Chapter 358
There were four left. The Fist Saint. Altair. The Black and White Twins. And the Noble One—Helia.
“Heh.”
A muscular man—Fist Saint Altair let out a hollow laugh.
“You possess an incredible variety of powers.”
Taesan wielded holy power, black magic, the Spirit King, and the power of annihilation. He used a wide array of powers.
And none of them fell short compared to theirs.
“How is this even possible?”
Altair couldn’t accept it.
He had spent his entire life with his fists. From the moment he was born, he had swung them. Not once did he rest. He ignored everything else and trained, trained, and trained—until the very end.
He became a Fist Saint.
The other Guides here weren’t much different.
Only those with extraordinary talent, who obsessively devoted themselves to what they had, could barely reach this place. That was the Abyss.
No matter how talented one was, they could never reach this place if they neglected that talent or let their focus stray.
But now, Taesan possessed numerous powers.
Normally, compared to them who had each mastered a single path, his individual powers should have been weaker. But Taesan was different.
Each one of his powers either surpassed or equaled those of the Guides.
‘The difference in class…’
It was literally a different class.
Altair realized it. That this was what a true adventurer capable of conquering the Labyrinth looked like.
“But even so, I can’t give up.”
Altair clenched his fist. Taesan silently observed as he assumed a combat stance.
When Taesan didn’t activate [Forced Duel], Altair frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s starting to get annoying.”
Taesan swung his sword lightly.
“Come at me all at once.”
“…Even for you, that’s far too arrogant.”
Altair’s face hardened. The pressure from the Black and White Twins grew stronger, and Helia’s face twisted.
“You may be strong, but you’re not at a level where you can defeat all four of us at once.”
Taesan had only been victorious because of [Forced Duel]. If even one more opponent were added, he couldn’t guarantee a win.
On top of that, Taesan had consumed a great deal of energy, while the four of them were still in perfect condition.
Yet Taesan did not activate [Forced Duel].
Altair shook his head.
“If that’s truly what you want. I know you wouldn’t lie.”
“I told you. All of you, come at me.”
“In that case…”
The Fist Saint clenched his fists and shouted loudly.
“I am the Fist Saint! I was abandoned with nothing, yet I conquered the world with my fists alone!”
[Altair has activated First Declaration.]
The Black and White Twins raised their hands.
“The women walk by the hidden lakeshore.”
It was a chant. A ritual to use a special power.
“The sound of their steps merges—”
“—and eventually, the two become one.”
[The Black Twin has activated ‘Two Become One’.]
[The White Twin has activated ‘Two Become One’.]
Their bodies began to collapse.
“That kind of skill exists?”
[A unique skill only the Twins can possess. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.]
Their crumbling bodies merged into one.
The left half was black. The right half was white.
Their overlapping voices echoed simultaneously.
“We’ll kill you.”
Helia raised her sword. Drawing a diagonal line, she slashed her own forearm.
“I’ll make you regret your arrogance.”
Slash!
Instead of red, blue blood flowed out. Taesan muttered.
“Not human?”
“That’s right. I’m not an ordinary human like you. I carry the blood of a god.”
Blue blood began to spread across Helia’s body. Her muscles bulged, and veins popped.
[Helia has activated Physical Burden Substitution.]
[Helia has activated Mental Burden Substitution.]
[Helia has activated Forced Divine Blood Activation.]
“In the name of the god, I will kill you.”
“I believe that applies to you lot instead.”
What the Demon wished for was Taesan’s victory.
The gods wished for their deaths.
Boom.
The three Guides rushed in at once.
Taesan raised his sword.
Kwaaaang!
Power collided with power. The first to charge was Fist Saint Altair.
Sword and fist clashed. A deadly gust from the fist grazed past Taesan’s head.
As befitting the title of Fist Saint, he was someone who staked everything on his fists.
[You have activated Acceleration.]
Ka-ga-ga-gak!
Sword and fist clashed. Altair was incredibly fast and strong. He easily kept up with Taesan’s speed.
[You have activated Deflection.]
Altair’s fist that had collided with the sword veered off course. And it wasn’t just once. Every punch he threw had its trajectory distorted. Taesan continued to deflect the attacks with perfect timing.
[You have activated Counter.]
Just as Taesan’s sword was about to ignore Altair’s attack and pierce his chest—
Slash!
A sharp strike came flying in. Taesan used [Restricted Blink] to escape.
The fused Twins, moving like beasts, lunged with clawed hands like a wildcat.
