Abundance fell to the power of Lee Gun’s power of Death.
Lee Gun’s opponent held the highest position of leading its side’s forces. Its strength, body, and power were top-notch. Its power had made the Zodiacs raise their guards and insist on fighting a defensive battle.
Such a monarch had fallen to its knees against the power of the god of calamity.
[You have devoured Abundance.]
[You have gained a massive amount of EXP.]
[You have leveled up by five levels.]
[Lv. 29]
[Your physical stats have been upgraded.]
[Speed increased. Visual acuity increased. Senses heightened.]
[You have acquired points (20).]
[Total Points Possessed: 40]
– Upgradeable Skills
[Super Regeneration(S)] [13th Sense(D)] [Act Forbidden by the Gods(F)] [Revival(F)] [Reaper Summon(F)]
[“Death” and “Life” are happy.]
[Both are excited, saying their skills should be increased.]
People cheered.
A monarch had fallen, so the monsters all over Seoul started to hesitate.
[The energy of our king has disappeared.]
[It is gone from this world!]
The monsters were connected to all the monarchs. They received commandments and power from the monarchs to crush the Zodiacs. That was how they could overrun the humans.
So when they lost their connection to the power of a monarch, the monsters immediately knew what had happened.
‘A monarch has gone extinct!’
This was a dangerous situation. Realizing the loss of their master, the invaders under the Abundance monarch quickly started to step backward.
[Retreat!]
[We have no chance of winning!]
[If we stay here, that Serpent Zodiac will eat all of us!]
They were going to temporarily return to their encampment. Then, they would borrow power from the owner of a different encampment.
Boom!
[!]
As if to ask where they were running away, Chun Sungjae, who had the face of Lee Gun, raised his hand high. “It’s too late.”
Flames erupted around him, and his eyes turned golden. “Do you really think you can leave this place at will?”
The angry Chun Sungjae punched the ground, which made green pillars of fire surge up in various locations.
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
As if life was boiling up, the ground started to move with the lava. The fire pillars that had surged from the lava changed into a fierce serpent and blocked the path of the monsters.
Boom!!
The monsters screamed.
“Kee-ehhhhhhk!”
[Shit!]
Immediately after their retreat was cut off, the monsters heard a roar. This roar was coming from the disciples, who had been losing up to this point.
“Don’t lose them!”
“Kill every last one of them!”
The resonant roar shook the hearts of the monsters. It was as if the disciples’ shouts had boiled up from the earth. It was as if the roar could shake the ground. This was the rage of humans!
“Wahhhhhhhhh!”
When the disciples rushed forward, the monsters looked flustered. This situation was very different for them. The monarch that had been supporting them was gone. For the first time in their lives, these monsters felt intimidated.
They viewed humans as food, but now they found themselves losing courage. However, something else was even more frightening.
Kwah-jeek!
[…!!!]
Lee Gun moved faster than the roar of the disciples. It wasn’t an exaggeration. He moved faster than the roar that pierced the monsters’ ears.
By the time the monsters registered Lee Gun appearing from the west, he was already gone from there. And when the monsters heard screams of their comrades from the north, they saw their comrades’ heads fly into the air in the south.
Within this chaos, Lee Gun was letting out a cold smile.
When the monsters barely caught up to him, their comrades had been decapitated! They tried to surround him, but it was useless.
The ax was closer to a blunt weapon, yet it effortlessly cut and crushed their comrades. Lee Gun sent the severed heads flying as if they were baseballs. It showed the monsters that they were mere pieces of meat.
Kwahng!!
It was like watching a cannon at work. The monsters froze when they witnessed the power. Then, they started to run away in a direction out of Lee Gun’s line of sight.
However, someone had anticipated this.
“Welcome.” With his bow pulled back, the Archer Saint laughed.
Hugo had placed himself on the exact opposite end of Lee Gun, and he had been waiting for his prey.
As soon as the monsters entered his range, he shot his arrow.
Pahk!!!
This arrow contained the concentrated power of the Serpent Bearer, and it exploded like a nuclear bomb.
Kwah-gwagwahg!
A luminescent light covered the city, and all the monsters swept up in the energy died. Not even traces of them were left.
