Ascension Through Skills

Easy Mode Player (6)

TL: handCream

Tae-san did his best against the apostle.

He used his skill to recover a little bit of mana and used all his items to drag time as much as possible. With the little time left, he tried to think of a possibility.

But he was defeated.

 “Fuck.” 

Tae-san exhaled with a distorted face. 

“In the end, it’s like this.” 

His whole body was horrendous. Half of his lower body had melted, and perhaps his internal organs had been oxidized, so nothing could be felt inside.

 Had it not been for his pain-blocking skill, he would have screamed in pain.

“I lost.” 

It was already a match, where the apostle, as his opponent, cannot be guaranteed to win even in the perfect circumstances. Let alone in a state where he was half-dead. 

[Your strength is zero. Indomitable has been activated. Forced survival has begun for exactly 1 minute.] 

The system window blocked his view. Tae-san erases it with a troublesome face.

“Let’s take it easy.” 

The activation of ‘Indomitable’ simply means there is no way to recover from death. Since there is no way to recover, he’ll surely die after that minute.

 Even the apostle knew that’s why it was watching the situation calmly. 

Tae-san looked up at the sky. Even now, monsters were invading from the humongous cracks. 

 “Useless bastards.”

Tae-san frowned. 

What’s the point of being a Solo player or a player from the Hard difficulty level?

 All of them were weaker than Tae-san, one who only passed the Easy difficulty level. In other words, if right now there were two Tae-san here, mankind would have survived for a much longer time than this.

‘They were rushing in to clear the labyrinth, so they didn’t bother building up their strength.’

However, Tae-san also had his limitations. There was definitely a limit to each level of difficulty, and he was a player who chose the Easy level. Though he was stronger with the limits, eventually failed to overcome the limitations of the stats.

 “Really, this is really messed up.” 

Tae-san gritted his teeth.

 It was unfair. 

If only he didn’t choose the Easy mode then. 

Rather he should have picked the Normal Mode.

Then he wouldn’t have been dying like this. 

He would have been able to win against the apostle. 

By that single choice, everything collapsed. He didn’t vomit but his insides were infinitely distorted. Furthermore, he was bubbling in anger. 

‘Why were you so weak even after choosing the Normal and the Hard mode?’

‘Why did you clear the labyrinth, to only return with such poor skills?’ 

If only they had followed even half of what Tae-san had said, mankind would have won.

“…But was that even possible?” 

Tae-san smiled bitterly. Right now, all these are already a thing of the past and what he chose couldn’t be changed. It’s useless to resent others. He had to get his feelings together.

 Humanity ends here. 

Players will continue to appear after this, but they cannot do anything in a place where there is not even a city left. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that humanity has gone extinct. 

As he was calmly accepting death, something caught his eye. 

“What is it?” 

Lee Tae Yeon’s right hand was holding onto something. A clenched fist made it clear that it wasn’t normal.

 And the Apostle was next to Lee Tae-yeon’s body.

 As if protecting something. 

“That’s it”. 

Tae-san crawls with his arms. As he approached near, the Apostle tried to kill him.

“Stay still.” 

[You have activated ‘The last chance’. You can use this skill without any conditions being met. This skill cannot be initiated for a year.]

[Activated Time-stop. The time around 100m will be stopped for 2 minutes.] 

Tae-san crawled on the ground and arrived at Lee Tae-yeon’s body. He opened her right hand and saw a black stone.

“…Confirm”

[A stone vomited by Ouroborus] 

[A stone that God keeps it as the in-charge as the flow of all things] 

[Only one chance. Only once can a person turn back time]

[State: Unused] 

“What?” 

Turning back time. Tae-san paused at that sentence.

“No way…” 

Turning time backwards? He wondered why Lee Tae-yeon had this, but it quickly disappeared. 

Tae-san stared at the stone. 

[Fuck!]

The sky splits further and a monster immerges out. 

The power held by that monster who has taken over the sky itself had more than the Apostle in front.

It will probably be hard for Tae-san to win. 

Smirking. 

Tae-san clenched his fist. 

“Then see you later, fuckers.”

[Item Application] 

[Time Interference]

Suddenly the world turned upside down.

The dying world was disappearing.

 Instead, suddenly an old studio appeared. 

Tae-san’s eyes widened with shock. 

“…What the?” 

An old computer. A dirty quilt and mosquito’s bloodstain on the wall.

Tae-san remembers this place. 

Before everything collapsed, a time when the world was still the place he knew. A time where status windows were a joke.

It was the studio where he lived.

 “Status window.”

It was the command that he got used to, always at the tip of his tongue. But now nothing came up.

He looked at his body. Before though dehydrated, his whole body was full of muscles. To survive the terrible labyrinth, he had no choice but to train. 

However, his current body was a weak, ordinary man’s body. 

“Huh.”

 Tae-san burst into laughter. 

It became clear. 

He returned to his former world. 

* * * 

“Delivery!”

The delivery man shouts loudly in front of the door of the studio. After a while, the door opens and a man appears.

“Thank you.” 

“Y-yeah…”

The delivery man was shocked for a moment. 

The man’s eyes were very calm.

Like a monk who had practised it for a long time. 

The man calmly asks the deliveryman who was openly staring blankly at him.

“Isn’t it already paid?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right. Enjoy your meal.” 

