Hugo also saw a memory he didn’t want to see the most.
When Lee Gun had fallen into a nightmare, his disciples also had nightmares since they were connected to him.
Hugo’s most hated nightmare had taken place twenty years ago, after Lee Gun’s death. To be precise, it was Lee Gun’s state funeral. After Red Eye was killed, the news of Lee Gun’s death had spread, and his country held a state funeral for him.
In the end, Lee Gun’s headstone was placed in the National Cemetery, and Hugo was having a hard time leaving it. Of course, he had a life-or-death battle with the other Zodiac Saints, so his body wasn’t in a good state. However, that wasn’t important.
“If you planned on complaining afterward like this, you should have never left the tower.”
“If you didn’t leave the tower, I bet Lee Gun would still be alive.”
It had been due to those words that Hugo’s hand had slipped from his bow and he had lost the fight against them. He didn’t even feel aggrieved at his loss. The Archer Saint couldn’t find fault with their words.
Lee Gun had sent him out to kill the monsters heading toward the city, but it was also true that Hugo had left his best friend, who was in poor health. Moreover, Hugo had prophesied that Lee Gun would die. He wondered if it had been a self-fulfilling prophecy. This was why he couldn’t leave the cemetery.
The memory that Hugo didn’t want to see the most was the sight of Lee Gun’s grave.
The Chun siblings were also seeing memories they didn’t want to see.
“It isn’t your fault, Yooha. She lost her footing.”
Chun Yooha watched her teacher, whom she followed within her temple, die. Chun Sungjae witnessed the funeral of his mother and Lee Jaewon.
“If only I hadn’t called for Mom…”
It was the memory of his dad being pushed around. Of course, Sungjae had known his father didn’t mean it. In the first place, he wasn’t wrong, so he didn’t hate her father. Sungjae didn’t mind hearing those words, but he couldn’t bear seeing his father lower his head toward the Libra Saint.
“I’m sorry! He’s just a kid. He is speaking nonsense since he is half-asleep. I’ll tell him to be careful”
His father had done nothing wrong.
Hugo continued to watch Lee Gun’s headstone. Yooha watched her teacher die several times. Chun Sungjae watched Hugo lower his head several times.
They had all been suffering from nightmares when…
[Hey! Wake up, Archer!]
The first one to open his eyes was Hugo, all thanks to Kevin.
Slap, slap, slap!
“Koo-oohk…!”
His cheeks were being slapped at full power.
Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!
Hugo wanted Kevin to stop hitting him, so he grabbed the man by his collar. However, as soon as Hugo woke up, Kevin pointed somewhere and said, “Wake up, Archer! That’s your Zodiac! Do you still not believe it?”
“…??”
Hugo wasn’t fully conscious, so he wondered what nonsense Kevin was talking about again.
“What the hell did you see—”
Hugo’s eye turned round when he moved his gaze. He saw Lee Gun at a location not too far away. This was Hugo’s first time seeing Lee Gun like this.
Green and black light were surging in the air, and an unimaginably brutal energy was destroying the surroundings. Moreover, Lee Gun’s hair color had changed. It was a blue color shining with light.
The pupils of Hugo’s eyes shook. This was to be expected since he was very familiar with this sensation.
[You’ll be a good one.]
It was the sensation when the Sagittarius had descended. Of course, this was a brutal sensation that couldn’t be compared to his Zodiac, but…
“Archer! How can you deny it after seeing this? That’s the descent of a Zodiac, no matter how one looks at it!”
Hugo was silent. The expression on his face as he looked at Lee Gun was a sight to behold.
Of course, Hugo knew what he was seeing. It might have been the reason for his next words. “I want to be knocked out again.”
“What?”
“Ah! This is a dream. I don’t care. This is all a dream.”
Hugo seemed to be trying to escape from reality. He was about to lie down once again.
“I want you to wake me up later. I’d rather see the nightmare again.”
“Hey!! Stop trying to deny reality!”
Hugo got up once again, looking like he was about to cry.
At that moment.
Kwahng!!
Accompanying a thundering noise, the helmeted man was sent flying. A large hole appeared in his body.
He had tried to use his monarch’s power to guard against the attack, but that was completely useless.
[The connection to the monarch’s power has been severed.]
[You are out of the monarch’s sphere of influence.]
[You will be able to take EXP.]
[Kuh-huhk…!]
Up until this point, the helmeted man had been unable to move his mouth. Yet now, he started to curse, and all of it was directed toward one person.
‘Giselle! That damn woman!’
She had said he was a baby snake! This was a completely different story!
‘Let me get my hands on that woman.’
