Chapter 164 - I Know Who It Is (2)
[The Archer Saint’s prophecy skill has been activated.]
Hugo’s eyes turned round at the sight unfolding in front of his eyes. His surroundings had suddenly shifted. Sunlight had swallowed the ceiling and the pillars of the press conference, and a different space had surged into view.
This situation surprised Hugo. After all, this was the Archer Saint’s prophecy skill.
[Delphi Oracle(SSS)]
In other words, this was the Sagittarius’s ability to predict the future. It was this skill that had allowed him to see the future twenty years ago where Lee Gun had died. Back then, Hugo had seen Lee Gun’s corpse within the Devil’s Tower.
Above all else, this skill’s activation surprised him for another reason.
‘This skill never activated after Gun’s death.’
Yes, after his friend’s death, Hugo had never used the “Delphi Oracle” skill. He had seen the future of his friend as a corpse inside the Devil’s Tower, yet he hadn’t been able to save him. That was why he had sealed this skill.
And yet, the oracle skill activated now? This meant one thing.
‘The Zodiac forcefully activated the skill.’
In other words, it was a very important future that the Zodiac had to show him, which had never happened after Lee Gun’s death.
Well, it didn’t matter in the end.
Hugo’s eyes turned round at the sight the oracle skill showed him. They were two scenes from the future. One showed the Virgo Saint’s holy ground, the other Lee Gun.
Then…
“Hey! Archer!”
“!”
Stevens shook Hugo by his shoulder.
The voice surprised Hugo. Was it because Stevens shook him awake? The scenes the oracle skill was showing him ceased to exist.
“Hey. Are you ok?”
“Ah! Ah! Uh.”
The flustered expression on Hugo’s face made Stevens look at him in bewilderment. The Leo Saint asked, “Why did you stop talking midway? Are you going westward?”
“!”
“You said if the situation was bad over there…”
Pushing aside Stevens and ignoring his words, Hugo opened his phone and made a call. The person on the other end picked up after a single dial tone.
Hugo asked, “Hey, Jaewon, where are you?”
- Ah! The Nevada desert in the US.
Hugo tilted his head in puzzlement. Why were his disciples over there?
As if he had heard the question in his voice, Lee Jaewon explained.
- Lee Gun-nim gave us an order. He told us to go there.
“He told you to go there?”
- Yes. He said someone is losing here, and we should go and pick up this person. I have no idea who it is though.
Who else could it be? Lee Gun was probably referring to Kevin since Kevin was the one who had gone missing. That said…
‘That bastard Gun keeps ordering around my disciples.’
The Sagittarius temple had never agreed to go under the Serpent Bearer. Well, it wasn’t too big of a deal. His disciples seemed to like Lee Gun, and they were under the Serpent Bearer’s debt.
Anyway, the fact that his disciples were already there was for the best.
“Is Ben there with you?”
- Yes, Saint-nim! Benjamin is here!
Jaewon seemed to have passed the phone to Goat.
Hugo laughed when he heard Goat’s voice. “Yes. I’m glad you’re there, Ben. You should use your bonus skill, so I can—”
- Ahhhk!
Hugo became surprised when the sound of Goat screaming came from the phone. “What’s wrong? Ben!”
Lee Jaewon seemed to have taken back the phone. He spoke.
- Ah! It’s fine. Benjamin suddenly disappeared while emitting a green light.
“Green?”
- It’s probably Lee Gun-nim.
Lee Jaewon spoke as if it were a given. He laughed as if he was used to this.
Unlike him, Hugo was dumbfounded. ‘What the hell is Gun doing?’ Moreover, why was everyone so calm when Lee Gun did something?
It didn’t matter in the end.
- Should I go find Benjamin?
“No, it’s fine. He'll probably be returned in no time. I want you guys to look for Kevin if he is there”
- Understood.
By now, Stevens had finished his preparations for the battle. He punched his fist into the air.
Pahng!
Golden particles appeared around him as Stevens’s suit turned into a golden plate armor. This was the Leo Saint’s garb.
Stevens even took out the helmet that he normally didn’t use. It meant he was ready to go to war.
“I’ll go to the west first! The Cancer temple must not come up to the northern hemisphere!”
“Ohhhhhhh!”
His disciples cheered.
However, Hugo tried to stop Stevens from leaving. “You should not go to the Virgo Saint’s holy ground.”
“What?”
“No. You must not go there.”
“??”
“If you go there right now, you’ll die 100%. Your disciples will get slaughtered.”
