Ascension Through Skills

In an instant, the space twisted.

The force manifested by the system’s power appeared in the world.

Crack.

The Servant moved, struggling to withstand the physical force pressing against it.

A black aura surged forth, enveloping the Servant's entire body, creating an absolute defense that cut off all external interference.

This black aura was a power beyond this world, transcendent and unmatched by any opposing force. Breaking through it with mere physical strength was considered impossible.

Creak.

And yet, the black aura cracked.

Pure physical power shattered the black defense. The Servant, in a panic, summoned more of the black aura to reinforce itself. But it was too late. The moment of contact had already come. A resounding crack echoed as the entire defense shattered, and the force reached the Servant’s body.

Boom!

An explosion erupted.

The sky split open. Clouds scattered, revealing the vast expanse of space.

The sheer physical power pierced through the Servant and reached into the cosmos.

Crash!

The ocean turned into a tidal wave, spreading in all directions. The surrounding land crumbled as the very foundation gave way. Despite Taesan’s efforts to control the direction of his attack, the unleashed physical force rampaged like a wild beast, wreaking havoc everywhere.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“What—what’s happening?!”

People were swept away like leaves in a storm.

“Ugh!”

Minerva quickly took control of the wind, catching those who were being blown away and pulling them back to Greenland.

[Aaaaargh!] [Nooo!]

Even the monsters were not spared. Many of them couldn’t withstand the aftermath and were flung out of Greenland.

“Wait—hold on.”

Lee Taeyeon stared in shock. Even from a considerable distance, she could feel the overwhelming force of the attack.

“What... is that?”

This wasn’t mere physical power.

Such concentrated strength and intensity had transcended the realm of physicality and become something akin to divine authority.

“What on earth did he just do?”

Her astonished voice trembled as she spoke.

Crack!

The Servant’s body distorted, unable to endure the crushing force. It was flung far into the depths of space.

The speed was extraordinary—so fast that even Taesan struggled to keep up.

Taesan opened a gateway.

[You have activated Teleportation.]

Leaping through space, he arrived ahead of the Servant, extending his hand with the Boundary Line swirling around it.

The Servant’s body was caught in Taesan’s grasp.

With a forceful motion, Taesan slammed the Servant into the ground, burying it deep within the earth.

Boom!

Returning to Earth, Taesan dusted off his hands.

The Servant was now in a critical state. It twitched, desperately trying to draw upon its power, but even the black aura failed to manifest properly.

Seeing this, Taesan let out a faint chuckle.

The Servant was an existence without a defined physical limit. No matter how high one’s attack power was, it was impossible to defeat a Servant through damage alone.

And yet, this being was now teetering on the edge of death due to sheer physical force.

[...Wow.]

Bardray finally broke the silence with a voice filled with awe.

[If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, that damage exceeded four billion, didn’t it?]

“You’re right.”

[Well, that’s... something else.]

Bardray couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

[I expected a high number, but this...]

The combination of Addition and Multiplication had brought about this staggering outcome.

With Taesan’s current attack power, dealing damage in the billions was no longer a difficult task. This result had been anticipated.

But witnessing it firsthand was an entirely different matter. Four billion. The sheer magnitude of the number was mind-boggling. Damage on this scale, accomplished in just two skill activations, was beyond imagination.

“The damage itself isn’t what matters.”

For Taesan, the numerical value of damage was no longer a significant concern. High damage alone couldn’t defeat the Servants of the Malevolent God.

These beings existed outside the rules of this universe. Damage confined within the system’s limits couldn’t deal meaningful harm to them.

In other words, even the skill Multiplication had limited value against such enemies.

That was until Balbabamba had given him one specific skill.

“Even I didn’t expect this.”

Taesan was genuinely surprised.

The skill that converted damage into physical force had exceeded his expectations. While physical force was proportional to the damage dealt, his proficiency with the skill was still lacking.

Of course, with damage in the billions, he had expected it to be powerful, but this far surpassed his predictions.

“Not bad.”

No, it was excellent. His efforts to obtain Multiplication had paid off handsomely.

For Taesan, the Servant was no longer a difficult opponent. Even without Multiplication, he could have handled it without issue.

But rendering the Servant critically wounded with a single strike demonstrated the skill’s value—on par with Boundary Line.

“I’m satisfied.”

Taesan smiled, raising his sword to finish the job. The Boundary Line began to coalesce around the blade.

However, just as he was about to strike, Taesan paused.

The moment he summoned the Boundary Line, he felt something off. It was an indescribable sensation, as though an unknown entity had intervened.

He stared at the flickering Boundary Line on his sword. And then he realized what was wrong.

The Boundary Line was slipping out of his control, just slightly, and flowing toward something.

It didn’t take long for him to identify where it was going.

The rift in the sky.

Taesan frowned.

“What the hell is this?”

He stared at the rift for a moment before swinging his sword. The blade pierced the Servant’s neck, and a grayish hue engulfed its entire body.

[Your Spiritual Surge has been activated. Black Aura proficiency has increased by 3%.]

[You have activated Teleportation.]

Taesan returned to Greenland.

The land was completely destroyed, reduced to rubble and submerged under water. Despite his best efforts to control the force, the battlefield had been utterly devastated.

“The disc is intact.”

Amid the chaos, the divine disc remained unscathed.

Taesan spoke briefly.

“Rise and restore.”

[You have activated Declaration of Restoration.]

Rumble.

The shattered ground reformed, rebuilding the land into its original state. It was as though nothing had ever happened.

Taesan moved to another disc. There, people were locked in desperate combat with monsters.

Crack!

A monster fell, pierced through the neck by Kim Huiyeon’s sword. No more monsters remained in sight.

Kim Huiyeon cried out with joy.

“We won!”

“Ooooooooh!”

