Chapter 397
[Ring of One Who Succeeded in Struggle.]
[Attack +300]
[A ring worn to the end by one who overcame his own struggle. He never reached the highest level, but his strength could never be ignored.]
[You used ???.]
[You obtained the Token of Struggle.]
[Token of Struggle.]
[A token proving one who devoted his very life to struggle. This token itself possesses great power.]
A single ring. And a material item. As a ring with high base attack, its performance was solid. He’d have to check with Haphran, but even just by the sensation of power, it was by no means a worthless item.
And he obtained a unique skill.
[Special Passive Skill: Absolute Authority]
[Mastery: 1%]
[Opponents of a lower rank than you instinctively feel absolute authority before you and lose the will to struggle. Unless they possess exceptionally strong willpower and strength, resistance is impossible.]
A skill you could only obtain by conquering a floor without using force even once. No doubt, no one else had ever acquired it. It was a skill unique to him alone.
[There really are all kinds of skills.]
The ghost let out a dry laugh.
[Even the boss of the 79th floor couldn’t resist it, so basically most mortals can’t resist at all. No wonder Balbamaba has a headache.]
The labyrinth was a place for mortals.
The 80th floor section would likely end up the same as the 79th. Now, the meaning of each floor had almost disappeared.
Balbamaba had gone to meet the magician for him.
He would return once a conclusion was reached.
Taesan began to walk. The beasts quietly bowed their heads, sending Taesan off.
And then, he set foot on the 80th floor.
[80th Floor Quest Start.]
[Overcome the Trial of Acurus.]
[Reward: Thread of Collapse.]
[Secret Reward: ???]
Passing by the shopkeeper and arriving at the altar, a jet-black sphere awaited.
[You have discovered the altar of Acurus.]
[First Discovery Bonus]
[Strength permanently increased by 100.]
A horrific power emanated from the jet-black sphere.
Taesan had encountered many gods’ altars before, but this was the first time one radiated such an intense aura from the outset. For someone weak, just being nearby would be enough to shatter body and mind.
[Acurus. God of Collapse.]
The ghost’s low voice echoed.
A transcendent being presiding over the domain of collapse. That was Acurus.
[Among the gods of the labyrinth, he’s the closest to an evil god.]
“More than the God of Ruin?”
The God of Ruin, who treated all mortals like toys, was certainly close to an evil god from a human perspective.
[In some ways, he’s even worse.]
“How so?”
[Acurus literally desires the collapse of the world. He wants order to fall, laws to disappear. The bare minimum of humanity that humans must uphold, faith toward the gods, soul-bound contracts—all of that. He wants everything to be broken and destroyed. He’s a god who wishes for the collapse of all things.]
The collapse of every concept and material thing.
That was the principle behind the God of Collapse.
[From a mortal’s standpoint, he’s an evil god. Nothing more, nothing less. I struggled a lot with him. He really made my skin crawl.]
The ghost shuddered.
[Given his nature, he probably doesn’t get along with the other gods either.]
“Then, of course, he won’t like me either.”
[Most likely… yeah.]
Taesan approached the altar of Acurus. The power swirling up tried to engulf Taesan.
There was no consideration, only the sense of being crushed—yet it quietly made a proposal.
[Sub-quest start]
[Acurus wants to test you for coming to his altar. If you accept, the trial will come. If you overcome it, there will be a reward.]
[Reward: Determined by Acurus according to your achievement.]
“I accept.”
Taesan nodded.
The condition to clear the floor was to pass the trial of Acurus. Refusal wasn’t even an option. Power flowed from the altar, and soon a form began to take shape.
It had a mane like a lion. The entire body was muscular, and the greatsword it held seemed to embody a man’s strength.
[…Huh?]
The ghost sounded dumbfounded.
As the power gradually subsided, the form’s manifestation was complete.
The being appearing in the labyrinth opened its eyes.
[Servant of Acurus, the Lion King, has appeared.]
—
“Oh.”
Taesan murmured. Lion King. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen him. He’d met him once when he encountered the guides.
“If I remember right, he wasn’t a servant of Acurus back then.”
The Lion King looked at Taesan and the ghost, then opened his mouth.
“It’s been a while, hero.”
[You. What are you?]
The ghost asked in a dumbfounded tone.
[…Did you offer yourself?]
“The answer is right before your eyes, so what are you asking?”
The Lion King spoke calmly. The ghost let out a hollow laugh.
[What a lunatic. After coming all this way down the labyrinth, this is what you ended up as—a servant of a god, not even an apostle?]
A servant of a god. Taesan had seen that term once during Rakiratas’s trial. Now that he’d reached immortality, he could fundamentally grasp what kind of existence it was.
“A tool.”
An apostle was a relationship formed by contract.
A mortal offered themselves to a god, and in return, the god bestowed fitting power and rank.
Because it was a mutually agreed contract, such cases were extremely rare. For instance, aside from Taesan and Lee Taeyeon, Maria never offered the role of apostle to anyone else.
For that reason, gods also cherished their apostles. They respected their wishes and, at times, even risked their lives to protect them, like Levinenov.
There were exceptions like Horai, but that was a special case. Normally, the relationship between a god and their apostle was one of mutual respect.
But a servant of a god was different.
That was just a tool.
