Chapter 421 - Great Spirit (4)
Colonies were all the lands, besides the Divine world’s Pantheon, which belonged to the gods. They were places like the earth, lands where creatures went on to live normal lives. However, all these lands had become colonies for the gods.
A land without a god either died off or was invaded by the Cluders. Thus, these lands needed guardians.
As a price for their protection, the residents had to sacrifice faith, offerings, and labor.
Of course, it was no longer a give-and-take relationship. It was a one-sided relationship where the god was worshiped like the king of the planet. This change was seen as reasonable.
In reality, the colonies had been mobilized in the wars between gods, and countless lives had been expended for the gods. The residents also worked hard labor for the gods.
At times, the gods sold them for various purposes to make money, as if they were chips. This was especially true now that Lee Gun had destroyed the Divine world.
[Bring us offerings!]
[Your faith will become the Divine power!]
“Oh, lord. We have nothing to offer!”
[It doesn’t matter. Your lives can contribute to becoming the ability of a god.]
[You should voluntarily sacrifice your lives so that you can become the power of a god.]
The gods had no intention of lowering themselves to Lee Gun.
“It’s only natural to gather resources for war! Open the doors to the colonies!”
If tens of thousands of gods used their colonies to get ready for war, even Lee Gun shouldn’t be able to handle them. At the very least, everyone would be able to increase their powers by a notch. At most, they could increase their power by several notches.
“Don’t play into the hand of that rookie god!”
“We only acknowledge the existence of eight Great Spirits—”
Koo-goo-goong!!
Suddenly, the colonies, which had received orders from all the Zodiacs, experienced changes.
[Your authority as a ruler has been reclaimed.]
[The colonies are being sealed.]
[Seals are being placed over 138,398,990 dimensions.]
[No god can take any item from the colonies.]
[The lands of the colonies have been reclaimed.]
[Reclaimed.]
[Reclaimed.]
…
[Reclaimed.]
As soon as the notification spread, the Zodiacs of the Pantheon lost connection to their colonies. Tens of thousands of Zodiacs were stunned.
“Wait…! We lost connection to the colonies! What is going on?”
“Our authority over them was reclaimed!”
“Reclaimed? That means we can’t take any offerings?”
“Offerings aren’t the problem! Our Faith was severed too! Our powers are dropping!”
“My money…! My wealth…!”
The rights to the colonies were an innate power of the Zodiacs, yet those rights had been taken back. This caused a commotion.
“Who did this!?”
“Only the Primordial god can pull this off…!”
“No! The magical beasts! They seized the Colonies!”
“What? Those beasts did this?”
“Find them!”
When their rights over their colonies were suddenly taken back, the gods couldn’t hide their confusion.
There was one exception: the new Great Spirit. He couldn’t hide his joy and was laughing.
[Magical Beast 38 has reclaimed colony no. 32,893.]
[Magical Beast 39 has reclaimed colony no. 32,894 with great difficulty.]
[Magical Beast 40 has reclaimed colony 32,895 as it whines]
‘Reclaimed. Reclaimed. Reclaimed. Reclaimed!’
Lee Gun laughed as he used the magical beasts to take the wealth belonging to the other gods. “Idiots. Try waging a war without capital!”
Lee Gun’s Constructs were sweating bullets as they watched him laugh.
“I never knew such a thing was possible.”
“Well, the magical beast gods are high-rank civil servants of the Divine world.”
Moreover, they worked directly under the Primordial god! They were the eyes of the Primordial god. And since they were closer to being spirits, they could differentiate between good and evil.
This was why most of them worked as civil servants.
They were either in charge of judging a Zodiac’s promotion or they went out to catch the fallen gods. In the process, they confiscated the gods’ wealth.
Since they were close to being spirits, they held no desire for worldly goods. It was why they had received this job.
‘It was an ability given to them by the Primordial god.’
If the Creators were the Primordial god’s artisans, the magical beast gods were his secret inspectors.
Of course, the reclamation of wealth worked for a limited time. It wasn’t stealing the wealth, but more like freezing the flow of goods.