This made Stevens angry. “Are you saying we will lose to the Crab Saint?”
“No! You’ll lose to someone other than the Crab Saint.”
“???”
“If you want to do something, you should go protect our home.”
An odd expression appeared on Stevens’s face. However, Hugo didn’t feel the need to tell Stevens the details, and he just turned around.
This left Stevens surprised. Until a moment ago, Hugo had been desperate about wanting to defend the Virgo Saint’s holy ground. He was the one saying they had to prevent the Cancer’s power from growing. So what happened?
“Can it be? Did you…”
As if he was annoyed, Hugo waved his hand in dismissal. He then pressed on his phone’s screen. “Ah! That place is ok now, so you should head east. I’m going to find Gun.”
Hugo had seen Lee Gun in his prophecy, and he was worried. In truth, Lee Gun was more important than the Virgo Saint’s holy ground.
“Where the hell is he that he can’t even pick up a phone call? When I see him next, I’ll—”
Before he could complete his sentence…
Puhng!
A green light suddenly appeared beneath Hugo’s feet, frightening everyone.
“Hugo-nim?!”
“Archer?!”
Realizing what was going on, Hugo was angry. “Fuck! This again… Ahk!!!”
Hugo suddenly disappeared as he cursed.
* * *
Around that time…
[The underground monarch has opened its eyes.]
[The underground monarch is showing interest in you.]
Lee Gun smirked at the unexpected notification.
‘Underground.’
That probably referred to the basement of the tower. Lee Gun laughed in contempt. ‘A monarch is underneath the tower?’
Well, this did make sense in some way. The tower was a place where Red Eye replenished its power. Tens of thousands of monsters resided here without a problem. Moreover, this tower had a trash trap like the infinite reset.
Of course, this was anything but a normal tower. However, Lee Gun had never expected a monarch to be here.
Soon, the light in his eyes changed. He called out to the skull that had mistaken him for a monarch. “Hey. You over there.”
The skull, which had gone off to bring an item it wanted to give Lee Gun, bounced back.
[Yes! Monarch-nim! Did you call for me!]
The skull had an odd item on top of its head. This seemed to be the item that the skull wanted to give to a monarch.
Lee Gun laughed as he looked at the skull. “I have business underneath this place.”
For some reason, the skull flinched.
[U-Underneath?]
“Yes.”
The skull became nervous. It looked at Lee Gun with a dubious expression.
[With all respect, why the underground…]
A wicked bent appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes. ‘As expected, something is underneath.’
[Excuse me….]
“It’s fine. Just guide me there. I have business there.”
[U-Understood!]
“Also, hand over the item you brought.”
[Ah. Y-Yes sir!]
Lee Gun put away the item on the skull had brought in his pocket. Then he followed the skull.
Of course, the sounds of the fake Red Eye and Chun Sungjae’s screams passed by his ears, but he didn’t pay any attention to them.
‘Takesoo will take care of it.’ Lee Gun’s steps were light.
Then there was Hugo, who had been dragged into this mess as intended. He was screaming. “Ahhhk!! Where the hell is this?”
Hugo felt faint as he saw the monsters in front of him.
Chun Sungjae was surprised to see his father. He had heard the notification a couple of seconds ago.
‘The use of Family Shield has been allowed.’
“Skill has been auto-activated.’
He had heard Lee Gun’s voice saying it!
“Dad!”
Hugo felt confused by his surroundings. It was to be expected. “What the hell! This… This is the Devil’s Tower!!!”
Yes, although twenty years had passed since he had come to this place, there was no way he could forget the structure of this hellish place.
This could very well be a place that looked similar to the Devil’s Tower, but Hugo could tell that it was the Devil’s tower at a glance.
The smell was familiar! The sensation was familiar! The monsters were familiar!
It was such a scary place that he would get sick if someone told him to go back there! So why was he here?
Chun Sungjae didn’t care about Hugo’s reaction. He let out a bright smile. “Dad! I bet you missed this place! It has been a while! Doesn’t it bring back memories?!”
What the hell did he just say!! Of all the places to call for him, why did it have to be this place?
Hugo asked, “Do you realize how dangerous this place is?! Why the hell are you here!!”
“Uncle told me to level up here.”
What the hell!
“That son of a bitch has lost his mind!”
Lee Gun had said he would cultivate Sungjae into a Saint rank. Still, what kind of madman would stick someone inside the Devil’s Tower?
‘Thirteen Saint-ranks couldn’t even clear a floor as a group. Does he not remember that?’
