Chapter 404
Taesan gathered all his strength throughout his body.
The enemy before him was an immortal.
He was neither a being that had lost his self like the King of Machinery, nor one who used degraded power like the Apostle of the Old gods.
He was a pure immortal without any penalties.
Both of them had reached the same level. On top of that, Taesan had almost all his skills sealed except for magic. His chances of victory were extremely slim. Taesan spoke.
“Can I attempt the challenge as many times as I want?”
“Of course. You didn’t think you’d win on your first try, did you?”
“That’s fine then.”
He had no intention of succeeding on the first attempt. After Taesan finished all preparations, Wirad raised his staff.
“Let’s start lightly.”
Whirrr.
A black dot appeared on the staff. Wirad swung the staff.
The dot became a line.
There was no ripple, no disturbance of power. As if a line had been drawn on a blank canvas, the black line quietly shot toward Taesan. The wave of force was so calm it hardly felt like an attack.
Taesan belatedly stomped his foot. Although his skills were sealed, his stats remained the same. He quickly moved his body, dodging the black line.
Boom!
The black line struck the brown floor and disappeared with a small noise.
‘It’s not that fast.’
Even though his reaction was late, he dodged it easily. If that was all the speed there was, he could dodge every attack, no matter how many came.
“Quite fast. But with this, no attack will reach you.”
Wirad realized this as well and raised his staff.
The previous attack was just a test.
Now the real fight began.
A dot was drawn, and it became a line.
It moved at the same speed as the last attack. As Taesan dodged and tried to rush Wirad—
Whirrr.
The line split.
Dozens, hundreds of lines poured out all at once. Like lightning, the split lines tore through space.
There was no room to dodge. Taesan quickly gathered his mana.
[You have activated Frozen World.]
[You have activated Starlight Arrow.]
[You have activated Magic Focus.]
Arrows of frost and starlight flew forth.
Intermediate magic wielded by an immortal like Taesan. The power was on a completely different level from before. Even with just this light attack, it carried enough power to bring the labyrinth’s top Guides to the brink of death.
But the moment it collided with the black lines, it was all smashed apart.
Frozen World scattered into shards of ice, and Starlight Arrow was crushed by the black lines, losing its light.
Taesan quickly twisted his body. The black lines crashed into the ground.
Rumble…
Taesan took no damage. Frozen World and Starlight Arrow couldn’t block the black lines, but they managed to twist the trajectory, creating space for Taesan to dodge.
Taesan clicked his tongue.
With intermediate magic, he couldn’t counter Wirad’s power—at best, he could barely twist its path.
But on the other hand, it meant that with his current strength, he could at least respond to the immortal’s authority with intermediate magic.
“Not bad.”
With a calm voice, new black dots were drawn. This time, there were five.
Lines poured out all at once. Taesan swept his hand, gathering mana.
Rumble!
The black lines blocked out the world, smashing everything in their path.
But within that storm, Taesan kept moving.
Whirrr!
A black dot appeared right beside Taesan. As he instinctively gathered mana, the black dot shot out lines in every direction like a sea urchin.
[You have activated Distortion.]
[You have activated Forced Exclusion.]
Taesan twisted the path of the lines and forcibly pushed them away with formless power. With double casting, Taesan could use two spells at once.
But there was no time to rest. From the black dot floating in midair, hundreds of lines poured out at once.
[You have activated Magic Stacking.]
[You have activated Undying Firebird.]
[You have activated Magic Liberation.]
The stacked Firebird appeared in the world.
Blazing with heat as if to burn the world, it blocked the lines.
During that, Taesan deployed the Guardian’s Shield and used Focused Detection on Wirad and the black dots.
Whirrr
But it was blocked. The wave of mana surrounding Wirad did not permit Focused Detection. Wirad leisurely waved his staff.
“For the others, that would have been enough to figure things out, but not for me.”
Rumble!
The lines pierced the Firebird. The Firebird desperately held on but eventually perished.
Wirad raised his staff. Black dots appeared all throughout the space.
