Ascension Through Skills C.237: Fourth Return, Earth (4)

“Aaaaah!”

People screamed and collapsed. From the front, a man desperately swung a hammer, trying to clear a path, but the incoming monsters made it impossible, pushing him back instead.

“Damn!”

The man’s face contorted in frustration.

His name was Choi Taeman. He was a leader in Busan.

And at this point, Busan was the next most devastated place after Jeju Island.

The reason was simple. All kinds of misfortune existed in Busan.

Busan, often called the second capital, was populous, but the proportion of Hard Mode players was significantly lower than in other areas.

While the separation into Modes was not fixed and was left to personal choice, the variance was particularly high in Busan.

And with fewer Hard Mode players, the numbers of Easy and Normal Mode players were high.

And with many players, they began to wield a sort of speaking power.

Instead, they started pressuring the Hard Mode players. They said, “You powerful ones, protect us.”

The Hard Mode players expressed their reluctance, but their numbers were too few. Still holding onto Modern societal values, they chose acceptance over confrontation.

And once in power, people tended to keep wielding it.

Relatively few Hard Mode players. And conflict among players. Discord.

There was no way the quests could progress normally. The result was the death of the majority. By the time the third return ended, the number of survivors could be counted on one hand.

Boom!

Choi Taeman brutally struck down a monster.

In the ruined situation, as the leader elected to somehow save the people, he desperately tried to stop all the Easy and Normal Mode players from killing each other. Those who chose conflict died, and those who remained chose to be bystanders rather than confront the others.

Some even took care to speak up for them, so the Hard Mode players also calmed their anger.

But it was too late. With an absolute lack of numbers, they were too busy surviving the monsters’ attacks. Eventually, their numbers dwindled.

He turned around after fending off a monster.

The number of people following him had noticeably decreased.

Choi Taeman’s eyes wavered. It hadn’t even been twenty minutes since they started, and so many had already died…

The word ‘annihilation’ flashed through his mind.

Kuuuung!

A huge monster moved to strike his head.

Choi Taeman barely blocked it. His body was pushed back.

His eyes settled.

At the moment he was about to make a decision, the body of the charging monster burst open.

Puffff!

And like dominos, the monsters were crushed. The pupils of those who had been crying and preparing for death widened.

“Uh, uh?”

Among the fallen monsters, a man with a composed face appeared.

He surveyed the people of Busan and muttered.

“Fewer than I thought. Maybe they couldn’t make it.”

“You, who are you?”

“Kang Taesan.”

People shuddered. They, too, had heard about Kang Taesan in the community.

A monstrous figure who had kept the people of Seoul and Gyeonggi alive.

Taesan said.

“I decided to come down to Busan.”

“But it’s only been twenty minutes since the quest started…”

“I ran here as fast as I could. For now, I’ll take care of these monsters, so you rest.”

A hundred monsters were rushing at them.

“Danger…”

As Choi Taeman was about to say something, Taesan’s hand moved swiftly.

A hundred monsters exploded all at once.

“Take this.”

Taesan handed them well-cooked corn. The people greedily devoured it.

Choi Taeman also wolfed down a corn cob in just one minute.

“You must be starving. Didn’t you bring some food from the labyrinth?”

“…That’s true, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had corn.”

The food in the labyrinth was hard and truly tasteless. It could fill the stomach, but enjoying the meal was impossible.

Choi Taeman looked regretfully at the corn cob with not a kernel left.

Taesan took out another cob of corn.

Water beaded on his hand, enveloping the corn, and then it began to boil.

“Here.”

He handed the freshly boiled corn to Choi Taeman.

Choi Taeman received it with a bittersweet expression.

“Is that even possible?”

“I’ve gained something recently.”

Thanks to Beatrice’s quest, he could now exert influence over nature, and his power had reached a level where it could interfere with the weather itself.

Summoning water and boiling it was no problem. Choi Taeman grimaced, but he gobbled up the corn and then spoke.

