Chun Sungjae couldn’t forget what he saw that day.
As he would meet his mother after a one-year absence, he had been overjoyed. He had even begged his dad’s closest subordinate to take him to the airport.
On the return trip from the airport, he had felt a pang of hunger. In his happiness of seeing his mother after a long time, Chun Sungjae had decided to act a little more spoiled that day.
“Madam!”
However, a red fog had appeared, and a monster emitting a bizarre sound had attacked them. The first one to get eaten was his mom. She had been trying to hide Chun Sungjae in the car.
“Sungjae!”
The next one the monster swallowed was his dad’s subordinate, who had successfully cut off the monster’s arm. The subordinate told Sungjae that his dad would come and rescue him; he shouldn’t be afraid. However, the monster ate the subordinate as he tried to protect the kid.
Like with most people, his birthday was the happiest moment in Chun Sungjae’s life. Yet, it became a day when he had lost the people he loved the most in an instant.
Despite that, Chun Sungjae had never lost hope at that time. He had believed his dad would rescue the two who were taken away. After all, his father was a hero the world praised. He was one of the twelve invincible heroes. Moreover, the other heroes were here too.
“It’ll be fine, Sungjae. Your father and the other Zodiac Saints will save the two of them.”
However…
“Hugo! No!”
“Have you lost your mind? Your power will get stolen!”
The Zodiac Saints had run away. This remained hidden from the world, but Chun Sungjae knew it. Moreover, only one of the Saints had saved his father.
In the end, Chun Sungjae saw his father suffer in silence at the funeral. At that moment, the kid had realized something. His father had the people who were precious to him get stolen from him.
Due to this, Chun Sungjae entered the Gemini temple, the strongest temple in Korea, when the age restriction eased up. He went ahead with it despite the pushback. After all, he wanted to kill the monster that had stolen two people from him.
As for why Chun Sungjae didn’t join his father’s temple, he was the reason for the death of the Archer temple’s general. That general was a big brother figure to the other Archer disciples. Chun Sungjae couldn’t face those disciples.
That wasn’t all. ‘The Gemini Saint deals with souls.’
An applied version of “Soul Invocation” allowed one to call back the souls of the dead. The magic tomes owned by the Gemini Saint described this technique.
[Conversation with the Dead]
With that skill, Chun Sungjae could recall at least two souls. He would like his father, sister, and the Archer disciples to meet the two departed souls once again.
Therefore, the young man tenaciously stacked achievements and gathered points. He also gained access to the <Magic Library>, which was accessible only to the Saint and the generals. His efforts had finally allowed him to reach this point.
‘With this, I can…’ Chun Sungjae carefully picked up a book. Then, he heard a sound from his badge.
[Would you like to rent the World Tree Magic Tome(SS)?]
[You need 187,000 contribution points to rent it.]
[Archbishop-rank Chun Sungjae’s current contribution points: 187,483.]
Chun Sungjae hadn’t used a single point in the past three years. He had eaten the minimum amount of food and lived together with his friend during that time. After what he was about to do, these points would instantly vanish, but he didn’t care. With such an amount of points, he could buy a 100-pyeong penthouse. In fact, he could buy ten such penthouses. But he didn’t care.
[Renting complete. You’ve used all your points.]
[Remaining Points: 483]
The lock on the magic tome disappeared, and Chun Sungjae quickly turned to a specific page. The magic tome was filled with magic theories; it was full of SS-rank spells that other magicians would covet.
[Warning! Your rental of the magic tome will end in 9m57s!]
Since the renting had a time limit, most magicians would try to memorize the SS-rank spells. However, none of those spells had caught Chun Sungjae’s eye. He could memorize those spells just by glancing at them. To him, something was far more important than those spells.
‘Page 1,467…!’
One month ago, as a reward for a special deed he did, he had gained a chance to open this book instead of receiving a penthouse. However, the time restriction had been three minutes. Therefore, he could memorize only half of that spell. But today would be different.
‘I can memorize it all.’ Chun Sungjae finally opened page 1,467.
“…!” His face crumpled soon. ‘It’s gone.’
He saw signs of the page being ripped out. Suddenly…
“You were a step too late,” someone said while waving the ripped pages.
Chun Sungjae was surprised. ‘Yoon Siwoo!’
