“What? You want me to lend you my skill?”
A couple of hours ago, after the news of Sophie’s kidnapping had spread, Lee Gun had suddenly asked Hugo out of nowhere to borrow his skill.
“You know the AoE attack where arrows fall from the sky. Let me borrow that one. You used it when I first met Yooha.”
“Huh? Have you lost your mind? You want to borrow my royal skill?”
Royal skills(SS) were the highest-ranked skills only the Zodiac Saints could use. They couldn’t be rented out, and neither could they be borrowed.
Those things being possible or impossible didn’t matter. The royal skills reflected on the dignity of a temple. They were like a country’s national treasure. Why would the country let someone from a different country use them at will?
“Gun, this is impossible even for you.”
Hugo was about to say Lee Gun should stop talking nonsense when…
[The Royal skill has been rented.]
“?!”
“Oh, what the hell? It is possible.”
“Damn it! What the hell! Why does it work?”
“Why wouldn’t it? Since your temple is under mine as an affiliate, I must be able to borrow it at will.”
“What?!”
However, something was more baffling. Since it was a royal skill, Hugo wondered how much rental fee he could charge, but…
[He does not dare ask for a skill rental fee from the head temple.]
[All rental fee to the Serpent Bearer is – 0 won.]
“What the hell did you say?!” Hugo screamed when he heard the voice coming from his badge.
Lee Gun had just cackled. “It’s great to have a temple as a gofer. I’ll be sure to take more in the future.”
“#&*$!!”
In the end, Lee Gun had headed toward Sophie in a great mood.
***
Back to the present…
Hugo, who had chased after Lee Gun, frowned at the scene before his eyes.
‘I can’t believe it is so cheap using the clone skill.’
At the end of the day, he was Lee Gun’s close friend.
‘Not even Gun would go so far as to harm something with my face!’
As if to prove this, Lee Gun was unable to move after being caught by the fake. However, Hugo was sure Lee Gun was hesitating to attack the fake because of his face.
Such a reaction moved Hugo’s heart. He gritted his teeth.
‘Wait a minute, Gun! I’ll quickly get rid of it…’
Poo-hahk!!!!
“…!!”
In front of his eyes, his head was blown off. Lee Gun had ruthlessly blown up the fake Hugo’s head. Brain and all kinds of parts flew out of the head.
Hoo-dohk! Hoo-doo-doohk!
Unidentifiable blood vessels and blood fell to the ground.
Hugo, who had been aiming his bow, froze. He might have fallen unconscious standing up.
Unconcerned, Lee Gun laughed. He swung his hand again. “Ha ha ha! This is an amazing gain!”
While laughing, he wielded the greatsword, which was taller than a person, and bisected the fake Hugo. Unidentifiable organs spilled out from the body.
Thankfully, Hugo had already fallen unconscious after seeing his head explode.
In the end, the fake clone lost before Hugo could attack it, so Hugo fell to the ground as he despaired. No, Lee Gun probably knew it was a fake.
The situation would be more dangerous for Lee Gun if it were a fake, so the answer was to quickly kill it. Hugo would have done the same thing if he saw a Lee Gun clone.
Lee Gun wasn’t an amateur on whom such a tactic would work. Still, this was a bit much!
“Gun… You bastard! Just a bit…! You should have hesitated as a friend…!!”
How could he crush someone having his friend’s head and body like this!
“One second… No, it can be 0.5 seconds. Just agonize over it a bit…!!!”
Sophie, Yang Wei, and the disciples had also seen this vivid image. Their mental states were shattered, too.
“H-Hugo… Hugo turned into chunks of meat…”
“A-Aren’t they friends?”
“Maybe they are enemies in reality?”
Ignoring them, Lee Gun dusted off his hands as he felt light-hearted. Hugo was a battle-type Zodiac Saint. Lee Gun knew half-measures wouldn’t work. Therefore, he had cut the fake to pieces.
‘The EXP is much better than I expected.’
The clone was said to be a replica of the real thing. That seemed to be true.
As expected of defeating a fake of a Zodiac Saint that served a high-rank Zodiac, Lee Gun’s EXP rose by a lot.
[You have acquired data bundles(35).]
[You can open them one by one within the Creation Workshop.]
[You have gained a massive amount of EXP.]
[Your EXP is 100% full.]
[Would you like to use the amassed EXP for the Zodiac’s use? Or would you like to use it for the temple’s use?]
