The Taoist’s Grand Performance
"Surprised? It’s me. A character who is a tragedy when viewed up close, and a comedy when viewed from afar."
That was when I remembered. I recalled that there was indeed such a character.
"Is the acting over?"
At my words, the dolls whipped their heads around to stare at me, and the female soldier whose wrist I was holding looked at me with startled eyes.
"You're quick on the uptake."
With that, there was a *pop!* sound. All the dolls transformed into paper talismans, and the woman in the military uniform changed her appearance as well.
She was now a woman wearing a flowing dopo robe and a gat hat on her head.
"Taoists are quite adept at mischief."
Transcendent: 'Taoist of Ten Thousand Transformations' appears.
She tilted her gat slightly and looked at me with a playful expression.
The Taoist of Ten Thousand Transformations. She was a Taoist familiar even to the general public, and there was only one person who came to mind, wasn't there?
That’s right. She was *that* Taoist jerk.
...Should I call her a "bitch" in this context?
"Stepping on earthly soil after such a long time—I can't believe how much fun this is!"
She snapped her fingers, and a lively, rhythmic song began to blare out.
Boom-chak, boom-chak, boom-chak, boom-chak...
"Alright, what is the business for which you summoned this body?"
"......"
"Ho-ho... what could a groom who walks around with three Transcendents possibly need my help for! Speak quickly!"
"Could you help me clear the 33rd floor?"
"The 33rd floor... that's a simple yet disappointing request! Very well, let's do this!"
She snapped her fingers again, and a message appeared.
The Taoist of Ten Thousand Transformations proposes a 'Scenario Integration' from the 33rd to the 35th floor.
■■ ■■■■ ■■■ accepts the proposal.
The Administrator has approved.
Scenarios from the 33rd to the 35th floor are integrated.
Scenario quests from the 31st to the 40th floor are now in progress.
Please be careful, as the monsters appearing on each floor differ.
[33rd ~ 35th Floor Mission: Protect the Pyramid!]
⏳ Time Limit: 1 hour.
⚔ Success Condition: Protect the pyramid and defeat the monsters.
💀 Failure Condition: Failure to eliminate or death.
🚫 Restricted Equipment: None.
📜 Restricted Protocols: None.
As the quest changed, the size of the pyramid began to grow larger and larger.
I couldn't help but gape at the sight.
No, why are you raising the difficulty when it was perfectly fine as it was!?
I grabbed the back of my neck, feeling a headache coming on, and glared at her, but she just smiled bashfully.
...I can't even curse at a smiling face. This is driving me crazy.
I sighed and stared at the expanding pyramid, and my gamer's intuition told me something.
There was something inside that pyramid.
It would probably keep growing until the 39th floor, and then a boss monster would revive on the 40th, right?
"This is the level of excitement I need to feel like I've truly descended to the surface!"
Seeing her shoulders bouncing to the lively music, I already felt a headache forming.
...I wish someone would give me some painkillers.
At that moment, a message appeared.
Transcendent: 'Undertaker of the Desert' appears.
A being revealed itself amidst a sandstorm. A figure wearing a black robe and a plague mask appeared, pointing at us with a staff.
As he waved his staff in the air, bandages rose from all directions and merged in the void.
A new entity emerged from where the bandages had combined.
Transcendent: 'Queen of the Sandstorm' appears.
Golden sand surged from the ground to the sky, forming a shape, and revealed itself as a woman in golden armor.
Her skin was made of golden sand, and her hair consisted of sand particles constantly scattering in the wind.
At her gesture, the sand rose like a giant wave and surged toward the pyramid.
Transcendent: 'Collector of Time' appears.
Clock gears floated within the sand wave, then gathered in one place to form the shape of an old man.
Blue light flowed from his eyes, his entire body was composed of translucent clock parts, and various sizes and shapes of hourglasses hung from his waist.
Three Transcendents had appeared simultaneously.
...I didn't even have the energy to call the Administrator anymore.
Oh, my life.
"What are you going to do now?"