Lines poured out like a storm.
And yet, there was no ripple or disturbance of force, making detection difficult. Normally, his Eyes of Harmony and enhanced senses would make it easy to perceive, but both those skills were sealed. He had to sharpen all his senses and expand his vision to dodge by sight alone.
‘This isn’t working.’
He was spending all his strength just blocking the oncoming black lines, not even getting close to Wirad. His mana was gradually being depleted; at this rate, defeat was certain.
He tried using Restricted Blink, but Wirad didn’t allow it. For the first time, Taesan realized that a high-level magician could prevent even the activation of Restricted Blink.
Time to go all-in.
With that decision, Taesan leapt into the air.
[You have activated Random Blink.]
He didn’t know where he would teleport. Black lines instantly targeted Taesan, but there was a slight delay.
Taesan quickly stacked his magic. He gathered Frozen World and unleashed it.
Crack-crack-crack!
Severe cold swept over the world.
The black lines were pushed back, if only for a moment. Taesan took that chance and poured out all his magic at once.
[You have activated Undying Firebird.]
[You have activated Starlight Arrow.]
[You have activated Earthquake.]
Spells manifested one after another, swallowing the world. With the help of the continuous chanting skill, Taesan’s magic speed and power increased more and more. The black lines were gradually pushed away from Taesan.
“Is this just endurance? Not bad, but it’s not the answer.”
Wirad waved his hand. Black lines formed in four directions around Taesan.
Crackle.
The black lines merged together, forming the shape of a maze.
A physical barrier was being created that Taesan could not escape from. Wirad intended to wear Taesan down and finish him.
But Taesan had already anticipated Wirad’s move.
Rumble!
Spells poured out without pause.
Dozens of different spells filled his vision at once. The seven magicians watching from elsewhere exclaimed in astonishment.
“Wow…”
“What is that?”
They could all use intermediate magic. But the power Taesan was showing now was on a completely different level.
“Is that the level required to be granted advanced magic…?”
They all realized how far away the path they wanted truly was.
Even Wirad was overwhelmed by Taesan’s relentless magic.
“How much mana do you have?”
Even for an immortal, no one could wield intermediate magic so freely. In terms of pure mana reserves, Taesan was above Wirad himself.
Spells exceeded Wirad’s expectations, and the scattered mana briefly obscured Taesan’s figure.
The black lines lost track of Taesan, and their paths twisted for an instant—Taesan didn’t miss the opening.
He detonated the Starlight Arrow he had stacked in advance. Light poured down, filling the world. Aimed precisely at Wirad through the gap between black lines.
Wirad tried to block it with black dots, and at that moment Taesan activated his skill.
[You have activated Magic Separation.]
The arrow of light split into hundreds of projectiles.
The black lines were certainly powerful, but in the end, being just lines, they couldn’t block attacks that occupied the space itself. Taesan watched Wirad’s response and was ready to follow up with his next attack.
‘Impressive.’
Wirad was impressed.
With all powers except magic sealed, Taesan was clearly weaker than him.
But Taesan didn’t give up, aiming for every gap, and had come close to success.
“I didn’t plan to show you this much from the start.”
Wirad murmured, and the line stretched longer and became a plane.
A black plane covered Wirad’s body. The Starlight Arrow collided with the plane.
Rumble!
A tremendous roar erupted. The light filled his vision like an explosion.
When the light faded, Taesan clicked his tongue.
There wasn’t a single scratch on the black plane protecting Wirad.
“The magic I wield is dot, line, and plane.”
Wirad raised his staff. Dozens of black dots formed in midair at once.
“Unless you can overcome all three, it’s impossible to push me out of here.”
With a calm voice, black lines rained down.
* * *
“Are you here?”
When Taesan entered the library, Elia was there, waiting with an admiring look.
“You really are strong.”
“But I still couldn’t win. He’s strong.”
“I told you, he’s different from us. Grandpa reached the peak with his own magic. You’re a monster, but Grandpa is just as much of a monster.”
