Ascension Through Skills
Chapter 394: The Sixth Return, Earth (11)

“Ahhh.”

Light enveloped her entire body. Simultaneously, a transformation occurred. A link began connecting to something, and the very essence of her energy started to change.

“Ugh!”

She clutched her head in agony.

‘W-What is this?’

Her head felt like it was splitting open.

It was a headache unlike any she had ever experienced.

Desperately, she tried to clear her mind and endure.

But it was impossible.

This wasn’t just a headache or mental pressure; it was something on a completely different level.

“Ah, ahhh.”

A voice escaped her lips. Amidst the pain, something flowed into her mind.

It was a memory.

‘…Is that…me?’

Forgetting even the pain, she opened her eyes wide.

It was undoubtedly her.

A version of herself she did not recognize.

The memories began stacking up like bricks, carefully piling up from the beginning.

“Ah.”

Lee Taeyeon shuddered.

In the memory, she was descending into the labyrinth.

Unlike herself now, she had neither Taesan’s help nor anyone to rely on. She simply pressed forward alone.

She cried in fear, wanting to give up in despair, yet she did not stop.

She was mesmerized, watching that version of herself.

It was beautiful.

Though it was herself, she couldn’t help but be amazed.

The memories gradually built up and started to solidify. The closer they got to completion, the more the version of her in the memory and her current self began to merge.

When the rush of memories finally ended,

She became one.

“Ah… ah.”

Her voice calmed.

Lee Taeyeon steadied her breathing.

Taesan frowned.

“You.”

Lee Taeyeon’s aura had changed. It wasn’t the same Lee Taeyeon he had known up until now.

Taesan recognized the atmosphere surrounding her. He had felt it once before, in a past life.

“…Hello, Taesan.”

Lee Taeyeon smiled faintly, her expression resembling a mask of sorrow.

“It’s been a while.”

Seeing that smile, Taesan was convinced.

“You… are you really Lee Taeyeon?”

Lee Taeyeon was indeed Lee Taeyeon. The question seemed almost absurd.

But Taesan’s question carried another meaning.

Lee Taeyeon slowly nodded.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Taesan’s frown deepened.

When he handed Maria’s gift to Lee Taeyeon, it suddenly merged into her. Then, she regained her memories of a past life.

He couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

Finding an answer wasn’t easy.

At that moment, laughter echoed.

A soft chuckle resounded. It was Maria.

Lee Taeyeon quietly bowed her head in respect.

“It’s been a while…”

[Indeed, my child.]

Maria’s voice was gentle and familiar, as though she knew Lee Taeyeon well.

Taesan silently observed Lee Taeyeon. She pressed her forehead.

“I know you must have questions… Sorry, my memories are jumbled, and I can’t organize them properly yet. Could you give me a moment?”

It wasn’t something Taesan could refuse, so he agreed.

Lee Taeyeon sat down and fell into thought.

Left alone, Taesan spoke.

“Maria, you…”

[What do you think?]

Maria laughed softly, as if greatly amused, as if she had been waiting for this day.

[You should hear the answer directly from her.]

Taesan closed his mouth.

An hour later, Lee Taeyeon returned.

Her face, now much calmer, suggested her memories had been sorted.

“You succeeded.”

Her first words to Taesan were this.

There was wonder and amazement in her tone, and a faint sense of inevitability.

“You defeated the Apostle. And only on your sixth return…”

“I’ve grown stronger.”

“Yes, you’ve grown stronger. As expected, you were the right answer. My choice… wasn’t wrong.”

Lee Taeyeon murmured. Relief washed over her face as though a heavy burden had been lifted.

“You.”

Taesan frowned.

The Lee Taeyeon he had met during the trial of the God of Despair had been vastly different from what he now saw. He had suspected she was thinking deeply and planning something.

But to think she had regained memories of her past life.

As far as Taesan knew, few could escape the flow of time.

“…A contract with a god?”

The link she possessed connected her to a god.

A contract with a god or an apostle had allowed her to slightly transcend the flow of time.

That was the conclusion Taesan reached.

Lee Taeyeon nodded.

“Yes, I made a contract with the God of Choices, Maria.”

“But you certainly died.”

Taesan vividly remembered seeing her body.

Lee Taeyeon gave a bitter smile and spoke.

“Where should I begin?”

