Chapter 406
[58th Floor Quest Start.]
[Defeat and clear the 58th floor boss.]
[Reward: Sword that Guards the Line of Life.]
[Secret Reward: ???]
“58th floor, huh… What was this place again?”
Lee Taeyeon tilted her head.
She had regained the memories of her past life with Maria’s help. However, as she obtained conflicting memories, most of the things she hadn’t considered important in her past life didn’t remain in her mind.
The 58th floor was the same. She only had a rough image of the floor, with no memory of what monsters appeared here.
“I’ll find out once I enter.”
She descended the stairs.
The shopkeeper was waiting for her there.
“You’ve arrived.”
“Hello?”
Lee Taeyeon smiled and waved. The shopkeeper looked at her with a vague expression.
“Already at the 58th floor.”
“Yes. Fast, right?”
“Yeah. Fast. Too fast, actually.”
The shopkeeper looked at Lee Taeyeon with eyes full of suspicion.
“What did you do out there before coming back?”
“Well, something happened that made it possible.”
Lee Taeyeon brushed it off. Because of Maria’s restriction, she couldn’t speak of her memories, and the shopkeeper wasn’t close enough for that anyway.
The shopkeeper stared at her for a moment before looking away.
“For you… maybe it’s possible.”
Muttering as if weighing something, the shopkeeper changed his expression.
“Are you buying anything?”
“Nope. I don’t have enough gold right now.”
She shook her head. The shopkeeper put the items away.
“If you find something interesting, come back. I’ll show you something useful.”
“Ah, okay.”
Lee Taeyeon answered reluctantly and passed the shopkeeper.
She found this side of the shopkeeper quite awkward.
The shopkeeper had always scorned her in both her past and present lives. He mocked her and sneered at her heart.
Even when she reached the 100th floor, it was no different. He called her a rat, saying she’d only reached that far by luck and by leeching off the system, and showed no interest in her.
But now things were different.
After regaining her memories and speeding through the labyrinth, his attitude had started to soften.
She had never seen the shopkeeper act like this before.
“So strange.”
She murmured as she stepped forward.
Tension and anxiety gradually clung to her. The first step into a new floor was always the most nerve-wracking.
Creak.
She opened the door, and the 58th floor monster greeted her.
[Golden Deer has appeared.]
A deer with golden antlers.
The moment she saw the monster, her memory returned.
“Ah, this was that place?”
The deer howled and charged at her. Lee Taeyeon took a steady breath and drew her sword.
Clang!
Her sword collided with the golden antlers.
Lee Taeyeon didn’t retreat. She twisted the sword’s trajectory and made a long cut along the deer’s side.
She swung her hand toward the howling deer. The intermediate spirit she had contracted attacked the deer at her command.
[You have activated Deflection.]
Clack clack clack!
She deflected the charging deer that broke through the spirit’s attack.
She swiftly lowered her stance and darted aside.
[You have activated Stealth.]
[You have activated Shadow of the Earth.]
Lee Taeyeon’s body instantly blended into the shadows.
While the deer was bewildered, unable to find her, she lightly pierced its neck.
The deer trembled in pain. Shaking its head violently, it pushed Lee Taeyeon away and charged again.
After a few minutes of battle, the deer fell.
“Whew.”
Lee Taeyeon caught her breath. There wasn’t a single wound on her body.
She straightened her messy hair and continued clearing the labyrinth.
Her steps were unhesitating.
More deer continued to appear, but she defeated them easily without taking a single hit. After taking down her seventh deer, she muttered,
“I never imagined I’d be clearing the labyrinth like this.”
In her past life, she had been a coward.
She cleared the labyrinth by using tricks instead of facing things head-on.
The 58th floor was no different. Although her memory wasn’t clear, she probably barely hunted one or two, then figured out a way to avoid the rest. And she would have succeeded.
She thought that was all she could do. To clear the labyrinth head-on, like Taesan, seemed impossible for her.
But so much had changed since time rewound.
She continued to the next room.
After defeating seven, she was starting to adapt to their patterns. She was relaxed enough to think of other things while fighting.
‘Taesan must have passed the 80th floor by now, right?’
The deep floors Taesan was descending would be very different from what she remembered. Taesan had already transcended mortality. There was a high chance that the magician who created the labyrinth was involved in some way.
“The deep floors… huh.”
That hellish place.
Just thinking about it made her shudder. Her body rejected even recalling it.
But she suppressed that instinct with her will.
Clack!
She knocked aside the deer’s antler and stabbed deep into its chest. The deer trembled and fell.
She collected her thoughts.
The deep floors were extremely difficult and complicated places, and she needed to prepare thoroughly in advance.
She was definitely stronger than in her past life.
But that also meant there were definitely skills she couldn’t acquire anymore.
“I’ll get Invisible Shadow if I raise my proficiency… The hidden story that no one knows is probably in the mid-70s. Hidden Rat’s Breath will be tough to get, huh?”
Hidden Rat’s Breath was a skill earned by gradually stacking it from the very start of the labyrinth. Now that she was on a completely different path, it was unlikely she’d get it easily.
