Taesan looked at the monsters. A monster the size of a house that looked like a jellyfish, Monster 7. And a creature that looked like an octopus, floating in the air while waving its tentacles, Monster 5. “I just hope they're not the defensive type.” Offensive, defensive, ranged, close-combat, brainwashing, and so on.
Monsters came in various types. The information on the monsters was concealed, making it impossible to ascertain. The only way was to learn while fighting, a process in which many people had died.
Of course, none of that mattered to Taesan.
[You have activated Perfect Reconnaissance.]
[Monster 7] [Defensive Type] [Health: 148,551,233/148,551,233] Taesan's face contorted.
“140 million? You've got to be kidding me.”
What was this thing? Wasn't that a pool of health that the entire human race couldn't deplete even if they all attacked at once? Taesan barely suppressed his anger and checked the other one.
[Monster 5] [Ranged Offensive Type] [Health: 1,255,212/1,255,212] “This one is at least manageable.”
Still, it was 1.25 million. Compared to an ordinary monster, it was just as hopeless.
“Sigh.”
Taesan let out a deep, heavy sigh. It would have been easier if Lee Tae-yeon were here. Having cleared Alone Mode, she possessed innate stats and legendary equipment.
The defensive type couldn't deal any damage to Lee Tae-yeon, so she would have quickly dealt with the ranged offensive type first, and then either ignored the defensive one entirely or slowly finished it off. Deal with the offensive type first, then handle the defensive type later. It was a very standard method.
Other Players would likely do the same. But unfortunately, Taesan was an abnormal player. His stats were at the level of an Easy Player.
His equipment, too, was the same as when he left the Labyrinth, as it couldn't be exchanged between Players. The only thing he could rely on was his skills.
“Hoo.”
Taesan composed his entire body. Unstoppable Power granted immunity to all status ailments for five minutes. It was better to finish things within that time.
Tap.
Taesan kicked off the ground.
[You have activated Body Time Acceleration.]
Taesan’s body quickened. His very flesh accelerated, reaching a speed incomparable to his usual self.
Jureureureuk.
Monster 5 moved its tentacles toward the rushing Taesan. The tentacles pointed at him, a green light gathering at their tips.
Kiiiiing!
A beam shot out from the tip of the tentacle. Erasing everything in its path, it struck Taesan at the speed of light.
[Your Absolute Nullification of the First Attack has activated.]
[0 damage dealt to you.]
Dismissing the System Window, Taesan thought.
‘So it shoots in the direction the tentacle is pointing. No delay. Impossible to dodge after seeing it. Is predicting it the only way?’
He analyzed it quickly. The slower he was to understand his opponent, the lower his chances of survival became. Taesan made a swift decision.
‘In that case.’
Taesan changed direction. Instead of running straight ahead, he moved to the side to confuse the monster. The tentacle moved, and a green light gathered at its tip.
Taesan quickly threw his body aside.
Kiiiiing!
The light of destruction erased everything. That power, which reached for several kilometers, would have erased even a Hard Player in a single blow. Taesan had dodged it.
‘I can dodge it if I really put my mind to it.’
But that would make it difficult to get close. What would happen if he tried to approach while minimizing his evasion? The answer quickly emerged.
‘I can't dodge.’
The density of the light from the tentacles was high. If he got close, he would inevitably be hit at least once. There were a few solutions.
The first was to focus entirely on dodging. By using a few skills, he could evade all the attacks, and by slowly approaching, he would eventually reach it. It was the standard method, but at the same time, impossible for Taesan.
Skills were consumable. His meager pool of Mana was slowly but surely being depleted. He needed to finish this as quickly as possible.
“Tsk.”
In the end, he had to take a gamble, as always. Taesan crouched down and unleashed his stored power.
[You have activated Super Acceleration.]
The air exploded. Taesan's body shot forward.
Super Acceleration.
A sprinting skill that easily surpassed the speed of sound. Taesan used it often to quickly close the distance with his opponents. But the drawback was clear.
