Chapter 472
When Taesan expressed gratitude instead, Paradise’s eyes trembled.
He couldn’t comprehend Taesan’s words.
To show appreciation after witnessing such an overwhelming, nearly absolute authority—such a reaction was beyond logic.
But Taesan was sincere.
‘So this is how I get my chance.’
He had always known.
‘I can’t acquire every skill.’
Countless skills obtained in his previous life—some of them had to be abandoned in this one.
‘There are skills I absolutely must get, though.’
[Multiplication] and [Designated Skill Reset]—their value was immeasurable.
He would obtain those two no matter what.
And he already had a method in mind.
Before leaving the labyrinth, he would make sure to acquire them.
But everything else was uncertain.
Especially [Simple Time Stop].
The simplified version of time stop that froze the flow of the world around him.
A skill that worked even against an Apostle—an almost absolute ability.
But that was its limit.
While [Multiplication] and [Designated Skill Reset] targeted Taesan himself, [Simple Time Stop] affected the world.
It interfered with the world’s very laws—a power akin to a law itself.
And once a being reached the level of a Transcendent or an Old God, they could crush such laws with stronger ones or break them entirely.
In his previous life, he hadn’t understood this.
He couldn’t even defeat a single Apostle, so there had been no need to ponder those stronger.
But now it was different.
The current Taesan could defeat Apostles without difficulty.
His true enemies were the Old Gods.
And against them, [Simple Time Stop] might not work.
Even so, it was still an excellent skill.
For immortals, it was practically unavoidable, and even transcendents would need to expend power to resist it.
However, there was another problem.
He had no way to obtain it.
Among all the skills he had ever earned, [Simple Time Stop] was one of the most demanding and luck-dependent.
Gathering thousands of repelling projectiles within a confined space to meet its unique conditions was nearly impossible.
Even if he somehow met those conditions, success relied less on skill and more on sheer luck.
With [Multiplication] or [Designated Skill Reset], Taesan had the confidence to achieve them under the right circumstances—but not this one.
After much contemplation, he had half given up on [Simple Time Stop].
Yet he didn’t mind.
He couldn’t have everything.
To gain something, he had to sacrifice something else.
By giving up a few skills, he had gained a level of transcendent strength he could never reach in his past life.
It was something to be glad about.
But now—an opponent appeared who could wield a power identical to [Simple Time Stop].
Taesan couldn’t help but smile.
“Excellent.”
A greedy light flickered in his eyes as he looked at Paradise.
Unconsciously, Paradise stepped back.
Taesan strengthened his stance.
Kwaaang!
His body accelerated, and he swung his hand.
Dark energy manifested across the world.
[You have activated Asmodeus’s Chains of Decay.]
Chajajajak!
Dozens of chains shot toward Paradise.
Snapping to his senses, Paradise narrowly dodged.
[You have activated Guaranteed Strike.]
The chains instantly redirected, pursuing Paradise.
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue, Paradise stomped hard.
The chains slowed, making it easy for him to widen the distance.
But they relentlessly followed him nonetheless.
Even slowed, chains that tracked until they struck were a heavy burden.
[You have activated Restricted Blink.]
Taesan appeared directly in front of Paradise.
[You have activated Call of Ruin.]
[You have activated Embers of Calamity.]
Two powers capable of summoning the end of the world surged toward Paradise.
The ruinous strength of a Transcendent truly carried the potential to destroy a world.
Paradise clicked his tongue and drew his pistol.
He realized that unless he destroyed those attacks, they would chase him endlessly.
He inserted bullets and completed the ceremonial reload before raising the weapon.
Bang!
The bullet curved through an impossible trajectory, shattering every pursuing force before flying toward Taesan.
Taesan neither dodged nor blocked.
[Your First Absolute Attack Nullification has been activated.]
“Ugh!”
As nullification triggered, Paradise’s body suddenly wavered—resisting a force that tried to rewind him to before his attack.
“How dare you!”
Paradise roared furiously.
His body forcefully stabilized again.
“Everything resists me, it seems.”
Taesan muttered.
Indeed, the closer one was to an Old God, the more they could resist the labyrinth’s skills.
He closed in further on Paradise.
Paradise finished reloading quickly but didn’t shoot immediately.
He kept dodging and opening distance before finally firing after some time.
Bang!