This place was so dangerous that Lee Gun had said back then that all thirteen of them had to enter it together!
In the end, Hugo summoned his bow in fright, but soon, he let out a sigh of relief.
‘Yes. By how it’s structured, I can tell this is still the first floor.’
The first floor was the least difficult. Even Gun wasn’t crazy enough to send an S-rank to the higher floors.
‘Yes. It’ll be fine since Red Eye isn’t here…’
“Kee-ehhhhhhhhhhhhk!!!!”
“Ahhhhhhhhk! What the hell is this!!!” Hugo looked like he wanted to cry as he gazed at the roaring Red Eye in front of him. “Why is Red Eye here? Also, this is the first floor. Why are there so many monsters?”
The words made Chun Sungjae let out a bright laugh. “What do you mean, why? Uncle probably summoned them.”
“What did you just say?!”
“Oh yeah! Uncle said to give you this message.”
“What else!!!!”
“He said he might know who the culprit is.”
Hugo had been about to aim his bow when his eyes turned round. The culprit referred to the one that had trapped Lee Gun within the tower. “Really? He found out who it was?”
“Dad! In front of you! Defend!”
“What!!” Hugo scrambled when he saw the attack flying toward him. He raised his hand.
Kwahng!!
A giant several times bigger than him had swung a blunt weapon.
With his father keeping the blunt weapon in place, Chun Sungjae knew this was his opportunity to attack.
Kwahng!!
The young man’s green flame ruthlessly melted the monster Hugo was holding in place.
Hugo was about to attack, but when he blocked the attack, his summon was canceled. “Ahhhhk! Wait a moment—”
Chun Sungjae confidently ran forward. When another monster attacked him, he once again used his skill!
“Family Shield!”
With the activation of the skill, Hugo was once again summoned in front of his son.
Hugo screamed when he saw the attack flying toward him. He blocked the monster’s attack once again. Chun Sungjae used the same pattern from before to attack!
Kwahng!!
Chun Sungjae’s task had become very easy. He continued to use the skill as pushed forward.
“Family Shield!”
“Ahk!”
Kwahng!
“Family Shield!”
Ahkk!”
Kwahng!
“Family Shield!”
“Ahk!”
Kwahng!
“Kee-ehhhhhhk!”
Hugo kept appearing and disappearing. This was repeated hundreds of times!
Finally, Hugo could take it no longer. He angrily yelled, “Chun Sungjae!!! If you plan on doing this, why don’t you just teleport me here!!!”
“Family Shield!”
“Dad wants to attack too! Do it!!!!!”
“No! Family Shield!”
“Damn it!!!”
Chun Sungjae was monopolizing the EXP for himself as he ran toward Red Eye.
* * *
Around that time in the Nevada desert, the US.
The Crab Saint Jean-Louis was calling somewhere. “Yes. You can take over the Virgo Saint’s holy ground. It’ll be fine. Take all of it.”
He was talking to his subordinates, whom he had sent to the Virgo Saint’s holy ground. Naturally, his subordinates sounded worried about the plan.
- The Virgo temple is ranked second. Won’t attacking it head-on be too dangerous?
Jean-Louis looked at Kevin, who didn’t move an inch; the Virgo Saint had stopped breathing. “That’s fine. Destroy all of it. No one there can defend that place. The holy ground skills won’t activate either.”
Jean-Louis brushed off his clothes as he started walking toward the city. He called forth a flying type construct, but suddenly…
- Ahhhk!!!
A scream came from the other side of the phone, surprising Jean-Louis.
“What’s wrong?”
- Ahhk! Saint-nim! We are being attacked by the Virgo Saint’s holy ground!
- Kuh-huhk! The holy ground skills have been activated…
He could hear the gruesome screams and explosions through the phone. This naturally surprised Jean-Louis.
‘The holy ground skills can’t be activated if the Zodiac Saint is dead.’
He realized what this meant. He was about to whip his head around when…
‘!’
He saw someone standing behind him.
Jean-Louis was surprised. This person wore a bloody white jacket and pants. By the look of the clothes, it was Kevin. However, what the hell had happened?
‘The arm....’
The right arm that was supposed to be missing was right there, emitting a green light.
Jean-Louis’s surprise lasted only a moment.
Flash!
An incredible amount of silver light fell from the sky. It was something he had never seen before.
Kwahng!!
This was the light that signified the descent of a Zodiac!
Jean-Louis became surprised by the figure that came into view.
‘A woman?’
