Ascension Through Skills

“Next is… you.”

The black-haired woman who had bickered with Aldoata shivered at the gazes directed toward her.

“I, I don’t want to. I don’t want to go.”

She showed a strong stance of refusal. Her eyes were full of fear.

“What is this? It’s strange. I don’t want to go.”

“So, next is… you.”

All eyes turned to the young man, who looked panicked. He was always laughing and enjoying jokes, but now that version of him was nowhere to be seen as he was trembling and refusing to go.

“I, I also don’t want to.”

Their gaze naturally passed to the next person. However, it was the same. With a face full of fear, he shook his head.

The next one would probably be the same. The young man in charge of managing the second tier bit his lip.

“What kind of monster is he…”

How could he push them to this point, even though he was only on the 13th floor? It was impossible. Their judgment was not wrong. The difference between the 13th floor and the 20th floor was like that between a child and an adult.

Moreover, it was not just an ordinary child and adult, but the difference between a 9-year-old child and a robust young man.

However, the result was their complete defeat. Five robust young men were all killed by a 9-year-old child.

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Me, me too.”

Everyone refused. Their responses were fearful and, honestly, expected.

They joined the Guides of Sin in the first place because it was less about being impressed with the idea and more about being scared. The threat of being killed if they refused was so overbearing that they had no choice but to accept it.

They were only allowed up to the 20th floor as their deepest point of descent, and the fact that they stayed there revealed their nature.

The young man let out a hollow laugh.

‘Half of us are dead.’

Half of those who had been together for a long time were gone just like that. Some of them were not on good terms, but they still had affection for each other. A feeling of emptiness swept over the young man.

The young man finally opened his mouth.

“So, let’s all agree not to bother them, and when they come up, we’ll hide and wait for them to pass.”

“Uh, uh-huh.”

Everyone agreed. This was their unanimous conclusion.

“You pathetic guys never change, do you?”

A mocking voice echoed through the room.

A man was coming up the stairs leading to the lower floors.

A confident face and muscular body.

And impressive horns growing from his head.

He emanated an aura of magic.

“Hello, guys?”

The young man swallowed and bowed his head. The other adventurers, following him, also bowed their heads in surprise.

“Have you arrived?”

“Yes, guys.”

The horned man, a demon named Jagan, laughed and waved his hand.

“Hey.”

The woman with black hair shivered.

“Come here.”

“Yes, yes…”

The woman, trying to hide her trembling, stood next to Jagan. Jagan put his arm around her shoulder.

The young man hid his annoyance with a forced smile.

The Demon Jagan.

He was an adventurer who was allowed to progress to the third tier.

Unlike them, who were only allowed up to the second tier, he was an adventurer who could go that extra bit further.

However, rather than going down the labyrinth, he often came up and tormented them, the adventurers of the second tier.

Honestly, it was incredibly annoying.

If he had been allowed up to the third tier, he should have stayed quietly on the 30th floor. Why did he keep coming up and tormenting them? If they could, they would have torn him apart dozens of times.

They had a hunch. There was no difference between them and the third tier. Just because ten more floors had been added didn’t mean that they hadn’t hit a limit.

Out of boredom, he came up and tormented them. They understood, but from their perspective, they just wanted him to stay out of it.

Repressing his emotions, the young man asked.

“What can I do for you?”

“Nothing special.”

Jagan, after quickly looking around them, opened his mouth.

“Why are only half of you here? Where did everyone go?”

Everyone was shaken for a moment. Only the young man calmly answered.

“Everyone else is temporarily on other floors.”

Heh.

Jagan laughed and raised his hand. His fist smacked the young man’s face.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Do you think the news only reached you guys?”

The young man bit his lip in pain. He already knew, so why did he ask? Swallowing his anger, he opened his mouth.

“Everyone… is dead.”

“Oh?”

Interest sparked in Jagan’s face.

“Although you’re the second tier with no talent or skills, you were beaten by someone on the 13th floor?”

He mocked the guides of the second tier, but he didn’t despise them. Surviving up to the 20th floor here meant that they had proven themselves, so he couldn’t ignore them.

“Hmm.”

Jagan stroked his chin, deep in thought.

‘Will killing that guy change the evaluation of me?’

Jagan was incredibly powerful to them, but there wasn’t much difference for him at the bottom tiers. After all, he was only allowed up to the third tier, up to the 30th floor.

He twisted his face in frustration.

‘Why did they allow that fool to go to the deep levels?’

A child from the same demon race entered the labyrinth some time ago.

He quickly descended to where Jagan was, but he honestly didn’t care. Rather, he sent a look of contempt to him.

The reason was simple.

They were the same demon race, but Jagan was of a more noble lineage.

He was one of the few noble-born in the demon world, while the other came from the lowest places among the slums.

But that one was allowed to go to the deeper levels.

It was absurd.

He wanted to kill him, but if he did, the leadership would kill him, so he had no choice but to behave.

So, he changed his tactics. He planned to prove his strength and talent and change the leadership’s evaluation of him.

There was someone who had killed ten adventurers on the 20th floor despite having only reached the 13th floor.

He would kill that guy to prove his own strength. Even though he was only on the 13th floor, he would be worth adding points to Jagan’s evaluation.

Having made his decision, Jagan nodded.

“Good. Guide me to him.”

“What?”

