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

“OOOOO!”

The man moved his great sword with a shout. With every swing, dozens of storms were formed from its power.

Taesan didn’t retreat.

He dug his feet into the ground and moved forward. Compared to the massive sword, his sword seemed as small as a toothpick.

**KAAAHH!**

With the collision, shockwaves swept through the surroundings.

The man’s face twisted.

Unlike before, Taesan didn’t fly off. Even though he was pushed back, his feet remained planted firmly on the ground. The man moved his hand, clearly displeased.

**KWA! KWA! KWA!**

The great sword moved to crush Taesan. Taesan pushed his entire body to the limit, flexing his muscles.

**KUUWOOONG!**

Collisions upon collisions.

And at some point, Taesan stopped being pushed back.

He was now fighting with all his might.

The blessing of Lakiratas, the Master of Howling Struggles, activated. His speed and strength grew exponentially.

**KUUUNG!**

Taesan planted his feet and swung his sword upwards, directly facing the descending blade.

**KAAAHHH!**

“Grrrhh!”

The man’s body was pushed back. He quickly regained his posture, grinding his teeth.

“Damn god’s blessing!”

**[You have activated Forced Fall.]**

Forced Fall.

The effect, transformed by the Ability Sword, increased the weight of the opponent’s sword upon impact.

“Ugh!”

After several clashes, the man quickly realized something was wrong. The weight of his great sword was becoming heavier.

“Don’t be ridiculous! This is no ordinary sword! This is my power! Do you think such tricks will work on it?!”

“Even so, it’s still a sword, right? The effect will still apply.”

The movement of the great sword slightly slowed. Taesan wrapped his magic around it.

**[You have activated Baal’s Black Space Surge.]**

Black Space Surge was a powerful ability, but due to his low proficiency, it couldn’t fully manifest its original power.

But this time, it was different.

The blessing of the Demon God. The Precious Child of Darkness. Its effect was dominion over all dark magic.

**ZHZHZHZH!**

The space, tainted with darkness, surged. It contained the power to crush all things and interfere with the very concept of existence.

The man swung the great sword, trying to crush it, but the dark magic didn’t back down easily. The great sword clashed against it, creating a tense stand-off that bewildered the man.

Taesan seized the opening. In an instant, he darted toward the man’s side, piercing deeply.

There was no hesitation in his action. With certainty, he chose to exploit the opening.

The blessing of Maria activated. Divine power infused Taesan’s sword.

**KAAAHH!**

“Grrrhh!”

The man barely managed to block with the sword hilt, but his body was pushed back.

‘This is the power of divine blessing.’

Each one of them had the ability to change the course of the battle. The avatar of the gods, which had seemed overwhelming, no longer frightened him.

“...Don’t make me laugh!”

The man shouted.

Filled with rage, he lifted the great sword high into the air. The surrounding air rippled and began to collapse.

“Damn transcendents! You’re unreasonable! You give everything to those you favor and show no interest in the rest! You treat their lives like toys! You’re not gods! You’re just powerful ruffians!”

The man ground his teeth.

“I cannot accept you! Beings like you should not exist in this world!”

The man declared, his voice filled with the same defiance one might show against a deity.

Taesan, however, moved with an indifferent expression.

“So what?”

“W-What?”

“Gods are unreasonable. I know that. But it’s not just the gods, right?”

Taesan was an Easy Mode player.

No matter how strong he got, there were clear limits, and eventually, he was forced to become stronger through skills—an inevitable, despairing kind of unfairness.

But he didn’t give up.

The unfairness was the world itself. The man’s words didn’t affect him in the slightest.

“And you shouldn’t be talking about unfairness. You said it yourself. You’ve killed countless immortals, destroyed many worlds, with the power you received from the gods. You, too, are proof of unfairness.”

“To fight against great beings, sacrifices are inevitable. They are necessary sacrifices.”

“In the end, you acted according to your own desires, didn’t you? So what’s the difference between you and the transcendents?”

“......”

The man’s face turned red, but he couldn’t respond.

“Transcendents are beings who rose from mortality by their own power. They weren’t born with the role of protecting mortals. We shouldn’t demand absolute good from them.”

“Shut up!”

The man swung his sword. The attack was full of emotion, with no reason behind it. It was nothing but an angry outburst.

“So what are you saying?”

“You, like the transcendents, are acting according to your own desires.”

In the end, the man’s true feelings were simple.

He wanted revenge on the transcendents who had ignored him and treated him like a toy.

“Don’t try to dress up a simple story as something grand.”

---

“Die!”

The man, whose worldview had been denied, howled. The great sword, filled with pure murderous intent, swung wildly. The overwhelming physical force distorted the very air.

Taesan didn’t falter. Blessed by many, he possessed transcendental power.

But though he didn’t retreat, he wasn’t able to dominate either.

Because of the size of the great sword, he lost the initiative and couldn’t fight head-on.

His approach was the same one he had originally thought of—a method of closing the distance. Having made his decision, Taesan gathered his mana.

**[You have activated Great Collapse [Negation].]**

Negation magic was a spell that could only be activated if Taesan had control over mana through Partial World Change.

However, with the blessing of Jerband, the necessary condition was met. The magic, mixed with blackness, was manifested in the world.

The great sword and Great Collapse collided.

With a deafening sound, space crumbled. The two powers clashed, neither yielding easily.

The one who cracked the balance was Taesan.

