The advantage Taesan held against the Immortal was that it lacked a will of its own.

Commands, when applied to beings without will, exhibited almost absolute power.

Click!

As expected, when Taesan’s command was activated, the Immortal's movements ceased. The frantically turning machinery came to an abrupt stop.

It was just as Taesan was about to launch forward.

Whirrrr!

A tremendous power surged from the Immortal.

The command Taesan had used was forcibly dispelled, unleashing dozens of beams in his direction.

Boom!

Taesan barely dodged the attack, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"No matter how mindless it is, an Immortal is still an Immortal," he thought.

To think it could break free from his command through sheer power.

Taesan activated the Declaration of Halt once again. The Immortal broke free of the command, even faster this time.

It seemed that a restriction powerful enough to halt its movements entirely could be overcome with brute force.

In that case...

"Slow down."

[You have activated the Declaration of Slowness.]

The command enveloped the Immortal. The machinery that had been spinning at high speed began to move at a visibly slower pace.

Whirrrr!

Once again, beams rained down, but this time Taesan easily dodged them.

Unlike the Declaration of Halt, the Immortal couldn’t dispel the effect of Slowness.

"As expected."

A command strong enough to halt all of its actions could be broken. But a partial restriction that only affected its speed was something it couldn’t counter.

Whirrrr!

Beams streaked toward him. Missiles filled the sky, homing in on Taesan’s position.

Taesan clenched his fist.

[You have activated Spell Stacking.]

He stacked three Starlight Arrows, then unleashed them.

[You have activated Spell Explosion.]

The Starlight Arrows detonated near the incoming missiles, filling the sky with white light.

A red dot appeared on Taesan’s chest.

Immediately, something locked onto the red dot and shot toward him at a speed too fast for him to track. This power had been unnoticeable before he activated the Declaration of Slowness.

Taesan quickly spread his wings. The spot marked by the red dot exploded, and the blast reached him, even with his movement.

But Taesan had anticipated the blast radius from previous encounters and had gathered his dark energy in preparation.

[You have activated Marbas's Dark Wave.]

A wave of darkness engulfed the explosion.

The Immortal swung its arm. The machinery making up its arm extended, releasing a barrage of tiny particles.

With focused vision, Taesan realized what the particles were.

Whirrrr!

The particles moved independently, swarming toward him like drones. There were thousands of them.

Taesan quickly drew arrows. With his will embedded in them, the arrows collided with the oncoming particles.

Boom!

The Immortal’s chest opened, releasing a massive metallic wave.

Taesan used Limited Blink to evade the all-encompassing attack.

But just as he dodged, another red dot appeared on his chest.

There wasn’t enough time to avoid it. He tried to block it, but it was futile.

Boom!

[Your second Attack Immunity has been triggered.]

Taesan was fighting back fiercely.

With the Declaration of Slowness activated, he was using every means at his disposal to fend off the Immortal’s attacks.

But that was all.

There was still an insurmountable difference in power between them.

And the Immortal’s power showed no signs of depletion.

Beams that scorched the heavens bore down on Taesan, intent on annihilation.

Under the relentless assault, Taesan took another hit.

[Your third Attack Immunity has been triggered.]

[Mmm...]

The specter groaned. Taesan’s Attack Immunities were exhausted. His mana and dark energy were depleting rapidly.

In contrast, the Immortal's strength still seemed endless, and Taesan hadn’t even managed to approach it.

The situation was undeniably dire.

Yet Taesan’s expression remained calm.

"I’ve more or less figured it out."

The Immortal had no will of its own. It was merely a puppet of a dark god, moving according to its pre-programmed responses.

This meant its attack patterns were not unlike those of Malakos on the 73rd floor.

Which meant he could analyze those patterns, and he had done just that.

Now he just needed to land a decisive strike.

Taesan slipped a pre-prepared item into his wristguard.

[You have activated Partial World Transformation.]

A certain area around him transformed into Taesan’s domain. As beams of light rained down, Taesan focused his power.

[You have activated Naberius's Golden Sword.]

Clang!

The golden sword clashed with the beams.

Until now, he’d only been able to evade the beams, but now he stood his ground. He tightened his grip on the sword and stepped forward.

Clang!

The beams split into dozens of rays. Taesan pushed forward.

Whirrrr!

The Immortal retaliated. An unimaginable force surged forth.

Partial World Transformation collided with the Immortal’s power, causing Taesan’s domain to warp.

It wouldn’t hold for long. The overwhelming power was pushing his mind to its limit.

He had to end this now.

[You have activated Greed of Ruin.]

[You have activated Summons of Ruin.]

The forces of ruin clashed with the beams, creating an opening for Taesan to charge forward.

The Immortal didn’t stand idle. It poured all its strength into crushing him.

Taesan dodged and blocked the attacks.

The closer he got, the stronger and faster the Immortal’s attacks became, but he had memorized its patterns by now.

And so, Taesan managed to reach the Immortal’s proximity without taking damage.

Whirrrrrr!

As he reached a certain distance, the Immortal’s machinery accelerated wildly, overheating and emitting smoke.

