Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 470: Floor 89: The Old God’s Outpost (3)
“Aaargh!”
“Khhhk!”
The attackers were blown back, struggling to recover. One man stared helplessly at his shattered liquor bottle.
“My... my drink...”
“This is not the time to worry about that!”
Another quickly drew his weapon, shouting in frustration.
At the center of the explosion stood Taesan, calm and unscathed.
“How the hell did you get in here?”
This was the Old God’s domain, a place where even the reigning transcendents of the universe couldn’t interfere easily.
“Die!”
The first to regain his senses lunged at Taesan, his body grotesquely transforming. Thick, slimy ooze dripped from his form, corrupting the ground beneath his feet.
He swung his entire body like a weapon, aiming to crush Taesan.
Taesan clenched his fist.
Boom!
“Kahhhk!”
The charging attacker was slammed into the ground with a thunderous impact. His grotesque form writhed as his ooze-covered body clung to Taesan.
“Hahaha! Be defiled!”
Even as he lay on the brink of death, the man shouted triumphantly. The ooze began burrowing into Taesan’s body, seeking to corrupt and destroy his essence.
“Rot away, crumble into nothing!”
The man was confident of Taesan’s demise.
As a servant of the Filthy Corruption, his granted authority allowed him to wield a substance capable of corrupting all it touched. Countless powerful beings had fallen victim to this sludge. Taesan, he believed, would be no different.
“So, even powers like this exist.”
But Taesan responded nonchalantly.
Vrrrm!
A golden light enveloped his body.
The brilliant radiance of divinity burned away the sludge, reducing it to nothing in mere moments. Taesan stood, completely unaffected, as though nothing had happened.
“Divinity can cleanse it. Not very threatening after all.”
“H-how...”
“The gap between us is too vast for this to even be a threat.”
Taesan spoke calmly and plunged his sword into the man’s chest.
The servant spat blood and died, his body melting into a formless mass that soon dissolved completely.
“No Soul Rank increase, huh? What a shame.”
These servants were at the lower tier of immortals. The gap between them and Taesan was too large to trigger a rank increase.
Taesan raised his head.
The remaining servants, hesitating, couldn’t bring themselves to attack.
“Come on.”
Taesan taunted them.
“Didn’t you say you could kill me if you all worked together?”
“You—!”
“Y-you betrayed us!”
“Not a betrayal. I was never on your side to begin with.”
Taesan’s sword began to glow, infused with divinity.
The radiant golden light contrasted starkly against the blackened world.
“If we’re being precise, you’re the traitors.”
These were beings who had abandoned their worlds to side with the Old Gods, destroying countless lives and collapsing entire worlds.
“If you were going to take lives so freely, you should have at least considered the possibility of losing your own.”
Taesan moved.
The servants gritted their teeth and retaliated with all their might. Their bodies oozed with slime, while some sprayed black energy into the air.
Boom!
A battle of one versus nine erupted.
Darkness, filth, and divinity clashed violently, creating a chaotic storm.
As Taesan fought, he calmly analyzed their powers.
“Most of them are servants of the Filthy Corruption.”
Seven of the nine transformed grotesquely, oozing their corruption everywhere. Just as the group had said, the Filthy Corruption was one of the most active Old Gods, and their servants were abundant.
The remaining two servants wielded a different power—darkness.
They spread a consuming void across the battlefield, turning the very space into their domain and using it to suppress Taesan.
“Servants of the Endless Darkness, then.”
The two appeared to be aligned with the Endless Darkness, whose authority devoured and claimed the very fabric of existence.
Crash!
Taesan swung his sword, the divine light erasing the corruption and restoring the devoured space to its original form.
“Khhhk!”
No matter how desperately the servants charged at him, they couldn’t touch him.
These servants were, at best, lower-tier immortals.
R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.
The gap between them and Taesan was absolute. Even though they wielded the authority of the Old Gods, their own strength was insufficient to fully manifest that power.
One of the servants lunged at Taesan with suicidal determination, grabbing his arm even as his chest was pierced by Taesan’s sword.
Corruption began to seep into Taesan’s body, and the servant’s face lit up with hope—only to twist into despair as Taesan casually shook off the ooze.
“But I wield their power! Why doesn’t it work?!”
“Because you’re weak.”
Taesan’s reply was calm and final.
The corruption couldn’t affect someone with Taesan’s self-stabilizing Black Energy.
Crunch!
“Gahhh!”
The servant was sent flying, his body pierced by Taesan’s sword.
The remaining servants tried to capitalize on the moment, charging in unison.
Taesan planted his feet firmly on the ground, drawing power from it. The earth’s energy wrapped around him like armor.
Boom!
The forces collided.
The servants’ combined power shattered the armor, but Taesan simply drew more energy from the earth to reform it.
“It holds up well enough.”
Taesan was testing the two immortal powers he had acquired on the 88th floor.
The first was He Who Treads Upon the Earth.
It performed admirably. Though these servants wielded destructive authority, Taesan’s earth armor was sufficient to withstand their attacks. The power had its limits, but it was highly effective against most attacks.
Next was Master of the Skies.
Taesan rose into the air. As he ascended, the heavens bent to his will, becoming part of his domain.
Drawing energy from the skies, Taesan unleashed a gale.
Whoosh!
A violent storm surged, slashing at the servants with razor-sharp winds.
“Khhhk!”
