Chapter 189: 40th Floor, Child of the Demonic Tribe (3)
The preliminary skirmish was over. Taesan’s movements became swifter. He displayed his swordsmanship, the Ability Sword.
Clang!
Quaned countered with his own swordsmanship.
His swordsmanship lacked a central technique. It was almost akin to randomly swinging his sword.
Yet, it was troublesome. Quaned’s sword aimed for Taesan’s head but suddenly veered off course. Taesan read the trajectory and blocked it.
Clang!
Then Quaned pushed forward, trying to limit Taesan’s movements. He twisted his sword to slash Taesan’s shoulder.
Taesan twisted his body to avoid it, and Quaned swung his sword again.
His swordsmanship had no form. But it was troublesome. The seamless flow of movements gradually pushed Taesan back.
Taesan pushed off the ground to create some distance. Quaned quickly followed.
‘He really has talent.’
Taesan thought. Quaned’s swordsmanship was clearly not proper swordsmanship. But compared to the Ability Sword, which excluded chain skills, it was not significantly inferior.
[I’ve torn apart and remade Storm Scars myself. It’s not impossible to create one. With that level of talent, it’s definitely possible.]
Quaned’s talent was superior to Taesan’s. Winning purely with sword strikes seemed difficult.
It was time to use the advantages he possessed.
Taesan charged forward.
Quaned flinched momentarily at the reckless charge. Taesan charged at Quaned with rough sword strikes.
At first glance, it seemed like Taesan, who had been on the defensive, was getting desperate and was trying to overwhelm Quaned with big movements. Seeing the large openings, Quaned could easily counter and gain the upper hand.
But Quaned made an ambiguous expression for a moment, then raised his sword.
Clang!
The swords collided. Taesan continued to move aggressively, pressing Quaned.
Instead of countering, Quaned took a defensive stance. He blocked the attacks and increased the distance.
Taesan clicked his tongue softly and pushed forward.
Quaned’s sword grazed Taesan.
[Your first attack nullification has activated.]
Quaned’s body returned to its state before the sword made contact. His pupils widened at the sudden shift.
“Urgh!”
Taesan’s sword dug into his chest.
For the first time, Quaned groaned.
He twisted his body to minimize the damage. He slammed his elbow down to knock Taesan’s sword downwards and created distance.
[403 damage to Quaned.]
Thud!
The distance increased.
Taesan’s face twisted in dissatisfaction.
‘So he has figured it out.’
Attack nullification was a selfish exchange. It erased an incoming attack and allowed him to counter an opponent who was thrown off guard.
Taesan had planned to use this to his advantage, but Quaned’s response was faster than expected.
Quaned noticed something was off as Taesan pressed him, evaded combat, and managed to knock Taesan’s sword away without panicking, even after the nullification activated. Though Taesan landed an attack, he had hoped for more.
“What… what was that?”
But Quaned was equally shocked.
The attack he landed vanished. Not only that, but his body’s time reversed.
Even with his vast array of skills, he had never encountered a skill of this level.
“Find out yourself.”
Taesan charged again. Quaned hurriedly started defending.
Clang!
Quaned’s movements were more cautious than before. He seemed to be focusing on landing small attacks rather than trying to hit Taesan with a decisive blow.
It seemed like he was wary of triggering the attack nullification again.
“Hah.”
Taesan let out a laugh.
This was the first time someone in the labyrinth had figured out attack nullification so perfectly.
Quaned was also avoiding all the cursed spots left by Taesan’s footsteps.
Clang!
Quaned scattered his sword strikes and waved his hand.
[Quaned activates Ronove’s Ashen Rain.]
The ceiling of the labyrinth opened. Black liquid began to rain down.
[You activate Seir’s Black Wind.]
Bam!
The wind scattered and dispersed the raindrops.
However, the raindrops, despite being blocked by the wind, steadfastly began to fall where they were meant to.
Taesan focused on protecting his body against the powerful physical force of the raindrops, and Quaned seized the opportunity.
[Your second attack nullification has activated.]
Quaned’s body returned to its original state.
At the moment the attack nullification activated, Taesan abandoned his defense and thrust his sword into Quaned’s back.
[602 damage to Quaned.]
Though he dealt normal damage this time, Taesan’s expression remained unsatisfied. Without the attack nullification, he had only managed to inflict around 600 damage, which was a loss.
Of course, from Quaned’s perspective, it was different. It was absurd that he had to take damage just to nullify a skill.
“How many more of those do you have?”
Quaned murmured, regaining his stance.
The falling rain had stopped. Taesan stared at Quaned.
‘He has no obvious weaknesses.’
The guides he had faced before each had their shortcomings. But not this demon.
His swordsmanship was top-notch. His handling was excellent, and he was calmly assessing the situation.
His dark magic was also quite high-level. He likely possessed most of the activation skills, including deflection.
He was practically all-rounder.
Just like Taesan.
“You’re strong.”
“I won’t lose.”
Quaned spoke with conviction, his voice brimming with confidence.
It was the confidence of someone who had overcome numerous hardships and challenges through his own strength.
Taesan smiled faintly.
“Good.”
In truth, the way to win was simple.
He could use Apostolization.
No matter how skilled Quaned was, he wouldn’t be able to overcome the power of the Apostle. He would succumb to the heightened attacks. Even if he somehow endured, he would be defeated by the depletion of his strength.
But that wasn’t fun. More importantly, it wouldn’t be good training.
“This is also a form of training.”
Taesan muttered as he charged forward.
[You activate Acceleration.]
