CH 181

This bastard was the one who did it?

A bestial look appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes. Then, he emanated a menacing light. The light was composed of green and black. Normally, these two lights appeared in a ratio of one to one.

[…!?]

However, the black light was clearly more prominent than the green light this time.

The mighty Sagittarius flinched due to the power of death. This black power was the power source that had killed the Star of Darkness.

The Zodiac’s fear was natural. Still, the Sagittarius pretended he wasn’t afraid. He laughed as he discreetly placed one foot out the door.

[Oh, God of calamity. You shouldn’t do this. We are allies—]

“What did you just say, you bastard?”

The wriggling black light extended toward the Sagittarius.

When the black light tried to encircle Hugo’s body, the Sagittarius’s eyes flashed in surprise.

At the same time, Hugo’s body emitted a light like the sun. From sitting in a chair, he appeared next to the window once again.

Lee Gun turned his head. Hugo— No, the Sagittarius stood there with his arms folded elegantly.

He had run away because he was afraid. However, his arrogance was still there.

[Listen to me, impatient God of calam—]

“Why should I listen to you? You are the enemy of my hair!” Lee Gun instantly disappeared and reappeared in front of Hugo.

The wriggling dark light brushed against Hugo’s hair, dissipating the hair strands. 

The Sagittarius almost screamed. The reason was that the Zodiac Saint and the Zodiac were one in body and soul. It was unknown if this was the case with Lee Gun, but generally, the damage received by a Zodiac Saint also appeared on the Zodiac’s main body.

This peculiarity came with several terms and conditions. However, the Sagittarius had almost lost his hair.

[As the god of death, you plan on getting rid of my hair! You must be ill-informed!]

“You got rid of mine first!”

The Sagittarius flinched.

[No! When did I—]

“It was you, right? Hair Loss and impo— Fuck. You placed those curses on me!”

[Impo… What!]

“What do you mean what? Impo—” Lee Gun was about to finish that word, but he met eyes with Chun Jiwoo at that moment, and his face turned red. “Anyway, you’re the one who killed junior!”

Kwahng!

The black light came crashing down on the Zodiac. The angry Sagittarius dodged nevertheless.

[Can you not use that power? That power will make a Zodiac kick the bucket!]

“Shut up! You’re shameless!” Lee Gun let out a menacing magical energy. He gnashed his teeth at the betrayal. His reaction was to be expected since the Sagittarius was his friend’s Zodiac. 

Amongst all the Zodiacs, Lee Gun had been closest to the Sagittarius. That was why he had created many items for the Sagittarius temple. He had given the Zodiac so much that the Aries and Virgo had raised complaints.

Above all else, the Sagittarius loved his items, and Lee Gun understandably liked this particular god. But what the hell happened?

“You received dozens of holy items from me. And you dared to repay my generosity by placing curses on me?!” Lee Gun had a sneaking suspicion when the Sagittarius had kept trying to leave while he killed the Cancer!

However, the Sagittarius confidently yelled out. It seemed he had much to say.

[I might have placed the curses, but those curses were non-life-threatening!]

“What on earth are you talking about?”

The curses being non-life-threatening didn’t mean one should place them on someone! Lee Gun had some things he treasured more than his life!

Another flash of light erupted as the Sagittarius disappeared before appearing atop the table. He sat there with his legs crossed.

[I didn’t do it because I wanted to do it.]

“!”

The Sagittarius became serious.

[In simple words, the god of calamity is such an existence that all the gods are willing to pool together their power to destroy it.]

The God of Calamity was the only being the gods were afraid of. The thirteenth Zodiac wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place, and its appearance spelled doom for the gods.

‘The god of destruction can get rid of the gods and even the divine world.’

That was why Lee Gun’s appearance had put the Zodiacs in a bad mood. The thirteenth awakened being shouldn’t exist in the first place.

‘The thirteenth is dead.’

An awakened being other than the twelve that they had chosen shouldn’t have existed. Therefore, they had thought Lee Gun was a mutant that became an awakened being due to exposure to their divine power.

Some Zodiacs had been pleased when Lee Gun had done very well killing the monsters. However, around twenty-one years ago, the Zodiacs wised up due to a specific event. “He is the god of calamity.”

He wasn’t a mutant. For some odd reason, he had awakened only halfway, but it was clear that he possessed the power of the Serpent Bearer, the power of condemnation that could destroy the world.

