Ascension Through Skills

“Dragon?”

The young man who had been listening from behind them swallowed his breath.

Dragon. The strongest species. A being that could even split dimensions and was untouchable unless its opponent was a high-ranking demon.

Even the weakest young dragon was a monster that could not be fought against unless one descended to the 40th floor.

Jagan swallowed his saliva.

As a demon, he could roughly estimate the fluctuations of power. Taesan’s power was an unseen strength for an adventure on the 13th floor.

Such power could not be obtained within the labyrinth.

From the beginning, there was a high probability that this was a powerful being who had entered the labyrinth.

And it was hard to find such a being other than a dragon.

Taesan opened his mouth.

“So what?”

Jagan’s face turned pale. He forced his trembling body to step aside.

“I don’t intend to interfere. Please go ahead.”

Unable to bear the perfectly submissive posture of Jagan, who had bent to the waist, the ghost burst into laughter.

[He's really showing his bottom. How ugly.]

“Is the dragon that strong?”

[Although you can gain stronger power inside the labyrinth than outside, dragons surpass that. They are the strongest species in most worlds. Those who are the oldest or born with special bloodlines can even rival gods. I know there are a few near the bottom of this place.]

“That strong, huh?”

“You..?”

Jagan looked at Taesan and the ghost in confusion. Soon, his face twisted.

“You!”

Realizing he had been fooled, Jagan showed his anger. Taesan waved his sword.

“I’m just an ordinary human. Satisfied?”

“……Is it because you’re a lowly human that you easily lie?”

“That’s not something a demon should say.”

Taesan pointed at Jagan with his sword, giving a vague smile.

On Jagan’s face, there were contrasting lights of anger and calmness. Even though he recognized his opponent was a human, he couldn’t release his tension.

Even if he wasn’t a dragon, the fact that he was strong didn’t change. Jagan thought Taesan was only slightly weaker than himself or equal in power.

“We didn’t just come to talk, did we? Let’s do it then.”

[Duel request. This duel will be conducted with both parties having 0 defense.]

Jagan frowned.

“Duel?”

“When will the guys behind you target me? How would I know whether you, about to die, would ask for help or accept death calmly?”

“I? Beg for help from those guys?”

“We don’t know that, do we?”

Jagan, whose pride was hurt, was enraged.

“How dare a mere human……”

Jagan barely held back his anger, scrutinized the system window, and curled up the corners of his mouth.

“A duel state with 0 defense?”

“I don’t want to be chewed up little by little, you know? Let’s finish it quickly.”

From Taesan’s casual words, Jagan realized something.

‘His attack power isn’t high.’

Within the labyrinth, physical attacks were entirely determined by the weapon’s attack power. Even if the opponent was exceptionally skilled, if their attack power was lower than their defense, it was challenging to make a proper attack.

Jagan was someone on the 30th floor. His opponent was on the 13th floor. The equipment difference was absolute. It was clear from the fact that he proposed a duel with a condition of having 0 defense.

Jagan cleanly rejected it.

“I refuse.”

[The duel has been declined.] [Duel request.]

“Let’s fight in a proper state.”

“Alright.”

[Duel established.] [Taesan and Jagan start the duel.]

Taesan charged as if he had been waiting.

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Jagan couldn’t respond properly.

Instead of a longsword, Taesan took out a dagger and stabbed Jagan.

[Jagan received 12 damage.]

“What?”

Jagan was caught off guard.

He thought that since Taesan proposed a duel under the condition of 0 defense, he wouldn’t be able to do any damage due to the difference in attack power. That was why he didn’t put much effort into defense.

Taesan didn’t miss that moment of complacency.

He proposed a duel with 0 defense to catch the opponent off guard.

He smoothly bent the dagger and cut parts of his opponent’s arm. This was the second sword, Dance of the Swordsman. Dozens of system windows appear in an instant.

“Th, This!”

Jagan, barely maintaining his sanity, focused his magic and exploded it out. Taesan, who has already done enough damage, easily maintained a distance.