At this point, it was clear that she had said those words to shrew them over. In the end, the helmeted man signaled to his subordinate to go kill the Libra. Then, he turned to look at Lee Gun, grinding his teeth.
‘He isn’t a low-rank god.’
Of course, Lee Gun’s temple was small, like a small store. Moreover, he still smelled like a human. In terms of his worth, he was still an immature god. However, this power…
‘It’s nearly at the monarch rank.’
Lee Gun was still underdeveloped, but if he were left alone to grow, he would become dangerous enough to threaten the monarchs.
If humanity had someone like this on their side, the damage to the unknown civilization would be massive.
‘We have to come up with a different plan.’
A factor could now threaten the monarchs. This was why they could no longer move carelessly.
‘We can’t make even the small mistakes.’
The helmeted man’s head and body had been blasted away. He desperately yelled as if he had come to a decision.
[I understand! I’ll give you a deal that’ll be good for humanity! We’ll retreat for now….]
At that moment…
Puh-guhk!!!
In front of their eyes, the helmeted man’s head exploded.
[Deal? You are talking nonsense.]
As soon as they had stepped into the territory of humans, the negotiations were over.
‘They were the ones that had attacked the humans first.’
A harsh light appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes as he heard a notification.
[You have destroyed a general rank. Your EXP has increased by a lot.]
[You have acquired data.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Lv. 15]
[You have acquired 6 Points.]
[Your divine status has risen by a bit.]
[Since your penalty has been lifted, the system restriction has also been lifted.]
[From now on, you will be able to distribute the EXP that you acquire according to your will.]
[If you choose to use it like before, you will be able to release and upgrade new divine skills.]
[Also, you can invest EXP into Constructs to rank them up.]
[These cultivated Constructs will be able to use unique skills that the Zodiac cannot use.]
[If you cultivate a Construct with the skill to expand its magical energy, the Zodiac’s magical energy will be expanded too.]
Lee Gun laughed. In simple words, his EXP could be used to develop himself or it could be used to cultivate his Constructs. He was now free to choose either option.
‘Until now, I didn’t even have enough divine status to invest in the Constructs.’
As Lee Gun was about to pick up the helmeted man, who had turned into a piece of meat…
“Ahk! What the hell!”
Chun Sungjae’s scream rang out. The Chun siblings, who had been suffering from nightmares, opened their eyes.
“Why is he dead? Did Uncle kill it?”
The Leo Saint almost sighed as he said, “Yes. Your skill has to be acknowledged since I saw it with my eyes. I am willing to admit it.”
The Leo Saint complimented Lee Gun by saying he was amazing, but this instead made Chun Sungjae angrily react. “You foul lion bastard!!”
“????”
Chun Sungjae even grabbed the Leo Saint by the collar as he wailed.
“You are a bad lion. Why didn’t you film it? Why did you have to see something so amazing by yourself!! Why didn’t you record it?!! From now on, the Leo Saint is my mortal enemy!”
“…?!!”
He probably didn’t mean it, but Chun Sungjae had missed Lee Gun’s fight live once again. This was why he was lamenting at the top of his voice.
In the end, the nearby disciples blanched.
‘As expected, fanatics are scary.’
No matter what happened, disciples like them didn’t have the guts to treat a Zodiac Saint like that. However, there was another reason for their reactions.
[Hey.]
The disciples flinched in surprise when Lee Gun got closer to them; they retreated.
This made Lee Gun furrow his brows.
[What the hell? Why are you avoiding me?]
“We just thought we shouldn’t get close to Lee Gun-nim….”
[Why?]
Why else? They felt like they would die if they approached him. It was unclear how Lee Gun had interpreted their actions, but the man just snorted.
[Ah! You don’t have to worry about my body. My body has improved since the penalty was lifted. Before this, I could use only 50% of my power.]
They weren’t referring to that, but the disciples just nodded.
“Ah! I’m sure that’ll be helpful to Lee Gun-nim. Before this, you could use only 50%— What?”
“What?!!”
Everyone’s expression was a sight to behold. This was especially true for Stevens and Kevin. Their faces had become rigid.
What the hell did he just say right now? 50%?!
In the end, Steven stuttered, “What… Y-You were under a penalty until now…”
[Yeah. Didn’t I tell you guys?]
“?!!”
Stevens froze since Lee Gun had ruthlessly beaten him up before. They had been beaten badly by Lee Gun while he was under penalty?
Red Eye’s mouth was full of monsters when it also froze. Since it had been hungry, it had been thinking about eating humans. Yet, Red Eye discreetly put its tail down.
Stevens stumbled backward. At that moment…
Kwahng!!
Stevens was pushed back as he continued to back away.
