Chapter 406: Side Story - 58th Floor, Lee Taeyeon |
[58th Floor Quest Start.]
[Defeat the boss of the 58th floor and pass through.]
[Reward: The Sword that Guards the Dead Line.]
[Secret Reward: ???]
“58th floor… What was this place again?”
Lee Taeyeon tilted her head.
She had regained her past life’s memories with Maria’s help.
However, since some memories conflicted with each other, most of the things she hadn’t considered important in her past life faded away.
The 58th floor was the same.
“Well, I’ll find out once I go in.”
She descended the stairs.
There, the shopkeeper was waiting for her.
“You’ve arrived.”
“Hello?”
Lee Taeyeon smiled and waved.
The shopkeeper gave her a dubious look.
“You’re already on the 58th floor.”
“Yes. Fast, right?”
“Yeah. Fast. Too fast.”
The shopkeeper eyed her with suspicion.
“What exactly did you do outside before coming back?”
“Well, things happened.”
Lee Taeyeon deflected the question casually.
Due to Maria’s restrictions, she couldn’t talk about her memories, and the shopkeeper wasn’t someone she needed to explain things to.
After observing her for a moment, the shopkeeper averted his gaze.
“You… might actually be capable of this.”
The shopkeeper murmured as if contemplating something before changing his expression.
“So, are you going to buy anything?”
“No, I don’t have enough gold right now.”
She shook her head. The shopkeeper started organizing his wares.
“If you find anything interesting, come back. I’ll show you something useful.”
“Ah, okay.”
Lee Taeyeon replied halfheartedly and passed by the shopkeeper.
This behavior from the shopkeeper felt incredibly odd.
In both her past and present lives, he had always despised her.
He mocked her, sneered at her struggles, and belittled her efforts.
Even when she reached the 100th floor, it was no different.
He called her a rat, saying she was nothing but a parasite who got lucky and leeched off the system to get there. He never paid her any real attention.
But now, things were different.
Ever since she regained her past memories and started descending the labyrinth at a rapid pace, his attitude had slowly started to soften.
This was the first time she had seen the shopkeeper act this way.
“How strange.”
She muttered as she took another step forward.
A sense of tension and unease slowly clung to her.
The first step onto a new floor was always the most nerve-wracking.
Creeeak.
She pushed open the door, and the monster of the 58th floor responded.
[A Golden Deer has appeared.]
A deer with golden antlers.
The moment she saw the monster, her memory returned.
“Ah, so this was that place.”
The deer roared and charged at her.
Lee Taeyeon took a small breath and drew her sword.
Claaang!
Her sword clashed against the golden antlers.
Lee Taeyeon didn’t retreat.
She twisted her blade’s trajectory and slashed the deer’s side.
As the deer howled in pain, Lee Taeyeon swung her hand.
A mid-level spirit, contracted with her, attacked the deer in response to her will.
[You have activated Flow.]
Kagagak!
The deer pushed through the spirit’s attack and lunged.
Lee Taeyeon smoothly redirected its momentum.
She swiftly lowered her stance and launched herself forward.
[You have activated Stealth.]
[You have activated Shadow of the Earth.]
Her body was instantly cloaked in shadows.
As the deer panicked, unable to locate her, Lee Taeyeon effortlessly pierced its throat.
The deer trembled in pain.
It violently shook its head and forced Lee Taeyeon away before charging at her again.
After a few minutes of battle, the deer collapsed.
“Phew.”
Lee Taeyeon caught her breath.
There wasn’t a single scratch on her body.
She tidied her disheveled hair and continued clearing the labyrinth.
Her steps were unwavering.
More deer appeared, but she effortlessly cut them down without taking any damage.
After slaying 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 not through direct confrontations but by exploiting loopholes.
The 58th floor had been no different.
Though she couldn’t recall everything clearly, she was certain she had barely managed to hunt one or two deer.
For the rest, she had likely devised a method to avoid them entirely. And she had succeeded.
She had believed that was all she was capable of.
That only someone like Taesan could descend the labyrinth through pure combat.
But now that time had reversed, so many things had changed.
She moved on to the next room.
By the time she had slain seven deer, she had already adapted to their attack patterns.
She had enough composure to think of other matters mid-battle.
‘Taesan must have passed the 80th floor by now, right?’
The deeper floors Taesan was reaching would be vastly different from the ones she remembered.
He had already surpassed mortality.
There was a high chance that the labyrinth’s creator had intervened in some way.
“The deeper floors…”
That hellish place.
Just thinking about it made her shudder.
Her body instinctively rejected the idea of going there.
But she suppressed her instincts with sheer willpower.
Clang!
She parried the deer’s antlers and drove her sword deep into its chest.
The deer trembled violently before collapsing.
She composed her thoughts.
The deeper floors were extremely difficult and treacherous.
She had to prepare thoroughly in advance.
She was undeniably stronger than in her past life.
But precisely because of that, there were some skills she had missed out on acquiring.
“If I keep improving the proficiency of Invisible Shadow, I’ll get it eventually… And The Hidden Story No One Knows can be obtained around the mid-70s… But The Breath of the Hidden Rat might be difficult to acquire.”
The Breath of the Hidden Rat was a skill that required meticulous development from the very entrance of the labyrinth.
Now that she was treading a completely different path from her past life, the chances of obtaining it were slim.
It had been one of her most efficient skills.