“Zodiac.”
[Zodiac level has increased.]
[Lv. 24]
[You have acquired points(4).]
[Currently, you have a total of 20 points.]
[Skill upgrades are available.]
[Act Forbidden by Gods(F)] – 20
[Death Instinct(E)] – 20
[13th Sense(E)] – 10
[Get Hit Instead of Me(A)] – 3
[I can endure it once (F)] – 1
[I can endure it three times(F)] – 1
Lee Gun laughed in a satisfied manner. EXP was EXP, but he learned something that couldn’t be learned by simply beating up Hugo. He got an estimate of Hugo’s battle ability. The Archer Saint’s defense, speed, and power were excellent.
That was why Lee Gun said, “As expected of my friend, he didn’t slack off for the past twenty years.”
Despite having such an opinion, he had turned his friend into chunks of meat.
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. “I didn’t know this cloning skill could copy someone’s abilities to this extent.”
“…!”
The Aquarius flinched at that gaze.
Lee Gun nonchalantly moved. “If you can make such excellent clones, my kids can use them as dolls to level up.”
[?!]
“What’s the use condition? How many more can you make? Can you multiply them endlessly?”
[…!]
“Ah! It’s fine.” Lee Gun’s eyes suddenly turned menacing. “I planned on taking only the Purify skill, but I’ve changed my plans. Give me that cloning skill. No, just give me everything you have. I want to try using it for myself.”
[?!]
When Lee Gun finally let out his menacing black power, the Aquarius quickly used its power as well.
[Soul Reflected On Water (SSS)]
The shape of another person appeared in front of him.
Lee Gun grinned. “This idiot Aquarius is gifting me EXP…”
When Lee Gun picked up his blade, however…
“!”
His eyes suddenly turned round. “Uh? That’s…!”
He had thought the body of water would turn into Hugo, but it turned into someone else. This familiar face surprised everyone. It was to be expected.
“L-Lee Gun!?”
“That’s Lee Gun-nim!”
There was no mistaking it. The man had a shaved head and a face that looked smashed. It was Lee Gun from twenty years ago, and he didn’t have his mask on.
The disciples screamed when they saw him.
“Ahhhk! He looks like a vampire in a movie!”
“No, he looks like that character you can’t kill. He looks like Deadpool…”
Sophie got traumatized just from looking at such a hideous face. Foam appeared in her mouth. She was about to faint.
The dumbfounded Lee Gun tried to swing his blade. “What nonsense are you—”
Shweek!!!
“?!”
His eyes suddenly turned round when an arrow flew past him from behind, the sound of an explosion accompanying it.
Kwahng!
The fake Lee Gun’s head exploded as it fell over.
Koohng!
The disciples screamed when the headless Lee Gun crashed to the ground.
“Ahhk! Lee-Gun-nim!”
“Who did it?”
“It was so fast that I didn’t see it!”
Lee Gun became angry when he saw his corpse. Only one person would do this.
And as expected! “Ha ha ha ha! I killed Gun! Ha ha ha ha! This is cathartic! What the hell? Lee Gun isn’t much at all!” Hugo, who had moved far away into the distance, let out a vicious laugh.
The disciples were surprised to see who it was.
“What the hell? He hit the target from so far away?”
“What? Where? Is someone moving over there?”
“No way! He is so far away that he is a dot.”
Lee Gun clicked his tongue. Oh-Taeksoo. That bastard… “He is so childish….”
Since he had killed the fake Hugo, it seemed Hugo wanted revenge in this fashion. Of course, Hugo had killed the worst version of him. Back then, Lee Gun had been very unwell.
“That was when I was the weakest. You shouldn’t be so happy killing—”
At that moment…
Flash!
“!”
Something sloshed inside the water once again. Another Lee Gun appeared alongside a flash of light!
“!”
This Lee Gun looked to be in a much better state than the previous one. It left Lee Gun flabbergasted; no, it was beyond that. He felt contempt. “It seems you extracted my past data and saved it.”
As if to show that this was a useless move, Lee Gun’s blade emitted a light. This fake was from a time when Lee Gun was doing pretty well for himself. Hugo would have a hard time winning against it.
Therefore, Lee Gun decided to kill it. He was about to raise his blade when…!
Shwehhhhk!
Kwahng!!
“?!”
Another beam of light flew in like a laser. It once again blew up the fake Lee Gun’s head.
