Chapter 526
Rumbleeeee!
He drove the sword in deep and burst the Boundary Line. Since it was bursting from inside the body, defense was impossible. The Gatekeeper was taking the attack head-on at the Boundary Line.
But it didn’t die.
Even within the grayness, the Gatekeeper raised its hand, trying to swing the Black. Taesan bared his teeth.
“Just fucking. Die.”
Crunch.
He twisted the sword.
The Gatekeeper’s body shook violently. He ground the Boundary Line even sharper, tearing its entire body apart.
The Boundary Line stretched out, reaching the deepest part— the Gatekeeper’s origin.
At that moment, Taesan unleashed all his power. The Black that was his, yet not his, exploded, dyeing everything gray.
Craaaack!
Finally, cracks spread across the Gatekeeper’s body. Taesan put strength into the sword and pulled. The Gatekeeper was split in half.
And the Gatekeeper exploded.
The enormous thing inside burst and scattered into the world. And some of it settled into Taesan.
Heh.
A laughter was heard.
The thing inside him, as if it had been waiting, greedily devoured the scattered power. There was no burden, no strain at all.
[Your Soul Rank Ascension has activated. Black proficiency has increased by 35%.]
[Your Soul Rank Ascension has activated. You have obtained Transcendence [Compression].]
[You have defeated an Old God. You have obtained the special passive skill [Winner Against the Beyond].]
Rumbleeeee!
Taesan sheathed his sword.
[You have defeated the Gatekeeper of the Rift.]
[Special Quest Complete]
[#$#!%”$%”$”%&&&&]
A perfect victory.
“Hoh.”
The Magician let out an impressed sound. He quickly waved his hand. The system’s curtain surged up and sealed the rift in the sky.
“For now, it’s been taken care of.”
The Magician muttered softly.
The news reached the people as well. Those who had been praying with their eyes closed opened them. They lifted their heads and looked at Taesan standing alone.
A single emotion settled onto their faces.
“Woooooaaaaaah!”
They had won. Again.
People shared the joy of survival with each other.
—
[Congratulations. You have survived. Rewards will be distributed differentially according to your actions and results.]
[You will return to the Labyrinth in 48 hours.]
A system window announcing their return to the Labyrinth appeared.
People rejoiced and celebrated. Praising Taesan’s feat, they watched with their own eyes what he had done.
“Woooooaaaah…”
“What the hell… is that…”
Gazing toward Greenland from across the sea, people let out groans.
It was no longer a continent.
But it wasn’t the sea, either.
A part of the planet had collapsed inward.
Ruined and broken, it felt like looking at a world that had been destroyed. Earth was no longer in the shape of a sphere.
“…Can a planet called Earth even keep existing after it’s become like that?”
“It can’t. That’s why I have to adjust it.”
The Magician answered lightly and snapped his fingers.
Rumbleeeee!
The collapsed section rose. Soil and water were created, restoring the damaged planet.
Rumbleeeee!
“Uh…”
People couldn’t close their mouths.
It looked like the creation of heaven and earth. In an instant, the sunken land returned to its original form.
“Woooooah…”
“Alright.”
Kim Hwiyeon steadied herself and gathered the people.
First, they needed to count how many had survived. Kim Hwiyeon led them and checked the damage.
The damage was less than expected. The strong monsters were handled by the strong ones, including Lee Taeyeon, and any monsters even they couldn’t handle were all drawn to Taesan.
Since he dealt with the last monster alone, there was no reason their losses would be large. The people’s faith in Taesan became as strong as it could possibly be.
And Taesan, alone, was checking what he had obtained.
[Transcendence: Black]
[Proficiency: 83%]
[Consumption ???: ???]
[A type of twisted law that existed before creation. It contaminates and erodes current laws and concepts, allowing $%’%”@ #! to be done.]
The Gatekeeper wielded a vast amount of Black. The Black contained in a single orb was enough to surpass Taesan’s entire total.
Accordingly, he had brought back a massive amount of Black. The Black that had bottomed out didn’t just refill completely— it surged far beyond the total amount he had possessed.
Taesan raised his hand.
Gush.
Black flowed out.
The flowing Black didn’t stop. It filled the surroundings, and even blanketed the sky with room to spare.
“A lot.”
By bringing down the Gatekeeper, the total amount of Black had become overwhelmingly large.
About five times what it had been before.
A lack of Black had always been a concern. Compared to Divinity, it had been miserably insufficient. But now, that concern had been resolved to some extent.
‘At this level, I can properly make use of the Chaos Domain, too.’
The authorities he hadn’t been able to use properly due to Black’s massive consumption now seemed manageable, at least to a degree. Perhaps because his proficiency had increased, all skills running on Black also seemed to have been strengthened. Immutable Self and Time Interference had been strengthened as well.
That alone made defeating the Gatekeeper worth it.
But it wasn’t the end.
[Special passive skill: Winner Against the Beyond]
[Proficiency: 1%]
[You have defeated a great being that exists beyond. When facing a great one, everything about you is strengthened to a high level.]
A skill similar to what he had obtained before. The difference was that the description explicitly stated “to a high level.”
In the system of the Labyrinth, “high” meant truly high. It meant it would strengthen him to a considerable degree.
And the most important thing.
[Transcendence: Compression]
[Proficiency: ~!~]
[Compression of that which does not belong to this world. #$%r&*（*）]
Compression.