Yoon Siwoo was a third-generation member of the Libra Saint’s family. He had come to the Gemini temple as an exchange student. He was one of the two rich siblings in this temple.
A menacing look entered Chun Sungjae’s eyes. It was to be expected. ‘He’s the enemy who killed the two of them..’
Chun Sungjae’s reaction was normal. Yoon Siwoo was one of the two high school brothers who had run away from the scene of the <Blood Fog> ten years ago. In truth, the Blood Fog had appeared because of these two brothers.
Yoon Siwoo continued to wave the ripped pages. “I’m not a genius like you, so I can’t read something as difficult as this. However, I do know you won’t be able to read it if I get rid of these.”
At that moment, the magic tome pages in his hand burned up. Yoon Siwoo hadn’t used the magical energy of the Gemini. He had used the magical energy of the Libra. “I was wondering why the top disciple of the Gemini temple had chosen to rent a magic tome instead of taking the penthouse. I wanted to play a prank on you.”
Chun Sungjae snorted as if he knew that was nonsense. ‘Prank, my ass!’ “Are you afraid I’ll give it to my uncle?”
“!” This surprised Yoon Siwoo.
Chun Sungjae continued, “What? Do you really think I don’t remember your faces? The Blood Fog appeared because of you bastards.”
These words left Yoon Siwoo flustered, and his brows furrowed. Yoon Siwoo had used a proxy to take care of the incident. Therefore, his and his brother’s faces had never appeared in the news. They had been questioned only once in the investigation.
‘This little kid is too smart.’ Yoon Siwoo replied, “You should try harder. It seems you planned on taking that spell to your uncle, whom you trust so much. Well, that wouldn’t have mattered either, since the uncle you love to death will die soon.”
“What?”
“If the Blood Fog gets caught, that’ll be a problem for us. The Zodiac Saints went to great lengths to cover up that story.” Yoon Siwoo took out his phone. He held up a stream of a broadcast.
[Do you see this? A red fog is thick outside the dome of Belgium!]
[From our research, this is the same Calamity that showed up ten years ago. It showed up at a fast-food restaurant near the Incheon airport.]
[At the time, the fog had knocked 5,000 civilians unconscious. Those civilians haven’t woken up to this day!]
[Will that fog also descend on Belgium?]
[The fifth and the fourth domes have been destroyed. The defenders are heading toward the third dome.]
[The situation is very dangerous. From the information we are receiving, anyone who has breathed in the fog has fallen unconscious…]
[Ah! Wait a moment! We have received information that Lee Gun was seen outside the dome!]
Chun Sungjae was startled. ‘Uncle went over there because of a commission. Could it be? The monster that Uncle went to kill is…’
Chun Sungjae’s heart sank. Of course, he believed in Lee Gun, but that monster was… The young man now regretted handing over the commission letter. He had been naive. Of all the monsters, this monster had caused significant trauma to him and his father.
Chun Sungjae scrunching up his face was a rare sight. Yoon Siwoo laughed as if that satisfied him. “The Virgo Saint knew the truth, and it was why he commissioned your uncle. That monster is the natural enemy of the Saints.”
“…!”
“The idol who you love so much will get crushed, just like your father.”
* * *
“Whatever!” Lee Gun laughed as he sent his arrow flying. The arrow split the air and flew at breakneck speed.
It looked like Lee Gun was aiming for the enemy’s body, but Goat flinched when he saw the arrow’s trajectory. ‘No! It’s going to miss!’
Lee Gun hadn’t even aimed properly before releasing the arrow. Goat knew this would happen. ‘That’s why I said…’
The enemy was within the fog, and Lee Gun wasn’t a long-range type User. The shot would go wide. However…
“Kee-ehhhhk!”
“!?”
Everyone was shocked to hear the sound emanating from the fog.
“What the hell? Did he hit it?”
“What? Are you kidding me! The trajectory was off!”
Lee Gun had aimed in a direction away from the monster’s location that they had pointed out. Like Goat, the other Archer disciples realized this as well. They got ready to send a second volley of arrows.
Suddenly, the red fog became denser.
[Caution! This is a special fog.]
[Gaze of a God and 13th Sense can’t locate the enemy.]