The servants tried to shield themselves, but the storm tore through them, leaving deep wounds across their bodies.
“Impressive.”
As a transcendent, Taesan could wield the powers he had stolen with remarkable skill.
The lack of energy cost was particularly advantageous. As long as he remained grounded or airborne, the powers activated effortlessly.
Boom!
The servants were scattered by the gale.
Despair began to seep into their eyes as they realized—
They couldn’t reach him.
Desperate attacks were futile, blocked by Taesan’s self-stabilizing energy. Each casual swing of his power was more than enough to obliterate his enemies.
At first, the servants believed they could win. They held their ground and continued to fight.
But now, they understood.
They could not defeat Taesan. Not with their combined strength, not with everything they had.
“H-hold on!”
One of them stammered, his voice trembling with fear.
“The administrator will come back... and he’ll come straight here. We just need to hold out until then—”
“Sorry, but I’ve seen all I need to see.”
Taesan’s voice was cold. There was no reason to let them linger any longer.
[You have activated Magic Stacking.]
[You have activated Great Collapse (Negation).]
Crack!
A pitch-black sphere formed in the air.
And then another.
And another.
The three spheres overlapped, radiating a terrifying, destructive force.
The servants’ faces turned pale.
As they tried to flee, Taesan unleashed the magic.
[You have activated Magic Release.]
“Aaaagh!”
They moved desperately, trying to survive. They covered themselves in corruption, expanding their blackened domains to resist.
But the negation magic consumed everything.
The black spheres devoured their defenses, their bodies, their very essence.
The ten servants of the Old Gods, destroyers of countless worlds, were erased completely.
Taesan didn’t stop moving.
The servants had mentioned that the administrator was absent.
He needed to act quickly, before the administrator returned.
The Conflict Reverberates
The battle between Taesan and the servants was felt across the entire domain.
The inhabitants of the corrupted world realized that an intruder had arrived.
Their responses varied: some chose to observe from a distance, others fled as far as possible, and a few dared to confront Taesan, hoping to eliminate him.
Those who chose the latter did not fare well.
Boom!
“Kahhk!”
Most of the servants in this world were barely at the lower tier of immortality. They posed no real threat to Taesan.
“Show me what your authority can do.”
Taesan’s calm but commanding voice made his opponent’s blood run cold.
Under his oppressive aura, the servant felt their life teetering on the edge. Their face turned pale as they reluctantly unleashed their authority.
Something invisible latched onto Taesan.
An alien force attempted to infiltrate him, to steal something fundamental from his essence.
The servant’s face lit up with hope—until Taesan shook his entire body.
The alien force was purged, obliterated as if it had never existed.
“Ah...”
The servant’s expression twisted into despair.
Taesan himself was momentarily surprised.
“It tried to erase my skills.”
He had deliberately allowed the attack to connect, curious about its effects. The authority had invaded his very essence, attempting to nullify part of his abilities.
“Fascinating.”
Crunch!
“Khhhk!”
Taesan’s sword pierced the servant’s chest. The man didn’t even have time to scream before he died.
Taesan continued his ruthless advance.
He killed every servant who dared to approach him. And when there were no more willing combatants, he hunted down those who observed from afar.
By the time the battlefield was cleared, Taesan had encountered and studied several unique authorities.
“Interesting.”
Each authority was distinct, alien, and dangerous. One servant had even managed to absorb and redirect Taesan’s attacks as his own.
If Taesan had faced such opponents without prior knowledge, he might have suffered significant losses.
But now, with this understanding, he would be better prepared for similar abilities in the future.
A Ruthless Pursuit
“About halfway done.”
Half of the servants in this outpost had already fallen to Taesan’s blade.
The survivors, gripped by fear, scrambled to distance themselves from him.
But Taesan had no intention of letting them escape.
His quest was to destroy this outpost entirely.
Even the Old Gods, held back by the transcendents, could not interfere directly. The massive clashes of power in the skies beyond were evidence enough of that.
Time was on his side. He would hunt down every last servant.
Taesan moved methodically, eliminating those who tried to flee.
“Spare me!”
One of the servants screamed, his voice cracking with desperation.
“No.”
Crunch!
Taesan’s sword struck without mercy.
Every being in this place had destroyed entire worlds. Mercy was not an option.
The destroyers of countless lives died just as mercilessly as their victims had.
“Ah... ahhh...”
Taesan stood over a fallen servant, ready to deliver the final blow.
Suddenly, the space around him fractured.
A surge of overwhelming power radiated outwards as a figure emerged from the tear.
What seeped from the figure was pure, unbridled rage.
The dying servant’s face lit up with hope.
“Ah... ahhh... finally! Finally, they’ve come...!”
Slash!
Taesan silenced the servant with a final strike.
A blood-drenched arm appeared through the fracture, followed by the rest of the figure.
Their entire body was soaked in crimson, their hair dyed so thoroughly with blood that its original color was unrecognizable.
“Does no one here understand hygiene?”
Taesan muttered under his breath.
The figure responded with a murderous glare.
“You... vile creature. How dare you wreak havoc while I was away?”
“And what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll kill you.”
A suffocating aura erupted from the figure, distorting the very fabric of time and space around them.
Taesan smirked.
“Go ahead. Try.”
A system notification appeared in Taesan’s vision:
[The Avatar of the Monster Who Walks Through Time has appeared.]
