Chapter 63
The activation condition for Time God's Oblivion was the instant before being hit.
To make an attack motion immediately before being hit, I had to launch my attack at exactly the same time as the moment of impact.
It was fine.
I had been using ‘moments’ all along.
To test what had occurred to me, I headed for the next floor.
*
Kki-gi-gik-
[Defender: Dual-Blade Tarbak (108F)]
It was a monster with the lower body of a four-legged beast and an upper body growing out of it, wielding curved blades.
<I’ll kill youuu!!>
The monster kicked off the floor and sprang at me.
First, the condition of ‘the instant before being hit’ had to be established.
There was no easier condition in this tower.
The twin blades in both hands crossed toward my shoulders and came crashing down.
I stood still.
Just as the blade tips were about to brush my hair.
Beeeeep-iiiiiing-!
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
My vision was dyed blue, and the world slowed down.
Time God's Oblivion activated.
‘Now.’
I had to attack immediately, using the moment I was attacked.
The means to do that was.
“Black Shift.”
Of course, it was this.
Pop-!
The fog began to spread.
This was the first time I had caught the instant the black dust was released.
And so I got behind the monster.
‘That’s right…!’
Time was still stretched out.
Within that moment, I recalled Sword Venerable Jihee’s words in my mind.
“Second Form: Half-Moon.”
It was a horizontal-slashing technique that slightly twisted the central axis of the torso.
The key was making the path of the slash perfectly horizontal.
The first time I had imitated it on the 102nd floor, I had merely swung the scythe with the strength of my arm.
It had been clumsy. The trajectory must have been twisted.
But now I could align it perfectly horizontally from the point where the scythe began to cut.
A straight trajectory was drawn, without bending or twisting even a fraction.
Swooooooosh-!
The scythe blade drew a perfect half-circle.
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
As time returned to its normal speed, the monster’s upper body was sliced apart and sent flying through the air.
Clean.
[108th-floor Dual-Blade Tarbak defeated]
[Promotion reward: 10,700G acquired!]
“So this is what it was…”
The sensation that had gathered at the tip of the scythe.
I felt a rush of exhilaration.
There hadn’t been any flashy effect at all.
It was absurdly understated.
But I was certain that I had just used the Second Form: Half-Moon properly.
Before the 60th floor, when I did nothing but swing my scythe, I might have used it once by sheer luck.
It was that simple and unadorned a technique.
Yet there was a subtle principle hidden within its simplicity.
I realized how sloppily I had been swinging my scythe all this time.
The corner of my mouth twitched.
At this rate, I felt as though I could internalize all the remaining forms as well.
I headed straight for the 109th floor.
[Defender: Hell Spider (109F)]
It was a spider-like demon waiting while clinging to the ceiling.
I knew where it was.
Almost instantly.
It descended on its web and thrust out its venomous fangs.
Swoooooosh-!
This time too, I deliberately left an opening.
I waited until just before its fangs pierced the space between my eyebrows.
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
Time stretched out once again.
At the same time, I activated my skill.
“Black Shift.”
The black fog carried me beneath the spider’s abdomen.
I entered the shadow cast by the spider, and my surroundings grew dark.
The incantation for the Third Form: Moonrise came to mind.
- Like the moon rising while casting darkness over twilight. Cut upward through the dimness.
The situation fit the incantation perfectly.
But the key was the movement.
I moved from below upward.
The rebound from pushing off the ground traveled through my waist to my shoulder, then into the back of the scythe.
And so.
Swoooooosh-!!!!
Using the back edge of the scythe, I cut upward through the Hell Spider’s abdomen and all the way to its back.
[109th-floor Hell Spider defeated]
The 110th floor, the 111th floor, the 112th floor, the 113th floor. The 114th floor.
Every time I opened a door and entered, I allowed the monsters’ full onslaught to pour over me.
At every threshold of death, [Time God's Oblivion] saved me.
And within those instants, I refined the Moon-Wheel Scythe Art.
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
First Form: Falling Moon.
- Drop the scythe. The moon falls under its own weight.
A downward slash.
Swoosh-!
Fourth Form: Veiled Moon.
- Hide the moon and calm the heretic’s madness.
A block.
Clang-!
Second Form: Half-Moon.
- Bite into the waist of the moon lying horizontally.
A horizontal slash.
Swoosh-!
Kaaang-!
I advanced with unstoppable momentum.
The monsters were cleaved in two and rolled across the floor.
And then, the 115th floor.
[Defender: Pitch-Black Phantom Armor (115F)]
A gigantic, hollow black suit of armor brought down swords in both hands.
In the slowed time, I deflected the attack with the Fourth Form: Veiled Moon, then immediately activated Black Shift and leaped into the air.
Entrusting the scythe to gravity, I drove down the First Form: Falling Moon with my weight behind it.
Kwaaang-!
The helmet shattered, and the armor collapsed.
[115th-floor Pitch-Black Phantom Armor defeated]
[Promotion reward: 11,400G acquired!]
A familiar message appeared.
[Level Up! 120Lv -> 121Lv]
[3 stat points acquired!]
“Oh.”
I unconsciously opened the holographic stat distribution window.
Just as I was about to invest the remaining points evenly into Strength and Agility.
I stopped my finger.
“Wait.”
My body was synchronized with my current stats.
I was in the middle of adjusting the forms of the Moon-Wheel Scythe Art to fit this exact balance.
But what if my stats increased here?
My sense of it would change.
The centrifugal force of swinging the scythe would change, and the tempo of twisting my waist would fall out of alignment.
‘The feel I worked so hard to establish might be reset.’
With that thought, I left the stat points unallocated and closed the window.
First, I needed to perfectly internalize the remaining forms with my current sensations.
There was only one thing left.