Ka-ga-ga-gak!
Fast and powerful. Even though the Twins had used only [Two Become One], they were as fast as Taesan. And with beast-like movements rather than human ones, they were even more difficult to deal with.
Then, with a burst of power, Helia leapt.
Taesan blocked the descending sword.
Kaaang!
“…Urgh.”
Taesan let out a quiet groan.
Even though his [Sustained Combat] skill allowed for prolonged battles, it didn’t eliminate stamina consumption. The stronger the opponent, the more his stamina was drained.
Fighting four Guides at once, his movements were slightly slower compared to his peak state.
However, his base stats were so high that he still wasn’t in a condition to be overwhelmed.
But right now, Helia’s power was—subtly—surpassing Taesan’s.
‘Her buff values are extremely high.’
And with buffs of that level, there was bound to be a time limit.
It probably wouldn’t last long, but he couldn’t guarantee he’d last that long either.
[You have activated Magic Stacking.]
[You have activated Frozen World.]
[You have activated Starlight Arrow.]
[You have activated Frozen World.]
He condensed mana and detonated it.
[You have activated Magic Liberation.]
[You have activated Forced Amplification.]
The burst of magic engulfed the space. Light and frost fused together and destroyed everything.
The Fist Saint clicked his tongue and stepped back, and the Twins also swiftly widened the distance.
But only Helia didn’t retreat, swinging her sword violently.
Ka-ga-ga-gak!
With a deafening roar, the frost infused with light was shaved away.
But she couldn’t block it all. The aftermath swept over Helia.
Kiing!
The blue blood enveloping Helia’s body grew darker.
As light and frost shattered, Helia charged at Taesan once more.
[You have activated Arrow of the Tempest of Unthought.]
The arrow drew a line and pierced through Helia.
Helia hastily slammed her sword downward.
Kwa-deu-deuk.
“Grrrk!”
The arrow and Helia’s sword clashed fiercely. Taesan’s eyebrow twitched.
‘She blocked it?’
[Arrow of the Tempest of Unthought] was one of the highest-ranked among Taesan’s intermediate black magic spells.
He had even opened a pathway to use it, making it a power that shouldn’t have been blockable.
But Helia blocked it.
The blue blood covering her body deepened further.
Kaaang!
With a ripping sound, the arrow deflected away. Helia burst out in mad laughter.
“Weak! Weak! You’re so weak!”
Her eyes were bloodshot. Half-crazed, she charged toward Taesan.
[You have activated White Rune Shield.]
Kwaaaang!
The shield clashed with the sword and shattered in one blow.
“Ha, haha, hahaha!”
Mad laughter rang out. Taesan blinked away and swept his hand.
Numerous spells and black magic burst forth.
Even with Magic Stacking applied, Helia didn’t fall.
She broke through intermediate-level spells with her body and continued to charge Taesan.
The Fist Saint and the Twins also rushed in to corner him.
[Your First Absolute Attack Nullification has activated.]
Using the attack nullification, Taesan created distance and quickly gathered mana.
[You have activated Focused Detection.]
Kiing!
The power of reconnaissance swept over the Guides of Sin.
But the moment it reached them, it bounced off.
It didn’t work. Helia sneered.
“Detection is easily countered with a prepared defense.”
She must have devised countermeasures while watching Taesan fight other Guides.
But that didn’t matter much. If detection didn’t work, he’d confirm it through direct combat.
Ka-ga-gak!
The battle continued.
Dodging and defending, Taesan began grasping a general understanding of the Guides’ abilities and types of power.
‘Divine Blood, huh.’
The blue blood surrounding Helia didn’t just make her stronger—it repelled most incoming force and granted resistance.
But it came with a cost. As the blue blood deepened, Helia’s body turned red, and her eyes became bloodshot.
There were two ways to deal with it.
Endure until she self-destructed. The skill granted power beyond what the body could handle. It was clear her mind and body wouldn’t last long before collapsing.
But surely she knew that as well. That’s why she would try to bring Taesan down before that happened.
And she had the power to do it.
The three Guides rushed at him simultaneously.
Taesan stomped the ground.
Bang bang bang
Taesan blocked the Guides’ attacks and held his ground.
He chanted spells, creating openings and attempting counterattacks.
But the numerical advantage was too great. His attack nullifications were all consumed. Wounds began appearing on Taesan’s body one by one, and his stamina dwindled.
“You were arrogant. Overconfident in yourself, and now you face death. That’s the limit of the lowborn.”
