Ascension Through Skills

Chapter 265: Special Activation Skill. Absolute Judgment (2)

“59th floor. If it’s fast, then getting it fast is fine.”

[......What did you get this time? What is it now?]

The ghost asked tiredly. Taesan answered.

“Absolute Judgement.”

[......The name sounds strange. What's its effect?]

“Complete disregard for the opponent’s defense mechanisms.”

[......]

The ghost was at a loss for words.

Taesan began preparations to acquire the skill.

If one possessed a certain level of rank, they would hardly take any damage from those who did not.

In his past life, he was in Easy Mode.

The concept of rank virtually did not exist.

At that time, he couldn’t understand it, but the reason why he couldn’t inflict damage on S-rank or apostles was because he didn’t have the rank.

However, he defeated S-rank opponents. He also managed to inflict effective damage on apostles.

The skills that made this possible were Essence Strike and Absolute Judgement.

“Let’s do this.”

The abomination focused on defense. Taesan recalled the information Lee Taeyeon had mentioned.

A cowardly abomination with covered eyes.

‘A monster that focuses on defense.’

It defended against anything, whether it’s magic or physical force. It used its high stamina to exhaust its attacker instead.

It was a monster that wore down its opponents slowly.

Taesan swung his sword. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out.

[987 damage to the cowardly abomination with covered eyes.]

Crunch.

The exoskeleton surrounding the abomination became even harder.

When he swung his sword again, it only dealt 500 damage. The recoil was also strong, requiring a considerable amount of force.

Crunch crunch.

The exoskeleton surrounding the abomination became even harder.

It became densely connected, forming a shape that repelled attacks.

Clang!

Taesan swung his sword.

With a fierce recoil, his weapon bounced back. This time, it only dealt 300 damage.

“Let’s see.”

[You have activated Frost Arrow.]

An arrow of ice pierced through the abomination. With a loud noise, the exoskeleton shattered.

[1087 damage to the cowardly abomination with covered eyes.]

This time, the damage registered properly.

The abomination’s form changed once again. Its outer skin began to emit heat. When he shot another Frost Arrow, the damage decreased to 700.

This time, Taesan used a spirit skill. He used a small flame to pressure the abomination.

The abomination’s skin turned into a rock-like form. The damage gradually decreased.

“It would be troublesome for others.”

No matter what attack was used, it would respond accordingly. But it didn’t matter to Taesan.

He had the power of black magic, magic, swordsmanship, and spirits. He had four different types of power.

Including the powers of high-ranking gods and divine power, which he couldn’t fully control yet, he had even more.

For someone like him, opponents that adapted to attacks were meaningless. If they adapted, he could just use a different skill.

Or he could simply crush them with raw power, as he did with intermediate black magic. There were various ways to defeat them.

But for those with only one or two types of power, it would be an extremely difficult opponent.

Clang!

[887 damage to the cowardly abomination with covered eyes.]

[You have won.]

The abomination fell.

“About 13,000.”

With that amount of damage, he was able to bring it down. It had an incredibly high amount of stamina.

‘I understand why Lee Taeyeon almost died from exhaustion.’

Taesan laughed cheerfully and moved on to the next room.

He began removing his weapons and equipment one by one.

[Are you lowering your attack power?]

“It’s too high.”

He had to meet the conditions for Absolute Judgement.

The ghost groaned.

[What are the conditions? I should find out for myself, but I can't stand the curiosity.]

“You’ll know soon enough.”

A monster appeared. Taesan, equipped with just a single sword, charged at it.

Clang!

He dealt 98 damage.

The abomination that was attacked changed its skin accordingly, becoming even harder with scales.

Taesan focused his mind.

[You have activated Essence Perception.]

[You have activated Insight.]

He read the information of the abomination. He understood the changed skin, its texture, and how to counter it.

Taesan charged again.

He read the texture of the changed skin and accurately targeted the gaps.

Crack.

