Ascension Through Skills

“Huh?”

“Wasn’t there a similar game? It’s been so long, I barely remember.”

People who saw the system window started talking. Kim Hwiyeon, who read the explanation, muttered.

“Determine the last survivor… The players assigned are random… Luck is important.”

Kim Hwiyeon quickly made her judgment.

It was unclear how many “random” players there were, but it wouldn’t be a small number. At least over a hundred.

And only the last survivor among them could receive the next quest.

The strongest person among the hundred would likely advance.

And strength was relative.

Kim Hwiyeon was strong. Especially in Korea, thanks to Taesan’s help, they had descended deeper than other countries. She hardly ever lost in one-on-one battles with Hard Mode players from other countries.

So unless she unluckily encountered someone as strong as Taesan or Lee Taeyeon, or got overwhelmed by numbers, her chances of continuously earning points were high.

“How many people are there in total?”

“About… sixteen million?”

“That’s a lot.”

“Most of them are from the United States, though.”

The number of survivors from the United States was overwhelming. Most likely, if they were assigned to a space, they would mostly encounter Americans.

“But the balance is completely broken. Is it usually like this?”

In Easy and Normal Mode, it was nearly impossible to win unless you were extremely lucky. All they could do was survive as long as possible to earn some insignificant points.

Taesan answered.

“Do you think the guy who made this place cares about that?”

“True. That’s right.”

Kim Hwiyeon nodded in agreement and gave Taesan a peculiar look.

“In the end, you’ll be the one to win, Taesan.”

It was a given. Taesan’s defense was at such an exceptional level that their attacks didn’t even affect him.

That wouldn’t be different even for Amelia. There was no chance of victory if she couldn’t deal any damage at all.

As Kim Hwiyeon prayed not to meet Taesan, a new system window appeared.

[Special rules added.]

[1. Health is fixed at 100, and defense is fixed at 0.]

[2. Additional points are awarded to the country with the most players remaining when the quest ends.]

[3. Additional rewards are given to the last survivor.]

[4. All health recovery skills are sealed.]

“Huh?”

Kim Hwiyeon, who saw the belatedly appearing system window, nodded.

“These rules make it somewhat fair.”

With health fixed at 100 and defense at 0, even Easy or Normal Mode players had a chance.

If they worked together or caught their opponent off guard, they could win with just two or three successful attacks.

“But isn’t the second condition too favorable for the United States? Though the guy who made this probably doesn’t care.”

Kim Hwiyeon grumbled. Taesan squinted his eyes instead of answering.

‘This is…’

Such special rules didn’t exist in his previous life.

The reason was simple. The Colosseum was originally a place designed solely for Amelia.

There was no reason to allow a possibility where she could lose. Therefore, special rules didn’t exist, and Amelia won with overwhelming power alone.

But this time, special rules existed. It wasn’t hard to guess why.

‘They must really want to take me down.’

Taesan smirked.

Special rules were more disadvantageous the stronger you were. And the most disadvantaged, of course, was Taesan.

“What a petty god.”

It wouldn’t just end with this. There would be more tricks to come.

Wooong.

[The quest begins.]

[Random players are assigned to the space.]

“Oh.”

People murmured. Light began to envelop them.

“See you later.”

Taesan said briefly and closed his eyes.

As the space leaped, he opened his eyes to find himself on a vast plain.

Looking around, it was quite spacious. At least, he couldn’t see the end from his perspective.

[This is a space created by a god. Though it will collapse soon, creating thousands of such spaces in an instant, a god is truly a god.]

The ghost murmured in admiration. Taesan gathered demonic energy and opened a passage. Feeling the gaze of the demon, he gathered his strength.

[You activated Leraje's Territory Detection.]

The demonic energy spread out in all directions.

The number of people moving. Their strength. Information about the terrain.

All the information flowed into Taesan. He closed his eyes and calmly organized the information.

Soon, the detection reached the edge of the space.

“It’s not that wide.”

The total number of assigned players was one hundred.

If he moved decisively, he could end it all in a few minutes. Taesan decided to deal with the closest one first.

He moved his feet. As he ran at high speed, he soon saw the face of a startled man. Taesan stood in front of him.

“W-what the!”

The man, who spotted Taesan, stepped back in fright. Taesan looked at the man’s forearm.

A red cloth. Hard Mode.

The man cautiously asked while observing Taesan.

“Japanese?”

“Korean.”

“Ah, sorry. It’s hard to tell East Asians apart.”

The man apologized, raising his hand. Distinct features. Blond hair and blue eyes.

Taesan spoke.

“You’re American, right?”

“Yes. My name is Gustar. I’m a proud American Hard Mode player.”

Gustar spoke proudly and then curiously observed Taesan.

“Even though you’re not speaking English, I can understand you. It’s not just the community, then.”

Gustar smiled contentedly.

“No need to bother studying languages. Very good. What’s your name?”

“Taesan.”

Gustar’s eyes sparkled.

“Are you the one Amelia talked about?”

“Yes. You’ve confirmed it, right?”

Taesan stepped forward. Gustar’s expression changed. With a serious face, he grasped his sword and charged.

[Gustar activates Strengthened Strike.]

