Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 512: Floor 94, Easy Mode (5)
Crash!
Taesan slashed through and sliced the spores as he looped. His speed continued to increase, surpassing even the prime of any ghostly foe.
Screeech!
Focusing his mind, he expanded his field of vision and swung his sword.
Slash.
[You dealt 745 damage to a spore.]
The sensation of something being severed reached him, but there was no time to confirm what it was.
The speed of his descent accelerated even further.
By now, Taesan's eyes could no longer keep up. His body was on the verge of hitting the ground, but he looped again just before impact. The moment he reset, he swung his sword with ferocious speed.
Yet, the speed of his sword couldn't keep pace with his descent.
The blade narrowly missed the spores it targeted. It was too fast for his eyes to see and react in time. His attack failed, and he looped again.
“Damn it.”
At this rate, it was hopeless. Taesan pulled out a potion from his pouch and drank it.
[You have used a Potion of Physical Reset.]
BOOM!
A powerful repelling force engulfed Taesan's body. The relentless acceleration of his fall came to a sudden halt, as if he had been caught on an invisible hook.
Tap.
Taesan landed firmly on the ground. Bardray, who had been watching in a trance, was startled.
[What? How?]
“There’s a condition to this skill.”
If it was merely about amplifying damage by squaring it, it would’ve been simple—just keep falling. However, Multiplication had an additional requirement.
One of the conditions of Multiplication:
The escalating damage from acceleration must be applied mid-loop and registered by the system. At least once per loop, an attack had to land.
This was why Taesan hadn’t destroyed the cannon yet.
“This is the tricky part.”
When acceleration reached a certain point, swinging his sword immediately after looping became too slow. His body couldn’t match the speed at which he was falling.
After finishing his recovery with the potion, Taesan took a step forward.
[You activated Landing.]
[You activated Super Acceleration.]
[You activated Physical Time Acceleration.]
Whirr!
His body began looping again. His sword cut through and pulverized the spores. The cannon fired, releasing new spores into the air.
‘Reacting by sight is impossible.’
Trying to adjust his actions after each loop was futile. As his descent speed continued to increase, his vision would eventually fail to keep up.
Thus, everything had to be calculated in advance.
He analyzed, read, and decided all at once.
With one movement, he aimed to resolve multiple loops in a row.
Taesan locked eyes on the cannon.
The cannon fired whenever the number of spores dropped below a certain threshold.
The angles at which the spores flew weren’t entirely random; they followed identifiable patterns.
And so, he deciphered them:
One to the upper right arm.One near the left wrist.Two to the right leg.One aimed at the head.One targeting the abdomen.Other scattered spores filled the air.
What was the sequence in which these spores would reach him?
He identified all of them.
With his calculations complete, Taesan adjusted his sword trajectory just after the spore near his left wrist narrowly missed him.
Slash.
The spore near his upper right arm was torn apart by his blade. His body accelerated again, triggering another loop.
Taesan didn’t move his sword from its position.
Slash!
That alone was enough to bisect the spore targeting his left wrist.
By calculating the positions and heights of the spores, he resolved multiple loops with a single movement.
The spores couldn’t match his speed. Compared to Taesan’s movements, they might as well have been frozen in midair.
He swung his sword swiftly. A spore near his right leg skimmed past, but the one following it was neatly severed.
Slash.
In the next loop, the spore that had previously slipped by became the target of his attack.
His descent speed continued to accelerate.
Taesan expanded his field of vision.
‘One, two, three, four, five.’
He calculated the minimal movement required to handle the maximum number of loops at once.
Crack!
With a single motion, Taesan resolved five loops’ worth of attacks.
BOOM!
As soon as the spores he struck disappeared, the cannon immediately launched new ones. The number of incoming spores matched those he had just eliminated.
‘One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.’
Taesan quickly analyzed the situation, his mind racing. With one motion, he resolved seven loops.
Compared to his initial attempts, his actions were much more stable, and he managed to eliminate numerous spores. His attack power increased incrementally.
[You dealt 798 damage to a spore.]
[You dealt 802 damage to a spore.]
[You dealt 806 damage to a spore.]
Yet, it still wasn’t perfect. The unrestricted nature of Landing meant his fall speed continued to increase. As a result, his response time had to grow even faster.
Slash.
Though he managed to resolve this round, Taesan’s eyes remained locked on the spores. He quickly calculated their positions and how best to move.
But for the first time, his gaze wavered.
A scenario arose where he couldn’t account for every possible loop.
He moved swiftly, resolving the immediate threat, but beyond that point, his calculations fell apart. His ever-accelerating body outpaced his ability to adapt.
“Damn it.”
[You have used a Potion of Physical Reset.]
‘I was too slow to react.’
Situations where he couldn’t handle everything in one attempt were inevitable. He knew that, but it had been so long since his last attempt that his instincts had faltered.
Once again, he began his descent.
Crash!
‘One, two, three, four.’
