Chapter 133: The Secret Realm of Spirits, (3)
“How dare you wield the power of the king, you lowly adventurer!”
The skeleton screamed, its arms made of bones raised aggressively as a red sphere materialized there.
The heat clung to Taesan’s cheeks.
It was literally a miniature sun. In this cramped space, it possessed enough power to turn everything to ashes in an instant.
But,
How dare you!
Bring such a toy!
Such lowly power before an apostle of god!
A voice filled with rage echoed in his head. Taesan responded with a smile.
The power engulfing his mind did not consume his self, but it resonated with him to some extent. Information related to the stature of an apostle filled his thoughts.
‘A fragment of the Spirit King.’
A power the Spirit King had divided and bestowed upon his spirits.
It was an incredibly powerful force. To call oneself the king of a species meant reaching the very brink of mortal limits. Such a fragment alone possessed the power to ruin the world and entangle it in terror.
But that was it. It was vastly insufficient compared to the stature of a transcender.
Taesan swung his fist towards the exploding flames.
The flames could not defend. The skeleton burst into hollow laughter.
“Impossible!”
It wasn’t that the power was lacking. The adventurer before him had received the power of an apostle, but his flames should not have been so easily blocked.
What was lacking now was stature.
The apostle’s divine power had completely trampled the stature held by the fragment of the Spirit King.
Boom!
The flames grazed Taesan’s shoulder, but he felt no pain akin to heat. At most, it was like being splashed with boiling oil.
[You have taken 303 damage.]
The damage was just at that level. With his resilience activated, damage that should have reached thousands was reduced to 300.
The difference in stature had reduced all damage.
The skeleton roared.
“I have received the king’s power! The power of our king!”
“So what?” Taesan sneered.
The power of the Spirit King was indeed strong. If handled properly, it could reach the limit of power obtainable by a mortal.
The skeleton, having obtained that fragment, would have reached at least the 50th floor by now.
But that was it.
When reaching the level of a transcender, stature became much more important than the power itself.
This too was possible. Taesan raised his hand.
[You have activated ‘Path of the Breezy Deer.’]
A light breeze blew, sufficient to rustle hair but effortlessly sweeping away the forest-burning flames.
‘Path of the Breezy Deer’ was a skill of a high-ranking spirit. The difference in power compared to the Spirit King was immense. Normally, it wouldn’t have stood a chance and would have been obliterated.
But through apostlization, all statures had elevated, allowing even the power of a high-ranking spirit to dismiss the Spirit King’s power.
“Unacceptable! How could a weak adventurer like you!”
The skeleton shouted in denial. It knew that the apostle’s stature vastly outstripped that of the Spirit King’s fragment, but it had assumed Taesan was too weak to harness it.
However, that was not the case.
Taesan might not know the full extent of an apostle’s power, but he had nearly perfectly drawn out its stature.
“Surprising, but well, it seems so.”
The ghost thought calmly about the rise in spiritual stature and the skills it had wrested away. Observing the gods’ reactions toward Taesan, things were becoming clear.
If this was true, it wasn’t strange for an adventurer on the 30th floor to perfectly draw out an apostle’s stature. It was nearly a given.
Taesan drew his sword.
“Sorry, but I don’t have time to be surprised.”
The duration of apostlization was 10 minutes. He had to finish within that time. Taesan charged towards the skeleton, slicing through the flames and soon reached before it.
“Even so!”
The skeleton swung its arm, engulfed in flames, as Taesan’s sword clashed with the skeleton’s bone.
A dull sound rang out. The skeleton’s jaw clashed roughly.
“No matter how high your stature, your body isn’t!”
“That’s true.”
Taesan calmly agreed. Due to his low level, aside from his stature, he hadn’t become much stronger. It was about a 30% enhancement.
“But that’s enough.”
Taesan’s sword blurred. It traveled along the bone, hitting the skeleton’s neck before it could respond.
“Damage to the spirit inhabiting the skeleton: 653.”
“You fiend!”
The skeleton resisted. Realizing the futility of the Spirit King’s power, it shook its bones trying to strike Taesan.
But the movement was very clumsy.
It looked like someone fighting for the first time, and Taesan easily dodged and countered.
Crack.
“This, this…”
Unable to properly respond, the skeleton staggered from the second attack. Taesan did not stop and continued the assault.
Taesan knew, or rather had come to know. Along with apostlization, various information about spirits had embedded itself in his mind.
“You relied on the corpse of a dead adventurer to receive the power of the artificial sun, but you’ve never moved a body to fight, have you?”
Spirits are natural beings. They don’t possess bodies and manipulate their attributes to attack, so it was natural for their physical movements to be clumsy.
“You…”
“Then you must die.”
He tilted his head to dodge and drove his sword home.
The spirit resisted. It was almost a frantic struggle. It tried to create distance and use flames to obscure vision and counterattack, but all was blocked.
“This ends it.”
Taesan turned and swung his sword at the skeleton’s neck. With a crunch, the neck bone began to split.
He activated a strong attack, slicing with even greater force. The neck bone shattered, sending the skeleton’s head flying.
[Damage to the spirit inhabiting the skeleton: 1563.]
“Unacceptable! For such a lowly being! You defile our world!”