Losing the opportunity to acquire it was undoubtedly a significant loss.
But she remained unfazed.
The Breath of the Hidden Rat was certainly an excellent skill, but it was also one that had exposed her past weaknesses.
Now, she was much stronger.
There was no reason to regret it.
She had already gained skills that could more than compensate for what she had lost.
Having cleared the floors quickly, she arrived at the boss of the 58th floor.
It was a deer, larger in size, with even more radiant golden antlers.
As the deer lunged at her with its antlers, Lee Taeyeon swung her sword.
[You have activated Strong Blow.]
Clang!
Strong Blow—originally, it was a skill that disappeared after a single strike.
But now, with the Ability Sword in her possession, she could activate it continuously as long as she timed it right.
Using her Ability Sword, black magic, and the power of her spirit, she relentlessly pressured the boss.
After dozens of minutes of battle, she had taken a fair amount of damage, but in the end, the boss collapsed.
[58th floor cleared.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You have reached your optimal state.]
“Whew.”
Lee Taeyeon let out a sigh of relief and sank to the ground.
After calculating the time, she smiled.
She had cleared the 58th floor in less than a day.
She had undoubtedly grown stronger.
“What was on the 59th floor again…”
As she organized her thoughts and took a brief rest, someone ascended from the floor below.
Lee Taeyeon, unshaken, turned to check the staircase.
The one climbing up was a Guide of Sin, a fifth-rank adventurer.
She waved.
“Hey.”
The guide clicked his tongue.
“…A lowly coward.”
The look in his eyes as he gazed at her was filled with contempt.
“I don’t know how a woman like you got approval from the higher-ups, but don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re nothing but a worm.”
What she saw in his eyes was jealousy and disdain.
It was nothing new.
Even in her past life, the guides had looked at her no differently.
The higher-ups had recognized her talent and allowed her to enter the deep floors, but the other ranked guides couldn’t accept it.
To them, Lee Taeyeon was nothing more than a coward.
Someone who cleared the labyrinth through loopholes instead of direct confrontation, someone who failed to obtain what an adventurer rightfully should, a mere parasite.
That was why they scorned and envied her.
And in this life, things weren’t much different.
Even though she had been descending the labyrinth in a more conventional manner,
she still couldn’t completely hide her fear.
Lee Taeyeon leaned casually against the wall, giving no real response.
Seeing her indifferent attitude, the guide’s face twisted in irritation.
“…Seems like I need to teach you some manners.”
The guide pulled out an axe.
He pointed it at her and spoke sharply.
“Bow your head.”
Lee Taeyeon silently stared at him.
The guide continued with confidence.
“I am an adventurer of a higher rank than you. I have already reached the 60th floor. Guides must absolutely obey those of a higher rank. Even if you’ve been given permission to enter the deep floors, for now, I stand above you.”
It was practically an order, bordering on verbal abuse.
From his gaze, she could feel his superiority.
‘Ah…’
A memory surfaced in her mind.
This guide had tormented and mocked her in her past life as well.
If it had been the past version of herself, what would she have done?
There was no need to think.
She would have bowed her head immediately.
Pride was useless.
Survival was the only thing that mattered.
For the sake of that, she had been willing to abandon her dignity as many times as necessary.
But—
She stood up with a soft smile.
“No.”
“…What?”
The guide’s eyebrows twitched as if he hadn’t expected her refusal.
Lee Taeyeon spoke lazily.
“Why should I bow to you? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I am an adventurer recognized by the higher-ups. You and I were born on completely different levels.”
“You…!”
The guide raised his axe with fury.
At that moment, Lee Taeyeon moved.
Gripping her sword, she dashed forward at high speed.
“Ugh!”
The guide hastily swung his axe down.
But Lee Taeyeon moved leisurely, her sword gliding through the air like silk.
With a soft yet precise motion, she sent the axe flying far away.
“…Ah.”
Her sword lunged toward the guide’s head.
At that moment, he felt an overwhelming sense of death.
Swish!
The sword grazed past his cheek.
Lee Taeyeon lightly tapped the frozen guide’s shoulder.
“There was a bug flying around your head just now. I can’t stand bugs. Sorry about that.”
“You… You—!”
The guide took a step back.
Blood trickled down his cheek where the sword had passed.
He had reached the 60th floor.
He had gone deeper than Lee Taeyeon.
And yet, he had been utterly unable to react to her movements.
“…Get lost.”
In the end, the guide swallowed his pride.
There were no bugs in the labyrinth.
But he couldn’t say anything.
Grimly, he turned and descended the labyrinth once more.
Lee Taeyeon watched his retreating figure for a moment.
Once his presence completely disappeared, she slumped to the ground.
“Phew!”
She let out a deep breath.
The composure she had maintained earlier was now completely gone.
“That was terrifying. I really don’t want to fight unnecessary battles.”
But she didn’t want to back down either.
So, just like she had done back on Earth, she had put on an act.
And it had worked surprisingly well.
She grinned.
“Maybe I should have gone into acting? If the world ever returns to normal, I might seriously consider it.”
She chuckled to herself, but then her expression darkened.
She had been ready to fight the guide who had insulted her.
In her past life, where she valued nothing but survival, she would never have done such a thing.
She had changed.
And she liked this new version of herself.
“Well then… Let’s keep going.”
After taking a brief rest, she gripped her sword once more and resumed her descent.
Determination filled her eyes.
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