Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

What Godwin didn't know was that Simon wasn't superimposing multiple skills at once to control hundreds of swrods as that would only play into the hands of the enemy. Instead, he was using the [Thousand Sword Mastery], a Lost Ancient tier skill that he had evolved from the Normal [Sword Mastery] skill.

Normally it would be impossible for the [Sword Mastery] skill to evolve in that direction unless one was stupidly rich and foolish enough to practice with all sorts of swords. That's right, the [Thousands Sword Mastery] was a skill that was accidentally created by Simon when he was practising with all the swords in his [Inventory] like a madman.

That said, it was impossible for anyone to acquire the same skill by copying his actions, after all, even Simon himself did not know it but he was only able to create the [Thousand Sword mastery] because of the [Ga??????] and [Armoury].

The [Ga??????] skill was an exclusive skill of the game Laplace and [Armoury] needed one to have a deep understanding of the items to upgrade them. Thanks to these two skills, Simon possessed near enough understanding of each of the swords to create a skill as versatile and absurd as the [Thousand Sword Mastery].

This skill might have a wide range of uses and applications like attacking and defending but it fell short in some areas when it came to pure understanding and refined skills created through the extreme mastery of a single sword.

For example, the [Resilient Tempest Sword Mastery] skill of Godwin which had evolved twice from the normal tier [Sword Mastery], was a Rare Ancient tier skill. Although it lost to [Thousand Sword Mastery] in terms of rarity, but in terms of pure sword skill and techniques it was more powerful than the [Thousand Sword Mastery].

This is because Simon hadn't mastered and tried refining his techniques over any of the swords. He simply had enough understanding of the hundreds of swords to create a bizarre skill such as this.

This is also the reason why the skill is called [Thousand Sword Mastery] since he uses a thousand swords instead of [Burnt Sword Mastery] that would come from mastering the [S] tier sword in his hand.

That said, if looked at from the overall perspective, the [Thousand Sword Mastery] was better since it allowed him to use a thousand swords and the skills bestowed within each of them in any way he wants.

He did not need the aid of [Mana Flow], [Mana Control], [Minimal Mana Consumption] and other various skills to utilise them, a feat that only a few people in this world could recreate.

For an erratic like Simon, who did not conform to the laws of this world, it was the best skill he could get. Just think about it, a thousand swords surrounding and floating around Simon, displaying the skills within them.

Forget about the kind of terrifying power it would bring, just the sight of a thousand swords shining with various skills, would be enough to intimidate and break the hearts of any opponent.

Right now, Simon only had around five hundred swords that were above [C] tier. Of course, he would have a lot more if discounting the fact that a good number of it was used up during the process to upgrade the sword to [A] and [B] tier.

Simon planned to fill the numbers in the future and use a full thousand swords just like the name of the skill [Thousand Sword mastery] to overwhelm his enemies. But that was not all, Simon also planned to increase the number of [A] tier and [B] tier swords in his arsenal.

Right now, the majority of the five hundred sword were [C], only a small portion was [B], much less needs to be said for [A]. Simon had lofty goals, he wanted to possess over a thousand [S] tier swords and use them, that way even the power that his [Thousand Sword Mastery] skill could display would be even greater.

Possessing over a thousand [S] tier swords, if anybody heard that or knew of his goal, they would no doubt deem him as some kind of idiot, or someone who had a screw loss.

[A] tiers were already incredibly rare in this world as for [S] tiers they were even so. Only a few unparalleled craftsmen in this world could create an [S] tier item and even then it takes them a long time and effort to create.

Plus a single mistake can completely ruin the entire effort, making it even more arduous for an [S] tier to appear.

Given all of these facts, Simon's dream might sound like a lunatic's rambling; however, it might just really come true. After all, he possessed the two options that no one else possessed and at the rate at which his dungeon grew, he would soon be able to allocate more points for [Ga??????].

Funnily enough, it might just be a matter of time before the beings of this world witness a thousand [S] tier swords surrounding and levitating around a demon.

Then there was also the [Thousand Sword Mastery] skill itself, which had reached the Lost Ancient tier in its first evolution. This meant that the skill still had more room to grow. What would happen once Simon increases the tier of his skill?

At that time, what tier would the skill reach? Legendary? Phantasmal? Or perhaps even higher? How many swords would he be able to use at that time? Ten thousand? Hundred thousand? Or perhaps a million?

Simon seemed to have already seen the path he needed to walk to master close combat, a path that only he could walk on. If he continued down this path, he would no doubt be able to reach the peak.

Now add his talent for magic into the mix and the foundation he had been building for supporting both the disciplines and the result one would get was… Terrifying.

It would be oversimplifying things with just the terrifying after all, a solid foundation like what Simon was building, set him for a path of the exceptional, a royal road.

Godwin must have also noticed the peculiarity in the demon's skill set and came to a realisation. His attacks started becoming heavier, winds started picking speed and the mana in the surrounding agglomerated towards him like crazy.

It was clear that Godwin had been forced to change his plans and reveal another one of his cards that he had been hiding up until now.

"Hehe… Interesting, then let us see whose trump card is more powerful" Simon also stopped playing around, he now had enough gauge on his own ability and the opponent's strength. He brought out the Finger of Ozymandias and let loose the curse energy inside it.

As the greyish black energy drowned the place, the sky and even the world around him started to change colour. From white, it changed into dull grey. Although these changes were only limited to his side of the space.

Over on Godwin's side, the sky was a mix of emerald green and faint golden colour that swirled and churned with him as the centre. After a while, a pillar of light dropped from the sky and engulfed Godwin within it.

Like a light descending from the heavens, the scene was both fascinating and nerve wracking.

The pillar of light stayed on Godwin for a while, before dissipating. When the light disappeared, the adventurer's figure came into view once again. However, unlike before Godwin looked completely different.

He had a golden set of armour that pulsed with a divine light donned, the colour of his pupils had changed to match his armour and most obvious and conspicuous of all, he had sprouted a pair of long golden wings behind his back.

That's right, the wings on Godwin's back were no longer the mana wings but actual physical wings just like Simon's. Though in his case, the wings were elegant and shone with a grace that defied earthly bounds.

The feathers, like spun gold, caught and held the very essence of light itself. Each plume glistened with an otherworldly luminescence, a shimmering cascade of soft, iridescent hues that ranged from the purest gold to the palest ivory.

No matter who it was, they would be fascinated by this sight.

"Quick look… the appearance of Leader changed"…

"Right… he looks more charismatic and sanctified than before"…

"Did leader have that kind of skill? Why have I never seen him use it before?"…

"Hmph, how can someone like you be worthy to know the abilities that leader possesses? Clearly, he was withholding it all this time to use it as his trump card"…

"Anywho… with this, we are saved now. With this level of power, the demon should no longer pose a threat".

The adventurers watching the battle from the distance rejoiced at the powerful transformation of their leader. They thought that with this new power up, victory was almost but certain for them.

"This… so he was even forced to use the power hidden within his body" Raven muttered in a low voice. Unlike the others around him, his eyes looked solemn and his fists trembled as he observed Godwin from the distance.

His teammates only marvelled at Godwin's transformation; however, it was only he who knew what kind of sacrifice the other had to give to receive that kind of power.

Over on the other side, just like everyone else, Simon too was marvelling at the drastic change that his opponent had gone through. Looking at that kind of eye-catching transformation, he almost had the urge to retort.