Even without the restriction of being unable to use skills other than magic, Taesan couldn’t guarantee victory. Wirad had that kind of power.
To face such a strong opponent with only magic—his odds of victory were far too low.
‘That doesn’t mean I didn’t gain anything.’
Wirad’s magic. The unit of matter.
There was no sign of power, no sense of oppression. The method of using that magic was extremely simple.
‘Compress mana to its absolute limit.’
Compressing and compressing mana, he created a single black dot. Stretch that compressed power to form a line, then expand the line to make a plane.
The theory was very simple, but the effect was powerful. Because the mana was compressed to the limit, there was no sign before the spell was cast. The destructive power of compressed mana was also undeniable.
Its small area of effect was a weakness, but the use of planes compensated for that.
It was an extremely useful and difficult magic.
But Taesan couldn’t use that method.
His magic was given by the God of Magic. He could modify it somewhat, but manipulating mana itself like that was impossible.
And he had no intention of trying, either.
The reason Wirad’s magic was so powerful was because he devoted his entire life to magic.
By contrast, Taesan was not a magician by nature.
He was an adventurer.
He gained many powers and used them as tools. Unlike a magician, he wasn’t obsessed with magic itself.
So, he would just take the strengths for himself.
Taesan stood up from his seat.
* * *
Taesan continued to duel with Wirad.
He fought dozens of battles, and every one ended in defeat.
“It’s your loss.”
Wirad pointed his staff at Taesan as he spoke. Taesan accepted Wirad’s words without any change in expression.
When Taesan stepped outside, Elia tried to comfort him.
“Another failure today… It’s okay! You’ll reach it soon!”
Taesan silently nodded. Elia looked at his back with a pained expression.
They couldn’t help but be impressed by Taesan’s first battle.
The power of his magic, his application of it. Using only intermediate magic, he managed to pressure Wirad, whom they could never hope to challenge.
All suspicion and hostility toward Taesan vanished, leaving only respect for a truly outstanding magician.
But after that, every match was strange. Unlike the first, each defeat came much more quickly, and he couldn’t even mount a proper counterattack.
Was he relying on luck now that he couldn’t win the normal way? Elia found it pitiful.
“Grandpa, what’s going on with Taesan? Is he giving up and just hoping for luck?”
Elia went to ask Wirad. Wirad quietly answered.
“Do you really think he’s given up?”
“Isn’t he? It’s too strange. He isn’t even responding and loses so quickly.”
“No. It’s the opposite. He’s actually getting closer to the answer.”
Wirad swung his staff.
“Amazing. Is this what a labyrinth adventurer is? When it comes to strategizing, he’s perfect.”
“Huh?”
Elia was confused by the completely different evaluation.
Wirad spoke.
“He’s not losing quickly. Think back on the matches. Was any battle ever the same?”
“Uh…”
Elia retraced her memory and paused.
Just as Wirad said, not once in all those dozens of matches had a single fight played out the same way.
Elia was quietly shocked.
“No way…”
“In every battle, he was probing my responses, guiding me into different situations. I didn’t intend to play along, but as the fights continued, that’s how it ended up. He’s exceptionally skilled at reading his opponent.”
Quick defeats were natural. Taesan threw himself into danger to observe Wirad’s reactions.
“And that’s not all.”
Wirad recalled the look Taesan gave him.
He was observing not only Wirad’s reactions but the very way he wielded power.
As if he was trying to gain something.
His magic was an original magic created as an immortal. It was impossible for anyone else to steal it.
Yet Taesan’s gaze seemed to take that for granted.
That sparked Wirad’s curiosity as a magician.
“What method will he come up with? I’m intrigued.”
Wirad laughed.
At this moment, Taesan could never defeat him.
But at the same time, Wirad was deeply curious to see just how Taesan would break through.
And a few days later.
Taesan once again visited Wirad.
“May I take the trial again?”
Wirad looked at Taesan. His face was different from before.
It was the face of someone confident in victory.
Wirad nodded.
“I accept, labyrinth adventurer.”
