be to capture Taesan.

[But it won’t be easy.]

She chuckled.

Kuuung!

A tremendous power was being concentrated into the thorns. Taesan strengthened the barrier surrounding his body even more. If he didn’t, his body would be crushed by the sheer force.

Before he knew it, a massive black barrier had formed around the thorns.

“I can’t get out.”

He knocked on the barrier, but it was incredibly solid. Unless he used the power of the Grey, it was impossible to open.

This was no longer the demon realm.

It was a different dimension.

The thorns distorted space and opened a passage.

From there, a massive entity appeared.

It had a human shape but no head. Its entire body was matte black and it had eight arms.

‘It’s smaller than the High God I saw in Arulia.’

But Taesan could feel it. It was an existence of the same rank. An entity that could take life just by existing.

“Greetings, old demon god.”