San Francisco, The United States!
People screamed within the white hospital.
“My god! You’re awake!”
“Oh lord! This is a miracle.!”
The emergency room became abuzz.
The patient was in such an awful state that only interested parties could enter the room, which was off-limits to everyone else. Doctors and nurses had crowded the bed, looking to god for help. Their gaze headed toward the patient on oxygen.
This patient was none other than Leo Saint Stevens. With bandages wrapped all around his head, he could only move his eyes.
Feeling deeply moved, the doctors and nurses spoke to Stevens.
“Are you ok?”
“This is absurd! There’s no way he should’ve opened his eyes again!”
The Leo Saint licked his lips behind his respirator. His breathing was rough. After he licked his lips a couple of times, a sound finally came out. “What happened?”
This made the nearby people scream.
“That’s what we wanted to ask!”
“Your skull was crushed! A frontal bone was crushed by a hammer or something similar. You were in a state where we couldn’t do much!”
The half-conscious Leo Saint gasped as his eyes widened. It seemed he had recalled his last memory. The memory was fuzzy, but he had heard Lee Gun’s laughter while feeling pain in his head. That was it.
Stevens’s muscular subordinates looked moved as they grabbed his hand.
“You being alive is a miracle!”
It seemed they knew who the culprit was.
“Lee Gun did this. That evil bastard hit Saint-nim’s head as if he were breaking open a watermelon!”
At the mention of that name, the Leo Saint suddenly grabbed his subordinate’s arm.
“Saint-nim?”
“Lee Gun!”
“What?”
“Did Lee Gun leave behind my weapon?”
These words left his disciples dumbfounded. They almost told the Leo Saint to snap out of it.
“That bastard is a villain. He committed the heinous crime of cracking your head open! He used a dirty tactic of attacking when you were weakened—”
“I don’t care about that. What about the weapon!” replied the Saint.
“Wait a moment! You have to remain calm right now!”
The Leo Saint’s eyes became bloodshot instead. “My weapon!” He brought down his thick arm.
Boom!
The blow contained so much power that it was almost unbelievable the Leo Saint had been close to death a moment ago.
The Saint shouted, “Lee Gun!”
“You can’t! If you do this, your wounds…”
“Your skull hasn’t mended yet! Please!”
“My weapon! Hurry up and bring me Lee Gun! Tell him to make me a weapon worth a billion dollars!”
Stevens’s eyes were filled with life and power, an admirable sight for his disciples. Yet, the disciples were close to turning mad. Moreover, they couldn’t understand the reason behind his demands. Of all the people to make it, why was the Saint insisting on Lee Gun making his weapon!
“Saint-nim! Lee Gun isn’t even a smith!”
“That’s right! If you want a weapon, you should ask the Goat Saint!”
“Why would you ask Lee Gun?” The Leo Saint let out an indecipherable scream. He was trying to say they were wrong.
Stevens let his temper get the better of him, so he became unable to speak coherent words. In his frustration, he smashed the medical devices, driving his bed to a collapsable state.
This left his disciples flustered. They had never seen their Saint act like this. It was as if the man had changed after meeting Lee Gun. Anyway, that wasn’t important right now.
“Don’t worry about Lee Gun!”
“We will request compensation for damages from Lee Gun!”
Their words made the bed rock again.
“Ah! Stop doing useless shit!” the Leo Saint replied.
“What? Why is asking for damages useless?”
“If you do, Lee Gun will run away again! He won’t make my weapon!” Stevens explained.
“What???”
“Whatever! Just shut up and do as I say!”
Several of them were moved by the Leo Saint’s words. He was acting like a battle-type Saint. They expressed their admiration. However, many of them didn’t know what to say.
‘He defeated Lee Gun on live TV before. Didn’t he say Lee Gun was nothing?’
‘Why would he want that person to…’
Of course, the Leo Saint didn’t hesitate to do odd things in the pursuit of power. Around a decade ago, he had brought the Archer’s Saint ten-year-old daughter into his temple. The little girl hadn’t developed any abilities, yet he made her a deputy general.
It was something that had never happened in that macho temple. Of course, Chun Yooha turned out to be one of the Ten Stars, who all the disciples came to accept.
On the other hand, there was the story from the press conference. It was said that Lee Gun had killed Red Eye.
‘Is there some piece of information that we’re unaware of?’
The disciples screamed when the Leo Saint tried to rush out of the hospital room.
“Sedative!”
The Saint became a bit calmer when the doctors and nurses hooked him up to an IV of sedatives. However, his obsession with Lee Gun didn’t end. “So? Where’s Lee Gun!”
The question made the disciples massage their foreheads. They were sure that if they didn’t tell him, the Leo Saint would try to track Lee Gun down on his own.
