“Yesterday, Lee Gun and Hugo had a big fight. They almost ended their relationship. What was the fight about?”
The person that looked like Lee Gun started to sweat.
Hailey’s brows furrowed. “What? You can’t answer it?”
At that moment, Lee Gun looked furious, and his eyes flashed. “The content of that conversation shouldn’t be discussed in this place. Also, there was no reason for you to kick me.”
Suddenly, he emitted a wave of menacing magical energy. This power was unmistakably the power of the god of Calamity!
Goat screamed when he saw Lee Gun’s patented power. “Sungjae Saint-nim! Please stop Lee Gun-nim! We have to stop their fight—.”
However…
“Son of a bitch!”
Boohoo-gahk!!!
Chun Sungjae’s dropkick landed on Lee Gun’s face. The young man had teleported above Lee Gun’s head before executing the kick.
Lee Gun fell over backward.
Boom!
Goat screamed at this sight. “Saint-nim!”
However, it didn’t end with Chun Sungjae; the young man was just the start. Chun Yooha and Carly also attacked Lee Gun.
Puhk! Puhk!
Lee Gun glared at them. “What are you guys doing— Kuhk!”
However, he could not complete his sentence.
“How dare you speak with Uncle’s voice, imposter! Stop it!”
“!!”
Those words caused a commotion within the stadium.
“Imposter? What does that mean?”
At that moment, Hailey raised her elegant hand and flicked her finger. “Poison of Return!”
As the skill worked, a chaotic aura appeared around Lee Gun’s body. At the same time, Lee Gun screamed as he grabbed his face.
“Silvia!”
The face melted away to reveal a woman. This woman was none other than the SS-rank from the Pisces temple!
Goat’s mouth fell open when he recognized a fellow Ten Star. “You…!”
Soon, a flood of complaints erupted in the stands.
“How dare you change into Lee Gun!”
“Damn Pisces temple!”
“Give us the real Lee Gun-nim!”
Silvia screamed when items were thrown at her from the stands.
“Did you really need Lee Gun’s reputation this badly?”
On the other hand, Goat realized the reason Silvia transformed into Lee Gun. “You are pretending to be Lee Gun-nim to take back the Taurus Saint, right?”
“!”
This surprised him. He had never imagined anyone could recreate Lee Gun’s magical energy, even if it was Silvia.
‘I’m sure I felt Lee Gun-nim’s power.’
However, he soon realized how this happened.
[The power of the Zodiac of the Pisces temple, the master of the sea creatures, can be felt.]
[The Pisces Zodiac glares at the servant of the Scorpio.]
Yes, this entire thing was the plot of the Pisces. This was why Silvia ground her teeth.
‘This was a good opportunity for us to take away the Taurus Saint.’
They had confirmed that Lee Gun remained closeted inside his holy ground. Moreover, they had assumed Lee Gun’s Zodiac Saints would know where the Taurus Saint was.
The change in the situation aggrieved Silvia. “My transformation was perfect. How did you know?”
The Chun siblings looked dumbfounded at the question. They became angry.
“You smell different!”
“The tone of your voice is completely different!”
“Your eyelashes curl in the wrong way!”
“Above all else, Uncle doesn’t speak as if he cares about others’ feelings!”
“?!”
Stevens and Goat started to sweat when they heard their words. They had noticed the smell and the voice?
“Did you notice it?”
“No. Not at all.”
They didn’t get what those people were talking about when they referred to the smell. This was more true about the voice.
As an SS-rank, Silvia had sounded completely like Lee Gun. The prickly personality she portrayed was that of Lee Gun.
Chun Sungjae became angry as if they were slandering Lee Gun with their words. “Uncle’s eyes aren’t like fish eyes!”
“Whatever! You fell for it halfway.”
The young man’s eyes flashed at his sister’s scolding. “Damn it! Anyway, the smell was different!”
His old roommate Hahn Jimin had commented about it in the past. He had said Lee Gun-nim always smelled good.
Sungjae had surmised it was a smell that only gods emanated. As a god’s divinity became more virtuous, their scent also became better. And if the divinity became corrupt, the smell turned foul. He had thought that was the basic principle. Well, he had become capable of smelling it just recently.
‘Noona doesn’t know about it again.’
Well, it didn’t matter.
Hailey approached Silvia. “You used such an unseemly method.”
Hearing the menacing voice, Silvia unconsciously stepped backward. Was Hailey angry because she had changed into Lee Gun? That wasn’t all.
Silvia unconsciously felt something in Hailey’s aura that she recognized.
‘Monarch.’