Nevertheless, their actions were quite beneficial to Lee Gun right now.
[The magical beast gods have used the highest-rank Reclamation.]
[The Zodiacs cannot bring tributes from the colonies.]
[The Zodiacs cannot take Faith.]
[The Zodiacs cannot use any of their power.]
Satisfied with tying the hands and feet of the Zodiacs, Lee Gun laughed.
Of course, the magical beast gods talked amongst themselves as they questioned if this was really a good idea.
‘It seems we can use our abilities, but is it really ok to reclaim everything like this?’
‘Won’t we incur Karmic debt?’
‘We won’t. We merely seized stuff from gods who were violating the rules.’
The problem was that all the Zodiacs had fallen into this category. As if to prove this, one of the magical beast gods extended its hand, making a long roll of paper appear in the air.
[Colony no. 378,378: Non-payment of costs. Non-payment of wages.]
…
[Colony no. 482,939: Non-payment of costs. Non-payment of wages.]
Lee Gun laughed. “Those bastards only took from the colonies. They did nothing for the colonies.”
In fact, this had been going on for several hundred years. Some gods had done it for several thousands of years on the high end.
The Constructs oddly looked at the magical beast gods as if they were talking nonsense.
“What do you mean the Zodiacs have to do something for the colonies?”
“Why would the Zodiacs do such a thing for mere residents of the colonies…”
This angered the magical beasts.
[Shut up, damn gods! Did you think it makes sense that those lands are called colonies!]
“???”
The eyes of the gods turned round. They had no idea what the magical beast gods were talking about.
This made the magical beasts ground their teeth.
[Damn it! How long has it been since we lost our lives?]
“I’m not sure. You guys disappeared alongside the Primordial god…?”
In other words, a very long time had passed. The magical beasts felt indignant.
[I was wondering why the lands were close to being seized. It seems a long time has passed. Anyway, they weren’t originally called colonies. They were called Protected Lands!]
“P...Protected lands?”
[That’s right! Originally, the Zodiacs had to defend each dimension, and in return, they received faith and offerings! It was set up to be like that!]
[Ah-ha. I get it now. Those bastards killed us because they wanted to turn the Protected lands into colonies.]
Lee Gun laughed as if he found this amusing. “Those bastards?”
[I’m talking about the Great Spirits!]
“!”
The gods were surprised.
“Are you saying the Great Spirits killed the magical beasts?”
[That’s right! They were irritated that we were monitoring them.]
The Constructs looked at them as if something didn’t make sense.
“Why would they be irritated? The residents of the Colonies can live because of the existence of the gods.”
“If there are no gods, the residents cannot exist either…”
The magical beasts became angry.
[No! It’s the opposite! Gods exist because the residents exist!]
This surprised the gods. What the hell were the magical beasts talking about?
The magical beast gods spoke as they looked at Lee Gun.
[If the Zodiacs travel to the settlements, the settlements get destroyed. You know this, right?]
“Yes. I was told it’s the rule of the Divine world.”
There was a reason the Zodiacs took on Zodiac Saints. Lee Gun also had to seal his abilities so that his presence wouldn’t destroy the earth.
The magical beast gods said something unexpected.
[‘Zodiacs cannot directly travel to the lands that they rule over. If this rule is violated, the land where the Zodiac is headed to will be destroyed.’]
[The one to make this rule was the Primordial god.]
“!”
They wanted to ask why such a rule was made when the magical beast gods continued.
[At the time, the Great Spirits had killed beings made of flesh and blood. They had tried to squeeze out blood and sweat from the residents.]
[Thus, the Primordial god had decided that beings made of flesh and blood should be protected. The Great Spirits thought of them as slaves that could be used to stabilize their own situation.]
There was a story that mentioned that the Primordial god and the Great Spirits disagreed on this point.
[This was why the Primordial god ordered the Creators to make the Rule Book. It was made so that the gods couldn’t go to the Protected lands…]
Even the Zodiacs wouldn’t destroy something they would profit from.
Lee Gun took notice of those words.
“Ah! The Rule Book was created by the Creators?”
