Chapter 147 - Forked Road (1)
[God of Calamity! You have learned about the path to the temple of darkness.]
Lee Gun furrowed his brows at the notification. Aside from the pain he felt, what was it talking about? God of Calamity? Temple of darkness? He was wondering what it meant when the voice continued.
[Currently, the Serpent Bearer has two divine statuses.]
[Life & Death]
[The Serpent Bearer may later become the “God that can revive even the dead” or the “God of Ragnarok,” depending on your inclination.]
[Your level is too low, so your divine status is undetermined between these two.]
Lee Gun laughed at those words. He wasn’t entirely sure what they meant, but it seemed he would have to choose between two routes in the future.
In other words, he could choose to be either good or evil. He could become the god of life that could revive the dead, or he could become the god of calamity, which the Zodiacs had mentioned.
Was he currently using the power of the two divine statuses at the same time? That meant the Serpent Bearer possessed two godships.
The voice again spoke.
[Your divine status has sharply moved toward “Death,” thanks to the “Star of Darkness.”]
[You can develop the divine status of “Death” in the future.]
Lee Gun laughed. He wouldn’t be able to use it right now, but in the future, it would be a benefit. At that moment…
“Koohk!”
“Uncle!”
Lee Gun suddenly clutched at his heart in pain.
[Warning! The core within your body is covetous of the Serpent Bearer’s power.]
The Cancer’s core seemed to have personally experienced Lee Gun’s power as it took root in his body and madly attacked him from the inside. It had seen Lee Gun fight the Leo, then fallen in love with his power.
[Warning! The core within your body has its eyes fixed on the Serpent Bearer’s power.]
[Warning! The “Star of Darkness” wants the noble power of the Serpent Bearer.]
[The “Star of Darkness” wants to further corrupt the Serpent Bearer, then steal his power.]
[The power of the Cancer is fatal to a Zodiac. It becomes more fatal as the divine status becomes more virtuous.]
In the end, Lee Gun fell to the ground, clutching at his heart. He was in pain.
“Uncle!” The surprised Chun Yooha tried to prop him up. “Are you ok, Uncle? Uncle!”
In a rare moment, Stevens was also surprised. This was to be expected. In his lifetime, he had seen only two instances of Lee Gun falling like that.
The first was when Lee Gun had purposefully fallen into the arena as Stevens had made a deal with him.
The other instance had taken place twenty years ago. Lee Gun had fallen over after killing monsters. He had been taking part in a large expedition, so that had been a rare occasion where numerous Zodiacs had gathered in one place.
At the time, Lee Gun had a hard time breathing, and he seemed to be in a terrible state. It was also the first time Stevens had realized something: Lee Gun’s body was in a much worse shape than any of them realized. The only exception had been Hugo. He had taken out medicine for Lee Gun as if he was used to this.
That was the reason for Stevens’s surprise right now. He might outwardly disparage Lee Gun, but Lee Gun was the strongest amongst them. Stevens wasn’t used to such a sight.
Therefore, he called out to his disciple in bewilderment. “Hurry up, and get the Aquarius’s Cup from storage!”
“W-What? That’s our temple’s precious S-rank recovery—”
Stevens furrowed his brows. “Just shut up, and go bring it! He got hurt because of our Zodi—” Before Stevens could end his sentence, he got beaten up.
Bbah-gahk!
“Saint-nim!”
Lee Gun cussed after hitting Stevens in the face. “Idiot! Your Zodiac didn’t cause this!”
Then, he ground his teeth. He didn’t want to hear such words even if Stevens was mistaken.
‘Shit!’
It seemed Hugo would scold him later for eating something strange again. The Cancer’s power was said to be fatal to the Zodiacs. Accepting that risk, Lee Gun had ingested the core with a goal in mind. However, this was beyond imagination.
“Koo-oohk!”
Lee Gun groaned as he pushed against the ground.
[The sly Cancer is targeting your body.]
[It is trying to destroy your divine body.]
The Cancer’s Core contained thirty percent of its Saint’s soul. That was why it could extend its power in such a terrifying fashion. The destruction exceeded the regenerative ability of the Super Regeneration skill.
[The poisonous foam is tainting your divine body.]
The poison deadly to Zodiacs made Lee Gun throw up blood. His eyes flashed. It felt so painful that he felt like dying. However…
‘This is nothing!’
This couldn’t be compared to the pain he had endured within the Devil’s Tower.
‘I’ll kill anyone who stabs me. There’s no way I’ll die from this.’
