Ascension Through Skills

[Start of Special Quest］ [The first wave begins.］ [Countdown begins: 12 hours.］ [Defense area: In all four directions from the City Hall.］ [Defeat all enemies and protect the City Hall.］ [According to your achievements, rewards will be given differentially when returning to the maze.]

The quest engulfed them. They had no choice but to stop their noisy debate about Taesan’s punishment.

For Hwiyun, it was a great relief. It meant they didn’t have to argue noisily anymore.

However, she soon realized it wasn’t as happy an event as she thought.

People terrified by fear came to her.

“How should we deal with the monsters coming?”

“I, I am on Easy Mode, so I’ll wait inside.”

“Me too!”

Those who feared the battle tried to flee. Those who tried to take control amidst this chaos. Those who refused to fight and wanted to wait inside until everything was over.

Countless people loudly voiced their desires. Hwiyun clenched her teeth and spoke to each of them.

“Everyone, please be quiet!”

A moment of silence followed her loud voice.

She rubbed her forehead. The congressman and the representative of the civil organization, who spoke as if they knew everything, had long since hidden themselves as if not wanting to take responsibility.

‘In the end, am I the one who has to take control?’

With a hollow laugh, she gave orders methodically.

From a park far away, Taesan watched the scene.

‘They’ll handle it on their own.’

He could not help. If he intervened, it would only increase the fear and confusion about him.

She had successfully taken command before and would do the same this time.

He turned his head.

“Are you here?”

“Yes.”

A young boy calmly answered. Next to the boy, a mature-looking woman showed restraint.

Lee Taeyeon. And Kang Junhyeok.

Taesan quietly observed their faces. He hadn’t been able to take a good look earlier as he was dealing with Choi Junghyeok.

Kang Junhyeok was still young. He just turned seventeen, a face that matched his age perfectly. His overall impression was that of gentleness.

And Lee Taeyeon.

Taesan looked at her silently.

There was an air of youthfulness about her.

It wasn’t about wrinkles on the face. Their time was stopped, so her biological age would be the same as it was at the end.

It was more about the atmosphere.

The haggard look and tired decadence of before were gone; she was simply youthful.

“Oh……”

Lee Taeyeon scratched her head at the gaze directed at her. Kang Junhyeok gave an awkward smile.

“Hello, hyung.”

“Hello.”

“This is the first time seeing you in person. Thanks for everything.”

“Are you thanking a murderer?”

“You had to do that to save us.”

Kang Junhyeok shrugged his shoulders.

“At this point, after living in that place, I’m not sensitive to people dying.”

“It doesn’t seem that way when I look at the person behind you.”

Lee Taeyeon showed signs of being scared of Taesan. Kang Junhyeok gave a bitter smile.

“It varies from person to person.”

He had made a rough guess from the Community chats, but Kang Junhyeok was mentally strong as expected. As for Lee Taeyeon, it was not surprising. She was closer to being a coward.

“Are the hostages safe?”

“Yes, thanks to you, they were all terrified and ran away.”

With admiring eyes, Kang Junhyeok looked at Taesan.

He was indeed monstrously strong. Junhyeok had expected Taesan to be somewhat strong from the stories he had heard. Still, he never imagined it would be to this extent.

Taesan shrugged his shoulders.

“So, what about it?”

“Huh?”

“You two would have had some discussions, wouldn’t you?”

Kang Junhyeok smirked.

“You knew.”

“What you two would discuss is obvious.”

Kang Junhyeok and Lee Taeyeon. They had met and talked about various things, most of which were about Taesan.

What he looked like, what kind of person he was. That sort of thing.

“How do you feel?”

“…You look younger than I thought.”

A person who had been through all sorts of hardships, who had seen everything. They thought he would be over 30, but he looked to be in his mid-twenties at most.

“Is your age…”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“I guess we’re the same age.”

“Huh…”

Lee Taeyeon’s voice seemed filled with wonder. Despite being the same age, there was such a big difference between them. It was natural to become curious about Taesan’s past.

“Can I ask what you did on Earth?”

“Just working. What else would I do?”

“By ‘work’, do you mean tracking people and stuff like that?”

Taesan gave a chuckle.

“Just ordinary work.”

As Taesan seemed very ordinary, perhaps that was why the tension was eased, and Junggeun sighed in relief.

“Phew. Honestly, I thought you could be a strange person; I’m relieved.”

It was common for a unique individual to be considered strange in fiction and reality, so they had to worry. There was also a fear that he might kill them if they got in his way.

With a weight off his mind, he thanked him once more.

“Thank you again.”

“Me, me too.”

“No need for thanks.”

Taesan looked back at Lee Taeyeon again. She flinched and trembled.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Taesan didn’t respond.

An item that turned back time. The Throne of Ouroboros.

Did she not use it, or could she not use it?

The current her would not be able to answer that question. Time in the labyrinth was enough to completely change a person, and she herself might not know how she changed.

Still, seeing her again wasn’t so bad.

Taesan spoke.

“I’m glad to meet you.”

Their encounter was over. Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok realized that Taesan was more normal than they had thought, which brightened their expressions. They started making small talk.

“So, how was it meeting people from the other modes?”

“There wasn’t anything special. As expected, it seems that our mode is the hardest.”

Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok had conversations with the players they met while moving toward city hall. As they explained the difficulty, they received responses akin to incredulity.

“A Big Rat. They say it’s a 5th-floor boss in Easy Mode? Why is it jumping out on the 1st floor for us?”

When Kang Junhyeok learned of this, he was truly dumbfounded.

The basic monsters in this mode were bosses on the 5th floor in the other. He knew there would be differences, but he never imagined they would be this drastic.

“Sucks, doesn’t it? But what can you do when you choose Solo Mode?”

Junhyeok trembled. Taesan chuckled and said.

“But don’t regret it. It’s thanks to that we’re able to survive like this.”

“That’s right, well… huh.”

Even compared to Easy or Normal Mode, they defeated monsters the other players couldn’t dare to fight against without a problem. Their efforts were proven not to be in vain, and the evidence was right before their eyes.

Kang Junhyeok looked blankly up at Taesan.

He was incredibly strong. The difference was unbelievable, considering they must have entered the labyrinth around the same time.

He could rush up to the top of a building in a single breath, and attack dozens at an unseen speed.

Moreover, Taesan hadn’t used any of the skills he mentioned. He had accomplished everything solely with the power of his stats.

Kang Junhyeok thought himself to be strong. In Solo Mode, the only one who could compare with him was Lee Taeyeon, and since they had come outside, everyone else seemed to be weak, reinforcing this belief.

But Taesan demonstrated his power as if scoffing at Junhyeok’s thoughts.

‘Can I catch up to him?’

He couldn’t get a grasp on Taesan’s power.

Lee Taeyeon was feeling a similar emotion. The fact that they were the same age made it even worse. She even felt a sense of self-loathing, questioning what she had been doing while he became so strong.

“You just need to survive.”

As if guessing their thoughts, Taesan stood up and said.

“As long as you survive, you can become strong. Solo Mode is such a place.”

He stood in front of Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok.

“How far have you reached?”

“I just cleared the 2nd floor.”

“Me too.”

Recalling her memory, Lee Taeyeon shivered.

“If I hadn’t heard from Taesan in advance, I would have died.”

The 2nd-floor boss was a goblin that used magic.

It was a monster that suddenly attacked the mind, rendering any countermeasure impossible.

They were fortunate to have heard from Taesan in advance and prepared a mental potion. Otherwise, they would have become corpses decaying in the labyrinth.

As he was recollecting his memories, Kang Junhyeok suddenly asked a question.

“Ah, there’s an orange door on the 2nd floor; what is that? I wanted to go in but remembered what you said and desperately held back.”

“It leads here.”

Taesan pointed to the ghost next to him. Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok fell silent.

“So, it wasn’t an illusion…”

A typical ghost wearing a white cloth over its head greeted them.

[Hello, idiots.]

“It even speaks.”

The dumbfounded Junhyeok asked.

“Is it some kind of quest?”

“Correct. There are two monsters waiting inside that use skills.”

[Don't be arrogant since you can't even touch me. I don't intend to give you guys any quests.]

At that cold response, Junhyeok timidly answered.

“But we wouldn’t know unless we tried.”

“That’s the problem.”

Taesan reached out his hand into thin air and grabbed a sword.

“Brother?”

“Draw your sword, Lee Taeyeon. You too.”

“Me?”

The previously quiet Lee Taeyeon was startled. To their surprise, Taesan spoke.

“I’m thinking of giving you some training.”

“Uh… bro, are you serious?”

Junhyeok hesitated with his sword in hand. Across from him stood Taesan.

“Are we really fighting?”

“I told you, it’s training.”

Taesan pointed at Kang Junhyeok with the tip of his sword.

“You’re too daring.”

There was strong confidence in the boy. When an unknown territory came into sight, his first instinct was to try it and not be dominated by fear.

At Taesan’s words, Junhyeok replied timidly.

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It’s not bad. Challenging things is an important element. But recognizing your limits is also crucial. You seem to have none of that control.”

Taesan calmly said.

“Speaking objectively, you’re close to the weakest in Solo.

There were signs of denial in his response. Since this was expected, Taesan continued undisturbed.

“You probably think you’re quite strong. And if you take people as a standard, you’re right. Apart from me, there are only a few who could compare to you. But it’s different inside the labyrinth. Ainzhar. You met that guy, didn’t you?”

“……Yes, I did.”

Ainzhar. The holy knight, in search of a god, had deemed Kang Junhyeok worthless and gave him nothing.

“That’s you in Solo mode.”

At his cold words, Kang Junhyeok’s face twitched. Taesan turned his gaze to Lee Taeyeon. She trembled slightly.

“And you are too fearful. Of course, it’s good. Because of that, you can survive till the end. But it’s better to gain as much as you can. If you leave everything behind, someday you will regret it.”

Kang Junhyeok and Lee Taeyeon. They had completely opposing tendencies. Lee Taeyeon calmly asked.

“……So we should challenge things?”

“Exactly. I don’t want to see you two merely spectating.”

Kang Junhyeok, if he continues this way, would surely die. Taesan had no intention of seeing that happen.

“I can’t give you the answer to a question with no definitive solution, but at least I can let you know where you stand.”

There were twelve hours left until the wave.

There was plenty of time.

[Duel request. This duel will be conducted on equal terms.]

“Wh, what?”

Taesan swung his sword.

“Come on.”