Taesan’s sudden acceleration caught Quaned off guard. He raised his sword to block.
[You activate Strong Strike.]
Clang!
The clash of swords pushed Quaned back a little.
But Quaned didn’t panic. He had seen the Strong Strike skill several times. He steadied himself and blocked the attack.
Clang!
“Ugh.”
This time, however, he was taken aback.
Despite the Strong Strike ending, the force in Taesan’s sword felt like it was still activated.
Taesan continued swinging his sword.
Clang!
Quaned kept getting pushed back. But it was only for a moment. He soon began to respond calmly.
[Quaned activates Wave Variation.]
Wooong.
Rippling waves emanated from Quaned. When he swung his sword, the trajectory was forcibly distorted.
‘Continuous disruption?’
It was a skill even Taesan hadn’t learned. The trajectory of his attacks couldn’t reach Quaned.
But Taesan pressed forward.
[You activate Sure Strike.]
The sword, twisted by the waves, forcibly corrected its path towards Quaned.
Quaned, preparing to counter, was shocked and tried to block.
[You activate Deflection.]
But Quaned’s sword was forcibly deflected.
Ultimately, he couldn’t block the attack.
[703 damage to Quaned.]
“Urgh!”
Quaned groaned. His eyes were mixed with bewilderment.
‘What is this?’
Disruption affected only physical attacks. He never imagined it would apply to the sword itself.
Quaned counterattacked, thrusting his sword at Taesan’s chest.
[You activate Counter.]
Taesan’s body moved to block the sword.
Taesan countered, but Quaned blocked it.
Quaned swung his sword again.
The conditions for Counter were met.
Taesan’s sword ignored the attack and lodged into Quaned’s shoulder.
“What the…”
Quaned grabbed his shoulder and stepped back.
The results were entirely different from what he knew about skills.
He quickly assessed the situation. The opponent had modified his skills. And he couldn’t quickly determine exactly how they had changed, so he decided to keep his distance.
He abandoned close combat and waved his hand.
His cards weren’t limited to swordsmanship.
[Quaned activates Focalor’s Beast Fog.]
The fog spread, leaving marks like the claws of a beast.
Quaned knew Taesan used dark magic and magic.
But Taesan was human, and he was a demon. Quaned believed he had the upper hand in handling dark magic.
Quaned judged that he could suppress Taesan by combining dark magic, and it wasn’t a wrong judgment. He couldn’t win in close combat.
But being not wrong didn’t mean it was the right answer.
Taesan clenched his fist towards the creeping fog.
[You activate Marbas’s Pitch-Black Wave.]
Space opened around Taesan, and a dark wave surged up voraciously.
The wave devoured the fog. The fog resisted like a beast, but the wave crushed it and absorbed it.
“What!”
Quaned’s eyes widened, not expecting his dark magic to be overpowered by another dark magic.
Taesan charged at Quaned with the surging wave.
Quaned hastily increased the distance and waved his hand.
[Quaned activates Eligos’s Thorny Roses.]
Sharp thorns rained down. The power they held was enough to suppress and crush even the wave.
Taesan responded.
[You activate Decarabia’s Distorted Vegetation.]
Rumble!
Roots rose and filled the room.
Of course, it couldn’t completely block the thorns. There was a clear hierarchy even among dark magic, and Distorted Vegetation was on the lower end. The thorns pierced through it.
But it was enough to slightly distort the trajectory.
Taesan charged through the gaps created by the distorted paths.
Quaned had no choice but to raise his sword.
Slash.
[864 damage to Quaned.]
Quaned didn’t even groan. He just kept thinking of ways to shake off Taesan without any disturbance.
Using deflection, counter, and various other skills, he tried to widen the gap.
But Taesan didn’t fall back. He responded with skills and movements, sticking close and attacking Quaned.
Gaining the upper hand in close combat was difficult. Even the dark magic he thought was his advantage wasn’t.
It was a hopeless situation, but Quaned didn’t give up.
As he descended the labyrinth, countless trials and tribulations had awaited him. There were numerous times when all his cards were blocked, and he thought it was the end.
But he overcame all those trials with his skill and talent, rising a step further than before.
Quaned firmly believed he would do the same this time.
He focused his mind. He leaped off the ground and into the air, clenching his fist.
[Quaned activates Eligos’s Thorny Roses.]
Thorns scattered down again, but this time their speed and quantity were qualitatively different.
Each thorn moved at varying speeds, and the quantity was double what it had been before. Avoiding them seemed nearly impossible.
“Hah.”
Quaned couldn’t help but gasp.
Dark magic’s power could be adjusted with more magic energy. Not only could the power be increased, but the finer details of the dark magic could also be controlled.
But it was such a difficult and complex task that Quaned had never been able to do it before. He had always thought that even after extensive training, he could barely touch upon it.
Yet he accomplished what he believed impossible now.
He had reached a higher dimension.
Taesan looked at the falling thorns.
Each one held such immense power that they couldn’t be blown away with wind.
In that case, he just needed to deflect them. He memorized all the trajectories of the thorns in his mind and raised his sword.
[You activate Deflection.]
He deflected one thorn and leaped.
He moved the tip of his sword. The trajectories of the thorns he touched twisted one by one.
And the twisted thorns collided with other thorns.
Arrows shot out from Taesan’s body. They weren’t strong enough to deflect the thorns, but they were sufficient to alter their paths.
One by one, the thorns deviated from their intended spots. Like a retreating wave, the thorns disappeared from Taesan’s path.
Quaned’s pupils, who had been in a state of ecstasy, widened.
Taesan’s sword pierced his chest.