“Be quiet.”
Taesan frowned and stabbed the skeleton’s jaw. The skeleton jerked momentarily before the flames in its eyes vanished.
[You have defeated the spirit inhabiting the skeleton.]
[You have destroyed the world of spirits. You have gained the title ‘Adversary of Nature.’]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Your spiritual stature has activated. Permanently increased stats: Strength 56, Agility 65, Intelligence 54, Health 350, Mana 40.]
[Your spiritual stature has activated. You have gained the spirit skill ‘Tiny Ember.’]
“[You have defeated a mightily powerful enemy with minimal damage. You have gained the continuous activation skill ‘Giant Killer.’]
[You have obtained a Burnt Seed.]
The rewards were significant. His level had risen by three, and the increase in stats due to the rise in spiritual stature was quite high. He had also gained two skills.
Taesan wanted to check the new skills, but there was something he needed to do first.
In its final throes, the skeleton had unleashed all its power. Flames scattered around, turning the small world of the spirit into ashes.
No more signs of the spirit were felt.
“How pathetic.”
The small world the guardian had wanted to protect had been destroyed by itself.
In the center lay a massive tree, now also reduced to ashes.
Taesan sifted through the ash. Within, he found roots that were blackened but still retained their shape.
[Root of the Miniature World Tree]
[A root imitating the World Tree. It provides a sanctuary for spirits and calms their turmoil.]
“This should do it.”
[Probably? It’s not about what it looks like on the outside, but what’s inside that counts.]
Then there were no problems. A subtle but rich aura could be felt from the charred root.
Taesan collected the root and stepped outside.
Now it was time to check the rewards.
[Kang Taesan]
[Level: 68]
[Shield: 424/424]
[Health: 4780/4780]
[Mana: 856/856]
[Magi: 62/62]
[Strength: 1715]
[Intelligence: 1311]
[Agility: 1569]
[Attack Power +188]
[Defense +233]
[The subject is in prime condition.]
His stats had risen nearly 200 points in an instant. Taesan looked at his stat window with satisfaction.
“It seems like coming down here sped things up.”
The fringe of the 20th floor was impressive. He was excited to see what the 30th floor would hold.
He had also gained a title after a long time.
[Title: Adversary of Nature]
[You have destroyed the world of spirits. Your infamy has spread among them.]
[Damage to spirits +20%]
[Spirits’ affection towards you significantly decreases.]
“Nice.”
For a non-NPC like a spirit, affection was irrelevant. Coming this far was like having crossed a point of no return anyway.
If the price was a 20% increase in damage against spirits, it was a bargain.
[Burnt Seed]
[A seed that once held the king’s power. Most of its power has been exhausted, yet it still contains enough force to burn everything.]
It seemed like a material item. While its effects were uncertain, a seed imbued with the Spirit King’s power was no ordinary ingredient.
It could potentially be used as material for the Dragon’s Claw. He planned to take it to a blacksmith first.
[Spirit Skill: Tiny Ember]
[Mana Cost: 30]
[Proficiency: 1%]
[Duration: 10 minutes]
[Summons a very weak ember that spirits possess from birth, embedding it within oneself. During its duration, it exerts a significant influence over flames.]
The skeleton had blazed because of this skill. Flames capable of easily turning vegetation to ashes. Although its proficiency was low, its potential usefulness was clear.
[Continuous Activation Skill: Giant Killer]
[Proficiency: 1%]
[Increases attack and defense when facing a formidable or impossible opponent.]
As the name suggested, this was a buff skill effective against tough opponents.
The exact levels of increase in attack and defense were unknown, but considering other tough opponent bonus skills, a boost of at least 10% was likely.
For an ordinary adventurer, this skill could help descend at least one more level beyond their limits.
It was a satisfying achievement. The rewards were fitting for overcoming an opponent whose defeat was uncertain.
Naturally, his gaze shifted to the skill that had made it possible.
[Special Activation Skill: Apostolization [Lakiratas]]
[The god of struggle and death bestowed this power for the first time since its inception. For 10 minutes, one gains a portion of the powers held by Lakiratas’s apostles. This skill cannot be used again for a day after activation.]
Taesan reminisced about the moment he had activated apostolization.
The experience had been peculiar.
With the power came a flood of information. If one were weak-minded, it could have swept away their identity.
Previously unknown things about gods and spirits.
Unrecognized worlds.
Landscapes beyond human sight.
“So, this is the perspective of an apostle.”
The things gained in exchange for offering one’s soul to a god.
It was quite enticing. Thanks to that, he knew that the skeleton had originally been a flame spirit, too weak to receive the Spirit King’s power on its own and had borrowed a corpse of an adventurer, yet it was still immensely inadequate.
The ability to obtain limited information about an opponent was valuable in itself, even without other capabilities.
And it wasn’t just that.
The flames used by the spirit had the power to reduce a sizable forest to ashes and reveal the bottom of a pond.
In terms of damage, it would have been in the thousands.
But Taesan had only taken about 300 damage, nearly one-tenth with resilience factored in.
“It’s about the difference in stature. To put it extremely… from the moment you used apostolization, there are almost no beings that can deal proper damage to you.”
The ghost had said.