Of course, the Sagittarius didn’t hate Lee Gun’s existence. In fact, he felt gratitude toward him. Lee Gun had trained his Zodiac Saint. 

Moreover, the Sagittarius had a desire to look out for Lee Gun. He had disagreed with the idea that the Zodiacs had to kill Lee Gun. The Sagittarius had made a case that Lee Gun was human and entirely different from the Serpent Bearer.

And so, he had chosen the curses that wouldn’t affect his battles within the tower.

[This is why I’m saying this! What were you thinking? You killed one of the twelve Zodiacs, and they fear your existence much more now. At this rate, I cannot protect you!]

Sparks erupted from Lee Gun’s eyes. “Stop deflecting, you bastard!!!”

[!!]

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as if he wanted to cut off the nonsense. “Protect me, my ass! At the end of the day, you placed the curses on me! You killed my junior! How dare you act like the victim when you are the perpetrator!”

[I… It isn’t like that! That’s why I chose non-life-threatening—]

“Is that so? Should I cut yours off since it’s non-life-threatening!?” Lee Gun angrily picked up the scythe-like canine.

The Sagittarius was alarmed. Also alarmed, Chun Jiwoo grabbed Lee Gun firmly. 

“That’s my husband’s body.” Chun Jiwoo desperately tried to make Lee Gun remember this.

Lee Gun growled as he lowered the canine by a bit. After moderating his anger by a bit, he glared at the Sagittarius. “Taeksoo is an angle for serving a Zodiac like him.”

The Sagittarius, who had been a bit afraid, reacted in anger.

[What? Why? In fact, you should be thankful to me!]

Lee Gun couldn’t believe it. “What? What did you just say? Thankful? Thankful to you??”

[Yes. Thankful! I made it so that you could kill Red Eye without being distracted by unnecessary things!]

Sparks erupted in Lee Gun’s eyes. “Have you lost your mind?”

[What? You didn’t need it anyway!]

“What did you just say??!”

[What? Did I say anything wrong? You never had any occasion to use it!]

“Hey! You really want to die!!!” Lee Gun’s face had turned red like a beet. He could no longer hold back as he released his chaotic magical energy. “Get out of there right now.”

[Why? You don’t think you can attack me if I have this face?]

The Sagittarius propped up his chin and laughed as if he had something to back him up.

[As expected, you always think about your friend— Kuhk!!]

The Sagittarius— No, Hugo was sent flying.

Chun Jiwoo screamed. “Lee Gun-nim!”

Lee Gun laughed in anger. “What? I can’t attack you? In fact, it’s easier for me to attack you since you look like Taeksoo.”

[?!]

Lee Gun didn’t for the Zodiac’s reaction. He sent Chun Jiwoo out of the room for a short time.

This surprised her. “L…Lee Gun-nim?!”

With a bright smile, Lee Gun explained, “I’ll borrow him for ten minutes. Don’t worry! I’ll send back Taeksoo intact.”

“!”

Then, the door closed.

Clank!

The Zodiac looked taken aback when he heard the sound of the metal.

“Do you know this? A lot of great movies came out while I was gone.”

[Hey?]

“I binged watched them all, but I thought they were all mediocre.”

[H-Hey?]

The Zodiac was flustered, but Lee Gun just smirked. “A good beating…”

Clank!

“Builds character.”

Lee Gun’s eyes turned into those of a snake. The sound of another star going extinct rang out.

* * *

An incredible light spread throughout the holy ground. Then, a sound that made it seem like the building would collapse reverberated in the air.

The Chun siblings and the Archer disciples were scared out of their wits.

“What the hell is that?”

It wasn’t a normal power.

‘That’s the Serpent Bearer and the Sagittarius...!’

The power of the two gods violently clashed against each other. The siblings had a bad feeling about this.

“Uncle!”

Their uncle was using a lot of power! It meant something big had happened.

In the end, Chun Sungjae quickly disappeared using Teleport. It was unclear as to how much time had passed, but when the Archer disciples and Chun Yooha arrived at the location, the location was letting out the light.

“Uncle!”

The door that had been shut tight had been long destroyed by Lee Gun’s power. Chun Sungjae stood outside the room, his mouth agape.

Seeing his expression, Chun Yooha became desperate. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to Uncle?”

“N-No. Nothing happened to Uncle.”

They were surprised when they looked inside the room.

[Oh, God of calamity. Our alliance—]

“Alliance, my ass! You’ll become my underling!”

[Kuhk!]

