“Do you like the cow, or do you like the snake?”
The question stirred up the disciples above the water. They wondered why he was suddenly asking such a question.
“Cow and the snake…”
Although the disciples were surprised, one of them let out a bright laugh. “Really? Why are you asking such a thing? Of course, I like the cow— Kuh-huhk!”
The slow-on-the-uptake disciple was sent flying before he could finish.
Kwahng!
“Ahhhk! Michael!”
The disciple fell unconscious as he got sent flying into the ocean.
His comrades quickly tried to fish him out when Lee Gun approached them.
“What’s wrong?”
“!”
“Since I like meat, I recognize that you guys might like beef.”
Lee Gun held up Heaven’s Punishment in acknowledgment.
The Taurus disciples became frightened. They knew about Heaven’s Punishment; the Capricorn had made it for Lee Gun.
“Why…! Why did that weapon go from the second stage to the third stage…!”
“Why? You guys tried to kill my disciples and affiliates under the orders of your Zodiac.”
“What? Ahhhk! I’m sorry! However, it was an order from our Zodiac, so—”
Lee Gun didn’t care about that in the first place. His eyes flashed. “Whatever. You, do you like the snake, or do you like the cow?”
“W-What? I mean… At the end of the day, I cannot betray my master— Poo-hahk!”
Another disciple flew away. This time, the others caught sight of blood.
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he held up Heaven’s Punishment. “Now then, do you like the cow, or do you like the snake?”
“Snake!!! We like the snake!!!!”
“Snake, all the way!”
“Hey! Really, guys!” Goat clutched at his face when he saw this. “It has started again… Lee Gun-nim’s forced conversion.”
“Hey, that isn’t a missionary. That is a threat.”
Yes, Stevens, who was also a victim of the missionary process, ground his teeth. Since the Leo disciples were useful for fighting, Lee Gun had pilfered and dragged away numerous disciples from the Leo temple. Of course, most of them failed to clear the faith requirement, so they were sent back.
Lee Gun planned on doing this again?
“They aren’t going to pass the faith requirement, anyway!”
Goat started to sweat when he heard Stevens. “No… The faith rises if he physically attacks them… He just needs to use his bible to raise the faith.”
“It doesn’t mean much after the bible’s buff comes to an end!”
That was true. The Secretaries’ abilities were unrelated to the Zodiacs. This was why their faith being low didn’t matter.
“When it comes to fighters, nothing good will come from their abilities being debuffed.”
At that moment…
“Did you not hear him, idiot? He is going to merge the twelve temples.”
“!”
Stevens flinched when he heard the prickly voice. This voice belonged to Hugo, who had shouted those words as he rose to the surface of the water.
After pushing back his wet hair, the Archer Saint exited the water. “If he’s going to merge them, faith isn’t needed. He just has to make the Zodiacs submit, and he could bring the temples in entirely.”
“Merge? Will it be like the Aquarius temple?”
They had already heard about what had happened to the Aquarius temple. The Aquarius Saint had been ground down, and someone under Lee Gun had occupied the Aquarius’s seat. That meant the Taurus would….
Hugo smirked at Stevens’s expression. “You’re so naive. He went easy on the Aquarius temple”
“What? He went easy? He could have done something more to them?”
Instead of answering, Hugo snorted.
‘The best outcome was to spare the Zodiac. The temple would become an affiliate, and they would be treated as underlings.’
The worse option would be the Zodiac getting taken out. Lee Gun’s subordinate would be placed in the seat of the Zodiac as a slave.
In both scenarios, their treatment would be different, but the temple would survive.
“Wouldn’t he have the option of annihilating the temple?”
In other words, it was a merger.
Stevens’s face turned pale. “He’ll get rid of the Taurus temple?!”
“The Taurus temple specializes in defense. Does he need the temple if he can steal their abilities?”
“Stop playing with me! Even if its powers are taken, a temple has its own techniques and traditions! It would be like getting rid of the pulse of a temple!”
“I don’t know. I have no interest in the other battle-type temples. In fact, the Sagittarius temple will become one of the three great battle-type temples if the Taurus temple goes away. That might be for the better.”
“Hey! That is your goal!”
“While he is at it, I might suggest to him that he should merge the Leo temple, too. We’ll be the two great battle-type temples. It has a nice ring to it.”
“Hey!”
Stevens wanted to reply to Hugo’s snort, but before he could do that….