In a flash, a cold hate appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes. The next second, as if it had reacted to the hate Lee Gun had kept hidden until that moment, a skill activated.
[Hundred Poison Resistance (F) has been activated]
<Hundred Poison Resistance (F)>
- Your body has suffered from many poisons, and the poisons are part of your body. Poisons will no longer work against you.
- Specific abnormal poisons will always be neutralized. (Limited to your body)
- Certain poisons can be consumed to acquire Data.
Lee Gun had activated a poison resistance skill he had released in the past. It was a divine skill created using his experience. He had been tortured with the poisons of monsters in the Devil’s Tower. That was the reason this skill had appeared as soon as he exited the tower.
Lee Gun had decided to eat the Cancer’s Core because he had this skill and the Super Regeneration skill.
In fact, the poison neutralization skill frantically moved when it was activated.
[The heinous poison trying to harm the Serpent Bearer’s body is being neutralized.]
[The heinous poison trying to harm the Serpent Bearer’s body is being neutralized.]
[The heinous poison trying to harm the Serpent Bearer’s body is being neutralized.]
Lee Gun laughed when things turned out as he had expected, but…
[Neutralization failed.]
[This poison is unavailable within Hundred Poison Resistance.]
[You cannot neutralize it.]
“!”
Lee Gun furrowed his brows. Did he trust his skill too much?
He knew this was a possibility, but he had never actually thought it would turn out this way.
[You have acquired data. You have discovered a component that had been missing from the Serpent Bearer.]
[The acquired data has been analyzed, and it is creating information about poisons that can be neutralized.]
[Your skill has upgraded.]
[Hundred Poison Resistance (F) ▶ One Hundred and Eight Poison Resistance (E)]
Lee Gun grinned. Like the white blood cells that mobilized when a virus appeared within the body, the skill frantically worked to resist the poison.
Did this happen because the poison was too strong? The skill’s rank rose without any point consumption. This was the best of both worlds.
‘It will be awesome if I can upgrade with pain as the price.’
Lee Gun’s EXP rarely rose unless he killed a high-rank monster or converted a disciple. Moreover, this was the first time the skill had encountered poison. It roared madly as if to say its owner shouldn’t be messed with.
[You have acquired data. You have discovered a component that had been missing from the Serpent Bearer.]
[The acquired data has been analyzed, and it is creating information about poisons that can be neutralized.]
[Your skill has upgraded.]
[One Hundred and Eight Poison Resistance (F) ▶ Two Hundred Poison Resistance (D)]
[Two Hundred Poison Resistance (D) ▶ Three Hundred Poison Resistance (C)]
[Three Hundred Poison Resistance (C) ▶ Five Hundred Poison Resistance (B)]
[Five Hundred Poison Resistance (B) ▶ Thousand Poison Resistance (A)]
“Koohk!”
Lee Gun suddenly vomited blood.
Even though the skill had risen to the A rank, it couldn’t completely neutralize the poison.
[You have acquired data. You have discovered a component that had been missing from the Serpent Bearer.]
[The acquired data has been analyzed, and it is creating information about poisons that can be neutralized.]
[Your level is lacking. You cannot neutralize the poison.]
Despite it being 30% of its power, this was a divine rank poison. Of course, it couldn’t be neutralized easily.
‘Just a bit more.’
Lee Gun was slowly reaching his limit. The Cancer’s power was aiming for his heart. In the end, Lee Gun knew he had no choice.
‘Tsk! I did my best to save them, but it seems I have to use them now.’
Lee Gun called forth his skill window and quickly used his points.
[You have used 20 Points.]
[Thousand Poison Resistance (A) ▶ Ten Thousand Poison Resistance (S)]
He still had the Missionary reward of converting the Chun siblings and Chun Jiwoo. He had received a variety of rewards like “One-time ability increase data” and “One-time item.” However, the most useful reward was the “Bonus Points.” They allowed him to upgrade his skills.
Since Lee Gun didn’t know when he would need the points, he had been saving them.
Although he had been forced to use the points now, this was preferable to going from the F rank to the SS rank using only points.
This was still quite the boon!
[You have used 30 Points]
[Ten Thousand Poison Resistance (S) ▶ All Poison Resistance(SS)]
[The power of the Cancer’s Core has been completely neutralized!]
Something surprising happened.
Flash!
With a flash of a light, Lee Gun’s skin slowly regained its original color. That wasn’t all.
[Detoxification skill has become SS rank.]
[You have satisfied a requirement.]
[Requirement: Poison Knowledge has to upgrade to the SS rank.]
[You have developed an SSS-rank divine skill.]
