Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 454: The Seventh Return, Earth (6)

The apostle moves. The viscous slime, split into dozens of strands, surges toward Taesan.

The power contained within each one was immense, something that even Taesan couldn’t afford to underestimate.

Taesan gripped his sword tightly.

Crack!

An explosion erupts. Taesan steps forward, using his arms, legs, and entire body to wield his sword. The slime bursts apart, scattering in all directions.

Taesan immediately gathers his magical power.

[You have activated Baal's Abyssal Space Surge.]

The darkened space flies toward the apostle. The apostle quickly gathers the scattered slime to form a defense around itself.

Boom!

A tremendous roar erupts.

The slime body of the apostle, struck by the Space Surge, suffers a slight loss, though not significant.

The apostle of the high-tier beings. A being that has destroyed countless worlds and disrupted the very fabric of reality.

Its strength was transcendent. Even Diana, having reached the boundary, would have little chance of victory against the apostle.

But...

‘I’m stronger.’

Taesan’s victory against the apostle came during the sixth return to Earth, and since then, his strength had grown overwhelmingly.

The apostle before him seemed no different from the one he fought in the past, and it could not stand as his equal.

There was no reason to hesitate. Taesan stamped his foot and dashed toward the apostle in an instant.

And at that moment, the apostle's slime body exploded.

Taesan, thinking it was an attack, protected his body with divine power.

But the scattered slime did not target Taesan.

[Huh?]

The apostle’s body broke down into thousands, even tens of thousands, of tiny droplets.

‘Separation?’

Among the scattered droplets, Taesan could feel the apostle’s will and power in the smallest of them.

That was the core. Taesan reflexively tried to strike at the droplet, but the slime scattered in all directions.

It disoriented his vision and disrupted his senses. Because the pieces were so small, Taesan momentarily lost track of the core’s location.

The slime seemed to have no intention of fighting Taesan. It was dispersing across the entire United States.

"Tch."

Taesan clicked his tongue. He realized what the apostle was targeting. He quickly released both magic and dark magic toward the dispersing droplets.

Boom!

In an instant, thousands of droplets evaporated and vanished.

But far more remained, scattered in every direction.

Taesan quickly pursued them.

The apostle’s goal wasn’t to defeat Taesan. Nor was it targeting the people.

It was the destruction of the pillars scattered throughout the United States.

***

"Is it okay for us to just wait here like this?"

A Korean player, guarding a pillar, asked with a confused expression.

It was Lee Changchun.

He wasn't one of the highest-level Hard Mode players, but he had reached mid-60th floor, possessing considerable power.

His assigned task was to defend a pillar in the interior of the United States.

However, since most of the monsters were gathering from the outskirts of the U.S., and even with the fierce battles taking place, there was little for him to do here.

"I feel like I should be helping somehow."

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"No."

A French Hard Mode player replied to his concerned remark.

"The quest’s objective is, after all, the pillars. If we concentrate all our strength in the front lines, we won't be able to respond when the enemy targets this place. At the very least, we need minimal defensive personnel here."

"I get that, but it still feels... uncomfortable."

Lee Changchun grumbled, suppressing his emotions.

As he blankly stared ahead, wasting time...

"...Hm?"

Something small was floating in front of him.

"Slime?"

It was black slime.

So small, about the size of a droplet, that it would be easy to miss if you weren't paying attention.

"What is that?"

Just as Lee Changchun was about to approach in curiosity, the slime suddenly erupted.

In an instant, it swelled up, becoming the size of a small hill. It charged toward the pillar and the players guarding it, attempting to swallow them whole. Caught by surprise, they couldn’t react in time.

At that moment, the magic circle Taesan had set up activated.

Ziiiiing!

A brilliant, shining blue barrier blocked the slime's attack. Only then did the players, now realizing the situation, scream and draw their weapons.

"What—what is this?!"

"It's an enemy!"

Some of the more hot-headed players rushed outside the barrier, eager to counterattack. But at the same time, the slime viciously engulfed them.

"Huh?"

Realizing something was wrong, the player who had rushed out knew it was too late. Despite his resistance, he was consumed without much effort.

Only then did the rest realize that the slime before them was an enemy they could not defeat.

The slime grew larger again and struck the barrier.

Cracks began to appear in the barrier.

"...What do we do now?"

"What else can we do? We fight for our lives."

With determined faces, they gripped their weapons. The barrier began to break. Just as they were about to rush forward with a battle cry...

Boom!

With a tremendous explosion, the slime disappeared.

"Huh?"

Those who had been bracing for death stopped, confused. Something had passed, but at their level, they couldn’t see or feel what it was.

"...Taesan?"

***

Taesan quickly launched himself forward.

He tracked the scattered slime, erasing each one as he went.

