Chapter 415: 82nd Floor, Lemegeton (4) |
Taesan carefully examined the sea urchins densely filling the sky.
First, the sea urchins weren’t living beings.
They were closer to automated devices, operating through the remnants of the now-vanished demon, Belial. They were merely tools designed to deal with intruders.
The spikes fired by the sea urchins seemed to react automatically when an intruder approached within a certain range.
Taesan continued his inspection, and Belial’s attendant, who had been watching him, couldn’t hold back and asked,
“What exactly are you doing?”
“It’s none of your business. Don’t worry about it.”
Taesan responded curtly. The attendant fell silent.
The ghost realized what Taesan was doing.
Taesan nodded. The ghost wasn’t too surprised.
Taesan had always strived to acquire skills, no matter the situation. This was Belial’s dead world. Given the unique environment, it wasn’t hard to predict that Taesan would attempt something here.
[I’m curious. What kind of skill is it this time?]
“I don’t know.”
[…You don’t know?]
“I’ve never gotten it before, nor have I ever thought about it.”
Taesan spoke calmly.
He had calculated the conditions for countless skills and successfully acquired them.
But in his previous life, he had been nothing more than an Easy Mode player. The environments and situations were heavily restricted.
At the very least, an environment like this never existed in Easy Mode.
That’s why even Taesan didn’t know what kind of skill he could gain here. He had no choice but to repeat trial and error.
Taesan organized his thoughts.
Whenever he moved, the sea urchins above unleashed a barrage of spikes.
It was an overwhelming attack, filling the entire space with almost no room to evade.
‘Blocking it isn’t hard.’
With just one Word of Command, he could stop them all. But doing so wouldn’t earn him anything.
Taesan began conducting several experiments.
First, he tried to block the manifestation of the sea urchins’ power entirely. He gathered his divinity and suppressed them. The spikes couldn’t even emerge, halted by Taesan’s force.
But he gained nothing.
He hadn’t expected success on the first try, so he wasn’t disappointed and moved on to another attempt.
This time, he tried to neutralize all manifested power. He separated the magic, surrounding the sea urchins and blocking the trajectory of the oncoming spikes from all directions. As a result, the spikes were stopped right in front of the sea urchins.
Yet again, no system window announcing a new skill appeared.
Taesan wasn’t disheartened. After all, it was natural to go through countless failures when acquiring a skill.
Taesan continued experimenting, and the ghost asked curiously,
[Even with such a massive power difference, can you still get a skill?]
“There are a few skills you can get regardless of power or divinity.”
If the skill was based on fundamental conditions rather than power, it was possible to acquire it, though the chances were low.
The prime example was Addition.
To get Addition, one had to attack countless enemies without their stance breaking, steadily increasing damage. The strength of the enemies didn’t matter much.
The skill Taesan was aiming for now was something similar.
After thinking for a moment, Taesan quietly took a step forward. At the same time, spikes rained down from the sea urchins in the sky.
Taesan casually waved his hand. The spikes shattered and scattered the moment they touched him.
Taesan observed the sea urchins.
He wasn’t merely looking—he focused his mind and contemplated deeply.
Soon, he began to perceive something akin to the sea urchins’ will.
The Will of All Things wasn’t just a skill that sensed the will and emotions of living beings. With enough concentration and expanded senses, it could read the will of everything in existence.
Now, even this was possible.
Taesan took a step.
Immediately, the will radiating from the sea urchins shifted rapidly.
The pulses of their will surged.
And where that will was concentrated.
He read and understood it all.
Taesan took another step. The spikes poured down in unison.
He didn’t dodge or block them. He simply stood there, waiting.
Rumble!
The spikes violently pierced the ground.
[…Huh?]
The ghost was shocked.
Standing untouched amid the densely packed spikes, Taesan remained unscathed.
It was as if the spikes had deliberately avoided him.
[How?]
“By reading their will, not their movements. Seems like this is possible too.”
Reading movements involved tracking the flow of force and dodging accordingly.
But will existed before power manifested. Taesan read the sea urchins’ will and predicted where the spikes would fire. Then he moved to spaces where there wouldn’t be any spikes.
He had done something similar when fighting the Fallen Apostle, but that was only possible because the apostle had lost its intellect due to soul degradation, leaving only raw power and instincts. More importantly, this was the first time he had succeeded against non-living objects.
“Even inanimate objects have readable will?”
Perhaps it was because this skill was tied to the world itself, but it was difficult to fully grasp.
Through this attack, Taesan confirmed another thing.
The sea urchins weren’t consciously recognizing and attacking him.
Their actions resembled reflexive responses. When an intruder came within range, they would automatically unleash their spikes.
Dozens of conditions and corresponding skills raced through his mind.
Finally, Taesan arrived at an idea close to the answer.
‘A relentless barrage.’
What kind of skill could one obtain by walking leisurely through it, without dodging or blocking, and taking no damage?
“Let’s give it a try.”
Convinced, Taesan continued his experiments.
He tested how accurately he could read their will, how much space there was between the spikes, and how the sea urchins reacted to different movements. He began analyzing it all.
Step.
Taesan took another step. A strong will emanated from the sea urchins. He began reading the direction and trajectory of the spikes.
This time, he realized that walking straight ahead wouldn’t let him avoid them.
What was needed was to walk as if on a stroll—no evasive maneuvers. He had to guide their attacks.
Depending on his movements, the automatically fired spikes changed trajectory.
If that was the case…
Taesan moved forward, lightly waving his fingers.
With each motion of his fingers, the will of the sea urchins shifted chaotically.