“Thanks. You saved us.”

“It’s nothing to thank me for.”

It was natural for people to save each other.

“Still, I have to thank you. In good conscience. We’ve seen a lot of bloodshed because of people who aren’t like that.”

Choi Taeman smirked.

“Do you know what situation we were in?”

“Roughly.”

A place that was annihilated due to conflicts among people. That was Busan. While Seoul was precarious in past lives, if it had managed to hold on, Busan completely failed to endure.

“I heard Seoul and Gyeonggi were similar.”

Easy Mode player, Choi Junghyuk, and Hard Mode player, Seo Jangsan.

Both created groups for their own purposes and tried to manage others.

And all those problems had been solved alone by Taesan.

“If you had been in Busan, could you have solved Busan’s problems and helped them survive too?”

With a gloomy face, Choi Taeman shook his head.

It’s all in the past. And it’s a meaningless hypothesis. From his experiences so far, he knew dwelling on such things was no help to survival.

Choi Taeman lifted his head with a determined expression.

“Still, with you here, we can survive and make it to Seoul.”

They could survive.

Hope dawned on the faces of those taking a break.

“Well.”

Taesan muttered softly.

“The High Gods will move. As they always have.”

‘I wonder how it will come this time.’

Taesan led the people of Busan towards Seoul.

And slowly, other people also contacted their respective groups.

Kang Jun-hyeok met with people from Gwangju, defeated the monsters, and then headed to Seoul with them.

They made gradual progress with the help of Kang Jun-hyeok. As night fell and fatigue set in, they took a rest.

A woman approached Kang Jun-hyeok, who was keeping watch.

“Hello.”

The woman was the leader of the people from Gwangju. She had been prepared to die when blocked by monsters, but Kang Jun-hyeok had saved her.

“Ah, hello.”

“Are you keeping watch? You can leave it to someone else. We should at least do that much.”

“No. This is my duty. I can’t just hand it over.”

Kang Jun-hyeok shook his head. The woman’s face turned slightly red.

“Honestly, when I heard about you from Hwiyeon, I thought it was an exaggeration, but you really are strong… If you are like this, then Kang Taesan must be as strong as they say.”

“No.”

“Eh?”

Kang Jun-hyeok denied it. The woman was taken aback, and he said,

“He’s incomparably stronger.”

He looked into the darkness with a peculiar gaze.

“Why he is so strong. And that’s not all.”

Taesan had told them something before leaving.

Kurrrung.

A loud noise came from afar. The ground broke, and a monster appeared.

[Monster 111026 has appeared.]

“Uh.”

The woman’s face hardened.

The monster itself was not surprising. They had defeated hundreds on their way here.

But the monster in front of them was different.

The power and level felt.

Even she could tell the difference.

“It really came.”

Kang Jun-hyeok raised his weapon with a look of fascination.

The monster in front of them was strong.

But it was not so formidable that they couldn’t defeat it if they risked their lives.

“Let’s do this. Damn it.”

Taesan moved with the people who had rested.

Monsters appeared and blocked their path, and Taesan tore each one to death.

Crack.

He grabbed the head of a charging monster and exerted force. The head crumpled like a crushed can.

[You have activated The Deer Walking on the Wind Path.]

The wind rose.

The technique of a high-ranking spirit, in harmony with the power of the Spirit King, swept violently in all directions. Monsters were sliced through and fell.

“Ooooh!”

The people following burst into exclamations. They were witnessing monsters, which were difficult to bring down one by one, falling effortlessly at a mere gesture. Respectful and envious gazes turned towards Taesan.

From them, an invisible energy began to flow into Taesan.

Based on his experiences so far, Taesan knew that gathering these energies would increase his proficiency in divine power.

‘Is there no way to use this?’

Minerva had said it was impossible without being of a certain level of authority, but Taesan didn’t think so. After all, it was a power he had obtained. Like an aura, there must be some way to harness it.

Finding that method was Taesan’s task.