But this could not go on forever. The number of slimes had surpassed tens of thousands, and they were scattered across the entire United States. No matter how strong Taesan was, eradicating them all would incur significant damage.

“Akasya, assist me.”

[As you command, Master.]

[You have activated Magic Stacking.]

[You have activated Great Collapse (Negation).]

Negation magic began to stack up.

And just then, Kim Hwiyun, having realized through communications that the pillars were under attack, quickly shouted.

“Everyone! Use the magic circles to move to each pillar!”

The high-tier beings’ goal was not to kill them but to destroy the pillars.

Had the monsters only appeared at the outskirts, they might have been able to hold the front. But now that they had already breached, maintaining their formation was meaningless.

The people quickly used Beldenkia's magic circles to rush toward the pillars being attacked by the apostle.

At the same time, the slime rushed at them.

“Defend with your lives!”

“Aaaahhh!”

Screams and shouts filled the air. They threw themselves in front of the pillars to block the attack before the barrier was destroyed.

Despite the apostle's overwhelming power, as the slime had split into so many pieces, with the help of the magic circles, they could hold them off for a while.

And during that time, Taesan finished casting his spell.

Stacking the Great Collapse three times, he unleashed it.

[You have activated Magic Liberation.]

The condensed Great Collapse surged into the sky. A black sun rose above the mainland United States.

[You have activated Magic Explosion.]

And the sun exploded.

It shattered into countless pieces, scattering everywhere. Taesan focused his mind, and with Akasya’s assistance, he sensed and located every apostle scattered across the United States.

He then precisely targeted their locations with his magic.

[You have activated Magic Tracking.]

[You have activated Precision Strike.]

The exploded sun fell like rain, piercing the earth.

Boom!

The apostles, targeting the pillars, were pierced by the rain and exploded. Some tried to move quickly to evade, but the dark rain pierced them accurately.

In an instant, more than half of the slime was lost as the apostle burrowed deep into the earth.

The situation had stabilized slightly. Those who were catching their breath immediately recognized what had happened and cheered.

“It’s Taesan!”

“He saved us!”

A newly formed belief began to take root in Taesan.

Taesan, having quickly gathered that belief, launched himself into action.

“Ta-Taesan? What’s going on?”

“The ones I was facing split up and started targeting the pillars. Their goal isn’t to kill us, it’s the destruction of the pillars.”

“I see... I’ll focus on defending the pillars from now on, rather than maintaining the front line.”

Kim Hwiyun quickly nodded.

Thanks to the communication system Taesan had fixed, the message was immediately conveyed to everyone.

People gathered at the pillars.

At the same time, the monsters began to change.

The ordinary monsters were almost gone, replaced by ones that either stalled for time or self-destructed to cause significant damage.

‘There’s no way these are just apostle-level.’

Taesan was incredibly strong now.

And with Beldenkia and Diana also joining the fight, the strength the high-tier beings could show had increased.

But what appeared was the same apostle as before.

It seemed like this quest’s focus was to destroy the pillars, and at the end, they would pool all their strength for one final push.

‘I don’t plan on taking it lying down.’

[You have activated Frozen World.]

Crack!

A cold wave rushed forward, freezing the monsters in front of them. Taesan, moving with willpower, drew out a spear that moved freely, unaffected by his connection to it. The spear quickly pierced through the monsters.

The people shouted in awe.

When Taesan moved with intent, monsters below A-rank couldn’t even get a foothold in the United States.

But even Taesan couldn’t move freely now.

The presence of an apostle, hiding deep within the earth, couldn’t be sensed.

Whether it was optimized for hiding or using some other method, Taesan couldn’t predict when or where the apostle would strike.

“Please handle it.”

“Yes!”

Kim Hwiyun responded energetically.

The people did their best.

Using communication, they strategically positioned personnel and moved people as necessary.

Meanwhile, Taesan focused on blocking the apostle’s attacks.

Rumbling.

In the western part of the U.S., at a distant pillar, slime appeared. Players, who had just identified the slime, screamed. Just as they braced for impact...

Crack!

The slime collapsed and vanished.

In its place, Taesan appeared.

He waved his hand.

[You have activated Starry Arrow.]

[You have activated Magic Separation.]

[You have activated Magic Tracking.]

Zing!

The starlit arrow traced its path. In an instant, it pierced through all the slimes scattered across the U.S.

Taesan stomped his foot.

His body shot through the air. The air split as he reached an unimaginable speed.

Taesan reached the easternmost part of the country in no time.

There, he obliterated the slime that had just been about to attack a pillar.

The people guarding the pillar, still reeling from the shock, muttered.

“We just got a communication saying Taesan was in the West...”

“He flew over here.”

“Eh...?”

The people were speechless.

The apostles were using every method to destroy the pillars, but every attack was blocked.

The slime rapidly shrank in number. It wouldn’t be long before Taesan could finish off the apostle's core.