He realized he could influence the trajectory of the spikes, not just in a straightforward path, but also directing them in response to his entire body’s movements.
He meticulously identified each condition and solution—experimenting repeatedly to figure out how to guide the spikes’ paths and how to make that process seem natural.
Two hours later.
“Hmmm.”
Having finished his preparations, Taesan expanded his senses, reading all the wills surrounding him, then took a step forward.
At that moment, he felt the will emanating from the sea urchins.
They prepared to fire spikes to block the intruder. Taesan, having already read the paths and trajectories of the spikes, stepped forward.
Rumble!
The spikes pierced the earth.
But none of them touched Taesan.
It was as if the spikes had deliberately avoided him.
Taesan took another step. Again, he felt the will from the sea urchins.
He read it.
Thousands of branching intentions from the spikes—he fully grasped their paths before any force even manifested.
And yet, he realized he couldn’t dodge this set of spikes.
But that didn’t matter. Taesan casually waved his arm. It wasn’t a defensive move or an evasive one—just a meaningless gesture.
Yet that was enough to alter the will he sensed from the sea urchins.
They were automatic defense devices, reacting based on the target’s movements. Even a purposeless action would trigger their response.
After two hours of experiments, Taesan had figured out how to alter the spike trajectories.
Seeing the path shift, he stepped forward again. More spikes rained down—but once again, none touched him.
Step.
He kept walking.
Rumble!
Spikes shot toward him.
But they never touched Taesan. By moving his arms, legs, and body in specific ways, he twisted the trajectory of the spikes.
[…Wow.]
The ghost gasped.
It wasn’t surprising to see Taesan avoiding the spikes—it had happened countless times.
But this time, his movements were incredibly natural.
Rumble!
Spikes poured down, filling Taesan’s field of vision. There seemed to be no space left to evade—an overwhelming attack that filled the entire area.
Yet Taesan continued forward, walking leisurely as if taking a stroll.
The spikes appeared to be intentionally avoiding him.
It was a sight that evoked a sense of wonder.
And after exactly twenty steps—
[You have withstood the attack without retaliating, evading, or defending, and took no damage. You have acquired the special continuous activation skill: One Who Hides in the Shadows.]
system-end
As soon as he obtained the skill, the incoming spikes naturally veered away from Taesan.
This time, he wasn’t actively reading their will to avoid them. The spikes simply bypassed him.
It was easy to guess what kind of skill he had just acquired.
[You have activated Zepar’s Black Storm.]
Crash!
Taesan obliterated all the sea urchins. Though they fired their spikes in unison, the black storm devoured and swept everything away.
“Uwaaah!”
“What the hell is that?!”
Far in the distance, other contractors breaking through the area panicked. Terrified, they distanced themselves from the raging storm.
Taesan sensed their reactions but ignored them—it wasn’t his concern. He opened his skill window.
[Special Continuous Activation Skill: One Who Hides in the Shadows]
[Proficiency: 1%]
[Attacks that do not recognize your presence will not hit you.]
The ghost chuckled.
[You really get all sorts of skills. What even is this?]
“Unrecognized attacks, huh?”
The effect was easy to deduce. It likely applied to automated devices like the sea urchins—attacks that activated without actually detecting Taesan wouldn’t hit him.
“This is probably the limit.”
The ghost, examining the skill more closely, realized what Taesan meant.
[It has a conditional clause.]
From now on, all of Taesan’s opponents would be at least on the level of immortals. In those battles, there would be no way for his enemies to lose sight of him.
To use this skill effectively, Taesan would have to find ways to hide his presence—a difficult task against such opponents.
“I don’t care.”
Taesan spoke calmly.
“This is still a jackpot.”
All the countless challenges and attempts to acquire skills.
There had been many times when he spent years obtaining a skill, only to find it useless in real combat.
Through experience, he had learned to filter out the bad ones. Copy was one of the prime examples of a valuable skill.
Considering he hadn’t anticipated this skill or even tried for it specifically, Taesan was more than satisfied.
[Yeah, I guess that’s true.]
In reality, One Who Hides in the Shadows wasn’t a weak skill.
It was a passive skill that didn’t consume mana, and as long as Taesan concealed his presence, he could effortlessly avoid even high-tier attacks. If the ghost had obtained this skill while alive, he would’ve been overjoyed.
But Taesan had acquired so many extraordinary skills that it now felt mundane in comparison.
[I guess my sense of value has become numb.]
The ghost let out a low groan.
Taesan began contemplating how to utilize the skill.
Stealth.
His Ability Sword’s Stealth effect allowed him to completely conceal his presence for one second. It would meet the conditions for the new skill.
He could probably also use partial world alterations to hide my body.
If he set his mind to it, there were many possible applications. He planned to determine the most efficient uses over time.
Feeling satisfied, Taesan moved forward.
He walked confidently, but soon, new obstacles emerged.
This time, it wasn’t sea urchins—it was small living creatures.
They flapped their wings, their grotesque eyes staring.
They were so tiny they were barely visible and swarmed like locusts. They started attacking Taesan, aiming to kill the intruder who had violated their master’s territory.
Taesan lightly clenched his fist.
Crack!
Thousands of the creatures were crushed and scattered in an instant.
[Aren’t you going to try for a skill this time?]
“I’ve already tested every condition here.”
Taesan spoke nonchalantly. Invisible, tiny creatures—he had already explored every possible skill that could be gained from them in his previous life.
And most of those skills had turned out to be completely useless.
[Ah, you’ve done it before.]
The ghost gave a hollow laugh. Meanwhile, Taesan pressed forward, heading toward the powerful presence he could sense in the distance.
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