Normally, Hugo never even thought about receiving power from Lee Gun. However, he had no choice right now.
[The Sagittarius is sad.]
Since his Zodiac Saint was borrowing the Serpent Bearer’s power, the Sagittarius wouldn’t get the EXP and the tributes; they would all head toward Lee Gun. But that wasn’t the problem.
‘This is all of your own doing. Who told you to dig yourself into a hole?’
Since the monarch had spread these seeds itself, the monsters, including the baby ones, had given the disciples a significant amount of EXP.
[All Contribution is headed toward the Serpent Bearer.]
[All the EXP is headed toward the Serpent Bearer.]
[The Constructs of the Serpent Bearer are happy as they take the tributes.]
[The Sagittarius is appalled.]
Hugo wasn’t the only one taking an active role. The Chun siblings, who had awakened as the Zodiac Saint of Life and the Zodiac Saint of Death, showcased their abilities as well.
Yooha held Crimson Earth’s Judgment, which had now turned into a scythe. She lightly landed in front of the monsters trying to run away.
[!]
“Death” seemed to have killed her presence and sound. Chun Yooha appeared emanating black smoke and activated her skill. It was the skill of the Zodiac Saint of Death, which had appeared alongside her awakening!
Kwah-jeek!
The scythe moved in a circle as Yooha swept through the enemies. She had been surrounded, her path blocked. However, that posed no impediment to her.
[All’s fair in Death (SS)]
Surrounded by the black power, Chun Yooha moved through the bodies of monsters. She was like a ghost. It was all thanks to the power of space control, which was under the domain of Death.
This skill allowed her to enter anywhere. She could even pass through living humans. It didn’t matter where her opponent was hiding, and it didn’t matter if she was trapped or not. Yooha could move freely without constraint.
This was the power of Death, which treated everything as equal. It was one of the basic attributes of the divine status of Death.
Moreover, Chun Yooha was already adept at hiding her presence. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that she gravitated toward Death.
“Kee-ehhhhhhhk!”
The disciples were shocked to see the attacks of the newly awakened Zodiac Saint.
Carly, who had been swinging her blade, was also surprised.
‘Chun Yooha became stronger.’
Carly could recognize at once that Chun Yooha had grown in power.
Normally, Carly said Yooha was weak; she discreetly tried to get on Yooha’s nerves. It had been a form of provocation.
Carly always knew Chun Yooha was capable of using more power, but Chun Yooha was never able to break open that egg. That was why Carly kept provoking her.
However, she had never thought Chun Yooha was stronger than her. Carly was that confident in her skills.
‘I’m not so sure now.’
Carly unconsciously gulped. She felt as if Chun Yooha had slightly cracked open her egg. She also felt envious since she was greedy when it came to growing her power.
‘I wanted to become a Zodiac Saint.’
What surprised the disciples once again was that the Serpent Bearer had more than one Zodiac Saint.
Kwahng! Kwahng!
The disciples were already in an uproar, thanks to the weapons in the hands of the disciples from the Sagittarius temple. The rumor of their incredibly strong weapons had spread already.
“What? The last-place temple’s abilities are extraordinary now?”
“Their basic specs were already high, but this feels different! Their weapons are extraordinary!”
“When they use 100% of their power, additional functions appear from… You have to see it for yourself. I’ve never seen this before! It is amazing!”
“!”
Equipment like holy items was like the lifeblood of humanity. They were necessities, so everyone was naturally interested in such items.
At first, the other disciples had thought it was a joke, but a ruckus had broken out when they confirmed the power of those weapons.
“What the hell? Are those manufactured products from the Genius Workshop?”
“Why would you even ask such a question? Who else could make such weapons other than the Genius Workshop?”
The Genius Workshop was a workshop under the direct supervision of the Capricorn. It was the elite workshop where humanity’s greatest craftsmen gathered to create weapons. They were the highest authority in charge of making all equipment for humanity.
However, those craftsmen were known to be the most arrogant in the world. Even governments and the Ten Stars walked on eggshells around them. This was also why people didn’t bother dealing with them.