[Gustar activates Focus.]

Watching Gustar charge at him at high speed, Taesan moved.

Gustar’s body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

[Gustar takes 4032 damage.]

[Gustar is incapacitated.]

The fallen Gustar let out a hollow laugh.

“Unbelievable.”

“Not bad.”

Realizing he couldn’t win against Taesan the moment they met, Gustar diverted attention by making small talk, trying to gather the information he wanted before starting the battle. Then, he quickly changed the atmosphere to catch Taesan off guard.

His judgment was quick, and his actions were precise. He had the skills to survive in Hard Mode.

But that was all.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

Taesan stomped his foot. His figure disappeared.

Gustar thought of himself as strong.

It wasn’t that he was delusional or overestimating himself.

Objectively, he was a powerful person. Among the many Hard Mode players in the labyrinth, he was in the upper ranks.

When he first received the quest, he was confident he could make it. Even if he couldn’t reach the end, he thought he could win two or three times.

But that thought was shattered.

When he opened his eyes, he was back where he had started.

“Oh.”

Gustar scratched his head. A few minutes later, a man with a dazed expression was summoned. He looked around and spotted Gustar.

“What the… Gustar. You’re back already?”

“Seves.”

Seves was an Easy Mode player. Quite different from the Hard Mode Gustar.

But the two were very close. The reason was simple. They had been friends even before the labyrinth opened.

Gustar asked Seves.

“What happened to you?”

“Of course, I lost. Even without defense, it didn’t work out.”

Seves shrugged. Even without defense, if you couldn’t land a hit, it was meaningless.

Moreover, Easy Mode’s attack power was so low that it couldn’t even reduce 100 health in one go, making victory nearly impossible.

“You made it through, right? You’re the pride of our village, after all.”

“No.”

Gustar shook his head. Seves looked surprised.

“You lost?”

“…Seves. You know the guy named Taesan, right?”

“The Solo Mode player from Korea? Of course, I know.”

Seves nodded.

“Amelia. That woman pretends not to care but keeps paying attention to him.”

Amelia was the strongest Solo Mode player in the United States. Everyone who survived had witnessed her monstrous strength.

So they all knew about the player Taesan, whom Amelia was concerned about.

But they didn’t pay much attention.

“Isn’t he weaker than Amelia? I can’t believe there’s anyone stronger than her.”

Amelia was literally a monster.

She could crush the sea with a single strike and make the earth scream with a stomp. Her power was more like a natural disaster than a human.

They couldn’t believe another human had such power.

So even though Koreans kept praising Taesan in the community, they filtered most of it out, thinking it was an exaggeration.

“…I thought so too.”

But.

Gustar closed his mouth.

He was particularly strong even among Hard Mode players.

He had fought many times beside Amelia and sparred with her several times. Each time, he felt an insurmountable wall.

But this.

The power of Taesan he encountered.

Moreover, he didn’t use any skills. Yet it was 4000 damage.

Gustar didn’t often read the community, but from what he heard, Taesan had quite a few damage-increasing skills.

If that’s the case, how high could Taesan’s damage go?

Gustar imagined for a moment and let out a hollow laugh. Just imagining it was absurd.

“Should I be happy about this?”

Gustar was puzzled. Having a strong human was beneficial for their survival, so it was certainly good.

But he couldn’t be purely happy because he didn’t know how Amelia would react. Amelia, whom he had seen, was obsessed with being the strongest.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll tell you when people gather. It’s important. Very important.”

“Ah, right.”

Seves seemed to remember something.

“Oliver mentioned something like that too.”

“Oliver Khan? Was Oliver in your space?”

“Yes. He told me to think of it as bad luck.”

“Really unlucky.”

Oliver was stronger than Gustar. Except for Amelia, he was probably the strongest in the United States.

Seves opened his mouth.

“Oliver said he had a good idea that could benefit us, so don’t be too disheartened.”

[Quest Complete]

[You are the winner.]

[Calculating...]

[You earned 20 points.]

[Returning to the winner's place.]

Taesan arrived in a vast space.

Twenty points. It was probably the maximum he could earn. Taesan looked at the system window and reminisced.

In his previous life, he had entered the Colosseum too. And he had lost in the first battle.

He only started gaining proper skills after surpassing the 60th floor in Easy Mode.

Back then, he was strong for Easy Mode but still an Easy Mode player. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t win against Normal or Hard Mode players.

Taesan looked around. As he was the first to win, there was no one else around.

As time passed, other winners began to appear one by one.

“Phew. That was tough.”

Kim Hwiyeon appeared, wiping sweat. Without defense and with health fixed at 100, she couldn’t let her guard down.

She fought and won against an American Hard Mode player at the end.

She wasn’t the only one who won.

Kim Hwiyeon, Geum Junggeun, Kang Junhyeok, and other top players from Korea began to appear, and soon the system window showed up.

[All winners have been decided. Moving to the next battlefield in one hour.]

One hour. There was time. During that time, Kim Hwiyeon began gathering people to organize information.

“There were 3,900 Hard Mode players from Korea, right?”

How many survived?

She counted the survivors. After confirming, she murmured with a surprised face.

“3,343? How did so many survive?”

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