[Personal Poison(SSS) has been created and registered as an SSS-rank divine skill.]
Personal Poison (SSS)
- A special poison of the Serpent Bearer has been created using the poisons the body remembers.
[The Serpent is poisonous now.]
Lee Gun grinned.
The Cancer’s Core seemed taken aback by its power being completely neutralized. It tried to kill him once again.
‘Oh no, you don’t.’ Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. How dare it covet his power?
[Serpent Bearer’s divine status has driven out Cancer's power.]
Lee Gun spat out something, the tattered Cancer’s Core. All the data inside it had been extracted.
The core surprised the Construct of the Leo Saint.
[I wondered what that mad god ate! It used the Star of Darkness!]
Even though that core was just a portion of the Cancer, Lee Gun being alive after ingesting that was a miracle.
The griffon blanched.
Lee Gun ignored the Construct. He laughed as he wiped away the blood from his mouth. ‘Good! This is an unexpected windfall.’
In truth, his goal had been to use the Cancer’s Core to obtain items from the Leo. There was a reason he had gone through all this to obtain the Leo’s items.
‘They were stronger than I expected’
Yes, it all had to do with the black zone monsters that had invaded his holy ground. He had killed them, but he had felt something when he faced them.
‘If they come in droves, humanity will face extermination.’
He felt a chill once again. It was the same chill he had felt when he had encountered Red Eye for the first time.
Moreover, these weren’t Monarch-rank monsters, yet their attack and defense were powerful. The fight had left his hands destroyed.
That was why he had called forth the Leo through Yooha’s baptism.
‘A Zodiac’s body part should be able to contend with black-zone monsters.’
Other Zodiacs wouldn’t have appeared even if he had called them out; they didn’t want to waste their contributions by descending to earth.
Therefore, Lee Gun had picked the most gullible target, the cat’s Zodiac. The move had caused complete destruction of the Leo Saint’s holy ground and the contribution of the Leo temple had all been used up. However, Lee Gun didn’t care about that.
‘It’s their fault for worshiping the wrong Zodiac.’
Yooha had been involuntarily used in his plan, but it didn’t matter since he planned on taking her as a disciple in the first place.
‘I need a Zodiac Saint.’
He heard a notification.
[Remaining Disciple Mission]
- Creation of Serpent Bearer’s Badge: 90% complete
- Pick Your Zodiac Saint [0%]
[The great Serpent Bearer needs a Zodiac Saint to serve him.]
[Highest rank disciple! The existence of a Zodiac Saint is the last basic requirement needed to create the foundation of a temple.]
[With the birth of a Zodiac Saint, the Serpent Bearer’s name will be raised in the divine world in earnest.]
As if his business here was done, Lee Gun called out to Yooha. “Since we’ve taken care of most of the monsters, let’s head out. I have somewhere to be right now.”
Chun Yooha nodded. “Yes. I’ll call Sungjae. We need to ask him for the teleport spell.”
Boom!
‘!’
She was about to turn around when the Leo disciples blocked her path.
“General Chun!”
It seemed they couldn’t let Chun Yooha just leave. If Yooha left, the Leo temple would suffer a huge loss.
Stevens also stepped forward. “I’m sorry, but we can’t let our temple fall to ruin.”
Chun Yooha wordlessly picked up her spear. There was no need for her uncle to step forward. However…
Kwah-gwa-gwahng!
Accompanying a large earthquake, an unknown light suddenly surged into the sky. A serpent made out of light had shot upward!
Everyone reacted in shock and surprise.
“What the hell is that?”
“Snake?!”
Yes, an enormous serpent made out of light was heading toward them from the sky! Of course, this serpent was much smaller than the serpent in the Imaginative Space, but it was still huge.
The sight shocked everyone.
“No way!”
“It’s a demigod!”
The disciples looked at Lee Gun in shock. It was to be expected. This was a skill that allowed one to mimic a Zodiac. So why was a Zodiac Saint’s technique being used here?
Chun Yooha’s eyes turned round. It was seldom seen, but Lee Gun’s eyes had turned round too.
However, they didn’t even have time to be surprised.
“Ahhk! It’s coming here!”
As soon as those words reverberated in the air, the serpent attacked the Leo disciples.
[You assholes! What are you guys doing to our uncle? Die and become Uncle’s tribute!]
“Ahhhhk!!”
The Leo disciples were immediately swept away when they collided with the enormous serpent. Then…
[Another person qualified to become the Zodiac Saint has been found.]
[Current number of candidates for Zodiac Saint’s position: 2]
[Who would you like to choose?]
