Ascension Through Skills

Shayan was astonished by Taesan’s words.

Manteyak. A name buried long ago, forgotten even by the other leaders.

It was Taesan, not the hero, who mentioned that name.

And Akishaya as well.

‘…No way!’

A contract with the wizard who created the Labyrinth. That thought flashed through Shayan’s mind.

‘He should have just died quietly!’

Just as Shayan gritted his teeth and began gathering mana, he realized something.

The flow of mana had changed.

The mana that had seeped into Shayan, granting him the ability to wield infinite magic, was now scattering in all directions.

‘This is…!’

Shayan instinctively recognized it as Akishaya’s magic, crafted for revenge.

“It’s fine.”

Taesan nodded. The unilateral mana barrier wouldn’t last long. That was why he had saved it until now.

This would end here. Taesan gathered his power—this time, not mana, but darkness.

[You have activated the Call of Destruction.]

The darkness of destruction began to spread across the world. From within the darkness, something stirred.

“Ah…”

Shayan, frozen in shock, trembled.

Every living being could instinctively feel the ominous aura radiating from the darkness.

It was the force of destruction.

Boom!

The darkness took form. It engulfed matter, rushing toward Shayan with the intent to annihilate.

Shayan frantically swung his staff. A wave of fire surged toward the darkness.

Boom!

The two forces clashed, creating a shockwave. The darkness of destruction showed no sign of retreat—it greedily devoured everything in its path.

“Damn it!”

Shayan cursed. He could instinctively sense what the darkness was.

“How can someone wield such power?!”

Though diminished, it was still the force of destruction—no mere fragment, but the genuine thing. Taesan was using it as his own power, not as a tool.

Shayan summoned his energy and pushed the darkness back, scattering it in all directions.

“Ugh…”

Taesan groaned softly as he swung his sword. The darkness wasn’t just trying to engulf Shayan—it aimed to swallow him too.

The Call of Destruction was a force that moved independently of Taesan. It sought to devour everything in the world.

Taesan gathered his energy and spoke.

“Back.”

[You have activated the Word of Command.]

As the Word of Command was activated, the darkness attempting to consume Taesan recoiled.

The destructive power sought to consume the world, but it lacked a guiding will. With the Word of Command, Taesan could repel it easily.

“Arghhh!”

[Shayan has activated Magic Overlay.] n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Raw magical energy gathered atop his staff as Shayan swung it.

[Shayan has activated Magic Liberation.]

Boom!

Ice, light, and fire merged, manifesting in the world.

The overwhelming force pushed back the darkness of destruction.

Taesan tightened his grip on his sword.

He pushed through the storming darkness, charging toward Shayan. Shayan swung his staff wildly.

[Shayan has activated the Fragments of Radiant Light.]

Light rained down across the entire floor, attempting to pierce Taesan without escape.

‘Even so…!’

Shayan gritted his teeth.

The Call of Destruction had run its course. The flow of mana, which once replenished infinitely, had been severed.

But countless magic circles still supported him.

Though the darkness of destruction was overwhelming, it wasn’t impossible to withstand.

If he could defeat Taesan before exhausting all his mana, he could still win. That was Shayan’s conclusion.

Taesan shared the same thought.

Up until now, Shayan had the upper hand. Taesan lacked information on Shayan, whereas Shayan had observed Taesan’s battle with the Fire Spirit King.

However, they had fought long enough. Now, Taesan had a good grasp of Shayan’s abilities.

Now was his time.

[You have activated Marbas' Pitch-Black Wave.]

Darkness surged, swallowing the falling light into oblivion.

[Shayan has activated Frozen World.]

[You have activated Frozen World.]

[You have activated Forced Amplification.]

The two Frozen Worlds clashed.

It was inevitable that Taesan’s Frozen World would be overpowered. The weaker cold was consumed by the stronger one.

Taesan had never intended to block it entirely. All he wanted was to slow it down slightly.

[You have activated the Spark of Calamity.]

A fiery force swept across the space, devouring it.

Taesan immediately activated Stealth. With his presence erased, Shayan tried to track him by activating the Eyes of Harmonization.

[You have activated Acceleration.]

[You have activated Skill Acceleration.]

Taesan emerged through the flames.

He moved a step ahead of Shayan’s reactions. Shayan hurriedly slammed his staff down.

[Shayan has activated Distortion.]

The space twisted. Taesan immediately responded with his skill.

[You have activated the Perfect Fairy Wings.]

Shayan had been using Distortion to block Taesan’s approach.

But Taesan had learned exactly how and when Shayan used Distortion.

Bang!

The wings fluttered. Taesan flew in a direction completely different from what Shayan expected.

However, Taesan still closed in on Shayan with perfect precision.

He had identified the patterns of space distortion and used them to his advantage to narrow the gap.

Shayan’s pupils dilated as he realized what was happening.

His body leapt through space—limited blink. Taesan activated his own limited blink and stuck close to Shayan.

“Y-You…!”

[Shayan has activated Frozen World.]

[Shayan has activated Forced Magical Tuning.]

Cold energy enveloped Shayan’s body.

Frozen World was being used defensively but was in nature offensive magic—it couldn’t be breached by Absolute Judgement.

But that didn’t mean it was an invincible defense.