**[You have activated Magic Explosion.]**

Great Collapse exploded, overwhelming everything.

The man quickly shielded himself with the great sword. Dark orbs engulfed everything, blocking Taesan’s sight.

‘It’s meant to block my vision!’

It was absurd. He was an immortal, with higher power. Vision wasn’t a crucial ability.

**[You have activated Baal’s Overlapping Darkness.]**

Taesan’s body blended with the darkness.

The man’s pupils shook.

Taesan could no longer be sensed anywhere.

‘...Even so!’

The man fiercely raised his great sword. Like a windmill, he swung it to sweep everything in all directions.

If he couldn’t detect his opponent, he would clear everything in the area. It wasn’t a wrong decision.

But Taesan also had a countermeasure.

The great sword didn’t touch him. The aftershock didn’t reach him either. The sweeping force around him missed Taesan precisely.

Without resistance, Taesan arrived behind the man.

Realizing too late that Taesan had moved, the man hurriedly tried to react with the sword hilt.

The situation was the same, but now the tables had turned. Close combat no longer favored the man.

**[You have activated Sword of Determination.]**

**KAAAHH!**

“Grrrhh!”

The ability of Sword of Determination tripled the shock contained in the sword.

The man staggered, and Taesan dug in deeper.

**[You have activated Gale Charge.]**

He swung the sword in both hands with ferocity. The storm-like blows created gashes all over the man’s body.

“This is nothing!”

The man tried to regain his posture and retaliate, but due to Forced Fall, the weight of his sword had increased significantly. It was difficult for him to get into position, and Taesan didn’t give him any opening.

Taesan stepped on the man’s foot and shoved him aside, making him stagger.

At point-blank range, Taesan activated Great Collapse.

**KUUUUNG!**

The man, hit directly by the Great Collapse, was buried deep into the earth.

Taesan stomped on the man’s hand, still gripping the great sword. The man coughed up blood.

“Ha, haha! Good! I admit it! With your blessings, you’re stronger than I am!”

But there was no sense of defeat on the man’s face.

“But I am the avatar of the Empty Being! My master awaits here! Please, bestow upon me the power that empties everything!”

A massive presence began to take form within the man. His face filled with a sense of omnipotence.

“No.”

**[You have activated Exclusion of Choice.]**

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The entity that was about to possess the man vanished instantly, as if it had never made a choice.

“What!”

“I’ve prepared for your trump card.”

The man was an avatar of the gods.

It had been expected that he could call upon the power of the gods.

Taesan had planned to block the activation of the trump card itself.

Taesan drove his sword into the man’s chest.

**[You have activated Collapse.]**

“Ghh!”

Collapse’s effect was to destroy anything that touched the weapon.

The man’s body shook.

[You have activated Collapse.]

“Ghh!”

The effect of Collapse caused the man's body to shake.

[You have activated Fall of All Things.]

And everything fell. In an instant, the man’s power was shattered to the ground.

[You have activated Forced Duel.]

Then came the Forced Duel.

If both combatants wielded swords, neither could use anything else. The blackness was blocked.

“Vile Empty Being... I...”

[You have activated Sacred Ground Creation.]

Kiiing!

Golden light enveloped the world. The gods' blessings had strengthened the divine power to a high level. Even in a world tainted by the gods, he had created a holy ground.

The powers trying to possess the man were blocked by divinity.

The environment was now one where the gods could no longer intervene.

“Ah... Ah...”

The man’s face turned pale.

Taesan looked at him calmly.

“It's working.”

Taesan had just tested something.

The gods had often intervened during combat.

Taesan had found that very annoying.

He had wondered if there was a way to block their intervention.

While the powers already bestowed couldn't be undone, the process of their manifestation could still be intervened with.

Having made a quick judgment, Taesan acted.

With Fall of All Things and Collapse, he shattered the opponent’s power and blocked other forces with Forced Duel. Then, by using divinity, he created a sacred ground to banish the gods.

Once the opponent was weakened enough, blocking divine intervention with divinity became possible, and it was a success.

Taesan looked down at the man beneath him.

“Surprisingly, you’re still alive.”

Despite his limbs being gone, the man was still breathing.

But he no longer posed any threat. With the divine power Taesan had unleashed, he had successfully blocked the gods' intervention.

“...I see now. I can block the divine powers’ descent. It’s good to have learned this. Next time, I’ll need to summon them from the beginning.”

The man muttered with a calm face. He was neither upset by his defeat nor afraid of dying.

“They’ve abandoned you. They’re foolish. They didn’t recognize your value and discarded you like this. Why would you risk your life fighting for such beings?”

The man raised his great sword.

Based on Taesan’s response, he seemed ready to strike again.

“It’s not too late. Join me and my master now.”

“No.”

Taesan responded without hesitation.

“There’s no point in pondering. I’m quite different from you.”

The man was the avatar of the gods.

He had been sent to protect Levinenov’s world because of his master’s orders.

He had thought the gods were interested in Taesan because he was favored by them and could wield blackness.

That alone made him unique and valuable in the eyes of the gods.

But now...

The man was terrified.

He could feel it—he was afraid.

The ashen power was neither a part of the gods’ domain nor anything else.

It was the power to separate his very essence from the gods' corruption.

The fear of death, which had been long forgotten, had now returned.

“P-please... spare me...”

“You’ve killed so many, right? Then you should have prepared for your own death.”

The ashen power pierced through the man’s body. He screamed in agony as the power exploded and flowed into Taesan.