“He’s in the western countries of the European Alliance.”
“!” Stevens’s eyes shook.
The disciples had knowing expressions on their faces.
“Even Saint-nim can’t chase him there, right?”
That was right. The west was the territory of the Virgo Saint. That man acted as if he was the second coming of Alexander the Great.
The situation was better than the southern countries of the European Alliance, which were completely shut off from the world as a <Unified Nation>. Yet, the west was restricted and hostile.
The European alliance was drastically different from Korea. Korea was relatively the same even after the unknown civilization had invaded it. Moreover, the other Saints were forbidden from entering the European Alliance.
‘Anyone caught trespassing is killed instantly.’
The Virgo Saint had enough power to enforce such laws. He was a powerful battle-type Saint.
He was the Saint that Hugo had warned Lee Gun about early on. He was a Saint in the Demi-god rank. There was a good reason why he was one of the top two.
As expected, Stevens’s expression was a sight to behold. “Has he lost his mind? Why did he go there?”
“Yes! The European alliance sent a commission to Lee Gun.”
“Commission?” The Leo Saint was surprised.
“Yes. A monster considered to be unkillable has shown up there.”
“The world is focused on Lee Gun after he killed Thousand Legs.”
“Of course, the media is trying to stop people’s faith from dropping too far. They are putting up a token effort to ignore Lee Gun, but….”
“It seems the Virgo Saint is requesting help….” Stevens uproariously laughed as if his laugh would reach the heavens.
“Saint-nim?”
“Don’t be so naive!” Stevens remarked.
“What do you mean?”
“The Virgo Saint would never offer a commission to Lee Gun.” Stevens laughed in an animated manner. A harsh light flashed in his eyes. They were the eyes of a savage beast. “The Virgo Saint hates Lee Gun the most among us.”
“…!”
Although Stevens wasn’t interested in the topic, when Lee Gun had fallen into the tower’s trap, the most likely culprit he had assumed was the Virgo Saint. Of course, Stevens didn’t remember seeing anything out of the ordinary.
‘Anyway, he’s basically walking into the tomb of the West.’ Even though he had the fierce expression of a savage beast, the Leo Saint still gulped. He didn’t mind the development.
He then asked, “What about Chun Yooha?”
“Yes? As one of the Ten Stars, she went on an S rank mission. She’s at the den of the Scorpio Saint…”
Stevens liked what he heard, and his eyes flashed savagely. “Search Chun Yooha’s room. I’m sure the bone is there.”
Instead of answering him, however, the disciples asked for more sedatives.
* * *
<European Alliance> The west!
The western dome was where the east met the west. The Aquarius Saint and the Virgo Saint had fought for supremacy in this place. The situation was different from that in the East where the Sheep Saint and the Gemini Saint had fought.
Of course, Sophie was at the top in terms of the number of disciples, but in reality, the Virgo Saint possessed overwhelming more power.
The Virgo Saint had left Sophie alone because the latter possessed a lot of disciples. If he hadn’t acted like a hero, he would have severed Sophie’s head a long time ago. This meant that this place was the Virgo Saint’s turf in reality.
However, in recent days, the Libra Saint was encroaching from the south. Moreover, the Scorpio Saint was encroaching from the north. As their gods gained disciples, the other Saints became threats as they expanded their territories.
Unlike Korea, Europe had culturally transitioned to a religious empire.
[<Called out by god> Dishonest Taxpayers! Sent to god’s forced labor camp.]
[The civic groups state 4,500 people are missing. “The non-taxpayers cannot be found anywhere on the holy ground. We believe they were sent into a different world or dragged into the unknown civilization.”]
[The temple claims, “There is no way such a thing could happen..”]
Lee Gun was in Belgium. It was past the Italian peninsula, which had changed into a black zone. With a sour expression, the man sat at the train station. It was inevitable.
[There are 139,844 people in the 1 km radius. Search Complete.]
[Faith data is being pulled up.]
[Virgo Faith: 90%]
[Virgo Faith: 85%]
[Virgo Faith: 95%]
…
[Virgo Faith: 93%]
[Caution! There are no people that worship a god aside from the Virgo]
Lee Gun’s expression turned stormy. ‘Shit! This place is basically under a dictatorship.’
He had planned on taking care of his business, and in the meantime, looking for a disciple. However…
[Serpent Bearer Faith: 0.0005%]
[Serpent Bearer Faith: 0.00001%]
[Serpent Bearer Faith: 0.00003%]
‘Shit! At this point, it looks hopeless. I thought opinions of me would get better after I killed Thousand Legs.’ Lee Gun was eating some fries next to the train station. He could see a transparent dome not too far away.
