Monopolizing Skills to the 666th Floor - Chapter 4

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Skill Devouring to the 666th Floor Episode 004

4. Counter-Proposal

Why did I refuse the Three Gods’ proposal that I had wanted so desperately?

There was a reason.

‘Because I don’t want to choose just one.’

Countless proposals came, but I could only choose one among them.

The moment I choose to become someone’s apostle, I can neither switch to another apostle nor take back my choice.

Just like how you can’t have more than one job in a game.

That’s how this system works.

‘Before my regression, I became the apostle of Orcus, the god of the Underworld. But…’

I found out later.

That you could have multiple jobs.

That if you receive recognition from the Three Gods, you can break the system’s rules and be chosen as all three’s apostle.

‘I need to receive that recognition now.’

Originally, you could only become the apostle of all Three Gods after proving your worth over a long period.

But I plan to shorten that time.

‘Because I have no intention of choosing just one of the three.’

If I had to choose, the god of time would be perfect unlike before, but I can’t help but covet the other gods’ skills too.

That’s why I refused.

To make a counter-proposal.

“God of time, god of the Underworld, god of balance. I have a proposal for you.”

I looked like I was muttering to empty air, but I know.

That the Three Gods are watching this situation right now.

“I have no intention of becoming just one apostle. I’ve shown this level of ability, so does it make sense to just receive one god’s skills and call it done? No way.”

I muttered like a madman talking to myself.

“Therefore, I want to become the apostle of all three gods. If you accept my proposal, respond in some way.”

I waited.

There was no response for a while, but I waited leisurely.

‘They’re probably discussing it among themselves. They love to discuss everything.’

I expected it would take time.

But when the answer was delayed longer than expected, I had no choice but to threaten them.

“Why is there no answer? Do I need to become some other transcendent’s apostle instead?”

Transcendents and the Three Gods are different beings to begin with.

If transcendents are beings who were outstanding in life, gained recognition, and had their soul’s rank elevated,

The Three Gods are divine beings by nature.

Their ranks are different.

Most importantly, since transcendents are Amon’s minions, they’re in an adversarial relationship with the Three Gods.

The Three Gods wouldn’t want humans to become transcendents’ apostles.

‘They’ll have to decide quickly. Otherwise, the talent they’ve been watching might become a transcendent’s apostle.’

Whether my threat worked, a response came soon.

[Kairos, god of time, asks once more if you really want to choose all three.]

[Orcus, god of the Underworld, complains that you’re arrogant for a mere human.]

[Harmonion, god of balance, tries to dissuade you, saying becoming multiple gods’ apostle would break the balance.]

Responses came, but they were negative reactions.

“I really want to choose all three… Don’t like it? If you don’t like it, I guess I’ll have to choose some other transcendent. I got plenty of proposals anyway.”

When I pretended to read proposal messages by waving my finger in the air, another response came back.

[Kairos, god of time, accepts the proposal, saying let’s go with becoming all three’s apostle then.]

[Orcus, god of the Underworld, strongly opposes.]

[Harmonion, god of balance, opposes, saying it goes against fairness.]

“Lots of opposition? What am I supposed to do about this?”

[Kairos, god of time, asks you to wait while they discuss among themselves for a moment.]

“Fine, but finish it quickly.”

I crossed my arms and waited leisurely.

‘I conquered the 1st floor faster than anyone else with an ordinary person’s body. I’m practically a one-of-a-kind human.’

They wouldn’t let such talent fall into the hands of Amon, the god of destruction.

They’ll have no choice but to accept my proposal.

Sure enough.

[Kairos, god of time, says thank you for waiting.]

[Says that as a result of discussion, they’ve agreed to let you become all Three Gods’ apostle.]

[Orcus, god of the Underworld, says however, there’s a condition that you must prove your worth once more.]

[Harmonion, god of balance, explains that allowing you to become three gods’ apostle is taking enormous risk for them too, and it’s an unavoidable condition for breaking the balance.]

‘Yeah, I knew they’d come out like this.’

Even before becoming the Apostle of all Three Gods in the past, I had heard such words.

That I must prove my worth.

That there would be a corresponding price for injecting the power of three beings without any conditions.

Therefore, they would set proving my worth as a condition.

At that time, as the apostle of the god of the Underworld, I had proven my worth by setting a record on the 180th Floor.

After that, I was able to inherit all the power of the Three Gods and become immensely powerful.

‘Though I still died pathetically against Amon without being able to do anything.’

I had left behind a move to shorten that period.

“You’re saying you’ll give me all the power of the Three Gods if I prove my worth? Then how about this? I’ll conquer from the 2nd floor to the 9th floor without rest. Of course, with an ordinary person’s body like now. This should be sufficient proof of worth, right?”

