Red Eye! The monster called the head of the unknown civilization twenty years ago! This monster had tried to end humanity; it was humanity’s worst enemy.
Stevens still remembered it. ‘How could I forget that damned snake?’
Red Eye had been that terrifying.
It was the last day of the year 1999! Four years had passed since the unknown civilization had appeared for the first time. With Red Eye’s appearance, the individualistic monsters had turned into an army. They had gained the ability to organize and started conquering the lands of humanity in earnest.
Previously, one or two monsters would show up in cities and kidnap humans. So, this was on another level. Earth had become hell.
‘Well, it was a game-changer when Red Eye decided to build a nest in Korea.’
Up to that point, Red Eye had led its underlings to destroy everything. However, it had suddenly decided to make its home in East Asia. That place was the Devil’s Tower.
Anyway, due to this, monsters had swarmed toward the Devil’s Tower. This was like a break time of sorts. It also was the best opportunity to kill the head of the monsters.
Therefore, for the first and the last time, the thirteen awakened beings had teamed up with each other. While these thirteen usually did encounter each other as they carried out their mercenary works, their relationships were quite poor.
Therefore, them teaming up was a big deal. Everyone assumed Red Eye would die in short order.
In truth, they had been quite proud. It would be a tall task alone, but they assumed Red Eye would be nothing if the twelve Zodiacs stood together.
Lee Gun had been the group’s leader, and he had given several warnings to the greats of the group before entering the tower.
[I’ll point out which monsters you shouldn’t attack. Never touch them! We’ll kill the gatekeepers on each floor, then quickly finish Red Eye.]
Of course, Lee Gun had been the only one amongst them who had seen Red Eye’s army up close. That was why he had been chosen as the leader, but…
[My word! Is this really the Lee Gun we’ve known in the past?]
They had mocked him.
[You always acted like you were better than us, but it seems you’re afraid. You’ve become a coward in the past couple of years.]
[It’s understandable. Your body is in very rough shape.]
Despite those mocking words…
[Shit! We can’t kill that one! Run!]
Remembering that time, Stevens ground his teeth. He looked at the winged devil that could be seen over the horizon.
The monster looked like a serpent that belched out fire. A terrifying reptilian face grew atop its long neck. It possessed two arms and two legs like a beast. The monster was as big as a building. Even though it was still far away, its presence was oppressive.
Stevens couldn’t accept the current situation. ‘Shit! This makes no sense. Why is it here?’
He was sure Lee Gun had killed it. There was no way several more monsters considered to be the boss would exist. Therefore, he wondered if he were hallucinating.
“What… what the hell? Is that the Red Eye?”
The monster caused a commotion amongst the disciples within the Leo Saint’s holy ground.
“That’s Red Eye? The one that appeared twenty years ago??”
“You’ve lost your mind! That’s probably a fake!”
Of course, everyone in the world knew about Red Eye. Even children were taught about it through their textbooks. Amongst the awakened beings, Red Eye was considered bad news of legendary proportions.
When Chun Yooha saw Red Eye for the first time, her expression changed. ‘That’s the Red Eye Dad always talked about?’
It was the one that her uncle had killed. This was the first time she had seen the real thing.
Red Eye was considered the highest-ranked monster within the Black zone. Not even the Ten Stars had entered the Black zone. It was an unknown territory. So why would a monster of that rank suddenly appear here?
Moreover, this monster had appeared in the middle of their holy ground, the most unsullied location that had the main palace inside it.
Therefore, everyone thought this monster was a fake. At that moment, however…
[Koo-ohhhhhhh!]
It extended its long neck toward the sky.
“Put up the barrier!” Stevens desperately raised his voice.
The flustered Leo disciples looked at their Saint, who stood on top of the roof. For the first time, they had witnessed the Leo Saint with a pale face.
“Saint-nim? What are you saying?”
“No. It’s too late for the barrier. Hurry up and grab something right now!”
“What?”
Their opponent was far away, so why was their Saint acting that way?