Hailey’s power felt especially similar to that of the monarch of Time. However, this wasn’t important right now.
‘!’
Silvia became surprised when an unfamiliar creature, a bird, landed on her shoulder. Her face turned pale when she realized the identity of the bird.
‘Can it be?’
Silvia desperately looked at the sky. And as she had expected…
The one to send down that bird landed on the roof of the stadium. “What the hell? It has already started?”
‘Lee Gun?!’
Silvia shook in terror.
The real Lee Gun was laughing from a distance. However, no one in the audience realized he was there, and neither did his Zodiac Saints. No one took notice of Lee Gun…
When Lee Gun’s eyes met hers, Silvia trembled.
‘No. It isn’t as if others haven’t noticed him.’
He made sure everyone didn’t notice.
He had hidden his presence so much that a crowd of this size and even his Zodiac Saints failed to notice him.
Since she was the only one to notice him, Silvia felt chills run down her back. Lee Gun had purposefully sent the bird to notify her of his presence.
‘Even the Zodiacs didn’t notice him.’
It surprised her.
‘This is odd. Lee Gun should be outside of Drachma…’
As if he had read her thoughts, Lee Gun let out a cheeky smile as he maintained eye contact. “Well, I’m sure the slime is doing a good job of not being found out over there.”
Lee Gun had jammed the data of the Pisces into the slime, and the slime was able to change its energy. It could fool Zodiacs and observatories now.
Lee Gun had used that to secretly come here.
‘I really need the power of a defensive-type Zodiac.’
The Serpent Bearer didn’t have even one defensive skill. However, Lee Gun had Super Regeneration, so the lack of defensive skills wouldn’t be a detriment in his fights. But his disciples were a different matter.
‘I enjoy the pain, so it doesn’t matter.’
The others weren’t like him. Lee Gun didn’t want his nephew, his niece, and his friend to suffer. That wasn’t all.
‘Super Regeneration needs part of the body to survive.’
At the very least, there had to be 50% of the body left for the skill to activate, whereas anyone above the general rank could turn the disciples’ bodies into ashes. This was especially true for the monarch ranks.
This was why Lee Gun gave importance to this problem. Super Regeneration would be meaningful only if one could block the attack at least once.
However, a Zodiac possessed indomitable defense. It was the Taurus, the only defensive-type Zodiac.
‘That means I’ll have to get rid of the Taurus to acquire the defensive power.’
This move would allow him to patch the weakness of the Serpent Bearer. He’d also be able to make the strongest defensive gears.
Of course, creating the strongest defensive gear just by pounding in the Taurus’s data wasn’t supposed to be possible. However, Lee Gun was confident in his abilities. It had a bit to do with his pride.
The Taurus was his prey, but breaking through its defense wouldn’t be easy. This had nothing to do with the difference in their powers.
‘For some odd reason, I don’t match up well with the Taurus.’
Lee Gun had no idea why. It was as if someone had cursed him.
Anyway, the Taurus had shown up to the event in Drachma. When Lee Gun had learned that the Taurus had descended into a human body to appear there, he knew this was an opportunity. That was why he had come here.
“What the hell are they doing?” However, Lee Gun started to sweat when he saw his niece, his nephew, and Carly.
Despite knowing Silvia was the fake Lee Gun, they immediately rushed toward her. The reason was simple.
“Change into Uncle wearing a tuxedo!!”
“No! Change into a loveable Lee Gun-nim!”
“No! Change into a kind uncle, and pet my head!!”
“No. I want an enticing uncle!!”
“I would love a sexy pose too!!”
“What about a woman? If so, I can marry Uncle!”
What the hell were they doing?
Frightened, Silvia looked at Lee Gun. “Let go! This isn’t the time to do this! Can’t you see him over there? Lee Gun is— Kuhk!”
“It seems you didn’t learn your lesson until the end.” When Hailey approached her, Silvia’s body shook.
Hailey was gorgeous, but also scary. She unsheathed her Tachi, her royal holy item.
Boom!
“Wait a moment. We are having an interesting conversation.”
“!!”
Lee Gun’s voice rang behind Hailey.
The familiar voice that she heard a handspan above her head froze her.
“Uh… Uh…”
Lee Gun held Hailey’s hand, which was holding her sword; the Scorpio Saint was losing her mind.
Lee Gun nonchalantly stopped Hailey, but his eyes flashed. A signal was sent to the bird that made Silvia afraid!
Then, a large explosion occurred.
Kwahng!!!
“Ahhhhk!”