He couldn't perform any evasive maneuvers while sprinting. The tentacles of Monster 5 turned toward him.
Kiiiiing!
The green beam filled Taesan’s vision. Taesan kicked off the ground and accelerated even further.
[Your Absolute Nullification of the Second Attack has activated.]
[0 damage dealt to you.]
Jureureureuk.
Monster 5 was flustered. It had no face, but that’s what Taesan felt.
‘That’s the end of my attack nullifications.’
Unfortunately, he hadn't managed to create any more nullification skills. But thanks to them, he had reached striking distance. Taesan gripped his sword.
Just as he was about to attack Monster 5, Monster 7 appeared with its massive body.
Kuuuung!
Monster 7 took a stance as if to shield Taesan. When the ranged offensive type was in danger, the defensive type protected it. This must be the combination they were designed for.
But Taesan smiled.
“Got you.”
[You have activated Forced Duel. For 1 minute, nothing except Monster 7 can deal damage to you.]
A golden barrier enveloped Monster 7 and Taesan. Monster 5 fired its beam, but the barrier didn't even flinch. To Taesan, there wasn't much difference between a defensive and an offensive type.
The idea of withstanding hits was a story for Hard or Alone Players; with his meager stats and equipment, even a defensive type’s attack would be a one-shot kill. So, he would get rid of the annoyingly high-health defensive type first. Taesan gripped his sword.
[You have activated Addition. Your current Attack Power is doubled.]
[You have activated Multiplication. Your current Attack Power is squared.]
[You have activated Absolute Judgment. You will ignore the target's defensive skills.]
Addition, which doubled his Attack Power. Multiplication, which squared his Attack Power. They were truly overwhelming skills.
But it wasn't enough. His basic stats were so abysmally low that even after adding and multiplying, it only amounted to 9,604. It wasn't enough to pierce a monster with health in the hundred millions. So, one more time.
[You have activated Designated Skill Reset. This skill cannot be activated for one month.]
[You have reset Multiplication.]
[You have activated Multiplication. Your current Attack Power is squared.]
The square of 9,604. But it wasn't enough. He still couldn't reach the hundred millions. So, to the very limit.
Taesan gritted his teeth. A huge chunk of Mana drained from his entire body.
[You have activated Copy. The next attack will be applied twice.]
[Your attack.]
[92,236,816 damage to Monster 7.] [92,236,816 damage to Monster 7.] [Monster 7 has been defeated.]
It vanished without a trace. Taesan barely kept his trembling body upright. Monster 5 pointed its tentacle at him.
Kiiiiing.
The beam engulfed Taesan.
[22,543 damage dealt to you.]
[Your Fortitude has activated. An attack that would lead to death has been nullified. For 5 seconds, all damage becomes 0.] Unlike the attack nullifications, he only had one Fortitude.
Taesan quickly charged at Monster 5. The tentacle moved, but at such a close range, it was actually easier to dodge. From now on, it wasn't difficult. It was a simple repetition of dodging and striking.
But Taesan's expression was not good.
[Mana 21/820] His meager Mana pool was empty.
He couldn't use Multiplication. He had to chip away 1.25 million purely with his attacks. Taesan swung his sword.
[48 damage to Monster 5.] To put it simply, he had to strike it 25,000 times.
“I think I'm going to lose my mind.”
Using only the bare minimum of defense-piercing skills, a long battle began.
[54 damage to Monster 5.] The sun and moon repeatedly appeared and disappeared from the world.
At some point, Taesan lost his sense of time.
“Shit.”
When Taesan suddenly came to his senses, he looked at the enemy's health.
[Health: 655,212/1,255,212] “Half.”
Some might say to think of it as only half remaining, but from Taesan's perspective, that was nonsense. It was already painful enough. The fact that he had to repeat this all over again made him feel nauseous.
“Sigh.”
But after a single sigh, Taesan moved. He dodged a beam and swung his sword.
[50 damage to Monster 5.] Time passed.