The delivery man awakens from his dazed state and leaves in a hurry. The man enters with the pizza box. 

When he opened the box, a smile appeared on his face.

 “How long has it been since I had pizza?” 

He didn’t remember. When he carefully picked a piece and put it in his mouth, the taste of cheese and toppings melted right in.

 The taste of civilization. He was thrilled. There was no time to make pizza in a dying world. And all he ate was monster meat and potatoes. So for him, this moment was very precious. 

Damn. Tae-san chewed each piece deliciously. When he finished his fourth piece, he was gradually full. 

“Whoo…” 

His stomach was full. And while waiting for the pizza, he fully grasped the situation.

“I can’t believe there’s an item that could really turn back time.”

Though there were many unexpected things inside the labyrinth, this was still surprising. 

Given that he knew more than anyone about the Easy Mode, it’s definitely a Solo Mode item. And considering that Lee Tae-yeon was holding it dearly, it wasn’t unreasonable.

Tae-san was left with a dark face. 

“Why didn’t you use it at your end?” 

Since there was such a meaning, she must have known something at the end.

Tae-san didn’t know why he died at the hands of the Apostle and didn’t get to use it. If Lee Tae-yeon was the same person he knew, she would have used it in a heartbeat. 

“But thanks to you, I got it.”

Consumable items are unlocked the moment their master dies. Thanks to that, Tae-san was able to get her item.

“I don’t know.” 

But now it was his. 

Tae-san looked at the calendar. 

“January 1st, 2020.” 

And exactly at the beginning of the new year, a new day starts and also the first monster appears. 

And now, it’s December 31, 2019. 11:30 PM. 

In the next 30 minutes, the world will turn upside down. 

Tae-san suddenly remembered that time.

 In a world where monsters arise, the system window said. 

[The world will perish.]

[A monster will appear.]

 [But I’ll give you a chance.]

 [Build your strength in the labyrinth and save your world.] 

In confusion and fear, Easy Mode, Normal Mode, Hard Mode, and of course, Solo Mode appeared as the options.

Everyone was confused but they had to choose an option anyway. The only way to escape this perishing world.

There are very few people who choose a difficult mode from a sudden decision. Tae-san, just like many others, chose the easiest mode.

 And that was also his weakness.

“You’re useless!” 

It was something he had heard from his parents since he was young. 

Usually, parents are trusted to raise their children, but for him it was different. For Tae-san’s parents, he was only their stress reliever. 

From an early age, he was the target of domestic violence. It was common for him to eat only one meal a day, and verbal abuse towards him was normal. If the merchants who took pity on him hadn’t helped him, he would have really died.

Every day he heard why and how he was born useless.

In such an environment, Tae-san became less confident. And as they said, as they thought, he was nothing but useless and worthless.

‘I didn’t know my talent.’ 

In the labyrinth, where he risked his life, Tae-san realized his talent.

He was stronger than anyone else. 

It was truly a miracle, exceeding players from Hard Mode with himself being from Easy Mode. It was Tae-san who broke all the norms and the concept of the labyrinth. One is limits set in skills for every different mode of difficulty.

Tae-san checked the clock. 

58 minutes. 

2 more minutes, Tae-san went outside. The night sky, with only one moon in the sky, was beautiful. He even lost his memory of seeing this sky. 

1 minute. 

Everyone in the world must be counting down, wishing for the new year and expecting everything to work out well. 

30 seconds.

 Unfortunately, just at the same time as the New Year, the world collapses.

15 seconds. 

A foreshadowed future. 

Cracks appeared in the night sky. Small cracks that even people with good eyesight would miss. 

5 seconds. 

Zzang! A huge sound resounds in the world. The width of the crack grows announcing everyone. 

Noises could be heard from all directions

 “Did you hear something?” 

“Who’s selling those puffed rice?” 

And a second layer. 

The world was collapsing. 

In the fallen world, Tae-san looked up at the sky alone. 

Crack, crack. 

The crack expands. Now everyone noticed the abnormality. They all screamed and looked up at the sky. 

“Oh my god”. 

Growl!!… A monster appears over the crack. 

A black monster puts its reptile-like hand on the crack and looks down on the ground.． 

At that time, he, like the others, was confused but now he knows better. That’s a B-class monster. It’s a monster that a Hard Mode player could easily deal with without difficulty.

People in terror start to run away. But unknown to them, soon there won’t be any safe place left on this earth. 

 ‘It’s been a while.’ 

And just as Tae-san’s predicted, a system window blocks his view.

[Hello]

 “H-Huh?”

“What is this?” 

Those running in fear also paused at the sudden appearance of the window. The system window continued to appear as if their confusion was nothing to worry about.

[Your world is being destroyed by the invaders. The weapons you’ve worked so hard creating are useless against them.] 

Neither guns nor nuclear bombs worked against those monsters. They were beings from another dimension. In order to attack, humans also had to acquire power from another dimension. 

[But don’t worry.] 

[The merciful being who took pity on you is willing to give you a chance.]

Tae-san laughed out loud. 

‘Merciful.’

Though he was far from the truth, still he roughly knew. That’s not merciful. 

That being was just crazy about entertainment. 

[I’ll give you a choice. Choose whatever you want! Enter the labyrinth. Clear it to gain unimaginable strength.]

 [Then come back to save your world.] 

A choice appears in front of Tae-san.