Chapter 183: The Corrupted Administrator (1)

The crimson flames slowly died down, distorting the view.

The floor that should not exist, that ruined the abyss, crumbled and vanished.

whoosh

The gap in existence closed.

Lee Seo-jun’s body, formed from consciousness, was slowly pulled back into reality.

“BOOM!”

A violent shock as flesh and soul locked together.

Pain flooded in as if his lungs were burning, but he grit his teeth.

The memories and sensations from his consciousness state—that desperate battle—remained vivid.

“Hah… hah…”

When he opened his eyes, gasping for breath, the training ground of the Association headquarters spread before him.

Deep inside the special isolation ward.

Kim Si-won and Kim Cha-un were still there.

‘…I’m back.’

Kim Si-won spoke quietly.

In his eyes, along with a glimmer of relief, a faint tremor lingered.

A perilous journey where the odds of not returning alive were far higher.

Yet Lee Seo-jun had returned.

“Hyung-nim…”

Lee Seo-jun immediately looked at Leon.

His heart was still stopped.

But now, the fourth fragment of Cain’s Immortal Set was clutched in his hand.

The Immortal Flame flickered faintly above Leon’s heart.

“…Half now.”

Kim Si-won muttered.

They had secured four of the eight fragments of Cain’s Immortal Set.

Having gathered half meant that the power of immortality was already partially realizable.

“If we collect them all… we can definitely save him.”

Lee Seo-jun’s voice was firm.

A result that transcended death, transcended the abyss, even transcended himself.

That certainty was in his eyes.

“Yeah.”

After a long silence, Kim Si-won nodded.

It was a heavy decision for him too.

There was something more important than saving Leon.

‘A power beyond the Tower’s order.’

Cain’s Immortal Set went beyond simply resurrecting an individual’s life.

It was the legacy of the first rebel—one that defied the Tower itself.

The ultimate power to deny the Tower’s framework and defy fate.

“We don’t have much time.”

Kim Si-won said quietly.

“From the moment that bastard held the Seal of Corruption and warped the floors, the Tower is no longer safe.”

Nepas.

That name once again weighed heavily on the air.

Beyond destruction, he was corrupting floors with the Seal of Corruption, expanding his domain.

Already, many floors beyond the 63rd were being distorted.

Those places were no longer the Tower—merely extensions of the abyss.

And the feared situation began to manifest.

[The 63rd Floor Successor’s Temple has begun transformation.]

[Seal of Corruption influence detected.]

[Tower structural stability decreased from 73% to 42%.]

[Warning: If complete corruption occurs, control will be lost.]

System messages reported the urgent situation.

Kim Si-won’s face hardened.

“…The bastard moved again.”

Lee Seo-jun’s eyes sharpened.

Everyone knew.

Not only the 63rd Floor, but the conquest of the destroyed floors also had to continue.

Thus, Kim Si-won had to conquer the 63rd Floor, and Lee Seo-jun had to conquer the destroyed floors, stopping Nepas’s schemes while gathering Cain’s Immortal Set.

—

The dark red darkness slowly lifted, and the view opened.

Lee Seo-jun’s feet touched the shattered ground.

The Destroyed 2nd Floor—Realm of Remnants.

The world was a ruin.

Shattered earth, torn sky, floating ash-gray fragments.

A place where everything spoke of death and despair.

Yet it was strange.

“…There’s nothing.”

Lee Seo-jun’s pupils narrowed.

He gripped the Soul Sword and slowly surveyed the surroundings.

But the expected pressure, the presence of enemies—nothing.

Only broken debris and drifting dust.

[Searching for remnants…]

[No threats detected.]

[Destroyed floor conquest complete.]

It ended too easily.

“That can’t be…”

The destroyed floor he entered in his consciousness state.

Even if it was a space where existence itself had collapsed,

there should have been a desperate ordeal like on the 1st Floor.

But there was nothing.

*BOOM!

In an instant, Lee Seo-jun’s view twisted again.

He consecutively broke through the destroyed 3rd, 4th, and 5th Floors.

[Destroyed 3rd Floor conquest complete.]

[Destroyed 4th Floor conquest complete.]