Suddenly…
Boom!!!!
An incredible light flashed, then a powerful wind pressure surged toward them.
Koo-goo-goo-goohng!
“Ahhhhhhk!”
The wind pressure was so fierce that even keeping balance became impossible for a person. Moreover, the wind started destroying the buildings within the Leo Saint’s holy ground.
“Wait a moment. What the hell is this— Ahhk!”
The disciples who weren’t holding onto anything were sent flying into the distance.
“Will!”
“Ahhhhhk!”
Kwahng! Kwahng!
The walls mercilessly fell, and the roofs flew away like pieces of paper.
In fact, even the disciples holding onto the pillars and those who had put up barriers were sent flying through the sky.
As for the ones who did withstand the winds, they suffered grievous wounds when the flying buildings rammed into them.
Chun Yooha had been within the building. She groaned as she crashed into a wall after being sent flying away.
“Koo-oohk…!”
She felt like she was being pressed by several tons of gravity. This surprised her. Anyone above the S-rank had magical energy around them as standard. Therefore, they should be able to withstand this wind pressure without being pushed back by it. Yet, this had happened!
Oliver had planted his sword in the ground to support himself. His eyes flashed as he looked outside.
Several seconds passed like this before the terrifying wind pressure dissipated.
Then, Chun Yooha and Oliver ran outside. However, when they stepped outside, the sight immediately shocked them.
“The holy ground!”
Half of the Leo Saint’s main palace had disappeared. That wasn’t all. The city and the field around the holy ground were gone without a trace.
As if the monster was proud of its warm-up move, it sent a skull-shaped smoke into the sky.
“The Red Eye’s Light Ray…” Chun Yooha unconsciously mumbled to herself.
As soon as she spoke those words, screams rang out.
“It really is Red Eye!”
“The real Red Eye has shown up!”
The screams weren’t coming from the holy ground. They were coming from the city at the back of the holy ground.
The US had experienced Red Eye crushing them, so they were in a state of panic.
Amid this panic, Chun Yooha got goosebumps. Of course, how this monster was able to show up again like this wasn’t important right now.
‘Uncle fought against that alone?’
The monster was still far away, yet she could feel fear from its oppressive presence.
However, the people in the city and the disciples of the temple soon shouted.
“It’s fine! It doesn’t matter if that’s the real Red Eye or not!”
“Yes! Let’s take up our weapons!”
Stevens scoffed at the shouts. “As expected of my subordinates! They are brave…”
However…
“Stevens-nim was the one to take Red Eye’s head!”
“Yes! Stevens-nim will cut off Red Eye’s head once again!”
“…?!!” Stevens’s expression was a sight to behold.
“Saint-nim!”
“No!”
“What?”
“I didn’t kill it!”
“What?!”
They wanted to ask what their Saint meant, but the holy ground fell at that moment.
“Saint-nim!”
A familiar light appeared in the sky. It was a yellow light that represented absolute order and absolute virtue. This was the light of the Libra.
Then a white whale approached them as it parted the skies. It was a Construct. Riding the Construct was a woman who seemed like the owner of the temple. Next to her were familiar faces.
‘Cancer, Taurus, Gemini!’
Familiar Constructs representing certain Zodiacs were there. Then there was the Taurus Saint unexpectedly riding on top of a whale.
The man on top of the whale said, “Choose, Stevens! Do you want to die or join hands with the Libra?”
Stevens ground his teeth.
“Crazy bastard!”
* * *
At that moment, the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground in Hawaii!
“What? Red Eye appeared?! The real Red Eye?” Hugo’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish when his daughter contacted him.
Chun Sungjae and the other Archer disciples, who had been watching the news through their phones, reacted in fright at Hugo’s shouted words.
The breaking news just said Red Eye had appeared, but they had thought the news was fake. Hugo had also called it fake news.
– How did Uncle kill Red Eye?
Hugo foamed at the mouth when his daughter called him. He then checked the videos on the news.
