Chapter 544

“An answer…”

Taesan muttered. The Green Witch stayed quietly lowered, waiting for his reply.

“It’s true I reached a lofty seat, but your situation and mine are very different.”

From the start, Taesan could have reached a solitary, complete seat on his own.

It was simply the Usurper’s existence that had blocked it.

That was why discarding the self tainted by the Usurper and filling it with a new self was enough for him to reach that realm.

But it wasn’t the same for the Green Witch. She hadn’t suffered any taint from the Old gods. The realm she had reached was that of an Immortal.

Taesan’s solution couldn’t be applied to the Green Witch. Hearing that, the Green Witch’s eyes sank.

“I see….”

“That said, if you ask what the path to becoming a Transcender is… I don’t know either.”

In the first place, Taesan wasn’t a Transcender right now. He had reached a different realm from what the Green Witch desired.

They were similar, but fundamentally different, so he couldn’t explain it.

“Then… could you do one thing for me?”

“What is it?”

“Me.”

The Green Witch lifted her head.

“Could you read me?”

She spoke with a desperate tone.

Taesan looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

“If that’s what you want.”

“Thank you.”

The Green Witch cast everything aside and revealed herself before Taesan. Taesan directed his gaze at her as she presented herself like that.

There was no need to activate a skill.

Taesan, as he was now, could observe all things.

And if someone like the Green Witch was openly exposing herself, then he could grasp everything about her—literally.

Taesan’s gaze pierced through the Green Witch.

“Ah……”

The Green Witch flinched, shrinking for an instant. It felt as if every organ in her body, every single muscle, had been laid bare without a trace left hidden.

But she didn’t retreat. She continued to reveal herself.

And Taesan saw it.

Everything she had built over her entire life.

It was neither small in quantity nor in quality. It was like a towering spire. The Green Witch had more than enough qualification to reach immortality.

But that was all.

There was nothing beyond it.

It was certainly a grand and magnificent tower, but its limit was clear.

Taesan withdrew his gaze.

“How do I explain this…”

“Did you see it…?”

After a brief consideration, Taesan spoke directly.

“You’ve built a lot. That’s why you reached immortality. But… what you’ve built doesn’t reach a great realm.”

“Then the solution is…”

“There isn’t one. At least not right now.”

Taesan spoke calmly.

The tower the Green Witch had built was at its limit.

She couldn’t build it any higher, and if she tried, it would collapse and she would lose everything.

‘So that’s how a limit forms.’

If you build the foundation wrong from the start, you eventually hit a wall. You can’t reach a solitary, complete seat.

He’d expected it to some extent, but it was his first time seeing it with his own eyes. Taesan spoke to the Green Witch.

The Green Witch’s pupils shook violently.

Reaching a lofty realm. She had desired it her whole life.

And now she was being told that the possibility itself was blocked. Her head fell toward the ground.

“…Then.”

Slowly, the Green Witch opened her mouth.

She raised her head and looked at Taesan.

In her eyes was a yearning that still hadn’t gone out.

“You mean my tower is the problem.”

“At least right now.”

“I see. This is the problem. This…”

The Green Witch muttered to herself. As if she’d reached some conclusion, she rose and bowed.

“I offer my deepest gratitude, Great One.”

What Taesan had just told her was of immense value in this world.

It was one of the secrets known only to Transcenders.

To tell her that simply because they had a contract—this was, to the Green Witch, an opportunity like a miracle.

“Then may I ask one more request?”

“Go ahead.”

“If, later on, I ask you for one thing… could you grant it?”

“If it’s not something unreasonable. As much as you want.”

“Thank you for accepting.”

Saying that, the Green Witch swung her hand.

[Your contract with the Green Witch has ended.]

The contract of sight that had connected Taesan and her was severed.

It was the Green Witch herself who had given it up.

“Are you sure?”

“I heard the answer I wanted. Sharing sight any longer with a Great One would be a burden.”

The Green Witch slowly stepped back. Taesan asked her,

“What will you do now?”

“I must find the answer based on what you’ve told me. And if I can’t… I will come to see you again.”

With that, the Green Witch left.

He could roughly guess what she intended to do. And what she would want from Taesan.

‘I hope it works out.’

Since Taesan had received quite a lot from her as well, he rooted for her.

Then Taesan checked the Authority Rakiratas had bestowed.

［Death Born of Strife］

［The violence of death that seeks to kill everything except its master.］

“How should I use this?”

Since it was Authority itself, he couldn’t use it carelessly. It gave him pause.

He considered turning it into equipment, but it didn’t seem like any material capable of containing Authority would exist.

After thinking for a moment, Taesan made a decision.

Fuse part of the Authority with his own Authority.

Taesan brought Death Born of Strife to his chest.

Kwaddeudeuk!

Death and Self-Immutable collided.

Two opposing concepts resisted. They rejected each other, trying to push the other away.

It was a natural resistance. Mixing the Authority of an Old god and a Transcender—something impossible from the start.

But Taesan had Boundary.

“Listen to me.”

With that quiet statement, the beast rose.

It voraciously suppressed Self-Immutable and Death Born of Strife, crushing them down.

Kuguguguguk.

The two concepts, which had tried to resist without control, were forcibly fused into one.

And before long, they changed into a new Authority.