“Kuh-huhk!”
Stevens was suddenly dragged toward Lee Gun. The one causing trouble was his prosthetic arm.
[Black Arm (Left) wails as it looks at its parent’s missing right arm.]
[Black Arm (Left) roars as it asks which bastard dares take the arm of its parent.]
[Black Arm (Left) says it will replace the missing arm.]
The prosthetic arm had seen Lee Gun, who had his arm cut off by Abyss. The prosthetic arm wailed as it tried to head toward Lee Gun.
Stevens desperately tried to stop the arm from leaving him. “Hey, where are you going? You already took four hundred thousand dollars for the usage fee!”
[Black Arm (Left) doesn’t care. Its parent is in critical condition.]
“Critical condition, my ass! Someone supposed to be in critical condition is threatening others!”
[It says he is going easy because he is in a critical condition.]
“What the hell? In the first place, you’re my left arm. You aren’t a right arm, so you’ll be useless— Kuh-huhk!”
[Black Arm (Left) is hurt by the verbal abuse. It is angry. It says you should pay compensation to its parent.]
“What the hell did you just say?”
In the end, Stevens was nickel-and-dimed to death as the prosthetic arm slapped him on the cheek.
Hugo looked at his surroundings and laughed in derision. “Anyway, you should be careful. Gun will try to merge the Leo temple too.”
“What?!”
“Why are you making such a face? Did you think he would forgive what you guys did just because you confessed?”
“…!!”
Hugo snorted when he saw Stevens’s trembling expression.
‘Of course, I’m lying.’
There was no way Lee Gun would get rid of the Leo.
Lee Gun kept cackling as he planned to extract the teeth and nails of the Leo. The beast provided good ingredients. In fact, Lee Gun had manufactured SSS-rank pliers so that he would have an easier time extracting its teeth.
‘He made SSS-rank pliers. That perverted bastard!’
Anyway, the ones at the biggest risk of being merged with the Serpent Bearer were the Taurus and the Pisces.
Thirteen temples might become eleven.
Kwahng!
“Ahhhhhk!”
At that moment, a scream rang out near Lee Gun’s side.
“My lord!”
Lee Gun had tossed the Taurus, who had been draped across his shoulder. The Taurus had been rolled up using its outer garment, and the disciples foamed at the mouth when they confirmed its face.
However, Lee Gun didn’t care about that. “I want to merge with the Taurus temple. Give me the seal to the Taurus temple. This guy doesn’t have it. That means one of you must.”
Hugo massaged his forehead as if he was fed up.
‘His actions aren’t that of a Zodiac. He acts like an evil god.’
On the other hand, awkward expressions appeared on the disciples’ faces.
“We do not have the seal. Our Ten Star…”
“Ten Star?”
As a member of the Ten Stars, Goat did a double take. The Ten Star of the Taurus temple was here until not too long ago. However, Joseph was missing now.
“Uh? He was here not too long ago.”
Lee Gun laughed in contempt.
“It seems you told him to run away.”
He looked at the tattered Taurus. The defensive-type Zodiac had a faint smile on its lips.
‘Go hide in our safe house.’
The Taurus temple was called the defense-type temple for a reason. If its disciples hid within the temple’s impregnable fortress, not even the attacks from the god of calamity would work against them.
Goat was about to move.
“Do not worry about him. I have the data of the Ten Stars, so I’ll be able to find him in no time.”
“No! Just shoot the tracking arrow. You don’t have to do anything other than that.”
“What?”
In the end, Goat did as Lee Gun ordered him to. He tilted his head in puzzlement as he readied the tracking arrow. Their opponent was part of the defense-type temple. An arrow would bounce off him. That meant…
“Do you plan on using Serpent Eater? That skill is…”
Serpent Eater was the only binding skill that Lee Gun had developed as a Zodiac. The skill was versatile, and he could even bind a soul. The only downside was the fact that the range was around only fifty meters.
That wasn’t all.
‘Lee Gun-nim’s arm is…’
Since it had been ripped away by a monarch, his right arm hadn’t regenerated yet. Serpent Eater was a capture skill; its effectiveness decreased if the Zodiac’s body was damaged.
‘Serpent Eater’s effectiveness decreases after a certain distance.’
The Taurus knew this, so it laughed. In the first place, the Taurus knew it wouldn’t be a problem.
[It is too late to track him down.]