With that thought, Taesan moved forward. The monsters fell before him.

‘Strong.’

Choi Taeman was amazed.

‘But not as much as I’d heard.’

If it were as he had heard, Taesan would be akin to a living natural disaster.

A blast of air from him would blow away Hard Mode players, and a mere leap would shatter the earth.

His mere presence would demoralize enemies, toppling them effortlessly.

However, the power Taesan was displaying now wasn’t to that extent.

Certainly strong, and an invincible power by Normal standards, but within the realm of common sense.

There was some exaggeration involved. That was Choi Taeman’s judgment. Originally a monster that would frighten Hard Mode players? He had never heard of such a monster surviving. He thought it was a misconception amidst the chaos.

Still, it was definitely overwhelmingly strong. Enough to protect them all.

‘Stories do tend to grow in the telling.’

As he thought this, Taesan suddenly moved to block in front of him. At the sudden intervention, he asked,

Kaang!

Taesan’s hand moved. With a rough roar, his hand collided with something.

Crack.

In his grasp was a purple sphere.

“Uh, what?”

Had Taesan not blocked it, Choi Taeman’s upper body would have been obliterated.

Taesan exerted force on his hand, and the sphere shattered, falling apart.

A bursting sound resonated.

[You have activated Mental Acceleration.]

The surroundings slowed down. He expanded his senses to determine the positions and distances of incoming objects.

Purple spheres.

Ten were flying towards him from different directions.

Papapak!

Arrows burst forth from Taesan.

He waved his hand, and a rough wind arose, sweeping around. The incoming purple spheres collided with the wind and arrows, then were flung away.

Kwagwagwang!

The sphere exploded as it pierced the ground.

“Where are these attacks coming from?”

To Choi Taeman, it seemed as if the surroundings were suddenly exploding. He tried to comprehend it, but these were not attacks that could be understood with mere Hard Mode power.

‘A-Class level?’

Quite strong. It was similar to an enemy he had risked his life to defeat during a previous return.

‘The distance is at least 10KM.’

Quite far.

It wasn’t a distance Taesan couldn’t cover alone. If it was that far, he could arrive with a few leaps.

The problem was that there were at least twenty or more of them.

The purple spheres flew at him again.

Taesan swung his hand, and the wind that arose altered the trajectory of the spheres.

[You have activated Mark.]

He then rolled his feet. A curtain of wind arose, enveloping the people.

[You have activated Acceleration.]

Crack.

The earth collapsed.

Choi Taeman was so astounded that he forgot to even react.

“What!”

Taesan reached the monster that was shooting the spheres.

The monster resembled a cannon emplacement.

It was a form solely designed for shooting spheres.

Taesan plunged his sword into the monster.

[Monster 985 takes 6784 damage.]

The monster fell.

Simultaneously, other monsters shot their spheres. The spheres collided with the barrier of wind.

Kagagagak!

The wind sent the spheres flying. An A-class level attack could be sufficiently blocked not only by the temporarily erected barrier but also by Taesan himself.

Kugugugung!

At that moment, the ground in front of the people crumbled.

From the collapsed ground, a giant, ballista-like monster appeared.

Kaang!

The monster charged. The wall of wind began to scream and wobble.

[You have activated Random Blink.]

Quadduk.

Taesan, now positioned in front of the people, shattered the ballista.

He swung the wind again to brush off the newly shot purple spheres.

Taesan twisted the corners of his mouth.

“Are they aiming to kill the people around me rather than me?”

This quest was one where everyone scatters.

Would it be easier to kill Taesan, or to kill the scattered others?

The High Gods would choose the latter. Taesan had assessed this. Likely, in other areas, monsters of class C or above had appeared one by one.

“Quite cunning.”

Dozens of A-class monsters.

Monsters that even those who have cleared Hard Mode must prepare to die to fight against each one.

But that’s all.

“Was this given to me anticipating this?”

[You have activated Starlight Arrows.]

A star-formed arrow materialized in Taesan’s grasp.