[Kairos, God of Time, nods saying that would be sufficient.]

[Orcus, God of the Underworld, warns that he cannot take responsibility if you fail.]

[Harmonion, God of Balance, grants permission saying he would gladly make you an Apostle of the Three Gods if you succeed.]

“Alright. Deal.”

I had received their confirmation.

Now all that remained was conquering up to the 9th floor.

[Would you like to descend to the next floor? Y/N]

[Selecting N will allow you to return to Earth.]

I chose Y from the option I hadn’t pressed earlier.

Since it was still the early stages, the difficulty was still manageable.

Soon the background darkened and a single message appeared.

[You have entered Labyrinth Underground 2nd Floor.]

As time passed, more people became apostles.

Along with that, reviews about the 1st floor of the Labyrinth began appearing one after another.

└The 1st floor mission is to defeat 100 Dark Slimes. Please keep this in mind if you’re going in.

└Hey above. I haven’t entered the 1st floor yet? Could you tell me how to deal with Dark Slimes?

└First of all, physical attacks barely work, and you can only kill them with skills.

└Are Dark Slimes hard to kill? I won’t die fighting them, right?

└They do suck blood if they stick to you… but they’re not that dangerous. They don’t move very fast either.

└I just finished conquering it, and Light Attribute Skills can kill them easily.

└That’s right. If you shine your Mobile Phone flashlight on them, their outer surface hardens a bit. You can catch them then. It’s possible even without skills.

└Wow! Really? Thanks for the amazing tip!

└But you can bring your Mobile Phone inside?

└Yeah, but there’s no internet

└Isn’t that obvious? It’s a different dimension.

└But you can take photos instead.

└I tried it and you can record videos too.

└Then we could upload videos to ViewTube?

└Just watch. Soon awakened ViewTubers will upload tons of videos trying to make money lol

└But the person who said they caught them with Light Attribute Skills earlier. Where did you get the skill?

└Ah, I didn’t get it, my transcendent is the Radiant Healer…

└How long did it take you to conquer it?

└1 hour and 46 minutes.

└Wow. That’s fast.

└It’s slow compared to the person who set the shortest record though.

└Shortest record?

└After clearing the 1st floor, it shows the name of the shortest record holder in something called the Hall of Fame.

└I saw it too. Was it 47 minutes 47 seconds? Completely monstrous.

└Who was that?

└Amon.

└Huh? Isn’t Amon the final boss’s name?

└The shortest record conqueror’s name showed up as Amon though?

└Isn’t that person the first one who entered?

└Right. The entry message appeared first and the conquest message came up in less than an hour.

└That’s right, that person is Amon.

└Why did they choose Amon as their Hall of Fame name?

└Are they an Amon follower? lol

Their laughter was short-lived.

[Someone has conquered Labyrinth Underground 2nd Floor!]

[Labyrinth Underground 3rd Floor is now open.]

[10 days have been added to Earth’s destruction countdown.]

[Time remaining until destruction: 49 days 22 hours 10 minutes 12 seconds]

└Huh???

└Someone conquered the 2nd floor?

└Already?

└Who conquered it?

└Don’t know?

└Wow, whoever it is, that’s amazing.

People were shocked by the message that appeared in real-time.

Though it was still too early to be surprised.

My progress in conquering the Labyrinth was unstoppable.

[Would you like to descend to the next floor? Y/N]

[Selecting N will allow you to return to Earth.]

After each conquest ended, I pressed Y and immediately headed to the next floor.

‘It’s still too early to return.’

4th floor, 5th floor, 6th floor, 7th floor…

I’ve completely conquered all the floors that can be cleared as an ordinary person.

If I became an Apostle and gained skills, I could conquer them faster, but….

‘Anyway, I can get the next record clear reward on the 10th Floor. That means there’s no need to become an Apostle just to clear it quickly.’

Right now, I’ll show the Three Gods who are watching from above.

That I’m someone with this level of talent.

Only then can I obtain the skill I want.

None other than ‘Skill Copy’.

[You have cleared Labyrinth Underground 8th Floor!]

[You will receive ‘Extremely Weak Essence of Agility’ as the 8th Floor normal clear reward.]

A white aura appeared and entered my body.

[You have absorbed Extremely Weak Essence of Agility.]

[Agility increases by 1.]

I received stats as rewards every time, but I couldn’t see how much had accumulated.

‘It doesn’t matter. Even if I can’t see it, it’s still being applied.’

However, not being able to use the inventory was disappointing.

[You are the first to clear Labyrinth Underground 8th Floor!]

