Chapter 396
[Of all times, the magician is away. What am I supposed to do about this?]
Balbamaba let out a sigh.
“Is your head hurting?”
[Because of someone, obviously. I shouldn’t blame you, but I want to.]
He groaned.
[You’ve become an immortal. That means you’ve already reached the purpose the labyrinth desires.]
“I’m not planning on stopping here.”
There was still much to gain. He had no intention of stopping just because he had become an immortal.
[Of course……]
Balbamaba trailed off. Taesan tried to descend to the 79th floor.
But Balbamaba blocked the passage and didn’t move aside.
Taesan stared at him.
“What is it?”
[I’m debating. Whether I should let you go down or stop you here.]
[What, you’re stopping me from going down the labyrinth?]
The ghost was surprised. A manager blocking an adventurer’s progress—he’d never heard of such a thing. Balbamaba spoke in a disgruntled tone.
[That’s something that normally could never happen. My job is the maintenance of the labyrinth and providing rewards to adventurers. Blocking an adventurer isn’t my job, but… this situation is just too unusual.]
Balbamaba looked at Taesan.
The emotion in his gaze was extremely complex.
[You’ve arrived at one endpoint. In some ways, going down further is against the purpose of the labyrinth.]
The labyrinth was created because the gods wanted to witness the life-and-death struggles of mortals.
They never imagined an immortal would descend the labyrinth.
Naturally, among the beings who tested adventurers, there were also immortals. For an immortal to challenge another immortal was nothing short of ridiculous.
“Ainzhar seemed to be going down the labyrinth pretty earnestly.”
[He made a contract with the magician. He can freely roam the labyrinth, but he can’t receive any system advantages. Even if he clears a floor, he gets no rewards, and his level doesn’t increase. For an immortal to enter the labyrinth, there’s a mandatory procedure.]
Balbamaba was a manager.
He was responsible for correcting and fixing anomalies in the labyrinth.
Taesan was an anomaly itself.
But he had no choice but to hesitate.
The problem was how he achieved his status.
So far, everyone who transcended mortality while breaking through the labyrinth had done so through a contract with a god.
Since their soul belonged to a god, they could no longer be called adventurers. Naturally, they were excluded from the labyrinth.
But Taesan had reached immortality through his own power while clearing the labyrinth.
How do you treat someone who transcended mortality through their own strength during the clear?
This had never happened before. There were those who reached immortality, but it always happened after clearing the labyrinth.
After much thought, Balbamaba made a decision.
[For now, go down. I’ll call the magician and find an answer.]
Balbamaba stepped aside. As Taesan walked down the stairs, he spoke.
“Is there really a need to stop someone just because they’ve become an immortal? I’ve always been able to go down the floors easily anyway.”
Ordinary floors could no longer stop Taesan’s steps.
Unless it was a particularly unique floor, like a god’s trial, he’d solved all of them without much difficulty. He didn’t think being immortal would change anything.
[You’ll understand when you reach the 79th floor. I’ll say this ahead of time, just don’t go overboard. I’ll give you all the rewards with my authority.]
With those words, Balbamaba disappeared.
As Taesan descended the stairs, the shopkeeper was there.
“Took you a while this time. Are you buying anything…?”
He was speaking while smoking a pipe, but when he saw Taesan, he fell silent.
With a clink, the pipe fell from his mouth.
“…You.”
“Hello.”
Taesan greeted him calmly. The shopkeeper stared blankly at Taesan.
“…You’ve reached it.”
“That’s right.”
“Ha, hahaha! Hahahahaha!”
Laughter erupted. It was a mad, truly delighted laugh, filled with a kind of frenzy. Eyes wide, the shopkeeper bared his teeth.
“Yes! You’ve reached it! That means! I! I!”
An excited tone.
A face flushed red.
With every emotion in his voice, the lost king shouted.
“You can fulfill my wish!”
His voice filled the small room.
After venting his feelings, the shopkeeper regained his composure and put the pipe back in his mouth.
“So, are you buying anything?”
“Not yet. I haven’t gathered enough gold.”
“Then see you next time.”
He said with a smile.
Taesan walked past the shopkeeper.
[……So that guy’s wish is related to immortals?]
“You don’t know either?”
[I told you. The shopkeeper didn’t like me. Probably because he thought I couldn’t fulfill his wish. If it’s related to immortals, I guess it makes sense.]
The ghost was strong, but still within the limits of mortality. He gave a hollow laugh.
[Now I get why that guy’s been stuck here since the labyrinth was created. He needs an immortal. What kind of wish is that? No, if Balbamaba’s right, isn’t it impossible to achieve in the first place?]
“Who knows.”
He would find out as he kept descending. It seemed he hadn’t yet reached the floor the shopkeeper desired.
Taesan passed through the corridor and opened the door.
The space was vast.
Rather than a labyrinth, it was more like a wide plain. And there, countless living beings were moving.
‘So this is the 79th floor.’
The world of struggle.
There was only one thing to do here: prove your strength.
This was one of the floors Lee Taeyeon spent a lot of time clearing.
There were a great many beasts here. They killed each other, took each other’s strength, and grew stronger. And the strongest of them all ruled this 79th floor.
