“Of all times, the mage is away. What am I supposed to do with this?”
Balbabamba sighed.
"Headache bothering you?"
“It’s not like I can blame you, but I certainly want to.”
He let out a low groan.
“You’ve become an immortal. That means you’ve reached the goal that the labyrinth was designed for.”
“I’m not planning to stop here.”
There was still much to gain. Reaching immortality didn’t mean Taesan was going to stop his progress.
“I suppose...”
Balbabamba trailed off, watching as Taesan prepared to descend to the 79th floor.
But Balbabamba didn’t move aside; he blocked the passage, standing firm.
“What’s this about?”
“I’m considering. Should I let you descend or stop you here?”
“Wait, are you actually trying to prevent me from going down?”
The ghost was astonished. For an administrator to interfere with a challenger’s progress was unheard of. Balbabamba spoke in a grumpy tone.
“Under normal circumstances, this would never happen. My role is to maintain the labyrinth and reward adventurers. Blocking an adventurer’s progress is not my job... but this situation is far from ordinary.”
Balbabamba’s gaze toward Taesan was complex, his eyes a swirl of mixed emotions.
“You’ve reached a major milestone. Going further could be seen as contradicting the labyrinth’s purpose.”
The labyrinth was created for gods to witness mortals struggle. An immortal descending through its floors wasn’t within the labyrinth’s original design.
This was only natural; after all, some of the entities that challenged adventurers were themselves immortals. The idea of one immortal testing another was absurd.
“Ainzhar seemed to be descending the labyrinth without issue.”
“He has a contract with the mage. He can move freely through the labyrinth, but he doesn’t receive system benefits. He gets no rewards for clearing floors, nor does his level increase. That’s the necessary process for an immortal to enter the labyrinth.”
Balbabamba was the administrator responsible for maintaining and correcting anomalies within the labyrinth. Taesan, by his very existence, was an anomaly.
But how he had reached immortality was a matter for consideration.
Those who had transcended mortality while traversing the labyrinth usually did so through a divine contract, their souls claimed by a god, which naturally disqualified them as adventurers. They were thus excluded from the labyrinth.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.
But Taesan had achieved immortality by his own strength while clearing the labyrinth.
How to handle someone who transcended mortality without outside aid during their journey through the labyrinth was a question Balbabamba had never had to answer before. Achieving immortality had only ever happened after a complete labyrinth clear.
After a long period of thought, Balbabamba reached a decision.
“For now, proceed downward. I’ll summon the mage to find an answer.”
Balbabamba finally stepped aside. As Taesan began to descend, he spoke up.
“Is there really a need to stop me just because I became immortal? It was already easy for me to clear floors before this.”
Ordinary floors hadn’t been able to hinder Taesan for some time. Only special levels, like godly trials, had posed any challenge, and immortality wouldn’t change that.
“You’ll understand when you reach the 79th floor. Let me just say, don’t push too hard. I’ll grant you all the rewards you’re owed regardless.”
With that, Balbabamba vanished.
As Taesan continued down the stairs, he encountered the shopkeeper.
“Took you a while this time. Here to buy somethin’...?”
The shopkeeper, pipe in hand, trailed off as he looked at Taesan.
With a dull clatter, the pipe fell from his mouth.
“...You.”
“Good to see you.”
Taesan greeted him calmly, while the shopkeeper stared at him in a daze.
“...You’ve reached it.”
“It appears so.”
The shopkeeper burst into mad laughter, his face contorted with excitement, his eyes glinting wildly.
“Yes! You’ve reached it! That means I... I can...!”
In a fervent tone, with a face flushed red, the lost king cried out.
“I can finally fulfill my wish!”
The sound of his voice filled the small room.
After releasing his pent-up emotions, the shopkeeper returned to his calm demeanor, picking up his pipe again.
“So, buying anything?”
“Not yet. I haven’t saved enough gold.”
“In that case, see you later.”
He smiled as he spoke.
Taesan moved past the shopkeeper.
---
“...So his wish involves something related to immortality?”
“You don’t know what it is?”
“I told you before, didn’t I? The shopkeeper never liked me, likely because he thought I couldn’t fulfill his wish. If it’s connected to immortality, that would make sense.”
The ghost, who was powerful but still a mortal, let out a wry chuckle.
“No wonder he’s been here since the labyrinth’s creation. Needing an immortal... what could his wish be? Then again, according to Balbabamba, it may be something that’s simply impossible.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
Taesan hadn’t yet reached the floor the shopkeeper desired, but he knew he would in time.
He passed through the corridor and opened the door.
It led to an open space.
It resembled a vast plain more than a labyrinth floor, and the area was teeming with life.
“So this is the 79th floor.”
The Realm of Struggle.
Here, the task was simple: prove his strength.
This was one of the floors that had taken Lee Taeyeon a long time to clear.
The floor was filled with numerous beasts, each preying upon others to grow stronger, and at the top of the food chain was the ruler of the 79th floor.
To clear the floor, one had to either defeat a certain number of these beasts or challenge the king and prove their power.