[That is correct.]
Although it was a copy, Lee Gun thought about the rule book that he had taken from the goddesses of fate.
‘I was wondering why I could read it and edit it.’
At that moment…
“!”
Was it because Lee Gun had turned the Primordial god into his Construct?
[There is a remaining Achievement.]
[Took in the Primordial god as a Construct (6 star)]
[The corresponding Achievement can be used to bring the magical beast gods into the Serpent Bearer temple as Constructs. It is possible since they are subordinates of the Primordial god.]
[Would you like to use the Achievement?]
“!”
Lee Gun immediately used it. Then, an enormous light engulfed the magical beast gods.
[All the magical beast gods have been brought in as Constructs of the Serpent Bearer temple.]
[You have acquired the ability of the magical beast gods: Eye of the Great Soul.]
[You have used the Eye of the Great Soul.]
However, the light dissipated after engulfing the magical beast gods. Lee Gun realized something as he looked in the direction that the light was traveling in. “Ah. Those crazy bastards…”
“Master? What’s going on?”
Lee Gun took out something instead of giving an answer. It was a Divine status that he had previously acquired, the Divine status of Eco, a Construct of Olympus.
When he used his Creation ability to turn it into an item, something surprising appeared. It was an item that looked like a small microphone.
[Made from someone. Forgot the name. (EX)]
- Mic made from Eco (Echo)
- Anyone within its range can hear your voice
Lee Gun brought the item to his mouth, then something surprising happened.
[Ah ah! Mic test! Hey, you shitty ass gods.]
“!!!”
The nearby gods screamed as they covered their ears.
“M…Master’s voice is…!”
“It’s ringing inside my head…!”
Screams erupted in all directions.
Surprisingly, Lee Gun’s voice had reached the entirety of the Divine world. In other words, anyone within the range of the item could hear Lee Gun’s voice inside their heads. This included the Great Spirits.
Lee Gun could do this because he had achieved the Great Spirit rank.
[Do you hear me, idiots? Ah! For your information, this is a one-way communication. I can’t hear you guys even if you say something. So it’s useless to scream at me.]
“…!!”
[Impertinent bastard….]
The Great Spirit of Valhalla glared when Lee Gun dared to speak directly into their heads.
The gods also raged since whenever Lee Gun opened his mouth, they felt like their heads would burst open.
“Ahhhk! My head feels like it’s going to crack! Stop talking—”
“Damn it! Why the hell would that bastard infuse his voice with the Great-Spirit-rank Divine power— Kuhk!”
Lee Gun didn’t care as he continued.
[You cannot scrape together resources from your colonies. I bet your powers are going down since the colonies were reclaimed. What are you guys going to do now? I bet you planned on waging a war against me to take me hostage. Your plan of making me a slave won’t be happening now.]
“…!”
[Why don’t you get on your knees and beg? Then I might be in the mood for fixing the Divine world.]
“Bastard…!”
[What? Is there anyone else who can fix this place?]
The gods couldn’t say anything; they were mortified. However, they knew Lee Gun was telling the truth.
Lee Gun smirked.
[You guys can struggle all you want, but it’ll be useless. You guys will lose even if everyone from the Divine world attacks me.]
The Zodiacs glared since those words hurt their pride. How dare he provoke tens of thousands of gods!
The gods who had been trying to head toward different sites decided to go toward Lee Gun.
[You’re provoking us on purpose, Snake god.]
“!”
A familiar voice rang throughout the Divine world. It was a different Great Spirit alongside Valhalla’s Great Spirit.
Valhalla’s Great spirit realized Lee Gun’s goal.
[You are trying to provoke us so that we stay here. You are trying to stop us from going to our colonies.]
Lee Gun laughed.
[Shut up! You guys are the ones who killed the Primordial god and the magical beast gods. You guys are murderers who even killed the Creators. You guys killed all of them because they didn’t listen to you, right?]
A commotion erupted among the gods.
“The Great Spirits did what?”
“What?”
“Why?”