They were used as the god wished and could be sacrificed and discarded at any time. All the power, values, and experiences up until now—
Everything he’d built up until now was rendered meaningless in the worst possible way.
That’s why the ghost couldn’t understand.
[Is that the ending you wanted? To throw away everything you had and be used by a god without a second thought?]
“Of course not.”
The Lion King lightly denied it.
“Even if I’ve become a servant of Acurus, I am strong. Even a god can’t throw me away as a mere expendable.”
[That doesn’t change the essence. You mean nothing to Acurus. You gave yourself up just for that?]
The ghost spoke sharply.
The Lion King fell silent.
[Of course. There’s no way Acurus would accept someone like you as an apostle. That goes for the other gods too. You must’ve turned to Acurus out of desperation…but I still can’t understand it. Did you really have to go that far just to kill Taesan?]
“…Shut up.”
The Lion King gnashed his teeth.
His eyes were filled with violent anger.
“I! I cannot accept it!”
His resounding voice shook the labyrinth.
“That bastard hasn’t even been in the labyrinth for three years. Yet he’s already reached the 80th floor! I can’t accept it! There shouldn’t be someone like that! It’s wrong!”
His face was twisted with rage and hatred.
And also inferiority and jealousy.
“Existences like you shouldn’t be in this world! You twist the very order! I’m merely correcting the order of the world!”
His voice was laced with strong will. Just hearing it made hearts shrink and emotions waver.
Taesan received it with indifference.
“In the end, you’re just jealous of me.”
“W-what?”
“Am I wrong? I reached this place not long after entering the labyrinth. Even though you all combined your strength and spent countless years, you couldn’t get here, but I did in an instant.”
It was astonishing. Even the ghost had been unable to hide his admiration at Taesan’s growth.
The Lion King despised Taesan for that.
[…I see. Now that I think about it, you always said it. We are the greatest in the world. It’s just that the labyrinth itself is absurd—otherwise, we’d be the strongest there is.]
“Hero…”
The Lion King’s face twisted.
Most who set foot in the deep layers of the labyrinth were among the strongest in the outside world.
The Lion King was no different. In reality, he had probably made it to the deep layers without much trouble. Along the way, he would have been confident that he was the very best.
But the deep layers didn’t accept him.
His confidence and talent were completely shattered.
Tormented by self-doubt and inferiority in the face of the deep layers, he watched as others like himself began to appear one by one.
All of them possessed outstanding talent like the Lion King, but they too stalled before clearing the deep layers.
The Lion King felt deep relief. He wasn’t the only one. Even those immensely talented ones were blocked here. This was the inevitable limit of mortals.
He gathered them together under that thought and created the Guide of Sin.
He was the one who led the formation of the Guide of Sin.
That’s how he comforted himself and held onto his confidence—until Taesan appeared.
Even though Taesan wasn’t born with extraordinary power, he broke through the labyrinth at a pace beyond comparison, and not even the deep layers could stop him.
The Lion King could not tolerate that.
“In a way, it’s impressive.”
[Absolute Authority] was active.
With his twisted obsession and inferiority, the Lion King was resisting the effects of [Absolute Authority].
[Still, I can’t understand. You sacrificed yourself for that?]
“Shut up.”
The Lion King spoke harshly.
“You don’t know anything. I can never accept that.”
“People lay down their lives for their pride all the time. It’s nothing unusual.”
It happened often, even on Earth.
Especially for someone like the Lion King, whose very sense of self was built on his own strength and the confidence that came with it.
It wasn’t surprising at all.
The Lion King bared his teeth in a sneer.
“You’re not wrong. I am a tool. But thanks to that, I gained power.”
Rumble…
The labyrinth trembled.
The Lion King’s power surged. His entire body began to twist as if collapsing.
[The Lion King has activated Oath of Collapse.]
Taesan understood.
That was Acurus’s authority.
The Lion King was reaching a higher realm. He was breaking through the barrier of mortality with sheer force.
“Oh! Oh! Ohhh!”
Forcing his breaking mind back into place, the Lion King swung his greatsword violently.
“Hahahaha!”
The Lion King burst into mad laughter.
For the first time, omnipotence filled his entire being.
His body and mind were slowly collapsing, but he didn’t care at all. The sensation was too exhilarating.
“This is immortality!”
He had finally reached the place he had devoted his life to, the place he could only long for before.
It truly felt as if he could do anything.
The Lion King laughed and looked at Taesan.
“Now, die! You lowly—”
The words didn’t continue.
“…Huh?”
“Sacrificing body and mind to surpass your limits, is it.”
Taesan looked at him calmly.
As if to say that attaining immortality that way was utterly meaningless.
And ironically, the Lion King instinctively realized it.
When he met Taesan, he’d recognized that Taesan had reached a high place.
But he thought it was only the initial stage, unstable and precarious.
It was natural. Taesan’s growth had been too rapid. And already reaching immortality? By any logic, it was impossible.
He was certain Taesan must have used some trick. The Lion King had no doubt.
So he believed that if he himself became immortal, he would be able to overwhelm Taesan.
But now, having become immortal, he knew.
The immortality Taesan reached was a fundamentally different, stable realm from his own.
“…Impossible! How! How can you already be at that place!”
“Enough.”
Taesan dismissed him and drew his sword.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