[Destroyed 5th Floor conquest complete.]

It was the same.

Only ruins remained, and all traces had already been cleared.

A perfect void, with not even a hint of remnant energy.

“Could it be…”

At that moment.

Lee Seo-jun’s Soul Sword vibrated faintly.

Along with the vibration, a fragment of red flame flickered in his vision.

It was a clue.

A hint pointing to where the energy of destruction had flowed.

The trajectory of that flame led to

the 63rd Floor—

the very floor Nepas was currently trying to corrupt using the Seal of Corruption.

And in the next moment.

[The energy of the destroyed floors is converging on the 63rd Floor.]

[Expected increase in Tower structural distortion.]

[Warning: If the 63rd Floor is completely corrupted, all remnants of the destroyed floors will merge.]

[Tower structural stability decreased from 42% to 1%.]

[Imminent complete corruption. Control lost. Control lost!]

“…!”

The meaning was clear.

The vanished traces of remnants were no coincidence.

Nepas had already gathered the energy of the destroyed floors onto the 63rd Floor.

Once all that energy converged, the 63rd Floor would transcend simple corruption, transforming into a complete base of the abyss.

And if that place became the center of destruction,

the remaining fragments of Cain’s Immortal Set—the last hope to save Leon—would inevitably vanish entirely.

But he did not waver.

The one heading to the 63rd Floor

was none other than his master, Kim Si-won.

*crack!

With a splitting sound, space twisted.

The 63rd Floor, which should have taken the form of a magnificent temple.

But now, this place was no longer the Successor’s Temple.

A sky soaked in blood.

A melting earth.

A space of aberrations where unknown monsters’ screams and twisted structures mixed.

The order created by the Tower’s system had already vanished.

This place was thoroughly… Nepas’s abyss.

‘The Seal of Corruption is complete.’

The air surrounding me was heavy, exuding a pressure that made even breathing difficult.

This wasn’t simple pressure.

It was the result of the floor’s will being reversed—denying existence itself.

I looked around.

The identity of that will was the Tower.

The Tower had begun to recognize me… as an enemy.

The original rules set by the Tower.

Conquerors receive the Tower’s approval and conquer floors.

But this floor had broken those rules.

Now, this place was no longer the Tower—it had fallen into part of the abyss.

Thud, thud, thud!

In time with his footsteps on the ground,

black tentacles and a grotesque army of abominations surged toward him, their numbers uncountable.

Beings beyond human common sense.

Monsters crawling from outside the Tower, from the abyss.

Therefore.

shing

He drew his sword.

*whoosh!

The Immortal Flame bloomed from the tip of the blade.

Cain’s Immortal Set.

The result of four fragments merging into his body.

It was more than simple armor or weapons—it was a symbol of undying that held power opposing the Tower’s order.

“I know you don’t want to admit it.”

“That one who broke the Tower’s framework is cutting you down in the Tower’s abyss.”

*slash!

With one step, dozens of abominations were cut down.

My sword slash tore space, denied order, and swept away the abyss’s fragments in an instant.

But it wasn’t over.

This entire place was corrupted.

The entire 63rd Floor was a single monster.

“But something like this can’t stop me.”

I already understood.

Nepas’s goal wasn’t simply to corrupt this floor.

It was an attempt to use this place as a base of the abyss to erode even the Tower’s source.

And more importantly.

‘All the energy of the destroyed floors has converged here.’

That meant the clue to save Leon—

the remaining pieces of Cain’s Immortal Set—were also somewhere on this floor.

The burden Seo-jun had to carry had been moved here.

And that was a very satisfying situation.

Because it was far more advantageous for me to face this than for the still-incomplete Seo-jun.

Just as I was lost in such thoughts.

*BOOM!

The sky tore open.

And from the gap emerged a being.

[Abyss Priest – Brimor]

A black mask, a cloak made of tentacles,

and a being of aberration holding a scythe symbolizing death and despair.

“Enemy of the Tower… defiler of this floor… perish.”

A completely corrupted being born from the corrupted floor.

An agent of the abyss.

An apostle of death.

I calmly aimed my sword.

“That works out well.”