The gods directly under the Great Spirits were surprised. However, they soon looked at Valhalla’s great spirit as if they were put in an awkward position.
“Lord of the Sky! Please do not speak any longer with him! His goal is to cause confusion and division among us! He is speaking to us on purpose!”
“At this point, it doesn’t matter if there is a risk of destroying the colonies. We have to go there ourselves to gather power…”
Valhalla’s Great Spirit contemptuously laughed.
[We cannot go there in the first place.]
“What?”
[I caught a glimpse of it. That bastard has another six-star-rank Achievement.]
“…!!”
Aside from “Destruction of Olympus,” Lee Gun also possessed “Took in the Primordial god as a Construct.”
The Lord of the Sky furrowed his brows.
[All gods consider the Primordial god as their king, and he made the Primordial god his subordinate. Do you realize what that means?]
“C-Could it be?”
The gods’ faces froze. Since he had turned the king of the gods into his subordinate, the snake god also possessed the king’s subjects.
In other words, all gods, including the Great Spirits, could become Lee Gun’s Constructs. Of course, this was all in theory. However, the story changed if the magical beast gods became Lee Gun’s Constructs.
‘If we aren’t careful, the Great Great Spirits might become his Constructs too.’
Of course, Lee Gun needed enough internal force to possess gods of such high stature. While he may be strong, he didn’t have enough power to do that.
However, the Lord of the Sky could see it with his eyes. It was still faint, but the snake god’s power of domination was starting to appear near his feet. Moreover, it was starting to climb upward.
[The Lord of the Sky has entered the range where he can become the snake god’s Construct.]
Once the power of domination covered his head, Valhalla’s Great Spirit would become Lee Gun’s Construct.
From the looks of how fast his power was growing, it wouldn’t take Lee Gun long to possess the requisite internal force. It meant…
‘We have to get rid of him before that.’
Lee Gun knew all of this, so he was trying to keep them from running away to different locations. He wanted to keep them in one place.
If he fought the gods, he would be able to acquire Achievements. It would allow him to grow in power, and he would have enough internal force to turn them all into Constructs.
Valhalla’s Great Spirit laughed.
[It seems you tried to be clever, but you are quite simplistic in your approach.]
[?]
[We have the complete Rule Book. There is something we can do if you try to make us into your Constructs.]
The Lord of the Sky immediately used his ability.
Flash!
Accompanying the light, Valhalla’s Great Spirit and the other Great Spirits disappeared.
[The Lord of the Sky and the other Great Spirits are trying to hide on the earth]
Lee Gun was dumbfounded. He laughed.
“Earth is my land. I am in a more dominant position there, yet you plan on going there? Is this a suicide attempt?”
The voice of the vanished Lord of the Sky rang out.
[We know that you no longer have the Construct with 600% Faith.]
“…!”
[If you don’t have the 600%-Faith Construct, there is no reason for us to be afraid of you. It’s also possible for us to gather your residents toward our side.]
“Ah. That means you want to NTR me on the earth?” Lee Gun dared them to go through with it as he let out his power. “There can’t be that much of a difference without the 600%—”
However, he furrowed his brows when he tried to use his power to chase them away.
[You have destroyed the Divine world.]
[You have turned the magical beast gods into your Constructs.]
[You went on a rampage in your stage 6 state.]
[You are very short on Divine power.]
[You are very short on Divine power.]
[Your Divine power has gone up by 0.0000001%]
[Your Divine power has gone up by 0.0000000000001%…]
When Hugo had been with him, his Divine power used to fill up really quickly. Now, the recovery speed was extremely slow.
Lee Gun laughed in anger. “That bastard… I won’t let him die an easy death.”
“M…Master?”
“I have to increase the Faith of my people. What cares about 600%? I don’t need it. I’ll just make it 1000%.”
“Master?!”
Lee Gun seemed to have gotten an idea. He immediately sent a telepathic message to his Construct. “Hey, Yeonwoo. It’s me. Tell the kids to gather up. Uncle will grant them a wish.”
- W…Wish?
“Yes. If you have a wish, you can tell me. I’ll grant everyone’s wish.”