But the situation for the other players was not as favorable.

At first, there hadn’t been any major problems. The leaders of each nation had done their best, and they had managed to defend the pillars without suffering major losses.

But as time went on, things started to change.

The monsters became sharper, and faster, in their actions.

The monsters that appeared now were all specialized in destroying the pillars.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

“Block it with your body!”

Drill-like monsters charged at the pillars. The players threw themselves at the monsters, managing to stop them, but many were injured in the process.

“Wounded, move to the sanctuary and recover!”

Oliver shouted roughly.

The problem was simple.

They were finite. People were dying, and injuries were mounting. While they could recover quickly at the sanctuary in Las Vegas, the time it took to travel was still a factor.

With the relentless attacks from the monsters, fatigue set in, and their concentration wavered, but the monsters showed no such weakness.

They were creations. They had no exhaustion. They would not stop until their objective was achieved.

Beldenkia, Diana, and Lee Taeyeon were all occupied with the constantly appearing S-rank monsters.

As a result, the defenses were slowly starting to crack.

“It’s a bit early, but it can’t be helped.”

Taesan murmured and approached Kim Hwiyun.

“Abandon a few pillars.”

“What?”

“We can’t protect them all anyway.”

Taesan spoke calmly. He had anticipated this from the beginning.

There were simply too many pillars.

No matter how quickly they moved people, it was impossible to defend all of them.

Rather than obsessing over the impossible and losing everything, Taesan preferred to give up on what couldn’t be saved and focus on what could be preserved.

“Focus on the pillars you can defend. Leave the ones that are too far, or where magic circles weren’t set up.”

Some pillars were much farther apart than others.

“And concentrate on the remaining ones. Even if slime appears, make sure you can hold them off for a while.”

“Do you think it’s possible?”

“It’s difficult with the current situation, but if we abandon a few pillars, it should be fine.”

The apostle, now severely weakened by losing most of its slime, had been nearly defeated by Taesan.

With the combined strength of several top-tier Hard Mode players, they could buy enough time.

“Got it.”

Kim Hwiyun immediately withdrew the personnel from the distant, harder-to-defend pillars.

This strengthened the defenses at the remaining pillars, and the monsters focused on the abandoned ones.

Then, Taesan moved again.

“Open.”

With a declaration, the earth began to collapse.

“Ugh!”

Kim Hwiyun quickly stumbled back, startled by the collapsing ground.

The hole seemed endless.

It wasn’t just dark.

The depth was beyond what her eyes could perceive.

Taesan dove into it.

His body fell rapidly, passing through the surface and drilling through the mantle.

And Taesan reached the very core of the Earth.

He shielded his body and expanded his senses. In an instant, every single atom in the area came under Taesan’s detection.

At the same time, the apostle made its move.

The slime sent a portion of itself to the surface, aiming for the pillars. However, the players, already prepared under Taesan’s watch, gritted their teeth and blocked the apostle’s attack.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

“Aaaah!”

Dozens of players simultaneously vomited blood and collapsed. Instinctively, they realized they couldn’t even put up a small resistance.

Had the slime not split into so many pieces, they would have all died just by being there. They were facing that kind of power.

But they did not back down.

“Taesan!”

They screamed his name, charging toward death.

[The proficiency of your Divine Power has increased by 1%.]

The players fought desperately, and eventually, they managed to defend the pillar. Meanwhile, Taesan had sensed everything.

Not just the surface, but even the deepest parts of the Earth—he had tracked every movement.

In the end, he pinpointed the core of the apostle he had missed earlier.

“Create a path.”

Crack!

The rock cracked open, and a path was created.

Taesan immediately launched himself forward. The apostle’s core, trying to flee too late, was already too far gone.

Taesan pierced it directly with his sword.

[You have defeated $!@##!]

[Your Spiritual Strike has activated.]

[Your Twisted Spiritual Alignment proficiency has increased by 4%.]

[Your proficiency in Blackness has increased by %$!!@.]

[Your proficiency in Boundary has increased by !%#$@.]

[Your proficiency in Command has increased by 2%.]

[Your Will of All Things proficiency has increased by 4%.]

[You have obtained Black [Fragmentation].]

As the apostle fell, the slime attacking the pillars collapsed in unison. The players, who had been defending with their lives, were momentarily stunned.

But the shock didn’t last long.

They realized that it was Taesan who had stopped the slime.

“Whoooa!”

Even though Taesan showed an overwhelming display of power, there were still those who didn’t believe in him. After all, humans were all different, and it was strange for everyone to trust Taesan.

However, as the quest progressed, more and more of those skeptics began to disappear.

Now, except for a handful, everyone started believing in and revering Taesan.

[The proficiency of your Divine Power has increased by 1%.]

Taesan's proficiency in Divine Power had reached 99%.