[Lee Tae-yeon [Alone Mode]: Uh, um. So, you're saying I have to take off all my armor and get hit, but I can't take that much damage?]
[Kang Taesan [Alone Mode]: You understood correctly?]
[Lee Tae-yeon [Alone Mode]: ... What kind of crazy talk is that? It makes less sense than Fortitude?]
[Kang Jun-hyeok [Alone Mode]: More importantly, how in the world do you know about a Skill like that? That's what's more amazing.]
“Karuk.”
Taesan waited patiently with his arms crossed. The Lizardman, flustered, did not approach.
“How annoying.”
Without a taunt Skill, he had to wait for it to attack. Taesan stood quietly. The Ghost muttered in a puzzled voice.
[You're trying to get a Skill, right?]
“I've done something similar, haven't I?”
Taesan had shown him how to obtain Forced Duel before. But the Ghost's tone was still one of incomprehension.
[No, but I really don't get this one. Is there a reason to take off your armor? And you have to get hit in this state?]
It was a story even the Ghost, who had reached The Depths, had never heard before.
[There's a Skill you can get by doing all this? I've never heard of it. Forced Duel was plausible, so I could accept it, but what is this?]
“Just watch quietly. It exists.”
Taesan stared blankly at the Lizardman. The Lizardman gripped its spear with a determined expression.
“Kak!”
It kicked off the ground and thrust its spear toward Taesan. Taesan watched the tip of the spear. It was fast, but he could see it all.
Taesan spread his arms and tensed every muscle in his body. He couldn't use any Skills. He had to respond with pure physical movement alone.
The spear made contact with Taesan's arm. It dug into the edge of his skin. The moment he felt the pain, Taesan pulled his arm back.
The Lizardman didn't stop and thrust its spear even harder. It pressed into his flesh, trying to slice off his forearm. He deflected with his body to the absolute limit.
He moved his body in the direction of the force. He evaded all the attacks unfolding at a breath's distance. The slightest mistake would have gotten him skewered, but only a thin line appeared on Taesan's body.
No major Damage occurred. Soon, a Damage window popped up.
[You have taken 20 Damage.]
A blow that should have dealt 50 Damage without armor only dealt 20. The Skill called Deflection forcefully makes an attack glance off; it's not a Skill that forcefully reduces Damage. A clear difference in Damage exists between an attack that is deflected and one that lands squarely. At the same time, a System Window appeared.
[You have received only half the Damage. You have acquired the Special Active Skill [Fortitude].]
Along with Fortitude, the Skill Taesan wanted appeared.
[Your Health did not decrease from the first attack. You have acquired the Special Passive Skill [Absolute Nullification of the First Attack].]
[Huh?]
“Kak!”
Along with the Ghost's flustered cry, the Lizardman thrust its spear. Taesan watched calmly. This time, he didn't even try to dodge.
It was the moment the spear touched Taesan.
[Your Absolute Nullification of the First Attack has been activated.]
The attack was erased. The power imbued in the spear vanished. The Lizardman's body returned to the state it was in right before thrusting the spear.
The Ghost was shocked at the sight, as if time had been reversed.
[Wait. What was that.]
“Kak, kaak?”
The Lizardman also hesitated in confusion, looking at its own spear. It had clearly thrust the spear, but it had returned to its original position. It felt as if the very act of attacking had been erased.
He had obtained the Skill. Taesan drew his sword and swung. The dazed Lizardman was cut down and collapsed.
“Kaaaaaah...”
[You have been victorious against the Spear-Wielding Lizardman.]
His Skill, which he had used until the very, very end. Absolute Nullification of the Attack. He was able to obtain it much faster than he thought.
Taesan muttered with satisfaction.
“I'll have to thank Rakiratas.”
[... Absolute Nullification of the First Attack.]
The Ghost, belatedly realizing its meaning, let out a hollow laugh.
[What a truly insane Skill.]
[Special Passive Skill: Absolute Nullification of the First Attack] [Nullifies the opponent's first attack. This Skill can only be used once per battle against the same opponent.]
It was extremely simple. As it came with an Absolute Judgment, Proficiency was meaningless and thus did not exist.
Absolute Nullification.
Literally, no matter what the opponent's attack was, if it was the first one, it was simply erased.
[What kind of Skill is this? Forced Duel was absurd, but this is even more so.]
The Ghost's voice was filled with wonder. Its performance was indeed that incredible. Many, be they Monsters or Players, often try to end things with their first attack.
They use their Skills and power without holding back. This could completely erase that attack. As it made the attack as if it had never happened, the opponent couldn't react at all.
It was safe to say it was a kind of reality alteration that could forcibly seize the upper hand. On top of that, it wasn't an Active Skill like Deflection, but a Passive Skill. Unless the opponent knew about Absolute Nullification in advance, it was impossible to counter.
But there was something that surprised the Ghost even more.
[How in the world do you know about a Skill like this?]
Taesan replied calmly.
“Because I've done it before.”
Information about Skills does not exist. While it might be different for very basic Skills like Vision Expansion or Insight, for higher-level Skills, no one shares that information. There was no one in the Labyrinth kind-hearted enough to give away something they had worked hard to obtain for free.
In the end, they had to find the Skills themselves. They knew only one thing. That Skills are obtained when one manages to replicate their effects, even if only similarly.
For example, when fighting only one out of many opponents. For example, when endlessly blocking fatal damage without pause. For example, when taking no Damage at all from an attack that should have dealt Damage.