He processed loops rapidly. His body accelerated further, gaining even more speed.
This time, he widened his perspective, considering more possibilities.
Crack!
As he looped, he handled the spores. The cannon fired again, releasing fresh spores.
At that moment, Taesan realized something.
If he continued like this, he would face the same problem as before.
The situations he couldn’t handle in one sequence would inevitably return.
He already knew the solution.
Taesan swung his sword while shifting his feet. One spore was severed, and another was kicked away.
BOOM!
As Taesan’s accelerated attack struck, the spore was violently flung away.
But it didn’t die.
Attacking with equipment lacking accumulated power only caused the spore to rebound, dealing no damage.
The spore ricocheted off the ground, colliding with others in mid-air and altering their positions.
This collision created new possibilities for Taesan to process multiple loops with a single motion.
He adjusted the trajectory of his twin swords accordingly. In an instant, he resolved five loops.
Crash-crash-crash-crash!
Every scenario was analyzed and resolved. When none existed, Taesan created new possibilities by sheer force of will.
Slash.
[You dealt 1002 damage to a spore.]
Finally, a four-digit damage number appeared.
But it still wasn’t enough.
What he sought was squared damage—around 2500. The gap to his goal was still significant.
Crash-crash-crash!
His body accelerated relentlessly. The surrounding space warped, and his vision distorted. Without the labyrinth’s protective system, his body would’ve been shredded to pieces by the sheer speed alone.
‘One, two, three, four.’
He calculated four scenarios and swung his sword accordingly.
The loops ended in an instant. But with new scenarios arising just as quickly, there was no time to rest.
Slash!
He moved swiftly, but it wasn’t enough. His blade narrowly missed.
“Hmm.”
Taesan downed another potion and escaped the loop.
‘This feels about right.’
The once-clumsy imitation of his old reflexes had finally returned to perfection. His senses were fully adjusted.
“Time to claim it.”
[Already?]
Bardray was astonished. The preparation time hadn’t been insignificant, but given the skill’s requirements, he had assumed it would take months.
Yet, Taesan was already confident about obtaining it.
“I don’t have unlimited opportunities.”
To escape the infinite loop, he needed to reduce his speed. However, the Landing skill was a one-use ability that couldn’t be canceled once activated. Taesan couldn’t slow himself down with it.
While he had some speed-related skills, none could counteract the extreme acceleration he faced.
That’s where the Potion of Physical Reset came in.
It temporarily nullified all physical forces acting on his body, instantly halting acceleration.
The problem was its cost—it was prohibitively expensive. Taesan only had two potions left.
“This will be enough.”
For the current him, two potions were more than sufficient.
Taesan began his descent once more.
Crash-crash!
He sliced through spores, repeating his loops. His falling speed continued to increase until it outpaced his body’s ability to keep up.
So, as before, he analyzed every possible scenario.
But this time, it wasn’t just seven or eight loops.
He calculated ten, twenty, even thirty loops in advance.
Crash-crash-crash!
His twin swords moved in harmony with his feet. One spore was severed, while another was kicked away.
[Screeech!]
The kicked spore flew toward the cannon, disrupting its aim.
BOOM!
The cannon fired, but its trajectory had shifted.
[Screech!]
The spore it launched headed straight for the cliff. It collided with the rocky surface, spinning wildly. Just as it regained its balance, Taesan cleaved it in half.
The number of spores the cannon could launch was fixed. Calculating possibilities beyond seven or eight loops was nearly impossible.
So Taesan created his own scenarios.
This was something his Easy Mode self could never have done.
Back in Easy Mode, Taesan had been exceptional, analyzing countless labyrinth conditions and earning powerful skills.
But back then, he had never truly fought with his life on the line.
At the very beginning, he’d felt the threat of death, but as he advanced through the labyrinth, he had steadily descended in relative safety. While he perfected his calculations and fulfilled every condition, his practical combat experience had remained lacking.
In Easy Mode, Taesan had only managed to acquire Multiplication after countless repetitions, relying more on luck than deliberate effort.
But now, things were different.
He had grown far beyond his former self.
The current Taesan could control his environment and create opportunities.
Slash.
He struck a spore, sending it rebounding off the cliff. Twin swords moved fluidly to match the positions and heights of the spores.
Crash-crash-crash!
He cut them down one after another.
Each spore ricocheted off the cliff with a rebound that Taesan calculated to the smallest detail. The speed of his attacks, the exact position of each spore after impact, and the acceleration of his own body—all were perfectly accounted for.
By repeating his loops, he created entirely new scenarios. His speed increased further, and his damage climbed past four digits.
Infinite descent.
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His body distorted under the strain of relentless acceleration, appearing warped even to his own eyes.
Without the system’s protection, he would’ve long since been incinerated.
But it wasn’t over yet.
Taesan swung his sword once more. While the sensation of striking something had vanished, the system window provided clear confirmation.
[You dealt 1435 damage to a spore.]