After clashing swords once, Taesan had already gauged Shayan’s defensive level.

[You have activated Naberius' Golden Sword.]

[You have activated Amon's Pitch-Black Spike.]

[You have activated Sabnac's Thread of Darkness.]

Taesan activated all the intermediate dark magic he possessed and unleashed them simultaneously.

Boom!

“Argh!”

Shayan’s ice shield shattered. Although Taesan took damage from Sabnac’s Thread, he ignored it and pressed forward.

There was nothing left standing between Taesan and Shayan.

Taesan plunged his sword into Shayan.

[You have activated Transformation.]

[You have activated Addition.]

[You have activated the Ring of Twisted Distortion of the Regretful One.]

[The cooldown of the Blade of Willpower has been reset.]

[You have activated the Blade of Willpower.]

[You have activated Absolute Judgement.]

Crack.

The sword pierced through Shayan’s chest.

[Shayan received 112,323 damage.]

“Gah…!”

Shayan coughed up blood. His face rapidly paled.

He grabbed Taesan’s arm with a firm grip.

“Let’s go together!”

[Shayan’s health has reached 0.]

[The Final Flame has been activated.]

Flames engulfed Taesan.

Shayan grinned, but soon, his eyes widened in shock.

[Your Endurance has activated.]

[The fatal attack has been nullified.]

[For 1 second, all damage will become 0.]

Taesan withdrew his sword. In his dying state, Shayan let out a bitter laugh.

“Haha… so you saved that until the very end…”

The battle had started with Shayan holding a clear advantage.

Shayan knew everything about Taesan, while Taesan knew nothing about him. Confident in his strategy, Shayan had applied relentless pressure, believing he would overwhelm Taesan. R̃

But halfway through, the tide began to turn, and Shayan was the one being cornered.

His trump card had been perfectly blocked, and even his final self-destruction attempt had been anticipated and countered by Taesan’s Endurance skill.

It was an undeniable and complete defeat.

“…Damn you, Akishaya. Even in the end, you interfere.”

Muttering, Shayan closed his eyes.

“So this is the end of a traitor.”

With those words, his soul began to drift away from his body.

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Soul Ascension has activated.]

[Your health permanently increased by 2,481, mana by 2,342, strength by 489, agility by 362, and intelligence by 1,243.]

[The Seed of Life has activated.]

[Your health increased by 366, mana by 743, strength by 258, agility by 103, and intelligence by 677.]

[Soul Ascension has activated.]

[Magic proficiency has increased by 6%.]

[Frozen World...]

[Soul Ascension has activated, and you have obtained Forced Magical Tuning.]

[Soul Ascension has activated, and you have obtained the intermediate magic, Distortion.]

[You have analyzed numerous possibilities, calculated them, and arrived at the correct conclusion.]

[You have obtained the special passive skill, Swift Judgment.]

A series of reward notifications appeared, marking the perfect end to the battle. Taesan lowered his sword.

“That wasn’t easy.”

Honestly, he thought it would have been less challenging.

He had already defeated Shaman and the Fire Spirit King and grown much stronger since then.

But this fight was different.

Up until now, Taesan’s opponents had struggled to counter his skills, leaving them vulnerable.

In contrast, Shayan had studied Taesan meticulously and tried to exploit every weakness.

Shayan certainly had the power to kill Taesan.

This battle reminded Taesan that his strength lay in the unique skills that caused opponents to underestimate him.

But in the end, it was Taesan who stood victorious.

A ghostly voice spoke.

[So, you’ve come this far. As Shayan said, dealing with the remaining ones will give you quite a headache.]

Shayan had thoroughly prepared for this battle, setting up magic circles and defensive zones. He had been far stronger than in a normal fight.

And yet, he had been defeated. That meant the remaining higher-ups now had little hope of victory.

[They’ll figure it out.]

The ghost muttered, sounding indifferent despite it once being his wish to see the higher-ups fall.

Even though the ghost had known that Shayan was Manteyak, he hadn’t mentioned it. To him, the higher-ups no longer held much significance.

In any case, Taesan had won.

Now it was time to claim his reward.

The space began to tear apart. As the quest was completed, its reward manifested.

What appeared wasn’t a decayed skeleton.

It was a middle-aged man, remarkably handsome, with silver hair.

Wearing an ornate robe embroidered with gold and holding a finely adorned staff, the man descended into the Labyrinth.

[So, the time has come.]

It was Akishaya, the skeleton who had given Taesan the quest to defeat Manteyak.

He looked at Shayan’s lifeless body and chuckled.

[Manteyak. So, this is how it ends. Time in the Labyrinth stretches toward infinity. You had the talent to reach great heights eventually, but your twisted inferiority complex led us both to this fate.]

After murmuring to himself for a moment, Akishaya fell silent.

[In the end, I wanted to ask you one last thing... but I suppose that was never meant to be. Well, I’m satisfied enough. Thank you.]

Akishaya twirled his staff with a light flick.

His robe swayed with the movement.

[Since you’ve fulfilled my wish, it’s only right to grant you a fitting reward.]

With that, Akishaya’s quest for vengeance and his battle against the higher-ups came to an end.

As promised, Akishaya granted Taesan his most powerful magic and the enchanted equipment he had once wielded.

With a flash of light, Taesan felt the power descend upon him.