Slowly, she explained.

She had known from the start that she couldn’t win.

She had agonized over whether to use the Ouroboros Keystone to turn back time.

Ultimately, she couldn’t make a decision.

In the end, she returned to the city to deliver the keystone to Taesan and collapsed.

“So that’s why you were in the city.”

Taesan had always found that strange—why Lee Taeyeon, who had fought away from the city to minimize damage, had died within it.

It had all been to give the keystone to Taesan.

She had died there.

And her soul was summoned to Maria’s domain by the power of the item Maria had given her.

There, she accepted Maria’s proposal.

“…From the beginning, did you give me the floral ornament for this?”

[Who knows? What do you think?]

Maria spoke in an amused tone, which was answer enough.

[I appreciate fair choices. I admire advancing through crises and hardships without deceit, overcoming them with strength and wit. But I don’t dislike choices made amidst doubt and hesitation, either.]

Choices made amidst doubt.

She was undoubtedly referring to Lee Taeyeon.

[Self-reflection, self-loathing, fear, and self-denial… Hiding such emotions and moving forward, more confidently than anyone else, for the sake of others. That in itself is a noble sacrifice. There are very few in this world, especially people like her, who can easily lay down their lives for others.]

“That’s not true.”

Lee Taeyeon denied Maria’s words.

“I was just… afraid of descending into the labyrinth again. It wasn’t such a noble choice.”

Her tone was bitter. Maria merely chuckled softly, offering no further comment.

[That’s what you think. In any case, I liked you. That’s why I made you the proposal.]

“I’m truly grateful for that. Thanks to you… I can see him again like this.”

Lee Taeyeon looked at Taesan.

Her gaze was filled with many emotions.

“What should I call you now?”

“Just call me Lee Taeyeon. Maria helped me recover my past life’s memories, but my current life’s memories are intact. You could say they’ve fused together.”

In her past life, Lee Taeyeon always wore a mask, acting out a role. In her current life, she was timid but confident in her own way, refusing to back down.

Now, she was somewhere in between.

Lee Taeyeon bowed her head with a melancholic expression.

“I’m sorry, Taesan. In the end, I pushed my responsibility onto you.”

She had been the only player to clear Solo Mode.

She had been the one responsible for protecting others.

But in the end, she had abandoned that responsibility, pushing it onto Taesan while she sought rest.

“You can resent me if you want. Hate me if you must. I deserve it.”

“I don’t intend to.”

Taesan spoke calmly.

“I didn’t think I’d have to say this again.”

Taesan had comforted Lee Taeyeon when he met her during the God of Despair’s trial.

But that had been an illusion created from memories, meant to satisfy himself.

Now, the real Lee Taeyeon stood before him.

Naturally, there were words he needed to say to her.

“Sorry, but I already knew everything about what you thought and the mask you wore in your past life.”

“W-What?”

“You did well. More than enough. Despite the pressure, you didn’t break and supported us. We survived until then because of you.”

Lee Taeyeon’s eyes widened.

Taesan finished his words.

“You’ve worked hard, Lee Taeyeon.”

“…Thank you.”

She lowered her head, her voice trembling with emotion.

Hearing Taesan’s words, Lee Taeyeon’s expression noticeably relaxed.

She shared many stories with Taesan, as if venting all her pent-up emotions. Taesan quietly listened.

For Taesan, Lee Taeyeon recovering her memories was a joyous event as well. It meant he wasn’t the only one who remembered the forgotten times.

Lee Taeyeon waved at the ghost.

“Hello?”

[Hey. What kind of guy was I, the one you met?]

“I don’t know. I never met you. I was too scared and just passed by.”

[…Huh. A type of adventurer I haven’t seen before. Still, since you reached higher than me, I can’t say much.]

The ghost let out a dry laugh.

Taesan wanted to ask Lee Taeyeon about the upcoming floors, but she shook her head.

“Sorry, but I can’t answer that. The contract with the Apostle imposes restrictions that prevent me from affecting the present with my knowledge.”

Maria enjoyed watching adventurers challenge the labyrinth. She had no reason to let Lee Taeyeon exploit her role as a “cheat.”

Although disappointing, it was expected, so Taesan didn’t dwell on it.

“You mentioned a contract as the Apostle of Maria. Does that make you an Apostle of God now?”

