Chapter 502
93rd floor.
It was now the middle section of the 90s. Taesan headed toward the stairs.
At that moment, space split open.
It wasn’t Balbabamba or the Goddess. It was someone else entirely.
Boom!
Space trembled as the being beyond it returned to the labyrinth.
It was the shop owner.
His face was flushed red like a goblin.
His thick beard trembled, and his fists were clenched tight.
The only emotion visible was pure rage.
“Why are you acting like this?”
Taesan spoke with a blank expression. The shop owner’s eyes rolled wide. He lunged at Taesan.
Grab.
He seized Taesan by the collar.
“What happened!”
“Saying that so suddenly won’t help.”
“Why! Why!”
The shop owner shouted, his face twisting.
“Why are my people worshipping you!”
Taesan understood why the shop owner was furious. Still held by the collar, he spoke calmly.
“During the quest, I obtained an additional reward. Their faith—that’s what it was.”
“You bastard!”
The grip on his collar tightened. The shop owner’s already twisted face distorted even further.
“How dare you! How dare you deceive my people! This can’t be! They are my people!”
“You may say that…”
But faith that had already been obtained couldn’t be reversed.
Taesan grabbed the hand gripping his collar. The shop owner flinched violently and leapt back.
Taesan calmly straightened his clothes.
“I fulfilled the wish you told me. Acting like this now is… surprising.”
What the shop owner had wanted was the death of the Transcendent.
Nothing else was part of the quest requirements.
Taesan killed the Transcendent. He had perfectly completed the quest the shop owner wanted, and yet now the man was complaining. Taesan couldn’t understand him.
“Don’t be ridiculous! They must worship me! Me, their true king!”
“Then go erase their faith in me and overwrite it with yours. I won’t interfere with that.”
“Y-you…!”
The shop owner trembled with fury.
At that moment, the ground split once more as Balbabamba appeared.
[An outsider has entered.]
The voice was cold and merciless.
A mechanical tone unlike usual.
It was the same attitude Balbabamba had shown when Taesan first met him.
[You served as the shopkeeper in the labyrinth to fulfill your wish, and that wish has now been granted. Your relationship with the labyrinth is over.]
“But!”
[The quest condition was the death of the Transcendent. If you wanted faith, that should have been included in your wish. But you did not mention it when you entered the labyrinth.]
Taesan understood Balbabamba’s tone.
This was how he treated outsiders—someone who no longer had any connection to him.
[Since your wish is fulfilled, the labyrinth has nothing to do with you now. Normally an intruder would be eliminated immediately… but I will overlook it this once. Leave.]
Crack.
Balbabamba’s authority activated.
The shop owner was forcibly expelled. He tried to shout something, but his words were buried under that authority and vanished.
And just like that, he was expelled from the labyrinth.
[It’s over. He can never return here unless he forms a new wish.]
“Cold, aren’t you.”
[This time it’s clearly his fault. If he wanted faith, he should have included that in his wish from the start. Even he thought it was impossible and gave up, yet now that he sees hope, he throws a fit. Hard for me to tolerate that.]
[It doesn’t matter. That guy never saw us as anything more than tools.]
The ghost spoke indifferently. Thinking back, the ghost had always hated the shop owner.
[Taesan. He showed you goodwill only because you were a tool to fulfill his wish, not because he had any affection for you.]
[It’s all over anyway. Unless you go looking for him, you won’t see him again.]
Balbabamba was right. The quest was already finished.
Taesan had no intention of involving himself any further.
[Once a wish is fulfilled, the contract ends. Anything afterward depends on the mercy of the magician and the contractor. Keep that in mind. The same applies to you.]
Balbabamba looked into the air.
[What you sought was merely a clue to becoming a Transcendent. Nothing more. If you ever seek more than that, I will intervene.]
[I know. You don’t have to worry so much.]
A graceful voice echoed. It was the Green Witch.
[I don’t plan to seek anything beyond that.]
[Just a precaution. Well, if it’s you, it’s not a concern.]
Taesan turned toward where Balbabamba was looking.
He felt the Green Witch’s presence.
“It’s been a while.”
[Yes. I saw something quite interesting.]
The Green Witch addressed Taesan with great politeness. Her tone had changed to formal speech.
“You’re being formal with me?”
[You have reached a realm that I cannot touch. It is only right to give you treatment befitting that.]
“There’s no need.”
[There is.]
The Green Witch answered firmly.
[Those who reach such a realm must be treated accordingly. Taesan, please speak informally to me as well.]
“If you insist…”
Taesan didn’t care about mannerisms. He usually treated others the same way as when he first met them. So the shop owner’s informal tone hadn’t bothered him either.