The crowd erupted into cheers, raising their weapons in triumph.

They had achieved victory.

***

The joy was short-lived.

No sooner had the monsters been defeated than new ones began to emerge.

“Looks like it’s a rotation battle. Hold the line!”

“Understood!”

Fortunately, the newly appearing monsters were not overwhelming in number. Their strength was manageable, allowing the defenders to rotate shifts and hold their ground.

With some breathing room, they glanced around.

“By the way, where is Lord Taesan? I’d like to offer a prayer...”

“I know where he is,” Amelia said, looking up at the sky with a complicated expression. “But you won’t be able to see him.”

“I’ve got so many questions for him, but he just won’t come down,” Lee Taeyeon grumbled.

Taesan was high above them.

Standing just before the massive, pitch-black rift, he gazed at it intently. A pillar of light, projected from the divine disc, struck the rift repeatedly, but the rift held firm without so much as a tremor.

The rift was a deep black void, so dense it seemed to absorb light itself.

This place was the boundary connecting the world of the Malevolent God and theirs.

After a moment of observation, Taesan raised his hand.

Flicker.

The Boundary Line, a power that was neither light nor darkness, materialized above his palm.

At that moment, Taesan saw it clearly. A portion of the Boundary Line was being drawn into the rift in the sky.

The rift, consuming the Boundary Line, grew ever so slightly stronger and larger. Taesan clenched his hand, extinguishing the power.

Each time he used the Boundary Line, a fragment of it was siphoned into the rift.

It was a small amount—so small that it would go unnoticed without precise focus. But it was a definite transfer.

Taesan stared at the rift.

He felt an odd sense of familiarity emanating from it.

It wasn’t the rift itself, but something intrinsic to the concept of the Malevolent God that seemed familiar.

“Hmm.”

Taesan descended back to the ground, reflecting on the Servant he had just defeated.

The Servant had taken on the form of an ordinary human.

It wasn’t particularly strong or fast. Compared to the previous Servants, who each had unique, intense characteristics, this one was strangely plain.

Taesan delved into his memory. What had been this Servant’s defining trait?

...The black aura.

The black aura controlled by the Servant was subtly different from that of the others. It was darker, more alien.

What if he had faced this Servant using the Boundary Line? Taesan simulated the scenario in his mind. As a transcendent, his mental simulations were remarkably accurate.

The result was clear.

It would have taken significantly longer to defeat.

Not that it would have been difficult—Taesan could have handled the Servant without much trouble.

It was a matter of compatibility.

The black aura this Servant wielded was optimized for countering the Boundary Line, persistently latching on and forcing him to use it repeatedly.

And each time the Boundary Line was used, a fragment of it would have been drawn into the rift.

Taesan now understood what the Malevolent Gods were aiming for in this return.

Their goal was to make him use the Boundary Line.

“A solid plan.”

The Boundary Line was Taesan’s greatest power. Forcing him to fight without it was akin to tying his hands and feet in battle.

Yet, using it played directly into their strategy. Somehow, the Malevolent Gods had devised a method to siphon it away with each use.

A classic catch-22.

“Well planned.”

But there was one issue.

The Malevolent Gods hadn’t accounted for Multiplication.

With the raw physical force he now possessed, Taesan could critically injure a Servant without using the Boundary Line.

“Perfect timing.”

Taesan looked up at the rift with a relaxed expression.

For nearly a week after that, no significant monsters appeared.

A few hundred A-rank and a couple of S-rank monsters descended intermittently, but these were easily handled without any casualties.

It almost felt as if the Malevolent Gods were hesitating, unsure how to proceed.

The Multiplication skill was an irregularity among irregularities. Its ability to defeat a Servant using pure physical force alone was entirely unexpected, even by the most brilliant mages. The Malevolent Gods’ plans had been thoroughly derailed.

Time continued to pass.

The golden light encasing the rift in the sky grew steadily stronger.

“At this rate... about a month left.”

“There’s still quite a bit of time.”

The estimate of a month gave the defenders renewed determination.

But just as they reached a moment of clarity, the monsters returned in force.

“They’re coming! Everyone, prepare yourselves!”

Those who had been resting hurriedly rose to their feet. When they looked up, their faces froze in shock.

The sky was entirely filled with monsters, blotting out the heavens.

“Seems they’re trying to go all-in this time.”

Taesan muttered to himself as monsters began to descend in front of him.

Boom!

[$%%^%& has appeared.]

[#@!!!! has appeared.]

[!@%^&&& has appeared.]

“Three Servants, huh.” @@novelbin@@

Three Servants encircled Taesan.

[You have activated Reconnaissance.]

[You have activated Essence Analysis.]

After quickly assessing the Servants’ information, Taesan was certain.

The Malevolent Gods were baiting him into using the Boundary Line.

These Servants were disposable pawns. The real trump cards were still being held back.

Which meant Taesan’s course of action was simple.

Do not use the Boundary Line.

Taesan moved. The Servants tried to react, but he was far faster. He raised his sword and swung.

[You have activated Addition.]

[You have activated Multiplication.]

Crack.

[$%%^%& receives 4,412,382,124 damage.]

The Servant desperately tried to block the attack.

But its defenses shattered. Its body was hurled into the depths of space.

Boom!

As soon as Taesan used Multiplication, the remaining Servants charged at him. Their movements made it blatantly clear they wanted him to use the Boundary Line.

Of course, Taesan had no intention of obliging.

With a subtle shift in his stance, Taesan maneuvered the two remaining Servants into overlapping positions.

[You have used the Twisted Ring of the Regretful One. The cooldown for Multiplication has been reset.]

[You have activated Addition.]

[You have activated Multiplication.]

[You have activated Replication.]

“Go together.”

With a calm swing of his sword, the two Servants were cleaved apart simultaneously.