‘!’
The magical energy surrounding Lee Gun suddenly violently swirled.
“Ahhk!”
Everyone screamed, sent flying by the incredible power.
Kwahng!!!
“Lee Gun-nim!”
“Uncle— Koohk!!!”
Lee Gun wondered what was going on, but he soon realized it.
[Warning! The power of a Zodiac is too strong.]
[Your surroundings can’t withstand the power of a Zodiac.]
Lee Gun furrowed his brow. This was understandable. When a Zodiac descended to earth, it emitted an enormous amount of energy. That truly was a double-edged sword. Humans and their environment couldn’t withstand the power of the descent.
‘Maybe, this is why I was under the 50% penalty.’
Anyway, his surroundings would last in his current state. In truth, the corpse of the helmeted man was being destroyed in his hand. The corpse couldn’t win against the destructive power of a Zodiac.
At this point, Lee Gun furrowed his brow as if this put him in an awkward situation.
‘Tsk. At this rate, I won’t even be able to sleep in a bed.’
That wasn’t all. He didn’t want the corpse to be destroyed.
Lee Gun smirked as he looked down at the helmeted man’s finger. He had caught sight of a ring.
[General’s Black Ring(SSS)]
Lee Gun took it off as he activated his skill.
[You have opened Creation Workshop.]
[The amassed data is being used to make a new item.]
[Data “Monster that eats gods” has been applied.]
The last one was the data from the toad, the monster that had caused a lot of trouble for Hugo since it could consume the power of a Zodiac.
However, Lee Gun was able to utilize it in a useful manner now.
Data of the “Monster that eats gods”(SS)
– The power of the god is consumed and then stored in the stomach.
Suddenly, a green light exploded forth as the data was applied to the ring.
[Black Ring that eats divine magical energy (SSS)]
– Divine magical energy is consumed and stored until the stomach is full.
– Using it as a temporary control system is possible.
Something surprising happened when Lee Gun put on the ring.
Flash!
The green and black light surging into the sky gathered around Lee Gun. Then, the light started to dim. It looked as if the power within Lee Gun’s body was being sealed.
At the same time, his transformed hair changed back to its original black color. The violent energy that he was emitting was gone. The only thing left was the red snake eyes.
[The ring is ecstatic to store the divine magical energy.]
[It says it will work hard to store the magical energy.]
[You have learned a new skill.]
[Zodiac Descent]
Lee Gun laughed. Simply, he had used the ring as a limiter.
When Lee Gun returned to the appearance that they were familiar with, the disciples relaxed. Hugo mumbled to himself. “The Zodiac returned to its original place. It returned. It returned. The descent ended, and it returned.”
In the end, the mumbling Hugo took a hit. Then Lee Gun took out something.
Flash!
It was an item from his inventory! The item puzzled everyone.
“Monkfish?”
Yes, Lee Gun had taken out the Monkfish Yang Wei.
Yang Wei saw Lee Gun immediately after getting out of the book. He screamed.
[You bastard! What the hell? What did you do while you locked me away?]
Instead of answering him, Lee Gun ripped Yang Wei in half.
[Kuh…Kuh-huhk!]
Lee Gun placed his hand on the body of the helmeted man. Then a light exploded forth.
Flash!
[You have used Super Regeneration]
[You have used the Scorpio Saint’s Screen skill]
The skill made a screen appear around him. Anything within a fifty-meter radius of that couldn’t be seen from outside.
Everyone wondered what was going on, but something surprising happened next.
[You have used the Prisoner skill.]
[Prisoner No. 4 has been put into the helmeted corpse.]
[Yang Wei’s soul has been put into the helmeted corpse’s body.]
As those words rang in Lee Gun’s mind, the helmeted man got up. Everyone looked at Lee Gun in shock.
Lee Gun spoke to the dumbfounded Yang Wei. “This is an order. I want you to go to their headquarters and dig up some information. If you succeed, I’ll give you back your original body.”
Everything happened too abruptly.
Yang Wei’s eyes shook. However, he soon realized what Lee Gun wanted.
‘He plans on using a general rank to find out the movement of the unknown civilization.’
Therefore, Yang Wei grinned as he shouted out loud.
[Alright! I’ll come back soon with the information.]
In the end, Yang Wei disappeared toward the horde of enemies.
Surprised at this, Hugo yelled at Lee Gun, “Yang Wei is treacherous! If you send him to the other side, he’ll 100% betray us!”
Lee Gun let out a nefarious laugh as if Hugo’s worries were rubbish. “So what?”
“What?”
In fact, Lee Gun would be worse off if Yang Wei didn’t betray him.