Of course, Taesan intended to defeat them all, despite Balbabamba’s advice.
He gripped his sword and stepped forward, his body vanishing in an instant.
With a soft thud, he appeared before two beasts locked in a life-or-death struggle.
One was a three-headed black dog spewing flames that melted everything around it.
The other had the lower body of a snake and the upper body of a human, with snake-like hair—a creature akin to a Medusa. Their bodies were scarred as if they had been fighting to the death.
Both creatures froze, staring at Taesan.
“Come at me.”
Taesan calmly awaited their attacks, intending to gauge their strength.
But no matter how long he waited, neither moved.
They simply stood there, frozen like statues.
Taesan frowned. At that moment, the dog lowered its body.
“Whimper... whimper...”
The dog crouched down, exposing its belly—a posture of absolute submission. The Medusa creature was no different, trembling as she approached Taesan and desperately bowed her head.
---
“...Huh?”
“What’s this?”
Taesan murmured, perplexed.
---
The 79th floor, the Realm of Struggle.
The beings here didn’t fear death. They thrived on the thrill of battle, relishing the challenge of facing formidable foes.
Each day, dozens of monsters challenged the king of this floor, only to lose their lives in a world where beasts lived solely to fight.
That was how Lee Taeyeon had described it.
But the monsters in front of Taesan showed no trace of a fighting spirit.
Like mice before a cat, they begged desperately for their lives.
Their eyes held nothing but terror.
---
“...This isn’t right. What’s going on with them? They’re not supposed to act like this. When I came here, they charged at me like madmen, and it was a struggle. Why are they acting like pets all of a sudden?”
The ghost mumbled in shock. The 79th floor had been around even when he traversed the labyrinth, and he couldn’t hide his surprise at the change.
To test his theory, Taesan took a step forward. The two monsters, who had been rubbing against him in submission, recoiled in fear and fled.
Next, Taesan moved to an area where a large group of beasts were locked in fierce combat.
These creatures weren’t weak; an average adventurer on the 79th floor would need all their strength to defeat even one of them.
With a soft tap, Taesan landed among them.
Immediately, all fighting stopped.
Howls erupted from every side. Some monsters fled, while others, seemingly resigned, approached him and began rubbing against him submissively.
By now, it was clear.
Taesan had ascended to the rank of an immortal.
And an immortal was a being of a higher dimension than mortals. Even if he attempted to hide his presence, any creature in his presence would instinctively recognize him as something beyond their level.
Thus, even the monsters of the 79th floor, who existed for battle, could not bring themselves to challenge him.
“So this is what Balbabamba meant.”
In hindsight, it was only natural. The concept of struggle only held meaning between beings of comparable stature. If the opposition was on a fundamentally different level, the struggle became pointless.
The beasts, driven by instinct, likely couldn’t even entertain the thought of attacking him.
Seeing this made Balbabamba’s concerns understandable. With the labyrinth’s purpose of struggle nullified, it was indeed a tricky situation for an administrator.
“A bit of a problem.”
Taesan stroked an eagle perched on his arm, its feathers twitching nervously under his touch.
The creatures here had abandoned the notion of fighting him, resorting instead to desperate pleas for mercy. Dealing with such passive beings wasn’t ideal.
“...Balbabamba did
say he’d grant the rewards if I went easy.”
It seemed Balbabamba had anticipated the monsters would refuse to fight, hence his suggestion to let things be.
With that in mind, Taesan saw no reason to take any further action.
He roamed the 79th floor. Every monster he encountered either fled or rubbed against him submissively, making actual combat impossible.
With nothing left to do, Taesan set about finding the secret room. Although the 79th floor was expansive, it posed no difficulty for him.
Upon reaching immortality, his perception of the world had changed. He could sense the location of the secret room instinctively, without needing any skills.
In no time, Taesan discovered the secret room.
---
**[Boots of the Fighter Who Lived for Struggle]**
**[Attack +600]**
**[Defense +300]**
**[Strength +300]**
**[Action Speed +19%]**
**[Movement Speed +18%]**
**[Boots worn by one who fought against the world from a young age, living solely for struggle. Though they never reached their ultimate goal, their feelings and regrets linger within the boots.]**
---
Although the defense was lower than his current boots, the increased attack power made them a worthwhile option.
With the secret room cleared, there was nothing left to do.
In the end, Taesan went to find the king of the 79th floor.
The king was a massive black bear, his body covered in scars, muscles tightly woven beneath his fur.
“You’re strong.”
He possessed power on par with the leaders of the Path of Sin.
Quietly observing Taesan, the bear slowly lowered itself.
It knelt, pressing its head to the ground, a posture of absolute submission.
Taesan gently stroked the bear’s head.
---
**[Cleared Floor 79.]**
**[Balbabamba’s power has activated. Forced clear initiated.]**
**[Your level has increased.]**
**[Your level has increased.]**
**[Obtained: Ring of the Victorious One.]**
**[Obtained: ???]**
**[You have pacified an entire floor without a single battle. You have obtained the passive skill [Absolute Authority].]**