Hidden Rat’s Breath was one of her most efficient skills.
Losing the chance to get it was a definite loss.
But her heart wasn’t shaken.
Hidden Rat’s Breath was certainly a great skill, but it also revealed her weakness.
Now, she was stronger than that. There was no reason to regret it anymore. She had gained skills that could more than make up for what she lost.
After quickly clearing the floor, she arrived at the 58th floor boss.
A deer with a larger body and even more brilliantly shining antlers.
As the deer charged to stab her, Lee Taeyeon swung her sword.
[You have activated Strong Strike.]
Clang!
Strong Strike. Normally, it was a skill that disappeared after one use, but with Ability Sword, as long as she timed it right, she could keep activating it endlessly.
Using Ability Sword, black magic, and the spirit’s power, she relentlessly pressured the boss. After dozens of minutes, though she had also taken considerable damage, she defeated the boss.
[58th Floor Cleared.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You have reached optimal condition.]
“Whew.”
Lee Taeyeon let out a sigh of relief and sank to the floor. After a moment of calculation, she smiled.
It hadn’t even taken a day to clear the 58th floor.
She was definitely stronger now.
“What was the 59th floor again…”
While she was collecting her thoughts and resting, someone came up from the floor below.
Lee Taeyeon, calm, checked the stairs.
The one who came up was the Guide of Sin, a fifth-rank adventurer. She waved her hand.
“Hey.”
The guide clicked their tongue at her.
“…Lowly coward.”
The guide’s eyes on her were filled with contempt.
“I don’t know why someone like you was allowed by the higher-ups, but don’t get carried away. You’re nothing but a worm.”
What could be seen in those eyes was jealousy and scorn.
It was a familiar feeling.
In her past life, the guides had looked at her no differently. The higher-ups had acknowledged her talent and allowed her to enter the deep floors, but the other rankers couldn’t accept that.
To them, Lee Taeyeon was just a coward.
Someone who cleared the labyrinth with tricks and failed to earn the things an adventurer should by right—a worm.
So they despised and envied her.
It wasn’t much different in this life. Even though she was progressing through the labyrinth more normally, she couldn’t fully hide her fear.
“Uh…”
Lee Taeyeon responded half-heartedly and leaned against the wall. The guide’s face twisted at her indifferent attitude.
“…Looks like I need to teach you some manners.”
The guide drew an axe.
He thrust it toward her, speaking sharply.
“Bow your head.”
Lee Taeyeon looked at the guide in silence. The guide continued confidently.
“I’m an adventurer of higher rank than you. I’ve reached the 60th floor. A guide must always obey a guide of a higher rank. You’ve been allowed into the deep floors, but for now, I’m deeper than you.”
A command that was little more than abuse.
Lee Taeyeon felt a sense of superiority in the guide’s gaze.
‘Ah.’
She remembered.
This guide was someone who had bullied and mocked her in her past life.
What would she have done in her previous life?
No need to think. She would have bowed her head right away.
Pride was useless.
Survival was all that mattered. She was willing to bend her pride as much as needed for that.
But—
She stood up with a faint smile.
“No.”
“…What?”
The guide hadn’t expected her to refuse, and his eyebrow twitched. Lee Taeyeon spoke languidly.
“Why should I bow to someone like you? Isn’t it the other way around? I’m an adventurer recognized by the higher-ups. I’m on a different level than you from the very start.”
“…You wretch!”
The guide raised his axe violently. At that moment, Lee Taeyeon moved.
Gripping her sword, she dashed at the guide with speed.
“Ugh!”
The guide swung his axe down in a hurry. Lee Taeyeon calmly moved her sword. The smooth motion sent the axe flying far away.
“Ah.”
Lee Taeyeon’s sword thrust toward the guide’s head.
The guide instinctively sensed death.
Whizz!
The sword brushed past the guide’s cheek.
Lee Taeyeon lightly tapped the frozen guide’s shoulder.
“There was a bug flying next to your head. I really hate bugs. Sorry.”
“Y-you…”
The guide faltered. Blood trickled down from the cheek where the sword had grazed.
He had reached the 60th floor, deeper than Lee Taeyeon, but he couldn’t react to her movements at all.
“…Get lost.”
In the end, the guide swallowed hard.
There were no bugs in the labyrinth, but even so, unable to say anything, he hurriedly left and went back down.
Lee Taeyeon watched him for a moment, then, when his presence disappeared, she slumped to the floor.
“Whew!”
She let out a breath. The relaxed expression from before was gone.
“That was scary. I don’t want to get into pointless fights.”
But she didn’t want to back down either.
So, just like on Earth, she tried acting, and it actually worked pretty well. She smiled brightly.
“Maybe I could have been a good actress? If the world ever gets back to normal, I’ll give it some serious thought.”
Her face slowly darkened as she muttered to herself.
She’d just been ready to fight the guide who insulted her.
It was something her past self—who valued nothing but survival—would never have done.
She had changed.
And she liked who she had become.
“Well… Let’s keep going down.”
After resting, she gripped her sword and started down the labyrinth again. Her eyes were filled with determination.