Chapter 149: Outside. Battlefield of the Gods (5)
“Wh-what?”
The Saint was aghast.
He, a magician, realized that what Taesan had just done was magic.
And he could sense that the caliber of it was far beyond his reach.
“It’s quite useful out here.”
Taesan muttered, waving his hand.
[You have activated Scorching Orb.]
A crimson flame orb appeared around Taesan.
With a gesture, the scorching orb flew towards the followers of the God of Mystery. The Saint, alarmed, rose and spread his hands.
“Barrier!”
An opaque magical barrier formed. The followers quickly added their strength to the barrier.
Crash!
It shattered against the scorching orb.
Fragments of flame scattered, engulfing them. Those hit directly disappeared without a scream, and even those touched by sparks didn’t last long.
“What is this?”
It was a flame that appeared almost instantly, without an incantation. And yet, his barrier shattered so easily. The Saint’s eyes widened, and Taesan looked puzzled.
“Why are you so weak?”
Even if the god’s rank was low, they were still transcendents beyond mortals. Despite their vastly superior power, the magic’s quality was surprisingly low.
[Gods can’t easily bestow their power. They have to receive compensation, even from their followers. It was the same in the labyrinth.]
“Then they should offer tributes.”
[Think about the level of tributes you offered. The answer is clear.]
“Ah.”
Nodding, Taesan deflected another spell.
The value of items at the 10th floor in the labyrinth was incredibly high outside.
Offering such items might barely be enough to learn magic.
By outside standards, it was akin to offering treasures.
“It must be tough outside.”
Even as Taesan murmured, magic continued to be cast.
But the followers couldn’t block even one of them.
[You have activated Wind Burst.]
A magic hardly ever used in the labyrinth, used to block arrows at best. Wind Burst.
“Aaah!”
“Ugh!”
It was like a storm to them. They couldn’t resist and were flung into the walls and forest.
Taesan continued to cast spells indifferently.
The magic, lightly cast, was a disaster in itself.
“Aaah.”
And soon, they all fell.
Taesan activated Frost Arrow.
Crash.
The statue of the God of Mystery shattered.
[You have destroyed the statue of the God of Mystery who crawled up from the bottom. The God of Mystery has been expelled from the battlefield of the gods.]
[The gods of the labyrinth are pleased.]
[The God of Magic is immensely pleased. He is utterly satisfied with your actions.]
A massive force vanished into the sky’s rift, and the followers’ souls were drawn along.
Taesan immediately moved on to the next target.
The next god was the God of the Twisted Cliff.
As the name suggested, he revered strength, and so did his followers.
“Aaah!”
Dozens of men, twice Taesan’s size, charged at him.
They began to push Taesan back together.
“Feel our strength!”
A particularly huge man shouted heartily.
“We are the ones who move mountains!”
“You do have the strength to say that.”
Their pressure was considerable. With such power, they could probably move mountains.
Very small hills, but still.
But Taesan had the strength to move real mountains.
Taesan exerted strength throughout his body and stomped the ground.
Crack.
Just that action caused cracks in the ground.
He braced his back, pulled his shoulders, and pushed forward.
“What? What is this?”
“Uwaah!”
The giants were flung away like cannonballs.
The particularly huge man’s eyes widened.
“What is this?”
The labyrinth’s stats directly influenced the physical body.
Increasing agility allowed the body to easily break the sound barrier.
Increasing strength made the muscles unimaginably strong.
And Lee Taeyeon had the strength to shatter waves and lift mountains.
‘That’s why Lee Taeyeon had to fight in a different place.’
At the hard mode level, one could minimize damage by focusing, but at Lee Taeyeon’s level, even that wasn’t possible.
Light combat would result in city-level destruction, so she had to fight far away from populated areas, just like Taesan.
That thought naturally led to another.
‘Isn’t this strange?’
Lee Taeyeon couldn’t fight in the city due to the aftermath of her battles. So she must have fought outside like Taesan.
But when he returned to the city after defeating the two S-class monsters, Lee Taeyeon was there.
‘Did she fight and return?’
After winning the fight, she returned to the city and, seeing the constant appearance of monsters, tried to use the Ouroboros Stone, only to die without resisting the apostles.
That seemed the most plausible, but something didn’t sit right.
While these thoughts ran through his mind, the men were still trying to push Taesan. But Taesan’s feet remained firmly planted.
“Time to finish this.”
Taesan flexed his arms and swung.
The giants flew away like leaves in the wind.
Crash.
Taesan shattered the statue.
[The God of Strength is immensely pleased. He is utterly satisfied with your actions.]
“There’s a God of Strength too.”
It seemed to be a god who hadn’t yet encountered Taesan.
Taesan looked up at the rift in the sky.
A force that seemed to be a god and the souls of the followers were drawn into it.
“There are supposed to be ten gods here.”
The green-clad man had told him. Given that Taesan hadn’t encountered ten gods in the labyrinth, it was indeed a large number.
“But that’s good.”
The more gods, the more certain the rewards.
Taesan had dealt with five gods so far.