But since she insisted, he had no reason to refuse.
“Did you find a method?”
The Green Witch’s wish was to find a clue toward true transcendence.
She must have learned much through her contract with Taesan, but she shook her head.
[Not yet… I’m unsure. If faith cannot reach it, then gathering fear and terror might. I think it’s possible, but something about it bothers me.]
“It is ambiguous.”
Whether that method would actually lead her there—no one knew.
[You called him Remidaos, right? He’s far stronger than I am. Even though he lost to you, aside from a tiny handful, no one in the universe could rival him.]
Yet even he failed to reach the realm the Green Witch sought.
She once again realized the enormity of what she hoped to achieve.
“Think about it slowly. Our contract still remains.”
[Thank you.]
She offered her gratitude and departed.
Everything was truly wrapped up now. Taesan descended the stairs. The shop owner who always waited for him was gone.
Only a shop without an owner remained.
“So it’s self-serve now.”
As long as the price matched, he could purchase what he wanted. Not very meaningful.
[93rd floor quest begins.]
[Clear the 93rd floor’s condition.]
[Reward: Fragment of Blackened Light.]
[Secret Reward: ???]
The description didn’t explain the condition.
It meant he should hear it directly from the one waiting.
Taesan opened the door. The one waiting for him greeted him.
[You’ve come.]
[You have encountered the Demon God, Lucifer.]
Black hair cascading to her feet.
Sharp, catlike eyes.
A long black dress.
She looked exactly the same as the first time they met.
But her attitude toward Taesan was very different. The eyes that once tested him now shone with fondness and warmth.
She looked at Taesan with admiration.
[You’ve reached a stable realm. And that level of divinity… I couldn’t subdue you easily now.]
“You flatter me.”
[No. Truly. If you were ordinary, maybe… but someone as unusual as you can definitely endure it. You’ve grown much stronger. And… it seems you’ve realized something too.]
Taesan recognized what existed within him.
The Demon God seemed to understand it as well.
Taesan asked:
“Is the 93rd floor your quest?”
[No.]
She shook her head and stepped back.
[I want to, but I can’t. This time, it’s someone else■.]
[It’s me.]
Crackle.
Space shattered. A muscular man appeared.
[Long time no see, jumbled one.]
Huge horns, lizardlike red pupils, and black energy flowing from his entire body.
Baal grinned.
[You have encountered the Great Demon, Baal.]
[This quest will proceed under my authority. The Demon God is only a liaison.]
[I still don’t like it.]
[We’ve already discussed this, Demon God. This is necessary—for him, for us, and for all of you. Delay would be troublesome.]
[I know. That’s why I agreed.]
[Good. Then I’ll hold onto the one you cherish for a while.]
Baal chuckled and pointed a finger. Black energy wrapped around Taesan.
[Jumbled one. Follow me.]
Taesan didn’t resist. His body left the labyrinth and moved elsewhere.
[One more warning.]
A faint voice echoed.
[You and I have a contract. But now it’s nothing more than a corroded, crumbling shackle. If you try anything with him—]
[I’ve no intention of that. You worry too much.]
Baal replied casually.
The voice faded. Taesan moved into a realm of absolute darkness.
[This is your second time here.]
There was nothing but darkness—yet the darkness itself acted as light.
It was Baal’s domain.
He sat on a chair made of darkness.
[I heard everything. Essential—that old man returned. You fixed the Ouroboros issue and dealt with the fragment of that worthless thing.]
“You know quite a bit.”
[I have my sources. So you climbed this far.]
Baal looked at Taesan.
His observing gaze pierced through him.
[…You’ve grown. And you’re getting closer. But I still can’t tell what you will be stained by.]
“Why did you call me?”
Taesan’s eyes sank.
“What do you know about me?”
His secret.
The thing dwelling inside him.
What he originated from, and how he became mixed.
Taesan himself was only beginning to understand it, but Baal had known from the start.
[The reason I called you isn’t anything dramatic. For now.]
Baal shifted the topic with a small smile.
[You’ve worked incredibly hard. You haven’t truly rested even once.]
“That’s true.”
Taesan didn’t deny it. He had become monstrously strong, but he had never really rested. Level-ups eliminated mental fatigue, so he had no need for rest.
[So why not rest once?]
“A rest?”
[Among demons, I host regular gatherings. Every demon with a domain attends. And you also stand with one foot in the realm of demons.]
Taesan had claimed Belial’s domain as his own. He possessed a demon’s domain. As Baal said, he had one foot among demons.
[What do you say? Interested in joining our gathering once?]