The item sent on top of Silvia’s shoulder seemed to be an explosive-type holy item.
Silvia became as black as charcoal. She screamed as she was sent flying.
[“Direct Grill Torch (SS)” was successfully activated.]
[Fifty percent of her god’s blessing has been eliminated.]
[You have acquired Disassemble EXP.]
At the same time, shouts filled the stadium.
“It is Lee Gun! It is the real Lee Gun!”
“Lee Gun! He’s the one who acquired territory by killing the boss of the enemies!”
“Hey. He has yet to acquire the land. It is in the middle of their territory, so he has to plant his flag over there.”
“Anyway, he’s the hope of humanity! Do you know this? The Church of Lee Gun has appeared.”
“Did they say he was a Zodiac…? Is that for real?”
The Taurus seemed to find the attention Lee Gun received contemptible.
“It seems you took your time to get here. Well, it’s less work for me since I don’t have to go looking for you.”
The Taurus approached Lee Gun from the front, looking like it wanted to kill Lee Gun. “Hurry up and return what you stole, Serpent Bearer.”
“Stole? Are you talking about Yong Yong’s chew toy?”
“What? Chew toy?”
“Yes. Since your Zodiac Saint’s body is so tough, I gave him to Yong Yong as a chew toy.”
“?!”
“Why are you making such an expression? He’s suitable for it. Chew toys are made out of cowhide.”
In response to the rude words, brown lightning surged forth.
Screams erupted.
Kwahng!!!
“Lee Gun!!!”
The pissed-off Taurus struck out first, its fist capable of blowing apart a mountain.
However, Heaven’s Punishment blocked that fist.
The Taurus wanted to crush Lee Gun. It let out a savage laugh. “You were lucky to acquire divinity twenty-four years ago.”
The Zodiac did not have a weapon, but its entire body could be considered one. It was a Zodiac of unarmed fighting. “I’m not like the idiots that drool over your weapons.”
The Zodiac was making fun of battle-type temples, which included the temples of Stevens and Hugo.
As if it wanted to kill Lee Gun, it released its divine status.
[Warning! The Taurus’s intimidation is getting closer.]
Unlike the battle-type Zodiacs, the Taurus could bring people to their knees just from its divine status touching them.
Kwahng!!
Heaven’s Punishment bared its teeth since the Taurus had dared to mess with its owner.
[Heaven’s Punishment has used its entire body to block the Zodiac’s strike.]
[It roars, saying it won’t let its owner get hurt.]
On the other hand, faced with the loyalty of Heaven’s Punishment, Lee Gun furrowed his brows. For some reason, he pulled the weapon back.
“U-Uncle!”
“Lee Gun! Have you lost your mind?!”
Stevens was surprised, but Lee Gun put away Heaven’s Punishment as he maintained distance.
‘As expected, we are incompatible.’
Was it because his level had risen? Unlike before, he would be able to damage the Taurus, but his offensive capabilities were too woeful in front of it, as if he was under a debuff.
Of course, he felt as if he could break through if he attacked with more power, but…
[Warning! The Taurus is wearing the “Item that kills Serpents.”]
[The Serpent Bearer’s power is weakening.]
[All disciples and holy items that have received the blessing of the Serpent Bearer will suffer a penalty in front of the Taurus.]
This made Lee Gun furrow his brows. Was the “Item that kills Serpents” the reason they were incompatible?
‘They did say the thirteenth Zodiac was murdered by the twelve Zodiacs.’
It was probably killed using this item.
Therefore, Lee Gun looked at Heaven’s Punishment.
[At the soul-rending pain, Heaven’s Punishment is starting to get distressed.]
[Heaven’s Punishment is firm as it endures the pain.]
‘Since it is an EX-rank weapon, there is no way its body will break.’
Its body wouldn’t break, but it had a sense of self; it would be in extreme pain. That was why Lee Gun just needed one second.
‘Is there anyone who can break through its defense for me?’
If the barrier was brought down for an instant, he could strike the Zodiac with Heaven’s Punishment or the Serpent Eater skill. However, he gave up.
‘Breaking through a Zodiac’s defense would be impossible unless the being is a monarch rank.’
On the other hand, the Zodiac was inside a human’s body right now. It was a golden opportunity for Lee Gun.
‘There is no way an arrogant monarch would show up right on cue…’
Suddenly…
Koo-goo-goong!
The ground they were standing on started to shake.
“Kyahhhhk!”
They were above the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Drachma had been passing over the ocean when it violently tilted all of a sudden. It started to fall.
Then, the Deep Ocean monarch appeared above the ocean.
