“Whatever. You can die again.”
“What??!!!”
Hugo was taken aback. However, he didn’t even have the time to be flustered as the hand ax flew toward him.
Kwah-jeek!!
The hand ax landed exactly next to the head of the fallen Hugo. There had been no hesitation in Lee Gun’s movement.
Hugo almost cried; his ear was a hair's breadth away from getting cut off. “Shit! I’m going to die! I’m going to die!”
The ax embedded beside him in the bed was the one Lee Gun had used to chop firewood.
Before Hugo could say anything, the deeply embedded ax was raised once again.
Hwheek!
The ax once again descended toward Hugo!
“Ahhk!”
Hugo quickly bent his waist to the side to dodge.
Kwah-jeek!
“Ahhk! Why are you suddenly acting this way after saving me?!”
“That’s why I want you to die again. How dare you dupe me into thinking that you were a civilian?”
“I didn’t?! You were the weird one for not noticing that I was an apostle! What kind of crazy person thinks a normal person could live when his innards are falling out?”
“Ah! That’s true, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is your fault.”
“What— Ahhhk!!!”
Kwahng!
The ax once again came crashing toward the bed.
However, like an eel, Hugo dodged the attack.
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. He seemed pissed now. He ruthlessly kept hacking away toward the bed!
Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!
It was as if he were playing Whack-a-mole. When he missed every attack, he furrowed his brows. “It seems your being fast wasn’t a lie.”
“Yes! It’s useful, right? That’s why you should stop doing this. This is useless. Please accept me as a student— Ahhh! It’s foul to use a weapon that you killed the monsters with!”
Despite his cries, the attacks didn’t stop. Hugo became aggrieved. “What did I do to warrant this?! My only sin is that I came here to hunt down the monsters— Kuhk!”
“I see. Are you here trying to make money? You are paid to come here, but I bet you don't plan on killing any monsters, right?”
“What? What are you talking about? I am an apostle! I exist to save people…!!”
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed more menacingly. “You guys? Save people??”
He started choking Hugo as if the latter were telling an extraordinary lie.
Kwahng!
Since the apostle kept squirming away like an eel, Lee Gun was doing this to keep him in lace. “It doesn’t matter what you were trying to do. You won’t be of help to me since you almost died to a small fry. You were basically killed by the monster. I’ll just finish the job here.”
!!!”
Lee Gun was about to get rid of Hugo, but…
Kwahng!
“Hey! Otis!”
“!”
The door to the ruined building was opened.
Hugo and Lee Gun were surprised to see who had busted through the door.
“Mr. Ivan!”
It was a muscular, silver-haired man. This man was none other than Ivan Kruger (26), the Taurus Saint.
Among the twelve Zodiac Saints, he was the tallest, most muscular, and most macho, alongside the Leo Saint.
While Stevens gave off the image of a freewheeling wild beast, Ivan gave off the image of a monk.
The man possessed a skin color that was a shade of brown different from Stevens’s, and he glared at Hugo. It seemed he had been going around looking for Hugo.
“You should know your place, you little insect. Why would you go off and attack this place?”
“!!”
Ivan’s blue eyes flashed. When Ivan approached Hugo, he started to shake. Ivan’s reaction was understandable since he had told Hugo not to enter this region.
And Hugo had ignored that and arrived here to kill the monsters.
‘H-He had said he’d get back at me if I entered this place…!’
Ivan had told him to let the monsters eat the hundred human hostages. However, Hugo couldn’t follow those orders.
Thankfully for Hugo, the hand squeezing his neck loosened when Ivan stormed in.
But Lee Gun stood before him with a blade in his hand, and Ivan was about to raise his blade behind him!
‘I’m screwed either way!’
As if he was as angry as he could be, Ivan approached Hugo. “We are in a tough spot because of you. Who the hell do you think you are? You are trying to lower our standards!”
!”
Lee Gun furrowed his brow as he looked at Ivan.
Hugo was dirty and had unkempt hair. So Lee Gun was unable to match him with the Zodiac Saints, whom he saw on TV.
However, Ivan was different. He looked exactly as he was presented on TV, so Lee Gun immediately recognized him.
On the other hand, Ivan let out a bright smile when he caught sight of Lee Gun. He saw the bandages around Hugo’s body and the medical equipment strewn around him. It was easy to piece together what had happened.
“You saved our comrade. Let me thank you first. By the look of your hideous face, you seem to have gone through a lot of hardship. I pity you.”
Clearly, because of how Lee Gun had dressed, Ivan had assumed Lee Gun was a beggar living here.
Ivan contemptuously looked at Hugo. It was as if the bright smile, which he had directed toward Lee Gun, never existed. “You are the weakest amongst the twelve of us, and you’re an idiot.”
“!”
Instead of English, Ivan spoke in French. It seemed he didn’t want Lee Gun to understand what they were talking about. “You keep trying to go around saving civilians. It puts us in an awkward position.”
Normally, the twelve Zodiac Saints spoke in English, but at times, they had to take Sophie’s lead since she was the healing Saint. This was why they spoke French the most after English.
“You keep going wherever you want to save people. Do you realize we are unable to set up shop because of you?”
!!”
Lee Gun seemed to have understood the conversation. He glanced at Hugo.
Hugo felt a surge of anger. He wanted to say something.
However, Ivan merely laughed in contempt. “Why are you looking at me like that? We put our lives on the line to save them, so of course, we should ask for payment. You are a moron who should stay out of the spotlight.”
“But…!”
“God Bow.”
“!”
“You are way too weak to have such a nickname. Do you understand me? You aren’t the God Bow. You are a water gun! You can't even properly kill a monster!”
Hugo bit his lips. He ground his teeth in humiliation, but couldn’t come up with a retort.