Suddenly, out of the blue, what nonsense was Jagan talking about? That kind of incredulous gaze was contained in their looks. Jagan nonchalantly bared his teeth.

“I will avenge you, so guide me. Or would you rather perish?”

[Like moths to a flame.]

The ghost sneered.

[Even so, swallowing their pride, five of them came at the same time. It was too late a decision, though.]

Five adventurers who had reached the 20th floor. They were definitely a threat. Their defensive and offensive power was quite high, and Taesan also took a fair amount of damage.

However, the adventurers had never fought together before, so their coordination was very clumsy, and he leveled up every time he defeated one of them.

When he leveled up, all of his conditions were restored. He was able to win by taking advantage of this.

“Nice.”

He made quite a significant overall increase since he caught ten. His level before he started fighting with them was 28.

And now it was at level 39. His strength had increased by 11 levels. Naturally, his stats also increased significantly to match this.

[Kang Taesan] [Level: 39] [Shield: 169/169] [Health: 2020/2020] [Mana: 416/416] [Strength: 615] [Intelligence: 412] [Agility: 540] [Attack Power + 69] [Defense + 62] [The target is in the best condition.]

“These are not the stats of someone on the 13th floor.”

Taesan whistled.

But not everything was good. He was able to receive the floor clear rewards normally so far because, while his stats were abnormally high, his level was appropriate for the floor.

However, when the level rose like this, the clear rewards would decrease significantly.

As Taesan showed regret, the ghost sneered.

[Even considering that, it's still a huge gain. You're trying to grab everything like a greedy person.]

“That’s the way it has to be.”

Transcendent beings. Gods.

To even approach them, he really had to gain everything. The fact that Taesan was far stronger than an average adventurer was not an attractive point to him.

Still, as the ghost said, the gain was a big gain. By facing off against the adventurers, the proficiency of his skills also greatly increased. On top of that, he gained one more piece of equipment.

[Bead of the Strix] [Magic + 6] [Sound Magic + 5] [A magical bead containing the sound of the Strix.]

After listening to the ghost’s explanation, Taesan learned that it was a bead that added +6 to magic and +5 to the effects of sound magic. To Taesan, it was a rather meaningless item, so he intended to offer it as a tribute.

And he also gained skills.

First, he acquired the Werewolf skill after his first victory.

[Basic Inherited Skill: Werewolf] [Mana Consumption: 1] [Proficiency: 0%] [Transform into a werewolf. Currently, the lack of special blood prevents transformation.]

Since it was an inherited skill, he could only keep it unused unless he received blood.

And next, he acquired the basic magic from a magic user.

[Basic Magic: Particle Dispersion] [Mana Consumption: 4] [It triggers a large amount of ice particles to collide and scatter. Enemies without immunity take significant damage. It attempts to apply the status abnormality [Frostbite] to the target.]

It was the first wide-ranging magic that Taesan had acquired.

The particles densely filled the space where it was cast, causing significant constraints on movement unless one had strong physical strength.

The damage might not be large, but it was valuable in the sense that it restricted movement.

And there was another new skill.

“What on earth is this skill?”

Taesan put his hand on the ground with a vague expression. He picked up a weed that had shriveled up from the blood.

[You have activated Green Grass.]

Along with the system window, the weed wriggled. Life returned to the shriveled greenery.

After a moment, a fresh-looking weed appeared.

[Basic Elemental Skill: Green Grass] [Mana Consumption: 2] [Proficiency: 1%] [It bestows nature's mercy. It revives vegetation.]

“An elemental skill?”

It was a skill he had never seen before. The ghost began to explain.

[Do you know about the existence of elementals?]

“I know roughly.”

[Then it's easy to explain. You can think of it as similar to magic. It becomes somewhat similar at the extreme, but unlike magic, there are more nature-friendly skills.]

“How do you learn this?”

[Meet an elemental, right?]

The ghost answered nonchalantly.

Elementals. Lee Taeyeon had occasionally mentioned them. But she had said that they were all in the form of monsters and were hostile.

“It seems there must be something else.”

He could look for it on the way down.

“Is this the end?”

The adventurers who had been continuously appearing were no longer in sight.

[Well, you did beat about ten of them. They must have figured it out by now. That they can't mess with you. ……Speak of the devil, here they come?]

Multiple presences were detected through Taesan’s senses. The nearly double-digit number made Taesan grimace.

“Is this the last one?”

He drew his sword.

Soon, a horned figure appeared.

The ghost chuckled under its breath.

[So that one showed up too.]

“Hello?”

A massive surge of magical energy was released in the room. It was a power full of deep and dense evil, so much so that even Taesan, who had never seen a demon before, could notice it.

“So there are demons as well.”

Taesan glanced beyond the room. About ten presences were quietly lingering there.

‘They won’t interfere.’

Taesan looked at the demon before him with a serious gaze.

It was powerful.

He was intrinsically different from the adventurers he had seen so far. Even with his increased strength, he couldn’t easily guarantee victory. Such was the power he felt.

“Hmm.”

The demon, Jagan, stroked his chin. He, who had been looking at Taesan, opened his mouth.

“Who are you?”

His eyes became serious. When he first showed up, he was full of carelessness and complacency, but now all of that had disappeared and was replaced by extreme caution.

Jagan, who had been looking at Taesan, carefully asked.

“Could you possibly be a dragon?”