I looked at her, the culprit and mastermind behind this incident, and she looked back at me with a sheepish smile.
"As great a Taoist as I may be, it's impossible for me to face three Transcendents all by myself."
"......"
Is that really something to say right now?
No, if you started this mess, you should take responsibility!
As I stared at her intently, she seemed to feel a prick of conscience and avoided my gaze.
"Ahem, I'm joking. A true Taoist should be able to handle three Transcendents with ease."
She pulled several paper talismans from her robes and threw them in all directions.
"A Taoist, you see..."
The talismans scattered everywhere, and with a *pop!* sound, dozens of women who looked exactly like her appeared.
"One is a thousand, and a thousand is one."
Dozens of her pulled more talismans from their robes and threw them, and this time, hundreds of her appeared, all taking the same stance.
"Taoist Technique, Chapter 64: Mount Penglai Immortal Art!"
With the sound of rustling robes, the air around us vibrated, and a turquoise energy rose from the bodies of her clones.
That energy writhed as if it were a dragon and soared into the air, followed by a golden message floating in the sky.
Taoist techniques are a realm that only a Taoist can wield.
The light, twinkling like stars in the night sky, dyed the desert gold, and the eyes of all the clones began to glow with a golden light simultaneously.
"If one is a Taoist, one has stepped into the realm of the immortals, so their existence is like the heavens."
At her words, the clones spread out in all directions at once.
"Taoist Technique Deployment."
Heaven and Earth Transformation Taoist Method.
"The heavens and earth are my canvas, and time is my brush!"
The moment her voice echoed, the landscape of the desert began to transform like a scene from a traditional ink wash painting.
The blue sky turned black as if ink had spilled, and the desert sand flowed down like golden ink.
It was a sight where everything around us seemed to be performing a living ink painting.
"Taoist Painting of the Heavens, Ten Thousand Things Transform!"
As she drew characters in the air with her fingers, golden Hanja characters, as if drawn by a brush, were etched into the void.
Heaven ().
Earth ().
Human ().
Transformation ().
The four characters surrounded us, emitting light.
"Since I am the master of the world within the painting."
The four Hanja characters began to rotate, spinning faster and faster, and colorful patterns began to be drawn inside them.
Mountain ranges, rivers, clouds, and trees, as if they had popped out of a landscape painting, took on a realistic form.
"All laws shall follow my will!"
The ink painting and the landscape painting merged, and something new appeared. I couldn't take my eyes off that something.
A woman with snow-white silver hair and blue eyes.
Han Yerin visited Kim Haneul's house again today.
Kim Haneul looked at Han Yerin with a displeased expression. Without any reaction, she picked up the tea placed in front of her, took a sip, and frowned.
"It's salty..."
"Then make it yourself."
"......"
At those words, she quietly set down the teacup.
"So, why did you come again today?"
"Persuasion."
"Ugh."
She had been visiting every single day for over a month, repeating the same thing; anyone watching would think she was a robot.
"Oh, right. Do you know who moved into the house next door??"
"No."
Watching her shake her head, Kim Haneul's lips curled upward.
"Don't be surprised when you hear it. Lee Suhyun, the Awakened who is the talk of the town these days, moved in."
At those words, she raised her head and stared intently at her.
"Warning."
"Huh? What warning?"
"50th floor."
At that moment, Kim Haneul's complexion soured.
"You want me to crush a budding sprout...?"
"It's better to prepare in advance."
"Since a 'Transcendent' appears as a boss monster on the 50th floor... should I tell him to give up now?"
"......"
The reason Hunter Kim Haneul couldn't clear the 50th floor and gave up.
On the 50th floor, a being that had never been heard of before, a being that transcended humanity, appeared.
A 'Transcendent' appears.
"That is not a monster a human can face. ...Well, there are exceptions."
The 50th floor... well, it wasn't something to say to Han Yerin, who had cleared up to the 51st floor, but still.
"Still, give him a warning at least."
"...Alright. More importantly, when are you going back?"
"After I finish this."
She said that, but she hadn't even brought her hand to the teacup.