A man walked into the dark cave. He has messy black hair and a simple black cloak with a fur collar. He was Leo, the Founder of the Zodiacs. The one that built the organization that countless people feared.
Following behind him were two people. One was a beautiful woman with a katana hanging on her waist and one was an old man wearing a butler outfit. Both of them were wearing metallic collars with chains attached to it.
As soon as Leo entered a room inside a cave, he saw a round table with chairs around it and twelve people doing different things. One was napping with drool on his mouth, one was playing card games, one was talking to a stuffed toy, and the others were chatting.
These twelve people were the only members of the Zodiacs. They represented the twelve signs.
""Brother Leo!!""
Two little girls with short pink hair greeted Leo with a smile on their faces. The two little girls were wearing the same outfit and they had the same appearance. They were also holding the same stuff toys.
"Hello, Pisces. I've returned."
Leo smiled as he greeted the two little girls gently. He patted their heads before he turned to the other members of the Zodiacs.
The two little girls looked like a twin but in fact, they were one. It was one of the most troublesome powers Pisces. Just imagine fighting two peak god-level powerhouses at the same time.
Although Pisces looked like a child, she was in fact a hundred years old girl standing at the top of the power level.
A tall man with a bulky body wearing full plate black armor crossed his arms in front of his chest. He glanced at Leo and asked, "The news traveled fast and we've already heard about your fight with other gods. Seeing that you didn't bring something with you, I guess that the gods caught the thirteenth?"
Leo sat on a vacant chair and waited for the rest to sit in their respective seat. He then answered Taurus' words. "No, I failed to find the thirteenth sign. It was as if the thirteenth sign has been sealed once again."
"Then, what do you think we should do with that power?" Sagittarius asked.
"It's not like we're really looking for the thirteenth sign. Our goals are different so I don't think we should care about it." Scorpio said.
"We should kill the person that acquired it. We could use the Divine Might Steering Gem to take the thirteenth sign and maybe we could give the power to your friends there." Taurus said as he pointed at the two people standing behind Leo.
"Thirteenth sign isn't that important anyway. We don't have the same goal like those Commandments that wanted the Four Authorities or those Sins that badly wanted the Original Sin." Capricorn sighed and added, "With or without the thirteenth sign, we're going to start the plan in a few years anyway so it's better if we lay low for a while and reserved our fighting power."
"Capricorn is right. We should preserve our strength but if one of us saw the thirteenth sign, we should take this chance to kill the host." Aries said.
"Well, I'm just intrigued by this power. After all, it's been a long time since someone got ahold of this power so people forgot that the total signs are thirteen, not twelve." Leo said as he closed his eyes. After a while, he opened his eyes and asked, "What about the country that we've built. Does anyone know that we're the ones behind it?"
"It's still in the process of making a name. It finished conquering the neighboring countries but since there are demons. We should use them to further raise the fame of our country." Aquarius paused and added, "And I don't think anyone knows that it's related to us, Zodiacs."
"The peace is breaking. I've heard that Gluttony is planning to attack God's Continent to lure out the Original Sin. Do you think he would succeed or not?" Gemini asked.
"That's interesting. Actually, Gluttony visited the demon camp and leave some words to the Demon Emperor. You know what, the Demon Emperor actually delayed the advancement of his army." Scorpio said.
"The Demon Emperor knew that he isn't Gluttony's target so he decided to sit back and watch the upcoming show. After all, no one among his subordinates could stop Gluttony and it would only cause him a huge casualty if he joined the battle." Capricorn said. "So it's better if he continued his attack after Gluttony wears down the forces of the Holy Lands in God's Continent. It's at that moment that the demon army will attack for real."
"Esquin and Lucifer are both powerful gods. Esquin didn't want to fight Lucifer and Lucifer didn't want to fight Esquin. They both know that if the two of them fight the chances of them achieving their goal will decrease. If Esquin fight Lucifer then even if Esquin won he wouldn't have enough strength to attack the major forces. The same could be said for Lucifer, if Lucifer fought Esquin then even if he won he wouldn't have enough strength to continue his invasion." Leo explained.
"As for who's stronger we will not know until they fight. Even with the threat of the Commandments, Sins, and us Zodiacs, there's a reason why the major factions are still standing firmly. It's because they are strong." Virgo added.
"Yeah, the major factions are strong. If not I would've destroyed the Three Great Countries long ago." Leo said with a serious expression. He couldn't help but agree with Virgo's words.
If the major factions weren't strong then the Commandments, Sins, and Zodiacs wouldn't have to hide. Even with the rules, they would have destroyed the major factions and accomplished their goals if the major factions were really weak.
"Brothers and sisters! How about I play hide and seek with the thirteenth sign? If I find the thirteenth then I would kill that person." Pisces suddenly said.
Libra looked at her and smiled gently. She patted the little girls' head and said softly, "Don't bother about it. We'll have to go out soon and play a better game against the gods."
"Ah, but I want to play right now," Pisces said as her shoulders dropped down.
Cancer who was napping suddenly raised his head and said, "We can play later Pisces. Just hold it down for a while. We will be able to return and fulfill our goal."
"O-Okay." Pisces nodded.
"Regarding the thirteenth sign. We've decided that if any of us sense it then we'll go for the kill. Don't stray too much from our goal. Don't forget the reason why we gather." Leo said. "I will stay here for a while. I've gathered too much attention lately and it's not a good idea if those gods started to hunt me."
...
Igmun stared at Souta.
Souta also stared at Igmun for a while before he answered, "I admired Goddess Athena for a while. Although there are monster lords that could help me pave my paths like Lord Typhon and Lady Echidna, I still choose to serve Goddess Athena as her warrior, not a pet."
He knew that Athena had several pets at the level of the fourth and fifth evolution stages. Those pets were powerful and some of them were even stronger than her heroes. Also, he was a humanoid monster, unlike her pets.
"I can sense that you are a third evolution stage. Your intelligence is already similar to us humans and demis. You're not a dragon that had high intelligence among monsters so tell me what kind of monster are you?" Igmun asked.
Souta didn't try to hide his power level in front of Igmun. He knew that if he wanted to join the Athen's Warriors, he didn't need to hide his power level.
"I'm a Blood Goblin. One of the rarest types of goblin in the world. Truth to be told I've learned all the things that I knew and even learned the language of humans and demis by living with them for a long time." Souta answered with a straight face.
"Blood Goblin? I've heard of it before but it's my first time seeing you so I don't know if I should believe you or not."
At Igmun's words, Souta directly used the special trait of Blood Goblin.
[Blood Field]!
A red aura flared up and it instantly covered the whole room. Souta canceled it after a few seconds.
"It's really the [Blood Field]. I heard that this trait can instantly heal the user's injuries as long as there is blood in the surroundings." Igmun said in amazement.
"Yes, as long as the user didn't die this skill can recover all of the user's injuries." Souta nodded.
"Oh, monster is really different from humans and demis. They can get overpowered skills like that just by evolving." Igmun muttered.
The interview continued and Igmun asked Souta various questions regarding about him, the legions, Goddess Athena, and other god's legions.
Souta answered everything smoothly. He was sure that he will pass the interview like how he did in the game.
"Although you are a monster, you should be careful when dealing with other people. Some of them didn't have a good impression of monsters." Igmun said. "Well, it doesn't matter. In the combat examination, as long as you show your strength you can shut up any opposition."