A fist moved.

Slowly.

But assuredly.

[Your Death Line has been activated.]

The system window gave a warning alert. Even without it, it was impossible not to notice.

That fist held enough power to kill him.

His body reacted quicker than his mind. Taesan raised his shield. He crouched, bracing for impact.

Boom.

Shield and fist connected. Taesan was shocked by the power he felt from the other side.

‘This is.’

It was not just a simple matter of being strong. It was heavy. It felt as if a mountain itself was bearing down on him.

Taesan gritted his teeth. He flexed his muscles to their limit. He forcefully twisted the direction that the power moved.

Creak.

The shield moved with an ear-piercing noise. It skewed the point of the fist’s impact and diverted the direction of power.

[You have received the Power of the Mountain. Your strength permanently increases by 1.] [You have parried the Power of the Mountain. You have gained the special activation skill [Parry].]

“Hmm?”

Admiration was reflected on Ainzhar’s face.

“Then how about this?”

The fist went straight, crushing the direction of the shield that tried to deflect the power, and headed straight to Taesan.

Taesan quickly came to a decision.

He couldn’t block that. Skills or not, the difference in strength was too large.

Therefore, he wouldn’t block it.

He crouched. As Taesan’s posture lowered, the fist’s trajectory naturally headed downwards. The titled shield aligned with the fist.

Taesan let go of the shield and kicked the ground with all his might, launching himself backward.

Crash!

[You received 35,211 damage.] [Non-lethal attack activated. Damage is nullified.]

“Cough!”

His body collided with the shield against the wall. The solid dungeon stone wall crumbled, revealing what was beyond it.

Taesan chuckled wryly, confirming that fact through the sensation on his back.

‘Is such a thing even possible?’

Breaking a dungeon wall in one hit. It was unheard of and unseen. None of the players or monsters he had encountered could do it.

And this old man did it effortlessly.

On top of that, the damage.

Despite doing his best to dodge and reduce the damage, it was still thirty-thousand. This alone told him enough.

This old man was much stronger than Lee Taeyeon.

‘What the hell?’

Both the gatekeeper and this old man were pure monsters. He couldn’t confidently say he could win even if he had his previous level.

“Ho!”

But the old man was looking at Taesan with an admiring face.

“I thought it would be a hundred thousand, but it’s only thirty thousand! Amazing!”

“Well, I can’t just stand there and get hit.”

“That’s true.”

The old man laughed and asked Taesan.

“Who might you be?”

“Do I have any reason to tell you that?”

Taesan responded in a sharp tone. The old man chuckled.

“So, that’s why you didn’t use a lethal attack. I don’t plan to kill a stranger, either. Above all, even if I attacked sincerely, you had Endurance. I judged there would be no problem.”

“……Did you see that?”

“Uh-huh!”

The old man clenched his fist and nodded his head.

“The sight of raising one’s foot at death to survive! It was incredibly admirable! And you actually have outstanding skills! To parry my attack with such feeble stats!”

The old man spat out his words with boundless momentum. Taesan frowned as he listened to the old man’s words.

‘Does he know about the skill?’

Self-aware NPCs existed only in Solo Mode. But Lee Taeyeon had never mentioned that they knew about skills.

There were two answers. She didn’t tell him, or she didn’t know.

“I was honestly worried that you might be weak, but it was a meaningless worry! You more than passed!”

The old man’s face was infinitely satisfied as he looked at Taesan.

“Adventurer, what is your name?”

“My name is Kang Taesan.”

“Taesan! It’s a very honorable meeting!”

The old man, Ainzhar, laughed brightly.

“Bless this miracle! I am Ainzhar, the Seeker of God!”

Ainzhar didn’t seem to think about doing anything else to him now. Taesan took this chance to calm his body. There was no damage due to the non-lethal attack, but the numbing shock didn’t disappear.

While calming his body, he checked his skill.

[Special Activation Skill: Deflection] [Mana Consumption: 5] [Proficiency: 24%] [Deflect the center of the attack to reduce damage. It seems possible to deflect attacks from all weapons.]

Having confirmed his proficiency, Taesan let out a hollow laugh.

Proficiency was already at 24%. It meant that blocking that one strike was worth that much.

Moreover, his strength had increased by 1. It was extremely rare for stats to increase without fulfilling any other condition. That was the value behind Ainzhar’s single strike.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“If you have something you’re curious about, just ask anything! I’ll answer!”

The old man shouted cheerfully. Taesan, who was observing him, narrowed his eyebrows.

‘He is indeed different.’

Lee Taeyeon had also met Ainzhar at the Fountain of Life on the first floor. And she had said that she, too, had received the trial of a single strike like Taesan.

But she was unable to react at all.

She had just arrived at the safety zone and was relieved when suddenly an old man appeared and threw a punch. The attack had also been powerful enough to kill her. There was no way she, who was just starting to adapt, could react.

Ainzhar had clicked his tongue at Lee Taeyeon, who was just staring blankly at the punch.

[What a weak coward.]

With those words, Ainzhar left. He turned his back on the fountain, giving her a contemptuous look.

And Lee Taeyeon said she never saw Ainzhar again.

If her secret was true, the way he treated Lee Taeyeon and Taesan were very different. Ainzhar was looking at Taesan with a pleased expression.

“May I ask one thing?”

“Anything!”

“Why do you suddenly attack? Is it to torment the weak?”