[That’s not the case.]

Maria suddenly interjected, surprising Lee Taeyeon. She then addressed her.

[The flow of time isn’t that simple. My proposal for the Apostle’s contract is something that will happen in the future. So while she has regained her memories, her power remains unchanged.]

“…Does that mean she won’t gain power until that time comes?”

[Something like that. Transcendents aren’t affected by the flow of time. But they cannot escape it, either. Chronologically, the first time I proposed the Apostle’s contract was to you, Taesan.]

“What?”

Lee Taeyeon tilted her head in confusion, her face showing her struggle to understand something beyond a mortal’s comprehension.

[It’s not hugely important, but it’s something you should know.]

With a quiet voice, Maria disappeared once again.

“I don’t know the details either, but… it’s as Maria said. My power hasn’t changed.”

“But you still have your past-life memories.”

Even if she couldn’t share them with anyone, the knowledge she held was a great power in itself.

Taesan asked her.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure.”

She blankly stared at her hands.

“Taesan. The reason I gave you the keystone wasn’t just to save the world… it was also about me.”

She confessed as if in penance.

“I was terrified of descending into the labyrinth again.”

Risking her life, prepared to die, she had once braved the labyrinth alone. To descend again into that hellish place—

She simply couldn’t make that choice.

But now, she was different. Lee Taeyeon clenched her fists.

“I’ve grown stronger.”

Not physically, but mentally.

“To be honest, even I was surprised. I didn’t think I’d be able to descend into the labyrinth like this.”

In her past life, she had given up on many things, clearing the labyrinth through shortcuts.

But in her current life, despite receiving Taesan’s help, she was boldly facing and conquering the labyrinth head-on.

It was a potential she hadn’t realized in her past life.

“And I’m not alone anymore.”

She looked at Taesan.

The only person who remembered the destroyed world. A companion who had fought against ruin for countless ages.

She no longer needed to suffer or worry alone. She no longer needed to wear a mask. With Taesan, she could move forward.

That, for her, was salvation itself.

“You’ve done more than enough. Now, I need to do what I can. At the very least, I won’t descend in the same way as before.”

Her quiet voice carried a firm resolve.

Having finished their conversation, Taesan and Lee Taeyeon descended from the heavens. When she sparred again with Kang Junhyeok, he looked puzzled.

“Noona, you’ve changed a lot. What happened?”

It wasn’t just her expression or tone that had changed—her combat style was completely different. Lee Taeyeon replied.

“Something happened, that’s all.”

Taesan observed her movements.

Her current movements were intertwined with those of her past life.

Though still awkward, they were undeniably her own.

When they meet again next time, many things would surely have changed.

The time for their return came. Everyone gathered, waiting to go back.

[The labyrinth’s wizard and administrator are going to have a hard time with you when you return.]

Maria spoke to Taesan, her voice audible only to him.

[You’ve ascended to the position of an immortal. That’s a kind of endpoint. The labyrinth’s system didn’t account for adventurers becoming immortals at the 70th-floor range. Balbabamba is going to be pulling their hair out.]

Maria chuckled softly.

[Child, don’t you find it strange?]

“What do you mean?”

[Only transcendents, those who possess their own unique domain, can exist outside the flow of time. Because their domain isn’t affected by time, they can resist it. But even immortals cannot resist the flow of time.]

As Maria said, only transcendents could resist the flow of time.

[Yet your power remains with you, even when time is reversed.]

Soul Ascension.

Even with time reset, that skill still belonged to him.

[You haven’t reached transcendence yet. You don’t possess a unique domain. But your power is unaffected by the flow of time.]

It was an immensely contradictory phenomenon.

[And that power even robs strength from the immortals and high gods.]

He wasn’t a transcendent.

Yet he was unaffected by time.

And he could steal power that defied the laws of this world.

Maria acknowledged it as something beyond her understanding.

[Where will the path you walk lead? I’m curious to see.]

With those words, Maria disappeared.

One by one, people began returning to the labyrinth. Lee Taeyeon gave a small nod toward Taesan.

“See you next time.”

“Yeah.”

Taesan replied.

With that, he returned to the labyrinth.

Notifications: [Monster Defeat Bonus +1,443] [Apostle Defeat Bonus +3,121] [Victory Bonus +775] [Summary Complete] [5,876p awarded.]