The linked technique called the culmination of all the forms: the Fifth Form, Full Moon.
It was a technique that could only be used after casting the First through Fourth Forms in succession.
“Let’s go.”
I practiced the basic forms again and cleared the 116th and 117th floors.
I leveled up once more, but did not distribute the stat points.
*
I opened the door to the 118th floor.
[Defender: Iron-Armed Gordobas (118F)]
“So this is the one with the impressive build…”
The moment the door opened, crushing pressure hit me and took my breath away.
A gigantic demon with three eyes.
It held an iron mace as large as my body in each hand.
<Grrrraaaagh-!>
Gordobas let out a roar and stamped on the floor.
I let my scythe hang low and stepped into the path of its attack.
The monster raised its mace high into the sky.
Kwaaang-!
The moment the mace came crashing down toward the crown of my head.
Beeeeep-iiiiiing-!
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
Time stretched out.
I used Black Shift to move backward, then.
“First Form: Falling Moon!”
I slashed downward.
Swoosh-!
I cut into its flesh.
But the monster stood there as though it didn’t care in the slightest.
I was just about to activate the Second Form.
But.
‘I can’t use the Second Form now…’
Its backward step was about to stomp on me, so this was the moment to defend.
Fourth Form: Veiled Moon. I raised the broad face of the scythe diagonally.
But then.
The moment the sole of its foot touched the face of the scythe.
Sssssk-
Even within the stretched-out time, a terrifying pressure traveled up through my wrist.
‘It’s heavy…!’
I couldn’t deflect it.
The monster’s Strength stat had exceeded the limit of force I could withstand.
I had seen it in the gallery’s information guide, so I knew its Strength stat was higher than mine, but I had thought I could block it with Veiled Moon.
Krrrck-!
I had been mistaken.
Just before the scythe was pushed back and crushed me.
KWA-AAAAAAAAANG-!!!!!!
A flash erupted, bleaching my vision white.
“…”
It was like being hit by a flashbang at point-blank range.
I shut my eyes tight and congratulated it.
“Congratulations, Wrath of the Sun God…”
It was the first time it had activated.
An explosion of sunlight swept through the surroundings with me at its center.
Whoooooosh-!!
When the storm subsided and my vision returned.
There was nothing in front of me.
Neither the mace nor the monster.
Even the marble floor had been blown away.
[118th-floor Iron-Armed Gordobas defeated]
[Promotion reward: 11,700G acquired!]
[Level Up! 122Lv -> 123Lv]
[3 stat points acquired!]
I stared blankly into the air.
“It seems to have a wider range and be more powerful than what that intruder used…”
Could it be because the intruder’s version had been inherited from an ancestor?
In any case, Wrath of the Sun God was incredibly convenient.
But I hadn’t wanted this situation.
It would be a problem if I vaporized all the monsters like this.
I wanted to learn the final form of the Moon-Wheel Scythe Art before reaching the point where fatigue would stop me.
With that hope, I headed for the next floor.
*
The 119th floor.
KWA-AAAAAAAAANG-!!!!!!
“…”
Once again, Wrath of the Sun God activated midway through.
The 120th floor.
I maintained my distance and continued the battle tensely.
Wrath of the Sun God did not explode, but I failed to perform the combo.
The opponent died after I landed Falling Moon four times.
[Level Up! 123Lv -> 124Lv]
[3 stat points acquired!]
*
And then, the 121st floor.
Kki-gi-gik-
The defender that appeared when the door opened radiated a different kind of magical power from the demons I had encountered so far.
[Defender: Blood-Colored Executioner Dullahan (121F)]
A headless centaur.
Its upper body looked similar to a Blood Knight’s.
In one hand, it held a gigantic executioner’s sword longer than my body.
<……>
Dullahan silently glided across the floor, closing the distance.
Swoooooosh-!
The executioner’s sword rushed toward me.
I stood still with my scythe raised.
Just before being hit.
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
Time stretched out.
I immediately used Black Shift to move behind it.
At the same time, I brought down the scythe I had been holding aloft.
“Falling Moon.”
Shaaak-!
This is Macro 1. Up to this point, it’s free.
Tch
.
.
.
Kkak-!
Time began flowing normally again.
Next, I twisted the fallen scythe hard and slashed horizontally.
“Half-Moon.”
I unleashed the Second Form’s horizontal slash into empty air.
The monster still hadn’t detected that I had moved behind it.
Unwinding the twisted axis, I swung the scythe upward from below.
“Moonrise.”
Only after I used Moonrise did it finally turn around.
As though startled, it hurriedly swung its executioner’s sword.
It was the perfect moment to attack.
Next, I needed to defend.
“Veiled Moon.”
Clang-!!!!!!!
I blocked the monster’s executioner’s sword.
It was a perfect combo.
The four trajectories had now become a single flow without any breaks.
An incantation came to mind.
- When beginning and ending interlock to draw a round circle, that trajectory is like the full moon.
I unleashed the completed circle formed by the scythe’s trajectories in a diagonal slash.
Swoosh-
“Full Moon.”
Then.
A circular slash shot forward.
Saaaaaak—!
Dullahan’s body was pierced through in a perfect circle.
Thud!
It soon collapsed.
[121st-floor Blood-Colored Executioner Dullahan defeated]
[Promotion reward: 12,000G acquired!]
[Level Up! 124Lv -> 125Lv]
[3 stat points acquired!]
Tap.
After landing on the floor, I slowly withdrew my scythe.
“Just now… it felt like something like sword aura came out…”
The Fifth Form, Full Moon.
The afterglow of using that linked technique was immense.
For no particular reason, I raised my left hand and spread it out, then clenched it again.
It still felt as though a vibration lingered there.
“…Good. I learned everything.”
It had taken exactly 20 floors.
I had successfully learned all five forms.