Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 494: 92nd Floor. Faith (5)

Karak let out a roar.

With a face full of rage, he charged at Taesan. His fist was filled with Karak’s full power.

“Is this a power of physical force?”

And Taesan, facing the Immortal’s full strength, casually extended his finger.

The swung fist met Taesan’s finger. A massive wave of energy swept across the area. The onlookers were instantly terrified, and screams erupted.

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“Ah...”

But Taesan didn’t even budge.

Karak’s fist was blocked by Taesan’s finger, unable to advance any further. Despair filled Karak’s face.

Taesan simply flicked his finger.

Karak’s body flew backward as if struck by a cannonball.

“Ooooooh!”

“Remidaos-sama!”

The dwarves, who had been slowly raising their heads, erupted in awe at the sight. Their faith in Taesan grew stronger before the overwhelming display of power.

“Get up.”

“Ughhhhh!”

Karak, gritting his teeth, struggled to rise. His determination and will to fight, even against a formidable opponent, seemed unshaken. Taesan smiled, clearly satisfied with Karak’s resolve.

Taesan stomped his foot.

In an instant, he moved behind Karak and swung his sword.

Karak hurriedly raised his fist to defend, but even while defending, it shattered. Karak was sent crashing to the ground helplessly.

The crowd gasped even louder.

Taesan closed the distance again.

“Yaaaah!”

Karak hastily tried to protect himself, but Taesan grabbed his arm and threw him.

Taesan was a transcendent.

The Immortal was nothing to him. If he wished, he could have easily suppressed him with just a command.

But Taesan continued to give Karak openings with light pressure, and with every move, the dwarves’ faith in Taesan deepened.

Karak, his face contorted in rage, shouted:

“What are you doing?! Stop playing with me and kill me! Don’t mock me!”

“No.”

Taesan responded lightly. Karak screamed as he lunged at Taesan.

Boom!

The battle continued. Naturally, it was Taesan’s one-sided victory. Karak’s desperate resistance was like a child’s, stomped out without meaning.

The people watched with dazed eyes.

And after several minutes...

When Taesan judged it was time, he gathered strength in his legs.

He charged toward Karak. Karak instinctively tried to defend himself, but the gray light contained in Taesan’s sword pierced Karak’s chest.

“Guuuurgh!”

“Good work.”

“I... I can’t...!”

Boom!

The gray light exploded.

Karak died without even being able to leave his last words.

“If you treated the inhabitants of this world like toys for your faith, you should’ve been prepared to die the same way.”

Taesan spoke calmly. The divine energy increase did not activate. The difference in power was simply too vast for that to be necessary.

But Bardray and Akasha were different.

[Hm.] [This is...] The Immortal’s power seeped into Bardray and Akasha. The intense power made them both let out small groans of discomfort.

The people who had followed Taesan watched the scene with wide eyes. They slowly realized that the Immortal who had been ruling them had died.

“Ooooooh!”

Their faith exploded.

What had once been shaky faith was now fully directed toward Taesan. Taesan’s standing reached new, towering heights.

[Your mastery of divine energy has increased by 3%.]

At this moment, Taesan had become the god of this planet.

Now that he had gathered the divine energy, he spoke:

“I will leave you now.”

“Aaahhh!”

“Remidaos-sama! Please don’t leave us!”

“Do not worry. My true representative will come soon. He was once your king, cast out by the wrongdoers.”

“Aahhh...”

“Remidaos-sama...”

The people slowly regained their composure.

While they weren’t sure whether they would accept the shopkeeper, that was something he would have to handle. Taesan activated teleportation.

“I will always be watching over you.”

[You have activated Teleport [Chaos].]

Taesan disappeared, buried in gray light. The people wept loudly. For hours, they sent their faith toward Taesan, right there on the spot.

***

Taesan, having left the planet, immediately moved to another.

This new planet was not much different from the first one. The only difference was that humans, not dwarves, lived here, but everything else was the same.

An Immortal oppressing the people. Remidaos, who appeared in their dreams, promising to save them and gain their faith.

So, Taesan used the same method as he had on the first planet.

“I am Remidaos.”

He called himself Remidaos and led the people. He dealt with those who oppressed them and earned their trust.

Slowly, Taesan guided them, making his way toward the Immortal.

“Foolish one!”

But this time, it was different. The Immortal was waiting for Taesan with confidence.

“How dare you touch us! The news has already reached him. You may have reached a great level, but he is far greater than someone like you! You will not survive...”

“Enough with the words.”

Taesan drew his sword. In an instant, he closed the distance, and the Immortal hurriedly leapt to defend himself.

“You!”

“What I do is none of your concern.”

Taesan showed the people the overwhelming power he had, just as he did on the first planet. And when that reached its peak, he finished the Immortal off.

“Hah, you’ll regret this!”

The Immortal met his death with a twisted expression.

“Ooooh!”

“Remidaos-sama!”

The people’s faith now turned toward Taesan. Believing him to be Remidaos, they sent their long-accumulated faith his way.

And so, once again, Taesan became a god on another planet. Bardray, in disbelief, spoke:

[Was it really this easy?]

“The conditions were all there.”

These people were already being oppressed by someone. And within that oppression, they were believing in someone.