Aside from the information in front of him, there was another reason for his foul mood. What was it?
“Wow!” For some odd reason, people kept glancing at his face as they walked past him.
This made Lee Gun restless. ‘That’s odd. I put on a good disguise.’ Why were men and women of all ages making a big deal as they walked past him?
‘There are no bad intentions behind their gazes.’ Lee Gun put on his sunglasses once again in annoyance.
Hugo didn’t pay attention to Lee Gun. He nervously hid behind the wall, afraid someone might recognize him. “Shit! This place is too close to England! I’ve participated in several official meet & greets with the British government!”
Was it because he skipped out his commission from the British government? Hugo looked anxious. Of course, he was freaking out for one more reason. “Do you know this? We entered this country in secret. Saints aren’t supposed to enter this place!”
“What about it? You are the one who followed me here.”
“Do you want me to send you alone into the den of an enemy? Also, you’ll probably call Yooha when I’m not with you! You’ll contract her as a disciple!”
“…” Lee Gun looked at Hugo as if the latter were an idiot. He had a good reason to feel this way.
<Hugo Otis>
[Ophiuchus Faith 300%]
[For some unknown reason (daughter), his faith in the Serpent Bearer is constantly deteriorating.
“…” ‘Should I just brainwash this bastard and make him a disciple of the Serpent Bearer? If that’s the deteriorated figure, how high was the original figure?’
Well, Lee Gun could understand that. When a person died, they became romanticized. Moreover, Hugo had been the only one who had known about his abilities. Hugo had seen all of his achievements. It wouldn’t be odd that Hugo deified him in his death.
‘He pretty much did missionary work when he was drunk’
Despite all that, Hugo’s figure was meaningless. Why?
[He is a contracted being loved by a different god.]
[You cannot make him your disciple.]
[The imbalance in the tradeoff is too large.]
[The Sagittarius’s level is too high. You will not be able to handle the backlash.]
‘As expected, I’ll have to make the Sagittarius my slave first.’
Of course, Hugo was unaware of Lee Gun’s terrifying plan(?). The Archer Saint had a pale face as he warned his friend, “If I’m being honest, you’re in a very dangerous place.”
“Why?” Lee Gun asked.
“Heiji said it. She claimed she saw the knife that stabbed you in the west.”
“She did.”
“There were always talks that the Virgo Saint was the one to drop you. When I bullied Yang Wei, he said the Virgo Saint was at the forefront in erasing your presence from the world.”
“!”
Hugo continued, “There is no way he’ll let you be if people recognize you. Aside from the monsters, this place is dangerous to navigate without a guide. The surveillance network here is—”
“Ah! You don’t have to worry about that.” Lee Gun cut him off.
“What?”
Lee Gun nonchalantly pointed somewhere. Hugo almost screamed when he looked in that direction.
“Lee Guuuuuuun-Niiiiiiiiim!” Someone was running toward them while wailing. He was a man in his middle years.
“That person is…!”
Although this man had a disguise on, he was the SS-rank appraiser Lee Gun had met before. Aside from Hugo, this appraiser was the first one to find out Lee Gun’s identity.
“It’s an eternal honor to meet my master again!” The appraiser wailed as he prostrated on the ground. It was as if he was giving Lee Gun absolute fealty.
The surprised Hugo looked at Lee Gun.
Lee Gun let out an evil laugh. “For your information, this guy is an SS-rank disciple for the Virgo Saint.”
The Archer Saint’s mouth fell open. ‘You crazy son of a…’
Yes, this appraiser was someone the Virgo Saint treasured the most. He was the only SS-rank appraiser in the world.
‘He’s an SS-rank and a member of the Ten Stars!’
Above all else, there was another reason Lee Gun had called this man here. ‘There is a high probability that he has 100% faith.’ The appraiser was a scary bastard who had recognized him through his wood carving.
‘Must be 100%!’ Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he activated the Gaze of a God.
[Ophiuchus Faith: 99%]
“…” Lee Gun did a double-take in disbelief. ‘What’
[Ophiuchus Faith: 99.1%]
In the end, Lee Gun lowered his head as he kept punching the wall. ‘Shit, one percent! So close!’
He was off a mere 1% from the requirement! Even though this faith was higher than the figure for the Virgo…
On the other hand, the appraiser had no idea what was happening. “Lee Gun-nim.”
The appraiser gulped as he carefully whispered to Lee Gun. It was as if he was putting his life on the line. “I have something to tell you before I show you the way.”
“?”
“It has to do with the symbol on the item you gave me.”
Lee Gun’s eyes widened.
The appraiser looked at his surroundings as he seriously spoke. “I believe I found the culprit.”
“!”