This time, the damage was 97.

Crunch.

The abomination’s skin changed again.

This time it became smooth, appearing slippery even when attacked.

‘Let’s see.’

[You have activated Insight.]

Information came in.

The changed form, its effects, and its approximate appearance were imprinted.

As a result, he could see that there were protruding parts between the smooth forms.

Taesan ran forward.

The protruding parts were as small as a dot. Focusing his mind, he thrust his sword.

The tip of the sword precisely hit the protruding part.

Clang.

99 damage.

Through a series of processes, the ghost understood.

[Are you continuing to deal similar damage?]

“Yes.”

[What's the margin of error?]

“Based on what I’ve analyzed so far, about ±5%.”

[......Oh.]

The ghost’s voice was mixed with admiration and absurdity.

Assuming he dealt 100 damage, it meant he had to deal damage within the range of 95 to 105.

[How many times?]

“More than a hundred times.”

[……It seems like you're experimenting on the abomination, so it must change its defense method with each attack, right?]

“You’re right.”

The ghost chuckled wryly.

[That's insane.]

[……Master seems out of his mind.]

Barkaza also spoke with a hint of reluctance. Although he didn’t fully understand the labyrinth’s system, he could at least tell what level of task Taesan was talking about.

An opponent that changed its defense method with each attack.

Against such an enemy, he had to ensure that every attack dealt the same level of damage.

In other words, no matter what kind of defense the opponent employed, he had to penetrate and crush all of it.

Barkaza couldn’t even guess the difficulty of that task.

Having descended deep into the labyrinth and overcome numerous trials, the ghost who could guess the difficulty was even more astonished.

[It's on par with Addition’s level of craziness.]

Addition was a skill that increased damage by repeating the same posture, the same strength, and the same trajectory without any deviation.

Absolute Judgement was the complete opposite. Against an opponent that changed its defense method with each attack, he had to penetrate each method in a different way more than a hundred times.

But one thing was certain.

Both were crazy tasks.

Crunch crunch.

The scales spread out like cracked dry ground. Taesan pierced through the changed defense method once again.

Clang!

[96 damage to the cowardly abomination with covered eyes.]

[You're really hitting it accurately. What are you?]

“I’ve done it. A lot.”

Hundreds of thousands of times. Maybe even more. He had worked hard to acquire Absolute Judgement.

Countless experiences allowed him to estimate how much force to use based on the opponent’s response.

Taesan continued to attack the abomination. The abomination, which had been changing its scales, suddenly covered its face with its arms.

Woooong.

Instead of changing its scales, a bluish barrier formed around the abomination.

It was a completely different response from before.

When he tried to use Insight, it only described it as a blessing that protected the body, without detailed information.

Taesan charged at the barrier.

He thrust his sword and applied more force to his feet.

The moment the barrier touched the sword, a sudden recoil was felt.

It was a force that tried to repel the sword itself. Taesan reflexively applied more force. The barrier was pierced, and the sword stabbed the abomination.

[93 damage to the cowardly abomination with covered eyes.]

He failed.

Taesan sheathed his sword. He wasn’t surprised, as he hadn’t expected to succeed on the first try.

Taesan applied force to his sword and advanced.

While pressuring the abomination with the barrier, he aimed to deal 100 damage. After several attempts, he managed to inflict damage steadily.

The abomination continued to alter the repulsive force of the barrier, but it didn’t matter. Taesan calculated the repulsive force he felt when the sword touched the barrier and applied just enough force.

By continuously pressuring the abomination, Taesan was able to understand its patterns.

‘The first is the change of the exoskeleton.’

Next, it created a blue barrier that emits a repulsive force.

The third pattern made the abomination’s body itself harden. Unlike the exoskeleton, there were no gaps, so he had to press it down purely with force.

The fourth pattern covered its entire body with a slippery liquid. This reduced the damage by making sword strikes slide off.