“This is nuts.” The Archer Saint felt a chill run up his back. He was sure of it.
These were the monsters he had seen inside the Devil’s Tower. It shocked him. Of course, Lee Gun had warned him that there would be monsters like Red Eye.
“I never expected Red Eye itself to show up!”
The Pisces Saint calling for help made sense now. Of course, the monsters with Red Eye were a problem too.
“Saint-nim. I’ve never seen those before. What are they?”
At Goat’s question, the youngest of the Archer disciples answered after observing the TV footage with his skill, “What do you mean, what are they? I can’t feel their magical energy all that well, and they are small. I’m sure they’re low-leveled—”
Hugo yelled in disgust, “What do you mean? They are all monsters that showed up in the Devil’s Tower!”
“What?!”
These were the monsters that Lee Gun had warned them to never attack in the raid on the Devil’s Tower. The group had avoided these monsters. In truth, they were busy running away from these incredible monsters.
“Don’t think of it as you not being able to feel their magical energy. These monsters are capable of hiding their presence very well. If you get close to them, you’ll die.”
“…!”
Such dangerous monsters had shown up by ones and twos within cities. So many of them coming here like this meant…
‘Humanity is doomed.’
In a rare sight, Hailey and Kevin were also surprised.
The Archer disciples reared back in fright at the mention of the Devil’s Tower.
“Devil’s Tower!”
“Even Saint-nim can’t kill the monsters from the tower, right?”
“He said the Zodiac Saints could never kill them!”
Hugo had once returned to the Devil’s Tower to find Lee Gun, but in the end, he had to exit when faced with those monsters.
“Did the monsters from the Devil’s Tower come out?”
“No! They didn’t.”
“What?”
The one to answer was Lee Gun. “I killed all the monsters inside the tower.”
“?!”
The expressions on the disciples were a sight to behold.
After watching the TV, Lee Gun laughed as if he found it amusing. “They are from the same species. In truth, they are younger than the ones I killed.”
“Uh… What about Red Eye?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think something of that size exists. I’ll just find out after I kill it.”
The disciples screamed.
“You‘re going to kill Red Eye?”
Lee Gun laughed. “I’ve already killed it before.”
It wasn’t just once. He was sick of killing it after the tower reset tens of millions of times. In fact, he would prefer this Red Eye being the one he had killed.
Back then, after falling into the trap, he couldn’t turn this monster into ingredients. If he could make a weapon using Red Eye, wouldn’t that weapon be on par with Heaven’s Punishment?
‘Or I can make it a prisoner and use it like Torcher.’
His EXP would rise either way.
At that moment, another piece of breaking news appeared on the media channels.
[Lee Gun and the Archer Saint cannot carry out their roles as Zodiac Saints.]
“!”
A familiar face appeared on the program.
“The Taurus Saint!”
This man was one of the culprits who had destroyed Hugo’s royal holy item. He contemptuously continued.
[The Archer Saint lost his royal holy item, so he cannot use his full power as a Zodiac Saint. Lee Gun is a Zodiac Saint that is too small to be anything.]
Hugo scoffed. It seemed the Taurus Saint had appeared to drive up the faith toward them.
[They cannot protect you all. You should come to the places where the Libra Saint and I receive power from our Zodiacs.]
[Does that mean the Taurus Saint and the Libra Saint can kill Red Eye?]
The Taurus Saint flinched at the question. A small amount of unease flitted through his eyes.
[We plan on doing our best to seal Red Eye and the other monsters. Please do not worry about them!]
“Idiots! Why the hell would you seal them?” When Lee Gun extended his hand, Heaven’s Punishment joyfully flew into his hand.
Kwahng!
“Why would anyone do something so annoying?” Lee Gun stood up. “Sungjae! Teleport!”
“!”
Whenever Lee Gun took a step, a green light slowly crept up. And when he moved, the Archer disciples stood up too.
“Ah! We’ll help—”
“I don’t need it.”
“What?”
“I’m enough.” The corners of Lee Gun’s lips rose.
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