Once again, the sun and moon repeatedly showed their faces. Players were resilient to their desires, but at this point, even Taesan was getting hungry. The tip of his sword trembled from lack of sleep.
But his spirit remained unchanged. Time flowed on and on. At some point, he reached a stage where his body moved his spirit, rather than his spirit moving his body.
And then, it ended.
[You have entered the State of Mindless Immersion. Body and spirit become one.]
[A miraculous power is engraved upon your soul. You have obtained the soul skill [Soul Rank Ascension].]
[As you are outside the Labyrinth, you have not acquired the skill. [Soul Rank Ascension] has been sealed.]
“Shut up.”
He closed the incomprehensible System Window. Taesan barely supported his trembling legs. Looking around, the scene was a spectacle.
Everything was gouged out and collapsed; the city's form was gone without a trace, and a valley had been created in its place.
Taesan spat.
“Die.”
[48 damage to Monster 5.] [Monster 5 has been defeated.]
[The gods of all dimensions are utterly astonished by your great deed.]
The price for chipping away 1.25 million health purely through time was great. It was difficult to even stand. Taesan barely managed to move his trembling lips.
“... Status Window.”
[Kang Taesan] [Level: 57] [Health: 1/1021] [Mana: 2/820] [Strength: 105] [Intelligence: 100] [Agility: 98] [Attack Power + 49] [Defense Power + 58] [Subject is in a near-death state.]
It was a disastrous status window. It felt like he had been fighting for at least a month.
“Damn this lack of stats.”
If he were at least a Normal Player, it would have been easier than this. But he had won. He had defeated two S-Class monsters, a feat that not even Lee Tae-yeon could guarantee.
He moved his body on trembling legs. He didn't have the Mana to use Great Leap, so he had no choice but to walk back. Fortunately, his Mana and Health recovered to some extent as he walked.
Just as his Mana was about to reach around 20, the city began to appear in his sight. No monsters were visible. But Taesan’s face crumpled.
[You have activated Perfect Reconnaissance.]
All information in the vicinity was displayed in the form of a map. Blue dots were humanity. Red dots were monsters.
There were no blue dots. All he could see was one giant red dot inside the city.
“Damn it all.”
Taesan spat out a curse and headed toward the city. As he got closer, he saw corpses. They were familiar faces.
They were the ones who had passed the time with him, making idle talk, until just a short while ago. All of them were dead.
“You all bragged about being some of the few Hard Players in the world, so why am I, an Easy difficulty player, the only one left alive? Why is everyone dead when I came back after winning?”
He vented his complaints. With a truly annoyed expression, he entered the city. Inside the city, there were even more corpses.
Among them was the body of Jung-geun. His face was peaceful.
“Looks like he went just as he said he would.”
Next to him was Lee Chang-chun's corpse as well. Judging by his expression, which wasn't too dark, it seemed he had accepted it in the end. Taesan walked past the corpses.
At the end of the path of bodies, one corpse was laid out.
“Lee Tae-yeon.”
The one and only person in the world to have cleared the Alone difficulty. The human praised as the strongest in the world. She had died a gruesome death.
And the monster that killed her was here.
Gurgle.
A hideous something crawled forward. A formless monster looked at him from beside Lee Tae-yeon's corpse. Something that surpassed S-Class.
People had given that monster the name Apostle.
[The gaze of !#$!#.]
[You will die instantly.]
An absolute gaze with no judgment. A declaration of instant death that even a Hard difficulty Player could not resist. It was known that Lee Tae-yeon had been the only one to ever endure it.
Taesan nonchalantly waved his hand.
“Get lost.”
[Resistance successful.]
Gurgle.
Taesan raised his sword. He swung it at the monster with irritation. The strongest monster, which not even Lee Tae-yeon could defeat.
[You have activated Essence Strike.]
[$#!!!# damage.]
Gurgle!
Such a monster writhed in pain. Taesan beckoned with his hand roughly.
“Come on, you bastard.”