The power distorting space focused within the Immortal’s chest.

Instinctively, Taesan knew — this was his chance.

Taesan lunged forward, abandoning all defense as he aimed straight for the Immortal.

A beam of light shot forth.

It was a light that could cleave the heavens, reach the cosmos, and encapsulate overwhelming power.

It was an inescapable, unblockable, unavoidable beam of death that engulfed Taesan.

[You received 1,323,241 damage.]

[Your Endurance triggered, nullifying the death-dealing blow. All damage is reduced to zero for 1 second.]

In the instant the light struck Taesan, it vanished.

Sizzle!

The Immortal’s overheated form began to cool, and in that fleeting moment, Taesan closed the gap.

When the effect of Endurance ended, he was within a single step of the Immortal.

The energy radiating from the Immortal felt like a suffocating weight, pressing down so hard that the very space around them began to dissolve.

[You have activated Adventurer's Will.]

Harnessing the Adventurer's Will, Taesan resisted the mental onslaught and unleashed his power against the oncoming beams.

[You have activated Spell Stacking.]

He layered three Guardian Shields in rapid succession to protect himself. The shields clashed with the beams.

Crack!

One by one, the shields shattered.

The Immortal’s power came dangerously close to striking Taesan.

[You have activated Distortion.]

He slightly altered the trajectory of the beams.

Taesan raised his sword.

[You have activated Naberius’s Golden Sword.]

[You have activated Blade of Spirit.]

[You have activated Duplication.]

Channeling all his power and skill into the sword, he brought it down in a decisive strike.

The sword collided with the light, screaming as its blade cracked.

But it held.

With every skill Taesan possessed, the Immortal’s beams weakened visibly. Channeling all his strength into a single blow, he doubled its force with Duplication.

He took a powerful step forward.

Boom!

The beams shattered, scattering into countless fragments.

The Immortal concentrated its power. A wave without damage.

[You have activated Boundary Reversal.]

As the wave met the dark boundary, it vanished.

Then Taesan disrupted the balance of Boundary Reversal. The merging forces turned gray, embedding into his sword.

Crunch.

The boundary pierced the Immortal’s remains.

At the same time, the dark god’s power that had resided within the Immortal surged toward Taesan.

"You are mine."

The power held a possessive intent.

"Get lost."

Taesan forcibly detonated the boundary, erasing the dark god’s invading power and turning the world to ash.

* * *

Taesan discarded his sword.

The weapon, having absorbed the boundary’s full force, was shattered.

"I need a new sword."

Clicking his tongue, Taesan stowed the broken weapon. He steadied himself, forcing his mind to clear.

With shaky hands, he pulled out a potion and drank it.

Finally, he began to feel a bit more stable. Regaining his breath, Taesan opened his system window.

[Your proficiency in Twisted Spirit Resonance has increased by 5%.]

[Your proficiency in Command has increased by 4%.]

[Your proficiency in ??? has increased by 3%.]

[Your proficiency in Blackness has increased by @##!%.]

[Your proficiency in Boundary Reversal has increased by !@#@!%.]

[Your proficiency in Boundary has increased by !@@%.]

Half of the system messages were unreadable. Taesan chuckled as he read through them.

[You have achieved the impossible feat of defeating an Immortal without will as a mortal. You have unlocked the special skill, Immortal’s Opponent.]

[You have earned the title, "One Who Achieved the Impossible."]

[Your Soul Enhancement has activated. You have obtained the Soul Skill: King of Machinery.]

[Your state now straddles the Boundary. It is up to you whether to cross it. You have unlocked the special skill, Beyond the Boundary.]

[You’ve truly done it. Against an Immortal...]

The specter groaned in awe. His voice was filled with disbelief.

The Immortal had already died, controlled by the dark god who used it as a puppet.

And Taesan had the trump card of Boundary.

But the Immortal was still an Immortal, and Taesan was still a mortal.

Even the Transcendents would find it hard to believe what Taesan had accomplished.

Taesan felt various gazes beyond the heavens.

In those gazes were astonishment and curiosity, mixed with countless other emotions.

[The gods beyond the dungeon are watching you with interest.]

"Let’s go back."

Taesan waved his hand, teleporting his body back to the dungeon.

"Goodbye."

[You...]

Balbabamba began to speak quietly.

But then fell silent, gazing at Taesan with a look filled with complex emotions.

[I thought you would retreat back to the dungeon.]

Balbabamba had expected that Taesan would put enough distance between himself and the broken Immortal and then summon him to return to the dungeon.

But Taesan had defeated the Immortal.

[Unbelievable.]

In the end, those were the only words Balbabamba could utter.

[Even though you teeter on the edge of the Boundary, it’s remarkable.]

After finally composing himself, Balbabamba spoke.

[Astonishing… but it’s the duty of a mage to handle such feats. As the dungeon’s administrator, I will fulfill my role.]

All quests were completed.

Taesan had perfectly cleared the 74th floor. The rewards for the 74th-floor quests were not predetermined; they could change based on Taesan’s achievements.

And he had perfectly completed the quest.

Now, it was time for him to receive a reward worthy of his accomplishment.