He would compress the Black the Gatekeeper wielded and handle it as Black. Taesan tested it right away. He began compressing the Black that covered the sky.
Ruuuumble.
Compression was completed in an instant. A single black orb was resting on Taesan’s palm.
“So this is it.”
Normally, compressing power came with some level of strain.
There was no sensation at all. It felt as if he were simply doing something he could naturally do.
Not bad. Compression of power was the same as focus, and it mattered more the stronger the opponent.
But it was ambiguous.
An authority specialized against Old Gods. Even if it had increased, it wasn’t that attractive to Taesan, whose total amount of Black was fundamentally limited.
Taesan read the description of Compression again.
Compression of that which does not belong to this world.
Then.
Taesan recalled the Black and summoned it again. This time, it was Black that wasn’t compressed.
Kiiiiing.
He summoned Divinity.
Black and Divinity mixed, and the Boundary Line was formed. In an instant, a Boundary Line as large as a house manifested in the world.
Then Taesan compressed the Boundary Line.
Kkikik!
The house-sized Boundary Line compressed and compressed, wrapping around Taesan’s sword like a thin film.
Taesan lightly swung the sword. With that alone, space began to warp.
“Good.”
Taesan was satisfied.
The Boundary Line was clearly powerful.
A power that belonged nowhere had the advantage in all matchups, and it could remove contamination and purify as well. It could shake concepts.
But the problem was that the Boundary Line was not a power he could control perfectly.
He could draw it out and swing it, and he could mix it into magic or a Sword of the World and the like, but compressing it, separating it, and tuning it was impossible.
That was why he couldn’t quickly refill a consumed domain with the Boundary Line like the Magician, or break through a densely compressed state like the Gatekeeper.
But now, Taesan too could compress the Boundary Line and concentrate its power.
With Taesan as he was now, he could shatter orbs with the Boundary Line and push forward. In that case, Compression was also a very useful authority.
“Oooooh…”
While Taesan was checking his authority, the people returned to Greenland.
They hesitantly lowered their bodies.
In front of them, the axes of space and time were warped. Along the trajectory of Taesan’s sword swing, an unerasable scar had been carved into the universe.
Faced with that massive miracle, people lowered themselves and offered prayers.
Taesan quietly watched them.
“That mark won’t disappear.”
At some point, the Magician had come to Taesan’s side and muttered.
“Unless a Transcender directly uses an authority, it’ll remain until the universe is destroyed. That’s closer to a concept than simple physical force.”
Even as he said it, as if it was absurd, the Magician let out a hollow laugh.
“To reach the realm of authority with physical force alone.”
The Magician had spread a curtain to protect Earth. It hadn’t been his full power, but he hadn’t taken it lightly either. It had been a curtain he cast seriously.
Yet that curtain had nearly been breached by physical force.
If he hadn’t drawn out an authority itself, it truly would have broken through. And that was without even taking a direct hit— it was only the aftermath.
For simple physical force to reach the realm of authority that a Transcender possessed— the Magician had never seen anything like it.
“And there’s no real penalty, either.”
There was only one penalty: the skill’s cooldown.
But even that wasn’t long. Conversion’s cooldown was one week. It meant he could swing a strike that left an unerasable scar on the world every week.
Even attacks that only used Addition and Multiplication were never weak.
And Taesan’s attack power didn’t end there.
The deeper he went into the Labyrinth, the better equipment he obtained, the more it would rise.
“I’ll have to properly scold Balbamaba.”
It was a kind of balance breaker. One more step, and it would become a power that warped the concept of the world. Even the Magician himself hadn’t expected it would be possible to reach this point.
“At this rate, I’m curious about your fate again. Isn’t it changing?”
The Magician, who had been muttering half in jest, spoke with a serious face.
“Thank you.”
Taesan looked at the Magician.
“If you hadn’t dealt with the Gatekeeper, we would’ve gotten quite busy, too.”
If Taesan had lost, the Gatekeeper would have fully opened the rift. Even the Magician wouldn’t be able to intervene. Because it had come down with proper qualifications, and Earth was a gray zone.
Then they would have been in serious trouble as well. Even far out in the universe, there were quite a few who had hoped for Taesan’s victory.
“I can’t say I’m satisfied.”
Taesan looked up at the sky.
The rift was still there.
Even though he had won, Earth was still a gray zone.
“It can’t be helped. Bright died. As things are now, there’s no way to close it.”
“What the hell happened?”
A Transcender who had existed even during the war against the Old Gods had met death.
And the one who killed Bright wasn’t an Old God.
“There’s a lot to talk about. A lot.”
The Magician gave a bitter smile.
“Let’s talk in detail after we return to the Labyrinth.”
Taesan nodded.
In the time that remained after that, Taesan shared his power with the people.
He formed a contract between Kang Jun-hyuk and an apostle, and taught them how to handle spirits and magic. And Taesan also continued practicing how to use the power of Compression he had obtained more efficiently.
And finally, the time came.
They returned to the Labyrinth once more.
[Monster Disposition Bonus + !$#@]
[Special Quest Bonus 十 $#%”]
[Kill Bonus + [system protected]$]
[Victory Bonus + %#]
[Settlement Complete]
[$스%&스&%p has been distributed.]
Leveling Up With Skills