[You will receive ‘Random Lucky Pouch (F)’ as the 8th Floor first clear reward.]

[Acquired items are stored in inventory.]

I received several first conquest rewards while coming this far, but I couldn’t even look at them.

I need to be able to open the inventory to see anything, right?

‘You can only use skills and inventory after becoming an Apostle. They made it so you have no choice but to select it even if you don’t want to.’

Dark Slime, Dark Rabbit, Dark Goblin, etc.

The opponents got stronger as I went down floors, but conquering them wasn’t difficult even with an ordinary person’s body.

‘It’s easy if you know their weaknesses. Fortunately, I know the weaknesses of all monsters.’

Now it’s time to conquer the 9th Floor.

‘If I just conquer this place, I can become an Apostle of the Three Gods as promised.’

I need to conquer the 9th Floor triumphantly and have all Three Gods as patron spirits.

[Would you like to go down to the next floor? Y/N]

[If you select N, you can return to Earth.]

Without hesitation, I selected Y.

There are many good things about becoming an Apostle.

You can open the Status Window and use items in your inventory.

But the best thing of all is being able to use Apostle Exclusive Skills.

‘Just having or not having skills is reason enough to awaken as an Apostle.’

Then why am I still delaying awakening?

It was to obtain a fraudulent skill from the Three Gods.

‘Skill Copy. With just that, I can become as strong as I want.’

A secret skill that the Three Gods created to oppose Amon, the God of Destruction.

Naturally, they’re saving it to sponsor the Supreme Apostle.

‘I couldn’t obtain Skill Copy in my previous life either. Because I wasn’t chosen as the Supreme Apostle.’

Unlike Transcendent Spirit Skills, Three Gods’ Skills could only be given to one person.

The Three Gods chose 12 Apostles including me, and gave ‘Skill Copy’ to the Supreme Apostle among them.

‘In the end, he died before I did though.’

I was chosen as the Last Apostle among the Three Gods’ Twelve Apostles and had my worth recognized by setting a record on the 180th Floor.

Thus I was promoted to an Apostle of all Three Gods.

I reached the 666th Floor as an Apostle with three gods as patron spirits.

‘But I have no intention of repeating that labor from back then.’

This time I need to be recognized and grow faster.

I also need to obtain Skill Copy, which I couldn’t get in my previous life.

This counter-proposal is for that purpose, and I entered this place for that reason.

To have my worth recognized by the Three Gods.

[You have entered Labyrinth Underground 9th Floor.]

《Type: Annihilation》

《Condition: Alone without help from others》

《Mission: Defeat 1 Doppelganger.》

[You cannot leave until you conquer the mission.]

The 9th Floor mission is defeating a Doppelganger.

It’s only one, but I shouldn’t underestimate it.

Thinking about it the other way, it means it’s that difficult.

‘Well, it’s nothing special to me though.’

A Doppelganger is a monster that looks like a slime.

In a way, it resembles a Dark Slime but you can think of it as much larger.

It scans the information of opponents it’s about to devour, transforming its body identically to fight, which is quite tricky.

‘It scans not just the opponent’s physique but also all their skills to use in battle.’

In other words, you have to fight against a copy of yourself.

How could that be easy to win?

They probably haven’t experienced mirror matches anywhere before.

‘On top of that, Doppelgangers are experientially superior to apostles. Even with the same physical specs and skills, they use them more efficiently.’

But it won’t work on me.

When it comes to experience, I have the advantage.

‘I need to finish this quickly and get out.’

I looked around searching for the Doppelganger.

I saw a Slime hanging from a tree like a snake.

I approached closer.

It must have seen me too as it came down from the tree.

Then immediately.

Slithering.

It transforms its body.

To the exact same physical specs as me.

However.

“No skills, right?”

Unlike other apostles, I have an ordinary person’s body.

Neither I nor the Doppelganger have skills.

The only thing that will decide this match is the difference in experience.

“Let’s compete purely with skill alone.”

I don’t plan to drag this out.

The Three Gods are watching this fight.

“Shall I go then?”

I was the first to move.

Thud!

After closing the distance, I twitched my shoulder as if about to throw a punch.

But it was a fake.

At the face of the creature that lowered its head.

Whack!

I landed a precise Back Kick.

“Kiyaaak!”

The Doppelganger fell with a shriek, spraying black blood.

Before its body even hit the ground, I rushed over.

Crack!

I struck near the philtrum with a Knee Kick.

Along with the sensation of the head shattering, a message appeared.

[You have cleared Labyrinth Underground 9th Floor!]

I had cleared the 9th Floor in less than 10 minutes.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————