［Death Born of Strife and Transcendent [Self-Immutable] have changed. You have obtained the Transcendent [Boundary Negation].］

“That was easier than I expected.”

He could press down the backlash without much difficulty. It seemed meaningful that Self-Immutable had changed into something he could control perfectly through Boundary.

［Transcendent: Boundary Negation］

［Proficiency: 13%］

[Negation against all interference. Whether it belongs to this world or not, it rejects, denies, and seeks to kill everything that tries to interfere with you.]

The pitch-black that surrounded Taesan was stained ash-gray.

And its nature had changed as well. Where Self-Immutable had calmly and coldly blocked external interference, Boundary Negation was more violent.

Kagagak.

The Boundary Negation wrapped around Taesan was even showing hostility toward the world’s concepts that tried to touch him, trampling them down and trying to kill them.

Taesan reined in Boundary Negation. Only then did the rippling ash-gray energy settle slightly.

“It’s aggressive.”

A power that treated everything approaching Taesan as an enemy. Since it had changed from black to ash-gray, its rank and power were even stronger.

‘At this level… could it block Rakiratas’s attacks a few times?’

He didn’t know about full power, but it seemed like it could block at least two or three attacks imbued with true intent.

If it held up even at that level, it was an excellent change. Taesan was satisfied.

“Then…”

He’d checked everything he needed to check.

Now it was time to descend the Labyrinth.

But the Magician still hadn’t appeared.

“How long do I have to wait?”

It was the moment Taesan muttered that.

Shwaak.

As if on cue, space tore open.

—

“Things just don’t end.”

The Magician who created the Labyrinth appeared. He looked exhausted.

“But… it’s been sorted out enough now. We’ve got a direction. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Stepping into the Labyrinth, the Magician looked at Taesan—then flinched.

“…I’m seeing something strange.”

Boundary Negation wrapped around Taesan was showing hostility toward the Magician.

“Stay still.”

Taesan spoke quietly. Following its master’s will, Boundary Negation slowly subsided.

“Man… in just a moment, you got something weird again.”

The Magician muttered awkwardly, but didn’t pry. He couldn’t understand Taesan’s power and rank anyway. There was no need to force himself to accept it.

Taesan asked the Magician,

“Can I go down the Labyrinth?”

Even if Taesan had become a Seeker, could he still descend the Labyrinth?

To that question, the Magician answered yes.

“Doesn’t matter. I told you before, didn’t I? I’m going to make floors specifically for you.”

“I was thinking it might not be possible now.”

He could trade blows with Rakiratas. Then the Labyrinth’s quests would have to match that level—and finding something like that was close to impossible.

The Magician seemed to agree, giving a bitter smile.

“I’ve been thinking about that too. But I said I’d do it, and I have to keep my word. And… it’s a bit ambiguous, but I did find something fitting.”

The Magician pointed at the stairs.

“Go. There’s someone waiting for you.”

Taesan went down the stairs.

[Floor 96 quest begins.]

[Find Arilnan’s origin.]

[Reward: Arilnan’s Authority.]

[Hidden reward: ???]

Arilnan.

It was a name Taesan remembered.

Taesan opened the door. Inside was a single pale-white woman. Her hair and eyes were an ash-gray, like dust that had been swallowed.

Features that were subtly foreign—somehow different from an ordinary face.

Akasha spoke quietly.

[Goddess.]

“It’s been a long time, child who was once my apostle.”

[The Forgotten Goddess, Arilnan, has appeared.]

* *

Arilnan.

“You as well. It’s been a long time, my benefactor.”

“It has.”

Taesan was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected Arilnan to be waiting on the 96th floor.

And according to the System’s explanation, the 96th floor’s quest was about Arilnan.

After silently watching Taesan, Arilnan opened her mouth.

“The scent is gone.”

There was only one scent she could mean. When Arilnan first met Taesan, she said he carried a faint scent of the Usurper.

That it was gone now meant—

“The alienness has grown stronger… but at least that scent is gone. From my perspective, that’s good.”

Arilnan looked satisfied. Taesan looked at the Magician.

“Is she giving the 96th floor’s quest?”

“Yes.”

The Magician confirmed it. His expression as he looked at Arilnan was strange.

“So I knew you. I’m seeing you right in front of me, but I can’t remember anything.”

“I remember you, Magician. Though the you I remember is very different from you now.”

Arilnan spoke with a faint, strange smile.

“Even back then, unlike other Transcenders, you chased something strange on your own… but I never thought you’d create a space like this. Then or now, I can’t understand you. Throwing yourself away for mortals…”

“…That’s the kind of thing only someone who really knows me would say.”

But the Magician still couldn’t understand who Arilnan was.

Arilnan spoke calmly.

“The Usurper usurped me. Of course you can’t know me.”

Arilnan had lost everything. If not for Akasha, she would have remained forgotten forever.

But seeing Arilnan again after so long, Taesan could tell one thing.

She was etched into this world a little more clearly.

“Have you remembered something?”

“Ah. Yes.”

Arilnan smiled in satisfaction. She looked at Akasha.

“Is it because you became solitary on your own? The memories of those who remember me have become clearer. And as a result, I was able to recall one fact.”

“And what is that?”

“Me.”

Arilnan bared her teeth.

“Before I lost myself—what I was. The concept that damned Usurper stole from me. The Usurper’s treasure chest where it is kept.”