It was only the first floor now. No one would be a match for someone like Ainzhar. He was a kind of bugged NPC, in a way.

“No, it’s not like that. I’m a knight of virtue. I would never oppress the weak!”

The Golden Knight spoke with a confident face.

“I am here to evaluate those who visit this place.”

“Evaluate?”

“Whether they are worthy of surviving here. Whether they have a value that I can acknowledge. There’s nothing more annoying than those who can’t understand themselves.”

Ainzhar chuckled.

“In that sense, you pass. You’re great!”

“Ah, thank you.”

Taesan answered hesitantly to Ainzhar, who was giving him a thumbs-up. He was a little bewildered because it was quite different from the image he had heard.

However, thanks to this, things were somewhat sorted out.

Recognition of worth.

That was Ainzhar’s evaluation criterion. Lee Taeyeon didn’t pass, and Taesan presumably did. The reason for the different attitudes was probably due to this.

In other words, there would be no reason to antagonize him. On the contrary, he would probably act with goodwill. Having confirmed this, Taesan asked.

“Did you say your name is Ainzhar?”

Lee Taeyeon couldn’t even speak to Ainzhar. Taesan didn’t know what kind of person Ainzhar was or what his objective was. He had to gather information directly.

“Yes! It’s the name given to me by my glorious father!”

“You said you are searching for a god.”

There were several gods in the labyrinth. But most players didn’t show any particular interest in them.

The reason was simple.

“Because they only existed in Solo Mode.”

Lee Taeyeon once told him that a variety of gods tested players and handed out rewards. She also often complained about how horribly disgusting they were.

As the main target of these gods was Taesan, he knew many of them.

He also knew information about them.

“May I ask which god it is?”

“By all means! The more people know our god, the better!”

Ainzhar spoke jovially.

“The god I serve is the beloved goddess. Her name is Levynenoff!”

Upon hearing the name, Taesan paused.

“Levynenoff. Is that correct?”

“Absolutely! There’s no way I could get her name wrong! All of us served Lady Levynenoff!”

Ainzhar, with a vacant look in his eyes, looked up at the sky.

“At the beginning and end of each day, we would shout her name. She was an absolutely captivating goddess who would form bonds with the ones she loved. In my world, no other goddess was as loved as she was.”

Ainzhar shrugged his shoulders.

“Sadly, as my world has perished, I am the only one left who remembers her.”

“…So, you entered this place to find her?”

“That’s exactly right. However, I haven’t even caught a hint of her yet…”

Ainzhar dropped his head. Seeing him look so downcast, Taesan pondered his options.

‘Levynenoff.’

Taesan knew her. Lee Taeyeon had told him about the goddess. He also knew which floor she was on.

But there was one problem.

‘Lee Taeyeon said that she was already dead.’

The beautiful goddess had been brutally torn apart. Lee Taeyeon had found the scene so repulsive that she had flooded the Community with posts about it. Taesan also remembered it as a result.

If Lee Taeyeon, who had overcome countless adversities, said it was disgusting, it must have indeed been a gruesome sight.

As Taesan was contemplating the truth, Ainzhar’s eyes lit up.

“Taesan, may I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

“Do you have any urgent need to rush down into the labyrinth?”

“No, I don’t.”

His goal wasn’t to clear the labyrinth, but to understand and strategize for it. He had no intention of leaving until he received all the rewards.

Ainzhar clapped his hands.

“That’s excellent. Taesan, would you consider learning Levynenoff’s technique from me?”

“Sure.”

Taesan answered immediately. His answer was so free of hesitation that Ainzhar was taken aback.

“No hesitation, huh. I thought you might be a bit conflicted.”

“I have no reason to refuse.”

Ainzhar was powerful. He was so strong that it was hard to understand why an NPC inside the labyrinth possessed such strength. If he had been someone from Earth, Taesan would have survived as well.

There was no reason to refuse such a person offering him a skill.

“What is the cost?”

“Of course, there isn’t one. This is an apology that I must rightfully make.”

“Apology?”

“For suddenly attacking you.”

Ainzhar shook his head with a look of shame.

“Even if the purpose was a test, it was wrong to resort to violence against you, a stranger. As a Paladin, I deeply regret it.”

Seeing the sincerely apologetic look on his face, Taesan let out a hollow laugh.

“Then you shouldn’t have attacked in the first place.”

“That’s a different story.”

Ainzhar replied brazenly.

“I apologize to you because you’re someone worth doing that for. If you weren’t, I would have simply spat at you and left.”

Ainzhar had actually done that to Lee Taeyeon. He left her only with a look of contempt.

‘He’s really crazy.’

But for him, it was a sign of insanity in a good direction.

“A mere verbal apology is worthless. Thinking that you, too, as an adventurer, would want a valuable skill, I decided this, is it acceptable?”

“Of course it is.”

A non-lethal attack in exchange for a skill. This was extremely easy compared to risking one’s life to gain a skill. Taesan was more than willing to do it hundreds of times. Ainzhar seemed relieved and brushed his chest.

“I’m very relieved. I was about to do something that might be a burden to the goddess.”

He had a genuinely relieved expression. Judging by his actions, Taesan could have complained and squeezed out more, but he was satisfied with this.

Unlike Lee Taeyeon, he had a high likelihood of continuing to encounter Ainzhar. It was his judgment that maintaining a reasonable line was more beneficial than ruining the relationship by getting greedy.