Its disciple was already within the ocean. Joseph had received the Pisces’s blessing, so he should already be close to reaching Africa, the place where the Taurus’s holy ground was located.
At that moment…
Boom!!
A dark shadow appeared beneath Lee Gun’s feet.
[Death has been activated.]
After evolving to its third stage, Death had changed form again. Unlike the second stage where it only had its face, it now had arms and legs.
[Death has evolved to the third stage.]
[Its attack power, hunting technique, and sense have increased.]
[A new Death skill has been developed.]
Death roared into the sky, frightening everyone nearby.
[It will use the new power acquired from Abyss.]
[Pool!]
At the same time, the disciples screamed. Like the red tide, black water started to disperse into the ocean.
“Ahhhk! Everyone get out of there!”
“What the hell is that?”
Soon after the skill was activated…
“I caught him.” Lee Gun’s eyes flashed.
* * *
Around that time…
“Huhk. Huhk. We killed them all.”
“Huhk.”
The inside of Drachma was filled with the scent of blood, the reason being the monsters that Abyss had ordered to infiltrate Drachma.
These monsters had pretended to be caught as captives, and they had attacked the power room to take the Core of Drachma. It was a worthy target since it was where the energy of the twelve Zodiacs was stored.
This place contained the power cord that sustained the castle; it was the final line that should never be breached.
‘The castle will fall if its motive power is stolen.’
The castle falling into the ocean was secondary. This was the holy ground that Lee Gun had gone through the trouble of capturing. They wouldn’t let it be destroyed.
Therefore, Carly and Chun Yooha had sent only Chun Sungjae to Lee Gun’s side and took it upon themselves to defend this place.
When they had killed all the monsters, Drachma was filled with cheer.
“Lee Gun killed the ocean monster!”
“Really? I don’t think it was a normal rank.”
“Will this be like the green zone that appeared in Europe? Will humanity regain more land?”
“Moreover, he used his healing ability. The Zodiac of the Serpent Bearer temple is amazing…”
“Didn’t the Taurus refer to Lee Gun as a Zodiac?”
Carly was moved by this sight.
‘It means merging the twelve temples isn’t completely impossible for him.’
One needed a certain amount of reputation and faith to pull it off. Yet it didn’t look impossible. ‘It would have been perfect if he had a lot of Talent (currency of the gods).’
However, someone was watching this all with a troubled look in its eyes.
‘I never expected Abyss to be killed.’
This being was an observer for the Time monarch and had infiltrated this place by disguising itself as a disciple. It had hidden in this place to observe the Serpent Bearer.
‘Abundance’s loss already caused us a lot of headache, and now we have lost Abyss.’
Of course, numerous variants of Abyss were swimming around various oceans, and only one of them was killed, yet this was a troublesome development.
‘Since Abyss is gone, we have basically lost the Warp ability.’
Warp was a movement technique similar to teleportation. Since Abyss was gone, this was an opportunity to steal the monarch’s territory.
In truth, numerous factions were already moving to take the empty fertile lands before the humans could plant their flags.
‘However, Abyss’s death will be very troublesome.’
The power of Warp was an ability the observer’s lord frequently used. That meant…
‘We have to revive Abyss.’
As it had this thought, the observer took out a pocket watch from its pocket. It was an item that contained the power of the Time monarch.
[Pocket Watch that reverts time]
– Moves the clock 5 seconds back
This would allow it to return to a time before the Abyss was killed.
The observer just had to change the past slightly so that Lee Gun and Abyss never met. Of course, it didn’t have the power or an item to pull this off, but this place was Drachma.
‘The powers of the twelve Zodiacs are gathered here.’
An enormous amount of energy was contained within the power core of Drachma. The core could boost the power of its item. It could probably turn back time to an hour.
‘It’ll be enough to return the Abyss.’
That was why the observer laughed as it headed toward the power core. Capricorn disciples were walking around the observer, and it had worn the same clothes as them. These disciples were the repairmen, and they were busy trying to fix Drachma’s mechanism.
Since the observer had transformed into one of the repairmen, no one paid attention to it. In the first place, everyone was focused on the fact that Lee Gun had killed Abyss.
‘Good!’
The pocket watch was overflowing with power just from moving closer to the core. The observer was about to activate its ability when…
[Koo-hoohk!!!]
The observer groaned. Someone had stabbed it from the back.
“I caught you.”
The observer of Time became frightened when it turned its head.