Helia sneered.
She was now convinced of victory. Even as Taesan was being pushed back, he hadn’t revealed any other trump card. It meant he had nothing left.
Now, even if he activated [Forced Duel], it wouldn’t be enough to win.
Meanwhile, Altair looked unsettled.
To him, Taesan didn’t seem like someone who would overestimate himself and make such a mistake.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
Altair spoke to Helia and the Twins. But it was Taesan who answered.
“Shall we?”
Kiing!
With a small voice, the wrist guard activated its power.
“Urgh!”
A massive shockwave swept over them. Altair hastily punched to break the wave.
“That’s—”
“To be honest, if I had fought you all separately, it might have been dangerous.”
Taesan had taken down four Guides.
They hadn’t gone down easily. They persistently looked for openings in Taesan and dragged the fight out.
As a result, by the time he defeated all four, the duration of Apostle Transformation was nearly over.
Since Apostle Transformation was a skill that enhanced his spiritual power, once the duration ended, he couldn’t guarantee victory. The ring that reset cooldowns still had nearly a month left on its own cooldown and couldn’t be used.
So Taesan made a decision.
Before Apostle Transformation ended, he would finish analyzing everything at once.
The wrist guard, infused with materials, groaned as it expanded. The Twins, sensing something was wrong, leapt.
Zzeoong!
But they couldn’t reach him. The power radiating from the wrist guard repelled them.
“I’ve analyzed everything.”
[You have activated Partial World Alteration.]
Altair’s pupils widened.
“This is—!”
It was the power he used when facing the Spirit King of Fire—a force that transformed the world itself into his own domain.
“You weren’t unable to use it?!”
Until now, Taesan hadn’t activated [Partial World Alteration].
Even though he was being pushed back, he hadn’t used it, so they assumed it must be under a cooldown restriction.
“It just requires some prep to use.”
[Partial World Alteration] changes the very laws of the world.
To gain the greatest effect, he needed to grasp not only the type of power his opponents used but also its class.
During his battle with the three Guides, Taesan identified every type of power they wielded and recorded it into his bracelet.
That was why he hadn’t activated [Forced Duel].
The world was altered.
The laws governing the powers the Guides wielded weakened, and Taesan’s domain took hold.
“So what if it is?! I am a descendant of divine blood! A lowborn’s pitiful domain can never stand against me!”
With a roar, Helia charged toward Taesan.
Taesan flicked his hand lightly.
[You have activated Starlight Arrow.]
It was the same [Starlight Arrow] he had used repeatedly. Until now, Helia had deflected all of them with her sword.
Thinking this would be no different, Helia swung her blade.
Zzzeoong!
“Guhhh!”
Helia let out a cry of pain as she was sent flying.
She staggered back to her feet, barely able to speak.
“H-How…”
Cracks had formed in the blue blood enveloping her.
Power beyond what Divine Blood could withstand had struck her, shattering it.
Something no other Guide of Sin had ever achieved.
Altair and the Twins moved quickly in response.
The power behind their attacks was not to be taken lightly—even for Taesan, it was their full strength.
But they couldn’t reach him.
Taesan swung his sword. Altair’s fist split apart. With a shift of his foot, he kicked the Twins away.
“Grk!”
“Kyah!”
It was completely different from before.
Taesan now overwhelmed them entirely.
“Sorry, but I recorded too many laws into this—it won’t last long. So let’s end this quickly.”
[You have activated Beyond the Boundary.]
A power from beyond mortality dwelled within Taesan.
[You have activated Magic Stacking.]
Frost began to accumulate.
The Twins flinched and widened the distance. Their fingertips trembled in the surging chill.
Adventurers who had stepped into the Abyss—shivering from cold.
It wasn’t something that could happen from mere temperature.
They had to stop him.
But how?
The Twins quickly dashed toward Taesan, claws extended, trying to plunge themselves into the frost.
Zzzzzzzt!
But from the tips of their claws, their entire bodies began to freeze.
“Kyah!”
They screamed and pulled away.
A collection of frost so intense that even beings who had reached the limits of mortality could not approach.
The world itself was freezing.
Taesan instinctively realized it. This was the magic created directly by the God of Magic. This was the true might of [Frozen World].
“Block this.”
[You have activated Magic Liberation.]
[You have activated Forced Amplification.]
Taesan snapped his fingers. The Guides gasped and hurled themselves aside.
The condensed [Frozen World] swept across everything.