The bullet shot forth.
Taesan focused on defense, but the ever-rewinding bullet grazed his arm.
[Your Second Absolute Attack Nullification has been activated.]
‘So there’s a cooldown.’
Despite finishing his reload, Paradise didn’t fire right away.
It was as though he was waiting. After a short interval, he pulled the trigger.
Apparently, the ability to rewind time came with a cooldown before it could be reused.
‘Roughly ten seconds.’
Tap.
Taesan dashed toward Paradise.
But Paradise, who had already opened distance after firing, had reloaded and was far away.
“You have strange powers—but they’re useless!”
Paradise burst into manic laughter and fired again.
His authority rewound time until his attack hit—making evasion nearly impossible.
So Taesan didn’t dodge.
He raised countless barriers and surrounded his body with divinity.
There were no gaps anywhere.
The bullet struck the wall of barriers.
Kagagagak!
Time rewound again and again—repeating endlessly to find the perfect result.
At this rate, it would break through soon.
So he devoured it.
Taesan summoned darkness.
A boundary line formed, enveloping the bullet.
Kagagagak!
Time rewound countless times.
But the gray barrier never broke.
Despite endless retries, there was no answer.
Paradise, watching with a smug expression, widened his eyes in shock.
Kagagagak…
The bullet finally lost its power and vanished before reaching Taesan.
Tap.
“What—”
Before Paradise could react, Taesan unleashed magic and black magic.
The last exchange had confirmed it.
Paradise needed to fire his gun to block Taesan’s attacks.
That meant he had no other means of defense beyond his authority.
There was no reason to hold back.
Taesan unleashed countless forces, staying as far from the time-distorted zone as possible while pressuring Paradise.
Paradise, forced to use bullets to block each attack, couldn’t mount effective offense.
Meanwhile, Taesan used boundary lines to block every bullet aimed at him without issue.
After a long pursuit and retreat—
Paradise’s face lit up with excitement.
“Ha… hahaha! Finally!”
Paradise spread his arms wide.
“My lord! I offer this world to You! Defile it as You please!”
Kiiiiing!
The world froze again.
Taesan quickly calculated the timing.
‘Five minutes.’
It had been five minutes since Paradise last used the authority to stop time. Now he was using it again.
The cooldown for time stop was five minutes.
He had confirmed it.
Taesan detonated his boundary line, forcibly restarting the frozen time.
Even though his authority had been broken, Paradise smiled confidently.
“You have no chance of victory! Your powers may be strong, but their limits are obvious!”
He already knew that Taesan wielded an abnormal gray power.
He just hadn’t expected it to resist an Old God’s authority this effectively.
But that power could still be exhausted.
Whereas his own—Paradise’s authority—was limitless and never depleted.
In a prolonged battle, he would surely win.
He believed that completely.
Yet, while he ranted, Taesan quietly organized his thoughts.
Paradise’s authorities could be divided into three types.
One—defensive: the time interference around his domain, slowing everything the closer one approached.
Another—offensive: the authority to rewind time.
Its function was simple—it was a battle of probabilities.
No matter how low the success rate, if time kept rewinding, eventually an attack would succeed.
It was similar in principle to Lee Taeyeon’s skill, [Ten Thousand Possibilities].
The difference was that while [Ten Thousand Possibilities] identified a successful outcome and manually executed it, Paradise’s authority forcibly rewound time until the lowest-probability attack succeeded.
It was practically a superior version—but not without limits.
He could only use it through his gun.
Paradise’s weapon—the pistol.
Despite his incredible abilities, he took his time reloading with great care, almost like performing a ritual.
Even though he could manipulate time, he still reloaded that way—meaning that act itself was a necessary condition for his authority.
Its power, however, was undeniable.
[Immutable Self], which could block the strength of a high immortal over ten times, had shattered after only two hits.
If struck directly, even Taesan wouldn’t come out unscathed.
And the last one—
The authority to stop time, boasting an absolute effect.
Only the [Boundary Line] could break it, and it had a five-minute cooldown between uses.
That was the full power of the Apostle of the Old God.
“Nothing special.”
Taesan muttered.
Troublesome and unique, yes.
Powerful, certainly—it was a law-level authority.
But it wasn’t enough to threaten him.
He had confirmed everything.
All that remained was to claim what he desired.