Hugo— No, the Sagittarius was being stepped on by Lee Gun. Moreover, a contract lay before the Sagittarius. It was the slave contract that Lee Gun had presented to Hugo before. In fact, the contract had turned more severe.

The Sagittarius looked at Lee Gun as if the man was going overboard.

[Look here. This is a bit—]

“Hey. You dare speak informally to me! Bow your head! Hand over your holy ground!”

[I understand. Let me— Kuhk!]

Lee Gun grabbed Hugo by the collar since the Sagittarius was attempting to run away.

The Sagittarius ripped off the pendant around Hugo’s neck. It was the Archer Saint’s seal!

The Archer disciples almost passed out when they saw this. It was to be expected since the Sagittarius was prideful. Such a being was about to hand over the rights to its holy ground?

The Sagittarius ground his teeth. In truth, he had no choice. When the door had been locked, Lee Gun had ruthlessly beaten up his friend's body.

“You rotten bastard. You deserve the same beating since you failed as a Zodiac to train Hugo!!”

The Sagittarius had been unable to take it any longer. He ran away by forcefully canceling the descent. And so, Hugo abruptly regained control of his body.

“Kuhk! Gun?! What’s going on! Why are you punching me?! I did nothing wrong!”

“You dare run away??”

“Gun?!”

“Don’t get cute with me. Come back here right now.”

“What is going on— Kuhk!”

The angry Lee Gun grabbed Hugo by the collar and activated his skill.

[Act forbidden by the gods (F)]

As soon as Lee Gun tried to use the skill, the panicked Sagittarius descended into Hugo’s body once again.

When the Sagittarius returned, Lee Gun harshly said, “If you run away again, I’ll use this skill to sever the connection between you two.”

In the end, the Sagittarius had no choice but to let Lee Gun catch him. In other words, the Sagittarius’s soul was taking the same damage as Hugo since he had descended into Hugo’s body. He could run away, but Lee Gun would forcefully sever the Zodiac Saint contract.

However, there was no way the Sagittarius would give up easily. Although the Sagittarius was called the bottom temple, in terms of fighting ability, they were considered to be in the top class.

It meant their Zodiac wasn’t weak. While the Sagittarius was afraid of the God of calamity’s power, it would be too humiliating if he didn’t put up a fight. He was sure that if he wanted to, he could cause harm to the god of calamity.

But Lee Gun’s next words made the decision for the Sagittarius. “From what I saw, Taeksoo doesn’t remember anything while you descend into his body, right?”

[!]

Lee Gun’s eyes turned sharp as he realized something. “He has no idea you placed the curses on me.”

[…!!]

“That’s why you kept your mouth shut and requested the alliance first. You didn’t want Taeksoo to become aware of the curses.”

[N-No.]

“You knew about it like the Virgo. If Taeksoo finds out about this, his faith will plummet.”

[…!]

“You said they were non-life-threatening curses, but you know how much Hugo likes me, right? You placed curses on me, and you kept silent about it. He’ll feel betrayed, and his faith will crash.”

There was no falsehood to his words. Of course, the Archer Saint’s faith might not fall in a small chance, but Hugo had an upright personality. He also liked Lee Gun very much.

‘I’ll be lucky if the faith doesn’t become negative.’

Hugo had 400% faith toward the Serpent Bearer. What would happen?

‘Naturally, he’ll become Lee Gun’s disciple.’

It didn’t matter what the Sagittarius did. In the end, he’d lose his Zodiac Saint to Lee Gun.

Lee Gun laughed like a fox since he held the Sagittarius by the rope. Despite his appearance, the Sagittarius was a Zodiac with incredible fighting abilities. Lee Gun was covetous of his temple, and he had been relieved when the Zodiac had offered an alliance earlier.

“If you become an affiliate under me, I’ll keep it a secret from Taeksoo.”

The Sagittarius gnashed his teeth. Being an affiliate was pretty much the same thing as the other option!

An affiliate Zodiac Saint would become the servant of the head Zodiac. That was why the Sagittarius was dumbfounded.

The Zodiac gnashed his teeth when his pride was hurt.

[If you planned on doing this, you should have just used the wish ticket from the start!]

“Have you lost your mind?”

[What?]

“I can coax Taeksoo to my side, so why would I waste the wish ticket? That would have been a waste. I’ll use it later for something more useful..”

Damned bastard!

“Since you understand now, put your thumbprint on it!”

At that moment, an incredible light surged forth as a notification appeared.