You had to defeat a certain number of beasts or fight the king here to prove your strength.
Of course, despite Balbamaba’s words, Taesan planned to clear out everything.
He gripped his sword and stomped his foot. In an instant, his body vanished.
Tap.
He stopped in front of two beasts locked in a desperate struggle.
One was a black dog with three heads. Flames spewed from its mouth, melting everything around it.
The other had the lower body of a snake, the upper body of a human, and hair made of snakes, like a medusa.
Their bodies were covered in wounds, evidence that they were fighting to the death.
They stopped fighting at the sudden appearance of Taesan.
“Come at me.”
Taesan calmly waited for their attack. He intended to gauge their strength.
But no matter how much time passed, they didn’t attack Taesan.
They simply froze like statues.
Taesan frowned. At that moment, the dog lowered its posture.
“Whine, whimper.”
The dog lay flat on the ground, belly exposed.
It was the posture of absolute submission. The medusa was no different. Trembling all over, it slowly approached and desperately bowed its head.
[……What the?]
“What is this.”
Taesan muttered in disbelief.
—
The 79th floor was a world of struggle.
The beings here feared nothing, not even death. They craved life-or-death battles, rejoiced at fighting strong opponents, and charged in without hesitation.
Dozens of monsters challenged the king ruling this place every day and lost their lives. It was literally a world of beasts that lived only to fight.
That was how Lee Taeyeon described it.
“Squeak……”
But the monsters in front of him now showed no such will to struggle.
Like mice before a cat, they desperately begged for their lives.
Their eyes were filled only with fear.
[……This isn’t right. What’s with them? You guys aren’t like this, are you? When I was here, you came at me like you wanted to kill me. Why are you acting like pets all of a sudden?]
Even the ghost was muttering in considerable confusion. The 79th floor had existed when the ghost descended the labyrinth. That’s why the ghost couldn’t hide his shock.
Taesan stomped his foot to confirm. As he moved, the two beasts that had been groveling desperately recoiled in fear and fled.
This time, Taesan moved to a place where even more beasts had gathered.
There, dozens of beasts were fighting, showing off their strength.
They were by no means weak. An ordinary 79th floor adventurer would have to go all out even against just one.
Tap.
Taesan landed in front of them.
All the monsters fighting immediately stopped.
“……Roooar!”
Cries echoed in all directions. Some of the monsters ran away in a panic, while others gave up on escaping and rubbed up against Taesan.
Now it was certain.
Taesan had become an immortal.
And immortals were a fundamentally higher existence than mortals. Even if he tried to conceal his presence, everyone watching instinctively recognized the difference in level.
That was why the monsters living to struggle on the 79th floor couldn’t even bring themselves to fight Taesan.
“So this is what Balbamaba meant.”
It was only natural. Struggle was always between beings of the same kind. But if fighting had no meaning, if the opponent was on an entirely different level—
There was no point in struggling.
Beasts acting on instinct didn’t even consider challenging him.
Seeing this, Taesan understood why Balbamaba had hesitated. The very purpose for which the labyrinth was designed—struggle—couldn’t be established. From the administrator’s perspective, it was a serious problem.
“This is troublesome.”
Taesan petted an eagle perched on his arm as it ruffled its feathers. Its wings trembled at his touch.
They had all given up on struggling and were just begging for their lives. It felt uncomfortable to deal with creatures like this.
“…Balbamaba did say he’d give me the reward as long as I did things moderately.”
He must have known the monsters of the 79th floor would give up on fighting, so he’d told Taesan to just leave them alone.
In that case, Taesan had no reason to go out of his way.
He roamed around the 79th floor. Whenever monsters saw him, they either ran away or came over to rub up against him—one or the other.
With no battles, there was nothing in particular to do.
Taesan decided to look for the secret room first. The 79th floor was vast, but for Taesan now, it wasn’t difficult.
The moment he became immortal, his perception of the world changed. He could intuitively sense the location of the secret room without even using a skill.
As a result, Taesan found the secret room at an incredible speed.
[Shoes of One Who Lived to Struggle.]
[Attack +600]
[Defense +300]
[Strength +30]
[Movement Speed +19%]
[Travel Speed +18%]
[Shoes used by a being who fought against the world from the time he could barely speak. He lived for nothing but struggle, but ultimately died without achieving it. However, his feelings and lingering desire remain in the shoes.]
The stats and defense were lower than his current shoes, but the attack power was much higher. They were definitely usable gear.
After finding the secret room, there was nothing else to do.
In the end, Taesan went to the king of the 79th floor.
The king was a massive black bear. Its whole body was covered in wounds, but under its fur, powerful muscles could be seen.
“You’re strong.”
It had strength equal to the core leaders of the Guide of Sin.
The bear, which had been silently looking down at Taesan, slowly lowered its stance.
It knelt and pressed its head to the ground. It took a posture of absolute submission to Taesan.
Taesan stroked the bear’s head.
[79th floor clear.]
[Balbamaba’s authority activated. Forced clear triggered.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You obtained the Ring of One Who Succeeded in Struggle.]
[You obtained ???.]
[You have perfectly conquered a floor without a single battle. You have acquired the special passive skill [Absolute Authority].]