This beam of light was an arrow. In fact, it was three straight arrows. The arrows hit his head, body, and legs, turning the fake into chunks of meat.
The one who had shot the arrows laughed from the distance as if to rub it in Lee Gun’s face. “Ha ha ha ha! Did you see? What the hell! Lee Gun isn’t much! He’s like a complete side character! I was scared for nothing!”
Of course, it didn’t end there.
[The Chalice has created a clone.]
[The Chalice has created a clone.]
Lee Gun’s clones kept increasing in number. However, Hugo wasn’t called the Zodiac Saint of absolute accuracy without reason.
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
Hugo destroyed the Lee Gun clones from a distance before they could form. They were all headshots with pinpoint accuracy!
In the last shot, Hugo was having so much fun that he aimed for a part that shouldn’t be targeted for a man!!
Kwahng!
Lee Gun felt a bit nauseous as he closed his eyes. Veins popped out on his face.
This Hugo was unlike his previous self. The Archer Saint was now receiving the Serpent Bearer’s buff since his temple was an affiliate to the Serpent Bearer’s.
Moreover, he had high faith, so his attributes had received a significant buff than what a low-rank disciple would get. Therefore, him being able to kill Lee Gun’s past clones was understandable.
“Ha ha ha ha! Lee Gun isn’t much! At the end of the day, it just takes one shot from me!”
That son of a bitch. Lee Gun was angry, but this situation seemed to turn out to be lucrative for Hugo.
[Affiliate Zodiac Saint(Hugo Otis) has gained a massive amount of EXP.]
[Affiliate Zodiac Saint(Hugo Otis) has gained a massive amount of EXP.]
……
[Affiliate Zodiac Saint(Hugo Otis) has gained a massive amount of EXP.]
[Affiliate Zodiac Saint(Hugo Otis) has leveled up(Lv. 2).]
All of these futile attempts made the Aquarius flustered. The Zodiac extended its hand toward Lee Gun.
[The Aquarius is attempting to use Copy.]
The sloshing water surface appeared above Lee Gun’s head.
‘!’
As a result, the surface reflected Lee Gun!
[The Aquarius is trying to extract the Serpent Bearer’s data.]
Lee Gun furrowed his brows.
[It has failed.]
[The Serpent Bearer’s data can’t be copied.]
The Aquarius became flustered. It had never failed to extract data before. From the beginning, its goal had been to buy enough time to copy Lee Gun. However, everything had failed.
This situation was something it hadn’t expected, so the Aquarius quickly turned around.
[The Aquarius is trying to run away.]
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. “There is no way you are running away.”
He suddenly used the Serpent Eater skill.
[The Serpent Eater skill has caught the Aquarius.]
[It has caught the Aquarius’s arm.]
Kwahng!
An incredible light surged forth.
[The Aquarius has detached its hand and run away.]
[The Aquarius has gone to a place a human is unable to go. It has run away to the base of the gods.]
[You cannot drag out the Aquarius through its Zodiac Saint.]
[It has completely disappeared from the earth.]
[You cannot chase after it.]
The notifications made the dumbfounded Lee Gun scoff. “You’re running away??”
He couldn’t chase after it. The Zodiac had run away to the world of the gods. Of course, this didn’t mean Lee Gun was out of options. “Hey. I know you gophers are watching. Come out.”
At Lee Gun’s threat, a silver light and a red light appeared from beneath Lee Gun’s feet. They were the lights of the Zodiacs.
“Open it.”
If one wanted to chase after a god, one just had to use another god. Lee Gun seemed to have guessed right. A strange door made out of light appeared in front of him.
Flash!
[It is a door connected to the middle world of the twelve Zodiacs.]
[It is a door connected to the Aquarius’s space.]
On the other side of the door was the distinct middle world that could be possessed by the twelve Zodiacs. In other words, that place was a hideout for the gods.
Since the Aquarius had some particular abilities, it had many interactions with the other gods. Therefore, there was a ticket that could access the Aquarius’s hideout.
This made Lee Gun laugh.
However, the Zodiacs spoke in a worried manner.
[The Virgo says the Aquarius has locked its door.]
[It cannot be opened.]
At that moment…
[You can use the power of Space, which you acquired from the undead monarch.]
[Conqueror of Space!]
Lee Gun extended his hand, and the door was ruthlessly ripped apart.