One could obtain Skills in such situations. It was a concept of prediction. A realm of possibility.
No one knew for sure if there was even a Skill to be obtained that way. One misstep could lead to death or danger. Usually, people stopped at the realm of imagination.
But Taesan had tried it himself.
Countless trials. And errors. Copy.
Addition.
Simple Time Stop.
Absolute Judgment.
They were all things he had obtained that way.
“The difficulty is truly insane.”
Skills with overwhelming performance were usually obtained by overcoming a contradiction. Absolute Nullification of the Attack was one of them. He had to pass the contradiction of receiving Damage while not receiving Damage.
The Ghost let out a dry laugh.
[You would have never gotten this without your Shield, would you?]
“I would have struggled quite a bit.”
In his previous life, he had indeed struggled immensely. If the difference in rank with the opponent was above a certain level, he couldn't obtain the Skill. He had to check hundreds of times to find the razor-thin line and was only able to obtain it after thousands of tries.
That was why, in this life too, he had expected to get it much later, after obtaining various other Skills, but thanks to Rakiratas, the process was shortened considerably. A Shield does not fall under the Judgment for Health. When obtaining Absolute Nullification of the First Attack, the Judgment is that one's Health did not decrease.
As long as he had the Shield, he could obtain it without much difficulty. That was Taesan's judgment, and it was correct. By forcibly reducing the opponent's Damage, he was naturally able to obtain Fortitude as well.
[Special Active Skill: Fortitude] [Mana Cost: 15] [Halves the attack Damage of the next target.]
Similarly, because it was a fixed Judgment, it had no Proficiency. The Mana cost was high, but since it reduced the absolute value of Damage, it was a good Skill that even Hard Mode Players couldn't easily acquire.
[Hah. So you did all that to get this. Are you heading down now?]
“No. Not yet.”
[Is there something else to get?]
“This is Absolute Nullification of the First Attack.”
Absolute Nullification of the Second Attack also exists. Taesan took out the Blade of Self-Harm and stabbed himself.
[Blade of Self-Harm used. Your Shield has been restored.]
“As expected.”
When taking a hit, the Shield is not judged as Health, but when recovering, it is judged as Health. It was a convenient Judgment in many ways. The Shield became 35 again.
The Ghost, realizing what Taesan meant, spoke with a grimace.
[I see what you mean. This is a truly crazy Skill. But is that even possible? You took 20 Damage, didn't you?]
The Shield was at 35. Even deflecting the Damage to the limit, he had still taken 20 Damage. Blocking two attacks was impossible.
“That's why I have this.”
Taesan took the Powder of Blessing from his Inventory.
[Powder of Blessing] [A powder said to come from a Fairy's Wings. Rumored to grant a blessing to the user.]
An Item whose effect neither the Ghost nor the Dwarf knew. Its effect was to fix minute probabilities. Taesan sprinkled all three Powders of Blessing on his body.
Then he went to the next room and met a Lizardman.
“Kaak!”
The Lizardman cried out and thrust its spear. The first attack is erased with Absolute Nullification. The flustered Lizardman thrusts its spear again.
This is where it really begins. Just like before, Taesan moved his body to its limits to evade. A thin line was drawn on Taesan's body, and the Damage window appeared.
[You have taken 17 Damage.]
[Huh?]
The Ghost is surprised by the clearly reduced Damage.
[Don't tell me it's the Powder of Blessing?]
Several Judgments exist for an attack.
Hit Judgment. Evasion Judgment. Defense Judgment.
There were others, but these three were the most basic. Among them, a Random Judgment also existed. When taking Damage, a 10% portion was applied completely at random.
For an attack of 30, the range from 27 to 33 was purely dependent on the system's luck. The established theory was that it couldn't be controlled. But the Powder of Blessing was an adjustment of minute probabilities.
The Random Judgment was also included in that. Using three or more at once guaranteed that one would receive the minimum Damage from the Random Judgment. It was a piece of information Taesan had discovered only after more than half of the people had left the Labyrinth.
He evaded the second attack.
[You have taken 18 Damage.]
[Your Health did not decrease from the second attack. You have acquired the Special Passive Skill [Absolute Nullification of the Second Attack].]
He got it. Taesan dealt with the Lizardman. The Ghost let out a dumbfounded laugh.
[You really obtain these in all sorts of ways, don't you?]
[Special Passive Skill: Absolute Nullification of the Second Attack] [Nullifies the opponent's second attack. This Skill can only be used once per battle against the same opponent.]
Complete immunity up to the second attack. As long as he had this Skill, he could guarantee victory against opponents of the same class. Like Fortitude and Forced Duel, Absolute Nullification was a Main Skill.
[The Skill itself is amazing, but the method to get it is amazing too. How did you know that the Powder of Blessing had a Damage-reducing effect?]
“Countless challenges and experiments.”
[Well, I'll be.]
The Ghost let out a dry laugh.
[Right. You did say 'second'. That makes sense. Even so, it's still ridiculous.]
It seemed he was slowly starting to guess. Having come this far, it was impossible not to know. If he were that foolish, he would never have been able to reach The Depths.
Taesan brushed it off indifferently, as it was something he had expected.
‘I've already gotten up to the second one.’
Only the 6th Floor. He hadn't used any tricks other than the Shield. In his previous world, Taesan had obtained up to Absolute Nullification of the Second Attack.
It was something he had obtained after countless tricks and numerous challenges, and even that had required a great deal of luck. Even if he were to do it again, he would only be able to get up to the second one. But now, Taesan had a Shield.