The Sagittarius temple was a fighting-type temple. In other words, Hugo was supposed to be a fighter, yet he wasn’t able to rub shoulders with the other fighter Zodiac Saints. In fact, he sometimes lost to the non-fighting Zodiac Saints.
Of course, it wasn’t as if he was inferior in terms of ability. He had enough stats to be able to kill monsters. He just didn’t have the know-how.
Still, this didn’t change the fact that he had the least accomplishments among the twelve Zodiac Saints. This was why he kept his silence.
Ivan laughed when he saw Hugo’s expression and took out his wallet. He took out a roll of fifty hundred dollar bills.
“You did something unnecessary, but you did well. Just don’t tell anyone that he was hurt, and he never entered this place.” Ivan acted as if he was showing kindness while handing money over to Lee Gun.
“Fuck off! Bastard!”
“?!”
Tahhk!
Ivan was surprised.
Lee Gun slapped away Ivan’s hand. “Get your hand away from me, you soy-sauce marinated shrimp-looking bastard. You annoy me.”
!” Ivan was surprised because of how Lee Gun was looking at him.
‘Hostility.’
This was why he was stumped. Most of humanity saw the twelve Zodiac Saints as saviors, so they looked at him with admiration in their eyes.
‘Why would a civilian look at me like this…?’
So he asked, “Do you not know who I am?”
Lee Gun contemptuously lifted his ax, and Ivan looked on in shock.
“You shouldn’t do this, Thirteenth-nim!”
“!”
Hugo became desperate when he felt Lee Gun’s killing intent.
On the other hand, Ivan was surprised for an entirely different reason.
‘What the hell did he just say? Did he say that man is the thirteenth?!’
Ivan, who had looked proud, now had a shocked expression on his face.
‘Is he the one who appeared half a year ago and went underground?’
Of course, Ivan remembered him.
‘The thirteenth is the mutant. The Zodiacs said he is someone who shouldn’t exist at all.’
After turning the world on its head, the thirteenth had suddenly gone missing. Everyone had thought he had either died or lost his power.
‘So why is he here?!’
However, Ivan didn’t even have time to be surprised.
Kwah-jeek!
“Koohk!”
Lee Gun fiercely attacked Ivan, flustering him.
‘What the hell is up with his movement?’
Ivan’s eyes flashed. At the same time, his thick brown arms destroyed Lee Gun’s weapon.
Kwah-jeek!!
“!”
Lee Gun’s eyes turned round in surprise when his newly made prototype number 2 had been destroyed.
Lee Gun had seen only one of the twelve Zodiac Saints fight. So he had assumed Ivan would have fighting capabilities similar to Hugo's.
‘He’s different.’
Hugo turned pale.
‘As expected of a level-five Zodiac Saint…!’
The twelve Zodiac Saints ranged between levels one and five. Those who had reached level five (transcendent) possessed power on a different level.
Of course, it wasn't as if Hugo had met all twelve members of the Zodiac Saint, but…
‘Level five (transcendent) is on another level compared to level four.’
Sophie was the one who kept the network of contacts, and according to her, only four of them had reached level five.
‘They are the Taurus Saint, Leo Saint, Pisces Saint, and Scorpio Saint.’
In other words, Ivan was one of the four strongest among humanity! Moreover, he was the adamant superhuman, who possessed the highest defense…!’
Suddenly, Lee Gun picked up an item covered with cloth. This item had been leaning against the wall.
‘!’
Both Hugo and Ivan furrowed their brows because they got an ominous feeling
“Wake up, Heaven’s Punishment.”
“!?”
The long item reacted to Lee Gun’s voice by letting out a light. At the same time, the cloth wrapped around it fell away, surprising both Zodiac Saints.
“W-What the hell is that weapon?”
Still in its infancy, Heaven's Punishment didn’t look anything like how it would twenty years later.
The weapon was almost as long as a staff, and it looked more like a blunt weapon than an ax. It looked like a stone tool.
However, Ivan felt a chill run up his spine when Lee Gun held up the weapon. Unlike the sword from before, this weapon was on a different level.
‘Is it a weapon given by a god?’
Ivan didn’t know why, but he felt as if he was in danger. This was why he quickly extended his hand.
‘It’ll be best to get rid of him instead of dragging him along.’
A brown light appeared in Ivan’s hands.
Flash!
[Worship of the Holy Cow (Royal Skill)]
- Absolute invincibility for 1 minute (All attacks are deflected). Has a counterattack function. When moving, a powerful charge buff is activated.
After activating his Royal Skill, Ivan aimed for Heaven’s Punishment.
‘A mere weapon like this…!’
Like what he had done to Stevens’s weapon, he would destroy it.
“!!”
However, the weapon didn’t break. That wasn’t all.
!”
Ivan felt a chill run up his back when he met eyes with him.
Lee Gun was laughing. Before this, Lee Gun hadn’t even smiled! Yet, Lee Gun coldly laughed with his eyes as if he had expected this move.
Hoohng!
Lee Gun made a fist with his left hand. It was the hand that wasn’t holding Heaven’s Punishment.
Then his fist smashed into Ivan’s thick arm!
Bbah-gahk!!!!!
The explosive sound almost made Hugo’s eardrums burst. However, the sound wasn’t the surprising part.
Hoo-doo-doohk.
!!”
Ivan froze for the first time.
After Lee Gun’s fist had collided with his forearm, a crack appeared on his forearm as if his forearm were made out of stone.
Ivan’s skin broke apart like candy, revealing his red muscles. He possessed the adamant body, which was supposed to be the strongest, yet it had been broken.
Lee Gun then said, “You call it the adamant body when it was broken by a fist? A passing dog would laugh at your claim!”
For the first time in his life, Ivan felt something called fear.