If the fragments of immortality are here, I’ll shatter this entire floor to obtain them.

*crack!

The moment I took a step,

the Immortal Flame erupted fiercely beneath my feet.

And something responded to that energy.

“This place… is no longer the Tower.”

“The abyss is the Tower, and the Tower is part of the abyss.”

A cacophony as if hundreds of voices flowed simultaneously.

Accompanied by the sound of tearing space, the ground itself rippled like water.

The result of Nepas’s corrupting power eroding the floor.

*crash!

Black tentacles burst through the ground.

Attacks that tore space, trying to devour my body.

But I did not retreat a single step.

*whoosh!

I swung my sword.

The Immortal Flame surged.

The black energy burned in the flames.

The Aura of Immortality—that power enveloped my body.

My eyes glowed red.

Whether Nepas corrupted this floor, or Brimor became the abyss priest—it didn’t matter.

*BOOM!

The Immortal Flame exploded from the tip of my sword.

That flame was not merely equipment effect.

It was the Aura of Immortality that denied the Tower’s order and defied fate.

That power blazed, dwelling within my body.

Brimor swung his scythe.

That strike tore the ground, split the sky, and rotted the very foundation of existence.

“Perish.”

“You who oppose the Tower’s order—your existence is unnecessary.”

*CRASH!

Black tentacles swallowed the structure of reality.

Time and space warped.

Everything was twisting, breaking.

But I did not retreat.

*slash!

I cut through the air with my sword.

The Immortal Flame devoured the tentacles.

The red flames pushed back the black energy.

“The unnecessary ones are you.”

I stepped forward, sword in hand.

A red crest was engraved on the ground.

The Aura of Immortality wrapped around the floor.

The corrupted 63rd Floor began to feel resistance for the first time.

*CRUNCH!

Brimor’s scythe shattered.

Cracks appeared on his body.

The black tentacles screamed.

“The power of immortality…”

“That… even the Tower… rejects…”

Confusion and rage mixed in his voice.

A domain he could not understand.

A power that transcended the Tower’s will and denied the abyss’s erosion.

That was… the power of the rebel, Cain.

“This floor is no longer yours.”

I approached slowly.

With each step, a red crest coiled around the ground.

The red flames enveloped the entire floor, gradually erasing the corruption.

And Nepas.

That name lingered on my lips.

“This abyss hole you designed… I’ll seal it.”

*BOOM!

The final clash.

My sword and Brimor’s last remaining power met head-on.

The sky split, the ground collapsed, and the structure of the corrupted floor wailed.

In the end, only one thing remained.

The remains of the abyss priest torn apart by my sword tip.

And the scattered remnants of black tentacles.

The red flames blazed again.

The Aura of Immortality restoring the Tower’s order.

The entire floor was returning to its original place.

The end?

No.

I was mistaken.

This place was not merely a floor of the abyss—it was a floor of complete corruption where the remnants of destruction had gathered.

tremble

The sword in my hand trembled faintly.

A massive current, as if trying to devour even the red flame and the Aura of Immortality, writhed beneath the ground.

The remains of Abyss Priest Brimor.

They were not mere fragments.

Within those fragments, tangled together, were the Seal of Corruption that Nepas had sown, the remnants of the destroyed floors, and the origin of the abyss.

And now, they were converging.

*BOOM!

The ground sank.

Space itself staggered, converging to a single point.

Corruption, destruction, abyss.

The three energies bit and tore at each other, fusing together.

[Warning: Final mutation of the corrupted 63rd Floor in progress.]

[Tower structural stability: 0%]

[The Tower no longer recognizes this sector.]

[This sector will separate as an independent Heart of the Abyss.]

The Heart of the Abyss.

That was no longer the Tower.

A realm rejected by the Tower, denied by reality, severed from order—a perfect otherworld.

*BOOM!

The sky turned over.

Black light pillars shot up, and the blood-soaked ground twisted.

At the center, a gap of darkness opened.

And.

“I am the origin of corruption.”

A hollow voice echoed.

At that moment, I sensed it.

This was neither a simple corrupted priest nor destroyed remnants.

The very administrator system that the Tower had originally held was being reborn, corrupted by the abyss and taint.