The fifth pattern was chaotic movement. Instead of trying to attack, it rampaged madly, making it difficult to land accurate damage as it jumped around erratically.

In this way, the opponent displayed a total of five patterns.

After that, no matter how much he hit it, the patterns did not change. Taesan dealt with the abomination and moved to the next room.

Now came the main part. Taesan charged at a new abomination.

Clang!

He swung his sword.

He suppressed the abomination, which tried to block by changing its exoskeleton, in the same way as before. The abomination, continuously beaten, changed its method.

Woooong.

A blue barrier formed.

Taesan swung his sword again and overcame the barrier pattern. Then the abomination made its entire body hard.

Next, it covered its entire body with slime, and finally, it started rampaging wildly.

Through this process, Taesan realized that if he defeated it in the same way, the abomination’s pattern remained unchanged.

What would happen if he defeated it differently?

Taesan moved to the next room. He began dealing damage around 100 to the abomination there once again.

But this time, his method was different. Until now, he targeted the gaps in the exoskeleton, but now Taesan pressed down on the hardened exoskeleton with pure force.

The abomination, which had been continuously beaten, changed again.

Crunch.

The abomination’s body hardened.

It skipped the barrier pattern and went straight to the third pattern.

It was not simply showing the same pattern mechanically. The abomination changed its pattern according to Taesan’s method of attack.

In other words, if Taesan attacked in the same way, he could fix the abomination’s pattern.

Step by step, he built a path for the strategy. Taesan opened the path with dark energy.

[You have activated Leraje's Territory Detection.]

Zing.

Dark energy spread out in all directions, sweeping through the labyrinth. As a result, Taesan identified the locations and numbers of rooms on the 59th floor.

“There are twenty more.”

In other words, he had to obtain Absolute Judgement within these twenty.

Taesan moved to the next room.

First, he observed once more. By observing the patterns and moving in the same way, he realized the abomination also responded in the same way.

He confirmed that nothing was missed.

And then the second abomination.

He began to strategize against the patterns.

First, he attempted to perfectly understand the exoskeleton. By continuously beating and repeating the same damage, he came close to perfectly understanding the strategy against the exoskeleton.

And then came the third abomination. He strategized against the barrier pattern. He realized that if he significantly altered the damage in the middle, the same pattern would be maintained. By keeping the barrier pattern steady, he could figure out the pattern changes and develop a strategy.

The fourth abomination.

He strategized against the hardening pattern.

This was relatively easy. It simply hardened. By understanding the hardening cycle and its hardness, he repeatedly overcame it.

He finished understanding three patterns.

The fourth pattern: the pattern of covering the entire body with slippery slime.

This one was quite tricky. The pattern kept changing in the middle, likely due to the total damage inflicted.

As a result, Taesan realized that he had to deal damage even more precisely than ±5%.

It was already difficult, and it became even more challenging. Not only did he have to adjust his physical force and damage, but he also had to understand the slime pattern, which took quite some time. It wasn’t until the ninth abomination that he finally managed to understand the slime pattern and adjust the damage.

And the final pattern: the rampaging pattern.

It was the hardest. It was difficult to read the pattern while it was rampaging. At first glance, it seemed to move randomly.

At the eleventh abomination, Taesan finally figured out the seemingly random but actually systematic pattern.

After that, he began to strategize against that pattern.

It took fifteen abominations to understand how to attack to make the next attack easier and at what level to proceed to make the strategy easier.

Finally, Taesan finished understanding all the patterns.

After that, it was time to repeat.

He input the pattern and attacked the abomination. He mechanically repeated the process, reducing the margin of error one by one.

[Mmm…….]

Barkaza groaned at the sight. Taesan, mechanically repeating, did not look human.

Taesan continued to repeat.

And as a result.

Nineteen abominations, with only one left.

[You have completely broken the opponent's defense and inflicted the desired damage until the opponent collapsed. You have obtained the special activation skill [Absolute Judgement].]