“Wow! That’s crazy! I’ll have to ask them to make me one too!”
“Hey! Goat! How were you able to commission the Genius Workshop? Introduce us to— Ahhhhk!”
Goat sent an arrow flying toward the generals. He became angry as if they were speaking nonsense. These idiots really thought the Genius Workshop made those weapons. “These were all manufactured by the great Lee Gun-nim.”
“What?!”
This was the appearance of weapons superior to the ones made by the Capricorn Temple. Such surprising news started spreading across the world. It probably reached the Genius Workshop, too.
Soon, all the forces of Abundance were killed, and in turn, Lee Gun gained something new.
[The region occupied by Abundance (the Black zone and the Red zone) can be recovered.]
[You will be able to bring back the authority possessed by Abundance.]
Humanity’s counterattack had started.
* * *
It was one o’clock.
The defense of Seoul had ended in a success, and the disciples were cleaning up after themselves.
“Hey! Sungjae!” Hugo had to get into a quarrel with his son. “What the hell are you doing? Hurry up and get out of there!”
“Noooooooo!! I’ll never leave it!”
“What?! Have you lost your mind?”
Yes, Hugo was arguing with Sungjae, who was refusing to leave Lee Gun’s body. In actuality, that body was the slime.
Chun Sungjae was a fanboy, and he was in the body of the slime, which looked like Lee Gun. He was in heaven. This was on a completely different level than collecting figurines or cosplaying. He looked like the great hero from twenty years ago, who he saw in those videos.
Chun Sungjae was shedding tears as he wailed in happiness. “This is so cool! I just want to live in this body like this!” He tried to run away.
In the end, Hugo grabbed the back of his son’s neck. “Jeez! Why the hell does it have to be Gun’s body from twenty years ago? You were born and raised handsome!”
“I don’t need any of that! Uncle is the best!”
At this moment, Chun Yooha raised her scythe as if she could no longer stand it. Since she had become the Zodiac Saint of Death, she could probably extract a soul if she wanted to. She could probably do it easily.
“Get out of there now.”
Suh-guhk!
“Ahhhhk! Noooooo!”
In the end, Chun Sungjae was dragged out of the slime’s body, and he had no choice but to go back into his own body.
Watching this from a distance, Hugo looked pleased.
‘As expected, my daughter is grea—’
“I’m going in now. Get out of the way.”
“What the hell did you just say?!!”
The bystanders seemed to be the only normal ones. The disciples of the other temples and Guisoon, the Secretary, were speechless. They just clicked their tongues.
Lee Gun was indeed cool in certain ways, but none of them could understand the mental state of these fanatics.
However, something was even more incomprehensible.
“Isn’t it a complete miss that he was chosen as the Zodiac Saint of Life…? From the looks of it, both of them are more suited to be the Zodiac Saints of Death.”
It was definitely a call for celebration that they were able to become the Zodiac Saints of Life & Death, respectively.
Both Life and Death were satisfied with their Zodiac Saints.
[“Life” loves Chun Sungjae’s “sadism.”]
[“Death” loves Chun Yooha’s “Rage.”]
[Each Zodiac Saint will be a big help in growing the Serpent Bearer’s Divine statuses.]
[Warning! You are Lv. 29. You are gaining attention from the Zodiacs of the same level.]
[When you reach Lv. 30, your body will experience an unexpected change.]
[If you aren’t ready for it, please control your EXP so that you don’t reach Lv. 30.]
Lee Gun wondered what this unexpected change was, but he didn’t think too much about it. He still had a lot of time before he reached level thirty.
‘I can feel my body’s stats increasing now that I’m getting close to level thirty.’
However, that wasn’t important right now.
“Gun. Let’s talk for a moment.”
“!”
Hugo, who had been busy with his children causing quite the trouble for him, led Lee Gun to a place with no people.
Lee Gun furrowed his brows. “What is it again? I was eating—”
Hugo grabbed Lee Gun, who was earnestly drinking from a juice box, and asked, “I wanted to respect your privacy, so I planned on not asking.”
“?”
“Who is Yeonwoo?”
“!”
Lee Gun’s eyes turned round when he heard the name.