Five remained.
“Not satisfying.”
Taesan swung his arm. He had just expelled the God of the Lighted Path.
This made it six gods he had expelled.
He had dealt with more than half, and the God of Light was pleased, but Taesan wasn’t.
“They’re too weak.”
There was nothing to gain.
The followers he faced didn’t even trigger the Ascendancy skill.
“Bottom feeders, indeed.”
From the start, the weakest ones were fighting each other.
If there was a significant power gap, they would have been destroyed by the higher-ranking followers before even fighting each other.
The ghost gave a bitter smile.
[They’re not actually that weak.]
By the ghost’s standards, they weren’t weak.
The followers he faced initially were indeed weak, but from the middle, they had become quite strong. Even by labyrinth standards, they weren’t that low-level.
Individually, they might not have been much, but when gathered, they were at the level of an average 20th or 30th floor adventurer.
[You’re just too strong. The gods here probably didn’t expect this.]
The outside gods, not knowing much about the labyrinth, must have used levels as a basis.
Levels and strength usually correlated, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.
But Taesan was an outlier.
He had strength disproportionate to his level, and he also had the unique skill, Ascendancy.
[They must be confused. So… they might start moving soon.]
The ghost spoke quietly.
A day passed.
The next day, Taesan defeated two more gods.
It was fewer than the previous day, but there was a reason.
“These guys suddenly got stronger?”
It wasn’t that their abilities or skills had improved. The power of their gods was more distinctly felt among the followers.
“Did the gods grant them power?”
[Probably. Normally, the rules of the battlefield wouldn’t allow them to bestow a certain level of favor, but they must have agreed to it to kill you.]
Taesan laughed.
“It won’t help.”
No matter how much divine power they received, hastily granted power couldn’t stop Taesan. It wasn’t like they were suddenly raised to the level of apostles; it would just take time, but the result would be the same.
He dealt with a total of eight gods that way.
Two gods remained.
Before dealing with the rest, Taesan decided to eat. He grilled meat from the labyrinth and started eating.
It didn’t taste great, but it was enough to fill him up.
As Taesan ate slowly, he paused.
He turned his gaze.
Nearby, a golden light was shining.
[Well, it was about time.]
“You’re later than I expected.”
The ghost and Taesan waited calmly.
The bushes parted as if they had a will of their own. Something that even nature bowed to appeared.
A being adorned entirely in gold appeared.
[You.]
An emotionless gaze was directed at Taesan.
[You have encountered Mantra, the God of the Ornate Sword.]
Taesan examined Mantra.
At first glance, he appeared human. Except for having no hair, he looked like a typical handsome man.
But every part of him was made of gold.
His fingertips, eyes, lips, everything was golden.
It felt like looking at a colossal fortress made of gold.
[A mortal appraising a god.]
Mantra narrowed his eyes. Just that motion caused the surrounding plants to wither and the ground to dry up.
[Intimidation Check in progress…]
[Fear Check in progress…]
[Confusion Check in progress…]
Like when he met Maria, dozens of checks appeared simultaneously.
“Dismiss.”
Taesan shook his head.
Notifications of successful checks appeared.
He had withstood Maria’s checks, and this outside god’s checks were even lower in rank, so they were nothing.
‘It’s not the real one.’
Taesan knew. The being in front of him wasn’t the true god. It seemed to be an avatar.
Strong, but that was it.
It didn’t feel like looking at something enormous, like the gods of the labyrinth.
‘Is it because of the rank difference?’
The rank of the outside gods was lower than that of the labyrinth. That might be why Taesan felt nothing special.
Mantra’s eyes wavered as he looked at Taesan.
[Why does someone like you have such a rank…]
“What?”
[No, it’s unfinished. It’s nothing to worry about.]
Mantra’s wavering eyes settled.
[Mortal. Become my servant.]
Mantra spoke as if delivering a verdict, as if issuing a divine decree.
[Though born of despicable beings, you possess usable strength. Become my servant, and I will bestow upon you the honor of offering your soul to me.]
“You didn’t think I’d accept that, did you?”
[Then only death awaits.]
Mantra’s serene gaze fell on Taesan.
Sharp blades pierced Taesan’s entire body.
It was hard to move even a fingertip, and the sensation of death crept up behind his head.
[Instant Death Check in progress…]
[Check failed! Death envelops you.]
Mantra spoke calmly.
[Die, mortal.]
Death enveloped Taesan.
Taesan looked on impassively.
The opponent was a god.
He knew he couldn’t resist.
But he also knew he wouldn’t die.
[That’s enough.]
Interference occurred.
The absolute death approaching Taesan vanished.
A massive presence appeared in the artificial world as the space split open.
[Instant Death Check has been lifted.]
The death encroaching upon him disappeared. Taesan brushed off his collar.
“You’re later than I expected.”
[I was waiting for a dramatic moment.]
Mantra showed his first sign of panic.
[You!]
[It’s shameful for a god to directly touch a mortal, Mantra.]
Rakiratath, appearing on the battlefield, chuckled.