“Damn it!”

With a distorted face, Jagan cleared the system window. He had received around 300 damage in an instant.

“A weapon with a fixed attack. Right. There was such a thing.”

[It's the weapon that killed me.]

The ghost laughed hauntingly.

Fixed attack power penetrated through defense. No matter how high the defense was, you couldn’t avoid taking damage. The ghost died for the same reason, and Jagan was no different.

Grinding his teeth, Jagan charged. In his hand was a sword that was filled with magic. Taesan swung his sword in response.

Clash!

He parried the attack with one longsword and slashed into Jagan’s flesh with his dagger. After several exchanges, Taesan realized it.

‘He’s weak.’

Jagan was strong, of course. Despite receiving various buffs from his skills, their stats were not significantly different.

However, his movements were incredibly clumsy. Contrary to Taesan’s anticipation, he couldn’t properly block the Stormscar sword and continued to reveal his vulnerability.

Clash!

Twisting his wrist, he deflected Jagan’s sword. He stabbed his dagger into Jagan’s chest. Jagan backed off with a groan.

“Hmm.”

Jagan treated his wound without much agitation.

“The Sword of Stormscar. A hero without pride interferes with the living. It would be hard to win in close combat as long as you have that.”

Jagan opened his hand. The magic that formed the sword scattered and began to swirl around Jagan’s body.

“But I am a demon. An entity that inherits noble magic. My main focus is not on physical movement.”

Magic swelled and poured out of his body. It began to take shape as it combined with his magical power.

“Behold. The grand magic that the demons have created throughout the long history.”

[Jagan has activated the Decarabia's Distorted Vegetation.]

Boom!

From the darkness, plant roots sprung out. The plant life, large enough to fill the room and still be in excess, covered Taesan.

Taesan grimaced, moving his sword roughly. He fended off the approaching massive tree roots. A dull shock reverberated tinglingly up his arm.

“What is this?”

The room was filled with numerous roots.

Screech!

With a noise like a scream, the roots writhed. Like a cobra dancing to a flute, the roots clung to Taesan’s arms and legs, piercing his chest with their sharp ends.

Crack.

He snapped the roots with his elbow and moved his sword roughly.

The first sword, Wolf’s Fang, cut down all the approaching roots.

Still, there were too many. Seeing the frenzy of the roots, Taesan clicked his tongue and cast a spell.

Woosh.

A blazing sphere ignited in mid-air. It collided with the roots. In an instant, the flames spread out massively. The roots died out one by one, giving off a painful sound.

Roar.

Flames filled the room. Taesan blocked the approaching flames with Frost Arrow and turned his gaze.

“You used a Blazing Sphere?”

Jagan, who blocked the flames with magic, grimaced and waved his hand.

[Jagan activated Decarabia's Crow Hex.]

Caw, caw, caw!

From the darkness, distorted crows sprung out. Over a hundred easily, their beaks moved to attack Taesan. Taesan moved his sword roughly and managed to shake the crows off with his body movements.

“Is there such magic?”

The magic Taesan had seen so far was simple: calling down lightning, creating flames, creating ice. It was not complex and difficult to understand like this.

[Demon's magic. Or maybe Hex magic.]

The ghost said in explanation.

[The magic you use is the magic of the god of magic. It's the most popular magic here, but it's not all there is to magic. It's distinctly different from the magic the demons have independently created.]

“Don’t interfere. Hero! This is a fight between him and me!”

Jagan spoke sharply. Even if he was a ghost, there was no way he would know about the demon’s magic, and it was irritating to Jagan, who was in a life-or-death battle.

[Don't worry. I have no intention of helping.]

Jagan was momentarily taken aback by the leisurely talking ghost. Despite what he had said, he thought he would still say this and that to help.

‘Do they not get along well?’

This was a good thing for Jagan. He continued to manifest the demonic magic.

Marchosias’s False Flames.

Blue flames burst out and swallowed the remaining blazing sphere flames, scorching everything.