[Caution! The number of enemies and their location can’t be discerned.]
Despite the warning, Lee Gun laughed as if this wasn’t a problem. “What do you mean, I can’t locate it?”
He continued his fierce attack, sending three arrows flying in succession! It sounded like a cannon was going off.
Too-gahk! Too-gahk! Too-gahk!
“Ooh-ehhk!”
“Ooh-ehhhhhk!”
“Ooh-ehhk!”
The mouths of the Archer disciples fell open. The bow and the arrows were the same, but the power and speed behind each shot were on a different level than that in Goat’s hands. That wasn’t all.
“Four, five, six! Ten!”
Too-gahk! Too-gahk! Too-gahk!
“Oong-kee-ehhhhhk!”
Lee Gun moved at an incredible speed. Moreover, his stance was all wrong, and he sent the arrows flying every which way. The funny part was that each arrow found its target.
After receiving Lee Gun’s bombardment, the flustered enemy showed a reaction.
“Shit! It went into hiding!!”
“I can’t see it with my skill!”
Their enemy had camouflaged itself.
Lee Gun perked up his ears. ‘Of course, I can locate them.’
He didn’t need his skills to locate his enemies; he could locate them using sound. Lee Gun could tell the size, movement, and trajectory of his enemies’ movements using sound.
Hoo-doohk.
A sharp laugh escaped Lee Gun’s mouth when he heard the faint sound of sand shifting. He once again sent the arrows flying in a frenzy!
Too-gahk!
“Kee-ehhhhhk!”
Too-gahk! Too-gahk!
“Ehhhk!”
“Ehhhhhhhk!”
Goat was surprised. That wasn’t for any other reason. Lee Gun’s 100% accuracy was indeed surprising, but Goat found his stance familiar as well. ‘It’s similar to Saint-nim… Wasn’t Lee Gun supposed to be a close-range fighter?’
Finally, the screams within the fog dissipated, and something surprising happened.
“Ah! The fog is…”
The dense fog started to disperse, revealing thirty monsters— No! They were thirty things!
“Branches?!”
These were the monsters Lee Gun’s arrows had sliced up. All the dead wood branches had teeth. Their mouths released the fog as they ate people.
After the fog vanished, an interesting thing happened where the dead branches lay. Something flew into the sky. However, that didn’t matter.
“I got rid of the noisy ones that kept crying.”
“…!”
Now that his vision was unobstructed, Lee Gun looked in a certain direction. “I can finally destroy the main body.”
“What?”
Lee Gun immediately punched the ground.
Kwah-jeek!
When his fist went deep into the ground, a surprising thing happened.
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doohk!
A large earthquake occurred, and the monster emerged from the ground.
Go-ohhhhhhhhhh!
Kwahng!
The building-sized monster surged into the air, the root being its true body. The monster roared from the ground.
[Warning! This is the monster that eats gods.]
[It uses divine magical energy as fertilizer for its growth.]
This monster was an ugly monster that looked like a toad. Above all else, its magical energy was completely foreign.
“Kuhk!”
The Archer disciples placed their hands over their mouths, an unconscious gesture. The monster looked so horrible that they wanted to throw up.
Soon, a wriggling thing approached them. It looked like the tongue of a snake. Goat broke out in a cold sweat. He was sure of it. This was the monster that had snatched away the Archer Saint’s wife and the Archer general ten years ago.
This monster stole divine power, so none of the Saints’ skills worked on it. It could steal magical energy and kill its foes through proximity. This had been the case with the Zodiac Saints.
However, the Archer disciples would be fine. ‘We can’t use skills, but we can dish out physical damage. We just have to shoot arrows from a distance!’
As they thought about the plan…
Kwahng!
“?!”
Tossing his bow without any hesitation, Lee Gun headed straight toward the monster.
[You can sense something within it.]
“Lee Gun-nim!!!” Goat yelled. He was truly surprised. Lee Gun was approaching the monster without a weapon, which was a suicidal move. “You can’t! If you touch him…”
Lee Gun didn’t pay attention to Goat.
Kwah-jeek!
He grabbed the monster’s face with his bare hands. Then… “You’re the bastard that made my friend and nephew cry?”
Kwah-jeek!
He ripped apart its mouth with his bare hands.