Taesan was just stealing the faith that had already been built up in the middle. There was no reason for it to be difficult.

“Though, it shouldn’t be this easy... but I’m not complaining.”

Taesan immediately moved to the next planet. The third one was the same. Taesan gathered faith from the people and then went after the Immortal.

This time, the Immortal’s reaction was different. He staggered back, his face contorted in panic.

“Why! Why aren’t you moving!? Your faith is being stolen, and why are you silent!?”

There was no sign of resolve in him. It was as if something was wrong, like he couldn’t accept what was happening, and he continued to try to flee.

Of course, Taesan didn’t let him escape.

The Immortal, even as he was dying, had a face filled with confusion rather than resentment toward Taesan.

“Why... why...”

The Immortal collapsed.

The people’s faith exploded, rushing toward Taesan.

[Your mastery of divine energy has increased by 2%.]

Taesan had now gathered the faith of three planets.

His divinity began to grow even stronger and more stable.

Taesan immediately moved on to the next planet.

As soon as he arrived, he was ambushed by a great power. Taesan casually flicked his fingers. The power that had attacked him tore apart and vanished.

“Ssssss!”

“Kill him!”

Four Immortals appeared.

They attacked Taesan together, their faces desperate.

“You want to act first, huh?”

It didn’t matter. Right now, he had been receiving so much more faith that his divinity was stabilizing rapidly. Whether four Immortals attacked or just one, it didn’t make much of a difference.

Taesan casually flicked his fingers again. The color black manifested in the world.

The blackness gradually faded, changing into intangible energy.

Taesan sent the worthless energy flying toward the Immortals.

It was small, barely the size of a bug, and felt utterly insignificant. The Immortals didn’t think much of it and tried to use their powers to erase the energy.

But the moment they made contact with it, they realized something was wrong.

“Ssssss!”

“W-wait!”

They panicked as they tried to shake off the worthless energy. But the energy clung to them, rendering their powers meaningless.

Fear spread across their faces.

All the strength and stature they had built up had no meaning. It all vanished and was erased. It turned into something utterly worthless.

They struggled, trying to shake it off, but were unable to. The worthless energy slowly consumed them, stripping them of everything.

“D-don’t...”

They felt a terror worse than death.

After struggling for some time, they realized there was no escape and begged Taesan.

“P-please, I beg you... please...”

“I won’t kill you just yet. You still have a purpose.”

Taesan retrieved the worthless energy.

It seemed that the Immortals ruling this planet had come here to try to stop him.

“It’s meaningless, though.”

The Immortals lay on the ground, twitching.

“Why... why Remidaos-sama...”

“The transcendent isn’t moving, it seems?”

“I’ve informed him... but he’s silent... Why... why...”

The Immortal mumbled in a daze.

“I don’t know.”

Taesan shook his head.

‘Why is it so quiet?’

The transcendent who had received the faith of this planet, Remidaos.

He was surely watching Taesan.

Taesan knew that Remidaos was watching as he stole the faith and killed his minions.

But Remidaos had not made a move.

Taesan’s original plan had been to steal the faith before Remidaos noticed, and then, when Remidaos moved to stop him, to reveal his true nature in front of the people, shaking their faith.

But Remidaos hadn’t made any move. While Taesan had managed to steal an enormous amount of faith, it was eerily quiet. As if the only purpose of Taesan’s actions was to steal the faith.

Complete Reconnaissance provides all information, but there are definite limits. Information beyond a certain level could not be obtained.

So, Taesan still couldn’t understand what Remidaos was after.

‘I don’t know.’

But if he wasn’t going to stop him, Taesan had no reason to refuse. He would take all the faith he could. Taesan captured the Immortals.

Taesan traveled through the planets.

With the captured Immortals, he told the people that he was Remidaos, and he had come to punish them.

The people believed Taesan was Remidaos and worshiped him.

After quite some time, Taesan had received the faith of all the planets.

“Hah.”

He breathed deeply. The immense stature and elevated faith now resided within him. His divinity was stabilizing perfectly. Bardray and Akasha, too, had gained immense power.

Among them, Akasha’s change stood out. Akasha was still letting out small groans, as if something was blocking her.

“Anything come to mind?”

[Something... Something is blocking me. Just a little more, just a little more...]

Akasha still seemed lacking. Taesan was no different. It seemed that they couldn’t reach the true transcendent level just yet. Something was standing in the way.

‘Is it too short of a time?’

Because the faith had been gathered too quickly, they hadn’t yet reached the complete transcendent level.

But aside from that, there were no difficulties. The process of gathering faith had been so smooth, it was almost boring.

The reason for this was obvious.

Taesan looked at the white star beyond the universe.

He had stolen the faith that had been built up by someone else.

Yet, the original recipient of that faith hadn’t moved.

While all the faith of the planets had been stolen, Remidaos had remained completely still. It was like an abandoned house—or rather, it was as though the owner had left the door wide open for the thief. There was no reason to worry.

‘What does he want?’

Anyway, Taesan had already gathered all the faith he could. Now, he would go and check for himself. To achieve the goal of the quest, he would confront the one who had originally received the faith.

Taesan reached out his hand into the air. Space split open, and Taesan leapt across dimensions.