Taesan cast Frost Arrow to create a cold barrier, but the flames would not be easily extinguished.

In the end, the flames touched his arm.

[Kang Taesan's First Absolute Attack Nullification is activated.]

However, the flame was extinguished. As the result of the attack itself disappeared due to the skill, Jagan involuntarily raised his voice.

“What!”

Attack nullification? What kind of skill was that? He was greatly shaken, but Jagan quickly collected himself.

‘As expected.’

Jagan bared his teeth.

As the name suggested, Marchosias’s False Flames was not actually fire.

It was an extremely hot material in the form of fire. Therefore, it was not greatly affected by temperature and needed to be blocked by physical force.

But Taesan did not do that. Because he had no information about it.

All of the demon’s magic was unique and colorful, so if one didn’t know of them in advance, it was practically impossible to respond properly.

Jagan had no intention of missing this advantage. The demon’s magic continually overwhelmed Taesan.

Even the second nullification was triggered. With the onrushing magical force, big and small wounds began to appear on Taesan.

Motivated by the thought of victory, Jagan was overlooking one fact.

The fact that Taesan’s responses were gradually getting better.

Jagan clenched his fist.

[Jagan has activated Nebiros's Despair.]

Darkness engulfed Taesan, and Jagan chuckled under his breath.

“It’s over.”

The magic he used now was a type of magic that attacked the human spirit and buried it in endless darkness. Without preparation in advance, it was impossible to respond to it.

All Taesan could do was to be pinned in the darkness and slowly die.

As he was confident of his victory, Taesan stood in the darkness.

Grrr.

The roar of a beast assailed his ears. Horrible things tried to eat into his mind.

[It's hard to respond. This is magic you're seeing for the first time. From the beginning, the demon's magic is difficult, and even those who have frequently faced it can't respond properly. I don't know it well either.]

The ghost had faced several demons, but the depth of the demon’s magic was not shallow enough to be fully understood from such experiences.

Moreover, the magic of the demon was a secret among secrets, so no one opened their mouths about it.

He also only roughly knew about it and did not know the detailed countermeasures.

[But it would be different if it were you.]

The ghost’s words contained deep trust and belief.

Taesan stroked his chin in the darkness. The noises assaulting his ears had no effect on his mind.

“Not bad.”

‘Can I also learn this?’

Taesan tore through the darkness. Jagan, who was leisurely waiting for Taesan’s self-destruction, was startled.

‘He overcame this?’

Impossible. Nebiros’s Despair attacked the fundamental part of a person’s spirit. Even with an unyielding spirit, it was not easy to shake it off, but to come out this quickly!?

Jagan quickly gathered his wits.

‘But nothing changes.’

Taesan still didn’t know about the magic of the demons. If so, the outcome was obvious. He unleashed his magic.

[Jagan has activated Decarabia's Crow Swarm.]

Caw, Caw!

Numerous crows took flight. Each one was weak, but their overwhelming number beat down the opponent - a crushing spell.

‘The countermeasure is not to counter in the first place.’

Ignore them, or shake it off with just the aftermath of force.

One of the two, but Taesan had fended off each one with his sword. It was natural since he didn’t know the countermeasures. Jagan believed it would not be much different this time.

However, Taesan activated a skill.

[Kang Taesan has activated Repulsion.]

Skill: Repulsion. A skill that fired an intangible force from the center of the user to push things away.

It didn’t mean much when facing a singular force, but it was a great skill against these kinds of opponents who attacked in numbers.

The crows disappeared, crushed by the force before they even reached Taesan. Jagan’s pupils dilated.

‘Did he figure out the countermeasures?’

Jagan denied his own thoughts. It was only the second time. Believing it to be just a coincidence, he unleashes more magic.

[Jagan has activated Marbas' False Flames.]

Blue flames poured out like a dragon’s breath.

Taesan lifted his sword and struck the flames.

With a loud noise, the flame-shaped substance flew far away.

“Indeed, this is the correct way.”

Taesan shook his head.